Gearing up for the Annual Bash

I'm fairly certain that Scott McBurney is out of the country. He's not even in the Western Hemisphere.
~
So if you were thinking of coming to the 2007 Nestor Thanksgiving Eve Bash, the coast is clear.
~
Every year we get some Peeps who whine that they were not invited. That is so bogus, because there are no invitations.
~

Zazen

Peeps....
~
It's 10:22PM on Sunday night. Tom Brady has just thrown his fifth touchdown pass against the Buffalo Bills. We are watching a professional who has attained a concentrated singularity of purpose.
~
It is the Tao of Football.
~
Please appreciate this. It is not often that you see someone in such command of his craft.
~
Brady, like Larry Bird of the Celtics used to do, makes all around him reach a higher level of attainment.
~
In the telecast, John Madden and Al Michaels are reduced to praise and conjecture of whether the Patriots are the best team to ever plan the game. The Bills can't be this bad.... the Patriots are just that good.

Patriots Preparation

Will and his Nana, Joanne, are obviously ready for the Patriots game. The Bills don't have a chance.

Making Hay

Today was a work day. I know that it is Saturday, but "you have to make hay while the sun shines".
~
I actually have no idea what this means, but I find myself saying it quite often. I don't know how to make hay, and I have no idea what the sun has to do with it.
~
But it sounds pretty official. At any rate, I worked today because there is a ton of stuff to get done at Nanepashemet Telecom.

Government on Steroids

The possibility of Barry Bonds going to jail for lying about steroid use is ludicrous. The prisons couldn't hold all of the athletes, trainers and team officials who are guilty of this.
~
Using steroids is stupid, but is it cheating? Does lifting weights give an athlete an unfair advantage? How about jogging? How about cortisone shots?
~
I don't condone the use of steroids because it is stupid, not because it is cheating. If Bonds wants to tear apart his future body for a short term career satisfaction, that is his stupid choice.

BTW, looking at Bonds' photos at the beginning of his career and then now is completely bogus. I'm 100 lbs heavier too, and never stuck the juice into my ass cheek. You get old, you get heavier for most of us. Live with it.
~
Bonds apparently is a man of low character. That is why he allegedly lied about taking steroids. But to set him up for indictment is a waste of government resources.

POTW Week 46

I hate to reveal my weaknesses to you Peeps.... because you are so quick to judge, and so harsh in your judgements. Yet, I am drawn to express the truth from a strange, moving, somewhat idiotic force. I wish that I could be more demure and discrete at times.... but discretion can be so boring.
~
So, given that nice little preamble, I have to admit that I am scared of heights.... really afraid.... like having a sinking fear from my stomach to my scrotum. I can be on a rooftop with a parapet, and no problem. But a flat roof that you can fall off the edges sends me to wanting to assume the fetal position in the middle, as far away from the edges as possible.
~
Notice that I said wanting. I resisted the position in actuality
~
Not only am I nervous for me, but I can't stand to see anyone else near the edge.
~
I know what you're thinking.....
~
How can a rough, tough manly man like myself be so freaking fearful???
~
It's a mystery to me too. But today, on a rooftop in Providence, RI, I was reduced to a quivering mass of nervous protoplasm. Which reminds me....

ANNOUNCING....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 46th Week of 2007

• Bill Shanahan
• Jill Phillips
• Emily Buttorf
• Pat Piscatelli
• Sue Roper
• Debby Clarke

Tomorrow, I'll get on another roof.

Mass Movement

Peeps.....
~
Would you believe it if I told you that I was too busy to Blog?
~
Say it ain't So!!!
~
But that is the case as Nanepashemet Telecom reaches critical mass. After a while, we will open up and hire, which I swore not to do, but it is getting big fast. Which means I am glued to this keyboard, with a Blog in need and a Dory project waiting for a next step that just keeps getting pushed back.
~
Please don't panic. I will find a way to solve this.

Tender Moment

For those of you who have been constantly asking to see a photo of the Tender, here it is.
~
See???
~
Obviously, I'm not immune to your incessant questions and comments. ~
~
Even I can be worn down.

