Mercedes-Benz S550 Sedan

Oh Lord, Won't You Buy Me a Mercedes-Benz,
My Friends All have Porsches, I Must Make Amends....
- Janis Joplin

I took a test drive in a Mercedes Benz S550 sedan today.
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Man, I looked good in that car.
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With an 80 gig hard drive managing the electronics, it has incredible features regarding GPS, Bluetooth Cell Phone, Turn reactive seats that have built in massage, Sirius Radio, a CD player that handles 6 CD's at once, and other stuff that I can't remember.
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It seems like every feature has been creatively considered and addressed.  Plus it rides so solidly and smoothly that even stop and go Boston traffic is a joy to be stuck in.   The Germans really found out how to engineer luxury into this vehicle.
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One of these days, you will see the MOAM tooling down the road in a car like this.
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One of these days.

Government Shut Down

This one is in the "I must be missing something, because this is too stupid to believe", category.
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The Federal Government is being "Shut Down" because Congress will not raise the Debt Limit.
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Let me get this straight....
The Government is Trillions in Debt.... an incomprehensible amount.... and in order to operate the government, it has to borrow more????
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Peeps...... if you or I lived so far beyond our means that we had to continue to borrow daily to support our lifestyle, we would be bankrupt and forced to realigned our resources.
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If the Feds have to borrow to operate the national parks, then close them.  If they have to borrow to pay "non-essential" federal employees, then lay them off.  That's what we suckers in the private sector have to do..... what makes it different for the government???
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The Network News coverage is replete with stories about how the economy will suffer do to the shut down of services..... but what about the effects of massive amount of Federal Debt?

ObamaCare is just the tip of the iceberg.  This is the current ball that is being batted back and forth by politicians of both the right and the left who want to keep the gravy train going a while longer and blame the fallout on the other guy.
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The issue is not ObamaCare... it is simple living beyond our means.   Spending more that we bring in.
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And this time, the Libs  are right... those who will suffer are the children.... OURS.  Our kids and grandkids will be left to clean up the mess of a bankrupt nation that has irresponsibly mortgaged the future for current political largess.

Lobster Trap Larceny

It was a nice day out on the water, caught a few mackerel, and went to pull the traps.... only two of them were not there.
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In their place were a row of commercial traps.
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I was warned when I bought my traps a number of years ago that commercial lobstermen would steal them, but I really didn't believe it. Bet that if I pulled all of the commercial traps set in the area that I dropped mine, though,  I would find that the buoys had mysteriously been switched. 
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It's just too easy to cut a line and attach a different buoy.
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The argument is out there that the recreational lobstermen, with their 10 trap limits, are hurting the fishermen who make their living at lobstering.  That is pure Bull.   I paid for my license and have every right to drop my traps.   Plus, there are plenty of the critters to go around from my rudimentary experience.
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So if somebody stole my traps, they are guilty of larceny, pure and simple.
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Out of seven traps this year, only three are left.... with no storms or other reason to lose gear.
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I pulled the three traps and was going to bag it for the season, but then decided to  put them in a new location.  We'll keep an eye on the old location though.... because my traps are painted green and yellow,  and I just might see some larcenous inshore lobster boat hauling them one of these days. 

On Top of the Learning Curve

Business is good.
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We have a ton of work, and the resources in place to implement it.
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So why am I complaining?  Actually I'm not.   But it took a long sustained effort to get this train on the tracks and running smoothly from station to station. Building a business and reaching a point where service delivery is predictable, dependable and sustainable doesn't happen overnight.  There are a lot of mistakes, miscues, and screw ups that are part of the learning curve.
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But when you get to a point where you are professionally delivering for your customers every day... and they appreciate and value your work.... that is a major accomplishment.

 However,  I would really like to step off this smooth running train for a while and do something mindless and relaxing... like fish for fall Blues and Stripers and pull Lobster traps.
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But no rest for the weary.... I imagine that there are a lot of fish and crustaceans who are happy that the MOAM hasn't had the time to harvest them for the last two years. 
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I'll catch up with them next year though..... big time.

Stirring up the Libs

So I was guilty of a little shit stirring on Facebook this week.
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Seems like some of my old friends and high school classmates who went astray and turned out to be Liberals in their advanced middle age are all worked up about the Obamacare fiasco.  And Boy, do they hate Ted Cruz!!!
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All you have to do is say something bad about Obamacare, or mention that Ted Cruz is a Patriot from Texas, and they get all lathered up.... start calling people names and rant about Republicans.
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Peeps.... it's even more entertaining than watching "Dancing With the Stars".
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They really get ticked off at you if you suggest that you would prefer that government stay out of something as private as your health care.   And it seems like members of protected classes, like the Hispanic American Senator, Ted Cruz, or the woman Governor Sarah Palin, are particularly irksome to them.
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I'm going to send this post to Facebook.  How much you want to bet that I get insulted within the next few minutes?  Especially if I recommend a Cruz-Palin Republican ticket for President?
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Naturally, a Mountain of a Man like me has a thick skin, which helps if you like to shit stir with the Leftys.

