December 8, 2007
Tuesday Teaser gift card winner for November
My buddy Paul came over today to help with some chores and look for some tools misplaced during chores past. He had to dig through piles of building supplies, stacks of paint buckets and boxes full of screwdrivers, wrenches and box cutters, but he eventually found his paint gun and its accessories. I’ve known Paul since shortly after I moved to Oahu. At one time he managed some ocean-front vacation rentals near Makaha Beach, where I used to swim and snorkel almost daily. It was his habit to spend the late afternoons sipping rum and unabashedly ogling women on the beach. I guess it was inevitable that we’d eventually meet and become friends. A while later I was in the process of buying my home when the company that brought me to Hawaii went out of business. I lost the lease on the condo I’d lived in for two years and was a day away from being homeless when Paul stepped in. My son and I lived with him for a couple of months while I sorted out finances and got into my new home. Several years later I was able to return the favor when the cottages Paul had been managing were sold and he found himself without a job or a home. He helps me with handy-man stuff around the house and we still see each other pretty frequently.
Paul calls himself an old pirate. That would be laughable from most folks, but in his case it’s true. Back in the eighties there was a “seven days wonder” news story when a drug barge was burned in Southeast Louisiana. The smuggling crew had realized that their covert operation had been discovered so they torched the barge and made their escape. The fire burned down to the waterline, leaving several tons of marijuana relatively undamaged. The pirates enjoyed a few months of freedom, but were all eventually captured. I lived in the area at that time and remembered the story twenty years later when Paul relayed it to me from an insider’s viewpoint. He retired from piracy, served his time at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut and has lived a fairly quiet life since then. He’s a talented woodworker staying with friends while he’s between homes, but hoping to get a place of his own again soon so he can set up his wood shop. Until then, he’ll work for beer or a home-cooked meal. 
You know how the drawings work. I put the weekly winner’s names on strips of paper and put them into the magic prize mug.
Paul shuffled up the slips …
…pretended not to look …
…and drew out a winner.
Congratulations to Chuck Foxtrot, who has won the $10.00 gift card for November. The advantage of having his name in the drawing three times paid off. Congrats also to my other weekly winners, and mahalo to all of you who have played. I’ll see you here again next Tuesday when I once again try to stump you with Tueday Teasers.
[tags]contest, contest winner, friends, photos, pirates, prize drawing[/tags]
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December 9th, 2007 at 8:13 am, Chuck Foxtrot Says:
Sweet! I have to be the only person in history who has had his name drawn at random by a pirate and had it be a good thing… There will be some discussion over at my place about my pirate luck (undoubtedly brought about becasue of my picture of the FSM and his love for pirates) in the next couple of days.
Thanks Skeet & Paul
December 10th, 2007 at 1:28 pm, skeet Says:
You better get busy blogging, Chuck! I’ve still got one review on hold for you and now I owe you another. Congrats again!
December 10th, 2007 at 2:47 pm, Phil Says:
Wow, lets try this again. My blog website is http://mechanicsburgramblins.blogspot.com. That shouldn’t come up as a gamblings spot. Though I do like playing slots now and again. I still am looking forward to your tuesday contest as I want to have my name pulled out of the hat by a pirate also.
Namaste.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:51 pm, Phil Says:
Lets try that one more time:
http://mechanicsburgramblins.blogspot.com
That should do it.
Sheesh
December 10th, 2007 at 4:08 pm, skeet Says:
Aloha, Phil, and welcome back to skeet’s stuff. I had over two hundred spam posts in my akismet folder this morning. I think what happened was that I skimmed pretty quickly and saw “gramblins” in you link, then associated that with a scraper site for a gambling site that was showing up in my links. My bad. I usually sort carefully, but there was just so much junk today that I “misplaced” you. My bad!
I’m glad you came back & I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for Tuesday Teaser! I usually post it around midnight Hawaii time, so it should go up about eight hours from now.
October 11th, 2008 at 11:48 pm, skeet’s stuff » Tuesday Teaser gift card winner for September Says:
[…] friend Paul has been helping me out lately and he partnered with me on the garage sale. He has better stuff […]