Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween Peeps.  This is a holiday that I don't really get into, but living in a town right next to Salem, MA, which attracts all sorts of people who are enthusiastic about Halloween, I respect that many of you get fired up this time of year.

~

So have a good time.  I have to get over the fact that the Red Sox won the World Series..... it just hasn't sunk in yet.

Happy Birthday Party for the little Tykes!

Left to right .... Mike Nestor, Brendt D'Orio, Parker Sides, Katelyn Nestor, Ryan Nestor, Dave Bruett.

Weren't they Cuties?

Let's Man Up Men's Figure Skating

Those of you who know me best know that my politics are generally conservative, and  I have always found racism, sexism or any kind of oppression to be particularly disgusting and abhorrent.   And numerous times, I have indicated that I believe homosexuality is biological with no true choice in the matter (i.e. what gets you horny is out of your control, so why the hell should you judge people about what side of the green they prefer to putt from ). 

~
That said, I am generally more comfortable around people who keep their sexual orientation as a private matter (i.e. hate it when gays make an overt effort to queer up the place.)
~
So... WTF is up with men's figure skating????  Gymnastics doesn't turn male competitors into flipping costumed She-Men, so why should figure skating?
~
Joanne makes me watch figure skating after she endures a football monopoly on the tube, and I really enjoy the athleticism of the men's competition, but why do they have to gay it up with the costumes and music and interpretations?????   ..... And the commentators are also so effeminate.  Frills, Ruffles, Rhinestones... how about T-Shirts and Sweats???  
~
Why couldn't they man up the men's competition a little?  Just like floor exercise and tumbling in gymnastics, the men could line up and take a run down the ice doing technical stunts and moves designed to demonstrate their ability and athleticism.
~
Naturally, my lefty friends will label me as a homophobe, for speaking my true mind on this issue, but that is a lot of bull.  It doesn't matter to me what the sexual orientation is from the competitors.... but when they make you dress up like a girl and do your routine to music and dancing.... it pretty much limits who is going to gravitate to men's figure skating.

Week End Wrap Up

Last week went by fast.
~
Lots of activity at Nanepashemet Telecom, which has been at big draw on my attention.  I never know when something will get hot and I have to deadhead out to close a lease or something.  Plus, our top customer is very demanding as should be the case, and the people at Nanepashemet place customer satisfaction as the highest priority.  
~
So we've been hopping.
~
Plus, I had to carve out a couple of hours to pull my lobster traps for the season.  A huge toad crab and a 2 lb. lobster were in the last trap, and I gave them both a reprieve.  The Town had already pulled the hose off of the Village St. Wharf, so the boat was left a mess.   But at least I got all of the boat beers off this year.... which is a first for me.
~
No rest for the weary this weekend though.   Every time we get busy out in the field, there is a ton of paperwork to follow and that is just sitting there staring at me this Saturday morning.  
~
It's not just this pathetic Blog that has suffered.   I was well into sewing the sail for the Columbia Tender, and that has taken a back seat also.   The Tender is in for an overhaul this winter over in the Peabody Warehouse.   It has taken a pretty good beating over the past five years and the gunwale varnish is blistered and peeling badly.  And the interior paint job is something that I have never been proud of....although the exterior hull continues to carry the day showing the natural beauty of the cedar strip planking.  But even this is pretty dinged up if you look at it closely.
~
So this winter, as I set up the sailing rig, I'm going to double down on restoring the finishes on the Tender.
~
Course that's if things ease up at Nanepashemet Telecom... And I don't want that to happen either.

