RIP Lou Panakio

Lou Panakio died in his sleep last night in Naples, Florida,  He was 81.
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Greater Lynn area people will know him as the proprietor of Panakio Adjusters, a public insurance adjuster business started by his father, and which flourished under Lou.
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I first knew of him when I was eight years old.  My father was proud to be his landscaper, and he took me with him to bury my dead parakeet in Lou's Walnut Street sideyard while we were planting  some marigolds.... unbeknownst to Lou.
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He was a quiet and understated presence in the Lynn community and served on the Lynn Zoning Board of Appeals for 43 years with a strong combination of fairness, common sense, and political savvy.
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His ability to provide service as an insurance adjuster was legendary.  I remember Jim Starratt, the Lynn Building Commissioner, once stating to me that if he ever had a fire in his house, his first call would be to Lou Panakio and the second would be to the Lynn Fire Department.    That was an exaggeration... but not by much. On every occasion that we used Panakio Adusters, Lou more than took the sting out of the loss.
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Lou helped me land my first property management contract after I left the Lynn Housing Authority and later partnered on some ill fated development projects with me that went south in the 80's housing collapse.  There were some harrowing and embarrassing moments for me during that period, but Lou always showed a ton of strength and class.
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He could always turn a phrase and was intolerant of Bullshit.  Many times, when I would embellish a situation to him his response was "That and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee."  That would bring me right back down to Earth.
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I was so happy when we reunited with Lou, his daughter Lisa, and son-in-law, Harvey Rowe three or four years ago.  When Lou first came into our Marblehead home at Beverly Ave., which we had just remodeled, he looked around and remarked to Harvey,   "You couldn't keep John Nestor down even if you buried him in a coffin six feet under and nailed it shut."  It was funny at the time, and I was thankful and proud to hear Lou say that.  But it was typical of his wit, good nature,  and genuine affection for other people.
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He had a long and happy marriage with his wife, Marcia, and they both thoroughly enjoyed golfing at the Salem Country Club and from his condominium on the golf course in Naples, Florida.  A year and a half ago, when he was inducted into the Lynn Heritage State Park Museum for his contributions to the City of Lynn, his great lament was that his wife of 53 years wasn't alive to experience it with him.
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Now Lou, you can tell Marcia all about it, and celebrate with her about the remarkable and fruitful life that you have just completed.

RIP Louis J. Panakio.  You will be missed.

POTW Week 17

Every once in a while, you can't have a win-win situation.  For things to go good for you, they have to go bad for someone else.   On these occasions, the only saving grace is if the someone else has some dispicable and disengenuous characteristics.  Then when you win, it's not so bad that the other party gets the ass end of the deal.

Announcing...
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 17th Week of 2012.

Brendt D'Orio
Patrick Piscatelli
Tom Egan
Kim Kardashian
Joanne Nestor
Bill Hillegas

My problem is that I'm too damn nice and easygoing.   Can't have win-win all the time.
Sorry.

Time Warp

It's been one of those weeks where you go to bed on Monday night and when you wake up it's Thursday.  I have no idea how the time has flown so fast this week.
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All I've been doing is staring at a computer screen.
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Yesterday, I started at 6:00AM and then looked at the clock that said 1:30PM.  What a freaking time warp!
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"What am I working on????", you ask?   Long time Peeps know that the answer to this annoying question is "None of your Freaking Business."  Suffice it to say that I'm really glad that Nanepashemet Telecom came up short on the last two large procurements that we pitched, because the stuff on our plate these days requires our constant attention.
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But I'm pretty sure that the current intensive effort will have a huge payback in the near future.
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At least that's what the spreadsheet says.

Crucial Career Tool

Peeps.

Having a hard time seeing the screen this evening because I've been squinting at spreadsheet cells all day.  But it was for a good cause and a worthwhile investment of the day.
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My career advice to you is to learn Microsoft Excel  Use it as much as possible and become as much of an expert as you possibly can.
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I was an early adopter of spreadsheet software... Visicalc, Supercalc, Lotus123, and finally Excel which has emerged as the time tested standard.
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Capturing my business and activity in an Excel spreadsheet has saved my ass and enhanced my career more times than I can count.   It's one thing to think you know the status and trend of your endeavors, but when you have it in hard numbers, you can send the pretenders, phonies and detractors back into their corporate-speak bunny holes and move your stuff forward.
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These days, knowing your way around Excel is the only way to carve up the mountain of data that major corporations throw at you just to produce a freaking invoice.
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A crucial business skillset.

