To Do List

I have a great "To Do" list on Excel.
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But you know things are getting out of control when you are too busy to look at it.
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To Do Lists only seem to work when there is not much to do, so you have the time to be organized.  These days, I only have time to look at the latest priority and the rest of the details seem to be going to Hell.
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Can't really get too far into this, because I have a lot of stuff to do.

Crime at Cook Street

Last week in February during this snowless winter for Boston.  When I was a kid in Lynn, sledding on Suicide Hill in the Cook Street Playgound, this would have been a disaster.
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Speaking of Cook Street.... two girls from English High School were caught on video fighting there for eight minutes or so last week.  They are being charged by the Police and the students filming are being disciplined by the High School.
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Looked like a regular disagreement that used to happen all the time there.  Nothing special about the fracas and nobody looked too beat up.
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Man... I'm lucky to have grown up there before the Internet was invented by Al Gore!
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I would have been arrested numerous times.  So would my brother and most everyone I know from that neighborhood.   Statute of Limitations expired with plenty of time to spare for me.
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Cook Street Playground had a lot of redeeming values. There used to be a tennis court there with no nets, poles or lines.   We played baseball for hours on end, arguing about every play, until the covers came off of the ball from hitting the pavement over and over.  Then we would tape it up with bull tape and keep playing.
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There were a couple of basketball standards with hoops and no nets.  Someone would always make sure that a few bottles got smashed every night, tossed down from the stone walls that were erected in the 1930's during the WPA.....so shards of glass were the norm.  My Voit rubber basketballs used to get slashed until finally punctured when the nubs had worn down.
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We used to climb those walls, and walk along the tops for hours.  The drop was twenty feet or so in places.   After blizzards, with snow drifts at the bottom we use to jump off, thinking that the snow would prevent any injuries.   Can't believe we didn't break our necks.
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If the snow would melt then freeze, the tennis court became a rink and we all learned to play hockey on that crappy ice at Cook Street.
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The two rival playgrounds were the Meadow, down by the Chestnut Street Projects and High Rock Playground.  I got beat up passing through both neighborhoods, so basically stayed clear.
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I can see the kids like it was yesterday...... my best friend Stevie Connors and his twin sister Sue, who could always run faster than I could, their big brother Joey, Chucky Pappas,  Walter and Bobby Sullivan, the toughest kid there who beat up me and Stevie at the same time..... Mikey and Lenny Sinos, Teddy Gautreau, Bobby Frazier, Dicky Lunden, Rick Gilmore, Mike Cheever.....
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The Black Kids..... Arthur Godfrey, Gary Roche.... lived two streets over on Jefferson Street  (we called them Negroes then in front of their face and the N word behind their backs.)  Instant altercation if you dropped the N word on them.   Gary taught me how to ride a two wheeler without my training wheels for the first time.
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You were considered really tough then if you could take a Negro in a fight.   I couldn't.
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It's a different world now.  Playground fights make it to the Boston Newscast.
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If YouTube and smartphones were around then,  we would have been celebrities, and probably never allowed to graduate from High School.
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Good Times.

Nod Notions

Peeps...
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It's still not time to guide you with the Nanepashemet Nod for the Presidential Candidates.
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Even so... I've been thinking of it.... and it will not be without provocative challenges.
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Right now, nobody stands head and shoulders over the crowd for the NN.

Newt... can't see handing someone the chief executive job who doesn't have the organizational ability to get on the ballot in his home state of Virginia.

Ron Paul... too old, and too out there.  I hate to bring up the age thing, but when you get older, things get harder.... and I'm not just talking about sexual performance and memory loss.... there is a whole lot of other stuff. (Trust me... I know.)

Santorum... Lost his last run for election as the US Senate incumbent from PA by 19 points.  What the hell was that all about????

Mitt.... Undoubtedly the most accomplished and able of the bunch... the Utah Olympics performance was awesome.   But Romney has a problem relating and I feel like most people feel that voting against him is like "sticking it to the man."   Plus, I don't trust guys who dye their hair.

BO.... Best guy on the planet in front of a teleprompter... but it's amateur hour everywhere else.  I truly wish this guy had an ounce of ability, but the country needs a more competent leader.
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So there it is.  A quandary if there ever was one.  But let's face it.... you have to be pretty weird to run for the job in the first place... a sort of ego maniacal narcissist who welcomes a daily dose of character assassination.
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I'll eventually figure this out.

Tuna LipsFeb 25, 2012 04:26 PM

That Santaria feller couldn't get layed in a monkey hoor house with a bunch o' bananas. Ixnay fer him.

POTW Week 7 2012

Earlier, I explained to you that things were stepped up on the work front.  One thing I'm very thankful for is the weather this year... unseasonably warm and dry.  Snow and rain really screws up the works at Nanepashemet Telecom.

Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 7th Week of 2012.


JJ McBride
Harvey Rowe
Brenda Lewin
Tyler Gill
Adele
Freddie Rios

It would be cool if we could sneak through this winter, at least in my market area, with no significant snowfall.  Naturally, we'll have to put up with the global warming alarmists, but that is a small aggravation to bear.  Plus it's an election year, and they will be too busy writing works of fiction about the glory of our dysfunctional government.

