02Sled

Looks like a great time was had. I wish I could have been there but my wife had made plans for my birthday that day and I would have landed in the dog house for sure if I was missing in action for that.

My vote is for the goo gone. Been using it for years for adhesive on virtually all surfaces. Sled windshields, fiberglass boat, painted surfaces and so much more. As was said by someone else beware of goof off... that is for paint removal when you make a goof.

That's why the reverse auction does not mean the lowest price must get the business. It ensures that you are getting the best price for the products that meet the specs you require. The price is only part of a scoring matrix that weights specific criteria as to how well it matches your requirements. I used the reverse auction and a very complex weighted scoring matrix when acquiring technology solutions. I recall doing an online auction for laptops and PC's. The price variance was $10 from the lowest to the highest. Given the insignificant $ variance the technical specs were obviously a much more dominant criteria. We assessed user personal preference as well. It was one thing to get a bunch of IT people to assess a laptop or PC but we also brought in a mix of end users and asked them to rate the different brands based on a sizeable list of factors.

I am unable to substantiate what I have heard. I have been told that in some cases when clubs were buying groomers on their own they didn't perform due diligence well. Club member A would say I have a friend who can get us a good price on a new groomer, perhaps a farm tractor with tracks added. Nobody checked to see if it was a good price or not or if it was well suited to the job or not and the long term reliability. They just went ahead and purchased assuming it was a good deal. The OFSC seem to be pursuing a more business like procedure with RFI, RFP, RFQ and analysis through the stages. With the $ amounts being spent the only additional thing they could do is a reverse online auction. Invite the finalist vendors to go online and enter their price as per the RFI/P/Q process. They can't see what the other's have bid but can see their ranking #1, #2, #3 etc. They now have the opportunity to sharpen their pencils and enter a new lower bid and hopefully move up in the ranking. The auction is set for typically 30 minutes and if a bid comes in during the last 5 minutes it is extended another 5 to give others a chance to respond. It ensures you are getting the best price possible. The result of the auction is non binding on the purchaser. i.e. If you find the lowest price is $1000 less than the second lowest but the lowest price is a converted farm tractor versus a conventional groomer the purchaser may opt to spend the extra $1000 for the preferred device but it may be hard to pass on a $10,000 difference in price.

I was thinking the same.

Not really... cost me many thousands as part of the cost of the sled. When I bought my old Cat sled it came with membership to the Cat Club. That included the hooded sweatshirt, t-shirt and ball cap. The long sleeve shirt was acquired at the sled show. A real adventurous and daring person could wear some anti-poo stuff.

Play it safe and show up with all your Cat gear. I have a Cat sweatshirt, t-shirt (both long and short sleeved) and a Cat ball cap.

They insure both our boats. They are part of our house policy

I believe you said you have one set up on the boat that works but you would need to run a cable across the boat. If so look a wireless transmitter receiver. We have one for the satellite tuner PVR. It connects to the tuner and transmits to the receiver in the bedroom for the TV there. It's bidirectional so we point the remote for the tuner at the receiver in the bedroom and it controls the tuner in the living room. It was under $100 at Walmart a couple of years ago.

You ever go to the Waubic for fish & chips. It's on the Severn River above Big Chute. We plan on going a few times since l have the free seasonal lock pass. Perhaps you may enjoy going for a wee boat ride to lunch.

If I'm not mistaken you need internet access to use it and you pay $10 / month. Their web page is less than obvious of how the service works. To each their own but I'm not really interested in downloading music to replay it later. Call me cheap but my cell phone doesn't have a data package. I access to the internet at home or when I stop into places like Timmies or someplace that has free wifi. I don't need to be connected that badly. When I was working the company supplied the smart phone and all the connectivity because I needed it for the job but not anymore. When I listen to radio I use a station that plays the mix of music I like and let them do all the programming. I just turn it on and listen. As it pertains to the snowmobile world, personally I don't believe they need to pay to advertise on radio that permits are on sale which is what I get the sense the survey is about. As for Nicholson... I find his radio spots essentially useless. They appear to be aimed at the simple minded who haven't much of a clue to what they are doing. They are Captain Obvious spots. If the OFSC is going to run ads in any media they need to aim those ads at capturing new snowmobilers rather than preaching to the converted, they loyal and die hard sledder who doesn't need a sales pitch. They need to know the media that the non sledder, who would be a likely convert listens to, reads and watches. This would be the person who has an "outodoor" tendency. Boating, biking, fishing, camping, hiking etc.

I tend to listen to satellite radio most of the time when driving however when at the lake I like listen to the local radio station The Dock out of Midland. I hear about local events (i.e. Midland Butter Tart Festival, Coldwater Duck Race) and local weather forecasts. When I was working I wouldn't pay more than $90 / year for satellite radio. It wasn't worth any more than that to me when I can listen to other radio for free. Now I paid $30 for 6 months of satellite which is about what it is worth to me. I won't pay for Apple or Google downloads. I have a massive amount of what I want to listen to on CD, vinyl, cassette and unbelievably 8 track.

In that case I would bring the wife AND the girlfriend to ensure the Amzoil girls would be there.

Meloche Monnex is one of the arms of TD Insurance. The other is TD Home & Auto. The people I have dealt with at TD have regularly checked both to validate for the best rates they could provide between the two. Meloche Monnex is the one that handles group discounts for TD. If you are employed by a company, belong to an association or similar that has a relationship with TD Insurance you get discounted group rates. It seems that there are lots of people that qualify for these types of group rate discounts but aren't aware that they do. I went two years not knowing I qualified for the group discount. It often applies to retirees of a specific employer as well. Back in March I shopped the market using some of the generic online tools where you get quotes from a large number of insurers simultaneously. I also shopped by calling a number of insurers and brokers directly. Belair and Desjardins were two of the insurers I checked and as a total package for all my coverage the total cost was more than TD. The only way I could come close to saving some money would be to split up my coverage between multiple companies and the savings would be negligible. I have had a couple of claims with TD over the years and the service was outstanding. I would even pay a slight increased amount for peace of mind. A couple of years ago they wrote off my enclosed sled trailer. The adjustor I worked with was great. She waived my deductible and when she looked at what I had paid for the trailer, what the replacement would cost be and the value the appraiser who looked at my trailer assigned to it she said it wasn't enough. She gave me a new value and the end result was the replacement trailer cost me $190 after having the written off one for two years.

Too think this butter tart tourism started many years ago with a friend of mine. She was working for Durham Region Tourism and created a marketing campaign that she won an award for... The Butter Tart Trail. They promoted a driving tour of the region where you drove from butter tart to butter tart shop. Since then it has exploded in concept with things like the Midland Butter Tart Festival, the Blake G. Butter Tart Tour and more.