06.24.26 We're getting closer everyday Jim...

     Last day, tough day. It comes with the territory. It was final exam day. In the end two of my students weren't successful and will have to repeat the same course next year. It kills me when this happens. One thing I do is take it to heart. I review the final exam several times to make 

sure there wasn't a trend in poor performance on any particular question and I check myself to see what I could have done better. It's kind of like, "No Child Left Behind", but I felt like I did just that. But they are resilient and strong, and will be successful next year.

     And since I was bummed out for the day I took the opportunity to do something to lift my spirits. With the days ticking down it was finally time to pry the tires of the Jones Brother's boat off the concrete pad where it has sat for several years now. I say it's my boat, but it will always be Jim, of BrineFly and Pulse Disc fames, Matson's pride and joy. 

     Jim purchased it in 1996 and used it over the years until his passing in 2018. It sat for two more years before I purchased it from his wife Laura. It was an interesting take over. Jim, as I called him the mad scientist, had this boat rigged up in ways boat mechanics and electricians couldn't make heads or tails of. 

     It had radar, it had every scan you could imagine, enough batteries to power New York City, motors in the front and back, and more switches and wires then your old grandfather's train layout 

from the 1960's that he kept down in the dungeon of a basement. I used the boat several times but each time it was was nerve wracking. Luckily I always had a bud with me to help out when things went sideways.

     Would it start? Would it stay running? Can we shut it off? And for Popovics, "Did I put the plug in?". And no day was more challenging than that December morning, December 4th to be exact, in 2020. Bunky and I had a good morning out there and did everything correct when taking her out at the Atlantic Highlands Marina, including chocking the wheel with the emergency brakes on. And there you go....

     But for most of my ownership life it's sat under cover throughout the seasons. I went and sold the 175 HPDI engine off of her, as it was an older, finicky, and hard to find parts and anyone to work on it type engine, and the radar tower is gone. It's pretty much a shell of a boat that is ready, like I am, for the next, and maybe final chapter of her life. Soon I will be dropping Donnie Jones a letter telling him the story of me, my history with JB's dating back to 2011, and the story of Jim's boat. I'll need his guidance on what to do and who to do it to get her back, and recreate that picture of Jim with the boat in 1996. But the one will be of me, probably in 2027. 

     My Suburban doesn't have the tow bar installed so my brother had to come over and move the boat so I could clean her up and get her ready for the ride. Before I go I'll be bringing her to a trailer place to have it lubed and wired up and safe for the trip south. In the meantime a pressure washed bath is what was needed yesterday. 

     Even with the boat cover and tarp stuff from the trees made its way underneath. As I did this I couldn't help but picture Jim looking down shaking his head, disappointedly, that this is what had become of his beloved Jone's Brother's 19'10" Cape Fisherman. But like I told Laura when I made my final payment, "One day she'll be as good as new again". 

Shakedown trip with Rob Yaskovic, December 5 2011

     I won't go into my Jone's Brother's history but I have one. It dates back to Dave Choinard and The Fly Hatch. It continued over the years meeting donnie Jones at The Fly Fishing shows where he used to bring a boat up from Morehead City, NC. Just about all my friends, well you know how I hate that word- more acquaintances, have had JB's. Choinard, Eidman, Dapra, Hoblitzell, Shave, Tondra, Muholland x 2, Ferraro, and now Sciortino and Nicosia. I'm sure there's more but it's 0452 and my mind is already racing. I bought my first in 2011, sold it in 2019, and then took possession of Jim's boat in October 2020, making the last payment a few years later. 

     So, like I planned six years ago, this is what I'd like to see happen. Get a new trailer. Remove the bottom paint. Replace the metal gas tank. Fix the spongy deck. Get her rewired. Mount the trolling motor. Repower her with another Yamaha 150. Leave or take off the Bob's Jack Plate, have to do some research about the benefits with that in skinny water vs the added ass-end weight, and reinstall the poling platform. Jim, of course, went ahead and removed the stock platform from the rear, and designed and built a better one. 

     He kept the pieces to it in the barn and when I went to try and figure it out, yet again, my small mind couldn't, so all it went into the metal recycling pile. I love this guy, but he killed me at every turn when it came to this boat. So I'll be looking to reinstall an original platform, and my friend Captain Paul Eidman has just what I need. He's been my JB's guide and mentor since 2011. It was with Paul that I took his Cape Fishermen up to Connecticut to have the tank switched out and some deck work done. He went and repowered and went to a 200 HP Suzuki, which has higher headroom. So he had to remove the casting platform that covers the engine.

So his old one is waiting for me and to take the ride down to North our South Carolina, wherever Donnie says we should drop the boat off for it's makeover. 