Kate and Ethan

Auntie Kate and Grandson Ethan share a dessert.

Happy Birthday Mike

 It's my youngest son, Mike's, birthday today.
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He turned out pretty good, didn't he?
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I'm wicked proud of him.




Joanne and I are blessed to have brought three good people into the world.  Now it's their job to do the same thing with our Grandkids.

Scumbags and Payback

Ran into some scumbags at a local restaurant during dinner tonight.  One thing about scumbags is that they sometimes have a hard time looking at you in the face.  At which time, said scumbag also turns into your Bitch.
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And speaking of Bitches.... Payback is one.  You screwed with the wrong group of people.
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So enjoy your dinner Scumbags.  Payback is a Bitch and this is just the start.
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Plenty of time left and a lot of territory to cover.
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Bitch.

1. Tuna LipsApr 22, 2012 01:24 PM

   Loves me a good hatin' on someone rant, all venom spittin' and the like.

   ReplyDelete
2. 
   B-PopsApr 22, 2012 03:54 PM

   Here's looking at you, kid. I thought I was the only official A-hole notifier and jerk identifier working full time. It's a never ending load and I can use some help carrying it.

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Spacious Deck for Entertaining



Poontang Purchase

All of you Peeps who have been asking me about this Secret Service Colombian prostitute fiasco.... what am I?... some sort of Hooker Etiquette Expert?????
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Seems the Secret Service Agents who were sent to protect the President and the Secretary of State received services and disputed the bill.  In Colombia, prostitution is legal, so a charge was made of snatching the goods... so to speak.
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Since the goods that were snatched happened to involve some snatch, there's been a lot of consternation on the part of Northern Hemisphere moral legislators who wish to get to the "bottom" of this issue.
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All I know is that in Colombia, you must pay for poontang when purchased.... period.

Doug Said....Apr 20, 2012 05:19 AM

How easy would it be to plant a bug while a bunch of flat-tops high-five each other between 'OH' faces? Probably just left a tape recorder under the bible in the drawer.

Happy "Nucks"

Apparently, this group of White, Middle Class, Amateur Hockey Players who prefer to call themselves "Nucks" are quite content with themselves.
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Congratulations "Nucks" on whatever it is you are so happy about.

Open Minds

So I'm driving back from New Haven, licking my wounds from the neighborhood meeting where I try to explain to the nice folks why a 125' tower would be ok near their homes....
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Normally I take much more abuse at these affairs than was dished out last night.
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And it goes without saying that a Mountain of a Man has thick enough skin to endure the wrath of the oppressed multitudes.
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But even I can get a little down in the dumps, a couple of hours into a three and a half hour drive home.
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Luckily, the Sox game against Texas was on the Connecticut affiliate of WEEI and I was able to catch the last half.
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Course... Boston lost 18 to 3.   I believe that this was my fault.  I never should have listened to the game in my mental condition and obviously caused the horrendous loss with my negative mojo.
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Youkilis struck out four times.... but that was Bobby Valentine's doing for daring to say that he didn't look right the other day.  A BoSox Manager should never speak about what he actually sees to the open minded Red Sox Nation.

Almost Whine

You would think that dealing with big companies, who have many minions, each dedicated to a single task, would make thiings easier and more efficient.
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Once again.... you Petulant, Posing and Painful Peeps would be woefully wrong.
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It seems like even the simplest task involves layers of complexity with multiple checkpoints, and the task drags on for weeks... or months.
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Meanwhile.... the poor schmucks who are doing the work...ie Nanepashemet Telecom and other hapless vendors.... get placed firmly in the darkness as resources grow thiner and thiner.
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Does this seem like I'm whining????
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If it does... that would be impossible, because a Mountain of a Man like me, doesn't even know how to whine.   Although, if I did.... I would.... whine about this.

