i need to find an appraiser in VA that can appreciate the sound treatments that the car had. That would be fantastic

the guy that hit me got charged with a dui based on when they picked him up the next day..... and i got a subpoena as a witness

he's going to go scott free and i'm going to get fucked by my insurance company....awesome

If it makes you feel any better, my first car was stolen and totaled. Never recieved a penny of restitution and the guy got off because the case got lost between juvenile and civil court because the woman in charge of processing the paper work retired and left everything. All the while, collection companies keep sending me paper work over the years offering to get the money back, but take 50% of the restitiution. That was awesome.

I really hope you are able to get some help here to get your car back.

Went and looked at a T-bird today that the guy told me was, "mint aside from the replaced doors which were the only spots of rust on the car."

I guess those silver doors on a red car just distract your eyes from the other 13 holes throughout the vehicle.

Looked at an Explorer last night that, "just needs a trans."

I guess the white door on the side of the red vehicle with the smashed in fender and rocker panel doesn't need commented on. Just replace the trans in it's good as new.

Going to look at a Rivi tonight that, "just needs a headgasket." At least this guy has told me all the issues with the car before I go to look at it.

Where do you keep finding these cars? Seems like this happens every time you go look at one. You're just looking for that diamond in the rough, aren't you. Look for ladies that just went through a divorce.

Local paper, trader mags, Craigslist, word-of-mouth, etc. . .

Turns out the Rivi is actually a pretty nice ride. I don't think it needs head gaskets either, just an intake gasket. If I can get a tow dolly for a good price, I'm going to buy the car.

Pics if you do! But it's kinda funny that the basis of you buying it isn't on the actual car, but the availability of a way to haul it. Haha.

Speaking of gaskets and since you're a Ford person, do you know how easy/hard it is to replace exhaust gaskets on an explorer with the 4.0 SOHC? I think mine might be bad. They leak a little puff sound when they're cool, but when the engine heats up I imagine it expands the metal because the leak goes away. I really don't have the tools, lift, or garage to do it myself, just wondering how much labor I might expect from a shop. Wonder if I should just have them replace the manifold/pipe/catalytic converter while they're there as well. Already replaced cat-back exhaust.

Hmm, my $50 job just turned into $600.

I'm not spending more than $600 to get this car home, so the guy wants $400; I'm not paying more than $200 to get it home.

As for the Explorer, I have no idea on the gasket. Ford uses a stainless gasket and they almost never fail, so unless you're had the manifolds off, I don't see why they'd be leaking.

Well I bought it with 150k miles so who knows what the previous owner(s) did. It has been doing it the whole time I've owned it, I just haven't really cared a whole lot.

the guy that hit me got charged with a dui based on when they picked him up the next day..... and i got a subpoena as a witness

he's going to go scott free and i'm going to get fucked by my insurance company....awesome

If it makes you feel any better, my first car was stolen and totaled. Never recieved a penny of restitution and the guy got off because the case got lost between juvenile and civil court because the woman in charge of processing the paper work retired and left everything. All the while, collection companies keep sending me paper work over the years offering to get the money back, but take 50% of the restitiution. That was awesome.

I really hope you are able to get some help here to get your car back.

Man that's BS. How in the world could that happen. I guess if the kid has no insurance and no money, where would it come from.

Matt, this is why handguns are still legal................for now.

And sorry your goin through this bullshit

Man the hippies were out in force tonight. They are becoming more numerous. There were just groups of them sitting on the sidewalk all up and down the main street downtown.

the guy that hit me got charged with a dui based on when they picked him up the next day..... and i got a subpoena as a witness

he's going to go scott free and i'm going to get fucked by my insurance company....awesome

If it makes you feel any better, my first car was stolen and totaled. Never recieved a penny of restitution and the guy got off because the case got lost between juvenile and civil court because the woman in charge of processing the paper work retired and left everything. All the while, collection companies keep sending me paper work over the years offering to get the money back, but take 50% of the restitiution. That was awesome.

I really hope you are able to get some help here to get your car back.

Man that's BS. How in the world could that happen. I guess if the kid has no insurance and no money, where would it come from.

I would rather not get into it, just got royally burnt by the system, as in double victim. But I am not trying to divert from Matt's issue. I sent an email to our insurance company, whos branch is owned and ran by my son's god parents, to see if they have any ideas for Matt's car. There might be some seperation between MD and VA law in this situation. This is kind of like the new law that our new leader signed into law where home loans or re-fi loans, the appraiser cannot be selected or have contact with the broker or the loan officer. Meaning, you cannot select or request a different appraiser, much like what just happened to Matt.

