Thursday, August 23, 2007

Shaping up the Weekend

Tomorrow...
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A visit to our corporate counsel in Boston, first thing in the morning to take care of some organizational details, then on to lunch in Southeaster Mass with a customer.
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By 3:00 PM, I should be back in Marblehead, and will hitch up the Tender to take it to NH and test it in Lake Umbegog and Conway Lake for some trout and small mouth fishing this weekend.
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A fitting end to a fitting week.

POTW - Week 33

My day ended exactly as I wanted. We nailed the big meeting and it is full speed ahead from here.
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With Joanne in North Conway, I was looking for a celebratory dinner, but didn't have her finesse in preparation.
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So I went with the old standby, my famous buffalo wings which I supplemented with some canned oysters that I fried with the wings. The accompanying vegetable was two slices of swiss cheese. Combined with a couple or three Dark and Stormies, and the rest was pig out heaven.
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Now for the real matter at hand.
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ANNOUNCING....

Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 33rd week of 2007.
  • Jay Turner
  • Tom DiMatteo
  • Isam Halwani
  • Joanne Nestor
  • Craig Murray
  • Stacy Butler
Now on to glory and prosperity.

Morning Action

Feeder visitors of note were this Chickadee and a few of his flock, two young Cardinals - a male and female - as well as a House Finch and the Downy Woodpecker.
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I couldn't catch the woodpecker on camera.
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Other than that, the Sparrows are pigging out and a couple of Mourning Doves have shown up.

Today is the Day

Today is the Day.
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Everything is going to go right today.
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Just to make sure, I'm going to shower and change into some fresh underwear.
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I'll be brushing my teeth, even though I already did that once this week.
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Might even give the nose hair a little trim.... and shave my back as far as I can reach.
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Personal hygiene is a part of business success that shouldn't be overlooked.
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No detail will be left unturned.
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Today is the Day.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Approaching the Launchpad

With any luck, tomorrow will be a power day.
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The events and strivings of the past six months culminate in a crucial meeting that has the potential of launching this juggernaut firmly into a stable orbit.
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It would be nice if the meeting was definitive, but business rarely works that way. The suspense will probably play out a bit more.

A Good Start

Something about this T-Shirt that makes me think that it might work as the POTW version.
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A Damn good T.
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Kudos to a special Peep for the nice research.

Party On

Seen at the feeder this morning....
  • Common Grackle
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • House Finch
  • 2 Blue Jays
  • Chickadees
  • Tufted Titmouse
  • a flock of about 50 Sparrows (no exaggeration)
  • Mourning Dove
  • ....and the freaking squirrel.

It's like a Homecoming celebration.

Cool Bird

I shouldn't pick favorites, but it's hard not to especially like the chickadees.
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They are bold and will land on the feeder despite a flock of aggressive sparrows.
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They don't sit on the feeder and hog seeds, but fly to it, pick up one or two seeds, and quickly fly to a nearby tree branch.
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Their calls are distinctive, like their names..."Chickadee, dee, dee."
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Researchers claim that the number of "dees" indicate an alarm of a threat in the area to other chickadees in the flock. The more "dees", the bigger the threat.
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They hang out with other cool birds like the tufted titmouse.
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Some of the many reasons to like the Chickadee.
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What??? You don't have a favorite bird??? Why don't you get a life!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

T-Shirt Phenomonon

I ordered some T-shirts for Nanepashemet Project Management today.
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It always amazes me how effective shirts can be as customer or vendor giveaways. Grown professionals, who sport varied accomplishments and command substantial salaries, get all excited when you give them a free shirt. I know I do.
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If business keeps up at the current rate, we'll be handing out plenty of Nanepashemet T-Shirts.
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Which gives me an idea.....
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How much do you think people would pay for a POTW shirt??? The demand would probably be so high that I'd have to go to Asian manufacturers to handle the volume. Peeps would be hanging around my house worse than a Harry Potter book release.
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It probably wouldn't be worth the pandemonium and hysteria.

Deck Views





With the deck substantially completed, I reinstated the bird feeder and the birds returned in force. This morning Tufted Titmouses, Chickadees, and a flock of Sparrows were the guests for a breakfast of bird seed. It's neat to see the different and distinct characteristics of the separate species. Each approaches the feeder and acts differently.
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I'm pretty happy with the way that the deck railing and cap came out. It's how I originally visualized that it would look, but took a long time to materialize it. Now I'm going to stain the pressure treated deck planking with a dark, water resistant stain.
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I had envisioned a laminated and curved stair railing, but the mahogany 2x4 that I bought from Moynihan Lumber, for a totally different purpose, fit the bill nicely. It still has to be epoxy coated and varnished.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Onward and Upward

I politely declined an invite to Falls Church. Now is a time to remain positive and focused.

Milestone Burgers

So I'm headed back from Hartford when Joanne calls and tells me that she's on her way to North Conway. I'm stuck in Marblehead this week, at least until after Wed. with business obligations. The first challenge was dinner tonight.
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Sure I could get a pizza at Vesuvius, but I was feeling a little lazy from driving to and from Connecticut. When I checked out the freezer, there was a fresh box of Bubba Burgers and we also had some sesame rolls. Dilemma solved.
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Fired up the gas grill, threw on two Bubba's, took out cheddar cheese, pepperoni slices and peach mango salsa. All this on the sesame rolls and a little salt an pepper produced some of the best burgers consumed in my slightly overweight, middle aged life.
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I bet my dinner was way better than Joanne's.
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Frozen Bubba Burgers are something that you should check into.