Common Courtesy

It's already Thursday. Let the hysteria begin.
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Before you start uselessly sending me your POTW selections, could you please review the selection criteria????

To become a Nanepashemet Peep of the Week, the lucky/unfortunate candidate will be measured as follows:

1. The candidate has to have done something annoying, stupid or inspirational in the past weeks.
2. Animals and dead people are not eligible.
3. The gift of Lagavulin to me within the last week is an automatic selection.

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So even though it is highly unlikely that I would pick anyone that you recommend, you could at least have the courtesy to recommend someone who is eligible for selection.
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Now... Bring It ON!

Slow

Slow day. Waiting for the phone to ring. Joanne thinks that if I work on the Dory during the day, that somehow I'm goofing off. But she doesn't know that I'm doing a lot of thinking... crucial to moving the business forward.

Food Reaction

Joanne and Amy Mann went to the Red Sox game tonight at Fenway Park, and I was left home to cope by myself, so I treated myself to a decadent kettle of macaroni and cheese which I seasoned with a 1/4 cup of Red Hot Sauce.
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DAMN GOOD!!!
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The only problem is that Frank's Louisiana Red Hot Sauce always makes the sweat pour out of my forehead. Eating apples has the same effect on me. I really love both, so I've never really understood why this happens.
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Probably some allergy, but as long as people who eat around me don't get grossed out, I will continue to enjoy both.

Dory time

Another 2 hrs today, gluing up the other stem, bringing the total Dory time to date up to 12 hours. The weather is too nice to sit in waiting for the phone to ring.
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Next step is to build the frames and lay them out on the Dory bottom, attaching all to the strongback. Then it will look like a boatbuilding project.

Gale International

Tom and I attended the monthly Executive Breakfast Club meeting at the UMASS club in Boston this morning. Bob Maloney of Gale International gave a presentation regarding the status of commercial development in downtown Boston. His company is presently building 2.5m square feet in Boston, and have a huge development in South Korea as well.
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He said that over the past 30 years, downtown Boston has absorbed an increase of 1 million SF of office space on average every year, and that there has been no new large scale corporations migrated to Boston during that period. The space has been assumed by organic growth of companies, particularly in the financial and venture capital industries, as well as some law firms. This has been achieved despite major banks leaving the core downtown during that period.
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He says that the vacancy rate is around 10% which is the equilibrium point.... over 10% rents begin to go down, under 10%, they go up. Rents are now in the $45 per square foot range and he expects them to trend up to $70.
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Bob says that it costs $600/sf to develop first class office space in Boston, and that you need rents of $75 per sf to justify the expense.
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He was completely in command of the Boston Market, understanding all of the development prospects of his competitors, and what their impact would be on the overall market. A very impressive presentation.
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BTW, I didn't ask any stupid questions, nor did I offer ridiculous comments, although I had to fight the temptation.

More Marblehead

Disclosure

OK. I'm going to admit something to you. Something from my vulnerable side. Something requiring a little bit of trust and understanding.
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I really like watching "Dancing with the Stars."
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Does that lessen me in your eyes???
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If it does.... Kiss my Royal Irish Ass.
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I'm sure you all have your freaking weaknesses.

Impatience

I've received quite a few emails lately, asking about the progress on the basement.
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What do you think I am? A Freaking Octopus?
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I only have two hands and the weather has been so nice that it would be foolish not to take advantage of it in the driveway. And I'm no Fool.
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Even with the need to finish the basement by Thanksgiving, I'm better off spending time on the Dory. Plus I'm writing the book on the Dory project... not tiling the basement. Who would ever be interested in that???? The Dory is where the money is.

Little Persuading

Mondays can be so tiring.
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Three nights of Dark and Stormies can take their toll. I wish that I hadn't been the spokesperson for that cocktail. Everybody who comes over now brings a big supply of Black Seal and Barritts.
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It would be rude to turn down their considerate gesture to join them with two or three D&S's.
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And I pride myself on my manners.
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So today, my ass is dragging.
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Luckily, there was nothing hot on tap at Nanepashemet Telecom.
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I did get a half hour on the Cybex and glued up one of the Dory Stems using a mix of oak and mahogany 5' strips. I thought that I would have to steam the strips, but they bent in the mold using the pipe clamps and epoxy easy enough.
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There is actually an inner and outer stem in the clamps, separated by cellophane so that the epoxy doesn't weld them together.
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Chock up another 2 hours for this operation and the cumulative today is 12 hours.

Stem Work

Laid out the Stem mold patterns which will be identical for the bow and stern.
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I use 1/4 luan for the patterns and always seem to find a piece of a sheet in the garage that meets the required dimensions.
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The curved stems will be formed from strips of oak that are 5' long, 1 1/2" wide and 1/4" thick. I bandsawed the strips from a 3/4" oak board, and will epoxy glue them, and then clamp in the patterns that I cut from a piece of 2x10 construction lumber.
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Add another 3 hours on this project for a current total of 10 hours.

Fit the Bills

Pats play the Bills today at 1:00 PM.
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Until that time, I'm going to use the beautiful sunny day to lay out the Dory frames in the driveway. Somehow a couple more courses of basement tile have to be laid and a workout has to factored in.

Skunked Again

Waiting for Dog and Lec to show for the fishing trip, I put in two hours on the dory, sanding the bottom and laying out the frame templates. Cumulative now is 7 hours.
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Dog showed up to fish with a bottle of Lagavulin. You know what that means???? An Automatic POTW selection. I love it. He also was very considerate in bringing an ample amount of Guinness to last for the three of us during our sporting event.
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Btw, we didn't see any blitzes, and had no strikes. That's right... we were skunked. Live with it.