Thursday, October 09, 2008

PEEP of the WEEK Selections - Week 39

I'm thinking about heading up to North Conway this weekend to get some golf in. Enough time has passed so that I probably forgot how bad I suck in golf, and envision that a couple of rounds will be a lot of fun.
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That's the Ticket!
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Plus a few special Peeps who could definitely profit from seeing me with my game face on have been hinting that they will make the trip. At the very least, I have some Lagavulin stash up there that they can drown their sorrows in.
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Speaking of sorrows...... it's that thrilling/tragic, stupid/sincere, and hopeful/hapless time of the week again.
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ANNOUNCING
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the Thirty Ninth Week of 2008

Jean Shaheen
My Friend Who Doesn't Want His Name Mentioned in the Blog
Ryan Nestor
Dave Dixon
Jill Tufts
Maggie Shanahan

I wonder if I'll crack the 120 stroke barrier. It has to happen someday!

BS

People who misjudge their importance, and don't take responsibilities for their actions or non-actions drive me freaking crazy. Every bill gets paid, and somebody has to pay for some of theirs. That is unconscionable, unacceptable, and truly sucks.
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They sit around telling themselves of their importance and are shocked when you let them know that they are full of bullshit.

Tuna Lips said...

Au contraire, mi amigo. And I could not agree more strenuous like. I have first hand knowins about what importance is, and I pity the fools that think they is important, like yer mammy thinks you important. It aint true, losers. Sheee-it fire, I have undressed queens and shot whiskey with deputized authorities, and aint had to vist the doctor nor pay a red cent after. Comes with bein' a star like historical figment. Self deludin' jack-a-ninnies, all of 'em, but play along, the piper gonna come to town, and you can slash they tires in the meanwhile.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Keep Swinging

Peeps -
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Sorry for the lapse. Hope none of you decided to end it because I didn't Blog yesterday. That would have been a crying shame.
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Sensing a little bit of despair out there with the volatility of the market and all.
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I know that thousands of you are waiting with extreme angst for me to recommend a way to cope with this economic hic up.
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Here it is....
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Stop your Freaking Belly Aching! Whining and worry won't solve a thing!
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Step up to the Plate... and take your swings. In business, you can't strike out unless you put the bat down. So keep swinging. Sooner or later, you will make contact. So What if it is a slap single. You can't put them in the seats every time. Keep looking for the pitches, and keep swinging.
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And BTW, keep paying your cell phone bills, so I can continue to prosper and thrive.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Secondary Sox

I stayed up too late last night to watch the Red Sox lose to the Angels. It might have impacted my Monday work performance.... I just didn't feel like the master of the universe that normally characterizes my superior business acumen. So tonight, it will be back to a normal rest... no adrenaline flowing at 1:00 AM in the morning.
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Nanepashemet Telecom is poised to have a monster 4th Qtr. which will set us up nicely for next year. I can't let the Red Sox screw this up.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Return on Investment

In case you were wondering how the Warriors of Merrimack College played against powerful Pace College, I got this inspiring update late last night from Assistant Offensive Line Coach Ben Martin.... "31-28 W for the Warriors of Merrimack...Rushed over a hundo and had zero sacks against."
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Looks like my charity golf outing contribution is starting to hit paydirt! Nice coaching Benny!

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Bye Ronick


We lost our cat, Ronick today. He was 18 years old and never sick until a few weeks ago, but then his systems seemed to shut down, he lost a lot of weight and was in constant pain.
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Ronick was a great companion and provided us daily joy and happiness for a long time.
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It was a nice blue sky all day long today... a good day to die.
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We'll miss him.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Mundane Ambition

