Mild December

I don't remember a milder weather approach to Christmas. The shallow pond next to the Darwin Wakefield office has a skim coat of ice in the morning which is completely melted by the afternoon. Although the temperature dips below freezing at night, 50 degrees is the daytime norm. Very Unseasonal. There have been years when we skated at Parker's Pond in Nov. Not this year.
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Too bad I'm so far behind on the Tender. I could varnish in these temperatures, but I haven't had the luxury of getting into the garage and putting the hours in.

Merry Christmas for the Politically Correct

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty sick of saying "Happy Holidays". "Merry Christmas" makes a lot more sense.
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Why?
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Because December 25 is a national holiday. Everybody has it off. It's Christmas Day. It is a day of peace on earth, good will toward men. Most of everything we do on Dec. 25 has nothing to do with your religion or your cosmological beliefs.
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Santa is not Jesus, and Jesus never saw a Christmas Tree. There were no reindeer in the frigging manger.
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So... Merry Christmas.
If you don't like it, then screw you.
Joy and Peace.

Tao Te Ching

"Get rid of wisdom and reason
and people will live a hundred times better
get rid of kindness and justice
and people once more will love and obey
get rid of cleverness and profit
and thieves will cease to exist
but these sayings are not enough
hence let this be added
wear the undyed and hold the uncarved
reduce self-interest and limit desires
get rid of learning and problems will vanish"
- Lao Tzu

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Simple Rules for the Chosen

POTW Selection criteria for future reference...

Did the Peep do something stupid?
Did the Peep do something annoying?
Did the Peep do something inspiring?
Is the Peep living and not dead?
Is the Peep a Human and not an animal?
Did the Peep give John Nestor a bottle of Lagavulin in the past seven days?

So you see, it's easy to become a repeat Peep of the Week every week by invoking the automatic Lagavulin gift criteria. Much more difficult to fill the other criteria.

Peep of the Week - 7

This week's Nanepashemet Peep of the Week selection process proved to be quite a conundrum.
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Since I just announced that anyone who asked to be a POTW would be automatically denied, I expected that no one would be stupid enough (not to mention annoying enough) to ask to be named a Peep.
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Enter Murph, alias Michael Murphy, who sent me the following comment....

"Hey Jay I want a POTW Nomination…IF I drink a ton of Nance Nog do I get one?"

Stupid and annoying, yet subject to automatic denial. It's sort of like an endless loop.... like infinity. What would you do if your were me? Keep thinking about it until your head throbs in wild palpitations??? I already tried that.
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Stupid and Annoying, yet against the Peep Rules to make him a POTW!!!!
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So I made Murph a Peep. I know that it is wrong, so DEAL WITH IT!
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Announcing....

NANEPASHEMET PEEPS OF THE WEEK - 7

• Michael Murphy
• Dave Fortier (automatic Lagavulin Default Rule)
• Emily Roach
• Peter Brown
• David the Waiter at the 99
• Tammie Pham
  

There it is. The toughest week yet. I won't be so magnanimous the next time one of you tries a fast one like that. I'm exhausted.

POTW Nominations

So far, only a few hundred nominations for Nanepashemet Peep of the Week.
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Must be that people are busy during the Holiday rush.
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It doesn't matter. POTW Thursday waits for no man and doesn't take a day off.
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Tomorrow is the big day.

Patience

I heard some news today that I'd love to tell you about, but I'm going to wait until Feb. 28. After that date, we may be unleashing the fires of hell.

Microsoft Project

Just sent the revised Sundance Project Schedule to Mike, Eric and Sparky. I formatted it in Microsoft Project, and had to reacquaint myself with the ideosyncracies of that program.
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Project is a bear to work with. It is so packed with features, that it is far too complex and requires detailed knowledge and regular use. If you worked with it everyday, that would be one thing, but to come back sporadically every couple of months and try to fire it up is really painful.
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Years ago, I developed a Gantt chart program that worked in an Excel template as an alternative to Project. At that time, Project was even worse to work with. I'll admit that it has become easier, but it is still a program that is too complicated for casual use.

International Man of Mystery

Eric Rumpf makes his debut in Operation Moonshadow. Looking forward to working with Eric again.
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Sparky also got the fence contractor up at the site today. The deadline setback will take the craziness out of the project and will end up producing a better project in the long run.

Some Assembly Required

By far the worse three words in the English language. The boat trailer for the tender came today... in FIVE FREAKING BOXES!
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It will take me two full days to put this thing together, days that I absolutely don't have with the Darwin and Sundance obligations. There is no way that the Herreshoff Columbia Yacht Tender will be launched in 2006.

New England Ecology

I'm reading a book by William Cronon, "Changes in the Land" that details the effect that Indians and English colonists had on the New England landscape.
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Dramatic changes in a short period of time involving the wildlife and vegetation of this region.
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It would seem that the land has always been in a state of flux. Incredibly, there is probably more woodland and wildlife in New England now than at the beginning of the eighteenth century, since we do not look to the land as our primary sustenance and are not grossly effecting land use changes. Deer, moose and turkeys were all harvested and not in any abundance 100 years ago.
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I've noticed increases and fluctuations in wildlife in my own time here.