Weekend Goals

There's a couple of things that I'm going to try to do this weekend.
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Tomorrow, I have to test the Broadband equipment that we bought for the New Hampshire State Liquor Commission with Elsier and DiMatteo.
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So don't you think it is appropriate that we taste some fine single malt scotch afterwards? Me too.
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On Sunday, I really have to devote some time to the deck railing project, but that shouldn't preclude a spin around the Marblehead Harbor on the Tender.
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There's a bunch of other things I'd like to do too, some that I can't, and some that I won't.

Friday Decision

OK Peeps.
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It's 2:00 PM and I've finished both pricing submittals with DiMatteo and Elsier and heard from Mikey in DC. Time to commence the weekend.
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I'm going to head down to Silver Shears for a trim and then maybe get some work on the deck railing done. Tomorrow, we are testing some broadband equipment that has to be installed next week, so I don't feel too bad about quitting early.
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I'll have my cell phone on, just in case.

Courageousness

Just to let you know that I am not afraid of anything, I'm going to reveal the following fact.
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I'm a big fan of Martha Stewart.
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I don't watch her show or anything, but I admire her determination and steadfastness. She took a stint in prison, got out, dusted herself off, and resumed her career with a lot of class. She is a model of how to handle the setbacks in life.
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Now....

Give me you best shot.
Attack my manhood.
You gutless wonders.

I think I just wrote a haiku!

Competition Heats Up

Lots of great Peep of the Week logo submittals already. So far, these are the best.
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I knew that this would be tough.

Week 29 - POTW

Today was a flurry of breakthrough activity.
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If I didn't realize from my ten years in the business that the telecom business development cycle was so protracted and slow, I would be quite nervous by now. But it always takes a long time for the deals to matriculate.
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The ironic thing is that the procurement process is so slow, but then the customer wants the implementation by yesterday.
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I'm going to reward myself by having a large double cheese with garlic, pepperoni and artichokes from Vesuvius in Marblehead. Easily the best Pizza this side of the Coliseum. I might even throw in a Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade. How's that for a celebration dinner!!!

Now for the business at hand.

Announcing.....
The Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 29th week of 2007

• Emily Ingardia
• Rob Wise
• Gail Johnson
• Patrick Piscatelli
• David Letterman
• Mark Vona

Pretty soon, when I am swamped with work, I'm depending upon the Peeps to remind me of my current euphoria.

POTW Logo

I know that today is Thursday, POTW day.
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Seriously... do you think I need a couple thousand of you sending me emails to remind me????
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How Annoying!
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I suppose that it is the price of celebrity.
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What do you think of staging a logo contest for the Nanepashemet Peep of the Week?
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Naturally the sole judge would be me, and the winner would get little or no recognition. I think that it is a really good idea. Start sending your graphic images now.
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Who knows, you might even merit a POTW selection based upon your inspirational/annoying logo submittals.
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Maybe I'll even offer a prize to the Winner.... like a five minute audience with Roenick the cat, or a chance to touch the Tender.

Dory Research

In my research on the Marblehead Gunning dory, I've been impressed with the acceptance of this traditional New England craft all over the world.
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These guys are crabbing in Alaska with a homebuilt model.
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The cedar strip planking method should really make the nice lines of this boat come alive.

Playing with Pain

Peeps, I'm still tormented by pervasive stomach cramps, yet I have carried on today in a spirit that inspires even myself.
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Tom DiMatteo had to do most of the talking at our presentation today, which was good because Tom wowed the customer in my somewhat biased observation. My contributions were anecdotes and sidebars... but I'm pretty good at that, even in my debilitated condition.
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I'm pretty sure that my customer didn't catch on how I played with pain. The mark of a true athlete.
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Someday, when the story of how Nanepashemet Telecom became a dominant economic force on the American business landscape is told, tales of my triumph over stomach cramps will fill the boardrooms and permeate the water coolers.

