JohnF

The boys are out rippin' & snortin'. I can here them giggling over the noise they're making. Sure wish I had a sled again, but only on days like this. JF

Just cleared about 10" out of the drive but the drifts were deeper. It seems to have let up for now, still some drifting though. The wind is turning, I think. It was sorta southeast this morning which is rare for us. Normally it's out of the west. But it was tough figuring it out while I was blowing. Didn't seem to matter which way I aimed the chute it still blew it away, which I'm not complaining about. JF

Ditto. It seems to be building in intensity. Sure hope she has a cell phone. JF

I've been a realtor in Ontario for 32 years so I guess that qualifies me as something of an expert. In my experience it's not the major banks like TDCT that are the problem, it's the people you have to deal with locally. Sometimes they're new at the job, sometimes just overly concerned with CTOA (covering their own a--), and sometimes they just haven't explained the options etc to you as well as you need. PM me if you want to talk specifics. I'd be happy to help out any way I can. Especially today as we're getting dumped on and I have no plans to go outside except to blow snow. JF

Make sure the gas cap is able to breathe. Just loosely stuff a rag in the tank opening so the gas doesn't splatter all over and try running it. If it runs okay try to clear the relief hole or buy a new cap. If it's not that I'd check for crud in the float bowl. I've seen condensers that ran fine cold but failed when they heated up. JF JF

Oban is now $100. I just picked some up. I've tried to appreciate single malts but for the life of me I can't honestly say that I've found one I like better than Famous Grouse. It is far and away the nicest blended I've found. JF

I didn't mean to suggest they were the best game in town, or the only one. The thing is that a person who already has substantial net worth probably has lots of options. BDC is an option for the guys just getting off the ground when no other bank will talk to them. In return for the tougher terms they offer a financial package and other assistance not available from any other legit lenders. I haven't dealt with them for years so I'm not sure of their current practices. JF

He mentioned a toolshop in the first post. JF

When you are ready go see these guys. http://www.bdc.ca/en/home.htm The interest rates sound a little high at first but listen to the whole spiel before you discount them. They put together a pretty decent package for startups. Maybe someone else here has direct experience with them. I've never used their services, but I have done a lot of work for them and sent people to them. JF

One other thing. I got caught on this way back when. Some clean cut young man came to my door one evening representing himself as an employee of Union Gas (or at least that was what I took from his spiel) and asking to see one of my bills to check that I'm paying the correct rate. No problem. I had the bill right there as it had just arrived in the mail. I opened it up and showed it to him. He spent some time reading it and then started talking about stuff. In the end I refused to sign anything on the basis that I was content with my gas rate just the way it was and really didn't believe one could get something as the young man seemed to be offering. I never gave it another thought. Several years later i got a notice saying that I would be reverting to the standard Union Gas supply program as my contract supplier had gone out of business. With a little digging it came out that the young man had pocketed my bill and somehow used it as my authorisation on a supply contract without me even knowing. The rates had evidently been good enough that i never noticed the change. So all this is just a convoluted warning not to even let these door to door types get their hands on your gas or hydro bills. Evidently they can put you on a contract even without your signature. JF

Can you get to his customers? There's ways of getting seed money for a new enterprise. All it takes is cojones. JF

Hmmm. Them eggs look kinda overcooked. JF

But take note, he didn't do it to Montreal. JF

It would certainly make a warm and fuzzy place fer him in my heart. JF

Of course it is. But just to be fair I might be willing to throw in Kubina and a draft pick or two (if they're gonna still go with Ferguson as the picker). JF

It looks like they put all their eggs in the offensive basket, which is kinda understandable with the front end they've got. Unfortunately for Tampa Richards went down for the count, LeCavalier just looked a little adrift out there and St.Louis was doing a lot of skating but not much attacking. Once Toronto figgered out there was nobody on dee and nothing ressembling a Trap they had pretty open lanes to the net. Hard to believe TB can be so good in their own rink and suck so bad on the road. May just be some merit to the idea of trading Vinny for a top defenceman. It'll be a start anyway. Mebbe they'd like to trade for McCabe????? JF

With any kind of luck he'll get to bunk in with the psycho killer brother of one of his victims. JF

I recently read that the only problem with the trial by jury system is that you are tried by 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty. JF

I didn't remember him that early so I had to look it up. He was drafted in '93 but didn't play with Montreal until '96 so I'm not sure of the answer. I was never a big Montreal fan, even when there were only 6. JF

I doubt I'd ever pick Tucker. He's fun to watch, but he's too penalty prone. I want 5 skaters on the ice at all times, but if we gotta take two, then make it a "good" penalty. JF

All of the above posts are right. That's why it's so hard to get agreement on that question. There are too many factors to be considered and everyone has different priorities. I generally have no idea who the best player is at any given moment, only who my favourite players are, and even that's hard to narrow down to even a few. The other thing is that hockey's obviously a team game, or at least it's meant to be, and linemates have a lot to do with how good a player looks. That means there are a lot of influences coming to bear that are outside the control of the player in question - the coaching decisions, how well your linemates play on a given night, the line matchups you have to deal with, etc. For sheer skill and entertainment I'd have to say Sidney's a pretty good choice, but for having all the tools the list is too long to start. But it's fun reading everyone else's thoughts on it. Tonight my fave player may well be Andropov, or maybe Sundin, but I'll get a kick out of watching Boyd Devereaux. I know he won't make anyone's list but he has some hustle. Ya gotta love that in a mucker. How about them Leafs, huh? JF

Sheesh. That's why lighters were invited. Reminds me of the crazoids who used to mount a wired spark plug in their exhaust system somewhere and use it to light off huge explosions downtown at night. I guess they thought it drew the chicks. Just sounded really expensive to me but then I was more impressed with speed than noise. JF

Yeah! My son says that a guitar is a chick magnet, even better than Mom's BMW convertible when you're seventeen. His guitar (actually a bass) seems to have served him well over the years. It has nothing to do, I'm sure, with him being 6'5 and looking like a young me (oops, I can't believe I just said that). Real men don't need no steenkin' fish reports. They just need a guitar. The wimmen get all weak-kneed over that. The BMW is just icing on the cake. We used MG's and Austin Healeys in my day, and banjoes. I still have the banjo - long neck 5 string. Some day I fully intend to learn to play the durned thang. JF

I'd bet it has to be the HR. We had HD's on the old 292 Blizzards but I doubt a stock 250 would need one. Even the 399 twins ran on an HR. JF

Worse yet, you married Cliff because he claimed to be a fisherman. JF