Once again I must raise the mundane but poignant question. What's up for the weekend?
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No, I won't be spending any time extolling the virtues of Sarah Palin. Those of you who think I'm enamored with her solely because she is so hot are so shallow. Even if it is true, you are still shallow.
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There will be no politics this weekend, no business either. Well, maybe a little business. It's the fourth quarter, and that is crazy time for the telecom deployment industry. Everybody is trying to meet their numbers for the entire year in the fourth quarter. That means vendor resources get stretched out to the limit, combined with anxiety, stress and a little hysteria.
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So I might get sucked into some business calls.
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But for the most part, I'll be focusing my efforts on finishing the corner hanging cabinet that Joanne wants for the 42" HDTV. I'm making it out of solid mahoghany and birch plywood and the contract of the dark mahoghany and the light birch should give it a nice design touch. With a little luck, all of the assembly and sanding will be done before high tide at 3:oo PM tomorrow, when I'd like to sneak a little fishing in.
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So you doubt that I'll pull it off???? So do I.

ABC's

I know I'm a weak man with real flaws, so it was not surprising to me to find me checking the ABC phoney pundits, Charlie Gibson, George Stephanopoulos and that blond idiot, Dianne Sawyer, after the VP debate.
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Why do I torture myself so????
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True to form, theses media "journalists" immediately pulled out poll results that showed that Biden won the debate by a wide margin. I'm sure that was a scientific poll. How stupid do they take us anyway?
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I just have to get stronger... and ignore these manipulative mavens of mediocrity.

Doug Maxfield said...

Kicking his ass? Really? Looked to me like she can't think on her feet and reverted back to rehersals every time she couldn't address the question asked. Ask her about bankrupcy policy and she'll tell you about clean energy proposals. I may or may not agree with Biden's answers, but they were to questions. I can't help but think that the 'good ol girl' publicity stunt is growing old. While I do find Obama a little to "smooth" for my taste, I do respect him for picking a running mate that he has clearly disagreed with in the past. Kind makes you think he did it for the mans moral fiber? Let the bashing begin...


Blogger John Nestor said...

Doug-
I thought she was really strong on Ubekistan.

You're just pissed off because you never get a chance to fish in Alaska.
- J

Pat Piscatelli said...

They are not debates, they are performances, and its all rehearsed. Theater.

Socialism was so successful last century. We should try it here in America. Eventually, those taxes that are taken, from all of us, will empower the government, and weaken the individual. It will concurrently making people more dependent on the goverment for the means to live, and less capable of doing so for themselve. I equate being able to do for yourself with freedom.

State owned banks, state owned energy, state owned manufacturing - notice how many times from Hair Plug Joe it was "we are going to create jobs in the energy field, we are going to create jobs with new fuel efficient automobile techonology . . . " My ass. The government was not organized to create jobs, and is not capable of overseeing a for profit operation. And that is what is in every single one of those promises. We is the government, is the Obama.

Exhibit A on socialism is the 20th century. I will take the trickle down from private industry over trickle down from the government any day.

How smart the candidates are is not the litmus test - its is their principle of goverment. The rest is, well, theater.

John Nestor said...

Way to go Pisc.

You must be catching the end of Rush Limbaugh on your commute home. Nothing like good Rush talk to make you realize that the Dems want all of our money so that their kids can fulfill a lifelong dream of having a do nothing, Government Hack position of importance. High salaried welfare.

Biden would call it "fairness".

Pat Piscatelli said...

Hardly. I have read more than Limbaugh know of quotes from his staff, from the Federalist papers to the Federal Banruptcy Code, to economic theories of law by Posner to The volume I and II of gulag arichipelogo by Solzheneitsin.

Don't tread on me, be it Limbaugh or "a Roosevelt Democrat". What the hell does that mean? Does that mean you should vote the way someone did 70 years ago? Or even Reagan republican. Its 2008, no excuse to let someone do your thinking for you.

The state will own the means of production. Watch them go after Amendment #2 next. Our grandchilden will know bread lines.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Week 38 - POTW

Watching the Vice Presidential Debate.
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Sarah Palin is kicking Joe Biden's ass. I can't imagine how the pundits will spin that she was entirely coached. She is gaining great momentum as a smart, aggressive leader.
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So what the Hell did you think I was going to say?????

Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 38th week of 2008

Katelyn Nestor
Bruce Carr
Katie Couric
Peter Crawford
Mirela Marku
Dick Cheney

In thirty days, if the markets have settled, it will be a tremendous horserace.

PhD

It's been twenty years now since I thought that I had inexorably screwed up my life.
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Everything had gone wrong with my career, major business deals went sour, and my entire image of my life's direction took an about turn. I had a pit in my stomach that wouldn't go away and everyday I was haunted by fears of how my situation would evolve.
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Friends who had seemed to be staunch allies, now treated me cordially but at arm's length. These were people that I would have jumped on a grenade for. Fortunately for me, no grenades were rolled my way, because I found out that they would never have returned the favor. But a few true friends stood by me...and they are still my real friends today.
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Lots of really bad things happened... I lost my assets, my money and had to move. But the trials had a silver lining. I found out what was truly important to me. Big houses, boats, cars... all of the stuff became secondary. My family and my new view of myself as someone who could cope with whatever life threw at me, were the two things that held importance. Everything else was pretentious and phony.
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I'm not saying that I wasn't to blame. I made some truly stupid business decisions that would have been fine if things out of my control hadn't taken such a steep dive. But all of the stupid stuff that I did, and the risks that blew up in my face, didn't deter me from one thing. I never was out to screw anybody. And it didn't matter what anybody thought. I knew the truth. And I took a much worse hit than anyone else that was involved in my failed business deals. That simple fact ultimately protected me.
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So twenty years ago, I had the truth, and my family, a few true friends, and nothing else.
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In the end.... that's all that was important. It was all that I needed.
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Slowly, things began to change, and my worse fears never materialized. Every day, I got up and ran a play. I believed in myself and had the love of my family and thanked God for these things often.

Step by step, all of the pieces came back together again, but with a stronger and lasting bond based on truth and experience. I caught a break and entered the large corporate world, leaving entrepreneurship for awhile. Eventually, I found that my feet were firmly under me again and the pit in my stomach was replaced with a sense of knowledge and confidence that only experience can bring.
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And now, with Nanepashemet Telecom and a couple of other things, I'm back in the economic driver's seat. But with a huge advantage. I have a PhD in "What Can Go Wrong". My mistakes will never put the entire enterprise at risk, and I will never be duped again by false friends. I don't need the big boats, cars and houses. Been there, Done that.
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But if I hadn't had the loss, I still would be defining myself by my phony friends, my clubs, my boats, my houses, my cars, etc. What an asshole I would have been!
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Now that everything is behind me, I am thankful for the experience. It made me a better person, and the insights made my life more meaningful. I have a strong, hardworking family that I am proud of, and my business successes now are substantial and lasting.
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I hope you Peeps never have to go through this type of trial, but if the current economic market doesn't bode well for you, act with the truth and learn from your mistakes. Be true to yourself and run a new play everyday. You'll get through it, and ultimately you'll be better off.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Thirsty Thursday

I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this Thursday.
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Usually, Thursday is a hectic day, because you can't depend on people being around on Friday, so the contacts that you have to make, you strive to reach on Thursday. I always try to push it on Thursday, then the stuff you get done on Friday is like a bonus.
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But this Thursday ends with the Palin - Biden debate. I'm betting that Palin comes off as the talented, level-headed governor that she is.... and that Biden will be fact fabricating at his best.
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The Good Morning America pundits will be so irritated and obsessed, I might even watch GMA on Friday.

Prognostication

Hundreds of the Peeps have been calling and emailing me lately asking me what I think of the nation's financial crisis.
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Irritating and Annoying.
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What do I you think I am???? Some sort of fuzzy, comforting, economic super seer???? Fuzzy yes, but the other stuff... definitely no.
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But if your fears won't quell until you get my word on the situation, it is this...
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Nothing is ever as bad as it seems, and nothing is ever as good as it seems. We're not going into a deep depression.. this is a correction in the market that must be attended to. \
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But there should be a nice seat in hell for incompetents like Frank and Pelosi so that they can perform their specialty of fanning the flames for all eternity.

