Planning the Year

Not for Nothing, but... I was just discussing with Joanne that if I lost 1 lb per week every week for the next year, I would lose over 50 lbs. It seemed like a good sign when she didn't roll her eyes and actually listened.
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But, when you look at it that way, it doesn't seem unattainable at all. I mean, calculate the calories that you can eat every day in order to lose 1 lb per week. In my case, that is 2,237 calories.
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Keep track of the calories with some food program on your computer or IPOD that you eat every day, burn 600+/- calories on the Cybex or the treadmill, and after one year.....you will be the rough, tough, hard to bluff, mountain of a man that is your true destiny.
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It almost seems too easy. Even now, I'm holding out on that second glass of Scotch.
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I can hardly wait until next year, when I give my daughter Katelyn away.

Sex Changes and Brain Transplants

A lot of controversy is swirling up here in New England lately about the convicted murderer who was granted sex change at taxpayer expense by the Federal Judge in Boston.
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I basically have no problem with this.... as long as the Judge gets a brain transplant at the same time.  We could then examine his brain to see what makes a Moron like that tick.
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BTW, the Judge also allowed the murderer/he/she to have his/her legal bills paid by you and me.
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Peeps... you couldn't make this shit up.  Nobody would believe you.

No Knock on New Haven

After a quick appointment this morning with my collection attorney, Wendy Heller, I may be taking the F-150 down to New Haven County.
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Lots of stuff brewing down there,  We are filing to install some unobtrusive and rather attractive cell antennas on a former beer brewery building  and will be negotiating to install a slightly thickened  flagpole stuffed with  carrier antennas on another historic locus.
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Also have to start from scratch at a college site down there.
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Being a Mountain of a Man means that you have to go where the work is.... even if it takes a little dose of 5 Hour Energy for the late drive home.

Responsible or Entitled?

Politricks is just what it is.... the effort to herd people like sheep into a non-thinking mode and into the same pen.
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Romney said in May Republican Rally that 47% of the people in the US do not take responsibility for their lives and seek entitlement from the government.
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  Now the Dems want to make hay of that statement, but I highly doubt that either party will deny it.
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Romney is simply saying to his supporters that he cannot hope to reach the 47% of Americans that want to be taken care of and seek entitlements.
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Obama misses the point in his ad that merely highlighting this fact will not bring the other 53% into seeking the federal entitlements that he and the "progressives" espouse.
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The difference in the approaches is psychological rather than political.  If you are self assured and secure in your abilities to provide for yourself and your family, you will vote one way.    If you feel that you are at the mercy of others, and are insecure in your capabilities, you will seek the comfort of the government and vote the other way.
`~

In either case, you're not a bad person.... it's just your psychological makeup.

POTW Week 37

This week, I tended to my annual golf obligation as Nanepashemet sponsored a hole at the New England Wireless Association Golf Tournament held at the Red Tail Country Club in Ayer, MA.
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Red Tail abuts Fort Devens, and it was weird to drive by the FreshAyer locus again after all of the trips in previous years.... a feeling of  "Did that really happen?"
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At least my golf game was consistent... on the bad side of sucky. 
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Bobby Brown tried to take the sting out by telling me that he had a bottle of the King for me in his car, but I had to leave the post tournament cook out early for a zoning hearing up on the North Shore and never even connected with the Lagavulin.  Gave Bobby the "Automatic" selection anyway, because I'll catch up with that bottle soon enough.
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Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 37th Week of 2012

Scott Brown
Frank Iacono
Brendt D' Orio
Bobby Brown (Automatic Lagavulin Rule)
Sharon Horne
Jeff Previte
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This morning, I'm bringing Grandson Will out for a row in Marblehead Harbor on the Herreshoff Columbia Tender.... which will be far more enjoyable that hitting a dimpled spheroid badly and ackwardly for 18 miserable holes.