Sail On, Sail On Sailor

Last night, I got the hang of the new Singer Sewing machine and combined all of the panels of the sprit sail for the Herreshoff Columbia Tender.  All that's left is to sew on clew patches and luff support strips, then install the grommets.
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Sewing is definitely a skill.   I had to focus my substantial Mountain of a Man concentration ability to figure out the basics.  There is a need for patience and attention to details to get the proper tension so that the stitches come out right. 
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Joanne was a little aggravated that I turned the kitchen and living room into a sail loft on a Sunday night, and the rattling of the stiff sail Dacron material as well as the din of the sewing machine was a bit obnoxious as the evening progressed, but the stress was a necessary part of dealing with the learning curve.
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Sewing the large panels together was awkward, and the zig zag stitches tend to zig and zag a little too much, but there is an excellent chance that the Tender will be catching some late autumn breezes under sail this season.
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All Sewn Up

Sorry for the hiatus from this Blog.

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 Right in the middle of a very busy Nanepashemet Telecom work period, Kate and Brady were wed which to me was a lifetime milestone event.  But then it was straight to making the magic happen at Nanepashemet Telecom, which is crucial to actually paying for this milestone.

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 Something had to give, and this Blog was it.

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 But I'm back now, and you can stop rocking and banging your head if you are one of those pathetically addicted Blog fans.

 In the middle of the frenzy last week, I bought a Singer Model 4411 Heavy Duty Sewing Machine on Amazon, thinking that I would finally get around to sewing the sails for the Columbia Herreshoff Tender, which I have had in kit form for the last five years at least.

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For some reason, I thought that sewing machines were user friendly, plug and play.... pull it out of the box, plug it in and start sewing.... Not even a little bit.   

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Learning how to use this thing will require a good investment of hours and development of a new skill set.  But what the hell.  The sails must get sewn.

Wedding Aftermath

Joanne and I are still basking in the afterglow of Katelyn and Brady's Wedding.
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We keep thinking of aspects of the occasion that was so heartening and so much fun.
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So many of you have been sending me emails and vm's asking for photos of the MOAM in his tuxedo walking the beautiful bride down the center aisle.
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Peeps.... this wedding was all about Katelyn and Brady.... and not about how fantastic I looked in my tuxedo and all of the super cool dance moves that I executed throughout the evening.
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So stop asking, for Crissakes.   Suffice it to say that I looked Fantastic and leave it at that.
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The important thing is that Katelyn and Brady had a sendoff that they will remember all the rest of their lives... and many of us will too.

Syrian Siren

Secretary of State John Kerry says the evidence is clear and irrefutable that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on its own people.
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So... let's see it.   Let's hear the details.  Just because Kerry says it.... doesn't make it true.   He's been known to bend the truth before if you look at his record, and before one more American kid is asked to go in harm's way over a civil war in Syria... show us the facts.  Because Kerry saying that he knows just doesn't cut it.

Putin of Russia says that Kerry is wrong.... that Assad has not used the weapons.
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This alone should tell us to stand down.
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Britain is not on board either.
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The Policing of human atrocities should be the purview of the United Nations.  It shouldn't be an excuse for a failing American administration to divert attention from its own shortcomings.   And that is exactly what this smells like.
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Obama says that he didn't state that Syria crossed the red line.... that the world said it.  So let the world take some action here.   Maybe the United Arab League should take the lead.

The Dems will say that Bush did the same thing in Iraq, but that is not even close.  Britain and a large consortium of nations were active in that decision.  Not here.

Obama and Kerry are sounding a siren here, and something stinks.  They couldn't get the facts straight about Benghazi, but here the facts are supposed to be crystal clear.

 So show us the evidence that you claim to have seen.

Conference Calls on the iPhone

I was wondering how you can make conference calls on the iPhone and found the following instructions on the WEB.

The iPhone lets you merge up to five calls at a time to turn them into a conference call. Making a conference call on your iPhone may be easier than getting those same five people in a room at the same time.
Start by making a call and then placing the caller on hold. Tap Add Call to make another call and then Merge Calls to bring everybody together. Repeat this exercise to add the other calls.
Here are some other conference call tidbits:

• iPhone is actually a two-line phone, and one of the available lines can be involved in a conference call.
• If you want to drop a call from a conference, tap Conference and then tap the red circle with the little picture of the phone in it that appears next to the call. Tap End Call to make that caller go bye-bye.
• You can speak privately (one-on-one) with one of the callers in a conference. Tap Conference, and then tap Private next to the caller you want to go hush-hush with. Tap Merge Calls to bring the caller back into the Conference so everyone can hear him or her.
• You can add a new incoming caller to an existing conference call by tapping Hold Call + Answer followed by Merge Calls.

Katelyn and Brady Got Married

Peeps....
Yesterday, my daughter, Katelyn Nestor, became Mrs. Brady Boyle.


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We partied hardy with a bunch of you up at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, and I have to admit that I've lost a couple of dance moves over the last ten years.
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But the whole event came off without a hitch.... a total success by all accounts. 
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From the ceremony in the Italianate Garden, to the Appetizers and Raw Bar, to the fantastic band, Beantown, to the meal catered by Vinwood....  just a happy and memorable occasion.
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Even the weather complied... a beautiful, dry, New England September day.
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The love shown by Katelyn and Brady powered the whole event.  A lifetime memory.