Lesser of Two Evils

Yesterday was a long day. 7 hours on the road, 10 1/2 hours at the Maine jobsite. Thank God for Red Bull. Joanne and Kate say that it is bad for me, but it can't be worse than dozing off on the highway. Clearly the lesser of two evils.
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So I got up this morning feeling ready to go, but I was super irritable. Even I noticed it. It wasn't a day to aggravate me or make a stupid, unthinking remark, as two hapless individuals found out. I don't feel bad about teeing off on them though. Even if I felt fine, they still deserved it.

Hidden Benefit

Back to Rockland again to punch out the Coast Guard job. It's getting bad when you feel like leaving the house at quarter of four in the morning is starting to seem like routine.
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But that's where quitting drinking has its benefits.
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Joanne and I took the WhaleEye up the Annisquam River in Gloucester yesterday with the Murray's, then back over to Brown's Island where we tied up with my "Friend who doesn't want his name mentioned in the Blog", and his lovely wife Nancy.
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The weather was perfect, and normally the beer would be flowing like wine and I'd be paying for it today.
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Instead, I bounced out of bed and made the 3 1/2 hour trek to be at the jobsite by 8:00 AM.
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Course, driving home will tend to suck, but that's to be expected.

Flanagan's Shocking Third

It's a fact!
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Exactly one day after she was named as a Nanepashemet Peep of the Week, former Marbleheader Shalane Flanagan placed third in the women's 10,000 meter run.... earning a bronze medal and gunning down two Kenyans to do it.
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I know that the POTW has power, but even I had no idea that it could have this type of effect.
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There were no pundits who predicted this amazing finish for her on the elite international stage.
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Congratulations on a great run!

Semi-Successful

I suppose I should respond to several irritating emails asking if I accomplished the lofty work goals that I set at the beginning of the week. Since I only select six POTW's per week, I can't include all of the annoying Peeps who emailed me, but believe me, I'd like to.
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The week started with the Merrimack Golf Tournament with the Two Bobs and talented newcomer Previte. You will recall that I gave the portable beer can container that we won to Superpeep, Ben Martin.
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I did travel to Gloucester and Bourne and filed for the Coast Guard permits. Only received Glocester, Bourne is in the mail.
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Had some very important customers over to the house for an evening harbor tour and then some tuna steaks. ( I still can't believe how much like prime rib a grilled fresh tuna steak can taste.)
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Headed to Maine to close out the first phase of the Rockland Coast Guard installation. Couldn't close that deal for various shit-happens reasons, and will have to return on Monday to punch it out.
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Filed most of my taxes, so that I wouldn't be legally harrassed by this government of the "Land of the Free". (Don't get me started on this one!!!)
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So I guess I covered a lot of what I set out to do, even if everything didn't end up all packaged with a bow on top. It still was more that the vast majority of you could get done in half a month.

Bar Harbor Maine Lunch

We enjoyed a great lunch right on the water in Bar Harbor at Stewman's Lobster Pound.
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Joanne had the lobster cobb salad, and I went with the staple of life - fried clams.
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Highly recommended.
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Then I bought a cool T-shirt with a lobster on it. I'm sure we'll blend right in with the locals.

Aim High

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

- Michelangelo

Michelangelo would never last in a big corporation. I'm pretty sure that his relationship with the Vatican was contentious as well.

Can you imagine the freaking paint-by-numbers mess that the Sistine Chapel would have become if Michelangelo was a corporate, ass-covering weenie???

Week 33 POTW

When we finally got to Rockland, Maine at about 6:00PM this evening, we headed straight for the Somerset Resort Hotel. Their website said they had plenty of rooms available.... but not so! We were turned away.
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Even with my natural charm and persuasive ability, I was not able to convince the young check-in meister that I was not your average guest, and that my presense would lend intangible prestige to his lodging house for the next two days.
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Who needs the freaking Somerset anyway??? Been there, Done that.
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We ended up in a brand new extended stay room at the TradeWinds, complete with a jacuzzi, fireplace, and nice view of the harbor. And far cheaper than the Somerset.
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See That??? When God closes one door, he opens another. There is no bad luck - only our limited vision, and time impaired judgement of events.
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Speaking of bad luck, it's time to announce the Peep of the Week Selections.
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ANNOUNCING
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 33rd week of 2008

Bob Brown (automatic Lagavulin criteria)
Bob Wojcik (also an automatic)
Michael Phelps
Bela Karoli
Tom McMahon
Shalane Flanagan

Plus, Joanne is within walking distance of all of the downtown Rockland attractions - galleries, museums, shops and restaurants. I'll have our car parked two miles from town at the freaking cell site all day..... pounding away on line with the excessive documentation that this job entails.

