For FishingMagician.com, I'm Eric Granstrom. It all started when I was 8. I asked Santa for a Green Machine for Christmas. I'd seen an ad on TV about the next best thing for kids, the Green Machine. Before the Green Machine, we had the Big Wheel. These were low to the ground, heavy gauge plastic, tricycles. The Green Machine was cooler though because it featured swivel action rear wheels, was 4-feet long and 2-feet wide, had stick shift controls and "it's mean!" The kid in the ad who rode the Green Machine looked way cool and was having the time of his life. Santa was in the window at the Coast-to-Coast store in downtown Sedro-Woolley. I mustered the courage to ask for the Green Machine that year and waited anxiously for the big day. Nope. Nothing. I asked again when I was 9. Nope, Nada. Finally, I asked the old man again when I was 10. I knew I was out of time. The age range in the commercial said the Green Machine was for kids aged 6-to-10. Christmas came and went. Still nothing. As I pour through catalogs making a fish wish list for Santa, the Green Machine still haunts me. Until next time, Good Fishing!