JohnF

I got my wife a pair at w'mart a year ago. The ones she got were identical to the green ones I bought a few years ago at CTC. I didn't like them at all. They were too tight in my butt making it tough to climb up riverbanks etc but for $30 they'd be great backups. If you're really skinny I guess they might be ok too. HTHM borrowed them last year for a while. He might have some comment on them. I don't wear them at all now. JF

One suggestion made to me when I was first starting with the baitcaster. I was told to put less expensive mono line on until I got the hang of using my thumb etc. Then switch to braid when you feel confident. The braid will cast longer but initially you may have a lot of birdsnests and waste a lot of line. Braid is expensive to waste. JF

Brian, sorry if I mislead you. What kind of rod did you think it was? I figured the slip rings were a dead giveaway. I'll refund your money if it isn't what you wanted. I want happy customers. JF

You made it easy. I'm shocked that it got there so fast. The pickup was only at 4:15 yesterday. Hope the fish cooperate on the weekend. I'm glad to hear it's going to get some use. If I'd kept it all it would have done was get dusty in the storage unit. Keep us posted. I'd love to hear it caught you a PB. JF

Ryan, since I haven't thought of anything better I decided to just contribute 10% of the proceeds from my recent Classified sales to your cause. I can't think of a more popular cause to contribute to. My own family has been touched by cancer so many times, and from the posts here onviously a lot of OFC members have been affected as well, so why not keep the circle happening and give back to an OFNer's fundraiser with money raised through OFC services? Thanks to Misfish and the others who purchased items. JF

Played 'em all except the newest one. I only play solo, not online. They're fun. My problem is I get them as hand me downs from my son so some are on the PC and some are on his old XBox which he gave me when he got the newer XBox360. He also has PS but I haven't got a handmedown of that yet. JF

I missed Garry's post but I had it happen and I know a few other guys who got dinged. It's now a pretty well known fact amongst divers with certain computers. JF

One of the problems we discovered with dive gear was being charged duty on the purchase price on items sent in for service work. Specifically the dive computers. Some of them are sealed and battery replacement requires return to the factory in the States. At the same time they reload the software and update it. But to have to pay the duty on a $500 wrist computer each time this is done is annoying. I took one in to the service shop in Florida on one of my trips and picked it up on the way home. Cost me $35 total. This is okay if you have extra computers but not too practical if you need the computer for your holiday. Check this out beforehand. JF

This year I'm gonna spend some early time communing with the carp. Turns out I have a couple of really nice carp swims close by, one just down the street, so why not? Unfortunately the best pike holes are hard to access so I may not get to enjoy them too much. I guess I'll just have to learn to love carp. JF

Brian's one of the good people I'm talking about. Thank you Brian. JF

It's more than any individual. I think we're all elevated by the people with whom we have to interact. At the risk of sounding smarmy all my experiences with the forum and with the individuals I've dealt with online and met personally have been better than positive. This is not the first popular online group I've been involved with but it is by far the best. Even the bickering is gentelmanly. JF

Just wanted to say that the classifieds are a heckuva resource we have and the OFC folks are truly ladies and gentlemen. I'm frankly shocked at the speed that things happened and how cooperative everyone was, particularly considering how unprepared I was to do this. I'd name some names but that may be kind of personal so I won't. I hope everyone is completely satisfied with their purchases and it's great to see my gear going to good homes where it's bound to be used more than I'm likely to. JF

That's kinda long but I bet with your resources it would be no problem extending the track and drive bits. Straight is good. I'll put out a call here. JF

I assume you want an outdoor unit but if you need an indoor we occasionally see them being removed from the houses we sell. They tend to go pretty cheap if you do the removal yourself. It's not complicated and there's very little damage to repair afterward but that can be figured into the price. If you want I can put out the word to the others in my board and ask them to let me know if they see anything. You might try the same in your local board. JF

Sure glad to hear you got out okay. I think back to when we used to race cars on the ice. Seems to me Young's Point was a popular spot back in the day. Imagine the load on the ice with a dozen cars all racing together and the rest w/people sitting there on the ice. Whew!!! JF

