Ponderous

• The Paradoxical Commandments

"People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest persons with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest persons with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.."

~ Kent M. Keith

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

~ Mark Twain

Red Hawk Down

If you look closely, you can see a Red Tailed Hawk devouring its' hapless feathered prey on Tommy O'Shea's front lawn.
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Obviously Tommy is trying to attract the Discovery Channel's attention to his side of Beverly Ave.
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Tom, if they were not interested in my fascinating squirrel feeder footage of a couple of months back, what makes you think that a class act like the Discovery Channel will take stock of a big bird munching on a little bird????? In Tommy O's front yard no less!!!
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Where's Tuna Lips when you really need him? I'm sure he could top Tommy's nature thriller.
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By the way, Red Tailed Hawk bird turd must be a killer mess.

Peep of the Week - 1

You have to feel bad about ole Tuna Lips, the way he's reacted to Murph's taunting and all.... I suppose he'll get over it, but it must be hard being an undercover operative. Everybody has their breaking point.
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But just because I have feelings for people, don't start thinking that I'm getting soft or anything. I have to toughen up, and fast.... because today is Thursday, and it's time to begin the year off by.....

ANNOUNCING....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for Week 1 of 2008

• Courtney Lynch
• Jill Phillips
• Lindsey Kepnes
• Beth Murphy
• Ted Moore
• Eric Rumpf

An appropriate group of Winners/Losers to start the New Year off Right/Wrong.

POTY Acceptance

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Resolution Afterthoughts

I know that I didn't get very specific with my resolutions this year. That's because I'm finally noticing that I never turn these beginning of the year affirmations into life transforming habits. So that rather than make an about turn, I hope to suggest trends to myself that may effect positive change.
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For example, I'd really like to lose about 40 lbs.. But rather than outline a Spartan regime of exercise and diet like I have in previous years .... with obvious failure .... I think that I will try to make small observations and behavioral modifications. Like noting each day in my Outlook calendar of the workout burn or lack thereof that occurred that day, and trying to cut down on my daily consumption of alcoholic beverages.
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No need to drink that classic winter cocktail, Whisky and Cranberry, every night for instance. And save the Lagavulin for a special occasion.
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Just to start the new year off right, I think that I will swear off any alcohol altogether until Feb.1. I'll knock back a few if the Patriots play in the Super Bowl though.... but that's not until February anyway.

Nanepashemet Peep of the Year - 2007

Happy New Year. I have to get out and fix the tarp on the tender this morning before it snows, but before I do that, it's time to select the Nanepashemet Peep of the Year.
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As you may know, last year's POTY, Tom McMahon, caused a rash of controversy. There was a lot of "Oh Yeah!" combined with quite a bit of "WTF!!!"
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Well Tommy proved to be a very worthy election, what with the photos of him chasing drunken idiots in Fenway Park during Red Sox games and all. And his sojourns down to our house with various youthful girlfriends and six packs of twisted tea solidified his status. It was an excellent year for Tom, as befits his reign as the prestigious/disgraceful Peep of the Year.
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This year, there was a great candidate pool to choose from. Huge amounts of stupidity, annoyance and inspiration.
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You should know the selection criteria by now. It's the same standards used to choose the POTW.
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The winner/loser must have done something stupid, annoying or inspirational, and must not be an animal or dead. I kind of hoped that the automatic Lagavulin rule would kick in this year, with the successful candidate showing up at my house with a case of the King of Single Malt Scotch, but once again I am bitterly disappointed.
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This year's recipient fit the criteria well and had a huge year.
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ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peep of the Year 2007

Michael "Murph" Murphy

Now don't start in with the obnoxious "Why.... Why.... WHY!!!" whine. You know that I can't disclose the specific reasons. Just suck it up and send your congratulations/condolences to Murph as he begins his momentous reign as the POTY for the coming year.

Year In Review

I'd have to conclude that this year was high on the interesting scale.
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Lots of highs and lows. Ups and Downs. Ebbs and Flows.
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Financially and career wise, I dumped all of my money into Sundance Pre-School and Nanepashemet Telecom. We'll see the prospects of that move in the next six months.
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Physically, I'm pretty much in the same place I was last January. Not bad since I'm a year older. I had planned on losing a lot of weight and getting into running shape, but my left leg got really screwed up and painful during the push in October, and I can hardly walk some days.
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Emotionally... well, that is my freaking business. I'm really pleased with some stuff, and outright stressed about others. But that doesn't make me a bad person. So keep out of it.
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I did notice that my resolutions from last year kind of fell flat. I wanted to get a workout burn going every day, clean up the daily clutter and pay attention to the details. That effort was an off and on process.
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It's worth reaffirming this year, but this year is a do or die for both businesses. My real resolve is to maintain a non-judgemental stability. Don't judge everything as right or wrong, good or bad, successful or disastrous. Just play the cards as they are dealt and stay away from doom and gloom or endzone celebrations.
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There is absolutely no chance that I can pull this off.

Tuna Lips said...

There is more than meets the eye with you sir. You are a complex man. Remindin me of my pappy. One moment all torn up over havin' to put down his beloved mule Sal soes we could eats, the next dancin around the campfire with a jug on his thumb and a grin on his face, wavin' the money momma brung home from her singin' lessens. Life is like that. We are a mere reflection of these sorts of goings on, likes you sees when you are bent over, wretching into the pond after eatin' some mule meat that had turned.

The Cranston Experience

So I walk in the door this afternoon, and Mike asks "How was Cranston?".
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How the hell did he think it was?
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Did he think that I traveled to Rhode Island at dawn to see the famous freaking sights of Cranston????
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The kid is a management consultant at a prestigious Washington DC firm, but sometimes I don't think his noggin is on straight.
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What with the crazy questions and all.
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The truth is that Cranston seems to be very ethnically diverse. The Dunkin Donuts where we had coffee was filled with about a dozen very vocal Asians, all speaking a dialect of Chinese at the same time. Then we grabbed a sandwich at lunch at a Lebanese delicatessen. There were a lot of elderly caucasians lingering around a veterans post that abutted our job site.
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That's how Cranston was. Maybe not such a dumb question after all.

Unreal

Two minutes from a perfect regular season of Patriots football. First the Red Sox, now this. I wish my Father was alive to see it.

Half Time Histrionics

Patriots are trailing the Giants at half time in the quest to go undefeated in the regular season.
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I really can't afford to stay up and watch the rest of this game, because of the need to get down to Rhode Island first thing in the morning. But I guess I have no choice. Eli Manning is really on for the Giants.
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I'm keeping the faith.

Attracting the Angels

Cranston went well. Not anything like I expected with lots of ups and downs. But it ended in an up.
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As long as you stay in motion.... as long as you try stuff.... you stand the chance that things can go your way. When you keep your head under the covers and presuppose that all is doom and gloom, you've cemented your fate.
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Angels don't land on our shoulders when we are sheltered and cowering in fear. They catch up with with us when we are trying to move forward. Keep trying stuff, even when all of the answers aren't clear. The answers get filled in along the way.
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Not sure what a photo of a Hammerhead Shark has to do with this, but it's a cool photo, don't you think?
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Back to Cranston in the morning.

Judge Ye Not

OK... I admit it. While all of the Christian world was in ecstasy over the birth of Christ, we at Nanepashemet Telecom have been busting our ass trying to get sites built on a deadline to nowhere. Not sure what it is all worth, but at least we have been doing our duty.
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The thing about job stress is that regardless of what others think, you finally have to meet the ultimate judge as you brush your teeth in front of the bathroom mirror. If he or she is satisfied with your performance, you have done your job, despite the outcome.
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See you in Cranston tomorrow morning.