GREAT NEWS!!!!!

ESPN as well as many Wisconsin News outlets are reporting our captain Brett Favre will be returning for his 16th season as the Quarter Back of the Green Bay Packers. I feel this will benefit the Packers by allowing them the potential of having a competitive season and the advantage of letting backup QB Rogers learn from one of the greatest QB's of all time. Welcome Back Brett, and thank you for everything!!!!!!

Quick Notes...

Fishing -- Well I have had a couple chances to check out the new fish finder. In two trips I've managed one small smallie at Lake Wisconsin. The other trip was to Lake Mendota, I spent most of the time fooling with my new toy. I am very pleased with it's performance. My plan is to enter some cooridantes to fish cribs that I have accuired. Then navigate to those cooridinates and try and find the crib on my graph. We'll see how that works out. I have to say the GPS was nice at Lake Wisconsin, a lake I have only been on once last spring. I am hoping to spend an evening fishing crappies with FGAW maybe next week.

Happy Easter -- We had our usual holiday cirrcus, only this holiday was different because we split the days instead of the DAY. It was somewhat refreshing not having to go to both families in one day. Boo got some outdoor toys which we were in need of because currently her only toys are rocks and sticks. Which is ok, because I think it's cool that she is so interested in nature, but I am sure the allure of rocks and sticks won't last forever. Chris and Becky got her a 10,000 bubble blowing machine, it's pretty crazy, and I think it might actually blow about 10,000 bubbles a minute. Boo is very excited about it and already figured out how to turn it on and off.

Music -- So I am super excited about two albums coming next month. The new Red Hot Chili Peppers album sounds like it is going to be a cool mix of old and new Chili's music. You can check out the song/video for Dani Cailfornia at http://www.redhotchilipeppers.com. The album is called Stadium Arcadium, it's a two disk set and will be released on May 9, 2006.
The other album that sounds like it might be cool is The Raconteurs, you can check out a video and a couple songs here http://www.theraconteurs.com/. The webiste is pretty unique, you have to use your keyboard to navigate it. This is actually a Jack White (The Whitestripes) venture along with a couple guys from The Greenhornes. The two songs they have on the site sound pretty cool. The album is called Broken Boy Soldiers and will be released on May 16, 2006.

Lake Wingra Musky Pics

UPDATE: Gander Mountain doesn't Suck!!!!

So yesterday at lunch, which I am going to talk about in a minute as well, I received a call from the East Side Gander Mountain Store manager. He apologized several times for what had happened. He also said he ordered several new Eagle 502c Fish Finders from the warehouse and that they would be in by the weekend. Now, today he left me another message that he had received the unit and was holding it for me on his desk. Chalk one up for the little guy. I explained to him what had happened and he voiced his concern over some of the current employees, and also agreed with me about my points. My explanation was almost verbatim from my previous post, mostly because I had just written it. My only hope is that my complaint will leave a lasting impression on the Gander Mountain East employees and managers. Maybe they just need a little reminder about what customer service is. The manager was very apologetic and very nice. So thank you Gander Mountain for taking the time to listen to a very loyal customer, unfortunately for Foxy, it looks like the Gander Mountain Boycott was cut a little short. Now for the West side store...MUHAHAHA!!!!!

Ok, back to lunch...Yesterday (and today) I spent about 20 minutes during my lunch break over at the Lake Wingra dam. Early in the spring the Wingra muskies make their annual run up Wingra creek from their winter time home Lake Monona to Lake Wingra. This trip would be much easier had the City of Madison not added a dam. Well, the muskies don't care they just JUMP IT!!!!! Yesterday, I didn't see any jump the dam, but saw a bunch of huge Muskies just chillin right below the spillway. Today, however, I did see two make the jump. One made it, the other will have to try again. Not only did I get to see two jump, but I got to see one musky that was on the dam make it's run to the lake. This was also very cool. The damn is probably 10 - 15 yards long, the water on the dam is probably 2-12 inches, so the musky once they make the jump onto the dam have to scury another 15 yards in rushing water to make it to the lake. The whole process is very cool and takes a couple weeks to complete. It's pretty sweet seeing these beautiful fish accomplish something very unique. I'm going again tomorrow, and I am going to bring the camera. It's supposed to rain Thursday and Friday, otherwise I would probably go those two days as well.