Dory Delays

Yesterday, during my row around the Harbor, I saw an 18 foot Swampscott Dory with two oarsmen. It moved throught the swells very smoothly and inspired me to get the Marblehead Gunning Dory project back on track. But today, I hit the laptop at 6:30AM, skipped lunch, broke for dinner at 5:30 PM and then worked from 7:30 until just now at 9:45PM. And I still didn't get where I wanted to be. My partners are also kicking it.
~
And that's just to clear to decks so that we can deal with the big procurement that just walked in the Nanepashemet Telecom door. There will be some major hours processing that. I'm not complaining. This is infinitely better than waiting for the phone to ring, or trying to manufacture opportunities.
~
But I'm not the least bit optimistic about finding the time to spend on the Dory. Plus it's starting to be the time to plan on the annual Nestor Thankgiving Eve Bash. Joanne wants to scale it down this year. She says that every year, and every year it always escalates to a blowout.
~
What makes this year different? Absolutely nothing. All of you Peeps are invited, and none of you know how to behave.

Pinch Yourself

Did the Red Sox win the World Series a couple weeks ago? Or have I been dreaming? Holy Shit!!! Time to pinch myself.

Cool November Row

It was a clear, cool November mornng today, and I took the opportunity to catch the high tide at 11:00AM to row the Tender from River Head Beach to the green can at the beginning of the Marblehead Harbor. The swells were rolling right into the Harbor, and crashing spray onto the rocks at the Barnicle and the Lighthouse.
~
The harbor was pretty empty and most of the boats were hauled. I smashed into a number of moorings, but the Tender seemed oblivious to it.
~
It was a pain hauling out on the concrete ramp however, and the strip of naval brass that was epoxied to the keel was ripped off. Luckily I found it on the adjacent beach, and I'll have to screw it back on. The epoxy alone obviously wasn't enough.
~
When I finally got the Tender back on the trailer, Abby Bruett showed up and I helped her and Greg haul the Mystic Krewe onto their trailer. Good timing.

Dale Johnson's Nostalgic Fashion Retreat

Dale and Gail Johnson sent me this Blog entry. It was painfully hard to get the pictures right and after a while, I just gave up. But it is pretty funny and worth the effort.

This is entirely Dale's narrative.
~

Last weekend I put an exhaust fan in the ceiling for my wife's grandfather. While my wife's brother and I were fitting the fan in between the joists, we found something under the insulation. What we found was this:



A JC Penney catalog from 1977. It's not often blog fodder just falls in my lap, but holy hell this was two solid inches of it, right there for the taking. I thumbed through it quickly and found my next dining room set, which is apparently made by adding upholstery to old barrels:

Also, I am totally getting this for my bathroom:



There's plenty more home furnishings where those came from, however I'm not going to bore you with that. Instead, I'm going to bore you with something else. The clothes.

The clothes are fantastic.

Here's how to get your ass kicked in elementary school:



Just look at that belt. It's like a boob-job for your pants. He probably needed help just to lift it into place. The belt loops have to be three inches long. And way to pull them up to your armpits, grandpa.

Here's how to get your ass kicked in high school:



This kid looks like he's pretending to be David Soul, who is pretending to be a cop who is pretending to be a pimp that everyone knows is really an undercover cop. Who is pretending to be 15.

Here's how to get your ass kicked on the golf course:



This "all purpose jumpsuit" is, according to the description, equally appropriate for playing golf or simply relaxing around the house. Personally, I can't see wearing this unless you happen to be relaxing around your cell in D-block. Even then, the only reason you should put this thing on is because the warden made you, and as a one-piece, it's slightly more effective as a deterrent against ass-rapery.

Here's how to get your ass kicked pretty much anywhere:



If you look at that picture quickly, it looks like Mr. Bob "No-pants" Saget has his hand in the other guy's pocket. In this case, he doesn't, although you can tell just by looking at them that it's happened - or if it hasn't happened it will. Oh yes. It will. As soon as he puts down his matching coffee cup.

Here's how to get your ass kicked at the beach:



He looks like he's reaching for a gun, but you know it's probably just a bottle of suntan lotion in a holster.

How to get your ass kicked in a meeting:

If you wear this suit and don't sell used cars for a living, I believe you can be fined and face serious repercussions, up to and including termination. Or imprisonment, in which case you'd be forced to wear that orange jumpsuit.