NOLO PAID ENDORSEMENTS HERE

I think some law just got passed where in the near future bloggers are going to have to disclose financial or other types of relationships with products they endorse or recommend. There's nothing wrong with accepting products from folks that have made the product or so forth, just disclose it. Some magazines that test various products have been accepting "gifts" from the companies whose products they review for decades. Not always, but sometimes.

In any event, no one thinks enough of what I have to say about their products to offer me money, free stuff or even a night on the town. Nary a beer has been offered to me by anyone or any company who product I have ranted or raved about on this site.

Orvis was nice enough to thank me for my post about their fine fishing rods, as was the writer and a reader of a book about Pier Fishing in California. Both of those comments were really a treat.

But as much as I'd jump for joy and write a million more good things about Orvis, I'm not spending my time waiting on the express delivery man with my "token of appreciation from Orvis) custom 2 weight bamboo rod in a 5 or 6 foot length. I'm sure that if they could, Orvis would give me a nice fishing rod just because I wrote sometime nice about their rods, reels and other products and how well they have served me.

But I know that Orvis some problems this year, and as I recall laid off a person or two. My family, like many others, has had economic losses this year. Many folks I know say business is down in their area, unless they work for the government.

So I think I'll buy another rod from Orvis this year for my birthday. It's coming up soon. I probably won't buy the ultra-nice bamboo rod, but one of their other rods in a 2 will do nicely. I need a short length rod for fishing the often brushy shorelines of small creeks and rivers.

Orvis is still doing ok as a company, from the articles I read. But I think I need to do a little more for this company I've enjoyed so much.