1. Pisc saidApr 17, 2012 06:16 PM

   Their job is to find grounds for delaying payment, and then to pay less than agreed to. It's unethical and effective.
2. Maria Rowen saidApr 18, 2012 04:46 AM

   As long as you whistle-while-you-whine, this p-p-p-peep, will keep-on-peepin’-on…

Unlikely Story

A Black Muslim Boy, grows up in Indonesia, goes to College at Columbia and Harvard, begins his political career in Chicago with crazy radicals, runs an antipoverty agency, becomes a state senator, becomes a US Senator and is elected President of the United States. You've gotta love this story... regardless of your political persuasion.

Starving Poet said.....Apr 16, 2012 04:35 AM
That is why many voted for him, the poetry of it.

"What... Me Worry?"

Everybody runs into Alfred E. Neuman once in a while.
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If he's your Friend, you couldn't care less.
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If he's your Boss, you love him.
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If he's your Business Partner, you're screwed.
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I don't even know if they still publish the satirical magazine, "MAD" that Alfred sprung from.  We used to read it cover to cover when we were kids, some skaty eighty years ago.

Jim L. saidApr 17, 2012 03:16 PM

Still published, more pricey and pales in comparison to those great mags in the mid 60's.



Proof of a Proper POTY

We rented our North Conway condo to Brendt D'Orio and his trophy wife, Kerry this winter.  They paid the rent and left the place immaculate.
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How good is that!!!  Not that I had any doubts whatsoever.   I didn't have to do any due diligence on the D'Orios since I knew Brendt since he was a Mite Hockey defenseman.   They are a class act, but it's nice when you continually see the evidence updated.
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Kerry happens to be the POTY of this pathetic Blog this year, and this does nothing to mar her reign.

Yelping for Yale

Tomorrow, it's another sojourn to New Haven County.
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If I could live anywhere in the world, New Haven, Connecticut would be right behind Astana, Kazakhstan... number 874 of the list.... although Astana has a real nice arts district.
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So I don't really look forward to the trip.
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But it's all about this collection of green papers with pictures of dead President's on them that I am trying to accumulate in obscene amounts so that I can retire in a style of which I hope to become accustomed.   Yep... there's money to be made down in gritty New Haven, and this Mountain of a Man won't let a little thing like gas prices stand in the way.
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I'll be down and back with some billable milestones before you can say "Yale Bowl".

POTW Week 14 - 2012

The stars were out at 43 Church in Salem last night as Joanne's Birthday celebration came off without a hitch.  OK... maybe a few hitches.  But nothing requiring police intervention.
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For me, the highlight was the bottle of Lagavulin that Bobby Brown so thoughtfully bought for Joanne.  Even though it technically wasn't for me, I'm giving him the Automatic Peep of the Week nod.
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What the Hell.  It's my Blog and I make the freaking rules.

ANNOUNCING


Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 14th Week of 2012


Bobby Brown (Automatic Lagavulin Rule)
Katelyn Nestor
Ryan Nestor
Mike Nestor
Kathy Peabody
Tina Rhoades

I didn't make a speech afterall, which was just as well.

LOKO said...Apr 8, 2012 05:51 AM

Did he explain why he was kicked out of Whitney's funeral?

____________________________________________________

Not the same Brown, Loko.
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But that reminds me that Kathy Peabody, only the second person that I have ever known to be kicked out of a hockey rink, almost got the boot from the party by the restaurant management.  Something about being shushed at the bar after the BC Frozen Four Hockey Tournament Victory.  Now the word is out  that the Restaurant will be banning future 60th Birthday Parties because of the riff raff they attract.
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That's Bullshit, but I don't care.   I don't go to many of them and that was the only one we have to do for Joanne.  Although Katelyn did a great job with her friend Tina on this one.

Pisc said....Apr 10, 2012 08:20 AM

Although Bob Brown and being kicked out of a place does ring true.

__________________________________________________

Well stated Pisc.

That also reminds me of a former day when our other Mountain of a Man, Bobby Brown and yours truly were politely asked to leave a wine tasting from one of the finer Napa Valley Wineries.   If I remember correctly, it was the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.  Seems we overtasted so to speak.
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The proprietors were well within their rights.   We were freaking drunk, but I didn't  think that it showed.

