It is Tuesday afternoon after five o'clock. Funny, but I don't have time to update my blog during the workday anymore. Now that I'm a commission freak, every minute counts.

Well, I'm easy. I went to Manteca this morning for a meeting with the underwriters. It starts at seven a.m. at Chubby's in Manteca and I had to crawl out of my bed at five a.m. to shower and get on the road. I saw a wonderful sunrise over the Sierra's at 5:52 a.m. with pinks and golds and purple in the soft clouds over the mountains. The meeting went well and I was able to tour the new office that Richter Robb is moving into next month. On my way home, I stopped at the In-n-Out Burger in Roseville and as I was sitting in line, a guy yelled at me from the parking lot. I thought I had a flat tire or something as he was pointing at the car. I said, "Whazzup?" He asked if I had considered having the dent in the front left fender repaired. I said I had, but it was my son's car. He said he'd pull it out for $180. I told him I'd had an offer for $80 and he said he'd do it for $75. I hadn't had an offer for $80 and it likely would have been $150 to have Dent Magic pull it out. I said sure. He hooked up his dent puller and popped the dent out. It left a very small crease where the 2-foot dent was before.

He followed me to the bank where I was going to pull out $80 to pay him. He looked the car over when I parked and said that he'd fix ALL of the dents for $380. (I don't frankly know what his deal was with the number 80, but whatever.) I said that there was no way he could pull out the dents, they were deep and grooved. He said that he would pop them out as far as he could and then bondo the car and leave it ready for paint. I told him $200 was as high as I'd go and he agreed. I pulled the cash out of the bank and he followed me home. I finally ate my burger as he slaved in the 106 degree heat with his bondo and dent puller and sander/polisher (which he hooked up to the battery on the car to operate). He did a stellar job and the $1100 job at a body shop was done for $200. Now I need to get it painted and his uncle will spot paint it at his body shop for $150. All of this is off the books (cash on delivery) of course, but I'm thrilled with the look. The prior owner knocked $1500 off the price of the car because of the dents and we'll have it looking as good as new for $350. David was supposed to pay for the repairs, but like I said, I'm a soft touch.

Our trip to Reno was a hoot. The Richter Robb group is eclectic at best with many of the people down home country folk and some even farther out than that. They told jokes and we watched three movies on the trip. The office manager, Lucille, played emcee and took the microphone around the bus and interviewed everyone. They brought sandwiches and sodas, water and lots of beer. We stayed at the Fitzgerald, which is a real blue collar casino in Reno. It has an Irish theme, but definitely caters to a drinking and smoking crowd. Richter Robb has a cadre of smokers and I was so glad to get out of Reno, where smoking is a right and back to California where it is properly considered a vice at best and a filthy habit at worst.

We stopped for a food/smoke break both on the way up and back in Auburn and on the way home Darla and I dallied too long at McDonalds picking out our flavor of McFlurry and Lucille decided to have the bus driver pull the bus away as we were walking back. I told them it was funny as heck. Oh, to be the new guy. This was the first and last trip that I'll ever take to Reno that starts with me driving ninety-minutes in the wrong direction to get on a bus and then drive ninety-minutes past my house and then another two hours to Reno. That was painful.

I think Darla had a good time. There was a street fair going on and she was able to find some beads or rocks or something for her current hobby, which is jewelry-making. She has a whole kit and has some forty sets of earrings and necklaces made and she sells them to friends and coworkers. She is even taking orders from her friends for custom-made pieces. She is on E-Bay and sells to whomever is interested. The ladies at Richter Robb told Darla that she has to come back and show her wares in the office. Everyone was too broke after Reno to buy anything, but all of them were interested.

I played two games of golf last week (both nine-holes after work) and my new and improved back is in prime shape. I shot 39 on Wednesday and took $9 from Jerry Tuel and then followed that up with a 38 on Thursday night in my twilight league. My partner, Steve and I, are in first place. We only have one loss, three ties and eight victories so far. We are a good team. Steve is a three and I'm a five in nine-hole play and we complement each other well. He shot a 36 last Thursday and we smoked the competition. That's the only kind of smoking that I can get excited about.

We are off to Lake Almanor this weekend. Darla and the boys will be there all week and I'll go up just for the weekend as I need to make some money. We are still set for our trip to Hawaii in November and I need to plan toward that. I enjoy Almanor, the peace and solitude, but I get a little bored after more than a few days. It is a small area on a mountain lake up near Chester, California. The weather is usually nice and the lake is cold. it's not great for swimming, but the boys enjoy boarding and skiing. I'll hold out for the sun and sand in Hawaii in a five star vacation resort. Now that's living. I'll drive up separately on Saturday and come back home late Sunday. Darla and the boys will be home the following weekend late on Saturday.

Well, that it for this epistle. Remember...." If you want to get a belly laugh out of God, just tell him your plans." James Patterson in Four Blind Mice.

Another weekend is in the books and I'm tired. Our weather has been brutal lately and it culminated in a 107 degree day as I slogged around the golf course at Ancil Hoffman yesterday. I shot 43-43=86 and took $31.50 from my playing partners. Thank the Good Lord that I had a cart, because the heat and leftover humidity that is in the air from the hurricane that bounced through Texas was debilitating. I finished out of the money in the tournament, but was happy to unburden my friends of some money. I won the overall bet, as well as thirteen skins. I collected six of the skins on a par three where I hit the ball short and then chipped to about six inches for the par. My opponents all skulled second shots and let me walk away with the loot.

It was 104 degrees on Friday night and we packed up a barbecue, some inflatable rafts and a full ice chest and headed over to Folsom Lake. We met Robb and Cheryl at the lake and brought their son, Nick, who was over at our house and had gone to see Bruce Almighty with the boys. Nick was leaving early Saturday for his Grampa's wedding up in Sonora and leave it to Daniel to put his mark on the situation. The boys were throwing the football in the water and Daniel nailed Nick in his right eye with the ball. It swelled up and was starting to turn from red to purple by the time we said our goodbyes at about eight o'clock. We have an annual pass to Folsom Lake and enjoy going over and getting wet in the lake during the summer. We brought some brautwurst and cooked up some brauts for dinner. We also spent part of the weekend at Alicia's house swimming. The weather has been over 100 degrees for six days and it is expected to last until at least the weekend.

Darla and I are off on a bus trip up to Reno on Friday with Nancy Dean and the gang from Richter-Robb, my new employer. Neither of us really wanted to go on the trip, but being the new guy on board this will be a chance to get to know everyone in a social setting. Nancy has about three of these trips a year, to San Francisco or Carmel or Half Moon Bay and it is a chance for the troops to get away together and relax. A friend of mine, Mel Tobias, who was instrumental in getting me this job, is coming along with his wife. I've known Mel for years and he handles all of the inspection work for Richter Robb as he did for Republic Western. We will stay at the Fitzgerald Casino in downtown Reno and Mel is buying everyone lunch on Saturday. We are on our own for the weekend as far as food and entertainment and Darla and I will likely find our way over to the Atlantis Casino for dinner on Saturday night. I'll let the casino buy us dinner as we are members of their Player's Club.

Jennifer will be home for about ten days in late August. She is coming home for her twenty-third birthday and she hopes to catch up with friends and family during that time. She plans to go water-skiing with Darla and I up at Lake Almanor and she wants to go to the California State Fair while she is here. She is looking forward to getting back to California for a few days and out of the Army environment.

Darla and I took the boys out to dinner last night at Black Angus. David ordered and ate a one pound prime rib. David is 6'4" tall now, although he is stretching to weigh 155 pounds. Some day he'll look back on the days when he was trying to put weight on instead of take it off. I remember when Darryl could eat for days and never gain any weight. The last time I saw him (in Houston), he was working on a little boiler around his waist. Funny, how the Lord always reserves some humility for the skinny people.

David is looking for a Summer job. He has an interview today at Brookfield's , a family style restaurant in Roseville and he has an interview with Pete's Pizza on Wednesday. Pete's is a family style Italian restaurant and the owners are Christians. He needs to start making some money as he wants to work on his Mustang, repairing some of the dents in the body. He will get his driver's license in mid-September and is looking forward to the freedom that represents for him.

I have finally begun treatments with a chiropractor. I am getting adjustments three days a week and my back feels much better. The Dr. took x-rays and found out that I have a congenital defect at the base of my spine. The bones cracked while I was in utero and they fused back together, but do not operate to give me the shock absorber effect that the spine is intended to provide. The pain in my back was right at the base of the spine and I've been attempting to cushion the pain for so long that one of my legs is actually riding higher than the other. The doctor is working on bringing those bones back into alignment and repairing a compression in the disk above the defect. He is a BIG man and uses his three hundred pounds to manipulate my spine. It is a harrowing experience, but I am feeling better. (Like a battered wife who gets flowers.)

Well, that's enough rambling for this week. I've written my first insurance policy and quoted several $20,000 plus accounts, so the job is coming together. Be well and remember that Christ came to Earth as a servant leader. My question is, have you been served? And, better yet in view of Christ's example, who have you served lately?

Hey and hello from a gainfully employed person to all of you. I passed the insurance exam last week with flying colors, actually completing the 150-question exam in 45 minutes. I thought that I should go back and double check my answers, but I felt strongly that I'd sailed through the finish line without a leak in the boat or a tear in the mainsail. I turned it in after fifty minutes and looked at the woman next to me as I got up...she was on question number 39. The computerized test allowed for a flagging mechanism whereby you could "flag" a question that you answered, but were unsure of. I only used the feature twice and after re-reading the questions and answers felt strongly in the choice. I don't know what my score is (you only find out if you fail) but I feel that I was into the ninety-percentile. The practice exams at the training center were dead on the actual questions and after spending four days last week reviewing with the practice tests, I was more than ready for the exam. I'm HUGELY relieved to have jumped through that hoop and now I'm off to conquer the world.

I went into the home office in Manteca this morning and worked out some financial details with Nancy, trained with one of the raters specifically on the type of accounts that I will write, and went over my list of potential agents with Nancy and Lorraine (the main underwriter in Manteca). There is some minor overlap, but I'm concentrating on habitational business and they both felt that I should contact ALL of my former agents and let them know that I have opened a new branch in Roseville. The only fly in the ointment is that my business cards are not ready. I should have those by the end of the week. I'm waiting to send out a marketing brochure to each of the agencies until the business cards are in hand. I AM however sending out FAXed announcements of the opening of the new Roseville Branch office now.

David is returning from football camp this afternoon. He and his teammates have been at Sacramento State University since last Thursday working with the Sacramento State coaches and other high school head coaches on fundamentals. They had several scrimmages and went out to see movies, had barbecues, went swimming, etc. David is being jacked around by his coaches this year. He WAS the starter at quarterback last year and has the most experience on the squad. The problem is that David is a very good athlete and is the standout starter at free safety for the defense. The defensive backs coach told David that they don't even have a backup for him at this point. Well, the defensive coaches approached the head coach and lobbied for David to be the starter on defense due to dire need. The head coach has a policy that his starting qb will not play both ways due to injury concerns. David loves playing defense, but has been geared-up about his chances at quarterback. They had a long meeting last week and I told David to let his coaches know that he doesn't appreciate being discriminated against because of his athletic ability. The other two quarterbacks are pure passers and CANNOT play another position. The head coach admitted to the defensive coaches that there was not a leading candidate at qb among the three as yet and they took that as a chance to dash David's dreams at qb. After the meetings it was decided that David would prepare to be the starting free safety, but that he would continue to get reps at qb to see if he could win the job outright. The head coach even said that if that happens, David would be allowed to play both ways. That meeting was Tuesday night of last week and David did NOT get to play any reps at qb on Wednesday night during the backs and receivers scrimmage against Cordova High School. David was upset, but feels that it is a compliment that he has a position at free safety and is highly regarded as a Junior on the Varsity level. I'm afraid that he is getting lip service and the head coach is willing to sacrifice David at qb for the good of the defense. We'll see. I'm anxious to see if he got ANY reps at qb over the weekend.

I played golf yesterday in a 3-club tournament. The tournament is not an official event in that we cannot post our scores, but the concept is to pick three clubs only and take on the course. I took my Callaway Steelhead Driver, my Tommy Armour 845 Silver Scot 6-iron and my Taylor Made Nubbins putter and shot a 43-42=85 to win low gross in my flight. There were a lot of high scores as guys tried to manage with a driver, a middle iron and a sand wedge and putt with either the driver or the sand wedge. I knew that so many of my strokes are on the green that I needed a putter. I actually shot only 1 stroke over my handicap and won $65.

Darla and I went out on Saturday night to a 20-30 club of Roseville event, the Summer Bash. The event brings together singles, water venues (pools, spas, slip-n-slides), food and drink and combines it with a couple of party bands in an outdoor event at the Placer County Fairgrounds. We had a great time and saw the Parrotheads ( a Jimmy Buffett tribute band..which simply means that they dress like Jimmy Buffett and do all of his music, which simply amounts to a total rip-off of the guy) and the Trailer Park Troubadors, as fun a band as I have ever seen. They sing songs like "It Aint Home Until You Take the Wheels Off", "Living in Aluminum", "Spit Cup", " Mud Wrasslin' at Pinky's", and "Wreck of the Bookmobile". Darla and I laughed so hard our cheeks hurt. We had Cheeseburgers (in Paradise) and sat out under the stars and had a great time. We invited Alicia, but she had an attitude about the 20-30 club, so we let it go. The funny thing is that the only people that went into any of the pools or the slip-n-slide were the dorks. The guys with a huge sunburn on their fast receding hairline and the girls with a one-piece swimsuit of bright florals over the pair of plaid shorts. Those are the lifetime singles. The drinking was a little heavy and Darla was bothered by some of the partygoers drunkeness and "dirty dancing", but overall we had a good time and would go to the event again next year..although this is the last year that either of us will be a 20 or a 30. Darla hits the big Four-Oh next year.

Well, that's it for this edition of Life with the Lyon's. Thanks to all who prayed for me during my unemployment. You got me back to work and I hold each of you responsible for that. (And I mean that in a GOOD WAY.) God bless.

It is Monday night. The Giants game is on in the background..it is just beginning to get dark and Darla is off on a mission to repair the zipper on the tent and all is okay in my world.

We had a great weekend in Lake Almanor. The weather was ideal..in the eighties every day with no wind and a high blue sky. I was able to finish two books (my current author of choice is Stuart Woods) and I am well into a third that the resort owners lent me, A Steve Martini novel, The Jury, which so far seems about the defendant and lawyers and victim, but NOT about the jury. Darla, the boys, Alicia and Darla's Mom and Dad were all able to pile onto Earl's boat on Friday night and watch the fireworks over the lake. It was a unique venue, although we were about halfway across the lake and the fireworks were being done from the shore, so they weren't above us from any stretch of the imagination. The fireworks were to start about nine-thirty and we puttered across the lake and found a nice spot to sit and wait for the show by about nine-fifteen. Unfortunately, the show didn't start until just before ten, so we drifted for forty minutes waiting for the fun to begin. It was a novel spot to watch fireworks and I've seen many fireworks shows in my forty-six years and this was near the top of the list.

My back survived three nights of sleeping on an air mattress and I even handled the dirt and unkemptness of the whole camping experience. I completely credit Prozac for getting me through the experience. My favorite tent is a Sheraton. The boys and Darla had a ball and David and Daniel both excelled at wakeboarding. They used to ski, slalom ski, then knee board and now they are wakeboarders. David even has a $200 wake board that his Dad bought him.

I did finally get the date for my test. I take the test on Thursday at 1 pm. I know the material front and backwards, but I'm still going into the training center every day to prepare. One of my biggest sins is EGO and I WILL be prepared for this test. I'm taking each of the seven exams on the computer and making sure that I get a 100% on each of the tests and find the answers that I miss in the book and understand the correct answers. I'll be there each morning this week including Thursday in preparation for the exam. This is the start of my future and I'm not about to mess it up. I'll start my new job on Monday. Pray for me, people. I need it.

I mentioned that Darla was off to buy a zipper for our tent. We both forgot that we had broken the zipper on our last tent camping experience last year at the church camp-out in September. We had to spend the three days with beach towels and clothespins holding the tent closed. It was cold at night being a mountain lake in Plumas county and we slept in our sleeping bags covered with a quilt and a blanket and still felt the cold. Darla is off to buy a seven-foot zipper. I never did venture into the lake. The water is freezing and the only good thing about that water is that ice cubes using that water would freeze in half the time. Darla talked me into swimming and I got both legs on the ladder of the dock into the water and decided to back out when I lost feeling in my legs. Some things are better experienced from the comfort of a lounge chair with a cold drink and a good book close at hand.

Again, PRAY for me this week. Be kind to each other..until next week.