BusinessTsunami in Process

I know that I've only made two Blog posts this whole week.
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What part of "Business Tsunami" is it that you don't freaking understand?????
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Nanepashemet Telecom is deluged with work and we are straining at the bit.  Plus, this is work from one of those big mofo international corporations who want you to take care of every little detail, who make you do things over because of their equipment malfunctions, and who think nothing of making you wait 90 days for your freaking money.
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There are some serious jumping through hoops going on so that some corporate bureaucrats can check boxes and show progress in a huge database, destined for some forgotten digital archive a couple of months from now.
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In Ninety days, we will be swimming in cash from this upswing, but until then, the theme of the day is "This Sucks".  As it is, I'm posting this from a site in East Bumphuck on the New Hampshire/ Massachusetts border, when I should be using this on-line time filling our forms and construction reports.
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So consider yourself lucky that I take the time to address this pathetic Blog.  Things could be much worse.

Smoking Habit

I don't smoke.
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I can tolerate cigar smoke, but can't stand cigarette smoke.  I wish I could because it would help me tolerate certain circumstances, but I am very uncomfortable around anyone smoking.
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So if you are my friend, and you smoke... rest assured that I really like you a lot or I wouldn't put in the effort.   I can't imagine what it must cost daily to maintain this, and I'm sure that the addictive nature of nicotine is mighty hard to deal with.
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Not only am I abhorrent to the smell, I can't stand to even watch people smoking.  Butts on the ground or in ashtrays are sickening to me.  Can't stand the smell on people and on their clothes and stuff.
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Over the years, there has been a public crackdown on smoking in restaurants and public places which has made things a lot more tolerable for me.   When I was in college, kids would smoke in class and use the floor to dump their ashes and butts.  Incredibly gross and dirty.  Not very friendly to the environment either.
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I truly wish that I could tolerate the habit, because it is not going away.

Tuna Lips said.... Feb 17, 2012 07:02 PM

Yer recent pontifikatin' gets some of us wonderin' if you might be goin' gay. Can we get back te buildin' rafts, char grillin' stuff and stickin' it to the man?!

Whitney Houston

Addiction to drugs, alcohol, overeating, tobacco.... these are the demons that we live with.
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All of these things are used to ease the heaviness of life.... dealing with the emotions, fears, and uncertainties that we all face during this trial on Earth.
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We all react with shock and sadness when those among us with the most visible gifts... wealth, beauty, talent... succumbs to the addiction. If it can happen to them, what chance do we ordinary mortals have?
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Seems like most addictive habits are a misguided attempt to control our own lives.... to reach out and create our own sense of happiness, good feeling and peace, however perverted.   It is when we give up control, when we surrender our fate to God, a Higher Power, or whatever you believe in... that you can escape this destructive behavior.
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Not easy to do.  R.I.P. Whitney Houston.

Tuna Lips said...Feb 14, 2012 05:59 PM

Use partial te hookers, myself.

Portable Band Saw

I hope that this Harborfreight Tool can fit the bill at Nanepashemet Telecom for cutting 6" galvanized steel posts. We'll see next week.Portable Bandsaw

Bobbing and Weaving

Peeps -
I'm taking down the FreshAyer Countdown.  It's been up for well over 700 days, and we painfully watched it progress to zero.
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But, it's been 10 days since we have entered the Halfway House stage and everything is progressing nicely.  Gradually, in small steps, everything is returning to normal.   Our grandkids will never remember this... while we will never forget.
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You may have noticed that this Blog rarely tells you anything.  But rest assured that everything has been recorded, and will be disclosed if appropriate.
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When I was a young man, I used to think that we lived in a system that was ordered and structured by a well administered rule of law.... that you could follow a course of action and a moral way of life, and live freely and unmolested.... that you could depend on the government to dispense justice.
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   Now that I have morphed into an old curmudgeon, my viewpoint has shifted considerably.  I now feel that we live in a kind of free for all... where the rules are made up as you go along,  that government exists primarily to provide jobs to check box bureaucrats, and you have to live by your wits to avoid being crushed by the competing interests who want a piece of you for their own checkboxes.
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Man... that sounds cynical.   But if you can keep bobbing and weaving, you can outlast the bastards.  It's in the bobbing and weaving that the vestiges of a free and fruitful life still exist.

Karmic Action

I was moved to consider the Law of Karma today.
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My version of this cosmic statute goes this way.   "If you perform good deeds for others, good deeds will be performed for you, and if you are hostile and aggressive to others, then hostility  to you is the end result."
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When Jesus said to turn the other cheek to your enemies, it was practical cosmic advice.  It simply means that if you react to a hostile act with revenge and a similar response, you will continue a cycle of responses that can never bring harmony and peace to you.
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But if you break the cycle, by offering a peaceful response to a hateful act, you can escape the endless repetition.
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You don't have to worry about "getting back at people" for being wronged.  The Law of Karma takes care of that, and you don't have to lift a finger.  Each action has an equal reaction.
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Not that this "turning the other cheek" is easy to do.  It certainly seems that smashing the offender's head into a mass of pulpy protoplasm would be a far more desirable and satisfying course of action at times.   But that only sends your karma back in the wrong direction.
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God and the Universe has the whole thing under control.   Mankind doesn't come close to understanding or defining it.  So when somebody screws with you and yours, rest assured that they will get screwed in turn.  And let it go.

From Cell to Cell

Someday I'll have a lot to say about the BOP.  But for now, I'll just have to keep my mouth shut and let this period pass.  Don't be surprised if you hear from Ryan soon though.   He's got access to a cell phone and is firing up the minutes after all these months.
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We had him hauling equipment today at Nanepashemet Telecom today.   Have to ease the boy back into society slowly.

A Remarkable American

Only in America can a young Muslim boy, with a White American mother and Black Kenyan father, grow up in Indonesia, lose all his college transcripts, hang out with political radicals in Chicago, and get elected President of the United States.  It is a remarkable story.
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It doesn't matter what you think about his politics, it is a remarkable story.