PhD

It's been twenty years now since I thought that I had inexorably screwed up my life.
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Everything had gone wrong with my career, major business deals went sour, and my entire image of my life's direction took an about turn. I had a pit in my stomach that wouldn't go away and everyday I was haunted by fears of how my situation would evolve.
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Friends who had seemed to be staunch allies, now treated me cordially but at arm's length. These were people that I would have jumped on a grenade for. Fortunately for me, no grenades were rolled my way, because I found out that they would never have returned the favor. But a few true friends stood by me...and they are still my real friends today.
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Lots of really bad things happened... I lost my assets, my money and had to move. But the trials had a silver lining. I found out what was truly important to me. Big houses, boats, cars... all of the stuff became secondary. My family and my new view of myself as someone who could cope with whatever life threw at me, were the two things that held importance. Everything else was pretentious and phony.
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I'm not saying that I wasn't to blame. I made some truly stupid business decisions that would have been fine if things out of my control hadn't taken such a steep dive. But all of the stupid stuff that I did, and the risks that blew up in my face, didn't deter me from one thing. I never was out to screw anybody. And it didn't matter what anybody thought. I knew the truth. And I took a much worse hit than anyone else that was involved in my failed business deals. That simple fact ultimately protected me.
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So twenty years ago, I had the truth, and my family, a few true friends, and nothing else.
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In the end.... that's all that was important. It was all that I needed.
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Slowly, things began to change, and my worse fears never materialized. Every day, I got up and ran a play. I believed in myself and had the love of my family and thanked God for these things often.

Step by step, all of the pieces came back together again, but with a stronger and lasting bond based on truth and experience. I caught a break and entered the large corporate world, leaving entrepreneurship for awhile. Eventually, I found that my feet were firmly under me again and the pit in my stomach was replaced with a sense of knowledge and confidence that only experience can bring.
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And now, with Nanepashemet Telecom and a couple of other things, I'm back in the economic driver's seat. But with a huge advantage. I have a PhD in "What Can Go Wrong". My mistakes will never put the entire enterprise at risk, and I will never be duped again by false friends. I don't need the big boats, cars and houses. Been there, Done that.
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But if I hadn't had the loss, I still would be defining myself by my phony friends, my clubs, my boats, my houses, my cars, etc. What an asshole I would have been!
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Now that everything is behind me, I am thankful for the experience. It made me a better person, and the insights made my life more meaningful. I have a strong, hardworking family that I am proud of, and my business successes now are substantial and lasting.
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I hope you Peeps never have to go through this type of trial, but if the current economic market doesn't bode well for you, act with the truth and learn from your mistakes. Be true to yourself and run a new play everyday. You'll get through it, and ultimately you'll be better off.

Thirsty Thursday

I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this Thursday.
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Usually, Thursday is a hectic day, because you can't depend on people being around on Friday, so the contacts that you have to make, you strive to reach on Thursday. I always try to push it on Thursday, then the stuff you get done on Friday is like a bonus.
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But this Thursday ends with the Palin - Biden debate. I'm betting that Palin comes off as the talented, level-headed governor that she is.... and that Biden will be fact fabricating at his best.
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The Good Morning America pundits will be so irritated and obsessed, I might even watch GMA on Friday.

Prognostication

Hundreds of the Peeps have been calling and emailing me lately asking me what I think of the nation's financial crisis.
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Irritating and Annoying.
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What do I you think I am???? Some sort of fuzzy, comforting, economic super seer???? Fuzzy yes, but the other stuff... definitely no.
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But if your fears won't quell until you get my word on the situation, it is this...
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Nothing is ever as bad as it seems, and nothing is ever as good as it seems. We're not going into a deep depression.. this is a correction in the market that must be attended to. \
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But there should be a nice seat in hell for incompetents like Frank and Pelosi so that they can perform their specialty of fanning the flames for all eternity.

Tuna Lips said...

if hell means you spend yer days gettin buggered by some red eyed imp, then that pickle-sniffin' Frank boy youse growed up there in Fairyland is at the gates of his own Promised Land. Screw balls.
Jephimany Prescious.

