Taste of Summer

It's still only April. But because we had a run of 70 degree days this week, you really want it to be summer. Today the weather is overcast, glum and in the forties.
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Yesterday, I took advantage of the warm temps by getting into the garage and building a case to house the components of our TV downstairs. It's all done except for the back panel and the sanding, and was a good tune up for some of the techniques that I'll use on Grandson Will's Toy Chest.
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Tommy McMahon and Reaf dropped by with a piece of pier foam that I recommended that he buy to fulfill his dream of making a floating Beirut game table. We cut it to size on the band saw and pieced together a 30" by 60" panel to serve as flotation. It should provide many hours of inebriated pleasure for Tom and his friends this summer.
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I felt so good that I decided to get two miles in on the track before dinner. Unfortunately, there is no denying that the pain in my left knee is the real deal and can't be ignored. I'm going to try to run through it today and continue to hope for the best.
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The evening was capped by dinner with the O'Shea's at the Peabody's where Jim grilled a turkey breast on his charcoal cooker. I think that we were pretending that it was a summer night, and we tried to hang out on his deck and watch the Sox, but it cooled down quickly.

POTW - Week 17

Now it's coming out that a bunch of the Red Sox have been afflicted by the flu. I'm not sure that I have recovered from this insidious strain. I haven't felt right for over a week and a half. Not that I'm complaining. That would be downright un-Nanepashemet of me.

Announcing...
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 17th week of 2008

• Paul Giamatti
• Eric Johnson
• Meaghan Bruett
• Bob Towne
• David Letterman
• Linda O'Shea

I hope that my poor training is indicative of this persistent virus and nothing more.

Final Episode of John Adams

Wojcik was right again. The final Adams episode was a decided tearjerker.
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The loss of his daughter and wife was tough to take, but the ascent of his son, John Quincy, to the Presidency and his extended correspondence with Jefferson culminating in their mutual deaths on the 50th anniversary of their signing of the Declaration of Independence, is the type of reality that defies a fictional account.
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John Adams had a remarkable life, and Americans have benefited because of it ever since.

Bleak Outlook

So I got out to run today, and really feel terrible. Knee hurt and and my back felt like it was ready to go out. Plus I found out that Bob Towne, my buff college roommate just ran a 100KM race. That 60+ Miles! That's a photo of Bob during one of the exciting parts of the race.
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I could hardly drag my ass around for two. Right now, I can't imagine covering the Marine Corps course six months from now. But I'm going to resign my fate to a higher power and stay the course.

Adams Conclusion

I haven't seen the last episode of John Adams yet, but Bob Wojcik said that it brought him to tears. I would think that it would have to have been pretty twisted. Now I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

Archrival Visit

Archrival Joe Collins and the lovely Michelle visited us in the mountains yesterday.
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I told Joe that I had finally been able to get a training run in, and he countered by showing me his Oakley Club Champion plaque.
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Nice Plaque.

Running Start

It's almost exactly six months to the Marine Corps Marathon, and I finally took my first steps on the road, 2 weeks behind schedule because of the broken treadmill, then the virus attack.
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I nursed myself through two miles at a snail's pace to see how the knee felt. It felt tenuous at best. The good news is that I am right on plan with weight loss, having lost about ten lbs. last week.
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The first day back running is never representative of how your body will respond. We'll see how I feel at the end of this week.

Saco Water Level

So I was up in North Conway today, and decided to check out the water level at the Saco River and see if any trout were around.
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The water was higher and rushed faster that any non flooding time that I can remember. The large, rushing volume was cloudy with sand and leaf debris. I learned a long time ago to refrain from trout fishing if you couldn't see them.
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I went to some of the area galleries and was again impressed by some of the furniture on sale. I'm convinced that I could do that stuff if I didn't have to work for a living. I was inspired to get going on Will's toy chest and did a work breakdown structure that indicated that I have 40 hours in work in store before the chest will be ready. Since Will's birthday is in June, I'm already cutting it close.
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Tomorrow, Archrival Joe Collins and his main squeeze, the lovely Michelle are coming up to visit us.
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Don't worry.... I'm hip to his psychological tactics. He can't get into my head. NO WAY!

Running a Test

This virus that hit me last Sunday is still screwing with me. I've lost a week of training, but I also lost well over 5 lbs. So maybe there is a bright spot.
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I can't wait for the treadmill to be repaired, so I'll be running on grass a couple of miles to test my knee this weekend.

Week 16 POTW

So the Pope's response to the victims of sexual abuse is to pray.
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Cool.
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Hopefully that works for everytime you have to take action.
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Take out the garbage??? Pray.
File your taxes???? Pray
Shopping for groceries??? Pray.
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Get the picture? If you have a problem, just sit on your ass and pray. If your garbage overflows, the IRS chases you or you start to get really hungry.... then maybe prayer alone isn't the answer.

Your priests are molesting kids and ruining their lives??? Time to lay down a few prayers.

ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for Week 16 of 2008

Sarah Piscatelli
Stan Brown
Mike Nestor
Nathaniel Clarke
David Ortiz
Benedict


Nobody asked me, but getting rid of celebacy would be a good start. Bring some normalcy into the priesthood and cut down on the freaks.



Piscatelli said...

The conclusion, equating the Pope's situation to one where he has to "take action", is wrong. In fact unmeasred action in such a circumstance, where your credibility is in doubt, is ill advised. Slow, deliberate repeated action is adviseable in a situtation where the harm is great an immeasurable, and the "wound" if you will, is more susceptible to further injury than to healing. This applied to the sentient world.

At a higher level of abstration, this betrayal will take generations to be stilled, long after you and I have gone to earth.

I feel Benedict's plea for prayer is an acknowledgement of his humanity, that this is a problem which he can not fix himself, nor can anyone on earth, through courts or crusades, fix. Only something larger than humanity, and the timid sense of justice and brotherhood we occassionally display, can right this terrible wrong, to hear our prayer for justice, to know what is just. Not to decide, but to know.

And so we pray for that. Humiliating, but humble.

Now go take the garbage out.
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Well said Piscatelli.... I'll pray for you. There are some empirical things that the Pope can do to stop perverts from preying on innocents. He could also stop using the Vatican as sanctuary for criminals. Why don't you bring that up at your next Altarboy convention????

Wack Job

So Hillary Clinton admitted in her debate with Obama, that her comment about landing in Bosnia under sniper fire was untrue.
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Untrue???? It was much more than that! It was one whopper of a humongous lie. If anybody told me that, and I found out that it was a fabrication, I wouldn't trust that person to open a bag of potato chips, must less be elected leader of the free world.
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That person would be written off as a wack job - plain and simple.
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If Clinton embellishes like this, she really must be unstable.

Picking on the Pope

Pope Benedict expressed sorrow that the priests diddled with little American kids.
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I bet he is sorry.
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Maybe if he sent the criminal, Cardinal Bernard Law, back to Boston to stand trial for his negligence in allowing perverts with collars to prey on innocent children, the Pope would have some credibility.
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Sure he's sorry - because they got caught. Because the children victimized by the authority figure that they should trust the most - their parish priest - grew up and found a voice.
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It's one thing to be sorry, another to do something about it. The arrogance of the Catholic Church is probably more incompetence than anything. I'm not talking about reparations to the victims, although this is only ethical to do. I'm talking about publicly announcing the steps that the Church has taken to keep the non-celebrate, hypocritical monsters at bay.
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Don't take it personal Pope, but your empire is an anachronism, and resembles nothing that can possibly be thought of as Christlike.