     And then I wondered, "Am I meant to begin the new chapter of my life restoring the boat on my own?". I'll have, God willing, The Shrimp Shack, and that glorious space to work on it down in Ridgeland, SC. How hard could it be?

     I could just see her backed in there with a big fan on me as I take her down to the bare bones and start from scratch. But in the end it'll only take me five years, way over budget, and probably done half-assed, and of course not 100% completed. In the end she'll probably leak or short out or something. But isn't that how I roll? Maybe, finally, for once in my adult life, I will let someone else do something, and do it right, from start to finish.

06.23.26 Alrighty, one last nursing school related post...

      Well the Capitol Health School of Nursing chapter of my book is now complete. One year and done. Great kids, great hospital, could be a great nursing school, and it will be one day. But for now I'm done. From labs, to lecture, to clinical rotations in long-term care, med/surg, the emergency room/trauma center, to inpatient psych, and the Trenton State Psychiatric Hospital, it's all been a hoot. 

     Yesterday was our last day in the class room and the kids sent me off with a bang. One thing is for sure, it's really nice to be appreciated and remembered. It was a little over a year ago when kids from Essex County College sent me off with a similar gathering. What's funny is, 

both groups hung banners that said, "Congratulations Quitter". I don't know how that happened. I'd like to think I didn't quit on any of them and I know I worked hard in helping them help themselves navigate through nursing school and into practice. 

     When I told the kids yesterday I had been wearing the same t-shirt for two days, because stuff is either packed up or in the laundry, they quickly said, "No worries, we can fix that". One student has a $20 a month subscription to ChatGpt and below is what she came up with.

     While the above is funny, it's also scary where all this technology, like AI, is taking us. AI is like ADHD. The brain is moving faster then the body can keep up with it. So while we are enjoying things like the above, the machines are running 24/7 and will one day control, or short circuit everything. The next collapse of society will be one big AI computer related meltdown. 

     We are using AI and ChatGpt for everything these days. From patient notes in healthcare, to quick questions and answers, to algorithms for commerce, to tracking and forecasting everyones every move everywhere everyday- it's scary to say the least. But the people who master it will succeed, and will be rich, at least financially, in the process. 

     One day positions like nursing instructors may be a thing of the past, or at least as I know it. Currently, we have moved from bedside instruction to classroom "simulation". It's like having sex with a rubber doll practicing for the big day when you go "live". Not the same by any means. We've replaced textbooks and paper with on-line books and V-Sims. And, we've replaced true nursing educators, like ones with tons of experience, with any Master's prepared nurse who's done with bedside or wants to do the last years before they retire in the classroom. And I won't even get into all of the on-line, virtual, and hybrid nursing programs out there. That's from entry into practice, to bachelors, to Masters, to Doctorate level. Calling someone a "Doctor" who spent a year answering threaded discussions and writing papers....C'mon man, or woman. I'll call you by your first name thank you. 

     By the time I left the kids yesterday my blood sugar was about 800. In addition to a few bagels, some Munchkins, Ronah's cake, I chased it with some chicken and rice and ribs, and then topped it off with some candy. Today I'll try and let my pancreas rest a bit. 

     And after today's final exam it's go time. We might have a little situation with the well water system that needs to be addressed. While we haven't been ingesting E-coli out here for years there's some other stuff we've been brewing our coffee in that we shouldn't have. But unless you get your water tested regularly you're probably drinking the same shit I am. We'll see where this goes starting tomorrow. 

06.22.26 After a nice Father's Day now it's off to the races...

     I hit Father's Day from two angles like most of you. I have a father and I am a father. Luckily for me I my father is still alive. Many of you have laid your father, and or both of your parents, to rest already. My three parents are still alive so I get to have them as important people in my life and get to celebrate them on the Hallmark holidays like Mother's and Father's Day. My Dad's been in my life for 58 years which is a lot longer then most people have had, and for that I am grateful. 

     And then I am a Dad, a Dad in varying degrees and titles. Biological Dad, adopted Dad, step-Dad, I think I've hit them all. But while some of you have buried a parent already, I've buried a son. That's for a different post. So there were seven children, now there are six. I brought four and Theresa brought three. Now we're tied up. Over the last three days I was able to see four of the six, which, as a Dad and a parent, is what you want more then anything. Or at least I do. You just want time. Well, actually you first just want to be remembered, and then you want time together. 

     I remember a time when people didn't miss things. Calendars meant something. Things were just a not-miss. There were cards and gifts. People made an effort to get a gift, pick up something for the party, and most important, were there in the flesh. These days credit is given for a one lined text or for some Costco appetizer or dessert you picked up on your way to a gathering. And the gifts? Ordered on Amazon a day before, if you get one at all. 

