Beauty to Behold

Based upon the dozens of emails received, it's so surprizing that so many of you have never seen an elevator permit.. When you built your own elevators, didn't you notice the simple beauty of an encased permit?
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Take the time to smell the roses!!! It's not all work you know.

Week 15 - Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week

A friend of mine said this morning that Johnny Bagadonuts should be a POTW. Two reasons why that will never happen.

1. You can't tell me who to choose as Peep of the Week - Joanne knows that rule only too well.
2. I'm not telling you the other reason.

Announcing.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week - 2007/wk 15

Don Imus
Al Sharpton
The Duke Lacrosse Team
Mike Pressler, the Bryant College Lacrosse coach
Captain Michael Porter
Jack O'Connor, the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Safety elevator inspector.

As you might expect..... the Duke acquittal, the Imus Kangaroo Court, and the Sundance Permit took center stage this week. Hopefully next week we'll return to less emotional selections.

Speech Police

The firestorm that is racism in America has consumed Don Imus. Forget the truth about his mistake, forget the facts, forget his sincere apology about a quote that was stupid and repulsive. This is a set back for healthy race relations, much like the OJ acquittal was. OJ killed his wife. He was acquitted because of his race. It was wrong 100 years ago and is wrong now.
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Two wrongs don't make a right. Jackson and Sharpton are racists and their actions perpetuate racism. They have drawn blood, and are sustaining the hysteria of hate.
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Imus was fired by CBS and MSNBC for making a stupid remark. He was punished for using his freedom of speech. Freedom isn't free - we have to tolerate stupid stuff so that people are free to grow for the greater good. Stifling speech is wrong - we must all take the responsibility to determine what is right or wrong - and not be consumed by those who would police and tell us what to think.
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Maintaining freedom of speech in the face of thoughtless racial slurs has to be particularly taxing for African Americans who have endured a legacy of bigotry and predudice. But do they get a pass? Unfortunately, no - otherwise this society is not free. Which is the case here.
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Judge for yourself.

Quite a Lift

Going for the Sundance elevator permit with the Massachusetts Department Public Safety tomorrow. The One Source equipment company that sold and installed the unit took the time to tell me that the Village Construction people were the best that they had worked with in 15 years. Nice compliment and well deserved by the Rockett crew.
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Without Mike Rockett, Sparky Spillane, Eric Rumpf, Lenny Cameron, Paul Lynch, Steve Livermore, Brian Bingham, Mark Lausier, and all of the guys that work for them, the Sundance Pre-School would have been so far under water that you couldn't teach scuba diving there.
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BTW, the Mariners have just touched up Dice-K pretty well in the top of second inning. It doesn't seem like his fast ball has any movement.

Exasperation

I didn't check my horoscope today, but I should have because it probably would have given me a heads up that just about everything was going to piss me off. Nothing really bad happened, but I succeeded in getting annoyed and aggravated with everything.
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First, my computer just wouldn't cooperate. I spent all kinds of time trying to send a pdf of a Nanepashemet Form W-9 request to DiMatteo. All the while I'm listening to these hypocrites on MSNBC try to crucify Imus just for blood. Obama in particular. See ya. You had a chance with me, but not now.
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Then I went to a Hotel Staff meeting which conjured up all kind of reasons why I left the corporate life. Conflicting functional managers trying to run the show. Get the freak out of the way!!!
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Then I get a certified letter from stupid MLS saying that my Realtor designation had expired. Wonder how much it cost to send that mail???
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Then I hear that they have dropped the charges against the Duke Lacrosse players.... which was a good thing, but it reminded me how innocent kids were railroaded by the idiot, ego laced DA.
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Then I get a call from a guy who wants to participate in Nanepashemet Telecom, but hasn't got the balls to quit his job and swim in the deep end with me and DiMatteo.
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Finally.... after my last rating and raving cell phone call, Joanne showed me a glass with ice and an bottle of Oban and told me to chill. It was the sign that all is right with the world.

Milestone Reached

Mike Rockett asked me why I didn't Blog about receiving the occupancy permit for Sundance yesterday. The question actually took me back for a second, and I wondered myself why I hadn't proclaimed to the Peeps about this triumphant accomplishment.
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Upon reflection, I guess I was afraid that it was too good to be true.... that something could arise to derail the progress. Plus, the project has a bit more tweaking on the financial side before I can start pounding the drums of victory.
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But yesterday was pretty satisfying, and I'm extremely grateful for the work that Mike and his Village people performed. There are a ton of kudos to go around, and I'm going to have some type of function to formally thank all of the people who helped us get this far.