Tuna Lips said...

if hell means you spend yer days gettin buggered by some red eyed imp, then that pickle-sniffin' Frank boy youse growed up there in Fairyland is at the gates of his own Promised Land. Screw balls.
Jephimany Prescious.

TL

Monday, September 29, 2008

Trap Transaction

I thought that the Hamilton Marine price for lobster traps was ok at $89.00 each. But then I ran into Ketcham in New Bedford with a price of $91.00 delivered. The delivery charge from Hamilton in Rockland, ME was going to run around $50 / trap. So it looked like Ketcham was getting the nod.
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But then some steely attention to detail revealed that the Ketcham traps were small recreational models and the Hamilton traps were the real deal, 3' commercial. So the pendulum was swinging back to Hamilton.
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There was no response from Billy Oliver Boats in Cohasset, the source that Chris Crawford had supplied.
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But as luck would have it, I was in Cohasset this morning for a bid walk and got there early, so I decided to check out Billy Oliver. His boat brokerage office, directly across from Cohasset harbor was empty, but I gave him a call, and he got back to me within the hour with a deal for commercial traps delivered at $65 per trap.
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How freaking great was that???
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Billy seems like a real good guy, and if everything works out right, I'll have 10 commercial traps, complete with 60' of line, bait bags, swivels and buoys in my Beverly Ave. driveway sometime this Friday. By that time, Sarah Palin will have kicked Joe Biden's ass in their Thursday night debate, and all will be right with the world.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Going Bottomless

I keep hearing that the economy is a mess. But so far, it has been politicians and the media telling me so.
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Sure people are worried.... but I've seen no widespread layoffs, foreclosures are not close to what we saw in the late 80's, interest rates, prices and inflation are not spiraling out of control. The only local layoffs that I've witnessed recently revolve around business incompetence and stupidity, not the economy.
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We've seen slowdowns in hiring and investment before, without a national crisis labeled on to it. This seems like classic boom and bust, but now we have a Presidential election at stake.
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I know that I'm a shortsighted, sheltered SOB, but that aside, I don't see the crisis that the politicians and the newsmedia point to. There seems to be a lot of angst in the investment community, and a great deal of concern, but I have yet to see the bottomless pit emerge.

Tuna Lips said...

If yer in the hate business, things is a boomin'. What with all the forgiveness for everything out there, it aint my fault kinda pussy chatter, a good ole fashioned hate monger can ride into town and scar some hides, lay waste to somes that is truer than they is, and get away with it. Under the banner of looking out for the sheep, "I'se on yer side". No accountin done, just actin all better than others, promisin' everything with no way reckoning how its to happen. Get to the top of the hill, my pappy said, and you can excremtate on thems not on the top. "But Tuna" he said, with a rasp in his voice, "they will tries to make you not humnp yer tail up that hill, that theys gonna make it all right, so youse dont have to hump no mores. Beware thems that says that, fer that is yer con on the rest; don't fall fer it".

I wont, pappy.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Nauseous Newscasters

So I'm watching the Presidential debate and it was evident to me that McCain kicked Obama's Hawaiian, Harvard, Liberal Squishy Ass.
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Not so if you heard the "objective" (and I say that with a hint of sarcasm in my voice) analysis by the ABC News analysts, Charlie Gibson, George Stephanopoulos and that blonde idiot, Dianne Sawyer. You would have thought that Obama emerged anointed as the obvious victor.
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I just don't get it. Did I watch the same debate that they did???? When McCain showed a vast historical reservoir of knowledge, these phonies analyzed that it made him look "old". Old because he knew the history behind the current situation. My problem is that I was too lazy to get up and switch off these pundit posers.
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I really didn't have anything against these assholes before they showed their biased colors. Now I can't believe how repugnant they are to me as they seek to forcefeed this Obama juggernaut to this nation.
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The only solace is that it's just a short period of time to endure before McCain wins and forces these shitheads to return to their dens to contemplate their obvious intellectual superiority over the American electorate. It must be nice to be so right.

