Monday, March 24, 2008
Day Off
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But I cycled 37 miles on the Cybex this weekend and decided to take a day to recover. Two more weeks on the Cybex, then I tune up the Nordic Trak Treadmill for five weeks of low impact running.
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It's my fantasy to break 3 hrs. 45 min. and qualify in the Marine Corps Marathon for next year's Boston Marathon. All without breaking a sweat on the asphault yet.
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Yup, that's my fantasy all right.
Ups and Downs
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And for some reason, she insists on going down into the basement, then cries until someone (i.e. Me) goes down and carries her up the stairs.
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It's sad when your pets get old, their life expectancy is so much shorter than ours, and they become so much of your life.
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So today, the first half warm sunny day in a while, Joanne let Izzy out on the deck for awhile, and naturally she wandered off. I failed to mention that she is deaf as well, and can't hear anybody calling her.
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When we couldn't find her for a couple of hours, I had all sorts of fantasies, like she got scooped up by the Red Tailed Hawk that was on Tommy O Shea's front lawn and other panicky stuff like that. It was pretty depressing.
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Then she showed up at the basement door. I was relieved and happy.
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It got me thinking. Do we need to be depressed and unhappy in order to feel joy and happiness? Now I'm depressed again.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Easter Visits
Katelyn Nestor, Jack Dog
Ryan, Courtney, Will
Mike, Katelyn
Joe LeBlanc, Susan
Jim Peabody, Kathy, Andrew
Ben Martin
Pretty Good Easter Roster dropped by for the holiday celebration.
Gerry
It's too bad that most know of Elbridge Gerry of Marblehead as the inventor of Gerrymandering.
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He was a patriotic signer of the Declaration of Independence and refused to sign the Constitution because it did not contain a Bill of rights.
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He was also the fifth Vice President of the United States, serving under James Madison.
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Plus the Gerry 5 Club in Marblehead, of which I am a dues paying member and is by far the best local watering hole, is named after him.
Easter Thoughts
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This is the holiday that defined Christianity. Regardless, of the sermons, and the miracles.... rising from the dead was the pièce de résistance.
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Over the past 2000 years or so, the Catholic Church has manipulated and brutalized the teachings of Christ and his followers. The Church used to burn at the stake anyone who disagreed with its self serving interpretation that one could only attain salvation through the Church.
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Growing up Irish-Catholic, I was ingrained with this doctrine, and it wasn't until college when its illogical nature and my widening thought patterns collided. Since then, my theology has embraced a host of concepts to the point that I'm probably defined as Neo-Pagan by now.
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I believe in a higher power and an infinite soul, and the harmony of nature. Christ and probably others were more closely aligned with the higher power, and sought to guide others. I have no doubt in his resurrection from the dead. Although we all have a spark of divine higher power, Jesus was more attuned, and I regularly pray to him for his help and intercession.
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This makes more sense to me, than the heaven and hell, social control constructs that the Catholic Church espouses. Every time they hit a logical dead end, you are instructed to believe it as a mystery of faith.
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So I have evolved to a belief that says that a divine higher power of which we are all a part has set in motion the harmony of the universe, and we should aspire to act in tune with this harmony for the welfare of our eternal soul.
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But when I was on a commercial airflight a couple of years ago, that was experiencing violent turbulence, and seemed to be falling out of the sky, my Catholicism returned big time - I remembered the "Act of Contrition" word for word, just as the Nuns drilled it into me, and repeated it about a hundred times.
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So Happy Easter. I hope you got a basket with a hollow chocolate bunny this morning.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
OK
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This is not the groundswell of participation that I anticipated. Maybe when the warm weather hits, we'll see appropriate enthusiasm of this notable endeavor.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Good Feeling
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Contrary to popular belief, I don't finish my work everyday. It's not that I screw off, which is hardly ever, but the amount of work seems to exceed the hours in the day.... every day.
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And it always piles up to the end of the week. Mentally, I always resolve to take care of some of it over the weekend, and in reality, this often happens. But this weekend, I just don't have the angst... even though there are some swinging loose ends.
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I don't even feel guilty.