     I got the above text from one of my nursing students who sent it out in our class group chat. It made me smile. It took a little thought and work, even though AI did the heavy lifting. 

     One of things that always gets me is when I ask both mother's and father's what they are doing on said days. Most of the time it's, "Ask my kids", or "I haven't heard from them yet", and "They're asking me?", like, "Hey Dad, what are we doing for Father's Day?". 

     Yes, the truth is these "days" are kind of silly. We should cherish and remember our parents, unless they were your trauma, each and everyday. I guess for the shitty kids in the world at least they have to fake it one day a year. But for the other's I offer you this advice. Pick-up the phone. Make some plans. Put a few dates on the calendar per year. One day you'll wake up on these silly days and you'll be wishing one or both of them were still around. 

     And if you look at the picture of me and Dad up above you can see we look like we should be in an Abe Pieciak catalogue. He's the artist who made the shirts. Well the truth is we're so packed up I don't know where my clothes are so I was thankful he loaded me up with some MV swag. I was lucky to have something to wear, and something to give, to yesterday's Father's Day gathering.

     I did receive a good Father's Day gift yesterday. It was the phone call we've been waiting for. Shortly before I left for the Vineyard we put our place down in Cape May up for sale. We had a sign in the window and I had put it on several Facebook pages. The calls and messages were sporadic. Yesterday, before we went to Dad's, we decided to lower the price....and Boom!

     Father's Day must have been buy a place down in Cape May day because my phone and Messenger account blew-up. It was truly first come first buy. We had a guy who was down that way with his family who wanted to see it and he did. We leave the place open so he was able to check it out and inspect what he wanted and that was it. He sent a deposit and we'll get the rest in cash on Wednesday. 

     It was during July, 2020, when we towed our camper down to Holly Shores Campground in Rio Grande, just outside of Cape May, for a two-week stay. I was pimpin' at that time in a newer Ford F-150 and we had picked up the camper for $3,500 on, where else, Facebook Marketplace. While down there Theresa found Cape Island Resort and we decided to jump. In order to get it done we would have to sell the travel trailer and my pick-up. 

     We took some pictures of the camper and put it on Facebook Marketplace and I think in five hours it was sold. The lady drove down from north Jersey with a stack of hundreds and we were one step closer in getting into Cape Island. 

     We sold it for $5,000, which means it's one of the few good investments I've made in my life. When we got back up in Titusville the pick-up sold equally as fast. We're just movers and shakers like that. 

     In the end we paid $13,000 for it, and enjoyed it for the last six years. We put in some sweat equity in by installing the patio and the parking lot demo shed from Lowe's. The only money we sank into it was the rooftop air conditioner, which I think was $900. 

     As we prepare to make the move to South Carolina we realized we want to keep one foot in New Jersey, and Cape Island does just that. And hopefully, one day, the kids will realize what gold they have access to down there, and will start to use it. 

     So we bought a new place down in Cape Island. It's just around the corner from our current location. Bigger, solid hard topped Florida room, double loft for additional sleeping, and an office. It's also surrounded by trees which helps keep the place cool, there's no homes across the quiet street, and it's a good hang as we've always seen people having get togethers and campfires while we take Luke for a walk. 

     So to add a little more chaos to our lives Tuesday after work we'll had down to Cape May to pack up and make yet another move. There are so many moving parts that it's hard to keep track of it all. But soon, like in less then a month, we'll have sold one place and have purchased three other's. All the while knowing it could all come crumbling down if just one thing doesn't go as planned. 

6.21.26 Day 10 - Home to New Jersey, a trip recap, Happy Father's Day, and see you next year.....

 

     Well that's another year in the books. And a good year it was. I'll talk about getting off the island and then home before a little recap in photos. We were pretty much all set as far as being packed and the place tightened up for our early morning departures. Flatwing was due to leave at 700 and me at 815. I took the shot and left with Joe and asked the lady in the booth if there

 was any way I might be able to move my ferry ride up. She radioed over to someone and I was the first guy in Lane 1. Soon I was being waved over to board the 0645 to the mainland. 

     As we pulled around West Chop I could see the waves coming across Middle Ground. Surely this was the windiest day to date. I know Custom had a plan to fish and maybe take his kayak out but I don't know if that happened. In fishing they say "West is Best", that's not always true, especially on the Vineyard. 

     When I pulled off the ferry I knew I was heading to one spot, Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Last week stopping there was like hitting Disney World for adults. It had everything a man could ever want. WalMart, Tractor Supply, McDonald's, Home Depot, and of course Ocean State Job Lot. 

     My first move was to test my Maaco paint job by running it through a car wash. My truck was full of white sandy dust coupled with saltwater spray from the ride over. Bedsides the antenna that I thought was going to get pulled out the paint stayed on the truck. It was then a quick stop at McDonald's where I had a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit sandwich. 

