Everyone Can't Be in Your Front Row

Below is a forwarded email I received. I forward a half dozen emails a year and when I do it is usually to a select 2-5 people. But last night (and into the wee hours of this morning) I had a front row seat in a basement full of speakers and amps. I tried to be sly about recording with my iPhone and figured I'd ask later and not interrupt what he was asking the guitar to do.

He says we "accidentally" recorded the intro and a few tracks to a new album idea that dawned on him last Sunday morning. I guess when a person has the ability to make a guitar sound as whimsical as a whistle and you know what sound you want then the genius can manifest itself in less than two days- I spent months designing a flat-bed trailer and I still don't know if it's done. I don't play any instruments myself but to be that close to how it all works musically in someone else's mind ranks right up there with tying the perfect steelhead fly and bringing an anadromous beast to my hand.

Life is a theater - invite your audience carefully.

Not everyone is spiritually healthy and mature enough to have a front
row seat in our lives.

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a
distance.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you LET GO, or at least
minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible,
not-going-anywhere
relationships/friendships/fellowships!

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention to:
Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones
discourage?

Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going
downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?

Which ones always have DRAMA or don't really understand, know and
appreciate
you and the gift that lies within you?

When you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth, the easier it will
become
for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be
moved to the balcony of your life.

You cannot change the people around you...but you can change the people
you are around!

Ask God for godly wisdom and discernment and choose wisely the people
who sit in the front row of your life.

My Review of Keen Voyageur Mid Hiking Boots - Men's

Originally submitted at REI

Like its cousin, Targhee, the midheight Keen Voyageur hiking boot offers the same 4-wheel-drive traction and stability minus the waterproof barrier.

Keen Voyageur Mid Hiking Boots - Men's

Finally a shoe made for the human foot

By FinChasers from Tualatin, Oregon on 10/8/2009

 

5out of 5

Gift: No

Pros: Arch Support, Comfortable/No Break-In, Great Traction

Best Uses: Everyday, Long-Distance Hiking, Day Hiking, Light Loads

Describe Yourself: Casual/Recreational, Professional/Guide, Avid Adventurer

Sizing: Feels true to size, Feels true to size

I was looking at all other brands for a shoe that came in "widths" and the REI sale person kept telling me to try the Keen. I tried everything else and came close to finding exactly what fit my foot correctly. I finally let her get me a Keen and I couldn't believe what someone had made for my foot. I am wearing them right now and they are divinely inspired. Now I just wish they made shoes to go over waders for the fisherman lifestyle as well.

(legalese)

Confessions of a Fly Shop Manager

Confessions of a Fly Shop Manager
A jaded fly shop employees final requests to customers

As I prepare for my departure from the fly shop manager life of riches, fame, and glory, I'd like to get something off my chest. Its a small list of requests, suggestions, rants and facts directed towards the every day fly shop customer. New and old, rich and poor.

1. Under no circumstances enter the shop and let the first words that roll out of your obviously silly grill be, "So whats hot". Stop and realize what an open ended statement that is. Try saying, "Hey I'm not as awesome as you, and therefore know nothing, I promise tidings of beer and my hot sister if you teach me your ways". Watch what happens then you [REDACTED] [REDACTED].

2. Don't complain about the price of flourocarbon, it makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about.

3. If you rip your brand new Cloudveil waders on a piece of barb wire its not my [REDACTED] fault.

4. I really don't want to hear about the 20 fish between 12 and 18 inches you caught on the Arkansas last weekend. I'd honestly rather chew glass than listen about all the small fish you and your buddy caught "on the dry", "it was epic bro", [REDACTED] gag me.

5. Just because you know some guy who guides for some shop I've never heard of doesn't mean you get the "bro hook-up".

6. No matter how many fish you catch, it doesn't make you any less of a douche for wearing that bright orange Simms vest.

7. Wet fly is no longer an acceptable description of a nymph. Period.

8. If you are going tarpon fishing but don't want to spend "a lot of money" on gear…….don't go tarpon fishing.

9. Step into the 21st century folks! We have better fly patterns than the Orange Asher and the Royal Coachman nowadays. Buy a [REDACTED] extended body Beatis that flaps its own wings with the help of a microchip and nano-motors. Geez.

10. And finally, people please, PLEASE!!!!!!! Replace your fly lines more than once every 5 years. Most of us replace it yearly, hell, I replace mine quarterly. The reason your line doesn't float, is because you have been stepping on it for a year and never cleaned it. Its not the line company's fault. And it sure as hell isn't mine. Its yours.

(11)Never hold up a fly in a shop and ask….."what size fish you goingg to catch on this little hook?" Idiot phase 1.

There it is. Lets work towards nirvana in fly shop employee-fly shop customer interactions. I leave this list in hopes that it will one day help the brothers working the long hours listen to people bitch about something they know nothing about. And here's to humidity, sand, gators, and redfish. I'm out with no more time left for lip service.

Windmills of your Mind - Movie Version HQ

Gliders landing in fields where hot chicks in convertible Americana
just pulled in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rTq6lDtCsU

Eliot

Sent from my iPhone

Summer's Last Lunch

With Italian flair we share what may be the last daddy daughter lunch
date. AKA Spaghetti factory leftovers. An umbrella and ice for mom's
forgotten breakfast can of diet DP and the dregs of the bottle poured
last night during everyones dinner party exit.

James and the Giant Peach

I find it relaxing to imagine the enormity of my life being about the
size of a peach and any of it's inhabitants. Things are much more
manageable in my mind.

Eliot

Sent from my iPhone

Shazam

Pickathon 2009

You don't get closer than this

"Stack-On" Business Model

A Father's Woe

Should I be worried when I tell my daughter to get dressed for the
beach and she comes downstairs looking like a 5-year old who works for
"Charlie"?