Finally, I see blue sky peeking out of the clouds above. We have just endured four straight days of heavy rain, winds and storms. The Roseville Golf Club tournament was usurped by the driving rains of yesterday. Luckily, my club had our Christmas party on Thursday and the board went out and played golf that morning. I'm the Handicap Chairman and I shot a 78 at Woodcreek, that included an even par 36 on the back nine...and the guys owed me some moolah at the end of the round. I'm at the point in my golf life that the score is more important than winning money, so the cash was a bonus. I just walked out in the back yard and saw that one of my goldfish in the backyard pond was a victim of the storm. We have about 80 fish in the pond and this is just the second that I've lost in three years.

The storm also caused some water damage at my rental home in Galt. The tenant called to inform me that they have a leak in the laundry room that is coming from the ceiling, draining through the cabinet, along the wall and onto the dryer. I called that in to my homeowners carrier this morning and they will be out there hopefully by tomorrow to survey the damage.

When it rains, it pours...and that is a sad pun at this point. I took the Explorer in to have the damage estimated from the garage door incident. I was WAY off on my estimate of $1800. The actual cost is $1414.72. They have to replace the window, repaint and re-install the wiper assembly. The job will take three days and I take the rig in on January 6th for the repairs.

Our weekend was soggy and spent indoors. David had a basketball tournament at Roseville High School and they ended up taking second place in the three day tournament with their only loss coming in the championship game..where they lost 55-54 on a last second layup. We had a 54-52 lead with 12 seconds left. They got the ball in to their best shooter and David breathed on the guy and drew a foul ( I think the ref anticipated a foul). The play was set by our coach to double on their best shooter as soon as he got the ball, but before we could rotate another defender to him, he drew the foul. He made the first shot, missed the second, but we didn't box out and they scored on a layup. We had a final try for the win, but the shot was short. David took the loss hard and said it was his fault, but it wasn't. We didn't box out on the free throw and really David didn't foul the kid. As an athlete, he took the loss hard. It looked like we won the game, but it wasn't to be. It is a character building loss....or that's the cliche at least.

Darla and I went out Saturday afternoon with Alicia, her sister, and saw the movie "A Big Fat Greek Wedding". For those of you who have missed this cinematic treat, go to the theater while it is still on the big screen. It is a hilarious portrayal of life in a Greek family that has emigrated to the US. Take someone you love and prepare to laugh until you cry. The movie was written by a Greek actress who had trouble getting parts because she is...um, not a blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty. She wrote the movie as a play, ran it in Los Angeles and Rita Wilson happened to see it and bought the film rights. Rita is Greek and saw a winner. The actress who wrote the play stars in the movie and it is a treat.

I talked to Jennifer this weekend. She is being promoted today to E-3, Private First Class in a ceremony in her batallion. The commander will replace her medals on her collar with the PFC designation and then she has to perform 10 times her rank in pushups (30). It is a right of passage. Her roomate is being promoted to E-4, Specialist at the same time and will have to perform forty pushups. Congratulations to the soldiers. Jen will be in Augusta over Christmas and will be sadly missed here at home. Her e-mail is iimor4unklsam@msn.com for anyone who wants to send her a message. I'm proud of her accomplishments. She will be going to Arizona in January for another nine weeks of fibre optics installation training at an Air Base outside of Tuscon. She is looking forward to getting out of the ice and cold of Southern Georgia and into the sun of Arizona. Send her a note and wish her well.

That is the news for now. I hope you all are doing well and prepared for the celebration of Christ's birth next week.