A Matter of Faith

So the Catholic Church is coming up with over $600 Million in settlement money in LA to pay out to plaintiffs and make the current caseload go away. Cardinal Roger Mahony is off the hook and Cardinal Bernard Law is operating in Rome these days.
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I was brought up as an Irish Roman Catholic. Lots of guilt. Lots of terrifying doctrine. As a public school kid, I was second rate to the nuns at St. Joseph's School in Lynn where I went for my Sunday School Catholic indoctrination. We all felt that the nuns preferred the parochial school kids, who were repressed maniacs by the time they came out of St. Joseph's in the eighth grade.
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Easily the most violent kids at Eastern Junior High School were the transferees from St. Joseph's Catholic Elementary School from Green Street in East Lynn. I still have scars on my forearm from the maniac who took my ruler, split it in two, and stabbed me in the arm with one of the sharp pieces. When I proposed to meet him after school to settle up, he looked at me in a fearful and incredulous manner and asked, "What did I do?"
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That was the product of a St. Joseph's Catholic education.
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Luckily, I was never diddled by a Catholic priest. I was slammed up against the wall and slapped by a nun, but nothing that would turn me into the pitiful protoplasm of the victims who were sexually abused by the priests in Boston, LA and elsewhere.
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Those people have my sincere sympathy. As kids, they were victimized by the ultimate authority figures, priests, who used them for their temporary perverted pleasure. Dispicable!!!
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By the way, the fact that the Catholic Church has $600M to make them go away is a travesty in and of itself.
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Years later, as the Executive Director of the Lynn Housing Authority, I bought the St. Joseph's School with state funds and turned it into 40 units of elderly public housing. At the time, I didn't think of it as revenge, but now I do. By the way, the priests at the St. Joseph's Rectory during the price negotiations were among the rudest, most inappropriately acting people that I have ever encountered in my professional life.in their behavior to the wait staff and cooks of the Rectory.
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All in all, the Catholic Church has produced a completely dysfunctional social system in it's ministerial system, and wide scale reform has to occur. It's probably too late anyway, because the dogma is so non-sensical. I truly don't see how a thinking person can buy into the cosmology of a heaven, hell, purgatory, limbo, etc. Everything seems to be based upon fear and a medieval form of social control.
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This has nothing to do with belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, his Blessed Mother Mary, or a host of other things that the Catholic Church exposed to me. The Church and my faith are distinctly separate to me, and I am certain that I will pray to Christ for mercy when I eventually contemplate my own demise.
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But I won't need a Priest to perform the Last Rites.

Thinking Ahead

Even though the sailing rig is not complete on the Herreshoff Columbia Tender, and even though the deck railing hasn't been touched in three weeks, and even though the basement tile job has slowed to a dead halt.... I'm really starting to get psyched about building the Chamberlain Marblehead Gunning Dory.
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I find myself starring at the plans in John Gardner's Dory Book every chance I get.... thinking of ways that I would approach the construction.
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Plus, you wouldn't believe how hot Nanepashemet Telecom is getting. We're pitching two major contracts in the next two weeks and pricing another. If we win all three, plus maintain the other opportunities in the air, my boatbuilding time will be few and far between.

Indian Call Centers

The people who man these things from the Indian subcontinent are persistent to say the least. They force you to be rude.
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And those who know me best, know that I'm a very polite man.
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The earth is really getting small when you get irritated by people who call you from India.

It's Not Just About You

Today was a painful day. Not a metaphor. I had stomach cramps and more all day long. But, as you know, I'm not a complainer.... not a wimpy girly man.... not a bed wetting cry baby.
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So I stayed stoic and took it like the mountain of a man that I am.
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But my tummy really hurts.
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But enough about me. Let's start all over with another story... about me.
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Despite the pain that would cripple a lesser man, I stayed the course with the Nanepashemet Telecom team that was on fire today. Processing everything. Mowing down all in our path. One ball has settled for a time, and I'm nervous about another, four other opportunities are ready to bust out, and one hits the street next week.
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All in all - good productivity