RIP Lou Panakio

Lou Panakio died in his sleep last night in Naples, Florida,  He was 81.
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Greater Lynn area people will know him as the proprietor of Panakio Adjusters, a public insurance adjuster business started by his father, and which flourished under Lou.
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I first knew of him when I was eight years old.  My father was proud to be his landscaper, and he took me with him to bury my dead parakeet in Lou's Walnut Street sideyard while we were planting  some marigolds.... unbeknownst to Lou.
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He was a quiet and understated presence in the Lynn community and served on the Lynn Zoning Board of Appeals for 43 years with a strong combination of fairness, common sense, and political savvy.
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His ability to provide service as an insurance adjuster was legendary.  I remember Jim Starratt, the Lynn Building Commissioner, once stating to me that if he ever had a fire in his house, his first call would be to Lou Panakio and the second would be to the Lynn Fire Department.    That was an exaggeration... but not by much. On every occasion that we used Panakio Adusters, Lou more than took the sting out of the loss.
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Lou helped me land my first property management contract after I left the Lynn Housing Authority and later partnered on some ill fated development projects with me that went south in the 80's housing collapse.  There were some harrowing and embarrassing moments for me during that period, but Lou always showed a ton of strength and class.
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He could always turn a phrase and was intolerant of Bullshit.  Many times, when I would embellish a situation to him his response was "That and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee."  That would bring me right back down to Earth.
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I was so happy when we reunited with Lou, his daughter Lisa, and son-in-law, Harvey Rowe three or four years ago.  When Lou first came into our Marblehead home at Beverly Ave., which we had just remodeled, he looked around and remarked to Harvey,   "You couldn't keep John Nestor down even if you buried him in a coffin six feet under and nailed it shut."  It was funny at the time, and I was thankful and proud to hear Lou say that.  But it was typical of his wit, good nature,  and genuine affection for other people.
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He had a long and happy marriage with his wife, Marcia, and they both thoroughly enjoyed golfing at the Salem Country Club and from his condominium on the golf course in Naples, Florida.  A year and a half ago, when he was inducted into the Lynn Heritage State Park Museum for his contributions to the City of Lynn, his great lament was that his wife of 53 years wasn't alive to experience it with him.
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Now Lou, you can tell Marcia all about it, and celebrate with her about the remarkable and fruitful life that you have just completed.

RIP Louis J. Panakio.  You will be missed.

POTW Week 17

Every once in a while, you can't have a win-win situation.  For things to go good for you, they have to go bad for someone else.   On these occasions, the only saving grace is if the someone else has some dispicable and disengenuous characteristics.  Then when you win, it's not so bad that the other party gets the ass end of the deal.

Announcing...
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 17th Week of 2012.

Brendt D'Orio
Patrick Piscatelli
Tom Egan
Kim Kardashian
Joanne Nestor
Bill Hillegas

My problem is that I'm too damn nice and easygoing.   Can't have win-win all the time.
Sorry.

Time Warp

It's been one of those weeks where you go to bed on Monday night and when you wake up it's Thursday.  I have no idea how the time has flown so fast this week.
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All I've been doing is staring at a computer screen.
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Yesterday, I started at 6:00AM and then looked at the clock that said 1:30PM.  What a freaking time warp!
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"What am I working on????", you ask?   Long time Peeps know that the answer to this annoying question is "None of your Freaking Business."  Suffice it to say that I'm really glad that Nanepashemet Telecom came up short on the last two large procurements that we pitched, because the stuff on our plate these days requires our constant attention.
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But I'm pretty sure that the current intensive effort will have a huge payback in the near future.
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At least that's what the spreadsheet says.

Crucial Career Tool

Peeps.

Having a hard time seeing the screen this evening because I've been squinting at spreadsheet cells all day.  But it was for a good cause and a worthwhile investment of the day.
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My career advice to you is to learn Microsoft Excel  Use it as much as possible and become as much of an expert as you possibly can.
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I was an early adopter of spreadsheet software... Visicalc, Supercalc, Lotus123, and finally Excel which has emerged as the time tested standard.
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Capturing my business and activity in an Excel spreadsheet has saved my ass and enhanced my career more times than I can count.   It's one thing to think you know the status and trend of your endeavors, but when you have it in hard numbers, you can send the pretenders, phonies and detractors back into their corporate-speak bunny holes and move your stuff forward.
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These days, knowing your way around Excel is the only way to carve up the mountain of data that major corporations throw at you just to produce a freaking invoice.
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A crucial business skillset.

Kate and Ethan

Auntie Kate and Grandson Ethan share a dessert.

Happy Birthday Mike

 It's my youngest son, Mike's, birthday today.
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He turned out pretty good, didn't he?
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I'm wicked proud of him.




Joanne and I are blessed to have brought three good people into the world.  Now it's their job to do the same thing with our Grandkids.

Scumbags and Payback

Ran into some scumbags at a local restaurant during dinner tonight.  One thing about scumbags is that they sometimes have a hard time looking at you in the face.  At which time, said scumbag also turns into your Bitch.
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And speaking of Bitches.... Payback is one.  You screwed with the wrong group of people.
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So enjoy your dinner Scumbags.  Payback is a Bitch and this is just the start.
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Plenty of time left and a lot of territory to cover.
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Bitch.

1. Tuna LipsApr 22, 2012 01:24 PM

   Loves me a good hatin' on someone rant, all venom spittin' and the like.

   ReplyDelete
2. 
   B-PopsApr 22, 2012 03:54 PM

   Here's looking at you, kid. I thought I was the only official A-hole notifier and jerk identifier working full time. It's a never ending load and I can use some help carrying it.

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Spacious Deck for Entertaining



Poontang Purchase

All of you Peeps who have been asking me about this Secret Service Colombian prostitute fiasco.... what am I?... some sort of Hooker Etiquette Expert?????
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Seems the Secret Service Agents who were sent to protect the President and the Secretary of State received services and disputed the bill.  In Colombia, prostitution is legal, so a charge was made of snatching the goods... so to speak.
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Since the goods that were snatched happened to involve some snatch, there's been a lot of consternation on the part of Northern Hemisphere moral legislators who wish to get to the "bottom" of this issue.
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All I know is that in Colombia, you must pay for poontang when purchased.... period.

Doug Said....Apr 20, 2012 05:19 AM

How easy would it be to plant a bug while a bunch of flat-tops high-five each other between 'OH' faces? Probably just left a tape recorder under the bible in the drawer.

Happy "Nucks"

Apparently, this group of White, Middle Class, Amateur Hockey Players who prefer to call themselves "Nucks" are quite content with themselves.
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Congratulations "Nucks" on whatever it is you are so happy about.

Open Minds

So I'm driving back from New Haven, licking my wounds from the neighborhood meeting where I try to explain to the nice folks why a 125' tower would be ok near their homes....
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Normally I take much more abuse at these affairs than was dished out last night.
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And it goes without saying that a Mountain of a Man has thick enough skin to endure the wrath of the oppressed multitudes.
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But even I can get a little down in the dumps, a couple of hours into a three and a half hour drive home.
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Luckily, the Sox game against Texas was on the Connecticut affiliate of WEEI and I was able to catch the last half.
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Course... Boston lost 18 to 3.   I believe that this was my fault.  I never should have listened to the game in my mental condition and obviously caused the horrendous loss with my negative mojo.
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Youkilis struck out four times.... but that was Bobby Valentine's doing for daring to say that he didn't look right the other day.  A BoSox Manager should never speak about what he actually sees to the open minded Red Sox Nation.