Fishing Dilemma

Lots of stuff to do today. Lec and Dog want to go fishing, which to them is drinking beers and smoking cigars. Dog likes to insult me by saying that I don't go fishing, I go boating. Lucky for him that I have enormous self control and rarely fly off the handle, or he could be in store for a knuckle face massage.
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Before I take these irreverent pagans out in the WhaleEye at 1:00 PM, I need to get some tiling done in the basement.
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They don't deserve a Bluefish blitz, but I do, and I'll be in the same boat. So let's see how the Universe sorts out this conumdrum.

Time to Reset the Clock

I'm toying with the idea of getting into shape.... just getting sick and tired of being a fat POS.
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When I was in college, a skillion years ago, I was in unbelieveable shape, both endurance wise and upper body strength. But then you tend to put business, career and social obligatons in front of fitness and you slide.
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A big mistake.
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It's really a function of priority adjustment and the realization that getting fit again will be beneficial for business. It's time to make the time.
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I figure to get more Tender rowing in, keep cycling on the Cybex, and start running again - maybe set the Boston Marathon in April as a goal. Start slow and make it a habit. The problem is that every time I've been motivated to get in shape in the past, I've hurt myself by overdoing it.... pulled a calf muscle or threw out my back.
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You have to get in shape in order to get in shape.
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My plan is to intensify the low impact rowing and cycling for a week or so before hitting the road. If this really works out, I expect to see a lot of Peeps at the end of the Marathon route in Copley Square next April.

10 1/2 Kilometers

This loop is 6.7 Mi around Marblehead... a nice training loop for 10k runners
View Larger Map

New Way to Blog

I have a copy of Microsoft Word 2007 which allows you to post blogs from directly within the program. I think it's cool, but then again, I am a nerd.

Peep of the Week for Week 38

So you all thought that I would forget the POTW selection.
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You Crazy, Kooky, Whacky Bastards!!!
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I'm 100% on my game. Solid as a Rock. Steady as a Priest in the Altar Boy's lockerroom.
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Ok... scratch the last one. But no way could I forget. We've been doing this for over 50 Thursdays in a row. It's become more than a habit... more like a religious ritual. I approach it with the utmost reverence and respect.
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Tired of this Bullshit??? So am I. So here goes....
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Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 38th week of 2007

Tommy McMahon
Mike Nestor
Jay Turner
Bill Hillegas
Eric Gagne
Jill Phillips

These people now join the immortal roster of peeps with their names carved in the permanence of cyberspace. Now I'm getting unnecessarily emotional.

Conflicting Priorities

The Dory constructon has sat, unattended to, for the past few days due to the frenetic pace of Nanepashemet Telecom this week. I'll start the templates for the frames this weekend, but I also have to get some basement tiling in. In the end, the weather looks like fishing might get the nod.
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It's the best time of the year to find a Bluefish or Striper blitz, and I'm way overdue this year.

Lead Eroded

Sox lost. 1 1/2 games in front of the Yankees. Holy Crap! They're ruining my Septemba! !!!

Keeping Pace

Boston is leading 1-0 over Toronto in the fifth inning.
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Jerry Remy running for President of Red Sox Nation is pretty funny.

Baseball is the only game that gives you enough time to let the announcers offer diversions from the action at hand. There is an easy, comfortable pace to the game.
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It was a long day, but we picked up a purchase order from a major company and answered the right questions for another. Just when your confidence starts to waiver, the good stuff gets you optimistic again.
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Tomorrow, we sit down with the Bank to bring order to the action.

Depraved

This is a video of me reading my email. The Blog is really going downhill.

Waterfront Offerings

Land Offerings

Familiar Feeling

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get worried over the Red Sox. They just lost the second in a row to Toronto, four of their last five, with the Yankees hot on their tail.
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I'm just not comfortable.
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Clay Buchholtz, the rookie no-hitter pitcher, will try to stem the slide tomorrow.

Peep of the Year in Fine Form

Once again, Tom McMahon, our reigning Nanepashemet Peep of the Year, shows why he is worthy of the title.
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Manhandling a poor Yankee fan at Fenway Park.
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Annoying?
Inspiring?
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Both????
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You be the Judge.
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But it again validates the controversial choice.

In McMahon's own words....

"This one was something special. This jerk off ran from next to the sox dugout after Hinske hit a double on Sunday night. He then gave Hinske a pat on the back, took Robinson Cano’s hat, put it on and headed for the outfield. He didn’t make it too far though because even though I was hungover this guy had nothing when he tried to turn on the jets."

Patriots v. Red Sox

Red Sox v. Yankees are on ESPN and the Patriots v. Chargers are on Network TV.
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Thank goodness for cable TV and the "last" button. The commercials won't have a chance as we switch from game to game.
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It will still be a late night though because both games started after 8:00 PM and I have a huge customer meeting tomorrow morning in downtown Boston.
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I suppose I'll do the responsible thing and go to bed before either game is decided.