Man the hippies were out in force tonight. They are becoming more numerous. There were just groups of them sitting on the sidewalk all up and down the main street downtown.

Maybe to celebrate woodstock?

the guy that hit me got charged with a dui based on when they picked him up the next day..... and i got a subpoena as a witness

he's going to go scott free and i'm going to get fucked by my insurance company....awesome

Didn't he have insurance? If it was a dui it is obviously his fault no matter what.

Phelp's car wreck was close to my game thursday night.

Supposed to start getting awesome outside though. High of only around 80-82 for the 10 days after tomorrow

Finally can break out the fishing pole again, which has been in the corner of my room since I moved in three weeks ago. Or the golf clubs, which have been right next to it.

I finally replaced the ones that were stolen, this time though with custom sticks made for how I fish.

How do you fish? Or maybe I should ask what custom mods you got to them and what performance differences they give you.

Loaded question. I only had $4k to spend so I had to make some compromises but here are the 7 sticks I ended up with. I chose these actions for the lake I live on which has a lot of milfoil and mostly largemouth. (I have other rods for Muskies )

Spinning:

Dock Skipping rod - St Croix Avid MH 6'6" blank. I had the reel seet extended forward with a hidden texas mount so you only hold cork, this also shortened the rod a couple inches for better accuracy. I usually throw wacky rigs and other weightless worms with this. Also would be useful for deep walleye jigging with heavy jigs or throwing roller jigs in the wind. Paired with a Shimano Stradic as it is what I'd call an entry level reel from a reliability standpoint. The MH was chosen to turn the fish as fast as possible because when you are 20' under a dock you need to get him coming towards you pronto.

Drop Shot Rod - St Croix Legend Elite 6'8" MXF kicked out to 7'. The extra inches soften the whole action without reducing the power allowing you to really feel everything but to nail hook sets when necessary. This rod also regularly doubles as a light Texas Rig rod for fishing shallow weed edges, but has enough power to fish full size texas rigs if it gets windy or the W comes along. This gets a carbon fiber Stradic.

Baitcasting.

Texas Rig - St Croix Legend Elite M 7' kicked out to 7'6, butt extended to 14", foregrip removed for extra sensititivity, SiC Ti guide upgrade. This thing is light and ultra sensitive. The extra length gives me longer casts and IMO an improved action. The longer butt allows me to tuck it under my forearm better when necessary.

Roller Jig/Spinner Bait - St Croix Legend Elite 7' MH kicked out to 7'10", butt extended to 14" with a flair to help get that extra cast distance,foregrip removed for extra sensititivity, SiC Ti guide upgrade. If you could only have 1 bass rod this would be it, you can really fish anything on it. I already have a slightly shorter version of this stick I use when I really need super casting accuracy, but the combo really lets me cover water. I can cast a spinner a country mile and have more than enough power to actually set the hook and bring the fish in.

Pitching Stick - St Croix Avid, 7' H shortened to 6'9", normal length butt so as I flip the rod around it doesn't get in my way. This I had built to cast to pie plates or smaller targets at 30 yards. Super accurate with more than enough power to pull a hog up right through the milfoil. Weight wasn't a huge concern here, but accuracy was. I chose to save a little on the blank because of this. This rod made more of a difference in my accuracy than I could imagine. I replaced a slightly lighter 7' with it and went from hitting within 20" to significantly less than 10". On a good day I am within 4" of my target at 30yds.

Frog/Slop Rod - G Loomis 904 kicked out to 7'10 (butt and stuff identical to Spinner Bait rod). This rod is about casting really light lures with heavy braid as far into the pads as possible and the instant a fish bites getting it up on the pads and closer to the boat. You need a serious stick to turn a 7lb'er in the slop.

All Baitcasters were fitting with last years Salt water Shimano Chronarch's. I prefer last years by a lot to this years as they have bigger paddles are more comfortable in my hand and seem to deal better pulling large lures through the water.

That is a rather abbreviated description, if you want any further info just ask

That is a rather abbreviated description, if you want any further info just ask

You have some Awesome fishing equipment!!

That is a rather abbreviated description, if you want any further info just ask

You have some Awesome fishing equipment!!

Thanks. A lot of time, thought, "training", and effort went into figuring out exactly what I wanted.

That is a rather abbreviated description, if you want any further info just ask

You have some Awesome fishing equipment!!

