The last day of March is upon us and April draws nigh. I am off to the San Francisco Bay Area to once again tangle with the brainless War protestors in pursuit of simply doing my job. I have a meeting near Union Square tomorrow and one in the financial district and I don't look forward to the disruptive force of morons with nothing better to do than make nuisances of themselves. I support their right to have differing views, but hold dear to my rights to keep these idiots out of my face. Go up to Canada and join the rest of the cowards who don't support the war and speak fluent French.

I made reference in an earlier epistle to the war protestors perhaps getting their just desserts if they attempt to disrupt the opening of baseball at Pac Bell Park. Well, as luck would have it, I will be there to witness the spectacle as I have two tickets to Opening Day. The Giant's website had a drawing and I won the chance to spend my hard earned dinero on some ducats to the game. I didn't think twice as I laid out the $22 each for view reserved tickets at Pac Bell park. There is nothing like the hope and enthuisiasm that infects an opening day crowd. I look forward to one of the rights of Spring next Monday.

When I return from my trip to San Francisco, San Jose, and Salinas, I will have but a day to contemplate my lot in life before Darla and I board a plane at 4:30 Thursday afternoon bound for Las Vegas and a weekend of fun and sun with Dad and Shirley. I've been travelling so much and out of town that it will be good for my bride and I to get reacquainted away from the stresses and mundanity of home life. I reserved tickets for the four of us Friday night at the Catch a Rising Star comedy club inside the Excalibur. It should be four great days of decompression and reinvigoration. Darla and I will bring books to lounge by the pool with. I am working on the fifth "Left Behind" book by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins that chronicle their view of what will happen during and after the rapture of Christ's church and the stories are based on the book of Revelations in the Bible.

Our church is working on a new worship center and the pastor took us on a field trip into the half completed structure yesterday. He was making a plea for money to complete the structure as they are running short of funds due to the economy. Many families have not been able to meet their earlier pledges and there are, of course, cost overruns. The only thing I could think as we walked across boards and around scaffolding was what the insurance underwriters would think of such a sojourn. Darla also mentioned that her Dad, who spent most of his career as a construction supervisor, would have had a small cow as well.The pastor talked about making the best of a bad situation and related the story of Stacey King, who as a rookie with the Chicago Bulls, had a horrific game scoring only one point while Michael Jordan had one of his best games as a pro, scoring 69 points. After the game, a reporter asked him if he felt bad about his showing and Stacey replied, "I will always remember this game as the one where Jordan and I combined to score 70 points." Circumstances are all in your perspective.

I played poker on Friday night with the guys and finally had a decent night, bringing home an extra $80 when all was said and done. Funny how the game seems so much better after you have a good night. I will be hosting the next get together likely in May.

The weather this weekend was nothing short of awesome as we had temperatures in the eighties both days. I was able to get to some long needed trimming and shaping of hedges and plants as well as draining of the koi pond and fresh water being added. I siphoned the pond by placing a hose in the pond and using gravity pull to drain the water. As the hose sat draining, my neighbor who was outside asked if she could have a drink from the hose. I said, "Sure, but it's pond water." She was not amused. I had to get on top of the shed that Dad and I built to trim the hedge along the back fence. The hedge is now six foot tall and about four foot deep. I couldn't reach the back side of the hedge from a ladder in front. The hedge grows right next to the fence and along the perimeter of the shed.

Finally, on a very serious note, I'd like to ask you to pray for my niece, Jenny, Randy's daughter. She lost a friend last week to an automobile accident. It is difficult at age 17 or 18 to have to face mortality. Pray for the young men and women who lost their classmate and friend, pray for her family and pray for her parents who are grieving the loss of their daughter. Her name was Allison. Thank you.