Computer Time Warp

Yesterday, around 4:00PM, I came to the conclusion that the multitude of spread sheets that I have been using to track work for our largest customer were not going to cut it anymore.
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Too many cells to cover, too much cutting and pasting, and overall, a chore to quickly tie into the specific information that we seem to need on a moment's notice.
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Lucky for me that I'm a Mountain of a Man who happens to come equipped with an abundance of database programming ability dating back to the old dBase II days.
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So I dusted off my copy of Microsoft Access 2007, cranked it into the CD drive and within an hour, I was deeply into the programming mode.  So deeply in fact, that when I came up for air and checked the clock, it was 12:05AM.
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I am not shitting you... I had one of those time warps as I wrestled to get all of my project records organized slickly in an my Access database.  Not elegant by any means, but the time warp paid off.

Bearing Down on the Present

Peeps...
I've been experimenting lately about the here and now... about how if you really want your future to improve, you should focus doggedly on the present... not regret what might have happened in the past... or worry about what might happen in the future.
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So far this week, it has worked pretty well.  New customer possibilities have been pouring in, and bills are getting paid.
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Now that I'm entering the latter part of my middle aged Mountain of a Man life, I have a huge advantage over you younger peeps..... experience.   I no longer have to project how things should work out... most all of the shit that I encounter now, I've seen before.   And I know how these things end up.
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For years I worried about what might happen, and how to prevent it from happening.   And even though some really bad shit actually happened. we didn't fall into the great abyss.   Things happened to abate the worse, and we worked through the rest.
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Somebody told me years ago that things are never as bad as they seem, nor are they as good as they seem.  That's pretty much how things have worked out.  Excessive worrying never solved anything.
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Yesterday, Ryan told me that he handled his ordeal with a lot of false positives.   So be it.  It got us through, and now that's in the rear view mirror.
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And what is ahead is the present.
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That's where I hope to be for here on in.

A New Watercooler

I remember when I used to work in a big corporate setting.... how I would get bored sitting in my office and head out into the corridor for a bit of respite with whoever was at the water cooler at the time.
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That little ten minute sojourn would take the edge off of the tedium and then it would be back to emails and spreadsheets again.
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Working in a home office has it's benefits, but the trip for a glass of water offers no substantial relief from the tedium.  But now, I have a better alternative.
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Facebook has become the new watercooler for cyper types like myself who can work from home but miss the interraction with employees.   Between Facebook and Skype, you always have a chance to goof off and take a break from time to time.

Cool Morning Reflection

First cool morning in September - portending change in the seasons. 
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Change denotes renewal, hope and improvement.
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Most people fear change.  We are born with a primal insecurity because no matter what we do, we will ultimately experience a final demise as we depart this life.  All of our strivings, hopes and aspirations eventually must incorporate this mortality.
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The only logic is to seize the present.  Live fully today, moment by moment.  The past is over... and has laid the foundation for your present...for better or worse.  The future is unfathomable, and your focus in controlling the outcome is a foolish endeavor that is beyond your ultimate capacity.
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But you can bask in the convergence of the past with the future... the present.  It is the only place that offers the joy and happiness that we strive for in this life.  The religious masters tell us that joy is the natural order of the universe.....  Happy little atoms and planets humming and rotating joyfully along.
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All we need to do is to focus on the cacophony of the present moment to squeeze our share of joy out of this life.

Matthew 6:26  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

So let change envelope you as you experience the constancy of the present.
Don't Worry, Be Happy.

POTW Week 36

Heading to Essex for some Fried Clams this evening with Tommy O and Linda O' Shea.   Someday soon, science will proclaim that platters of fried clams, fries and onion rings  are essential to maintaining a healthly life for overweight white guys like me.
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Until then, we will lead the way in consuming copious amounts of these tasty bi-valve mollusks that taste so good when breaded, deep fried, and served with a little salt and pepper, ketchup and tartar sauce.
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Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 36th Week of 2012

Denise Kearns
Deval Patrick
Liz Kelleher
Peter Lojko
Christos Laganos
Jim Lundgren

Tommy is going to pick up Joanne and I after he finishes his pedicure... but that's another story altogether.

