Cutesy Time

It's a sunny Saturday morning, heading for the mid forty degree range. Joanne is in her glory because little Will Nestor, the cutest grandkid in the world, spent the night, and she is playing on the floor with him.
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He certainly is cute. We'll have to get him rough, tough and hard to bluff in the coming months and years. There's time.
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Plus, he'll undoubtably want to build boats in the garage with his Grampy.
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But enough of this cutesy bullshit. Sometimes I forget that this Blog is all serious business.

Tuna Lips said...

Yer darn tootin' this here is a serious forum. Iffin' I dine to opinionate here, its reachin' corners of the world wide web you did not know where there. I speak truth to power, if there wa one greater than minefew as there are comparin to mine.

I will be votin' for Willard Mitt Romney, in case anyone is interested. I likes them polygamizers.

Work WrapUp

I'm semi-all caught up at Nanepashemet Telecom. No big pushes or priorities this weekend. Plus I bought 72 killer mugs from www.discountmugs.com with our logo printed on them to give out to customers. Next week should be fun.

Pump the Purell

So many of you have asked me recently, "J.... How do you keep yourself so vigorous and healthy?" It's a worthy question...deserving of a thoughtful answer.
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It's true that I avoid the common cold much more than the rest of you mucus-laden, rhinovirus-carrying wheeze bags.
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My secret is to keep a good Purell anti-bacterial instant hand sanitizer close by at all times.... in my house, office and truck.
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Any time I handle coins or change... pump the Purell.
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Any time I pump gas... pump the Purell.
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Anytime I scratch myself in private territory... pump the Purell.
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Any time I shake hands... pump the Purell as soon as you can.
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Also, I also never miss a chance to take a mouthful of Listerine and swish it around.
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So that's how I stay sniffle free. I may seem like a dirty old man, but in reality, I'm as germ free as possible without being weird about it.

Super Bowl Chicken

So MegaPeep, Brian Butler, wants to know how I make my chicken wings as the Super Bowl looms near. Normally, I'd just blow him off, but he's married to the Fabulous Stacey, so I can't turn a deaf ear.
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Good Chicken wings begin with good chicken. I don't care if it's from that hick at Springer Mountain Farms or the Perdue heir, the wings should look plumb and pink to yellow. They should look like they were flapping on their own a short time ago.
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I get mine from Costco, but that's because I like the way they sell in bulk, but portion well in plastic for freezing. I personally can't stand that Springer Mountain Farms idiot.
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Sharpen your cleaver and chop the wings, discarding the tips. I don't see why they even sell the tips... who the hell ever eats them, and what is there to eat????
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Fill a large kettle half full of oil - peanut oil is best - and heat to about 400 degrees. Don't worry about the cost of the oil. Life is too short. I use a thermometer to test the oil. You want the wings to be in the oil for 12 minutes at 350 degrees, and they will immediately drop the temp down from 400 when they enter.
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Dip the wings in an egg and milk mixture then place in a bowl filled with flour, garlic powder, Italian bread crumbs, parsley, and anything else that you think might make your toes curl. Sometimes I throw in some crushed red pepper. Use your imagination.
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Coat the wings with your flour concoction.
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Now with your wings coated and your oil hot, gingerly place some wings on a large serving spoon and place in the hot oil. It will make a big, loud and crackly disruption, but don't pussy out. You've gone too far to turn back now.
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Add enough chicken to fill the oil, but don't overfill, because the chicken must have enough room to float around freely in the hot oil. Set your timer for 12 minutes. Stir the chicken every once in a while.... just because it's fun to screw around with the hot oil.
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After 12 minutes, take the chicken out with the serving spoon and place in a large mixing bowl. Repeat the process with the remaining chicken.
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With the chicken in the mixing bowl, take a large bottle of Frank's Red Hot Sauce and dredge liberally.
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Place the chicken in a serving dish with a bowl of blue cheese dressing and another bowl for bones.
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Have plenty of paper towels. Tell anyone who asks for the recipe to send $19.95 to Nanepashemet Recipes, 32 Beverly Ave., Marblehead, MA 01945.

