Well, with the bad remnants of a tropical storm hitting my area, I went to the once a year show in North Jersey.  I was not expecting to see a big crowd due to the bad weather and I was right, which made touring the show a little easier.  I was disappointed that it wasn't as big as in previous years. All the major power tool brands used to bring their big tractor trailer demonstration vehicles to the show allowing you to try out all kinds of tools. This time just vendors set up at tables underneath a covered entrance way to the store. The nice thing was that the bonuses for certain tools purchased were really good deals. The previous couple of years weren't as good for the freebies like additional tools and accessories packaged with the tool you were purchasing.

I was mistaken when I previously said that Saulius from Festool would be there, but it was good seeing Mitch again after talking with him at the Baltimore, Maryland show last month.  He was raffling off a Festool stein.  No, there was no beer in it! Unfortunately Festool didn't give him any of the new goodies to display or demo.  Good seeing you again Mitch and thanks for all the help!  Tomorrow is the last day for the show and it ends at 2pm.

Forgot to mention, but I saw the Bosch 12" gliding miter saw again, this time on the T4B folding/rolling miter saw stand.  Liked the saw again, but the stand is more gimmicky than functional I felt.  Put some heavy lumber on it towards one side (especially the right side) and it starts collapsing the stand.  I also saw the new Makita LS1016L and LS1216L.  I thought from seeing it on the web it would be a great saw, but it felt like they took the older models and threw some gimmicky stuff and major improvements all into one.  The U.K. has the models with the fluorescent light in addition to the laser, so I'm sure we in N.A. will be seeing those soon as well.