Three items/subjects/places/people worth checking out to make life as an angler and global citizen far more enjoyable:
1. Fish Tales Fly Shop, Calgary, AB
The positive side of getting weathered in at the project site in Nunavut last week is getting to meet Matlock (aka @findeep) for a quick fish on Alberta's Bow River and going for sushi with him & Cod (@chroniclesofcod) during a seven-hour layover. Best layover ever. Wet socks & all.
Matlock picked me up at the airport and we headed to his local fly shop so I could grab a license. The fact they had been closed for about an hour didn't really slow things down much; they unlocked the door and got me set up with both a license and the new issue of The Drake for my flight home.
Fish Tales is a great shop, loads of inventory and run by a seriously kick-ass nice dude. If you're in Calgary, it's worth a stop. And Cod guides outta there, too.
Check 'em out on the web here. For a Google Map, click here.
2. The Shack Up Sessions
This is Ross Neilsen's new solo album, recorded inside the Robert Clay shack at The Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale Mississippi, just down the road from the famous crossroads of highway 49 and 61.
It's good. Really good.
Ross has been mentioned a few times here, and his music is on my regular rotation of playlists & albums. And for good reason: his songs are at times rocking and whisky-chugging, and always soulful and honest-to-goodness blues.
This album is a little less loud but still everything one could ask for in a blues album.
Ross also had a special message for the fly fishing crowd that reads this: "Keep yer poles bent."
You can preview and download the album here & on iTunes; for a physical copy shipped, click here.
And if this picture doesn't brighten your day, check your pulse.
Ross (right) & Karl's search for a bass player brought interesting characters.
3. William Joseph HemoCuts
One of my favourite fly fishing accessories. Probably one of the best sub-$20 items in the fly fishing industry, in my mind.
Pros: easy to grip, easy to open, pinch barbs up to 1/0 saltwater hooks, cutting blades are sharp, and they lock down tight when shut.
Cons: they don't make a big, eff-off size for toothy/salty critters.
One week from today tomorrow will be the two-year anniversary of my launch of 411#3.
To celebrate the joyous occasion of me adding my garbage thoughtful prose to the interwebz I've decided to do a swag giveaway.
The prize?
My not-quite world famous Keep Calm & Don't Trout-Set t-shirt!
But here's the deal: I'm not giving away one shirt.
I'm giving away TWO SHIRTS!!
Want to win?
Enter by leaving a comment on this post.
That's it.
No 'Liking.'
No 'Sharing'
No 'RT-ing'
No 'Give me your email address so I can nag you for shit forever.'
Just a simple "I'm in!" or similar will enter you for two chances to win a shirt.
Winners will be drawn on Tuesday, August 28th, 2012.
Note #1: The two winners will be selected by random number generator. Note #2: comments of "You suck" will greatly decrease your chances of winning, but your criticism will be noted. Note #3: Want to drastically increase your chances of getting a shirt? You can buy one here. Note #4: Subscribing via RSS or email will not increase your chances, but I appreciate you caring. Note #5: Sharing, liking & RT-ing this post will earn my gratitude, as well... Note #6: The dates have been fixed. I've been in the field for 3 weeks, I lose track of time. I thought today was the 21st.
NOTE: I'm trying out a new layout on this, via Blogger's Dynamic Views. I'd really appreciate your input on how it looks/acts/feels/etc.
Some of you who follow along on my Instagram & Twitter feeds (both '@mattrevors') or tumblr page (or even the dreaded Facebook) may have seen these pics already, but I thought I'd post a few here.
As I frequently make public, I'm an ardent anti-winter person. Hate cold, hate ice, wish to live in Florida with white pants pulled up to my armpits & fish all the time, and so on & so forth.
Needless to say, I was completely horrified a little apprehensive about coming within a degree or so of the Arctic Circle in mid-April.
Surprisingly, the project location wasn't all that nightmarish. I missed home (as usual) and its mild weather (as expected), but food was good, accommodations ok, and people onsite were extremely pleasant & friendly...unlike other jobs I've been on (*cough* Saskatchewan *cough*).
I'm hoping to get back in the summer at some point, with fly rods in tow. I fly through Yellowknife, which is situated on a decent-sized lake and apparently has some pike that need introducing to my Redington 10wt. And there are grayling, trout & char present in the vicinity of this project site.
Hopefully the company I'm contracted to doesn't mind me being seconded to the client as official fishing guide/gear-lender for VIP tours of the property. Conveniently, one of the helicopter pilots has just started fly fishing & tying, too. A few flies and casting & tying lessons might be bartered for flight time.
Here are some pics...
This thing is almost cool enough to make winter enjoyable
Ample fly tying materials available, should I run low
C-130 Hercules on landing strip if lake ice, unloading bulldozers at sunrise
Any fans of the show 'Ice Pilots' will recognize this bird
I (semi-unintentionally) changed the domain name of this site from 411number3.net to mattrevors.com this morning.
This was something I was considering doing in the near-future, to help tie in my twitter handle (@mattrevors) and my fairly-new tumblr page for Instagram/Lightbox pics (mattrevors.tumblr.com).
Unfortunately, the hamsters that spin internal wheels at Google/Blogger, the Secret Society of the Stonecutters and whoever else might hold the puppet strings of fate had other things in mind, as the change occurred instantaneously.
This means every single link to posts I've made over the past year & some are now broken. I did manage to dive deep into the machine and create an URL redirect, but unfortunately anything will move on to the home/top page. I'm not overly computer-savvy beyond that, so...yeah.
However...if you happen to have a link with the 411number3.net domain (e.g., http://www.411number3.net/2012/01/back-to-school.html ) all that is required to get to the post you're looking for is change the 411number3.net to mattrevors.com (e.g., http://www.mattrevors.com/2012/01/back-to-school.html ). The rest of the URL remains the same.
