jace

Ah, I was wondering what the little disk at the end of your grip was for. I thought maybe you were using drawer knobs or plumbing parts as winding checks. Yeah, the look of Stan's seat takes some getting used to but i'll bet the ergonomics are amazing. not only is it a natural grip shape, it can also be shaped to fit your hand exactly. The other nice feature is the bare blank running the entire length down the top under your hand. I also like the feel of Aero, that hump in the middle makes it super comfortable. I've seen a few knockoffs of that seat but haven't tried any. The wiebe/schaeffer seats made famous by GLoomis are popular if you can find them. Lately, I've only built casting rods for myself so shaping grips around a VSS hasn't been a problem. Yeah, a 17 is usually what i use for spinning rods, the 16's are too small to be comfortable all day. On the other hand, a 16 casting seat is perfect for most people. ..took a pic of the last spin rod i made with an aero seat but i don't see a button to attach it. ..oh well.

yep. I've read so many stories about people who did that. I wish bought in when it was around $6. It' has since split 4 times, i think, which means people who invested just a few thousand dollars are now double digit millionaires. RIMM was there just 6 months ago, who knows where they'll be later. I doubt it'll be another Apple cinderella story, and losing a few thousand dollars isn't so bad if it tanks like PALM and NT. The most unfortunate part is blundering over the past 2 yrs that made them look like clowns. I'd like to know what they plan on doing next, high tech has a very short shelf life. It's been 18 months since their last new product, they can't wait that long again, and I don't count the Q10 as that next new product. And what going to happen with the Playbook? They've pretty much given away all of them in promotions, to developers, and sold them cut rate discounts, and finally just gave away the rest in the UK as early presale bonuses with Z10 phones. RIMM stopped making playbook a while ago (that's why most retailers like futureshop are out of stock) but at the same time they also made statements that they would not abandon the product like so many other makers of failed tablets have done.

Interesting looking grip. That looks like one that can't be set in place until you know how it feels while palming a reel. I'm thinking it would be angled a little to one side or the other to let the flat part sit on your hand. Have you ever seen Stan Mclean's hammer spin seats? nice idea that i always wanted to try but never did mostly because i don't use spinning gear much. It's not exactly the same but similar in that it has flat sides.

the round plastic thing on the side with a slot that can be turned out with a coin. removing it exposes some gearing. It should come with a manual/parts list unless you got it as a combo reel on a rod.

when you are the biggest company in the world on market cap and almost $140Billion in straight cash, you're allowed to be cocky.

by far the biggest criticism. Not only did it take them forever to get the device out, now that it's available, people see that it's nothing more than what apple and android put out on the market almost 2 yrs ago. All they did was release an old phone that got them caught up with current phones. Their biggest problem is still the lack of apps that today's users look for. ...Balsillie selling his entire stake in the company isn't very reassuring sign either. My guess is he sees the low sales figures that they won't talk about publicly. All of those "sold out" stories were pretty much faked since they shipped 15-20 phone to many stores on the first weekend. Here in canada, some stores only received 5-10 phones on the release date. I want to see them pull out of this also, but market checks don't lie that much.. Adding mdm for iOS and android in the latest BES10 shows they're at least looking forward and finally accepting the corp. trend to BYOD.

2 friends took a day from work on thursday and headed to toronto early to catch everything. They said the same and left after a few hours. They won't be going next year either. I stopped going when a few of my favorite vendors pulled out a few years back. My guess is the show organizers are running profit optimizations at this point..a drop in attendance and exhibitors is not relevant as long as it fits the model.

Nice job on the tiger and labels. What does it say on the spinning rod just behind the foregrip?

you can also measure the butt diameter for a gimbal cover, the type made for covering aluminum gimbals on saltwater stand-up rods. Basic vinyl and pvc covers are usually $1-3.

If that doesn't work out, I probably have 100+ tips on hand with tube sizes between size 4.5 and and 7. Most rings are 6 mm but there are some 5's, 7's and a few other sizes. ...all different brands, ring types, and frame metals.

I'm with the other 2 on getting high quality used gear for the same reasons mentioned and it's the same advice I give although almost nobody ever takes it. If you spend $500 on a used guitar, and $500 on just about any half decent, good sized (12" speaker so no bedroom amps), used fender/marshall amp, you can turn around any time later and sell them for at least what you paid no problem. Fender's have cleaner cleans, marshalls have better crunch. It seems you've have your new equipment and started playing with it already. I didn't see it mentioned but you might also want to consider getting one of those iRig or guitar pod's (i forget the actual device name but Line6 makes them). the iRig needs an ipod, ipad or iphone and the Line6 thing only needs a computer. I know a few people who have them and they sound pretty good for what they are. It's going to take a lot more hardware to get good recordings using mic's and things the way you want to. That said, the last recording you made doesn't sound too bad. There isn't too much distortion in the sound, the problem is not enough string dampening with your hands, both left and right. You need to learn how to keep the string noise under control and allow strings to vibrate only when you want them to. ...and maybe pick up a metronome at some point too.

If your rod is broken in the middle of nowhere, it's actually an easy fix with a graphite spigot. You'll be lucky if your rod fits Misfish's rod because most rods, even of the same model, are different which is why warranty replacement sections from rod companies require you to send in all pieces -- it's for proper fitting. A poor fit usually leaves sections rattling at the joint. Misfish, your rod can also be fixed by using a graphite sleeve but it will not be as inconspicuous as a spigot repair.

great gift. when does she get the rest of the grip and seat?

