Author: paultmorrison

Full Length Free Fall to Earth

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www.dailymotion.com/video/xubusk_red-bull-stratos-replay_sport

This is the full length video of the Felix Baumgartner free fall. I hated the ones that clipped him off as he disappeared straight down.

Highlights:

20 seconds: door pops open as the pressure equalizes.

1:20 “I’m coming home” and a bunny hop. If you sit right on 1:20 and keep replaying this and pretend he is just getting smaller and not falling. Weird, huh?  I used to jump out of airplanes and that bunny hop off the wheel strut was always a rush but Felix is cool as a cucumber.

2:20 hitting the speed of sound (768mph) he is spinning like a crazy top with end over end thrown in. Don’t repeat this part unless you want to toss your cookies.

9:30 Drops to knees, two fists up after falling 128,000 feet, 24.24 miles or from Gloucester Harbor to Fenway Park. (Which took 8 minutes total, no waiting in the hotdog line.)

[edit] Actually, it only took him 4 minutes to get to Kenmore Square, then 4 more minutes to float into Fenway Park. Traffic always sucks in Kenmore.

Black Friday is going to be fun in Gloucester.

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Press Release for the craziness that will be the morning after Thanksgiving in Gloucester. 6 AM and the Rubber Duck will be there, Joewalking quizzes of  the early bird shoppers, clowns and ponies. No wait, scratch the clowns, Rubber Duck hates clowns. Pony not confirmed. Work off some of that turkey, freak your wife out by getting your Christmas shopping done painlessly.

—————————- PRESS RELEASE ———————————–

The holidays will soon be upon us and Gloucester is getting ready! Please join more than 22 stores who will be opening early on Friday, November 23rd, some as early as 6AM!

Watch for a glittery star soon to be hanging in participating stores. Some stores will have special sales, give-aways and prizes, we want your business!  Get ready for a special, friendly, personal experience without the lines and crowds! 

Lone Gull will be open at 5:45 AM to get you caffeinated and ready to shop. And, as always, thank you for shopping locally and supporting your downtown businesses. We appreciate our customers!  Just in case you were not aware, there are several new shops on Main St. Please come down and see what Gloucester has to offer.

*please visit each store with a star for particular sale and promotion details* Stars will be up by November 2nd!

If you have to leave the Island of Cape Ann for a wiener.

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Make sure you stop by the new home of Karl’s Sausage Kitchen. No longer at Oops, I missed the driveway on Route 1 right before 128, it is now, easy on and off at One Bourbon Street, Peabody, MA. Brats, and other multiple grill-able tubular meats and now a café with beer, wine, and your favorite German wiener on a plate with real honest to god mustard.

Has anyone checked out the new digs? Click their old Route 1 sign to go to Karl’s Facebook page. They are social media wieners.

Rubber Duck is Torn

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Rubber Duck has been enjoying an Italian Restaurant in Rockport that is perfect.  It’s like sitting down to family dinner but your mom is an awesome Italian chef serving new eye popping specials every time you walk in.  BYOB a nice Italian Cabernet from Sea Breeze and it is yet another eatery on Cape Ann that is spectacular.  The surfeit of riches we are all spoiled by.

But Rubber Duck likes to pull in on Friday night without a reservation and grab the last table.  If Rubber Duck blabs on GMG that table might be gone. So the question for Rubber Duck:

a) Take the bullet and blab.

b) You’re a bit slow RD, we all know about the place you are quacking about.

c) Shut your bill Rubber Duck before you screw up a good thing.

d) Try to act like a normal duck and make a reservation!

Give me your answer in comments and do not run to the place and blab to Donna that the dude with the red cast on his arm is hiding a duck under the table.

[Addendum] Besides the comments Rubber Duck’s cell phone has been ringing off the hook.  The consensus is that RD can call ahead just like everyone else.

Lo Grasso’s Cafe – Bistro, 13 Railroad Avenue, Rockport, MA

Call 978.546.7977 for reservations. Dinner only, opens at 5PM Wed/Thur/Frid/Sat.  Tell Donna the Rubber Duck sent you and you’ll get absolutely nothing off.

Rubber Duck Represents in Vienna

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You know how mad Uncle Donald Duck would get with his nephews? That would be RD when I got her out of this bag. Thought I was going to carryon but then at the last minute checked  the bag and forgot about the rubber one. All was forgiven after I got her some Weissbier.  

Rubber Duck checks in from the Mediterranean

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Rubber Duck has been dressed and talking like a pirate all week. RD loved the pig trotters so much we might go back for the other two feet today. Saffron mushroom sauce.Next up Vienna wieners, but not from a can.

 

Rubber Duck Public Service Announcements

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This Wednesday, September 19th is a big day for two reasons. First, as a very heavy drinker of the Apple Kool-Aid I will be updating my iPhone to iOS6 on Wednesday morning.

The other very big deal as we all know and that is that September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day! Start practicing now, arrgh!

