Organizing Fishing Tackle Without A Boat

As most of you know, the wife and I moved into a new house in January.  My fishing equipment was pretty well organized at the previous house, but this gave me a new opportunity to start over and do it right. I am always making small tweaks and changes, but overall I am pleased with the finish product.

I see posts on forums all the time that involve fisherman asking other fisherman how they organize their equipment and tackle, especially when they do not have a boat.  Below is a brief explanation and show of how I do it.

First of all, I am blessed with a small cutout in the back of my garage that gives good space for this equipment.  The opening actually continues to the left behind the wall and curves around behind the wall with the rods.

Pegboards are a very inexpensive and flexible way to organize anything in the garage.  These days, you can find all sorts of peg-based fixtures to house a variety of items.  I chose to utilize the pegs for items that are difficult to store in my normal boxes.  There are also lots of items that do not exactly fit into a general category that I might already have organized.



Next, you will notice the actual tackle boxes.  Acquiring these can add up over time, but to me they are key.  I found the storage racks that help keep them in line and make it easy to pull one from the middle without the hassle of moving others.  I received a label maker for Christmas a few years back and have put it to good use.  If you do not have a label maker, a sharpie on tape can work.  I have also used mailing labels.  They can put into a printer, and the desired text can be entered into Excel.

Finally, it is very important to store rods and reels so that the rod is not being damaged.  There are several types of rod holders on the market.  I use Berkley.  They are very simply constructed using plastic and foam. I believe they were less than $10 each.  I currently use four sets.  It is important to allow space between each rod for the reels.  Each of these particular holders can fit six rods, but I limit most to only four.  The six rod capacity is for rods without reels.
 

OU Football - Fully Engaged (repost from Boomer Bytes)

As game week arrives, our friends at Second Wind Creative take a look back at the last 26 days in Sooner football to see how the team has prepared for 2013. This is a MUST WATCH for Oklahoma Football fans (we would recommend the full screen experience). Consider it a happy Boomer Bytes relaunch present from us to you. BOOMER SOONER!! -

http://boomerbytes.tumblr.com/post/59390032437/ou-football-fully-engaged

New Awareness, New Friends

Growing up as the son of a pastor and being around "church" all my life, I learned early how important it is to grow strong connections with other Christians.  Those connections are there for you to celebrate joyous times and to help get through the hard times.  Before our last move, we were blessed to have several other couples and families with whom we connected at least once a week for Bible study and fellowship.  People who started off as complete strangers became close friends.  I knew I could call on them for anything just as they could call on me.  Jennifer and I will hopefully always have a close connection with those individuals. 

The downside came when we moved.  We tried a few churches, but our hesitation to commit was due to our fear of not being able to match a small group like we had before.  When exploring new church home options, you consider several things.  The pastor is important.  The worship is important.  The missions are important.  You can get a feel of the doctrine from the website.  Our biggest issue was the small group options.  It is in the small group in the past where we saw our relationship grow in Christ.

After praying about it, we feel like we have found our new church home.  We also took a leap and contacted a small group leader.  They already had three families.  Would we feel like outsiders coming in to mix up their current dynamic and comfort zone?  How would they accept us?  Exploring small groups is not as easy as it might appear.

We have now met with this group on two separate occasions. I can honestly say that we felt welcomed from the very first handshake.  These families are warm and caring.  There appears to be a variety of backgrounds, but that is what helps us grow our own cultural awareness.  We can never change our past, but we can learn from the past of others that might have taken a different path.  I am excited about the opportunity to get to know these people and allow them to get to know us.

While I have already learned that each family has had its own unique set of life-changing events, I am pleased to be able to share the story of one.  I hope they do not mind that I share this.  This is the story of triumph through extreme difficulty.  It shows how focus on God and His plan can overcome circumstances that would cause a lot of people to give up.  I am proud to now know these two, and I look forward to getting to know them more in the years to come. 

If you do not want to be inspired, DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO.  Otherwise, be ready to be proud as an American, a Christian, and a human being.  Enjoy....http://youtu.be/YRpeEl2Fzto

Perfect Timing

I just had to share this link.  These are some great images!


http://twistedsifter.com/2013/03/most-perfectly-timed-photos-ever/

It Might Not Be So Bad Starting Off

I was recently directed to a blog entry that talked about teachers being underappreciated.  I have no disagreement that teachers are underappreciated.  They carry a major responsibility in the education of our children.  Unfortunately in some situations, they carry the sole responsibility of education (when parents do not do their parts).

Here is the site I was referring to - http://www.upworthy.com/the-real-number-of-hours-teachers-work-in-one-eye-opening-graphic-3

I take issue with this because of the accuracy.  I feel like I have as much authority as anyone who is not a teacher can have on this topic.  I have been a son, nephew, grandson, cousin, brother, friend, and husband to people of the teaching profession.  I have also worked as a substitute teacher and passed all exams and observation hours toward my teaching certification.  I have seen firsthand the number of hours that teachers work outside of the classroom.  This article/blog was an extreme exaggeration, though.  Yes, there may be days when a teacher works 12-16 hours, but it is not the average.  Of course some teachers probably work those hours every day, but this argument is dealing in averages.  The number of weeks "working" in the summer was completely off base as well.  I do not think any honest teacher would disagree with that.  I am sure I will have at least one teacher friend read this and claim that they do work every week during the summer getting ready for the next year.  That could be true, but I bet the majority of your co-workers do not.  Again, we are dealing in averages.  Exceptions can always exist.

Therefore, I decided to compose my own statistics based on the number of new teachers that I see complaining on my Facebook newsfeed about having to go back to work after having time off and about not making enough.  Again, you chose the profession, and I am completely grateful for people like you.  However, a new teacher should not complain about being underpaid, especially in the North Texas area.  These comments are usually made by people who have never worked in a corporate environment and think that everyone makes six figures and works exactly 40 stress-free hours every week. 

**I want to remind readers that this is talking about STARTING TEACHERS/RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES.  Unfortunately, though, the salaries do not increase very significantly with more years of experience.  I am in complete agreement that experienced teachers make less that than of those in other fields with equal years of experience.


Your first objection to the math might be that I used a nationwide calculation in one and a local in the other.  Yes, but I worked with the information I could find.  This is not the Wall Street Journal.  It is my blog.  I do not have millions of readers or a lot of time to do my research.  Therefore, it will have to suffice.

Basically my math shows that if you look at a per-week indicator of wages, a new teacher has no room to complain.  Wait a few years, then complain.  I will give you that.

Again, I appreciate teachers very much.  I am well-educated, and I have my teachers (who were mostly my mom's friends) to thank for it.  I just wanted to do the math for my own justification.  Even though the figures might be off slightly, it shows that given the experience level, teaching is not a horribly paid profession for someone coming right out of college (in some parts of the country).