Wedding Party

Trying to cram three days of work into the whole week because on Thurs, we are heading to North Conway for the McBurney wedding and won't be back until the following Tues.  It will be a nice getaway... the only one we've had this summer.
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Mike is in the wedding party and a lot of super peeps will be there.   We'll take pictures and make a full report. 
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I'd like to get a haircut in before but am not sure how I can pull this off with the schedule the next few days.   Toying with the idea of getting a buzz.   How bad can it be?  It will all grow back if it doesn't look good.  If it grows half as fast as nostril and ear hair, then it will be back in a week or so.

Paper or Plastic

Politics in Massachusetts will be interesting again with the rush to fill Ted's seat.  Whoever gets it will have the Senior Senator John Kerry as a mentor.   So they will have to have a strong stomach.

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No, I'm not going to run.... Too much baggage.... way too much.   We're not talking paper or plastic here.... these bags are extra mil contractor quality.

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But you are right to suggest that I'd make a hell of a Senator.  What with my ability to compromise and get along with people of all persuasions, as well as my rapier like tendency to understand the complexity of any issue.   

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The only problem would be picking my administrative staff.  All of you Peeps would be clamoring for the jobs and it would be a real Donnybrook.  And I'd hate to see you all clawing and scratching  all over each other.

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My agenda would be the standard Neo-Conservative Taoist Pagan party line.  Nothing out of the mainstream.

Pisc said...

I've already worked for you once. I am still recovering! Keep the pressure on, do not relent in stating your case and position, in line with right thinking or not. Rage against the machine!

Thinking of You

We're driving back from the Kittery, Maine Outlets, and Joanne asked me the always controversial question.... "What are you thinking about?"
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In my younger, less experienced days, I might have been sucked into telling the truth... something like " I was thinking of how good a couple of grilled snap dogs with a Sam Adams might taste about now." ......Or....... "I was thinking about getting whether the Bluefish might be blitzing outside of the Harbor this weekend."
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But now I am older and wiser.
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Now, my stock answer to this murky question that is often riddled with bobbytraps, is how I responded this afternoon.
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As in.... "I was just thinking about the richness of our relationship together, and how each passing moment sees my love grow deeper and stronger." Sometimes, I'll hit her with something like... "I was just thinking of you, you, and nothing but my love and appreciation of you."
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Usually this little exchange results in a retort of "Bullshit" from her, but allows me to think in peace for awhile longer. And that is pretty much how it worked out today.

Rain Day Adjustment

It's a rainy Saturday morning.
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I had hoped to get Kate's Adirondack Chair in full swing but Joanne wants to go to the shopping outlets at Kittery, Maine to buy some school clothes.
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So I guess I'm going to Kittery.
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Even though it has been established that I am the quintessential Mountain of a Man, I still tend to wimp under now and then.
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That's OK.... as long as it doesn't happen too often.
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Ryan is working on building some custom fishing rods for his kids before he goes away, and Kate and Mike are on the way to Beverly Ave. to hang with Ethan and Will. We'll chill until they show, then head up to Maine for a couple of hours.
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Maybe the rain will let up by the time we return.

Spooling

Tomorrow, it is out by 6:45AM, over to the tool rental store in Salem to pick up a trailer, then out to Brimfield, MA to pick up a spool of coax cable, left at the job.
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From there, I have to be in Burlington at our storage facility to pick up the 7' in diameter, spool of of 1 5/8" coax that is super heavy. This will be transported to the Tewksbury Water Tank job, then I'm hoping to be back in Peabody at the Nanepashemet warehouse to drop off the material by 1:00 in the afternoon.
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Then I'll deadhead back to Salem, drop off the trailer, get back to Marblehead, check email and the mail, and maybe the weekend can start.
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My brother, Jim, is up from Florida with a Blues Band that he is managing with gigs in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New York. So maybe I'll get the chance to see him.

POTW Week 34

Last week I missed the Peep of the Week selection.
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Didn't even think of it.
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It shouldn't be such a big deal. So why is everyone so freaking irate!
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If you're expecting me to come up with some momentous reason for neglecting this thing, I suppose that I could.
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If you think that I might come out with some diatribe about the evil effects of lies and lying and how it will eventually destroy any vestiges of character that you can salvage, I suppose that I could.
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But I won't because I am conducting a slightly more expensive approach.

ANNOUNCING.....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 34th Week of 2009.

Sarah McCormack
Brian Butler
Phoebe Crawford
Tom Raiche
Charlotte Murphy
Carol Kenner

I'm pretty sure that I won't forget the selection next week, because I don't want to put up with all the whining and lamentation.

"This above all. To thine own self be True" - Shakespeare

Peep of the Year, Lauren Rathbone said....
My guess is Brian Butler was the one to complain that you missed a week.!!

There were many, Lauren, but I'm not inclined to make any specific disclosures.