What the Rubber Duck? #002

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This a variation on Where is the Rubber Duck. First one was too easy. See that sign attached to the Rubber Duck door? Where did it come from?No hints except that the sign was fully visible some years ago In Gloucester. If no one gets it I will start giving hints. If you know the answer come on down to EJ’s party this afternoon to get your Rubber Duck autographed GMG stickah.

Where Is Rubber Duck? #001

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A new Rubber Duck Series, Where is Rubber Duck starts today to kick off the Schooner Festival. We will be working out the grand prizes but right now for #001 the first GMGer to enter into the comments the exact location of Rubber Duck will win a GMG bumper sticker autographed by Rubber Duck. Completeness counts. Getting the what and why will ensure victory.Where Is Rubber Duck?Hints:

1) R. Duck’s location has something to do with the Schooner Festival.

2) Greg Bover cannot play this round.

Rubber Duck Gets a Parking Ticket!!

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Just to show the honorable and effective meter maids of Gloucester do not play favorites they practically put the ticket under RD’s bill. But since Rubber Duck did indeed stretch the idea of a parking spot a bit parking at the front door of the Cape Ann Brew she went and paid the $15 fine promptly.

A bill stuck under the bill, god I suck at puns.

RD Fun fact: Don’t let these tickets sit in your pocket since the fine just gets bigger. Go to: www.gloucester-ma.gov , type in your ticket number and your plate number then shwing, you can use your credit card. They do tack on $3.50 if paid electronically but it is well worth it to get it off your dash or desk top. Pay a parking ticket, fill a pothole.

And it was well worth it. Rubber Duck was giving Shelley the visiting Biochemist from New Mexico the full Cape Ann tour which included lobster pick up and meeting Joey at the dock as well as the fish and chips (awesome huge chunks of haddock) at Cape Ann Brew.

If the Red Sox can do it …

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Seagulls for Sale5PM edit: I came back an hour later and there was $4.85 in the cup. Should Rubber Duck consult a lawyer before we move to a more popular beach? The overhead is dirt cheap. A few breadcrumbs, maybe a fish rack or two.

I stole the concept for this idea from XKCD comics and forgot to atribute them. They are math nerds who make you laugh with equations and other science stuff. I usually wet my pants when I read them. The seagull one was just weird.

Come Home Rubber Duck!

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Wow, Rubber Duck got caught in a wicked back eddy and now she is practically off the map. There be dragons down here on this island.

Rubber Duck Tracker Current Location.

She hopes to be back on the right island of Cape Ann by Mug Up this Sunday. RD really enjoyed reading the art*throb article especially the part about her love life. Wow, they almost called Rubber Duck the mascot of GMG. (Of course she knows that isn’t true; she would never usurp Homie’s rightful place.)

Four more days of humidity and hush puppies.

It’s #FISHFRIDAY

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Besides GMG the one blog I have to check out on Friday is Skip Montello et. al. at the North Coast Angler website. As we work into the summer doldrums of striped bass and bluefish a good read is the North Coast Angler Friday fish report. Social Media is covered well here because right near the top you can click on Twitter @captskipnca and Facebook @North Coast Angler for up to the minute advice on how to keep your line wet and tight.

Click the fish. Hmm, come on, I want a new report. Any minute now.

Blackburn Challenge Wrap-Up

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Couldn’t ask for better weather. Cloudy and not too hot, wind really of no consequence. I’ll cover the race from most crazy to least crazy, just the highlights. The full spreadsheet of race results go to Cape Ann Rowing Club Web site here.

First up, the Stand Up Paddle. Local Bay Viewer, Gloucester Will Rich put down a time of 3 hours 57 minutes last year. Less than 4 hours all the way around Cape Ann. Standing up. That is crushing it. So this year he cut that down to 3:37:45 on a SUP. That is officially the most crazy.

Next up, the boats that should not be on an ocean with waves. Sliding seat racers, single and doubles as well as some of the high performance kayaks (HPK) look like they would be insane to paddle with any chop. Place rubber duck in any of them and they would flip in 10 seconds. But Daniel Gorriaran and Scott Whitney posted the best time in a sliding seat racing double at 2:19:54. Are you serious? (But not a Blackburn record. 2009 a sliding seat racing double did it in 2:15. Not sure if that is the overall record. A BC historian could comment and I will correct.)

And last but not least, Rubber Duck. Well, totally improving each year. Here are her times the past four years: 2009 DNS “did not start”, she had bronchitis. Quack. 2010; 5:30 there was beer left in the keg, that was fun. 2011; 5:22 Ed, the duck, and I stop at Andrews Point for a beer and also finished before the keg is done. Cool. 2012; 4:49 OK, cutting off enough time to get under 5 hours and I didn’t fall in the water getting out. The best part is Rubber Duck paddled past Jimmy T before the DogBar Breakwater. I am sure it wasn’t because he saw the rubber one pass him but he definitely picked it up in the last two miles in the harbor but the rubbery one held him off finishing just 25 seconds ahead of him. Mister Tarantino was in a Banks Dory that was more than a few hundred pounds heavier than Rubber Duck’s kayak but pwnd is pwned.

