Houses of Cards

GM filing for bankruptcy is amazing to me. All of those smart people, strategizing, planning, doing all the things that big corporations do... and it still hits the skids.
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I'm starting to believe that big government and big business are little more than mega-juggernauts with no real way to understand or control their well being.
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During my stint in corporate life, I saw many things happen that made no sense at all, but the consequences of the actions were not faced for months later. By that time the spin doctors had expertly redefined and redetermined the outcomes, and were exhibiting their only real proficiency.... feathering their own nests.
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Hate to sound cynical, but these huge organizations get so complex that many insiders can pick them clean with impunity. The complexity rewards mediocrity, and hides incompetence. A little lie here, a little shaded truth there, and the incompetents save their bloated incomes for years at a time.
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They know that they could never survive in a fair marketplace based upon real achievement, production and service. So they contrive and conspire and plot, and bend the facts in Powerpoint presentations to perpetuate their phoney careers.
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I know that this is harsh, but if I didn't see it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't believe it either. Sooner or later, the House of Cards comes crashing down, and the poor working stiffs and pensioners on the bottom level bear the ultimate brunt.

Passing Funk

I've been watching these great days of summer pass as I toil away with Nanepashemet Telecom. Just not fishing enough, and no golfing whatsoever. That has got to change.... at least the fishing part.
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I also haven't put the Tender into Marblehead Harbor for any kind of rowing effort.
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Maybe I'm getting too old.
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Nah....
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That can't be it.
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After all... I'm still the same old rough, tough, hard to bluff and damn good looking guy that I always was.
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I guess I'm just in a little funk. It will pass... I'll get over it.

First Harvest

Tomorrow, I plan on getting out on the Mountain Bike early. Hopefully get about 15 miles in. Then maybe attack some paperwork and invoicing so that I'm not bogged down with that when the week hits.
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Apparently, the boys came up with three keeper lobsters from the four traps that we set this week. If that ratio holds when we get our ten trap limit out, we'll be hauling in over a dozen lobsters per week. That's a lot. More than we could find ways to consume.
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Maybe we'll be making lots of Peeps happy this summer with the thoughtful gift of fresh lobster.

Tuna Lips said...

I takes all my best clientellers to Red Lobster. Beats the shorts offa Sizzler, and I aint sayin' that cuz I was barred from that mule shack, neither.

POTW Week 21

The boys got into some mackerel this morning. That should be enough to bait the rest of the lobster traps. In the meantime, I headed up north for some serious kickback in North Conway. Even though I'll probably get some paperwork in, chilling out is at the top of the list.
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However..... I was reminded in a very annoying voicemail from Mountain of a Man, Bobby Brown, that I had neglected to select the POTW this week.
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Man.... is that irritating!!!!
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I didn't freaking forget. Maybe I just didn't get around to it yet.
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Announcing.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 21st week of 2009

Bob Brown
Mike Chandler
Emily UnGardia
Ty Hemmert
Sprague the concrete guy on Block Island
Michael "Murph"Murphy

That will teach Brown a lesson! Mountain of a Man aside, he's got to learn to curb his annoying habits.

Constant Sorrow

POTY Privilege

Apparently former Peep of the Year, Michael "Murph" Murphy, and his lovely wife, Beth, are running with a fast crowd these days.

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So do you think you are pretty cool these days, Murph?

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Have you considered the fact that the only reason that guys like Adam Sandler will take a picture with you is because you are a Former Nanepashemet Peep of the Year????

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That's right.

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Without the POTY designation, these guys wouldn't let you carry their Kleenix, and don't you forget it.
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The truth is that Sandler, Rob Schneider, and Kevin James all wish they were you.... a former Peep of the Year. And they have absolutely no chance.

Piscine Prognostication

We've got all of our fishing tackle organized as hell, and have big plans to tune up all of the loose ends on the WhaleEye.
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Got a call this morning from Patrick Piscatelli telling me of his fishing success down on the Cape this weekend. The piscine aficionado landed some blues and schoolie stripers, and was right at the verge of his enthusiasm transforming into bravado. Not that I can blame him. If I caught Blues and Stripers this early in the season, I'd be bragging my ass off.
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Tomorrow, I'm taking the CEO of a promising wireless startup in the public safety networks sector to lunch at the Boston Yacht Club. I thought I might impress him with the ambiance of Marblehead Harbor, but it appears that he lives on the Monterrey Peninsula in California, which is probably the most spectacular ocean venue that I've yet seen.
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So I'll have to find another way to impress him. Maybe with fishing stories.
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Anyway.... I predict the best fishing season ever this year. Tuna, Stipers, Blues and Lobster. Not necessarily in that order.