Thanks. A lot of time, thought, "training", and effort went into figuring out exactly what I wanted.

If you don't mine, what would you recommend for flyfishing. This is something I have been thinking about doing.

Slow hop. Check back later. Kids want to take me to eat for my Birthday.

the guy that hit me got charged with a dui based on when they picked him up the next day..... and i got a subpoena as a witness

he's going to go scott free and i'm going to get fucked by my insurance company....awesome

Didn't he have insurance? If it was a dui it is obviously his fault no matter what.

That's what I was thinking too.

Matt, I remember you taking some pictures of it a while ago, if you show those to the appraiser so they can see the good condition and any mods/upgrades you did, would that help?

That is a rather abbreviated description, if you want any further info just ask

Nope, that was very adequate! You'll have to let us know if they help you catch more fish.

I only have one pole with an open spinner reel . But I'm also still a novice, I still have yet to buy my first baitcaster reel. I also don't fish as many different habitats as you. For me it's pretty much just off the shore into either grassy/mossy or silty bottoms. I usually do most of my damage with spinnerbaits, maybe my rod/reel combo is the reason I don't get other baits to work very well? Of course it could also be my technique, I'm still learning the tricks with all of them.

So I take it you prefer wacky style worm rigging as opposed to texas? I use texas because I know how to make it weedless, which is fairly important for where I fish. A lot of times I only have about 2-3' of water above the weeds at the bottom, and I'll be stuck all day if I either don't use a lure that stays above that or is weedless. I suppose if you just don't pull the hook out of the wacky style rigging it is also weedless, but I imagine that takes a more powerful hookset to the get hook out of the worm in the first place and have it go through, as opposed to Texas where it is just barely hooked under the skin of the worm and can easily pop out?

Slow hop. Check back later. Kids want to take me to eat for my Birthday.

Happy birfday!!!!!

Slow hop. Check back later. Kids want to take me to eat for my Birthday.

Happy Birthday ! ! ! !

That is a rather abbreviated description, if you want any further info just ask

You have some Awesome fishing equipment!!

Thanks. A lot of time, thought, "training", and effort went into figuring out exactly what I wanted.

If you don't mine, what would you recommend for flyfishing. This is something I have been thinking about doing.

Budget? Fishing location? Species? Do you know what sort of baits you'd throw?

*what works here may not be your choices

the guy that hit me got charged with a dui based on when they picked him up the next day..... and i got a subpoena as a witness

he's going to go scott free and i'm going to get fucked by my insurance company....awesome

Didn't he have insurance? If it was a dui it is obviously his fault no matter what.

That's what I was thinking too.

Matt, I remember you taking some pictures of it a while ago, if you show those to the appraiser so they can see the good condition and any mods/upgrades you did, would that help?

And with the pics you should expect to get a car in the same condition. Go to a local shop and get an estimate to do what you did and have them add it to the car. They have to.

That is a rather abbreviated description, if you want any further info just ask

Nope, that was very adequate! You'll have to let us know if they help you catch more fish.

I only have one pole with an open spinner reel . But I'm also still a novice, I still have yet to buy my first baitcaster reel. I also don't fish as many different habitats as you. For me it's pretty much just off the shore into either grassy/mossy or silty bottoms. I usually do most of my damage with spinnerbaits, maybe my rod/reel combo is the reason I don't get other baits to work very well? Of course it could also be my technique, I'm still learning the tricks with all of them.

4 major ways to fish spinnerbaits.

1) Rip them back fast enough they make a wake

2) Drop them to a depth (count down) and reel in evenly

3) Slow roll them across the bottom

4) Yo-yo fish them

Super versatile and amazingly weedless. And yes the new rods help me catch more

So I take it you prefer wacky style worm rigging as opposed to texas? I use texas because I know how to make it weedless, which is fairly important for where I fish. A lot of times I only have about 2-3' of water above the weeds at the bottom, and I'll be stuck all day if I either don't use a lure that stays above that or is weedless. I suppose if you just don't pull the hook out of the wacky style rigging it is also weedless, but I imagine that takes a more powerful hookset to the get hook out of the worm in the first place and have it go through, as opposed to Texas where it is just barely hooked under the skin of the worm and can easily pop out?

No preference, I use what works based on what structure I am fishing. With the right stick even an exposed wacky worm can stay rather weedless you just have to feel when you should pop it so it doesn't get hung up. On Tonka I only fish wacky when I fish docks and many are weedy, but you fish weightless so the bait doesn't dig into the weeds but "rests" on top and you can pop it off.