     I hadn't had a taste of McDonald's in a week and missed the opportunity to choose to eat at one as there's none on the island. There's no chain stores on the Vineyard, and there's plenty of shitty places to eat, and overpriced as well, so to poo-poo the Vineyard I backed up the BEC again. They were delicious. 

     And then it was back to Ocean State Job Lot which, next to the now defunct Christmas Tree Shops, is my favorite all around go-to store. But we have none in New Jersey anymore so I hit the above store again. I was on the phone with my brother as I walked around and at one point he told me he was off in the hunt for socks for work. "Bro, I'm at OSJL and I got you". 

Where else are you going to get "Worksite" crew socks 9 pairs for $7.99. So like the Mickey D's BEC sandwich, I got him a pack, and then backed it up again. When I rolled into the checkout line the lady at the register said, "Going somewhere cold?", because in the end I bought five packs.

     So I pulled onto the ferry at 0645 AM and into the driveway in Titusville at 345 PM, it is a long day when you are traveling door to door from home to the Vineyard. Next year it will be Bluffton, South Carolina to Aquinnah (16 hours), or Cape May, New Jersey to Aquinnah (7 hours). Either way I'm not missing it and believe it or not it's only 349 days away if we go June 5 -12, 2027.

     So now a little recap. Going away for a week is not an easy task. First you have to be able to have a kinda clear slate at home to be able to leave. And then you need a most understanding spouse who will "let" you go. Theresa wins the award this year for Best Wife as she had to hold down a ton of things at home, and did it in 95 degree temperatures in that big old house. That included mowing the lawn, an acre, twice, with a 30 inch push mower. 

     And next you need your crew. That's makes all the difference in the world. It's nice to go away with guys you know each year. Sometimes when new people are brought in it throws off the vibe. Basically it comes down to "If you're in, then you're in". It's not cheap going to the Vineyard for the week so there's no bailing out, unless your left ventricle blows out unexpectedly. You either pay your share, find a replacement, or give the crew enough notice to try and fill your spot. 

     Finding a rental is not an easy task. These days they are a small fortune. Luckily Flatwing found us a place in Vineyard Haven that was more than suitable. In fact, I liked the location. 

Parking was a bitch though and it was a hike Up-Island. But for me the early part of the trip I stayed in Aquinnah, when I fished Menemhsa Pond, and then after we checked in I was all about Tashmoo, which was close. It's nice being near stores and people and few different places to fish. We need to start looking now for places next year. Joe Carey was the master at running a trip, and he did it from start to finish. 

    I took a little of his system this past week with monies spent by each of us. If you bought something you would get a receipt and on the last night we'd figure out who spent what and who owed who what. Needless to say I almost had a seizure trying to figure it out, but in then end I think everyone was square. 

     We said the week went fast, for me I had a little bonus time. Now I'm up to my nuts with things to do this year, all the house, well houses stuff, and ending the semester this coming Tuesday. One week isn't enough and two weeks would be too much. I like coming in two days before the rental begins and getting in bromance time and some early scouting in before the rest of the band shows up. Truth be told, fishing on the Vineyard, for me, has gone down, like worse, since my first trip 13 years ago. I thought in these new times of "All big fish- no little fish", that I just might encounter that. But the week was tough. Three guys fishing six days. Each guy each day fished six hours. That's 18 hours per day, time six days, equals 108 hours. We landed 10 fish between us, or one fish every 10 hours of fishing. And I think I saw maybe 60 fish the entire week. 

So for the recap,

Favorite overall pic-

Best fishing not catching pic-

Best two buds pic, duh- 

Best fish holding pic-

My best fish pic-

Best ladder shot pic-

Best looking for shadows pic-

Best casting pic-

Best nap in a coma pic - 

Best I better put a pic of them eating Theresa's meatballs pic-

Best fly tying pic - 

Portrait of the trip pic - 

Best "I ran over my Orvis Helios D 9 ft 10 wt" pic - 

Best group hang pic-

    So there you have it. Now I have to get back over to the storage unit and empty out my truck and get back to gettin' back. Father's Day is today over at my Dad's, final exam prep with the nursing students tomorrow and my last day at Capital Health with final exam on Tuesday. And then it's the countdown and scramble to get to the finish line, which is the first closing July 16th.  

     So we'll see what next year brings, or not. Right now I'm in and it would take a mountain to move me from that position. I do love Martha's Vineyard, and the people there, and the opportunity to stand on a ladder waiting for a fish to swim by. It's frustrating, annoying at times, but everyone that knows me knows it's one of my happy places. See you in 2027.