Next year Rubber Duck goes under 4:30 heading for under four hours by 2015. Gotta set goals.

As always the Cape Ann Rowing Club did a superb job officiating and taking care of every racer’s needs, even a slow whiny duck. Best pulled pork ever.  See you next year on the Essex River. Time for a nap.

ps. Only 362 days (unconfirmed July 13, 2013) until the 27th Blackburn Challenge. Start your training now!

Thank you all for the Blackburn Challenge Coverage

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Rubber Duck felt like a movie star. The ultimate was paddling like crazy and I hear my name called but I am going under the A. Priatt bridge how could … then I see Donna at the rail way the hell up there (that was a long lens she shot of me with my mouth open stopped in the water agog.)

The whole race Rubber Duck got a shout out from so many points. The race was so much fun I wanted to go around again. Improved my time a bit. Having Rubber Duck face me was much better aerodynammically and we were able to chat so much more.

Time for pizza, thanks all, Rubber Duck and Paul M.

ps. I can’t thank all the photographers because there were so many and special thanks to Ed Collard who not only was at the start along with Donna and Rick, (and all were at the finish along with Kathy Chapman) but he held my kayak as I exited and I did not fall in or over. So, improved time, nice exit, the weather and tides could not have been more perfect,   and this Joey coverage I am just now reading with all the maps is just a hoot.

Paddling around the circumference of Cape Ann, looking into every nook and cranny, cove and craggy point, underlines to me how lucky we are to live in such a place. But it would just be a rocky island without the amazing people who inhabit it.

pps. my internet and mail are down and out and even my iPhone mail is plugged up (you all might get a bunch of mail on a Monday morning reset) so I am back to finishing Joe Garland’s Lone Voyager. I thought I knew the Howard Blackburn story but this dude was amazing.

ppps. And I would be completely remiss if I did not mention what an amazing production that the Cape Ann Rowing Club pulls off for this race. Over 300 racers swarm into Gloucester High School but the behind the scenes work is done as smooth as silk. The pulled pork and cold beer are delish and throughout the race there was a red flagged boat out there making sure we did not paddle off to Nova Scotia. Donna Lind et al., you do an amazing job and I hope it is so much fun you do it again and again because I’ll be back.

Saturday: Give a Hoot and a Holler to the Blackburners

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I’m reading Joe Garland’s The Lone Voyager to psyche Rubber Duck up for the paddle on Saturday. Extraordinary.

7:45AM to 8:45 AM the paddle boards to outriggers set off from behind Gloucester High School. Give the paddlers (and rowers) a shout out as they go by and that would be anywhere on Cape Ann because they go all the way around.  To help, follow the Rubber Duck Tracker clicking here for up to date real time view of where the Rubber Duck is and come on down to Pavilion Beach when the flotilla pulls in.

Two Days to Blackburn Challenge and Everyone is Ready

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Including Rubber Duck. She has been pumping iron (and a one and a two, OK now)

and has now moved on from the Horribles Parade hat she was sitting on last week and is now safely strapped down to the forward kayak cockpit with the secret Rubber Duck Tracker GPS System® attached below the black seal. Click the link to go to the Rubber Duck Tracking System®.

The Blackburn Challenge will start behind the Gloucester High School and the starting gun for her race is 8:20 AM this Saturday. She will start paddling and activate her Rubber Duck powered GPS system around 8AM. Then it is up the Annisquam River over to Halibut Point, down Sandy Bay past Rockport then all uphill into the tide and southwest wind along the backshore to the DogBar Breakwater then turn right for another uphill two mile paddle to the greasy pole. Right now the tracker is showing Rubber Duck as she went to Falmouth Inner Harbor to catch a bluefin tuna on Tuesday (photos when available). Be sure to “refresh” the page and you will know exactly where she is all day which will be about two hours behind the winners although she is quite svelte now for a Rubber Duck and might burn some rubber on the track. So if you have nothing better to do check it out and meet us on Pavilion Beach a little after noon Saturday. Paul Frontiero will be there to capture the exit from the kayak on video.

Countdown to Blackburn

Cape Ann Rowing Club Website

Blackburn Challenge Just 7 Days Away on Saturday, July 14

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And Registration ends tonight, Saturday, July 7 at midnight.

So click here to register now!

Click here for a map of the course.  Look familiar? That’s because it’s Cape Ann. All you have to do is get into your watercraft with an oar or paddle at Gloucester High School and paddle over to the Greasy Pole but go the long way around Cape Ann. You’ll have lots of company (304 already signed up) and cold beer and a pulled pork sandwich awaits you at Pavilion Beach.

Cape Ann Rowing Club Website