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Good Times.

Planning a Speech

I'm thinking of making a speech at Joanne's birthday shindig that the kids are planning.
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I'll keep it low key.  Don't want to bring people to their knees with emotional sobbing, nor do I want to elicit cheers and warwhoops.  Words can be powerful.
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Sometimes, being a Mountain of a Man means that you have to find the middle ground.

Wicked Better

For some reason, everything went right today.
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Woke up and  my grandkids were snuggled in their beds for the Wed. sleepover
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Won major new puchase orders from two of Nanepashemet Telecom's most important customers.
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Worked the financial projections nine ways to Tuesday, and couldn't see a reason why this won't be the best money year ever.
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Heard from my daughter and her amazing Italian vacation.
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And now I'm posting on this pathetic Blog.
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An almost perfect day.
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Things are starting to get wicked better.

Progeny

This is my oldest son, Ryan, and my oldest grandson, Will.
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It is nice to see that I've imparted my wisdom down through the succeeding generations.

A Coakley Croaker

So AG Martha Coakley is going after Tim Cahill, saying that the former Treasurer enriched his chances in the Governor's race by the improper publishing of Lottery Ads, that he administered during the last Massachusetts Gubernatorial campaign.
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Er... Martha.  How do you figure that the pretentious Cahill enriched himself?
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Didn't he lose the freaking election?    A poor job of enrichment I would say.  Aren't you supposed to gain some riches if you're enriched?
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And aren't you, Martha, possibly gaining a whole lot of publicity by this frivolous lawsuit?  Seems to me that the power and resources of your department could be much better used in the public good other than this shameless crusade to gain camera exposure.
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It would be nice to get a strong AG candidate to run against the disingenuous Coakley, who, BTW, has apparently disclosed that she would be seeking the office again.    She really has got to go.
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I'm no fan of Cahill....  But the foolishness of Coakley continues to make me appreciate Scott Brown a whole lot more these days.

Kardashian Kulture

Anyone who says that Kim Kardashian has no talent obviously hasn't seen this photograph.

She has beautiful fingernails.

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I wonder if she can sing?

Gagging on Perky

Fans of this pathetic Blog know that I generally loathe watching  Good Morning America, and watch only out of habit, a need for self flagellation or a sick combination of both.
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I realize there is a pathological flaw in play here, but it is what it is.
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So I didn't think things could get worse with this aggravating morning show.... but they did.... Big Time.
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The Female Basketball Player Anchor who cries alot decides to take a two week vacation from the biased midget, George Democratonopholos... and who do they give the slot to?    Not a deserving reserve from the weekend edition like Brianna Golddigger.   No.
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They bring in possibly the most obnoxious, self-righteous, pretentious ego-maniac that the liberal media has ever upchucked.
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Yes... that would be Katie Couric.
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I had to stop typing for a while there because of the wicked gag reflex that always kicks in when I even think of Little Miss Perky.  
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This is going to be a tough two weeks.

Tuna Lips saidApr 4, 2012 03:59 PM

I betcha she bleaches her rose bud. Hooooooey! Likes me some o' dem spicy vittles!

Happy Birthday Joanne

Bought a chain saw sharpening machine at Harbor Freight Tools yesterday.  Then I sharpened the chain on my chain saw and cut a wood pallet that was in the back of the Ford F150 when Dale and Gail walked by and decided to have some Dark and Stormies with Joanne and I.
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One thing led to another, and before you know it, we were grilling lamb patties and making macaroni and cheese.
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It could have been worse.
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We could have been short on lamb patties and Black Seal Rum.
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But everything worked out fine.
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Today is my wife,  Joanne's, Birthday.  Not sure if she wants to reveal her age to you Panting Peeps on this Pathetic Blog.... but suffice it to say that she is freaking old.  I think she was seventeen when I met her and that was over  forty + or - years ago... so that's a clue.
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She's still good though.  A little different from the early days, but in many ways, a lot better.
Happy Birthday Joanne.  A lot of people love you and I'm one of them.