Toad Crab

This photo of a toad crab that I pulled off of the Web doesn't really do credit to the size and grossness of the three that I extracted from my lobster traps this morning.   Big, muddy, dirty with long legs ending in a spike and long dangling claws.  They definitely looked like something from a bad science fiction movie.
~
They were strong and grasped hard on the metal slats of the trap.  Had to really wrestle them to get them out and rebait the traps and I wasn't about to grab them with my hands... even with rubber gloves on.  So I poked them with my bait net and agitated them enough to get them to let go of their grasp which enabled me to flip them out of the trap and back in the ocean.
~
I guess a real lobsterman would just crunch them up and toss them overboard.... and I would too if this was my livelihood... but I generally like to let the critters I run into live if possible, so it took a little time to deal with these crabs.
~
It seems weird that the lobsters that I catch in the same traps have clean and shiny shells as well as do the rock crabs.   But these things are caked with mud and dirt.  I can't imagine eating one of these ugly dudes, but apparently there is a fishery for them, in Canada.

Finally... The Answer to the Riddle

Peeps....
I have something very exciting to announce to you today.
~
I have finally solved the ancient Zen riddle...."What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?"
~
That's right... after millenniums of  metaphysical head scratching, I, JJ Nestor, your very own Mountain of a Man has found the answer to the ponderous question of antiquity.
~
And... what is the answer... you ask????
~
"What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping????"
~
..... it is the sound that Liberals make when you ask them what effect a 17 Trillion Dollar Federal Deficit is going to have on the children and future generations of this country,
~
Do you hear it?
~
Absolute silence.
Not a Sound.
Crickets.

And what is the cost of a 17 Trillion Dollar Federal Deficit besides the destitution of our children?

Let's just say, if it took you one minute to read this pathetic post, then the Federal Debt increased by Seven Hundred and Fifty Three Thousand Dollars.... and your kids and Grandkids have to pay it back.

$         1,084,967,184.56	Per Day
$               45,206,966.02	Per Hour
$                     753,449.43	Per Minute
$                       12,557.49	Per Second

Kicking up Some Dust

Today was a good day at Nanepashemet Telecom.
~
Looks like we can power to the end of the month with great numbers, both in customer services milestones and Billings.
~
I mean... I feel good about things.... and I know that this can't necessarily last, but I'm going to enjoy the feeling while it does.
~
What Happened?
~
Knowing that some of you Peeps might actually be business competitors with the Mountain of a Man and his cool company, I can't really disclose this.... although if you are going head to head with us at the one of the major carriers, you are probably licking your wounds... and eating our dust.
~
How does our backside look?   Get used to it.
~
I might even pour a Lagavulin this evening.... it was that good.

Remarkable Day in Boston Sports

It was a tough day to work today after two jolts of emotion last night.  

~

First, the Patriots' Tom Brady showed again why he is arguably the best quarterback in football with a last minute touchdown drive against thepreviously undefeated New Orleans Saints. He just finds a way to win.... it doesn't matter who surrounds him.

~

Then, David Ortiz hit a Grand Slam in the 8th inning of the American League Championship Series with Detrroit. 

~

I did feel a little weird jumping out of my chair and cheering wildly by myself at 11:00 PM on a Sunday night... and quite a bit drowsy as I hit the bricks on the job the next day.  I couldn't sleep after that, and ended up watching the latest episode of  "Broadwalk Empire" until 1:00 AM in the morning.

~

It's cool to be a sports fan in Boston.

BLOCK ISLAND BOAT BEACHING by Victor Mays

Shut Down Expose

Cutting Through the Crap

UnDoing Due Diligence

Let me get this straight

.

When we are doing our due diligence for a new Cell site, one of the requirements is to run a check on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website database to see if the proposed tower will impact any flight paths at nearby airports.
~
Basically, you type in the latitude and longitude and the proposed height of the tower, and the data base spits back the impact in a format that you can print and package for the report to your client.
~
But due to the Federal Government shut down, the site is not operating.
~
Let me get this straight....
~
A database that operates on its own, online, is down because someone purposely took the effort to take it down, because of the "Shutdown".   I wonder how much effort went into shutting the self operating site down?
~
And it is not Congress that operates the goverment.... it is the Executive Branch.   So how could this be conceived in any obtuse way as the cause of the Republican House Members of Congress????
~
This is our junior varsity Executive Branch in full array.
~
Peeps.... President Obama is tipping the scales at a 37% approval rating.  That is 37%  of the people who buy into this Bull, and 63% who can't be fooled.