lol, I was curious as to what type of smart-ass comments I'd get.......I refreshed the CostCo link just to make sure it worked after I posted this thread and it took me back to general hardware/storage....and as I was going to edit my thread, Comcast decided to have a 15 minute downtime.
In the meantime, after much bending and pushing.........in addition to numerous callouses, the poles are in half now.  go me.  