Lost Lure

The day went as planned.... got some tiling done, got some rowing in.... the only glitch was that when I brought the Tender out to the mouth of the Harbor, about 100 yds. off of the Marblehead Lighthouse, I lost my only lure on the first cast.
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Didn't really bother me, because I was only out to row anyway. But in the future, I'm going to bring a little extra tackle.
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I rowed about a quarter of the way into the Marblehead Channel and picked up some decent wakes and swells. The Tender really is a stable and seaworthy design. I pulled the oars up and floated aimlessly out there for about a half hour or so. Nothing metaphysical or anything, just enjoying the movement of the water in the Channel under the Tender.
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Anybody passing by thought I was fishing anyway, so it probably didn't look so weird.
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But I was just sitting and breathing. It was kind of like when I go fly fishing in the Saco River with my rubber pants on. Just standing there feeling the water pass by.
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On the way back, I stroked the oars fairly vigorously... a decent workout. It will be interesting to do this around mid-November when all but the working lobster boats will have been hauled out of the Harbor.

Basement Projection

Tiling floors always gets me into rigor mortis if I overdo it. So today I quit after three hours, before I got to the staring blankly at the floor stage. Since it's only the basement, there is no crucial time requirement like happens with most tile jobs. So I'll come back later this week and get a little more done.
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I'd love to have this project done by Thanksgiving when Mike gets home again from DC. There are a lot of miscellaneous details since I will be ripping out the existing cabinets and constructing a built in for the HD TV the we foolishly bought before the new flat screen technology was available.
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Can't let the Dory project get stale either.
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Thanksgiving is probably an attainable goal but I'm not promising anything.

Tile Restart

Today I'm going to set the Dory aside and restart the basement tile project. I told Joanne and Katelyn that I was going to work both simultaneously, and it is time to disprove their skeptical reactions.
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There will be a hard stop at 3:00 PM to row the Tender in Marblehead Harbor during high tide.

Lazy Day

This was the extent of the work completed today. A completely wasted, rainy day, trying to shake off the effects of last night's Dark and Stormies and the loss by the Red Sox to the Yankees in the longest 9 inning game on record.
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Most of the day was spent working the kinks out of Outlook 2007 that I have on my new laptop. It has a nice business information system that I'm interested in using for Nanepashemet Telecom.
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The bottom of the Dory has been cut using a jigsaw, with at least 1/4" margin from the final dimension so that it can be hand planed to the line.
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The epoxy glue has to be scraped off both sides and the whole thing sanded smooth, then I'll start to contruct the oak frames, and fit them on the strongback.
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Add an hour to the total for this work. Cumulative 5 hours.

Dory Bottom

I was hustling to glue up the Dory Bottom in order to get over to the Peabody's house and watch the Red Sox - Yankees game. Linda O'Shea had an interesting week, and I had promised to conjure up some Dark and Stormy's to add a finishing touch. The Dark and Stormy's fit the bill, but the Sox came up short in a disappointing loss.
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The Dory bottom was constructed from four 1x6 select pine, 12 foot boards and a 2 inch 14 foot mahogany board that was glued in the middle to give the appearance of a keel. Dories don't have keels, but the mahogany piece will serve to accent the front and back stems which will be constructed from laminated oak and mahogany strips.
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The template that I made yesterday worked out well, and I biscuit jointed all of the sides of the boards together. In the end, I am happy with the choice of the 1x6's because I was able to alternate the grain and relieve the warping strain, which wouldn't be the case if a single 1x12 was used on each side of the mahogany.
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When the epoxy glue is cured tomorrow morning, I will cut out the bottom, scrape off the excess glue, and start the internal oak frames. I also have to devote some time on the basement tile project, and would love to follow up on Maxfield's tip to find Blues around Thatchers/Milk Island.

Time expensed today on the Dory included 1 hour at Home Depot picking out the pine, 1 hour laying everything out and mapping the template and biscuit joints, and one hour epoxy gluing and clamping. A total of three hours today. Cumulative time is 4 hours for this project. so far.

POTW Week 37

Mid-September.

There is a theory that time passes quicker, the older you get. Not sure how this would be validated, but it sure seems on the mark.

Lots of great stuff happened this week. Weddings, Births, Purchase Orders, the Debut of Dory Construction. Some things still irk the hell out of me, but you have to love the good stuff.

Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 37th week of 2007

• Bob Wojcik
• Mike Rockett
• Lauren Crawford
• Doug Maxfield
• Jaime Andrews
• Tina Rhodes

Now if I could run into a Bluefish blitz this weekend - it would be total satisfaction.

Broke the Ice

Today, I officially started the Dory by cutting out a template for 1/4 of the boat floor out of luan plywood. Since the Dory is a double ender, the 1/4 template can be traced on the two sides of the front 12 foot floor, and the two sides of the back for perfect symmetry.
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Tomorrow I'll be in Portsmouth, NH for a bid walk, and I can stop at the Moynihan lumber yard on the way home for two 14' 1x12's which I will join in the middle with a strip of mahogany using biscuit joints. These will be glued with epoxy resin, then I will lay out the pattern from the template.
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The template layout and cutting with the bandsaw only took 1.5 hrs. But at least we quit talking and started this thing.

Feeder Frenzy

On the birdfeeder this morning was this female Downy Woodpecker.
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Are you as breathless as I am?
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I've seen the male previously, but was unable to capture on film.
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BTW, please disregard the rampant bird turds surrounding this beautiful specimen. I keep asking Joanne to clean the deck railing.