Fishing Ken Lockwood Gorge

Yesterday I went fishing in the Ken Lockwood Gorge, on the south branch of the Raritan River near Clinton, NJ.

In addition to catching my first few trout on a fly rod, I caught more trout in one day then ever before. To make it even better, the first one I landed was a beautiful wild brown trout, which I wish I took a photo of. It was a lot of fun.

Below are pics of a rainbow and brook trout I caught.

Hook, Line, and Mike

Went fishing this past Saturday on Lake Hopatcong in NJ.

We caught 15 hybrid striped bass over 9LBs. Our largest was about 12LBs.

And none were caught on live herring...

Long Branch Half Marathon

Zero training or preparation. Time: 2 hours 12 minutes.

Fishing - So. branch of the Raritan and the Ramapo.

I went on my second fly fishing adventure of the year today. Got up at 4:30, was fishing on the south branch of the Raritan river by 6:30AM. A cold front came through early in the morning and brought some showers, which made the fish good and aggressive.

Their aggressiveness made up for my lack of fly fishing prowess, and I had a fish on at 8:00AM after I got acclimated to the river (I'd never fished this part of the river before). My excitement was short-lived, however, as the fish broke off at my feet. It was a decent sized brown trout, probably 10 or 11 inches.

As the morning progressed, the sun started to come and go, and the fish activity slowed. Surface breaks from rising trout were becoming less and less frequent. I had another hit at about 10AM, but couldn't hook up. That was the end of my action on the Raritan, although I stayed until 1PM.

I had my brown trout on a parachute emerging caddis dry fly (one that floats on the surface). It looked similar to some insects I saw gathering on a rock in the river, which must have been what the trout were eating on the surface.

At 11AM, a couple of guys rolled in with spinning gear and night crawlers, and cleaned out the hole I was wishing. They took 2 nice browns and a rainbow. I tried fishing some nymphs along the bottom, and even a woolly bugger, which was the closest fly to night crawler I had. Nothing worked.

At 1PM I left, and headed north, up to the Ramapo River. The Ramapo was pretty dead, but I did get in some good casting practice.

Hopefully this week I'll make it up to the Saddle River after work one day.

kickball

Last night I filled in on my friends kickball team, as they were short a player. We won 14 to 10. I fouled out once, pop'd out once, and got one single with a RBI.

Good times.

Too Much Excess

I read an article in the recent GQ about Greg Garcia, the writer behind "My Name Is Earl". During the writers strike, he went and took a job as a cashier/janitor at an LA area Burger King. In the article, he is quoted as saying that he didn't do this for any pompous, noble reason, like trying to understand "the people". He did it just because it was something different, and it was an experience he was interested in having.

That's pretty cool.

I started doing things differently recently, also. I consider myself a lucky individual, since I love what I do for a living, and there is no shortage of work. But I admit I can get caught up with success, and the need to make more money, get more/new/better stuff, etc. The desire to progress, compounded with the joy I get from doing what I do, can lead to some marathon sessions on the computer. Not healthy, for a number of reasons.

That said, over the past week, I've had a few small experiences that have lead in a direction I've always thought about, but never actually went in. That would be the path of charity. This week I donated to the American Cancer Society.

I've blown way too much money on crap and excess, and then I bust my ass to make more money, just so I can do it again.

Work/waste/rinse/repeat. A vicious cycle.

Once you start giving money to charity, it's like a switch in your brain gets flipped. We all KNOW that money shouldn't be the goal in life, but that is a hard ideal to embrace everyday. What making charitable donations did for me is help me realize that money is something that helps us live, but not something that we live for. It helps break the cycle.

How does that help me day to day? Well, if you don't worry so much about money, it's one less source of stress in your life. Now, I may still work a lot, but at least I know I'm doing it because I love it. When I have kids, they will definitely learn about charitable giving at an early age.

Fewd.

Ruben's Empenadas: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Argentinian sausage,
and spicy chicken empenadas are the only way to go.

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What time is it? It's jalapeno popper time at the Malibu Diner.
But the poppers are only an appetizer....


The main course of my birthday feast:
Bacon Cheese Burger (medium) with classic NJ Disco Fries.

Stoners working at CVS?

Here are some photos I snapped while shopping at CVS. I was browsing the toy section for something new to waste my time with, while Liz was looking for something probably of more importance, like Haribo gummy bears or something.

Hmm, paddle balls, toy snakes, bubbles, and...whoa...sup with these weird yo-yo's?

Intro

Since Schmoilitos Way is such a smash hit (it gets, approximately, between 3 AND 4 vistors per day!) I thought I would share my musings, observations, and rants that extend beyond the realm of application security.

Consider this post both a welcome, and an apology. Welcome to my world; and I apologize for anything that happens to you here :-)