Bunker Hill Day

There is a little commotion in Boston today, because it is Bunker Hill Day, and only Boston has it as a holiday. All city and state offices in Boston are closed.
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The crux of the issue is that we have economic problems and can't afford this holiday, or the other Boston only holiday - Evacuation Day.
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If people knew the history behind these days, the hue and cry should be why the whole country doesn't have these days off. Apparently the effects of a foreign occupation and the loss of American lives to throw tyranny off of American soil aren't very important any more.
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Naturally, our Governor, Deval Patrick, has his finger in the wind and is making statements that he and his staff will be working.
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Bunker Hill Day has nothing to do with the present economy and everything to do with remembering who we are and what our forefathers did to create this country for us. We are losing our true identity when we are so callous with our history.
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I think that Deval caught the wrong wind on his finger.

Tuna Bite

Ryan and Mike got up around 4:00AM this morning to test the dawn tuna bite out at Stellwagen with Alex and a couple other guys. Light rain, 56 degrees, 9 mph winds. Can't be comfortable in an open boat like the WhaleEye.
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But if they hook into a Bluefin, it will seem like tropical skies and summer breezes.
____________________________

UPDATE
I told those guys that I didn't think they had enough gas in the WhaleEye to make a Stellwagen run. Apparently, nine miles out, they found that I was correct.
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Pretty happy that I renewed my SeaTow membership.
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One of these days they will find out that.... while I am not always right, I'm seldom wrong.
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Score 1 for the Bluefin.

Out of the Box

Had some drinks after work today with Elsier, Mountain of a Man Bobby Brown, and Peter Howard, an ardent Peep. Course, we had these drinks after a liquid lunch with our major customer. So you would think that I would be a useless slosh hound.
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Not so.
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I paced myself accordingly, knowing that there was business at hand. As it is, at the end of the evening, I ran into two prospects that I had been targeting for some time. They were as surprized to see me as I was them, when we bumped into each other at the Indigo Bar in Newton, just off of the Mass Pike.
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Sometimes you just have to get lucky. I had been trying to contact these two for some time now. Who would have thought that I would meet them both in the same setting!
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The lesson here is obviously to get out and drink in bars more often. The way I left Elsier.... I know he would agree.

POTW Week 23

Found myself doing some surreal stuff this morning.

As Joe Collins often said in our formative undergraduate years at UMASS....
"Life is a Weird Boogie."

ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 23rd week of 2009

Lisa Panakio Rowe
Kevin Ouellette
David Cheney
Tom Raich
Stacey Butler
Tommy O'Shea

No Shit, Joe.

Tuna Lips said...

I hear ya hummin' there, Kemosabe. The other mornin', I wakes in a David Carradine Kung Fu contraption in the storage shed over yonder, havin' not the slightest clue about how I ended up with a rope around my neck, wearin' Dorothy's ruby slippers and mint julep spilled all over my sister Bitty's prom dress. Surreal.

Ornery Remark

Thanks for all the nice compliments on our 36th wedding anniversary.
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I guess it is an accomplishment.... definitely beats the statistics.
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Although..... Joanne gave me some lip because I characterized her as "ornery". Isn't that ironic! Her getting ornery about me calling her ornery!
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I came so close to dumping her over that. She'll be damn lucky to make it to year 37.

Lobstermen Molt

Around 2:30 this afternoon, we took a break from the grindstone and went out to check the lobster traps.
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We've got eight traps baited with mackerel around Salem and Marblehead Harbors. Can't tell you exactly where they are, or I'd have to kill you.
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Of the eight traps, we pulled out six keeper lobsters and about an equal number of shorts. Plus about 5 skates, and numerous fairly large crabs which we didn't keep.
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So not a bad haul for eight traps that were baited only three days ago.
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By 6:00 PM the lobsters were dispatched and beginning to be digested. Two went over to Tommy O and Linda's house.

Wedded Bliss

Today is the 36th wedding anniversary for me and my first wife, Joanne.
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So far, so good, but I still have her on probation, and if she fails to meet my high standards, I'll drop her like a lead balloon.
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Many of you Peeps have asked me the secret to the longevity of our marriage. I wish I knew, because if I did, I'd franchise it and probably make a ton of money. She can be ornery and controlling, but I always counter it with my levelheadedness and sensitivity.
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As it is , I've been offering out my services as a marriage counselor, but so far, no takers.

Lisa P said...

The secret to your marriage is Joanne is a saint. Saint Joanne

Tuna Lips said...

Ise doff my hat to yiz fer keepin' yer floor sweepeer in line fer such a stretch, through all these wimmins liberalizers times and such. Like them no good thievin' Mormon gypsies, I, too, keeps a brood at various locations on my circuit through the belly of this here Obammy Land. More likes a rock star, truth be told. And the more I takes on, the more friends they have that have no knowins' of the power of chloroform and cat tranquilisers. My herd grows thusly, me bein' the good sheep herder and all. I reckon you could hang with me, if I so chose.

F******. Catalina Wine Mixer

More


All three kids are slated to come back to Marblehead today.
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Everytime they link up here, it's like the F**king Catalina Wine Mixer.
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Before things heat up, I'm going to get the Herreshoff Columbia Tender out for a row on Marblehead Harbor around mid morning when the tide is right.
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Maybe a good workout will help me cope.





More

POTW Week 22

My friend Harvey Rowe has developed a blog called "Harvey's Thoughts" which I have started to follow. Generally, it's takes all of my time to keep self centered on my own stuff, but Harvey's Blog is worth a visit.
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The rap on Harvey is that he is a Lawyer and a practicing Catholic.... both of which can promote some pretty warped thinking.... but he manages to pull it off pretty well.
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BTW - I can say that, because I am a cultural Irish Catholic who was traumatized by Nuns and force fed the Baltimore Catechism. Purgatory still scares the shit out of me. Plus I get a big kick out of Lawyer jokes.
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My fervent hope is that a good deal of you will start to bug Harvey on his Blog, and leave me the hell alone for awhile.
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Anyway....
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ANNOUNCING....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 22nd Week of 2009.

Harvey Rowe
Brendt D'Orio
Rick Hudson
Charlie Sheen
Katelyn Nestor
Sarah Crawford

It's www.hrowe.blogspot.com, Harvey's Thoughts.

Must Do

It's 5 o'clock on a Friday.
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The one thing that I had on my list as a "must do", I didn't do. Everything else I did and more. How does that figure???
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Now the "must do" moves on to the weekend, because I'm going to bag this and settle down with a visit from Sam Adams.
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BTW - I can't get into Twitter, and I'm only on the fringes with Facebook. You would think that a wicked cool dude like myself would rule those fashionable sites, but I kind of like the idea of Blogging better. Actually thinking out whole paragraphs. Although, I do admit that the paragraphs that I think out can be pretty pathetic.
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So have a nice weekend.

Peep Milestones

Lindsay Kepnes got engaged.
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Tina Rhodes had a baby boy, and Mary Endres had a baby boy on the same day.
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Pretty good milestones.
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Life changing, moving on milestones. Feel good milestones.

Well thats it J. I'm having a rough time dealing with this. Lindsay Kepnes is engaged. All my plans are shot.You won this one Lindsay Kepnes's fiance, but you haven't heard the last of me.
- McMahon

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.