Freedom of Speech

We really don't have freedom of speech in this country. Although you may not be legally punished for the words you speak, you are socially and economically punished and judged by phonies who hold a solid perch on the moral high ground.
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Black activists like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson are the worse offenders. They can call New York "Hymietown" and stand by while Black rappers call each other "Niggers" in the most egregious fashion. But if a white guy like Don Imus makes an offhanded remark in a humorous nature, he is roundly condemned.
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Something said in humor is just that... you may not like the humor, it may be bad and in poor taste, but if it can be defined as humorous, the speaker gets a pass. Until, Sharpton passes judgement on the host of Black entertainers who freely use the "Nigger" phrase, he holds no credibility.
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Can't we be free to make our own judgement of a person's use of speech?
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Anybody who took Imus' characterization of the Rutger's women's basketball team as "Nappy Headed Hoes" seriously is the offender, and Imus holds no guilt for the acceptance of an off-handed remark as valid. What kind of idiot would buy into that phrase for a college women's basketball team as having any vestige of truth? That's the genesis of humor in such an outrageous statement.
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I don't need Al Sharpton to tell me that Imus's remark holds no credibility. If Imus continues to say stupid things, I have the choice to refuse to listen to him. Sharpton has every right to disagree, and absolutely no right to have Imus silenced.

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Imus made a bad joke. Sharpton insults all of us.

Turkey Effects

Joanne made a great turkey for Easter Dinner with Ryan, Courtney and Katelyn. Mike called from Washington DC. It was a nice Day.
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Zach Johnson won the Masters and gave the credit to Jesus. Did Jesus help him, to the detriment of all of the other golf competitors? Probably not. But his faith helped him to perform to the best of his ability... which was good enough today to carry him to victory.
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The turkey, combined with two Lagavulins, put me in a deep, trancelike sleep on the couch. I'll stay up and watch the Sopranos, then get ready to rock and roll this week at work.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter.
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Peabody and I went to that Boatbuilding talk at the library given by a 30 something kid out of Bethlehem, Conn. He seemed like a nice guy. I had envisioned him in a flannel shirt with a pony tail and facial hair, but the stereotype proved wrong and he was clean cut and well spoken. Somehow that disapointed me.
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He started the talk by giving an autobiography which was a bit presumptuous, and ended up saying that he was drawn to boatbuilding because Jesus was a carpenter. Although his knowledge and work seemed good, he pretty much turned me off by that comment.
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I don't see how someone can base his life on a perception of how someone else must have been. It seems artificial and contrived.
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BTW, it is clear to me that Jesus was an Avatar - a more perfect embodiment of God in a human form. Mankind has had many appearances in my opinion. That doesn't lessen the importance of Jesus, so don't tool on me with Inquisition like zeal.

But for the life of me, I don't understand the leap of faith that says Jesus endured crucifixion for our sins. Can't see how that makes sense. How's that for blasphemy on Easter ?!
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On the other hand, a number of New Testament passages convince me that he was in touch with the true reason for man's potential and time on Earth. And I believe in the resurrection. In my opinion, the Shroud of Turin is the real deal.
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So if you want to act like Jesus, knock yourself out. Just remember that as much as he worked with wood, he also mightily pissed enough people off to get himself nailed. So pick your spots.

Lack of Motivation

I know that I said that today was going to be lousy weather, and that I would be working on taxes and the Sundance Web, but I got the web page up in a late night frenzy, and I really don't feel like doing the stinking taxes.
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But the temp is in the 30's and it sucks because it's so nice and sunny and should be comfortable. It's not. By the way, I'm really screwing with the birds because my feeder has been empty for days.
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So I have to rededicate to the tax drudgery.
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Jim Peabody wants me to go to a boatbuilding presentation at the Abbot Public Library at 2:00 and we have to get to the Maddie Gill birthday bash at 4:00.
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I'll put a tax push on until 1:00 and then go with Jim to see this rookie boatbuilding poser.

Web Revision

Sundance Web Site has been revamped. It's really an electronic flyer that directs prospective parents to call Joanne at the school. As I get older, I tend to appreciate straight forward, no frills information.

www.sundanceschool.com

Last week, the Massachusetts Office for Children inspector told Joanne that Sundance is considered the premier pre-school on the North Shore. That took a lot of the sting out of the elevator boondoggle.

Hidden Camera

Digital cameras and the Web can do a job on your privacy.
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Here, a regular meeting of the GD Sales Team is caught by an unscrupulous photographer.
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Mean people suck.