Gander Mountain Sucks!!!!

Three words I hoped I would never have to mutter, Gander Mountain SUCKS!!!!! Myself and other outdoors men that I know have commented on the declining customer service at the Madison Gander Mountain stores specifically. I have been waiting for them to get my Fish Finder in stock, now I know it's a new model and they have to clear out the winter stuff, and they have really just got done stocking for summer fishing. Whatever, I went there on Friday and to my surprize they have my FishFinder on the display, an Eagle FishElite 502c. This is a new model from Eagle, sort of, basically the only difference is an internal GPS antenna, which I really like because I don't have to find a place to mount the external antenna that the 500c has. Ok, so like a kid in a candy store I practically run to the fishing department with Foxy and boo. There is a guy who is half-assed helping a customer, really he's playing with a couple reels on the display case. Literally playing with them, he's not stocking them, just playing not really paying attention to anyone. So this other customer is trying to get some money off of a floor model reel, which is fine, he seems kind of crabby to begin with. The clerk, still playing with reels, is just standing there, looking at me. So I can barely ask about this fish finder, I've been wanting it so long I feel like there is going to be a huge void in my life if I actually purchase it. This is a $450 device, I don't usually spend this kind of money on anything, I've been saving Gander Mountain gift cards from xmas and all my b-day and xmas money for this very moment. So this guy goes to find my Fishfinder, meanwhile the other customer is becoming almost furious with the help he isn't receiving. When the guy comes back, he's like well we are out of stock. The other customer at this point says nevermind and leaves. I'm like WTF you seriously just put this display out in the last two weeks and it's out of stock already. By this time there are two GM employees playing with reels. Neither has said anything about the fact that this thing is out. So I'm like, well do they have it at the other store, they look it up, no! They have it in Janesville and Baraboo, both 40 minutes away. OK, so now there are three guys, pretty much ignoring me just talking amongst themselvs playing with the computer. WTF, HAVE YOU TOTALLY FORGOTTEN WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE!!!!!! Wouldn't you think they would have asked if I would like them order one and hold it, or even offered to put one on hold at another store, or have one shipped from another store. This isn't a $5 bait, it's a $450 purchase. I also notice one of the asshats ignoring me was the guy who rang up my license on Friday. The guy takes over 30 minutes to ring up my license. Every button, every question, every step, he had to turn to the other clerk and ask what he should do. Meanwhile the line is at the cash register is ever growing, I feel like an idiot for holding people up. Other customers are trying to help this too jerk offs, get this done. I just want to yell at the two of them to SWITCH, someone should teach this guy on his own time. WTF, if I walk into DS Baits Gene (yes I know his name), is always up for at least a 5 minute conversation about whats biting where, where you are headed, etc... At one time my friend and I walked into Gander and the guy spent an hour with us helping us pick out rods, reels, and lures. What happened to customer service? Outdoors guys like to talk, like to brag, love to get new infomation, Gander needs to remember this. If you hate the job that you do you need to quit doing it and stop making other peoples lives miserable, this goes for anyone that works at a restraunt, retail outlet, who has to interact with other people. People at least used to fake it, now they just don't care and it is very frustrating to the customers. Just because your life sucks, I don't need to know about it. I have half a mind to start voicing that to these "high and mighty" clerks. YOU ARE A CASH REGISTER MONKEY, NOTHING ELSE, EITHER LIKE IT, FAKE IT, OR GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE!!!!!!!! Needless to say I've written Gander Mountain customer service, I may call as well.

On a side note, Charlie and I went fishing on Saturday. Nothing doing, the big skunk, aka 0. Maybe if I had my new fish finder, we could have put some crappies in the boat. Ok, probably not, but couldn't hurt. Was nice to be out, even though I had to plow through some sand in <1 of water. The good news is that the boat seems to be in fine working condition after it's hibernation. Can't argue with that.