TL

Trap Transaction

I thought that the Hamilton Marine price for lobster traps was ok at $89.00 each. But then I ran into Ketcham in New Bedford with a price of $91.00 delivered. The delivery charge from Hamilton in Rockland, ME was going to run around $50 / trap. So it looked like Ketcham was getting the nod.
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But then some steely attention to detail revealed that the Ketcham traps were small recreational models and the Hamilton traps were the real deal, 3' commercial. So the pendulum was swinging back to Hamilton.
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There was no response from Billy Oliver Boats in Cohasset, the source that Chris Crawford had supplied.
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But as luck would have it, I was in Cohasset this morning for a bid walk and got there early, so I decided to check out Billy Oliver. His boat brokerage office, directly across from Cohasset harbor was empty, but I gave him a call, and he got back to me within the hour with a deal for commercial traps delivered at $65 per trap.
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How freaking great was that???
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Billy seems like a real good guy, and if everything works out right, I'll have 10 commercial traps, complete with 60' of line, bait bags, swivels and buoys in my Beverly Ave. driveway sometime this Friday. By that time, Sarah Palin will have kicked Joe Biden's ass in their Thursday night debate, and all will be right with the world.

Going Bottomless

I keep hearing that the economy is a mess. But so far, it has been politicians and the media telling me so.
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Sure people are worried.... but I've seen no widespread layoffs, foreclosures are not close to what we saw in the late 80's, interest rates, prices and inflation are not spiraling out of control. The only local layoffs that I've witnessed recently revolve around business incompetence and stupidity, not the economy.
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We've seen slowdowns in hiring and investment before, without a national crisis labeled on to it. This seems like classic boom and bust, but now we have a Presidential election at stake.
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I know that I'm a shortsighted, sheltered SOB, but that aside, I don't see the crisis that the politicians and the newsmedia point to. There seems to be a lot of angst in the investment community, and a great deal of concern, but I have yet to see the bottomless pit emerge.

Tuna Lips said...

If yer in the hate business, things is a boomin'. What with all the forgiveness for everything out there, it aint my fault kinda pussy chatter, a good ole fashioned hate monger can ride into town and scar some hides, lay waste to somes that is truer than they is, and get away with it. Under the banner of looking out for the sheep, "I'se on yer side". No accountin done, just actin all better than others, promisin' everything with no way reckoning how its to happen. Get to the top of the hill, my pappy said, and you can excremtate on thems not on the top. "But Tuna" he said, with a rasp in his voice, "they will tries to make you not humnp yer tail up that hill, that theys gonna make it all right, so youse dont have to hump no mores. Beware thems that says that, fer that is yer con on the rest; don't fall fer it".

I wont, pappy.

Nauseous Newscasters

So I'm watching the Presidential debate and it was evident to me that McCain kicked Obama's Hawaiian, Harvard, Liberal Squishy Ass.
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Not so if you heard the "objective" (and I say that with a hint of sarcasm in my voice) analysis by the ABC News analysts, Charlie Gibson, George Stephanopoulos and that blonde idiot, Dianne Sawyer. You would have thought that Obama emerged anointed as the obvious victor.
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I just don't get it. Did I watch the same debate that they did???? When McCain showed a vast historical reservoir of knowledge, these phonies analyzed that it made him look "old". Old because he knew the history behind the current situation. My problem is that I was too lazy to get up and switch off these pundit posers.
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I really didn't have anything against these assholes before they showed their biased colors. Now I can't believe how repugnant they are to me as they seek to forcefeed this Obama juggernaut to this nation.
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The only solace is that it's just a short period of time to endure before McCain wins and forces these shitheads to return to their dens to contemplate their obvious intellectual superiority over the American electorate. It must be nice to be so right.

Tuna Lips said...