Business Focus

It's Thurs. and I'm about ready to head up to Maine as soon as I can finish my tax filing.

That will be a relief, but there is a big deadline on the Coast Guard project that we are trying to accomplish by the close of business Friday.
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Joanne is making the trip with me to Rockland, but she will have to cope at staying at the Samoset Hotel Pool by herself as I will be at the cell site closing down the first construction phase.
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It's all Business Baby. What can I say? I'm focused on the ultimate dominance of Nanepashemet Telecom.
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I know that you're probably worried that I'll forget about the POTW selections this evening.... well Chill OUT!!! I've got it all under control.

Olympic Progress

So how do you think the Olympics are turning out????? Here's what jumps out at me.....
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Michael Phelps can freaking swim.
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No way are the Chinese Women Gynnasts 16 years old.
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Bela Karoli, the Romanian who runs the US Women's Gymnast program, is just a little over the top.
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The Chinese really overdid the opening ceremony and lost it with the lipsynching kid.
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The Water Cube is very cool architecture.
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As much as I am fond of President Bush, he should get his ass back to Washington.
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Synchronized diving gives me the creeps.
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Alicia Sacramone, from Winchester, MA, on the Women's Gymnastic team is very, very cute.
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The NBA Basketball players seem out of place.
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Women Gymnasts are better looking than Women Swimmers, but the US Women's Beach Volleyball Team is by far the hottest.
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Dara Torres, the 41 year old Californian Mother, is the most incredible swimmer at the games.... Phelps included.
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It's been interesting so far, but the real deal for me begins with the Track and Field events. Shalene Flanagan from Marblehead is running the 10,000 meters. I've followed her career a little and have seen her running in Town here, and it will be interesting to see if she can get into the Final and be competitive at this level.

Merrimack Football Tournament results

So I receive hundreds of emails from you Peeps asking how I golfed yesterday. Since you already know that I suck, you can imagine how irritating this is.
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I pretty much delivered on my reputation, although I did have to carry the foursome on my back on a number of occasions. The "Crusher" was in attendance and managed to mangle a few of the dimpled spheroids.
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Bob "Mountain of a Man" Brown was clearly off his PGA rated standard game, and Bob "the Insidious" Wojcik (the one who screwed up my knee) was not particularly impressive. But they totally redeemed themselves by giving me a fifth of Lagavulin which obviously has automatic POTW connotations.
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The one bright spot was talented newcomer, Jeff Previte of EBI Consulting, who consistently rained vulgar insults on himself after every other shot. Quite entertaining.
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At least we cleaned up on the raffle at dinner after the game, with three winners out of five tickets. I gave Ben Martin, the worthy Merrimack Offensive Line Coach, one of the prizes... a collapsable gadget that holds thirty beer cans. I'm sure he can get some use out of it.
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All in all, the Merrimack Football team stands a little taller today, and Nanepashemet Telecom was happy to oblige.

Packed Agenda

This week is shaping up to be a real doozy.
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Did I just say "doozy"? If I did, I apologize.
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Anyway....
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The week starts out with getting permits in Gloucester and Bourne on Monday and Tues. And I have to fit in the Merrimack Football Golf Tournament in Windham, NH today. In retrospect, I really can't afford the time to golf, but I've lined up a good foursome. Hope my game shows up.
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Wed., Thurs., and Fri., I'll be up in Rockland, Maine to close out the first phase of the Coast Guard site that Nanepashemet Telecom is building. All of the issues with other customers will be handled remotely because my Internet Card works great up there.
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In the middle of all this I have to file the Sundance taxes by Friday.
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"How will it all get done???" you ask.
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Why don't you just pay attention to what you have to do this week, and let me worry about that.

Root Ball

I've been thinking about moving the fir tree in my front lawn for some time now and today was the day. Not sure where that motivation came from, but I put my work boots on and went with the flow.
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The tree is about 12' tall with a 4" caliper trunk. I cut the lower branches with my sawzall so that I could dig a ring about 1 1/2 feet around the trunk. The soil was relatively easy to move because of the heavy rains of late around here.
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After digging about eighteen inches down around the circumference of the truck I rocked the root ball back and forth until the ball was separated from the surrounding hole. Then I got out my six foot iron crow bar and used it to leverage the root ball onto a dolley.
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Archimedes said that if he had a place to stand and a large enough lever, he could move the earth. I don't know about that, but the crow bar worked fine on the root ball.
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From there, it was simply to transfer the tree to a hole that I had dug in the corner of my backyard and backfill the tree and the hole in my front lawn.
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I know that this isn't particularly fascinating, but nobody made you freaking read this now... did they? I mean... I could have written about how I weed crabgrass, but that would have even bored me.