The second one down from the sppons might be an Ocean City level winder. A friend of mine has one by that name. Now you've got me interested. I have a bunch of my Dad's old reels and a few rods. I'll get some pics and post 'em soon. Also a few about 20 yrs old that I bought for my kids. No idea if they're any good. Probably not but perhaps someone here will recognize them. JF

Not necessarily. A right of way refers to land not owned by the user that the user has a legally registered right to occupy or cross depending on the way the ROW is defined. This could go far beyond land actually owned by the user. The CNR has some rather drachonian powers when it comes to the way lands abutting their tracks can be used, even by the owner, and believe me, they exercise those rights. Try to get permission to build within 400' of a CNR roadbed or even a ROW where they are dominant tenement. It seems to be standard practise to just say "no" to all applications. As to the poster's question I think the only way to be sure is to check with CNR or with MNR. Good luck getting a straight answer. Probably get more satisfaction from the local MNR enforcement people. JF

Yup. Sounds like Albert will take care of this old feller if the creaky body allows me to get out to play. I appreciate it. I'm trying to think of some way I can contribute to the prize table to help out. Cancer sucks. I'm not sure if it's the biggest medical research battle we have to fight but it's right up there. There are so many kinds and so many types of treatment. It's pretty amazing how far they've come, even in the last few years. Every day they seem to have some new alternatives for treatments and diagnoses. There's already been too much of it in my family but the numbers just keep mounting. And on a happier note, how's the new babe? JF

Thanks Albert. JF

There are checks and there are checks. Not all of them involve body contact. Looked to me like Chara had finished the check when he put the puck behind Pac-whatever. (note - Mea culpa. I just saw a different vid and the puck was fired down into the Boston end not back, so Chara was in fact doing his job by taking out the offensive player, albeit late and away from the puck but that's nothing new in hockey. The rest of the para is clipped because it was all based on a mistaken assumption.) The rest still applies though. Sure it was bad luck that the Habs player got hurt because I don't think Chara meant to injure him. These guys are all well aware of what that can mean, particularly now that the cases are starting to go to court. I think Chara did mean though to hurt him as much as he possibly could. There's a big difference there. I know it's not Chara's fault he towers over most other players but is it remotely possible that he and the other oversized guys have a little extra responsibility to tone it down when they have such an obvious size advantage? I've seen a few hits from him this year that as far as I'm concerned are close to taking him into the Pronger school of bullying. I see nothing to respect there. It's a shame he can't just accept the credit he gets for being a solid defenceman without being a bully to boot but that seems to be what the fans want today. I think it's (almost) incredible that a guy that big can still be as relatively nimble as Chara is, as a skater and a puck handler. Sure there's lots of guys better than him in the coordination department but we all know that when it comes to hand/eye and straight muscle coordination the little guys have a huge advantage over the big ones. When I watch him play I keep thinking about Manute Bol (sp?) stilting his way up and down the court. He ran, and I use the word loosely, like he had an extra knee joint on each leg. That guy could hardly walk. It would have been a hoot to watch him try to skate, and I'm not sure he was even proportionately as big when compared to his playing colleagues as Chara is when compared to his. Be interesting to see what the league does with this. It's getting to be a very complicated thing for them. I'm worried that one day soon the result will be ridiculously draconian solutions that ignore the nuances and address only the result of a big hit. That's wrong in a game that is so fast and physical by it's very nature. JF

You're doing a great job with this Ryan. Good on ya. Hopefully I'll be ready to get on the water again by then. This cause has become very close to my heart lately. I think it's great that we have a chance to combine fishing and helping others. Anyone need ballast for their boat? I'm not as big as I used to be. I might just get myself a kayak by then though. It's going to be a while before I'm back in river walking shape so I might need the 'yak to fish my local creeks. JF

Great suggestion. That's one I forgot. It never hurts to have a friend in court. JF