Voting for Ted Kennedy

The Kennedy tributes continue to flow. You get the feeling that the liberal media has to continue to lay it on thick so that the underbelly never shows.
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But there is a undeniable resentment to Kennedy that the media is pushing past.
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I remember years ago, when I was skiing at Attitash in New Hampshire and going up the ski lift with a talkative New York guy. We introduced ourselves after getting on the lift and I told him that I was from Massachusetts. The guy immediately went on a diatribe regarding Ted.... Chappaquidick.... yada, yada, yada.... then asked how we in Massachusetts voted for him over and over again.
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A lot of what he said was pure logic. But I told him that I had voted for Kennedy on any occasion that I saw him on the ballot.... even though I substantially agreed with the points that this New York skier made.
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Though I had never examined the reason before, I told him that I voted for Ted Kennedy, not because of him, but because of the promise that the Kennedy's brought. For his brothers John and Bobby, for my Irish Catholic parents who sat at the kitchen table crying as I came home from school in the sixth grade during November and found out that President John Kennedy had been shot that day. For the incredible speech that Ted Kennedy made at St. Patrick's Cathedral at the occasion of Bobby's funeral. These are the reasons I voted for Ted Kennedy.
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Like a liberal, I voted for Ted because of emotions and feelings of what could have been.... not because of the facts.
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But despite the dark mistakes, the tragedy that beset this man and his ability to remold, and rebuild, and help people on an individual level has made his life a tough loss.

Dead Ted

Ted Kennedy has passed on.
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This I know because of the relentless swooning from the media.
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I'll admit that I'm having a hard time reconciling all of the lamentations and praise with the Chappaquidick incident haunting the back of my mind. If anyone took the time to analize the facts behind this, it is clear that a young girl lost her life while in the company of Kennedy, who took great steps to cover up the accident. Disingenuous, dishonest steps. The kinds of things that you and I would do time for.
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He got kicked out of Harvard for cheating as well. Tremendous lapses of character that the average Dick would probably never recover from.
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So the issue is ..... do people who stray, who make bad mistakes, deserve a second chance? I generally think they do. Most wounds heal. But the Kopechne girl can never be brought back to life. And Kennedy left her to drown, when a quick response could have saved her life. Despite the sappy Biden comments, he didn't always think of others first.
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That said, he was a hell of a legislator. By all accounts, he was a Senator who knew the lay of the land and could get things done. And his constituent service is becoming legendary.
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I feel bad that Ted is dead. He certainly had a good side to him that probably eclipses his shortcomings and mistakes. But the the effort to canonize him has a phoney edge to it that is a bit unsettling.
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He was a practicing Catholic, and if his beliefs are true, he's now in front of a much greater judge than you or I.

Essex Seafood

Yesterday, after a nice suggestion by Tommy O'Shea to go out for some fried clams, we headed up to Essex Seafood for the best fried clams in New England.
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That's not my assertion... it's a claim made by Brooke Dojny, author of the New England Clam Shack Cookbook, and I really agree with it.
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Quantity and Quality. Huge plates of clams, fries, and rings, but not the least bit greasy. All presented in an informal, help yourself setting. Don't dress up, just go out and fulfull your craving.
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All the tourists in Essex go to Woodman's where the fried clam was invented, but you won't find many tourists at Essex Seafood.... just die-hard, local, happy seafood consumers.
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Doug Maxfield, renowned Essex fisherman and the guy who sold me the WhaleEye, first turned me on to this place, when we were up buying his boat seven or eight years ago. I suggested lunch at Woodman's, but he turned us to where all the locals go.
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Doug is an excellent Peep for many reasons, and this is just one of them.
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You won't be distracted by oceanscapes or anything.... the setting is picnic tables and a gravel parking lot off of Route 133 past the Gloucester line in Essex, MA. The focus is on the food.
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But the ride up to the Cape Ann location is very scenic and not that long.
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It was a nice fix for a strong clam crave, but it will wear off soon and we will be back.

Vacation

President Obama is down at Martha's Vineyard taking a well deserved vacation.
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I hope he has good weather. I had originally picked this week to take off, but the events of the summer has shifted this off. Maybe some half days and some extra fishing this week, but other than that, I have to keep my hand in the game.
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Vacations are a pain anyway. When I take one, I truly "vacate" and lose touch with the pulse of whatever I have on the table. Then when I come back, the re-entry is very stressful. Little issues that normally are handled easily pose a lot more effort than usual. So I prefer not to completely vacate.
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I'm sure that the President doesn't have that luxury either.
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I do plan to escape to Paris or Rome in the not too distant future though for a week or so. I've never been to Europe, but the Peeps there deserve a personal appearance.

30 Years Out

You love your kids... and you want to give them everything.
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And Lord knows... they want to take it.
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You have a bottle of red wine??? They take it.
They need some tennis balls???? They take yours, and you never see them again.
You have a case of beer in the down stairs refridgerator??? Oh Man, is that gone or what!
They notice a golf club in your bag that they like???? You'll notice it's gone when you reach for it on the second hole.
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I can go on, but it really boils down to one central tenet.
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"What's mine is mine... and what's your's is mine."
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And when you finally get pissed off and tell them what you think, they tell you that you are a maniac with anger issues.
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My only hope is that when I am 85 and need somebody to change my Depends, I can count on them. I'll let you know how that works out in a blog post some thirty odd years from now..,,

Hurricane Bill

Have you seen the size of this storm? It is freaking huge. I sure hope it makes that right turn as projected.