Three Jamesons

Peeps... I'm feeling a little mellow tonight.
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Went down to the BYC and had two Jamesons, plus one more together with dinner with my favorite wife, Joanne.  Joanne is the mother of my three kids and is really handy to have around.... among other things.   She is my life partner, and when I die, my life insurance policy will go to her.  But enough of the romantic stuff.
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Tomorrow, it will be a big push in the morning to get the railings up on Tommy O's classic Nanepashemet Deck, then we will probably take a harbor cruise out on the WhaleEye.  The end of the boating season will be here before we know it, and the WhaleEye has hardly gotten a workout in, so we'll have to get some time in there.
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Sometime before the weekend is over, we have to attend to some tax details at Nanepashemet Telecom, and also hope to share a beer with some of the kids if they drop by.
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In the meantime, I powerwashed the pram and will be stripping off the nasty Wireless Tower Weatherproof that I used as gunwale bumpers..... A big mistake as the weatherproofing material never cured and remained sticky and messy.
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My new theory is to use the PVC bending tool that we bought for the Hartford job, and bend some PVC to use as Pram bumpers.  At least the PVC won't rub off on the neighboring boats causing a lot of pissed off complaints to the Harbormaster.
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Probably won't get to all of this shit this weekend... but at least we are past the three Jameson milestone

Presidential Boast

Lots of rhetoric at the Democratic National Convention about President Obama taking down Osama Bin Ladin.
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Mr. President.... to paraphrase your admonition to the nation's business owners.... "You didn't kill Osama... somebody else did."
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I'll give you credit for not phucking it up though.

Pram Rescue

Today, I finally got around to getting the my Pram which the Marblehead HarborMaster had towed to a mooring at Riverhead Beach.   Seems that the wireless connector weatherproofing that I used as gunwale bumpers was rubbing off on neighoring prams on the Village Wharf rings, but that's a whole other story that I'll maybe tell you later.
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I put the Tender down the ramp from the trailer, then roped it off with a square knot on the ramp pier piling.  Then I pulled the F-150 up the ramp and parked the trailer.  When I got out of the truck and headed down the ramp, the Tender was rapidly drifting into the Harbor.
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Wrong Knot.
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I figured that the water to the Tender would only be waist deep and was surprized when I was quickly up to my neck holding my iPhone high in my left hand.  Then swimiming hard to reach the Tender and tow it back to the Ramp in my best Lifesaving sidestroke.
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I figured that this was the only phucked up episode that I was to encounter on this little chore.
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Wrong, Kemosabe.
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I got back to the shore and this nice elderly couple asked if I wanted them to watch my Tender while I went for some dry clothes.  I declined the kind offer and set out get into the Tender and row out the the Pram which was about 50 yards out on the mooring.
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When I got to the Pram, it was filled with a green slimy, rainwater residue which was a result of the thunderstorm downpours that we experienced over the last few days.  Amazing how heavy a pram full of water is.
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To make a long and increasingly  boring story short, I finally got the Pram into the back of the F-150 with the help of a by-stander from Castine, Maine who had a lot of cool stuff to tell me about wooden boats.... especially the designs that John Gardner had published. 
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I guess this story doesn't have much of a punch line.  But that's your problem.  What do you want me to do????  Make up some fantastic freaking ending?????
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Publish your own Blog if you think this shit is easy.

Embarassed in Boston

How the Hell does this guy continue to get elected as Mayor of Boston?  He must be the balls at constituent services because otherwise, he is such an embarrassment with his lockstep liberal outcries and mumbling messages.

Close to the Border

Great Stuff, but the debate is how do we continue to pay for this?

That's what the Dems seem to ignore.

Money doesn't grow on trees and it doesn't come from the Government.

It comes from the taxes that we bear.  And we are getting closer to the Border of this.