As for you RSS subscribers (which there are surprisingly quite a few of you...thanks!), I think...THINK...I have things all straightened away. I'll confirm that tomorrow morning for sure; if it's all fubar'd, I'll go back to the drawing board. It's a big drawing board (see lack of computer-savviness above) so I'm hoping it's all straightened out.
For those of you not subscribed yet, you can still do that via email & RSS on the upper right of the page, in the sidebar.
I'm pretty sure this is messing up me far worse than it is you, loyal readers, but still, I write to be read. An unintended domain name change is a pretty good way for the reading part of that to not happen.
Here's that music I promised you. A tune that is more for my benefit than yours right now, I'm sure.
One of the prime tenants of hypermiling is “do not accelerate quickly or brake heavily.”
According to the folks at cleanmpg.com, accelerating quickly or braking heavily can reduce fuel economy as much as 33 percent at highway speeds and 5 percent around town.
Here are three scenarios that you might encounter during your everyday drive and three suggestions on how you can reduce accelerating and braking.
Uphill leading to a stop light/sign: Travel as far up the hill as possible before stopping. Maintain a steady pace and attempt to crest the hill when the light is green. If there is a stop sign at the top of the hill, you have no choice. You have to stop. Unfortunately, accelerating from a dead stop facing uphill is one of the worst fuel efficiency situations that you will face. Often, there is a relatively level piece of ground at the top of a hill. Try to stop there if possible. If the hill is part of your regular commute, try a different route so that you can avoid the hill.
Downhill leading to a stop light/sign: Slow down well before the light. Coast on the downhill and try to time your descent so that you hit the intersection when the light is green. This will allow you to coast through the light without having to accelerate. Even if you do have to brake on the intersection when the light is green. This will allow you to coast through the light without having to accelerate. Even if you do have to brake on the downhill, you have gravity on your side. You can continue to coast after applying the brakes.
Level ground leading to a stop light/sign: Continue to slow your vehicle before actually coming to a stop. Think of yourself as moving half the distance to the goal line and then half again. You can accomplish this both through braking and by coasting into your buffer.
Why it is important to the fish: All vehicles produce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) when they burn gasoline.
Why it is important to you: Burn less gas, burn less cash. I'll repeat that:
BURN LESS GAS, BURN LESS CASH
The 2000 RPM Challenge
For the current tank of gas in the High Plains Drifter, I have vowed to NOT drive over 2000RPM, to see how much more mileage I can crank out of it.
Some basic stats:
I filled up yesterday, 11-Jan-12 at 2:40PM; the truck was almost empty (~80L gas tank)
It took 78.751L of mid-grade gasoline...that's 20.803 US gallons
The total price was $96.00
That's $1.219 per litre...that's $4.614 CDN per US gallon, or $4.531/gallon in US dollars
Driving normally, I drove 424.6km (263.8 miles) on the previous tank of gas
Approximate mileage calculation: 5.39km per litre, or 12.68 miles/gallon
90% of my driving on the previous tank was in the city
(Note: the Canadian economy hasn't screeched to a halt with these gas prices or public health care...something to think about)
I will update this once I fill up again. I'm hoping it's not for a while.
Here's what I've noticed following the first afternoon of my 2000 RPM Challenge: Fredericton has some steep-ass hills, and it is friggin' hard to get up them at or under 2000 RPM. Also there's a lot of old blue-hairs that accelerate slower than I do.
Think about that: I'm trying to accelerate my (automatic transmission-driven) truck from a dead stop, on an uphill grade, at under 2000 RPM, and I'm accelerating faster than granny in a Toyota Corolla.
No wonder people develop ulcers & eye twitches from commuting to work every day.
I'm glad I don't work every day.
The Tweet
I was interviewed by our regional newscast on Friday because of this:
Long story short: I was waiting in my truck (not idling, btw) for my lovely gf, saw this dude walk around his van with buckets in hand, I assumed (correctly) that he was going to dump them down the storm drain, snapped a pic, tweeted it.
The tweet got shared a bunch of times, a city councillor sent the photo to the public works department, and the mayor weighed in.
The company told the reporter it was just water.
But, if it was just water, why did he have to rinse his buckets multiple times, dumping them down the storm drain each time?
The newscast was more about "the power of Twitter" than it was the actual incident (you can watch it here; the segment is at 7 minute-mark); and the reporter didn't want to dive into what the company did/didn't do for legal matters; in fact, they enlarged the photo & cropped out the company van on the newscast.
Few things the news left out that I felt were important: while the reporter stated I was an "avid fisherman," they didn't mention anything about me being a geologist that works partly in the field of hydrogeology. That's somewhat relevant, me thinks. They also left out that I'm Vice-President of the Nashwaak Watershed Association...though I did manage to get the Association's logo pictured in the background. But still, also somewhat relevant.
Instead, come off as an unshaven, festively-plump busy-body, lurking in a parking lot with a camera phone...who is an avid fisherman...
They also didn't quote my off-camera best quote ever:
"I'm not in the marble business, so I can't tell you exactly what they were dumping. But I'm pretty much in the water business, and I can tell you it wasn't clean f**king water."
Speaking of the Nashwaak Watershed Association....
Our man in the know is cranking out the new website & we're getting our new & updated social media presence ready to rock; expect a launch in the very near-future.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the organization, or becoming a member (it's only $10/year!!), please get in touch with me!
And now some music
I've mentioned Ross Neilsen a few times before on the blog. Like here. And here.
I'm a big fan of his hard-rocking, whisky-chugging, grinding dirty blues (and his other stuff, too).
Ross and some special guests are playing at Dolan's Pub (King Street) on January 18th as a fundraiser for his upcoming trip to compete in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.
