Hoover

Hoover is the name of my 110 lb. yellow lab. He eats like a vacuum. ;D

While you are thinking of buying a houseboat, you may be putting the cart before the horse here. It sounds to me like you want to be outdoors. How is sitting in a classroom a whole lot different than sitting in an office all day? May I suggest that you consider employment where you will be outside all day. For example, I am in the timber business in East Texas. I am having a difficult time finding and hiring field foresters, those folks who have a forestry degree and who work out in the field all day with little time in the office. It seems many of the graduating foresters these days want to work in the office in front of a computer all day. Such foresters are fine at what they do, but I need someone willing to work hard outside of the office. This is just something to consider before you make definite life choices. I hope this is helpful. Tom

Yeah, I know what you mean. I sold a reel on e-bay for $5; it had the word Steez on it. There's a sucker born every minute.

BTW, I am not sure that online gambling is legal in the USA. You might want to be careful what you say on the forums on this issue. Tom

If your mounts are like mine where a polyeurethane is applied, you might want to consider using compressed air like the cans of air they use to clean computers, keyboards, etc.

I got my laugh for the day. Great!!

Then that is one heck of a bottle at the end of his snout where all those teeth are!!! LOL

Welcome aboard!! I am sorry to hear about your wife. However, it seems you are on the right path. There are some very knowledgeable people here. Roadwarrior is just one of many who dispenses some great advice. Read the suggested articles. Try out the techniques you learn and, if you have questions, post them for some insightful answers. Good luck!!

Thanks for the welcome back. It is good to be here although I never posted much in the past and, quite frankly, I don't intend to. My knowledge of bass and my experience fishing for them is limited so, at this stage, I don't have much to add. I just savor the opportunity to learn about a sport I love. It is my sincere hope, as LBH has clearly said, that at the end of the day, we should feel a friendship and kinship with our fellow members. Each of the long time/senior members have much knowledge to give which is greatly appreciated by us less experienced bass fishermen/women. Life is too short wasting time and energy being angry or maliciously sarcastic. My heartfelt best wishes to each BR member; I have great confidence that Glenn and the other mods will go to the lengths necessary to rekindle the kinship we all have felt with the focus on catching that wily creature called a bass. Tom

Please, do not welcome me in that I was an ex member under a different user name. I left about a month ago and reviewed the posts as a "guest". The reasons for resigning earlier are the very reasons being discussed here. Upon first joining, after spending several months reading the very good articles found on BR, I was very impressed with the quality of the people and the discussions under the General, fishing tackle, boating and rods and reels forums. Shortly thereafter, I began reading everything else. As LBH and Glenn have commented previously, I have found a general degradation of the quality of the posts. Glenn has a big problem on his hands. I recognized this when the first discussions about the 2008 BR fishing trip showed up in August. I noticed that there was a huge difference in the responses to the 2008 trip compared to the excitement and goodwill expressed about the 2007 trip. I encourage all members to review those posts, mostly made from October 2006. To me, it is a sad day when the various BR members fail to realize how good they have it and do not appreciate what they have as opposed to what they do not have. For me, my life changed dramatically 13 years ago when my wife, after giving birth to my daughter 2 months earlier, collapsed and died but was revived by paramedics. Since that 26th day of August 1994, my wife has been severely brain injured. I kept her at home despite severe behavioral problems for 2 years. I wanted to keep my family together. Finally, in 1997, I had to place her in a long term care facility. I became her conservator. In 2002, I remarried but I still care for my wife. I call her "my wife" because as far as she can remember, I am still her husband. There was no insurance for her, no settlement money, etc. By the grace of God, I was in a position to place my wife in a facility that takes very good care of her. However, the financial and emotional strain has become insurmountable. I can no longer afford the same level of care for my wife. Each of us has our own tradegies and challenges in life. Mine is no different from many other people. However, the point is that we have to keep some perspective on life and avoid the pitfalls of negative comments, sarcasm and arrogance. There is an oversupply of petty bickering, sarcasm and general disrespect among the members here. I submit that each of us should show some appreciation of the good things in life that make it enjoyable. Such as fishing. I suck at fishing, but I am still out there heaving the lures, hoping to catch a bass. For me, BR was one aspect that I found very enjoyable, particularly the commaraderie among the various members. However, as I have said, this commaraderie has greatly diminished. I also submit that before one writes in anger, arrogance or in some other negative emotional state that they count to 10 before posting the comment. Life is too short to be caught up in all of this oneupmanship and sarcasm. I can, but will not, identify those members who have disappointed me in their fairly recent fall from the high esteem in which I held them due to their unwarranted, disrespectful comments. As I try to teach my daughter, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I am now off my soapbox. That being said, I apologize if I have expressed personal facts about my life and viewpoints that have offended -- it is completely unintentional. Tom