Tuna Lips said...

I think yer kerect. That Obamy is the poster chile fer the support that sand perdestrian iranian feller. Christ on a popsicle stick. This here planet aint got time to truck the insolence of that Adjimabob feller. someone incarcerate his camel ridin ass and hose him down. Needs a bath. Obamy would talk to him over some nice white whine and them little sangwiches while the sand spittin viper nods his head and talks about justice on earth, all the while his 40 theives is cleaning out the pantry and ravishin' the kitchen girls.

Arm yerself for justice, I says. I am votin' fer fear, ladies.

Fall Classic

There is movement afoot to reinstate the North Conway Fall Golfing Classic. Crucial to this effort is Bruce "the Brute" Carr, whose condo in Jackson is needed because I don't want a whole bunch of sloppy bastards messing up my place.
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I'll hand pick a few individuals with high standards to stay in the No. Conway Northbrook condo. The rest of the rabble can stay with Bruce.
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The last time we held the Classic, the Scotch flowed like Wine. And the golfing was intensely competitive. All the while, our nerdy boss did everything he could to disrupt the event. Didn't make any difference... he still couldn't screw up the business unit. It took the next Moron, the "Closer of Colorado Springs" to do that.
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Looks like the Classic is shaping up for mid-October. There is a bit of confidentiality surrounding the venues, because we don't want this to degrade into a media frenzy.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Plan Your Day

You should never end the business day without constructing a detailed written plan for the events that you want to accomplish tomorrow. The plan rarely gets accomplished because of changing conditions and emerging priorities, but you are far more productive when you have a road map to follow.
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It's not enough to list the things that you want to accomplish. You have to estimate the time of the work effort involved. That gives you a realistic notion of what you can handle and prevents you from getting into an overwhelmed frame of mind.

Peep of the Week - Week 37

What goes up must come down.
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That's why you shouldn't shit on people as you are moving up, because you are going to have to deal with them when you come back down.
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Know what I mean??? Payback is a bitch.

Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 37th Week of 2008

John Sununu
Dennis Fai
Chris Crawford
David Letterman
Kathy DiGiovanni
Lauren Rathbone

The law of Karma is powerful. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Trap Trash Talk

Chris Crawford points out to me that he got his traps from Billy Oliver Boats in Cohasset for $40 ea. including lines and buoys and further points out that $40 is a better deal than the $90 price that I had.
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Thanks Chris.   You can be my new financial advisor with your keen insight.  
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The good part about Cohasset as well, is that I can avoid the delivery charges from Maine, which would be another significant savings.... at least $400 minimum.  I can take a detour from the Cape Cod Coast Guard job and pick them up in my  Ford F150.

Season Shift

Summer has passed. This is the first morning that I have paid attention to clothes on the basis of warmth.
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Lots of travel today. Heading to pick up some ground rods at a distributor then bring them to the Coast Guard job that we are builidng on Cape Cod.
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Then up to apple country in Stow, MA to work on a building permit.
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Finally back to Marblehead to pick up a signed site lease.
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I vastly prefer this type of travel compared to the airline jaunts that I used to take on behalf of General Dynamics. In many ways, this work is more real, and more meaningful than those big corporate missions. There is an artificiality of that existence that is hard to explain. Maybe it's because you are so far away from the actual point of production... the more you have to explain things by Powerpoint presentations, the more phonies you seem to encounter.
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I know that I must sound high powered, but I'm really just as mediocre as you are.

tuna lips said...

I have scented a decay in the air mysef. At first I thunk it were the possum we stewed last night at Shoo Fly's youngest, Loralean, but the wrotten stench of marsupial stuck between the teeths I got left in my head is nothin' like the sweet wind of crab apples falling to the soil and the last crops turning ripe, like my missus, ready to be plucked.


I found mysef touchin' mysef whilst looking at them 82 year young boobies on that Clorox gal, dancin' like a ballayrina.