First Crack at Crustaceans

Ryan and Mike caught four mackeral off of the Tinker's Island Gong yesterday, so we had no excuse but to get four lobster traps baited up and dropped outside of Salem harbor this morning.
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After fishing for another hour and only coming up with one more mackeral and a monkfish, we headed back to check the traps which had only been in place for less than two hours.
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We found scates, and crabs in three of the four traps. That was an optimistic sign. Probably Wed. this week, we'll check the traps and put out three or four more. By the end of the week, all ten will be in service and we should be crawling in crustraceans.
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The whole effort was salvaged by the beautiful weather, and the beers that Tommy O'Shea so thoughtfully contributed to the effort.
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BTW, with the new fin on the lower unit of the Honda Four Stroke, the WhaleEye seems like a new engine. Planes perfectly, and idles at slow speeds with no issues.
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This could be a hell of a summer.

Unblocked

In case you were wondering, the three tumblers of Newman's Own 100% Grape Juice came through big time last night. And I do mean "came through".

Memorial Day

A beautiful Memorial Day Weekend. I hope you all get to kick back and enjoy the company of your friends and families.
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But don't lose sight of the fact that you won't be speaking German or Russian this weekend. That many have made huge sacrifices so that you could have a peaceful, stable, enjoyable weekend.
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This day always makes me reflect on my father, who was blown off of a ship in the Atlantic and survived during WWII, my grandfather, who was gassed in the trenches in France during WWI and my father-in-law who was a POW to the Chinese in the Korean War.
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Regular people like you and me, who were called to duty and made the sacrifice so that we could have a normal life. And our young people continue to serve so that terrorists who would destroy our way of life don't get the chance to implement their demented plans.
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Freedom isn't free. And some of us have had to pay a stiff price. Give them your recognition and respect this weekend.

Pisc said...

A wonderful reminder to the folks who hold forth on appeasement as peacemaking while sipping a buttery chardonnay with oak high lights and wearing the latest from Ann Taylor and Tommy Hifigger, snacking on canapes. The Barry Crowd, I bet you get a bit of that in MH.

POTW Week 20

So I get a couple hundred emails yesterday from Peeps who didn't appreciate my hourly rendition of my daily grind. They basically said that they didn't care what the hell I did, and should concentrate on cogent, and controversial commentary.
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Well..... Kiss my Royal Irish Ass!!!!!
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This Blog is not for your reading entertainment. It's not designed to make your pathetic day go a little easier. Loosely disguised as a blog about Boatbuilding, it is really all about me. By me, for me, and about me. And I'm not too thrilled that you get to read it anyway.
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Pretty annoying, which gets me to the next step in this juggernaut of a literary institution.
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ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 20th week of 2009.

Ann Swaine, the Weston Permit Lady
Jack Keough
Larry DiGiamarino
Steve Lewis
Perry Dinatale
Emily Angardia

Tomorrow, I think I'll tell you my special technique for cutting your toenails.

Advice to Barach.

This whole Obama emphasis on the "Torture" issue reminds me of Clinton's first issue "Gays in the Military." Both are non issues that I could care less about.
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It seems that when the Democrats win the big prize, they go through a "Holy Shit, What Do We Do Now" phase. They are good at strirring peoples emotions, at campaigning, but now they have to belly up and lead with some policies.
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Now Obama chooses to concentrate on the "evil Republican practice of torture." Never mind that fact that when we were under siege by radicals looking to kill anyone who takes a elevator in a major US City.
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So Peeps.... here's how I weigh in on this.
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I know that I don't usually show it, but I deeply care for each and every one of you. Even those of you who have relentlessly chosen to act like assholes. At least you are my assholes.
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So if I ran into some misguided moron hell bent on a plot to kill millions of you by crashing airliners into buildings, or igniting a nuclear blast, or causing an anthrax outbreak, I would have no problem in torturing this motherfucker over and over with every whacko method that I could devise until he gave up the details.
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That's just the way I am.
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By the way, the evil Bush administration waterboarded three people in the last eight years. That's THREE! And I understand that the technique was highly effective in eliciting information.

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How many people died in the Twin Towers???? and the Pentagon???? and herocially bringing down their own airliner headed for the White House????
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Oh yeah.... well over 4000 noncombatant Americans. Peeps like you.
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How many more of us would have bought it in Tunnels, in SmallPox epidemics, in Propane Tank explosions, in contaminated water supplies if we didn't pin the ears back on these Fuckers.
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C'mon Barach. You won the White House. Now Lead!!!! Cut the Bullshit. Your're not a phony idiot like Nancy Pelosi. Get out in front and use your inspirational abilities to get this economy swinging back.... and making sure that these medieval motherfuckers never get the chance to screw with us again.