Tuna Lips said...

Sounds cluckaliscious, Colonel Sanders. I am gonna whip up some of my "Angry Catfish Balls" and "Arby's Beef Curtains", mix up a jug o' Kool Aid, and roll out the welcome wagon! Its party time at Casa Tuna!

POTW - Week 5

Even a mountain of a man like myself can get tired.... a little fatigued.... a little short of gas from time to time. Especially when there are so many responsibilities and obligations. Like tending to you pathetic Peeps, or bringing Nanepashemet Telecom to the promised land, or worrying about the next move by the insidious Wojcik.
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There is just so much pressure that you can stand, before your cellular structure gets bogged down in lactic acid, and you look to the couch for solace and sustenance.
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But I know that it's Thursday, and I don't want you Peeps to wail in insecure lamentations about the Peep of the Week Selections. At times like this, you just have to ask yourself, "What would Tuna Lips do???"
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ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for Week 5 of 2008

Inspector Joe Mountain of the Gloucester Fire Department
Brian Butler
Tom McMahon
Sue Dunleavy
Lauren Crawford
Maddie Gill

A couple of Dark and Stormies helps to shake out the cobwebs.

Site Office

I'm sitting here in one of my site offices away from Nanepashemet corporate headquarters, Panera Bread. This one happens to be in Beverly, MA, but it doesn't matter. Whenever I find one, I'm in touch with the Peeps because this company has ingeniously offered free connectivity to the Web with no strings attached.

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When you order a coffee, they give you a mug, and you can fill it all day. It's like being in my office, but with a lot of people that I don't necessarily know all milling around.

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With the price of gas, these cafes allow me to get into the field, and establish complete contact with all of my business processes. It they had a little room with a printer, it would be perfect. As it is, all I have to do is save to CD or Flash stick, and head for a copy shop like Staples or something.

Patriot Lessons

Tom Brady is the real deal.
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In the midst of the Superbowl hoopla in Arizona, he has been pummeled with all kinds of stupid questions by idiots with press credentials.
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Yesterday, someone asked him what he thought the "meaning of life was".
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In a perfect display of grace and poise, he answered "I throw footballs.... we're not out here curing cancer or anything." Then he went on to say that the stature that football gives him and his teammates might enable them to do something worthwhile for humanity off of the field.
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I think that his football work is much more worthy than he evaluates. By demonstrating a very visible professional demeanor, he gives valuable life lessons that his fans can emulate in almost any endeavor.
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Preparation
Focus
Staying in the Moment
Losing the Ego
Humility
Crediting the Team Role
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These are lessons that Brady and his team impart directly in the way that they play football. It's not curing cancer, but it's damn worthwhile.

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Plus Brady Dates Hot Chicks.

Tuna Lips said...

Therein lies his weakness, the dating part. Love 'Em and Leave 'Em is what ole TL does. Shoot, if he is anything like me, that boy would be gettin' more ass than a toilet seat. Not just one piece of pouty model pooh nanny. Don't get caught up in some sort of "who I'm supposed to be" dialectics, son. Just throw footballs and humps the honeys, Tommy Boy, its best to do yer thinkin with a cooz thats got a daddy complex ridin' like Mustang Sally. Shucks, line 'em right up, I got a lot of love to give!

McMahon said...

Hey J.

Don't forget that tomorrow is Peep of the week day. Can't have any more slackin out of you.

State of the Union

Watching President Bush address the Congress is a scary thing. Grown men and women, sitting in their party chairs in a ritualized display of approval and distain. At the same time, either clapping wildly or sitting glumfaced, based upon the political leanings of the President's remarks.
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We get older, but we really never abandon the behavior that we had in the schoolyard during recess. We just disguise it with different rituals.
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When I was younger, I used to think that there was a type of order and that the best example of this was in our governmental system. Now, as I have grown older, increasingly it seems that our civilized society is a big free-for-all, with the rules made up as we go along.

