Gouging and stuff

So, it's been a while. A looooong while. But I thought I would update for those of you who still read this thing. Well, folks...I'm not going back to Mexico. As much as I liked playing with the orchestra, there were just too many problems with the financial aspect of it. There are a lot of things I will miss about Culiacan- my friends (especially Anthony and Andrea), tortillas, deep fried sushi with mayo and cream cheese, Oxxo, and having a regular playing job. However, I will not miss other things, such as not getting paid on time (or at all), drug wars, etc. Anyway, in more exciting news, I recently bought an RDG gouger, and I have been playing with it recently. I also got my Ross EH gouger fixed, and hopefully it will work when I get it back. I have been away from the world of gouging for a while, so any tips from oboist friends would be helpful. What's the good cane out there these days? Tips for sorting/picking the best pieces?
In other exciting news, I recently took a trip to Peru with my friend Cat. More updates about that to come.

Side note- Gandhi, My Father is one of the few good Indian films I've seen in the last few years. It showed Gandhi from a very different perspective, and was really well done overall. Yes, it is too long and overly dramatic, but that's Indian cinema for you. Also saw Rang de Basanti, which sucked. What a let down. Yuck.