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.

Trap Due Diligence

Mark Vona told me today that $90/ lobster trap, complete with rope and buoy is a good price. He says that he could get me some used commercial traps for $20, but I would have to add all of the gear, and they would be pretty beat up. Joanne is pretty enthusiastic about it. Looks like Hamilton Marine will be getting an order soon.
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Dancing Again

Once again, I bravely confront the critics of my manhood as I embrace another season of "Dancing With the Stars".
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Bring it on. I can take it.

Lobster Calc

Pulling the traps with Chris Crawford and Tyler Gill was really fun.  They had seven keeper lobsters in the seven traps we pulled, as well as a cod which I took home and filleted.  Naturally I was inspired to get my own traps, register for a recreational 10 trap permit and get my own lobster fishery next year.

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The cost of 10 traps, gloves, pants, line, buoys, claw pliers, etc. from Hamilton Marine Supply in Maine will run about $1,500 delivered.  If I averaged seven lobsters a week, for the 16 +/- weeks of the season, the cost per keeper lobster is running about $8 a crustacean.   But then again, the equipment will last longer than one year, so the amortized cost reasonably gets down to about $4.00 each.

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This doesn't include the cost of the boat and gas, but you figure that I would be using that recreationally anyway.

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Mike says that Mark Vona can get us a deal on used traps which would lower the cost as well.

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The justification can't be all financial.  Time on the water is magic time, and this is a great excuse to get out there more often.   I think I might give it a try.

No Pressure

Patriots v. Dolphins are playing on my 42" HDTV at 1:00PM today, but Crawford and Gill want me to help them pull their remaining lobster traps.
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I know that the Patriots are counting on me to watch the game, so the traps will have to be pulled this morning. I can't let those guys down as they strive to make their record 3-0.
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Plus Joanne just asked me to bake some bread... to go with the chicken soup and chili that she is making for gametime. More stress.
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Once again.... a lesser man might wilt under so much pressure, but I'll be getting it done in stride with time to spare. Plus, maybe we'll have a lobster or two to go with the gametime menu.

Fish Story

Brown was a no show, so were the fish. Even with Pat Piscatelli on the WhaleEye, we came up short. So we headed into the Boston Yacht Club to console ourselves over some Dark and Stormies.
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My "Friend Who Doesn't Want His Name Mentioned in the Blog" was on the porch with his wife Nancy, daughter Abby and Paul and Debbie Lynch. Pisc entered into some spirited conversation with Abby over the wisdom of Tuna Lips, and I was impressed with her praise of Sarah Palin. Abby always did have her head on straight.
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So even though we didn't catch fish... again... it was a great afternoon.
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I love to fish.

Fair Warning to Fish

The WhaleEye departs from Salem Harbor at 1:00 PM this afternoon. There will be no National Football League Defensive Pro Bowlers aboard, but we will have that "Mountain of a Man", Bobby Brown. Seems like an equal trade.
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By 4:00 PM, as we sit on the Boston Yacht Club porch sipping our Dark and Stormies, many a fine Bluefish will have met the sting of our treble hooks.

Patriots Defense

So Adalius and Vince must be talking smack, because now Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, and Ty Warren want Ryan to take them out to Stellwagen next Tues. Wilfork and Thomas seem to have fired them up.
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That's a lot of defensive firepower stacked up against a worthy pelagic opponent.
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I hope they don't think that you bag a Bluefin every time you go out, but with Ryan's luck, they probably will hook up.

Business Daze

Another great day for Nanepashemet Telecom. Pretty sure that we won a new guyed tower construction job with a Federal Agency and we're in the middle of a nice Coast Guard installation on the Cape. And we'll be going back to Maine again shortly.
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Plus plenty of site acquisition action in Metro West.
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But the best part of the wireless telecom industry is that it is immune to the present economic downturn. The last thing people let lapse is their cell phone bill.

Peeps of the Week - Week 37

Lots of attention given to the Vince and Adalius tuna photos. Why not??? It was a big freaking fish!!!!

Speaking of Big Fish......

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

Frank D'Orio
Bill Parcells
Ted Moore
Lauren Crawford
Mike Rockett
Stacy Butler

I'd like to take the time to fish at Stellwagen, but right now, Nanepashemet Telecom is hotter than Sarah Palin, and I have to stay concentrated during this run.

Excellent Tuna Record

Ryan had Adalius Thomas and Vince Wilfork of our New England Patriots out at Stellwagen Bank this week, and they treated this 150 Lb Bluefin Tuna like it was Brett Favre.
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Just no respect at all.
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Imagine if they treated it like the real Tuna, Bill Parcells!!
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So now the Pats are 2 and 0 against the NFL, and 1 and 0 against the Bluefin Tuna.
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Way to go, Guys. Now make sure that you beat the Dolphins this Sunday!

UFO Sightings

Joanne asked me if I believed in UFO's tonight. I generally do. And I believe in Bigfoot too. I guess proof positive will be when we have pictures of bodies in the news.
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Then again, there are people who don't believe that we landed on the moon, or that the Nazi's killed six million Jews and five million others in the Holocaust. If you can't believe these highly documented events, then I guess the UFO phenomona will forever be skeptical to you.

T-Shirts and Mugs

We bought some really cool Nanepashemet Telecom T-shirts to give to our customers. I think it's only fair...... I give them a T-shirt, they give me thousands of dollars in purchase orders. Good business.
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Seriously, I'm always amazed to see how sophisticated businessmen and professionals love to get shirts and mugs. It seems so insignificant, that few of my colleagues and competitors pay too much attention to it. But I've always gotten tremendous mileage from it.
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If they take a coffee mug or a shirt, they'll generally give you enough time to make a pitch for your services.
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Plus our shirts and mugs have our cool "Nanepashemet" Logo on them.

Gag me in the Morning

Joanne is telling me that I shouldn't torture myself by watching Good Morning America every morning. She's right. I hate it when that happens.
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GMA is so tainted towards the Democrats that it is silly. The only one I like on there is Sam Champion, the Weatherman.
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They are on a whistlestop train tour through heartland America to show us what the country is like through their filtered lenses. Excuse me while I gag.
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This morning, it was hard ball questions to John McCain about the economy, and soft lobs to Hillary Clinton about what Obama has to do about his "small lead".
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Does anybody else see this??? Or am I the solitary voice of reason and light??? Like you, I am a creature of habit, and reluctant to change. But I will be changing the channel.
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For now on, it is Meredith Vieira, Matt Laurer and Ann Curry on the Today Show. Good Bye, Good Morning.

Brendt's Trophy Wife :-) said...

That is why I watch Fox 25 News. Keeping it local!

No Retort

So I heard an argument today that if McCain is elected he will get us into a war. Fair enough.
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But my irrational fear in retort is that if Obama is elected, the war will take place in the Ted Williams Tunnel, or the Chelsea LNG Tanks.
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So if you are going with the politics of fear, I'm still pretty much with McCain.
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I know I shouldn't be talking politics so much, and that it is making some people uncomfortable.
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It always amazes me that some of my closest friends, family, and colleagues can be crazy-assed, commie liberals. It's not my place to convert them to the truth and the light. My sole obligation is to remain enlightened and correct in my superior judgment.

No Promises

So I'm up at the Gerry, and Tyler Gill tells me that the "All Sarah, All the Time" on this Blog is getting to be a bit much.
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Normally, I'd tell him that he can take his Democrat, Commie, Left-Winger attitude straight to Sun Don't Shine Ville. Didn't I take the time to craft an interesting post about my shed project? I don't think I mentioned Palin once in that entire shed post. So Tyler is obviously completely off base and probably worthy of a severe Blog lashing.
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But then again, Tyler is a friend, and better yet, his company is a Nanepashemet Telecom customer, and his beautiful daughter, Maddie, attends Sundance Pre-School. Naturally, I have shown the remarkable restraint and self control that I am noted for despite his blatant faux pas.
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Once again, I have been the bigger man and have taken the high road. Maybe I will give the Sarah Palin situation a rest for awhile. But .... I can't promise anything.

Tyler Gill said .....
I appreciate your mention of me and my daughter on your blog. I am however concerned of your classification of me as a "deomcrat, commie, left winger". The problems I have with it are
1. I am not a democrat
2. I am not a commie
3. I am defensemen not a winger, and I play on the right side.

please check www.lp.org
It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government. – Thomas Paine

Live Free or Die
Love
Tyler

Tuna Lips said...

Its the duty of ussins' to protext our hard earned cash from thems that would give some of it away and keep the rest of it for theyselves. Only change is some mealy eyed galoot got whats mine.
More fancy words. What is it with these folks you malingering with, quotificating and plagerizing, likes we somehow sposed to feel a stirrin at the bottom of our scrotums and the light will shines down and we are suddenly poor in the pocket but filled in the spirit. I played that honkey-tonk, there is plenty of unaccounted for cash and lonely housewives in it fer the man at the top. Called it the First Church of the Lost Redeemer. Just outside San Antone. Made a killin'. But I digress. Them fancy words is best saved for the lost souls searching for salvification. The plain talkin man gets my vote all the time.


And just so the folks at home ain't misunderstandin, Ise plenty capable of givin' my money out myself to thems in need. Just ask that web-footed harlot with the crossed eyes down at Strum's, tell her Tuna sent ya. Believe her name is Chloey.

King and his Cassell

Everybody is so concerned about the loss of Tom Brady as quarterback of the Patriots, and they are questioning the ability of Matt Cassell to fill the gaping hole. But Cassell has some great advantages.... namely throwing to the likes of Randy Moss and Wes Welker, and having Tom Brady on the sidelines giving you advice and encouragement.
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Plus the Patriots defense has to be super up to prove themselves in this situation.
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And no... I don't believe that Sarah Palin could quarterback the Pats. She obviously doesn't have the experience. But I do believe she could be a wide receiver. She would definitely burn Biden.
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At any rate, I will be out helping Tyler Gill and Chris Crawford to pull their lobster traps around 1:00 PM, then I'll probably head up to the Gerry Volunteer Firemen's Association around 4:00PM to catch the Patriots-Jets game.
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Dave Bruett told me that he and "My-Friend-Who-Doesn't-Want-His-Name-Mentioned-in -the- Blog" will be there, and I'm sure that Gill and the Crawford Boys have the appropriate permissions in place and will be in attendance for that cameraderie at the Gerry... and the cheap beers.

Palin Bashing Backlash

Watching the pathetically biased Good Morning America coverage of Sarah Palin this Sunday morning is downright laughable.
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These people just don't get it. They are really belittling themselves and exposing their pettiness. Obama is free to say what he would do as President. But they don't touch his lack of experience.
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Yet, they are trying so hard to discredit everything Palin says about what she has done in her experience as Chief Executive of the State of Alaska. What about asking her what she would do? There is none of that.... maybe it would make too much sense.
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To me, the more the GMA journalists try to damage the credibility of Palin, the more they damage their own. Don't they see this conundrum? .... Maybe they are not qualified to be journalists!
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It's obvious, insulting, and getting to be humorous. Somebody that they didn't anoint is tipping over their applecart. And now, through no effort of her own, Palin is making them look foolish.

Tuna Lips said...

The power of Christ compelicates me to say to those know it alls that the problem with your cogitations is simply that you put a dimes worth of fifty cent words into breaking my Sweet Potato Pie's balls and plain folk dont cotton to fifty cent words. Comes across likes you is trying to tells us that you is smarter than us round the way types. Miss Sarah dont make me feel that way. Ergo and thusly, get the f*ck off my stoop, you go and sell yer salvation elswhere. This here is the US of A, and you'd do right to think hard on that, stead of thinking on how much better than the rest of us you is. My Jimmy Deans is cookin, I gots to run, but get this straight, there is only half (and likely 1/3) a country that you think matters. That one third aint gonna get er done.

Backyard Shed Talk

Appreciate all your emails and concern. Yes, the shed is coming along fine. Thanks for asking.
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I have the roof consisting of 3/4 plywood with a blue tarp stapled and trimmed complete now so that the shed is technically functional from a waterproof standpoint. I trimmed it with an Azek knockoff of 1x5 white artificial wood that I bought from Home Depot for $11 per 8' board.
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A square of cedar shingles went for $167 which seemed expensive to me. I think I'll need at least one more square, then I'll continue shingling under the deck.
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The doors are being fabricated from the old pine countertop that was in the basement. Kevin Rockett ripped it out when he did the basement tiling, and it's been under the deck in all 18' of linear glory ever since.
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I like to reuse things like the countertop when I do new projects.... Not because of any environmental reason, but because seeing the material in a new use reminds me of some of the stuff that happened around it while it was a countertop in it's older use. That's why I loved using the cedar from my mother's hope chest in my Grandson Will's toy box.
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I cut the countertop into 4' lengths with my vintage Milwaukee worm drive circular saw and will stack these panels with cleats to form two hinged doors tomorrow.
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Then I'll add some hardware so that the doors can be locked, and we will be good to go - loading the shed shelves with the tool crates, hanging the garden hand tools and storing the lawnmower and powerwasher.
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It's not happening a minute too soon either, because Joanne is continually asking about the corner HDTV cabinet that I have cut the stock for in the garage, and Mike is working me over about finishing the basement. He even offered to help. We'll see how that transpires.
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I'll show some pictures of the Shed when it's done, so please don't think you can feel free to just drop by and see it. That includes you McMahon.!

Hurricane McCain-Palin

I know that his Blog has moved a bit away from boatbuilding and more into witnessing how the media elite would like to manipulate the Presidential election. And I'll have to admit that if McCain chose someone like Mitt Romney for his running mate, I'd be far less inclined to follow his campaign.
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But McCain showed some real insight in his choice of Palin, and when he says that he wants to shake up the system, he now has total credibility. Isn't that freaking refreshing???
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I was impressed that Obama secured the nomination as a minority, but in the back of my mind, he was a slick talking, Chicago machine pol with nothing of a policy nature that is remarkable in his short public resume. We now know quite a bit of what McCain and Palin did in their public careers - McCain with campaign reform and rooting out pork - Palin with energy policy and bureaucratic reform.
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Tell me one thing that Obama did.... My point exactly.
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Barach looks like a go along guy. Go along with Daly Chicago politics, go along with racist remarks at his church, go along with fat cats who want to give him real estate deals to ingratiate him.
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I've known guys like Obama all of my life. They see public office as a personal career, not as a vehicle to serve. They are get along guys who say what needs to be said, and align themselves with people on the basis of personal enrichment. Hang out with a Weatherman Terrorist one day, deny him the next. It is the politics of enrichment and convenience.
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I think that the media frequently likes this type of politician, because he/she will do their biding, and will pander to their media careers first before attending to the public needs. When I was a public official in Lynn, the most corrupt backroom pols could get the Boston Globe to say anything that they wanted. As a young liberal, I was astounded - but now as a thinking conservative, it makes sense.
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There is a place for this type of politician, but not the White House.
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I know that this Blog is supposed to be about building the Marblehead Gunning Dory, but I am hopelessly sidetracked while this refreshing wind of political reform is blowing by Hurricane McCain-Palin into the faces of the media elite.
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So the Dory is delayed again... But I will get back to it. Definitely by November.

Hurricane Ike

News reporters getting blown around and soaked with a microphone in their hand, purporting to report on a hurricane are stupid.
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You can tell me about a storm without standing outside in it. Although, I wouldn't mind seeing Charlie Gibson out there.

Gotcha Journalism

Are they hard hitting questions or just ideological boobytraps that Charlie Gibson asks with his low toned, condescending manner? What do you think?
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I personally think that Palin came through as much more of a person that I would trust than Gibson, and Gibson never really bothered me before. Who seemed truthful and sincere to you?.... Sarah or Charlie???
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I care more about sincerity than whether someone can define the "Bush Doctrine". The Presidency is not a pop quiz. It's about leadership, competence, and judgment.
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Did you see Gibson's face when Sarah praised Hillary Clinton??? He didn't see that coming and looked like a fly had landed on his burger. By Palin praising the virtues of Clinton taking shots as a women, she tied directly into the bulk of female voters who supported Hillary because of her gender, and Mr. Smug knew it.
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Palin was good on her feet, struggled with some of the questions, and came through exactly as the person that we need for leadership - a free thinking, non-phoney.
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So Charlie, I think I'm going to vote for Palin, and avoid your biased journalism for the rest of your smug, condescending career. Nice interview.

Gibson Go Around

Getting ready to watch the next masterpiece of media journalism from Charlie Gibson.
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"Have you ever met a head of state?" he asked the Governor of Alaska last night. How many heads of state did Obama know before he ran for President? Let's have more great probing questions like that one tonight Charlie.
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I'll take Palin with her sense of judgement over all of those Georgetown dinner party politicians who could answer yes to that question.
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I never used to buy into this Democratic media bias that guys like Rush Limbaugh always rail about. But now the media seems to be showing their true colors... and are showing a need to manipulate public opinion away from John McCain's great choice.
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Seems to me like Gibson and the media are the real losers here. When this campaign is over, and the people speak in this great system that we have, I doubt that these media elitists will be so smug, after their concerted smear effort is defeated. Good luck Charlie.
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BTW - How's the prepping going for your next riveting interview with Joe Biden? Not one scheduled? No sound bites needed there??? Seems a little biased/sexist to me.
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Bumper Sticker

Thank you Charlie Gibson for your extensive interview of Sarah Palin. I'd like to see the same questions asked of Obama, but so far, it's only been the Palin extravaganza.
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Years ago, Mayor Antonio Marino of Lynn, MA, in response to a question that I asked him of a negative reference in the newspaper said,"It really doesn't matter what say about you in the newspaper, as long as they spell your name right."
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At the time, I disagreed with him, but, then again, he had the longest mayoral run in the City of Lynn until Chip Clancy came along. Marino's name was in the paper a lot.
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I think that the Gibson interview is one long bumper sticker for Palin. If the naysayers were mining for soundbites, they didn't strike a rich vein. People are already polarized around Palin, so the media exposes their own biases more than hers when they dig for the dirt.
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Course, I doubt if Tony Marino, a staunch Democrat, would be on the McCain bandwagon.

Week 37 -POTW

You have to admit, this is a great country.
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Where else do bitter national Presidential rivals call a truce to show respect at the site of a national tragedy? Our political system is actually pretty enlighted and civilized.... compared to what it could be, and despite the pettiness that the press likes to hone in on.
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I wonder if Sarah Palin knew what she was in for when she accepted this nomination. For that matter, consider the plight of her future son-in-law. Imagine that poor bastard waking up one morning and thinking, "Oh Shit! I knocked up my girlfriend! Man - Am I in Deep!" Buddy, you have no freaking idea.
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And that leads us to the all important weekly selections, that virtually the entire country is waiting for.....
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ANNOUNCING...
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for 37th week of 2008

Matt Damon
Emily Engardia
Vince Willfork
Sarah Crawford
Ben Orichi
Bill Hillegas

Can't wait to see what self righteous, all-full-of-themselves, celebrities that Sarah Palin pisses off next!!! This is getting to be fun.

Good Matt Hunting

Matt Damon was on the news this morning saying he doesn't want a Hockey Mom a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
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But apparently, Barach Obama, a community organizer who bought his house for $300,000 below price from a Felon is an OK choice. I personally would be leaning toward the Hockey Mom, aka the Governor of Alaska.
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Naturally, my statement is as outrageous as Damon's.
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Don't treat us like idiots Matt, as you preach from your celebrity bully pulpit. You're one of my favorite actors, but it is obvious that you are stuck in pretend world.
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Plus, you're losing the adoration of Hockey Mom's everywhere.

9/11

This is one of those days when you can recall exactly what you were doing when you heard the news.

Kennedy's Assassination - I was a sixth grade traffic boy performing street crossing services at the corner of Hollingsworth St. and Rockaway St. across from the Highland Elementary School in Lynn, MA.

Explosion of the Space Shuttle - I was watching TV in the basement of my house at Hawthorn Rd. in Marblehead, MA

OJ Verdict - I was in the office of my namesake lawyer, John N. Nestor of Lynn.

9/11 - I was commuting on Route 128 to the General Dynamics office in Needham, MA.

Those are the four events that freeze my surrounding environment in my mind. All really bad things.

Thank God, we haven't had one of those days since Sept. 11, 2001.

Obama Boo Boo

So I'm sure you're waiting for me to sound in on this "Lipstick on a Pig" controversy by our man Obama.
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If you think a comment like that wasn't directed at Sarah Palin, then let me know what the lunch menu is in La La Land, because I want what you're having.
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Now he's all in denial and blaming the Republicans and the press for creating a fire and fanning the flames.
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The fact is that he made a gutteral, back room remark and whether it was directed at Palin or not, he had to know that it would be interpreted that way after her famous "Hockey Mom with Lipstick" joke. If he didn't, he is a stupid politician and a stupid lawyer... and I doubt this hypothesis.
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One thing is crystal clear - He has shown really Bad Judgement... and he is getting his ass kicked by McCain and Palin

Displaced Priorities

It's a crystal clear September morning in New England.
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I feel like I'm irresponsible if I don't blow off work today and get out on Marblehead Sound in the WhaleEye.
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But the odds are that I'll keep banging at Nanepashemet Telecom. Something about "making hay while the sun shines".
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Call me irresponsible.

Need for Strong Leadership

I hate to get back on the Palin issue, but if I was from Alaska, I would be pretty pissed at the backhanded remarks that the duly elected Governor of Alaska has no qualifications. She's a FREAKING GOVERNOR!!!!
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She is the Governor of the largest state in the Union with huge energy and environmental issues.
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Obama is one of two Senators in the State of Illinois.
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Let's get off of the experience issue and actually listen to these people.
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I also get a big kick out of those who think they can put horns on the head of George Bush, and say that if you agree with the President of the United States, that you are somehow ominous.
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All I know is that after September 11, 2001, when we thought that we were under seige by fanatical, suicidal, murderous ideologues, George Bush pinned the assholes back into holes somewhere in Whatthefuckistan, and there have been no more attacks on American soil.
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Do you realize how easy it is for some suicidal sociopath to wreak havoc in our urban areas? I give Bush the credit for the safety we have enjoyed for the past eight years. Can you imagine if we had a weakling like Jimmy Carter in there with his hands at the wheel? People forget that Iran flipped us the bird for over a year while Carter was President, holding our diplomats hostage, and released them the day that a strong leader, Ronald Reagan, was elected.
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Like Harry Truman before him, history will be kind to the judgement and courage exhibited by President Bush, taking strong stands on controversial issues despite the rockthrowers and naysayers.
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"At one point in his second term, near the end of the Korean War, Truman's public opinion ratings reached the lowest point yet recorded for any United States president until George W. Bush. Despite negative public opinion during his term in office, popular and scholarly assessments of his presidency became more positive after his retirement from politics and the publication of his memoirs. U.S. scholars today rank him among the top ten best presidents." - Wikipedia

Getting Weird

Lately, quite a few people from the distant past have been contacting me over the WEB. I guess that when people browse the internet, they tend to explore their past. There are a lot of people that don't show up so easily though.
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I wonder if there will be a kind of electronic archeology in the future. Will all of these miserable blog entries be archived and saved, only to be dug up by some future anthropologist, wondering how the world was at the dawn of the electronic information age?
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People tend to think that there is a type of immortality on Earth, but we forget the past with frightful speed..... to the point where we don't even know the names of our Great Grandparents.
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I'll bet a bottle of Lagavulin that you don't know the name of your Father's Grandfather - a person critical to your being on Earth!!! I don't. And I can't Google him either. Did his existance have meaning if we can't even know that he lived?
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Sorry about the weirdness.

Shed

It was a hot weekend. Hurricane Hanna ended up to be a overnight rain shower so we were able to get stuff done. I used the bonus weather on Sat. and Sun. building the tool and lawnmower shed.
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It's fun to do rough framing. As a world renowned boatbuilder, I'm more attuned to exact tolerances and finished surfaces, but the shed was much more rugged and rustic.
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I made the mistake of showing it to Joanne before it was finished, which is always a a problem because people can't see your finished vision. She said that it looked good, but I could tell by her face that she was horrified.
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No matter. It will be fine when I'm done. The'll be pictures.

Tuna Lips said...

Nothing like the privacy of a shed fer boppin' yer baloney. Spent a lot of time in pappy's shed, "fixin' the lawnmower". To this very day, the smell of gasoline and mildew gets me misty, thinkin' on thems care free moments, northwest corner of the shed, by the broken window, eyein, Ms. McSorley hangin the launderin, sweat tricklin' off her brow, wind blowin' her hair and frock this away and a that, her massive udders quaking as she stretched to pin up her tent sized nickers, . . ooh, I must pardon myself. Carry on with yer shed constructification.

Hurricane Threat

We're watching Hurricane Hanna motor up the coast and threaten to end the fishing season early. I'm not pulling the WhaleEye out of Salem Harbor. I think we can ride this one out, because fish still have to die at my hands this month.

Peep of the Week - Week 36

I know that a lot of you will paint me with a Republican brush because of my fawning and swooning over Gov. Palin.... but I'm not going to fake my feelings will a sense of false objectivity.
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After hearing John McCain's acceptance speech, the McCain-Palin ticket overwhelms the Obama-Biden team. I was surprised at the depth of truth and sincerity that came through when I listened to Cindy McCain who backs up her sense of compassion by adopting refugee children from Bangladesh, and who has seen her son go to Iraq.
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And the story of John McCain is inspiring in the service of he and his family to this country and his independent and maverick approach to politics and policy.
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Sorry, but I just didn't get the same emotional movement from the Obama's, Kennedy's and the Clinton's that I took from the McCain's, the Guiliani's and the Palin's.
~
I still view myself as an Independent.... as someone who seeks the truth, no matter who utters it. And that would find me as an ardent supporter of McCain and Palin, not necessarily a Republican. It is annoying to be labeled... which segways nicely to the truly important task at hand.

ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 36th week of 2008

Jim Nestor
Sarah Palin
Lance Armstrong
Geoghan Coogan
Sammy Khairi
Kenny Daye

Enough of politics. Now I have to concentrate on something truly significant - building the tool shed under my deck so that I can clear the way for a run at the Marblehead Gunning Dory construction.

BahBah WaWa and Perky

Barbara Walters and Katie Couric are so devastated. A female leader has emerged and she can't be manipulated and won't pay homage to the superiority of the Liberal Media.
~
The largest criticism is Palin's characterization of community activists, as being less responsible than a small town mayor. Palin is right, and the topic wouldn't have come up if Obama hadn't taken the first swing.
~
You can really see the wind come out of the sails of these self-righteous. elitist bitches.
~
Right on Sarah!! You Go Girl.

A Star is Born

Sarah Palin has just finished her speech at the Republican National Convention, and blasted one out of the Ballpark. What a brilliant, charismatic, poised leader! What a huge job by John McCain choosing such a talented running mate!
~
Hillary must have messed her pantsuit.
~
So tough, so erudite, so centered and down to earth, a great sense of humor. American has witnesssed the birth of a great leader.
~
The Democrats and Liberals will throw the kitchen sink at her, but they had better take cover because she has the ability to hurl it right back.
~
She's forthright, honest, balanced and confident. What a surprise! I like her a lot.

"What is the difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom?
Lipstick. " - Gov. Sarah Palin

Tuna Lips said...

Hills waren't the only one with a mess in her shorts - I started humpin' the throw pillow when sweet Sarah Pecan Pie (thats my pet name fer her) went on about wearing lipstick and laying pipelines. Ooohey. I feel like Bugs Bunny when he kissed that robot Rabbit with the nice taters and got hisself a shock. No need for the $3.49 I drop every month on "NaughtyLibrarian.com"! The economics just got trended up!

Fair Game

The Democrats are freaking out over Sarah Palin. Republican's aren't supposed to be the one's who break the glass ceiling. President Bush has never gotten credit for the important role that he created for Condoleeza Rice in his administration. That just gets overlooked.
~
One female pundit on CNN disgustingly called Palin a gimmick. The duly elected Governor of Alaska is a gimmick???? I didn't catch the pundit's name, but she is a bona fide moron who is lucky enough to live in the land of the free.
~
I was startled today to hear Obama saying that his campaign budget was so much higher than the muncipal budget that Palin managed in East Bumf_ck, Alaska. So What!!!! She was also elected Governor of the largest State in the Union. Seems like the Dems are pretty cool to Alaska. If you come from Alaska, you're not qualified to be a VP????? Stupid argument.
~
Obama is basically saying that he is qualified to be President because he is running for President. An interesting proposition. Obama is starting to look small to me by stooping to this type of pandering. And now he has Barney Frank rushing to his aid, saying that the attacks on Sarah Palin's private life is fair game. Oh Brother!!!
~
Tell us what you stand for Barach??? Who cares about the budget of Podunk, Alaska??? Just as I didn't buy into the attacks on you through your racist Pastor, don't insult us by coming up with ways to demean Sarah Palin.
~
BTW, I was one of those who was concerned about McCain's age of 72. But then I saw his 96 year old Mom standing erect and vibrant. That makes me feel better.
~
So enough talk about politics.... let's discuss something less controversial like religion or something.

Hurricane Anxiety

Gustave was a bust. I was expecting to be horrified and mesmerized by devastation and destruction. Instead, I'll have to settle for the Republican National Convention for my fix of angst and anxiety.
~
Speaking of politricks, the pregnancy of Gov. Sarah Palin's 17 yr. old daughter is something that the Democrats will stear way clear of.... since Barach Obama's Mom was 18 when he was born... which most likely put her around the same age at conception.
~
In so many ways, McCain has pinned back the Dems by the VP nomination of Palin.... Hillary and her glass ceiling, Obama and his experience.... and this personal instance is another one.

Tuna Lips said...

I bet them eskimos is thinkin' on some hot "mommy and daughter" action likes thems offers up on the information superhighway dirty pages. Naughty redskins.

Mystery of the Links

My son Michael bought a new set of Cleveland golf clubs yesterday, which I'm sure he will put to good use. Ryan is also a pretty good golfer and can drive the ball over 300 yds. on occasion.
~
So Mike decided to make small talk this afternoon, by asking me why I thought that I sucked so bad in golf. Normally, my response would be a kindly but firm, "Kiss My Ass", but the topic is one that has intrigued me as well.
~
After all, the two boys are good golfers, both captained the Marblehead HS Golf Team in their senior years, and my father was a natural athelete who just about mastered any sport he tried. I remember he always would come home with trophies for bowling or golf - every time he got involved with some sort of organized activity. He was also a hell of a baseball player, spending a season down south in the Yankees farm system.
~
Like I told you earlier, my tennis game was once such that I felt I could play with anyone, and I always could hit a baseball. So why can't I at least play golf with a modicum of competency???
~
My drives are erratic and short.
I can't chip to save myself.
Putting is an atrocious embarrassment.
I never open a sleeve of balls that I don't lose in the woods.
A round is something that I survive, not finish.
~
WTF is going on????
~
So Mike, it's a legit question, and deserves a thoughtful answer. And the answer is..." I have no freaking idea....so Kiss My Ass".

Tuna Lips said...

"I likes to go swimmin' with bowlegged women and swims between their legs, swims between there legs, o swim betweens their legs . . ." oh ascuse my little ditty, I was just ponderin' how Willie Clinton is kickin' hisself fer selectin' that Al Gore ninny he run with. Shoulda got hisself an office mate he could play grab ass with like this Sarah gal, wearing her hot pants and toting a double ought, he'd a had a big ole party and kept that feller hillary off his back. Shucks, titties and guns, throw in some bourbon and take out, you got yerself the life of, well, Tuna Lips, heh heh heh. I'm gone, see ya, wouldn't wanta be ya!

I Believe This....

"Successful and unsuccessful people do not
vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in
their desires to reach their potential."
- John Maxwell

Physical Phatigue

This is the second weekend in a row where my body is wracked with self induced pain. Last week we decided that cycling 15 mi. a day in the mountain roads of North Corway was a good idea.... this week, landscaping at Sundance Pre-School did the damage.
~
Specifically, all we did was weed, cultivate, trim some overgrowth and plant about 30 chrysanthemums. How physically taxing could that be???? In truth, the weeds had so taken hold that I made four F15o truckloads to the Marblehead dump. There were big ones, thorny ones, and some really rooted weeds. Then a few hours of tilling and tree trimming.
~
By the time 4:00 PM rolled around, I was one hurting Buckaroo. Which would have been easy enough to endure if I wasn't tortured by taunts from the likes of Will and Lynda Murray, as well as Brendt and Kerry D'Orio, as they cruised West Shore Drive ostensibly looking for action.
~
My friend "Who doesn't want his name mentioned in the Blog" saw me at one of the Dump runs and invited me over his house for a beer. That would have been nice if I wasn't so sweaty and filthy. Plus he is not over the euphoria of landing two Bluefins at Stellwagen yesterday which I am unabashedly jealous about. So I declined.
~
At the Marblehead Garden Center, while picking up the last ten Mums, a fetching Marblehead SUV Mom asked if I worked there. Not really flattered by that assumption, I said, "No... but do I look like I work here?"

"Well, you look like you know what you are doing," was her glib retort.
~
Maybe that's good... I'm still not so sure. But it did take my mind off of my painful physical fatigue for a few seconds.
~
Anyway, there is no excuse for letting the weeds take over at the Sundance Pre-School. I have to resolve to stay ahead of that game.... so I can bike more on the weekends.

Weekend Focus

It's a long Labor Day holiday weekend.
~
Normally, this would be a good time to kick back. But I want to get the Sundance landscaping looking real good for the opening of the school next week.
~
And I want to get some nagging maintenance issues done around Beverly Ave. Like waterproofing under the deck to store the lawnmower and powerwasher etc. there rather than in the garage.
~
I have to put the garage back in shape for some serious boatbuilding work on the Marblehead Gunning Dory. So I suppose that you forgot about that project???? After all, it is one of the primary focuses of this pathetic Blog.... or so it is supposed to be.
~
Despite all of this Puritannical attention to labor, I still have to catch some fish this weekend. Maybe a football tuna or striped bass.... Maybe.

POTW Week 35

I'm not ready to concede the end of summer.
~
I haven't caught nearly enough fish, haven't rowed the tender, and spent a lot of time trying to grow a front lawn only to see it burn up through overfertilization. I'm sure that the neighbors get a chuckle over that. But I'm not giving up.... not with the whole month of September ahead of me.
~
We'll make up a lot of time in September and we'll keep the Tender going easily into November.
~
At least I can look forward to the Republican National Convention.
~
Announcing
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 35th week of 2008

Susan Raich
Katelyn Nestor
Sarah Crawford
Caroline Bruett
Eric Johnson
John Kerry

We have the whole month of September.

Dems in Denver

Watching the Democratic National Convention makes my teeth hurt. It's like idiots pandering to idiots.
~
Bill Clinton, welling up in tears and mouthing "I love you" to Hillary while she spouted from the podium, was particularly painful. Everything seems so pretentious and staged.
~
I doubt that the Republicans will be much better.
~
Choosing the leader of the most powerful nation on earth is such a sell job. You would think that we could figure out a better way. Maybe program a computer to be ultimately logical, just and wise.
~
I ultimately will vote for McCain as the lesser of two evils, although I remain thrilled that a non-white has overcome the deep seated racial insecurities to emerge as a Presidential candidate. Within my own lifetime, the nation has made a quantum leap and has become a better place to live.

Admitting to Weakness

The last couple of days have been a whir of activity at Nanepashemet Telecom.
~
So naturally this pathetic blog has had to suffer. What do you want from me? I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. No trust funds, no inherited wealth. I generally have had to work my ass off everyday to make a living.
~
And even if Nanepashemet Telecom is cruising along now, there is always the chance that it can fall off of a cliff. So I have to work hard and be vigilant, even in the good times.
~
So.... How's that for a nice dose of paranoia????
~
At any rate, I can sense a bit of workaholic creeping into my character, and will try hard to screw off more often in the future.
~
It's especially hard to admit to weaknesses when you are a mountain of a man like me. But I do have my shortcomings.

Inflation

Suspecting that the tire pressure was off, I bought a bicycle pump which had a gauge on it from Joe Jones and found that the pressure was 25 psi.
~
The tire stated to use 65 psi for on road and 45 for off road, so I inflated to 65 psi. A big difference. Took 4 minutes off of the 14.6 mile loop and felt a lot better during the cycle. The small seat does a job on your glutes though, and can get downright uncomfortable to the boys. I suppose this will take some getting used to .
~
Joanne wants me to take her bike home and that she'll ride it there. Since the Cybex hasn't felt her on it's seat for over a year, I have my doubts. But I'll hump it home anyway.

Encore

I couldn't believe how bad I felt on my 15 mile bike ride yesterday.
~
So much so that I went the same route today.
~
The difference was that I brought a 16oz. bottle of iced tea, which made me feel much better... but my ass has still be dragging all day since.
~
Maybe tomorrow will be better.
~
BTW, I'm pretty sure that the "Bud Collins" guy is an imposter. The real Collins would never have the balls to call me a Bitch.

Tennis Return

After about 140 practice serves at the Northbrook courts, I could sense that the magic was returning. My tennis game was coming back.

~

By the end, I had the right pace, could place the serve and could throw in a hook or two. I completely obliterated my imaginary opponent.

~

Get ready Stevie. I'm coming back for you. And Bud Collins.... if that is indeed your real name.... it's time for you to take the whupping that you deserve.

~

Now for another bike adventure.

Bud Collins said...

I write for the Boston Globe, sir, and have played tennis since before you were born and commented on it for major media outlets since the 1974 season, in which Ashe beat Connors in 4 sets at Wimbledon.

Nevertheless, I am not voting for Obama. Like you. Bitch.

John Nestor Said....

Excellent Trash Talk. Unlike you, I will let my racket do the talking. I'll have to bring two though because the first one will be sticking out of your ass.

Peep of the Week - 34

It was a day like any other day up in North Conway, NH. We went to the shoe store to get my pair of Sperry Boat shoes that I'll wear for the next five years or so, then we went to the new Eastern Mountain Sports on Route 16.
~
We have been patrons at Eastern Mountain ever since we bought our first pair of XC skis from their Amherst, MA store back in 1973. It was pretty embarrassing lately when I saw the same models hung on a Pub wall as antiques!
~
Oh Well... Tempus Fugit.
~
Anyway, in a complete impulse buy, I bought two mountain bikes for Joanne and I. Joanne was fairly horrified, but within an hour, we wwere pedaling around on our new IronHourse Maverick 1.0 26" mountain bike beauties.
~
The IronHorse is made in China where billions of people pedal as a way of life, so that sounded like a good deal to me.
~
Naturally I immediately overdid it by biking fifteen miles over to Intervale and back. It's not the same as 15 on the stationary Cybex, and my back was screaming.
~
We bought cool helmets too.
~
Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 34th week of 2008

Abby Bruett
Lindsey Kepnes
Lauren Rathbone
Brian Butler
Jason, the guy from Eastern Mountain Sports
Linda O'Shea

Tomorrow will be more reasonable.

More Olympics

Some of the sports in the Olympics that you don't see often are really cool.
~

• Team Handball - a combination of Basketball and Lacrosse.
• Badminton - Not your backyard lawn game.
• Water Polo - Something fun to do at the pool.
• Table Tennis - Definitely not Ping Pong.
• Wrestling - has nothing to do with the bogus stuff on TV, which shouldn't be call wrestling.

~
I'm not really interested in the baseball, basketball or tennis where the Olympics are not the pinnacle of the sport.
~
Course Track and Field still rules. I'm disappointed that Shalane Flanagan hasn't received any televised recognition though. She runs in the 5000 meter final on Friday, but since she wasn't a medal favorite in the long runs, the networks televised pre-planning hasn't keyed on these events.
~
If she medals again in the 5000, the networks will have missed out on a great story.

Tuna Lips said...

Howdy, and apologies for my absentee being. Hoo yow! I am flush with pocket money and tales to spin from the road, wherein my jug band, the Foghorn Leghorns, just come back from. Called it 'Tunapalooza' in these parts, hit every town fair and roadhoase juke joint from the Ozarks Hempfest to the Winnebago Muddy Water festival. Ussins blazed a trail of toe tappin' fiddlin' and bumpin', liquor fueled misdemeanors and amorous involvifications with BBWs. This here money I lifted from an invalids' panhandlin' is burnin' a hole in my trousers. I am gonna git on down to the oriental health spa (next to the coin-op launderin')and get my road weary bones a rub down, and mayhap a welcome home hand release! Coo Coo!

Truth Beckons

A few people who know the truth gave me a call today.
~
No spin, no angles, no color commentary, no ass covering, no distortion.
~
I knew what they were calling about, and I didn't call them, they called me.... and I appreciate it.
~
I got no satisfaction from what they said, only felt good that they were compelled to say it.

Lesser of Two Evils

Yesterday was a long day. 7 hours on the road, 10 1/2 hours at the Maine jobsite. Thank God for Red Bull. Joanne and Kate say that it is bad for me, but it can't be worse than dozing off on the highway. Clearly the lesser of two evils.
~
So I got up this morning feeling ready to go, but I was super irritable. Even I noticed it. It wasn't a day to aggravate me or make a stupid, unthinking remark, as two hapless individuals found out. I don't feel bad about teeing off on them though. Even if I felt fine, they still deserved it.

Hidden Benefit

Back to Rockland again to punch out the Coast Guard job. It's getting bad when you feel like leaving the house at quarter of four in the morning is starting to seem like routine.
~
But that's where quitting drinking has its benefits.
~
Joanne and I took the WhaleEye up the Annisquam River in Gloucester yesterday with the Murray's, then back over to Brown's Island where we tied up with my "Friend who doesn't want his name mentioned in the Blog", and his lovely wife Nancy.
~
The weather was perfect, and normally the beer would be flowing like wine and I'd be paying for it today.
~
Instead, I bounced out of bed and made the 3 1/2 hour trek to be at the jobsite by 8:00 AM.
~
Course, driving home will tend to suck, but that's to be expected.

Flanagan's Shocking Third

It's a fact!
~
Exactly one day after she was named as a Nanepashemet Peep of the Week, former Marbleheader Shalane Flanagan placed third in the women's 10,000 meter run.... earning a bronze medal and gunning down two Kenyans to do it.
~
I know that the POTW has power, but even I had no idea that it could have this type of effect.
~
There were no pundits who predicted this amazing finish for her on the elite international stage.
~
Congratulations on a great run!

Semi-Successful

I suppose I should respond to several irritating emails asking if I accomplished the lofty work goals that I set at the beginning of the week. Since I only select six POTW's per week, I can't include all of the annoying Peeps who emailed me, but believe me, I'd like to.
~
The week started with the Merrimack Golf Tournament with the Two Bobs and talented newcomer Previte. You will recall that I gave the portable beer can container that we won to Superpeep, Ben Martin.
~
I did travel to Gloucester and Bourne and filed for the Coast Guard permits. Only received Glocester, Bourne is in the mail.
~
Had some very important customers over to the house for an evening harbor tour and then some tuna steaks. ( I still can't believe how much like prime rib a grilled fresh tuna steak can taste.)
~
Headed to Maine to close out the first phase of the Rockland Coast Guard installation. Couldn't close that deal for various shit-happens reasons, and will have to return on Monday to punch it out.
~
Filed most of my taxes, so that I wouldn't be legally harrassed by this government of the "Land of the Free". (Don't get me started on this one!!!)
~
So I guess I covered a lot of what I set out to do, even if everything didn't end up all packaged with a bow on top. It still was more that the vast majority of you could get done in half a month.

Bar Harbor Maine Lunch

We enjoyed a great lunch right on the water in Bar Harbor at Stewman's Lobster Pound.
~
Joanne had the lobster cobb salad, and I went with the staple of life - fried clams.
~
Highly recommended.
~
Then I bought a cool T-shirt with a lobster on it. I'm sure we'll blend right in with the locals.

Aim High

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

- Michelangelo

Michelangelo would never last in a big corporation. I'm pretty sure that his relationship with the Vatican was contentious as well.

Can you imagine the freaking paint-by-numbers mess that the Sistine Chapel would have become if Michelangelo was a corporate, ass-covering weenie???

Week 33 POTW

When we finally got to Rockland, Maine at about 6:00PM this evening, we headed straight for the Somerset Resort Hotel. Their website said they had plenty of rooms available.... but not so! We were turned away.
~
Even with my natural charm and persuasive ability, I was not able to convince the young check-in meister that I was not your average guest, and that my presense would lend intangible prestige to his lodging house for the next two days.
~
Who needs the freaking Somerset anyway??? Been there, Done that.
~
We ended up in a brand new extended stay room at the TradeWinds, complete with a jacuzzi, fireplace, and nice view of the harbor. And far cheaper than the Somerset.
~
See That??? When God closes one door, he opens another. There is no bad luck - only our limited vision, and time impaired judgement of events.
~
Speaking of bad luck, it's time to announce the Peep of the Week Selections.
~
ANNOUNCING
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 33rd week of 2008

Bob Brown (automatic Lagavulin criteria)
Bob Wojcik (also an automatic)
Michael Phelps
Bela Karoli
Tom McMahon
Shalane Flanagan

Plus, Joanne is within walking distance of all of the downtown Rockland attractions - galleries, museums, shops and restaurants. I'll have our car parked two miles from town at the freaking cell site all day..... pounding away on line with the excessive documentation that this job entails.

Business Focus

It's Thurs. and I'm about ready to head up to Maine as soon as I can finish my tax filing.

That will be a relief, but there is a big deadline on the Coast Guard project that we are trying to accomplish by the close of business Friday.
~
Joanne is making the trip with me to Rockland, but she will have to cope at staying at the Samoset Hotel Pool by herself as I will be at the cell site closing down the first construction phase.
~
It's all Business Baby. What can I say? I'm focused on the ultimate dominance of Nanepashemet Telecom.
~
I know that you're probably worried that I'll forget about the POTW selections this evening.... well Chill OUT!!! I've got it all under control.

Olympic Progress

So how do you think the Olympics are turning out????? Here's what jumps out at me.....
~
Michael Phelps can freaking swim.
~
No way are the Chinese Women Gynnasts 16 years old.
~
Bela Karoli, the Romanian who runs the US Women's Gymnast program, is just a little over the top.
~
The Chinese really overdid the opening ceremony and lost it with the lipsynching kid.
~
The Water Cube is very cool architecture.
~
As much as I am fond of President Bush, he should get his ass back to Washington.
~
Synchronized diving gives me the creeps.
~
Alicia Sacramone, from Winchester, MA, on the Women's Gymnastic team is very, very cute.
~
The NBA Basketball players seem out of place.
~
Women Gymnasts are better looking than Women Swimmers, but the US Women's Beach Volleyball Team is by far the hottest.
~
Dara Torres, the 41 year old Californian Mother, is the most incredible swimmer at the games.... Phelps included.
~
It's been interesting so far, but the real deal for me begins with the Track and Field events. Shalene Flanagan from Marblehead is running the 10,000 meters. I've followed her career a little and have seen her running in Town here, and it will be interesting to see if she can get into the Final and be competitive at this level.

Merrimack Football Tournament results

So I receive hundreds of emails from you Peeps asking how I golfed yesterday. Since you already know that I suck, you can imagine how irritating this is.
~
I pretty much delivered on my reputation, although I did have to carry the foursome on my back on a number of occasions. The "Crusher" was in attendance and managed to mangle a few of the dimpled spheroids.
~
Bob "Mountain of a Man" Brown was clearly off his PGA rated standard game, and Bob "the Insidious" Wojcik (the one who screwed up my knee) was not particularly impressive. But they totally redeemed themselves by giving me a fifth of Lagavulin which obviously has automatic POTW connotations.
~
The one bright spot was talented newcomer, Jeff Previte of EBI Consulting, who consistently rained vulgar insults on himself after every other shot. Quite entertaining.
~
At least we cleaned up on the raffle at dinner after the game, with three winners out of five tickets. I gave Ben Martin, the worthy Merrimack Offensive Line Coach, one of the prizes... a collapsable gadget that holds thirty beer cans. I'm sure he can get some use out of it.
~
All in all, the Merrimack Football team stands a little taller today, and Nanepashemet Telecom was happy to oblige.

Packed Agenda

This week is shaping up to be a real doozy.
~
Did I just say "doozy"? If I did, I apologize.
~
Anyway....
~
The week starts out with getting permits in Gloucester and Bourne on Monday and Tues. And I have to fit in the Merrimack Football Golf Tournament in Windham, NH today. In retrospect, I really can't afford the time to golf, but I've lined up a good foursome. Hope my game shows up.
~
Wed., Thurs., and Fri., I'll be up in Rockland, Maine to close out the first phase of the Coast Guard site that Nanepashemet Telecom is building. All of the issues with other customers will be handled remotely because my Internet Card works great up there.
~
In the middle of all this I have to file the Sundance taxes by Friday.
~
"How will it all get done???" you ask.
~
Why don't you just pay attention to what you have to do this week, and let me worry about that.

Root Ball

I've been thinking about moving the fir tree in my front lawn for some time now and today was the day. Not sure where that motivation came from, but I put my work boots on and went with the flow.
~
The tree is about 12' tall with a 4" caliper trunk. I cut the lower branches with my sawzall so that I could dig a ring about 1 1/2 feet around the trunk. The soil was relatively easy to move because of the heavy rains of late around here.
~
After digging about eighteen inches down around the circumference of the truck I rocked the root ball back and forth until the ball was separated from the surrounding hole. Then I got out my six foot iron crow bar and used it to leverage the root ball onto a dolley.
~
Archimedes said that if he had a place to stand and a large enough lever, he could move the earth. I don't know about that, but the crow bar worked fine on the root ball.
~
From there, it was simply to transfer the tree to a hole that I had dug in the corner of my backyard and backfill the tree and the hole in my front lawn.
~
I know that this isn't particularly fascinating, but nobody made you freaking read this now... did they? I mean... I could have written about how I weed crabgrass, but that would have even bored me.

Olympic Recollections

The Beijing Olympics start tonight. It's the 29th Olympiad.
~
As a former track athlete, this was always a huge highlight for me. I particularly remember the Mexico City, Munich, and Montreal Olympics.
~
Then President Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the Moscow Olympics due to the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. What an idiot, but that's getting off of the subject.
~
The Russians returned the favor and boycotted the Los Angeles Games four years later.
~
Carter accomplished nothing but screwing up the lives of athletes who simply wanted to compete against the best, with no other pretense. After Carter made his so called "point" eight years of athletes non-political highest hopes had been dashed. So the ensuing Olympiads were not as memorable to me, and I had to pay attention to making a living anyway.
~
I remember .....
~
Jim Ryun losing to Kip Keino in Mexico City in the 1500M.
Dave Wottle with the stupid hat, coming from behind in the 800M,
Dave Hemery, who became a coach at BU, winning the 400M hurdles,
Joan Benoit Samuelson winning the Marathon,
Frank Shorter doing the same with an imposter coming into the stadium before him,
Tommy Smith and John Carlos on the 200M medals stand with their fists raised in the air,
Steve Prefontaine losing the 5000 to the Finn, Laisse Viren, who I always thought was a blood doper.
Al Oerter winning the Discus - for the fourth time,
Jim Toomey and Bruce Jenner winning the Decathlon,
Bob Beamon, popping a 29' long jump, that obliterated the world record by a foot and a half,
Flo Jo Griffith Joyner with her fingernails, winning the 100 and 200m sprints.
Dick Fosbury, reinventing the high jump, with his backwards, "Fosbury Flop" (I actually used this technique to get my earth bound body over a 5'1" high jump bar, which still amazes me, since I could just manage to touch the bottom of the net in basketball.)
Michael Johnson, with his weird backwards slant, winning the 400.

Lots of others......
~
My brother and I were big track fans, and we knew of all of the athletes and their records in the 60's and 70's. My best track times were 4:30 in the mile and 9:44 in the two mile, and I had a couple of cross country races in high school and college where I exceeded my ability, but I was always a better fan than participant. Since then my interest has waned.
~
Back then, all of the sprinters were Black and all of the distance guys were White. The jumpers were Black and the throwers were White. There were articles in Sports Illustrated that tried to say that the trends were due to the different muscle fibers found in the races, but time has proven that the classifications are made more around cultural and political lines than biological ones.
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Since those analyses, we've seen the Kenyans dominate distance running and many white and Asian sprinters emerge... I think that it really has to do with the priorities and choices available to some groups over the other.
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I'm probably opening a can of worms here, so I think that I'll just do a slow fade.

Week 32 POTW

The other day somebody asked me what the criteria was for selecting the Peep of the Week.
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I suppose that's not a stupid question.
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After all.... there are no stupid questions... only stupid people who ask the questions.
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Every once in awhile, my patience gets severely tested. That's when I thank the good Lord for blessing me with great tolerance and forebearance. But to think that in this advanced period, there are those who still reside in such sheltered, cloistered, and uninformed existences that they ask the ultimate fundamental question.
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"What does it take to be named a Peep of the Week?"
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Aggravating, isn't it?
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Once again... if you've been......

Annoying or Stupid,
Inspirational,
You're Not Dead,
You're Not an Animal,
or
You've given me the Gift of Lagavulin (the King of Scotch) in the past week....

Then there is a slight chance that you may be named a POTW. Of course, you can always take the automatic Lagavulin route, which is the vastly preferred alternative.

The following people have met the criteria for this week's selection.

ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 32nd week of 2008

Nancy Bruett
Louis Casale
Dennis Fai
Joan Samuelson
Mike Sullivan
Paris Hilton

Now the criteria should be crystal clear.

Wonder Drugs

So I go to see my physician, Dr. Louis Casale, yesterday, because the gout in my big toe was really starting to make me wince, and I hate to show the slightest bit of acknowledgement to pain.
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Casale wants me to take a pill every day to prevent gout, which I am reluctant to do because I'm leery of any side effects, but Casale says that the side effect of not taking the med is that I'll be afflicted with mind numbing gout again.
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The guy has a point.
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He gives me two prescriptions... one to take the immediate gout pain away, and the other to prevent it's recurrence.
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Drugs are a wonderful thing. Four pills later and my toe is fine, and I'm feeling freaking good all over. Dr. Casale is a brilliant man. I can't wait to start taking the rest of the pills.

The Joy of Giving

Ben Martin is coming by to pick up the Nanepashemet Telecom check for the golf foursome at the Windham Country Club. It's the fifth annual Golf Tournament fundraiser hosted to support the Merrimack College Football Team.
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The Merrimack Football Team is a charity that we have taken heart to, and you would too if you saw those deserving young men dedicated to driving their pointy ended ball into opposing end zones.
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Makes me tear up just thinking about it. I'm bringing some of my favorite customers to donate their golf game to this worthy cause.

Happy Birthday Caroline Bruett

Caroline Riley Bruett stepped onto the starting line for her position in the human race at 7:05PM last night, weighing in with a fighting weight of 8lbs. 9 0z.
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Give it hell Caroline! Looking forward to seeing you!

Return to Form

If you're like most of the other Peeps who frequent this Blog (for whatever mysterious/absurd reason), one of the first things that you do is check out my training log.
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It's pretty accurate.
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I really did miss half of June and all of July, due to throwing my back out while lugging the Tender over the mud flats when I got caught at low tide in Marblehead Harbor. By the time my back improved, my gout reoccurred in my right big toe.
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But did you see me whining and complaining all the time about all of the pain that I was in???? Pain that would incapacitate the vast majority of lesser men???? No, you didn't.... so once again I humbly assert my inherent superiority over the rest of you.
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Anyway, I finally broke the pattern and got on the Cybex late this afternoon. Worked up a good sweat and peddled seven miles. Maybe this stretch will get me to where I can get some runs in again.
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This time, I'm going to swear off drinking until I lose at least 20 lbs. That's no Lagavulin, no Dark and Stormies, no Guinness, no Jameson's, no Sam's. I know it sounds harsh, but I've made up my mind and there's no turning back.

Bud Collins said...

Swear off tennis, too. Please.

John Nestor said...

That's it "Buddy Boy" !!!!! I'll bet you a three pack of Penn Championship Extra Duty Felt Balls that I can kick your serve and volley ass. I'll do my talking on the court. Any time, any place.... provided it's two months from today.