I think yer kerect. That Obamy is the poster chile fer the support that sand perdestrian iranian feller. Christ on a popsicle stick. This here planet aint got time to truck the insolence of that Adjimabob feller. someone incarcerate his camel ridin ass and hose him down. Needs a bath. Obamy would talk to him over some nice white whine and them little sangwiches while the sand spittin viper nods his head and talks about justice on earth, all the while his 40 theives is cleaning out the pantry and ravishin' the kitchen girls.

Arm yerself for justice, I says. I am votin' fer fear, ladies.

Fall Classic

There is movement afoot to reinstate the North Conway Fall Golfing Classic. Crucial to this effort is Bruce "the Brute" Carr, whose condo in Jackson is needed because I don't want a whole bunch of sloppy bastards messing up my place.
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I'll hand pick a few individuals with high standards to stay in the No. Conway Northbrook condo. The rest of the rabble can stay with Bruce.
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The last time we held the Classic, the Scotch flowed like Wine. And the golfing was intensely competitive. All the while, our nerdy boss did everything he could to disrupt the event. Didn't make any difference... he still couldn't screw up the business unit. It took the next Moron, the "Closer of Colorado Springs" to do that.
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Looks like the Classic is shaping up for mid-October. There is a bit of confidentiality surrounding the venues, because we don't want this to degrade into a media frenzy.

Plan Your Day

You should never end the business day without constructing a detailed written plan for the events that you want to accomplish tomorrow. The plan rarely gets accomplished because of changing conditions and emerging priorities, but you are far more productive when you have a road map to follow.
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It's not enough to list the things that you want to accomplish. You have to estimate the time of the work effort involved. That gives you a realistic notion of what you can handle and prevents you from getting into an overwhelmed frame of mind.

Peep of the Week - Week 37

What goes up must come down.
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That's why you shouldn't shit on people as you are moving up, because you are going to have to deal with them when you come back down.
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Know what I mean??? Payback is a bitch.

Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 37th Week of 2008

John Sununu
Dennis Fai
Chris Crawford
David Letterman
Kathy DiGiovanni
Lauren Rathbone

The law of Karma is powerful. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Trap Trash Talk

Chris Crawford points out to me that he got his traps from Billy Oliver Boats in Cohasset for $40 ea. including lines and buoys and further points out that $40 is a better deal than the $90 price that I had.

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Thanks Chris.   You can be my new financial advisor with your keen insight.  

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The good part about Cohasset as well, is that I can avoid the delivery charges from Maine, which would be another significant savings.... at least $400 minimum.  I can take a detour from the Cape Cod Coast Guard job and pick them up in my  Ford F150.

Season Shift

Summer has passed. This is the first morning that I have paid attention to clothes on the basis of warmth.
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Lots of travel today. Heading to pick up some ground rods at a distributor then bring them to the Coast Guard job that we are builidng on Cape Cod.
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Then up to apple country in Stow, MA to work on a building permit.
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Finally back to Marblehead to pick up a signed site lease.
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I vastly prefer this type of travel compared to the airline jaunts that I used to take on behalf of General Dynamics. In many ways, this work is more real, and more meaningful than those big corporate missions. There is an artificiality of that existence that is hard to explain. Maybe it's because you are so far away from the actual point of production... the more you have to explain things by Powerpoint presentations, the more phonies you seem to encounter.
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I know that I must sound high powered, but I'm really just as mediocre as you are.

tuna lips said...

I have scented a decay in the air mysef. At first I thunk it were the possum we stewed last night at Shoo Fly's youngest, Loralean, but the wrotten stench of marsupial stuck between the teeths I got left in my head is nothin' like the sweet wind of crab apples falling to the soil and the last crops turning ripe, like my missus, ready to be plucked.


I found mysef touchin' mysef whilst looking at them 82 year young boobies on that Clorox gal, dancin' like a ballayrina.

Trap Due Diligence

Mark Vona told me today that $90/ lobster trap, complete with rope and buoy is a good price. He says that he could get me some used commercial traps for $20, but I would have to add all of the gear, and they would be pretty beat up. Joanne is pretty enthusiastic about it. Looks like Hamilton Marine will be getting an order soon.
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