Progress on Moonshadow

Milestone day. Only a few hurdles left.

I should not have been so cynical about "good faith". This time, it held out.

We'll be inviting the Building Department to the Grand Opening for sure.

Carnivore Heaven

I'm still in distress from visiting Fogo in Atlanta on Monday night.
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I must have eaten four lbs. of barbequed Brazilian meat in that sitting.
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Literally didn't sleep for the next two days in Georgia.
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The sick thing is that I'll forget how bad I feel and go back to Fogo when I'm in Atanta in six months or so.
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The Lamb Chops are so good, the Sirloin is so good. No amount of self control is adequate to control my gluttonous habits . If you have never been to a Brazilian barbeque, I highly recommend the pain.
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After the Fogo gluttony, we went into a Buckhead Jazz bar where a vocalist was styling away with a pianist.
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Ohanian, Fortier and I just wanted to find a TV set at the bar to watch the Patriots-Vikings game and we must have looked pretty rude and stupid.... yelling and screaming in the middle of her jazz vocals as the Pats mangled the Vikings.
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Brady Rules! Bring on Peyton Manning next Sunday!
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It is so cool to be a Pats Fan. We are just so much better than other people.

Customer Golf

Sometimes you just have to take one for the team.
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Swedish Meatballs never made the menu at the barbeque to follow.
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The bald Guy in the bottom photo is Dave. He has a hat on but, trust me, he's pretty bald.
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I'm the one who has the hair.... (substantially more on my back than on my head, but that photo will never make the blog.)

I'm Back

Peeps-
How can I make it up to you?
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I was stuck in Atlanta at a customer golf event and completely let you down with my lack of blog updates.
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I am truly sorry.
- John

Good Faith - Operation Moonshadow

Was told "in good faith" that everything would be on hold at Operation Moonshadow until I return to Marblehead on Wed. I never am fully comfortable with "Good Faith".

Atlanta Golf

Rubbing elbows with the Cingular friends at the “Hit ‘Em for Hemophilia” Golf Tournament in Atlanta, GA tomorrow. Tee time is 10:00 AM sharp and there is a barbeque after so it will be a two night trip. Leaving this afternoon and returning Wed.

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Sorry if I don't get a blog entry in tomorrow... I know how my Peeps depend on it.
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One of these times, my golf game is going to come with me. Up to now, I might as well have had gardening tools in the bag.

Tender Status

A lot of mental work was accomplished on the Herreshoff Columbia Yacht Tender.
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The Piandetosi Sliding Seat rigs were positioned and formed the basis for identifying the correct height of the seats. Then I had to fabricate a way to clamp the seat support stake to the gunwales.
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Lots of standing around and vacant stareing.
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After much trial and error, I came up with a way to clamp curved stakes so that they applied the correct clamping pressure.
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The beauty of the epoxy resin glue is that extensive pressure is not required. The resin fills voids very well and a void is actually desired to produce a stronger final joint.
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The correct position of the seat support stakes now will drive the final trimming of the centerboard case, and no other mysteries remain as to how the work will proceed.
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The tender is designed to be adaptable to rowing with one or two sliding seat rigs, or just the normal bench seats when sailing and rowing in a calm.
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I like the idea of sailing, but I can envision this boat being used as a trolling unit for striped bass along the shore, while in getting a nice rowing workout with the sliding seat units.
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Also, I haven't decided on whether to build in rod holders, or get detachable clamp on versions.
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The pressure of these decisions would be a challenge to a lesser man....

Happy Halloween

Lots of scary Halloween stuff at Chris and Sarah Crawford's home last might.

Boat Building Progress

I know that you mean right, but please stop hounding me about the progress of the Herreshoff yacht tender. I'm trying as hard as I can, but I can't guarantee that I'll have a launch by Thanksgiving.
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It rained like hell today and I couldn't move stuff into the driveway in order to maneuver around the garage. Someday when my trust funds kick in, I'm going to have enough space for a real boatbuilding shop... but for now I will have to contend with moving stationary tools around on casters.
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I epoxy coated the centerboard case and assembled the okume plywood panels into dadoed oak end caps. Then I laminated the centerboard and rudder from olkume two 3/8" panels. I read that you shouldn't make the centerboard from plywood, but I'm hopeing that the olkume marine ply will do the job. It will be interesting to see how the molten lead interacts with it.
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Tomorrow, I'll finish cut the centerboard case to match the height of the sliding seat rowing rigs, and epoxy fillet it in place.
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Hope that's enough information for you. My guess is that I will not be able to launch by Thanksgiving unless I take a few days off from Darwin. Not sure that I will do that while the iron is hot.

Victorious Darwin

In case you haven't heard, Darwin advanced to the finals in the West Coast Sustainment race. Big win for "little" Darwin.
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Henry Ford said, "If you think you can, or you think you can't.... you're right."
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I've been witnessing the inherent truth in this quote for my thirty year business career. Hence, I never harbored any doubt that the Scandinavians could be handled. To be a player, you have to act like a player.
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Doomers and Gloomers, Naysayers...FYYFF's!!!
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Darwin will open some eyes in the next twelve months, causing much denial and angst with the stupid company that squandered its chance.
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Living well is the best revenge.

Fire in the Belly

Primitive Tribes in Africa believe that human beings think from their abdomen.
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Have you ever noticed that when you are really "on", really "in the moment", really concentrating... your mind is almost blank, and you have a churning in your stomach?
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Any time I have ever been "on a roll" in business, this has been my experience.

Weekend Plans

Hundreds of Nanepashemet Peeps have emailed me today, wondering about my weekend plans.

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I have to admit that I'm tired, having once again proven myself as the superior wireless prognosticator while constantly maintaining a humble and demure demeanor. This would sap anyone's strength, and I"m no exception.

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I'm no Superman, no Einstein, no Stephen Hawking...
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After all... I am just a man..... no better or worse than the lesser beings that surround me.