Bad news all around

Unfortunately there's been bad news all around.

I was trying to break another world record, in this case sailing across the Atlantic on Virgin Money, when we got hit by a massive wave and had to stop. The boats going in for repairs, and the team will be trying again.

But the worst news recently is of my old friend Stevie Fossett. He once was lost, but now has been found. Unfortunately, only his mortal remains were left. My mate, my co-partner, and one of my best friends is gone. I miss you, Stevie.

Things will get better.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

I miss Stevie

That's it... I was just thinking about him again today. I miss my mate. My last post about him is still the way I feel.

The story of the four Steves (Fossett, Jobs, Ballmer, and Colbert)

I've been dealing with a lot of "Steve"s in my life this past couple of weeks, and wanted to give you all a re-cap.

Steve Fossett - Stevie - He's a hell of an adventurer, and has been an inspiration for me. (Which, by the way, says a lot about his reputation.) Most recently he flew around the globe without refueling, alone in his plane (the Virgin Global Flyer). But as I stated in my earlier post, I've said my last about the search for Stevie.

Stephen Colbert - Codfish - Our interview was finally aired, and the truth is out. He was a slimy operator, but I got my revenge. Did you see how disrespectful he was?? What he thought was promotion of Virgin America was just boasting of the fact we named a plane after him. NOTHING of the amazing airline and all the cool stuff you can find on our planes! I'm a business warrior, and I used the best weapons I had at hand: a cold glass of water and public shame. (Plus, a S**T-ton of publicity around it, my personal favourite.)

Steve Jobs - So Jobs got annoyed last year when during one of my brainstorms I rang him up to chat about an iPod Class on our Virgin America airplanes. Of course, I had forgotten he was a raging a**hole who only cares about design and nothing about his customers. (F**king over the early iPhone adopters, anyone?)

So I got the phone with him, and immediately called my Virgin America design team. They had been planning on basing the in-flight computer system around Mac OS X. No more, and all because of that bloody idiot. The engineers said I couldn't use anything Windows because it could crash. And I said that Virgin planes don't crash, so we're not using Windows! Then they showed me this computer that had a penguin, and there was a big hit film about penguins recently, so I told them to go with that. And now I find out we're geek cool.

Once again, my business intuition is correct, and I'm staying away from raging a**holes like Steve Jobs.

Steve Ballmer - So I never told Steve Ballmer about using the penguin computers on Virgin America instead of his plane-crashing software. That guy can gets as dangerous as a drunken Scot, especially when he starts throwing all his weight around. Would you want to get into it with someone weighing 22 stone?? I didn't think so.

That said, he's a nice enough guy if he's been taking his medication. We occasionally exchange e-mails, and he said he'll take a flight with me on Virgin America or Virgin Atlantic sometime. Let's just say there's an obvious reason why. Not that he'll be able to do what I did at 19, especially at 22 stone.

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So those are the Steve's that I've been dealing with recently. Now it's back to the hammock to do some more strategic thinking and napping. I've got three new companies to start next week.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

Stevie... my final post

I'm at a loss for words.

I spent all yesterday drinking Red Bull and Diet Cokes while going through all of the new Google Earth photos of the area Stevie was flying. My kids told me I looked like one of those geek "hackers" from films.

We still haven't found Stevie. He's been gone for over a week, now, and hundreds of people have been searching for him either in planes or through satellite photos.

That part of the United States is remote, and it could be tough to survive. Many are fearing for the worst.

This is my last post on Stevie until he's found. I have in my head a picture of what I think happened:

Stevie had problems, and landed his plane somewhere remote. He found that he just liked it there, and knew he was quite a long way from home, so Steve Fossett decided to make this place his new home. He's got a stream for fresh water, fruit nearby and a few animals around for meat. There's a little cave for shelter, too. Stevie is going to be staying there for a while. At some point we'll finally reach him and have the reunion we've been dreaming about.



Stevie.... I'll see you there, my friend.

Still waiting on Stevie

I'm getting more than a little concerned now. I've been scouring Google Earth for days now. Do you realise how hard it is to balance a laptop on your chest while trying to relax in a hammock with the sun in your eyes and conducting a search for my adventuring best friend? Readers, you have no idea the lengths I go to for things I believe it.

But Stevie's still out there, I'm sure. We've just got to find him.

Still no Stevie... I'm hopeful but also concerned

We still haven't found Stevie. (That's Steve Fossett, my partner in world-renowned adventures, for those of you new here.)

I'm quite concerned, and some newspapers are saying we should be. (Such as the New York Times.)

I much prefer the reporting of the Associated Press. Their article mentions Stevie's world-class survival skills.

It's late, and it's been a while since he took off, but we're still searching and hoping to see Stevie soon.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick