Monday, Monday. I have completed my insurance classes, I've signed my contract with Nancy at Richter-Robb and now I sit in a waiting game for my test date for the property and casualty license. Just what I want to do, wait for the state to decide my immediate future. The schooling was Insurance 1A and pretty repetitious at best and boring at worst. The hardest part of the class was sitting and listening to the instructor give inaccurate or flat incorrect information. Being an academic and not an insurance person, the instructor can only teach based on the curriculum that is provided to him by the state of California. I was taking it way too serious early on, but after a discussion with the instructor (who I have had in the past when I got a Life license while working at Dean Witter), I realized that his intention is simply to teach us how to pass the test and not teach us either insurance theory or insurance procedure. I sat with two people who have been in insurance for twenty-plus years as I have and we got to the point of simply shaking our heads at each other when he brought up something patently incorrect. It was a test, especially in the afternoons when the temperatures were up and we had just finished the buffet at the local pizza parlor. Overall, it was a positive experience and I'm one step closer to the test and ultimately to starting my new job.

I will technically be the new Branch Manager of the Roseville branch of Richter Robb Insurance. Of course, I'll have no employees and will be working for Nancy, but really working for myself as a commissioned broker of surplus lines business. Nancy has set me up with a computer (a Dell Dimension 4550, a DSL line, a Fax/Printer/Scanner) and phone lines. I will be contacting the 150 agents that I worked with at Republic Western and signing them up to write surplus lines insurance. I will specialize in hard to place habitational business, but write all lines of surplus lines business. The manager at Burns and Wilcox, who offered me the salaried position in Sacramento, but who also made the mistake of being a little too forthcoming about some of the problems in his office, took it hard that I chose to work with Richter Robb. He was professional about it, but let me know that he felt like I strung him along when I knew I'd take the Richter Robb position all along. The truth is that I had to think long and hard about my options and decided to take a flying leap and see if I can fly. If you hear a loud THUD in the coming months, that would be me putting my wings away and being fitted with a body cast.

I had an interesting weekend. Darla and the boys went up to Lake Almanor in Northeastern California where Darla's folks have their motor home parked for the Summer. Earl has his boat up there and they are commuting back and forth, usually staying up there for two or three weeks at a stretch and then coming back home for a few days and then repeating the process. Oh to be retired. Earl and Frances have become good friends with the operators of the trailer park/resort and Earl has helped him refloat the marina, break in a brand new ski boat and with repairs and odd jobs around the facility. In fact, the owners have to go into town this week to register their new ski boat so that they can rent it out and Earl and Frances will work the office while they are gone. This is the resort where we stayed last Summer and will be back to in August. I will likely only get to enjoy the weekend there as I'll be up to my elbows in getting my new business off the ground, but it is a very nice resort up at the Lake. Darla and the boys had a great time water-skiiing, wake-boarding. knee-boarding and just relaxing up at the Lake. Daniel drove up with his grandparents after his graduation on Wednesday night and Darla, David and Alicia followed on early Saturday morning. I stayed behind because of ....GOLF. I played in a Net Amateur qualifier on Sunday and scraped my way around the course for a 43-43=86. Pretty bland golf in a tournament, but my back was acting up and stiffened on me during the round. I was glad to walk off the eighteenth green with a final tap-in par after a missed birdie putt.

I spent Saturday setting up my new computer, transferring Word and Excel files and pictures from my old computer, as well as setting up all of my favorite websites and configuring the new computer to my desires. I still have to set up a screensaver and change my e-mail address with many of my online service providers. Right now, I'm getting next to no e-mail on my new addresses as the spammers are not yet aware of the address. I don't know what I'll do to remove that unwanted hair or how I'll ever find a provider of inkjet ink without the spammers. I guess I'll survive.

I drove over to the new Indian Casino that just opened in Lincoln, the next town down the road from Roseville. The Auburn Indians that own the land contracted with the Station Casino group out of Las Vegas to build and manage the casino for them and this is a first-cabin operation. Dad is familiar with the Station Casino group and this facility is HUGE. It has nine restaurants and a giant gaming facility with slots, table games and a showroom. I could swear I was in Vegas when I drove up to the facility. The Nevada casinos in Reno and Tahoe are concerned about the competition from this facility and based on the swelling crowds at the casino, they have a right to be worried. I had dinner at the Fatburger inside the casino, but couldn't get within several bodies of a slot machine. I drove up to see the facility (it's about twelve miles from our house) and that's what I did. It was wall-to-wall people on Saturday night and it took me almost twenty minutes in line just to order a Fatburger. I look forward to them finishing the showroom and beginning some entertainment on the weekends. They have a huge All-You-Can-Eat buffet that Darla and I will take advantage of for Sunday brunch occassionally. This is by far the nicest Indian Casino that I've ever seen. Leave it to a Vegas casino operator to bring some class to the genre.

I talked to Jennifer on the weekend and she will be coming home for a week over her 23rd birthday in August. Her Mom offered to bring her home for the three day July 4th holiday, but Jennifer decided that travelling two of the three days didn't sound like much fun and decided to come home over her birthday and take a week off. She gets a month off every year from the Army. She told me she is thinking about driving over to Myrtle Beach for the 4th of July holiday. Darla and I will drive up to Lake Almanor and spend the weekend with her folks on the 4th.

Well, that is all the news that's fit to print, so until next time, keep God alive in your life.