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It probably has something to do with the good weather report.... sunny in the balmy 40's.
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So I'll get out in the driveway, and maybe even rev up the Dory project a little bit. Joanne wants to take Mike and Kate to the BYC on Saturday, and then Ryan and Courtney will be bringing Will over on Easter Sunday.
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By Monday, the anxiety can resume.
Don't Start
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Please don't start with the emails and the phone calls asking me what it was. That is so totally annoying.
POTW - Week 12 - 2008
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Then I had a conference call at 7:30PM which lasted for an hour or so.
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Peep of the Week selections had to wait until this morning, so if you're a little irritated, get over it. It could be worse.
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Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for Week 12 of 2008.
- Jim Peabody
- Sam Simons
- Brian Butler
- Sarah Crawford
- Carly Press
- Ryan Nestor
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Belief O Matic
1. | Neo-Pagan (100%) |
2. | New Age (85%) |
3. | Hinduism (83%) |
4. | Liberal Quakers (80%) |
5. | Bahá'í Faith (76%) |
6. | Jainism (76%) |
7. | Sikhism (76%) |
8. | Unitarian Universalism (75%) |
9. | Mahayana Buddhism (71%) |
10. | Scientology (70%) |
11. | New Thought (65%) |
12. | Islam (63%) |
13. | Orthodox Judaism (63%) |
14. | Reform Judaism (63%) |
15. | Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (53%) |
16. | Taoism (50%) |
17. | Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (32%) |
18. | Jehovah's Witness (26%) |
19. | Orthodox Quaker (26%) |
20. | Theravada Buddhism (26%) |
21. | Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (20%) |
22. | Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (13%) |
23. | Eastern Orthodox (13%) |
24. | Roman Catholic (13%) |
25. | Secular Humanism (13%) |
26. | Seventh Day Adventist (13%) |
27. | Nontheist (6%) |
This is how I scored taking the Belief O Matic test.
Not sure if I agree, but you should test out yourself at
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html
Thanks to Wanda for this link.
Outrageous and Disgusting
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What does it take to get you aroused... I mean outraged!!!!
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Naked Bunnies doing a pole dance while Peeps sit in apparent rapt attention is an insult to self respecting Peeps everywhere.
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This has Sarah Loomis Crawford's fingerprints all over it.
- Tuna Lips said...
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a gal with a perty mouth and a superfluous nipple does er fer me, everytime, arousin'-wise!
The Color of Obama
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I wouldn't want to be judged by the way that some Catholic priests have acted.
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Obama is a complex individual - brought up in Hawaii by white grandparents, attending school at Harvard and Columbia, seeking roots and community in the Black church in Chicago.
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It's time to discuss race in America. We've all seen racism and the effects of a society whose economic and social basis had slavery at its core when it was born only 300 odd years ago.
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Huge strides have been made, but the scar tissue and the recurring nightmares are clearly evident. Maybe we are mature enough to confront these.
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We have intellectually defeated racism in America.... the leader in Democratic Presidential delegates is an African American, the Governor's of MA and NY are African American, the sport of priviledged countryclubs is dominated by an African American.
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But the "forgive and forget" process is still to be played out for a few generations.
- Piscatelli said...
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In that veign, Happy St. Joseph's Day to all my paisans on the Hill in East Haven - there will be shell fish and asparagus zuppa come Sunday. Celebrate diversity! Up with everything!
Its important to have a president who knows a lot about race. Forget minding the shop otherwise. I can forgo my job so long as we have a good understanding that human nature leads us to select based on similarities and aligned interests. And we can overcompensate to change that on a case by case basis. And we can pay for study groups and giving a helping hand to those less something than me with part of my salary. So long as everyone feels good about themselves. Isn't life grand?
This world is ruled by violence
your family comes first
and then you are on you own.
But together, we can!
I live in a small village.
Piscawhatsinitforme
I've been a part of several cults in my time, both as a leader and a follower. You can make some good scratch at the top; bein' a member is a lot more fun though.
I've also done the AM radio preachin' gig, lost souls callin' long distance salvation. I had this secretary back then, jesus murphy, she could empty the tank and then push the car a few blocks ta boot. Sigh, good days . . .