No Spew, No Hurl

The MSNBC Talking Heads, especially Rachel Madow, seem to have taken their blood  pressure medicine and a low dose of Valium tonight as the Democratic National Convention debuts tonight.
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In a much calmer demeanor from how we saw them last week covering the Republicans, these objective journalists are now telling us like it is... or specifically.... how they want us to believe.  They are completely happy and thoroughly transformed as they bask in Leftest rhetoric of the Democrats.
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But don't take my word for it... you have to see this disengenuous act as it is and form your own opinion.   Tune in to these Whackjobs.  It only hurts for a while and is worth it to see for yourself.  
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I would suggest that you go to C-Span first, then change the channel to MSNBC.   That way, when you feel the vomit start to surge, you can hit the "Last" button, which will automatically switch to C-Span and you will actually see what is happening at the Convention.   The urge to spew will subside.
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Course you'll still be watching these "Progressives" but at least you won't hurl all over the couch.
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Peeps... I hate to admit it, but it takes all kinds to make the world turn.  As much as I want government to get the hell out of the way so that I can take care of myself and my family, there are those who have no freaking idea of how to do it for themselves, and need a helping hand from us in the form of the Government.
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You just have to guard against the extremists on both sides.  And these MSNBC ideologues are a great example of the type you have to guard against.

Debate Without Hate

One of the great things about this great country is that we are able to express our opinions and back our candidates without the fear of physical reprisals.
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There has never been a forced exchange of power based upon election results here.  We debate fiercely, sometimes in bad taste, and sometimes in an irritating fashion.  But despite the vigor and rancor, Americans are tolerant of each other, and supportive of the will of the majority.
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I may not understand the logic of your support for a particular candidate... I may even get annoyed and vocal about your exclaimations and rhetoric... but I ultimately support your right to make a choice.
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Even if you want a fake Indian to be your Senator.
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So this season, we will again see the amazing American system of tolerance of others, freedom of speech, and debate without hate.
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If Obama gets re-elected, we may not understand it, we may not like it, but we will tacitly support it.

Channeling

Harvey Rowe, Lisa Panakio Rowe, and Superpeep Maria Rowen came by  for dinner tonight on the deck.  Maria brought some incredible crab stuffed mushrooms, and we did our best with the lemon pepper chicken breasts on the grill with some garden salads.
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I had one or three Dark and Stormies and listened to Harvey's incredible story of his friend, Kim Garbarino's swim across the English Channel this month.  Harvey worked the boat politics while Craig Lewin did the in the water coaching as Kim Garabino braved fifty seven degree water to swim the 22 mi. channel in over 13 hours.
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Harvey's rendition of the effort was spellbinding as Kim completed the feat after wishing to quit after the initial six hours.  It was absolutely a mind over matter accomplishment.
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It was a great trip to London for Harvey and his team and I'm really happy for their success.

Fitting It In

It's Labor Day.... traditional end of Summer.  Always a bittersweet holiday, as you look at the summer that slipped away and all of the stuff that you wanted to do... then life's obligations get in the way, and the summer is over.
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Once again this summer, the fish and lobsters around Salem Sound received a major stay of execution, as my activities drew me away from a vigorous pursuit. 
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But if the truth be known, we soon will be entering into my favorite season of this great New England region... Autumn.   It's warm enough to do a ton of stuff outside, and cool enough to be comfortable doing it.  The only problem is that business usually gets crazy as we enter the last quarter of the year, as my corporate customers contemplate the boxes that must be checked for bonuses to be awarded.
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Someday, after I make a business score, I will retire.   Then fish will die, boats will be built, books will be written, banjos will be played, and grandkids will get spoiled. 
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Until then, I just have to fit this stuff in.

POTW Week 35

For the third time this summer, you Peeps have come through with the ultimate gesture of class and sophistication.... we have an automatic Peep of the Week selection.
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This week it was Tommy O who presented me with a bottle of the King of Scotch... 16 year old Lagavulin Single Malt Scotch Whiskey.
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 I really appreciate the gesture since I had just polished off the bottle that Brady Boyle had judiciously submitted at the occasion of asking to marry my daughter.  And the bottle that Nathaniel Clarke brought over when he introduced us to Katarina Simundic hardly lasted that evening....
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So Tommy kept me from the ackward circumstance of not having the King in the liquor cabinet inventory.

ANNOUNCING....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 35th Week of 2012.

Tommy O' Shea (Automatic Lagavulin Rule)
Will Nestor
Kyle Raiche
Liz Kelleher
Wayne Webster
Ann Romney

Can you imagine the shame of having to buy a bottle of the King for myself?