There are really only 2 big cell/internet providers here and they are rogers and bell/telus. All of the others are resellers and use those 2 networks (this includes 3web, teksavvy, etc, and everything small like storm that only provide regional services). So what you see with Bell now is going to be similar with Storm. If you can't get a good rogers signal out there, any rogers reseller will not work either. Bell/Telus technology gets longer range from a cell site in rural areas (cdma) which is why it dominates in sparsely populated areas (less infrastructure req'd for coverage). Check with your neighbors to see what they have, that'll be your best guage for selecting a service. As for buying multiple usb stick subscriptions, you're going about it the wrong way. What you should do is get 1 internet stick/subscription and buy a wifi router that can use your 3G stick directly, after that, all your computers go through that single stick through the router. Another option is to set up one of your computers to share its internet conneciton to the other 2 computers but that's not as nice because the computer with the stick needs to stay on and cannot leave the house. I'm assuming you do not need internet on the road in which case you might need a 2nd shared stick that is used outside of the house. If all 3 of you simultaneously need internet outside of the house, ignore this paragraph.

spikes if you're walking mostly flat terrain. wider bar cleat style if you do a lot of walking up/down iced inclines. spikes tend to bend over in whatever the retaining material is where wide bar cleats remain dug in and stable under your foot.

I probably won't use anything but micros except where they are not suitable like on a very heavy (#40+ rod). For everything else, the casting effort is noticably less because the rod isn't wasting energy swinging the big guides so in that sense there is a casting difference. The only thing i would say doesn't work so well is the micro tip with a heavier diameter mono or fluoro line. There seems to be line drag with that combination unless you point the rod in the direction of the cast. The smallest tip i've used is a 4...from now on, i probably won't go under a 5 or 6. Other than that one issue, it's alll been good/ i've never had guide failures, line fouling, etc. The smallest running guides i've used are size 2 on a rod i built about 2 years ago when they first came out, but generally I stick to 4's. The smallest stripper i've used is a 6 on a StCroix blank about 3-4 yrs ago which worked out better than i thought. Looking down the rod is strange because you see no guides, so it's like looking down a long needle but it works well and i still use that rod today. As far as the interline rods go, i still see them for sale on the west coast for heavy bottom fish fishermen and long surf rods, but all the smaller weights are gone. There was another company that made them, i think "north" was somewhere in the name, but i havne't seen them in a few years.

That's a good amount water moving through there. If it's where i think it is, we should be looking down a boat ramp. At those water levels, boats will launch themselves just by pulling into the parking lot. And you'll need some good power to get back up or arrange to be picked up down in cook inlet somewhere. I had to change up things when i was there too' i chose to go after bottom fish for a while which paid off. Yeah, I got there in july, termination dust appeared just a few weeks later and was down 1/2 way on most peaks by came back in mid september. It was a sunny but cool summer, perfect was for what i wanted to do. It rained a ton before i got there, then it resumed shortly after i left which is what you're dealing with now. I really lucked out on the timing in that sense. One friend spent several thousand on material to build up a wall to stop water from running through his house, i guess that's the downside of living at the base of a mountain with a stream however small it might be most of the year. I heard part of the kenai reopened downstream of where you are, maybe more of it will reopen soon

is that cooper landing, kenai bridge? ...sounds like you're seeing the same thing i saw most of the summer. Just got back from AK, went up in July and it's a brutal year for the whole salmon sport fishery in general except for the pinks. I saw plenty of empty freezers and sad faces from people who didn't have the time to fish any longer for their winter food. It's the slowest year i've ever seen there. It was like real fishing. LOL. From the sound of things, the best time to be there this year was early to get the reds and possibly a few kings. Some of my friends are dealing with rain and crazy water levels from streams/rivers that run by their homes, and there i was thinking winter was on the way as the termination dust worked its way down. Good luck on your trip...

Leave yet? Spot is for fun like google latitude plus a bit more. If youre looking at it for safety, get a real epirb/plb, theyve come down in price. Once registered, it's good worldwide. They also have homing transmitters to find you out in the field once rescuers are in the area where SPOT relies on its gps receiver to send its coordinates up however inaccurate they might be. Anyways, it's an alternative you should consider.

A few of you should recognize him. He was making an appearance at a local event I attended this past weekend.

I'm still here for another 5 weeks so I'm taking my time but I know a few people who chase the grand slam too. It sounds like crazy fun but i doubt i'll ever do it that way. I visit friends around the state while i'm at it so that really slows things down. I have the red caught and some eaten so it's 3 now. My red is still fairly bright. Only the king and dog left, two of the best fighters. I remember last year (or was it the year before?), we were about 50-60 miles apart. I think you and Solo were getting into Cooper Landing or somewhere in upper Kenai and I was in Girdwood on my way out and heading northeast, well, west first to get around the mountains . so close and yet so far. I opened an emailed photo of a 363 lb halibut that an acquaintance pulled this weekend. I don't know if he entered the derby yet but if he did, they might as well write out that cheque now. geez, that's twice my biggest but then I don't chase those trophies either. The big ones are not the best eaters.

1/2 price on this trip is amazing. you can't do anything for a week at that price and this is a fishing trip. I've been in AK for a little over 2 weeks working on this year's grand slam. 2 done, 3 to go. Gonna try getting one in Cordova this year.

cabelas has all of the hard body swimbaits on sale now. spro, sebile, strike king, tru tungsten, lucky craft. ...received 7 parcel slips in the mailbox at the AK postoffice recently and had to drive around back to get the boxes. I built up my wishlist to 250 items while at home in ontario, still lots of buying to do.

nice looking fish in the left hand.

the 60 series is the same one in a smaller body, the 76's float where the 60's sink like stones. These have been on sale at various outfits including REI and cabelas because the 62's and 78's are coming out to replace them. The biggest difference is a higher resolution display that will show the new 3D maps. = very handy when looking at soundings and topographical maps.