Christening

After the Nursing Home visit, Joanne and I decided to christen our new club card at the BYC. Didn't want to waste the nose hair trim.
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Joanne knows a lot of people in Marblehead because of her years at Sundance, and she immediately ran into friends. I may have a harder time fitting in.

Patrick said...

Everyone, be sure to vote on Tuesday, February 5th here in MA. And if you haven't selected a candidate, I would urge you to consider John McCain as the candidate who can best lead our country in the coming years. A man with the bearing of a stateman, respected around the globe, across classes, and among his peers. A collaborator, he will bring the leadership (not the PMBOK type, mind you)necessary to move the country forward, and empower each person in their own right to move forward. Not an abstraction. the real deal.

Underpowered Nose Hair Trimmer

So I'm taking a shower to get ready to visit Joanne's mother (i.e. my mother-in-law) at the nursing home. Everything went fine in the shower.... no mishaps or unusual circumstances.... but when I was toweling off, I noticed that my nose and ear hair was getting a little too bushy and required my monthly maintenance trim.
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Naturally, my Panasonic Nose Hair trimmer that runs on double A batteries could hardly power up. Just when you really need to trim, you get let down again.
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My Bad. I really have to invest in the heavy duty industrial model.

Tuna Lips said...

My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Thistletwat, coulda used one of them new fangled nose-hair trimmers.

Saturday Satisfaction

Yesterday was a fun day.
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A little bit of Nanepashemet Telecom in the morning, then I shut it down to do a dump run. Two weeks of missing the curbside trash collection can be a messy thing - a bit of an overflow. So I brought four barrell loads to the Marblehead Town Transfer Station, which is a fancy name for the Marblehead Dump.
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I love it at the Dump.
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Everyone you see is always pretty friendly.... it seems that you capture the essense of their goodness.... at the Dump. In over 20 years, I've only had one bad experience there, which I won't tell you about. Painful memory.
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When I got home, Ryan and Will Crawford came over with a load of scrap wood from Ryan's basement renovation project. I was getting ready to knock apart some hardwood delivery pallets from our Telecom warehouse anyway, and cut it to size to burn in the fireplace this weekend. So I cut up the load of scrap wood and worked up a little sweat in the garage.
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Then I went to see my friend who doesn't want his name mentioned in the Blog. I can understand his concern. Anyone I name here usually attains instant celebrity, and many of you can't handle that type of pressure. My "Friend Who Doesn't Want His Name Mentioned in the Blog" is one such individual.
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So I had a couple of beers with "FWDWHNM in the B," then suggested that I pick up Joanne and make some pizza's for dinner.
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"FWDWHNM in the B" is allergic to cats, so he only comes to my house at special occasions, like when he has to borrow some tools. So when we want to invite him and his fascinating wife to my house for dinner, we usually pick up the meal and bring it to their house.
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Joanne bought some artichokes, roasted peppers and pancetta at the Community Store. Pancetta is Italian bacon and Joanne fried it until it was crumbly and crumbly and crispy. It was killer topping of the pizza.
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I'm not saying that my pizza is better than Vesuvius', but it's still damn good, and last night was some of the best that I've made in some time.

POTW - Week 4

I can't believe all the angst and vituperation caused simply by missing the POTW deadline.
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Peeps.... for two solid years, you've had your pathetic addiction tended to by the narcotic, narcissistic, and somewhat nasty, Nanepashement Peep of the Week selections. Do you think I'd let you down now? .... when you are hopelessly and hypnotically hooked on this hapless process?
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You have to admit, alitteration is definitely in my skill satchel tonight. W. Shakespeare would have had to take note.

ANNOUNCING
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 4th week of 2008

• Mike Rockett
• Dick Man
• Tito Francona
• Jim Plunkett
• Katelyn Nestor
• Tina Rhoades

I know it's a day late.... and I promised never to do it again.
Now you all know what Joanne goes through.