Good for you, and don't worry about nerves in front of an audience. It's natural when you haven't done it before. I was a terrible public speaker all my life. My mouth got dry and my memory failed me completely if I had to address a crowd of more than 3. Three or less and you couldn't hold me back though. Then a few years ago I agreed to accept an assignment as a pre-licence instructor for the Ontario Real Estate Association. I was scared to death frankly. But I was kind of painted into a corner. Turns out that about 10 minutes into my first class (29 strangers in a ciy 50 kliks from home) I was so engrossed in the material that I forgot to be nervous. I ended up hiring one of those students a couple of years later and she told me I didn't look or sound nervous at all. If they had only known. Here are some things that helped me: 1. Dress properly so you don't feel like you look out of place. I expect you might be in uniform which makes that easy. 2. Know your material. Obviously someone thinks you do know the material or you wouldn't have been chosen. Knowledge is confidence. If you really know your material you will be confident and even if you draw a blank on a question you don't need to feel embarrassed because no one knows everything. Don't lie. Admit you don't know the answer to a question but make sure you bring the answer to class asap. The key is to show your students that you know more than them about the subject at hand. They'll respect that. 3. Tell personal experience stories that will help the students relate to the situations they will encounter. You can even invent some of the facts or the happy ending as long as no one can catch you at it. The point is to make the experience a positive learning experience for them. 4. Relax. If you are uptight the class will sense it and that's how they'll be. I know it's easy to say that but there are ways. Have a bottle or glass of water near at hand so if you feel like you're struggling just take a few seconds to take a sip while you figure out what comes next. 5. Smile and make a few jokes. Not the kind you memorize and drag out at cocktail parties. Just silly little off the cuff comments. Usually there's one student who has a sense of humour and likes some attention so take a few gentle digs at him but be very very careful with this. I usually get the student aside at break and just make sure they think it's funny too. If you misread the student you could have a big problem. 6. Take charge. On the first day of every new class I start off with a Power Point slide introducing me and listing my qualifications. The second slide is the rules of order for the class. Then I make sure they toe the line. I'm not a jerk about it but if someone is doing something disruptive I'll just stop and stare at them with a neutral expression like "Obviously what you're doing is more important than what I'm doing so we'll just wait till you're done". Not all instructors agree with this method but it works for me. Once the student realizes that we're all staring at him/her they tend to get a little flustered and then I say something like "Let's try to keep the interruptions to a minimum or we won't get done on time. Thanks." It usually works. 7. Never be publically critical of students. If you have a problem with someone take them aside at break and lay down the law. I've even stopped a class (once) and asked the student to come out in the hall with me, not to fight btw. They have to know you're in charge. Those are my rules for working a class. Try them. They work great for me. And have fun. I wish I'd started this stuff years ago. These days I can hardly wait to get back in front of a class. It becomes addictive. JF

The first thing we have to do is get the politicians to refocus their efforts on doing worthwhile things instead of wasting all their resources trying to destroy each other. But I'm not naive enough to think the major parties will ever give up the partisan wars as long as we suckers continue to vote for them thereby encouraging them to think that we care more about the party than the country. Good luck in ever getting rid of the partisan control in our different levels of government if we haven't the will to do it. Until we correct that we have no hope of squaring the inequities that exist in all things controlled by the pols. I agree with Cliff that there are some decent seniors' facilities. We checked out a bunch for my father in law a few years back and he and we were satisfied with what we found. He was very happy in the place we eventually decided on. But there for sure is something very wrong in the way we coddle criminals. The bleeding hearts need to step back and get a new perspective just like the politicians do. We've let our western society turn into a mess but what do we do to fix it now? There was a huge lesson learned (hopefully) some years ago when we gave the NDP their shot. That's not a knock on the NDP. They just tried to do it within the partisan structure and that has become so thoroughly tainted that we need something else. We need an entirely new structure for social success. Unfortunately it involves integrity, selflessness, objectivity and responsibility, none of which are found in the typical political agenda. JF