I sort of figure that the best method to ensure that one keeps New Year’s resolutions is to make them fun, something you want to do. So, here it goes.

1.) Fish more this year.
2.) Carry less in my vest; only the necessary flies, leader, tippet, floatant, forceps and camera. Take the net only if I think I’ll need it.
3.) Spend more time concentrating on the small trout in the small streams at higher elevations, the ones where a cell phone absolutely, positively won’t receive a signal.
4.) Lose more weight that I’d care to fess up to, so I can hike into more of those higher elevation waters.
5.) Teach anyone who asks how to fly fish. Or at least point ‘em in the right direction.
6.) Find rivers or streams, or even stillwater, (and tactics) to fly fish near family in Snohomish County and King County, Wash.
7.) Learn to tie a wider variety of flies. And catch fish with those flies.
8.) Maybe, must maybe, build a fly rod…or at least start to build one. I’m thinking a 1 or 0 weight for those small, high elevation fish.
9.) Spend a bit more time in the Eastern Sierra during the late fall, on the Walker River system.
10.) A perennial favorite: Fish places I haven’t fished before. (Already set up for Eagle Lake.)

All definitely doable.

The commute’s too long, but my natural avoidance of moving from the left coast to the right could be breaking down.

Found the below (and attractive) job listing for Orvis today, and I guess that access to fresh maple syrup might somewhat offset winters that come with too much snow.

Product Development Specialist – Rod and Tackle

Location: VT – Sunderland (Corporate Office
Category: Merchandising / Product Management
Shift(s): Days
Position Type: Full Time
Date Posted: 11/13/2009
Relocation Available: Yes

Position Profile: The Rod and Tackle Product Development Specialist will be responsible for the development, growth, and profit of key Orvis fly fishing sub categories of fly rods and fly reels for retail, catalog, web, and wholesale at Orvis. This individual will have an excellent background, knowledge and experience of the outdoor market with solid experience in freshwater and saltwater fly fishing.

Company Interfaces: This position reports directly to the Divisional Merchandising Manager of Rod and Tackle with a strong relationship with the VP of Rod and Tackle. The position will include ongoing interaction with the Fishing Product Development Specialists and Inventory Control Buyers, advertising/ catalog production personnel, quality assurance managers, retail merchandise manager, and the tech specialists in Roanoke.

Key Performance Measurements: Gross profit across mail order, web, dealer, and the retail business for above categories

• Quality as measured by returns, as well as feedback from customers, sales personnel in retail and wholesale, and the endorsed guide network
• Cost of goods and sourcing for fly rod rods and fly reels.

Responsibilities:

• Ownership of the development of fly rods and fly reels for a planned increase in sales and gross margin.
• Interface with the VP of Manufacturing and development staff at the rod shop to meet product introduction timelines.
• Ensure quality at all phases in the process and product life.
• Coordinate testing of all products in way that is consistent with our brand standards.
• Analysis of the business utilizing our in house systems to monitor sales, gross profit, and establish a vision for where the business has the most potential for growth.
• Vendor negotiations for costing and implementation of best sources to assure product delivery and quality.
• Timely processing of product information for appropriate forecast / purchase processing, delivery of photography and rep samples, and effective management of merchandising calendar.

Qualifications:

• Strong teamwork and organizational skills
• A strong preference for experience in product development and sourcing in outdoor hardgoods and 3-5 years experience in fly fishing retail
• Excellent judgment, decision making ability, and analytical skills
• Solid Fly Fishing knowledge in both fresh and saltwater
• Must possess excellent communication skills
• Must be familiar with the Orvis lifestyle
• Computer skills including Excel and Word
• Flexible travel required in this position for shows and sourcing
• College degree preferred

Click here to apply

So, let’s think about this. A job in an office located on the edge of a 377-acre natural black bear habitat, with a small on-site gym, hiking trails, a casting pond, nearby trout streams, and a company cafe. A location that’s truly all about the outdoors. I’ve heard tell that local restaurants close by 9:00 p.m. Gas stations close by 10.

I certainly could get used to fishing after putting in a full day’s work and getting to bed by 10 o’clock.

In yet another example of my unwillingness to leave well enough alone, I’ve launched yet another version (v3.0) of my fly fishing club’s Web site.

I’ll be upfront here; I consider myself somewhere along the line of an adequate webmaster or decent weblackey. And though it didn’t have to be done, it wasn’t all that hard.

This is probably my fifth or sixth redsign of a Web site or blog. Modestly speaking, I think it is by far my best.

The subject of this post, the Diablo Valley Fly Fishermen Web site.
Wondering why the funky green line at the top of the pages?
Squint and you might just see a resemblance to fly line.

There’s sometimes too much said about creative use of white space, and I could justify its use here with the physical and psychological idea that text needs room to breathe and our brains need this breathing room to absorb the displayed information. I think it just looks good and lends quiet elegance to the design.

Yes, I’ve dropped the “fill every pixel” philosophy to instead trust that even dim intelligent visitors will find their way to the information they seek. A calculated but somewhat sparse placement of photos nicely balances with the content. The PaintShop Pro-aided addition of a plus sign to the attractive 40th anniversary patch easily extends it useful lifetime.

All this is a sly way of saying I wasn’t happy with the design crafted just about a year ago.

A week later, I still like this new design.

We’ll see how I feel in another 51 weeks.