It is Saturday night and I've already enjoyed the magic and solitude of church. Darla is off to a Craft show at Cal Expo that spans the weekend and, in fact, she won't be home until eight-thirty tonight and back at her booth by nine tomorrow morning. I decided to go to church tonight and enjoy sleeping in tomorrow morning. It is getting harder and harder to get up as the temperature dips and that goose down comforter is just so warm and comfortable. I suppose it's name is appropriate.

Anyhoo, Pastor Wayne Bigelow, our seventy-something servant leader of the Senior community at church was the speaker. He announced himself in honor of our new governor, as the Sermonator. He told a story of the last time that he preached, he showed up with two bandages on his jaw. Pastor Rick asked him why he was bandaged up and Wayne said that he was so involved in preparing his sermon that he cut himself. Rick said that all of the sermons have been too long lately and that Wayne should concentrate on shaving and cut his sermon, not his face.

Wayne is a genuinely funny speaker and just an old farm boy. He spoke of the two seniors in his group that both having been widowed, met and fell in love and decided to marry. They went to the local drug store and enquired about several items. They wanted to know if the store stocked plenty of Ace Bandages and linaments. The store manager answered, Yes, that they had those available. They then wanted to know if he had plenty of Aspirin and various antisceptics and cold medications. Again, the druggist said Yes. They then enquired about laxatives, bran cereals and prunes. Again, the druggist said that he had all of those items and could he help them round them up and ring them up. The old couple said, no, that they were merely getting ready to register for their wedding gifts.

Finally, Wayne told the story of the blonde woman who went to her doctor complaining of pain all over her body. The doctor asked her to be more specific. She pointed at her wrist and said it hurt when she touched there. She pointed at her head, her knee, her shoulder and her stomach and said that it hurt everywhere she touched. The doctor did a quick examination and told her that she had a dislocated finger.

Wayne's sermon was on gratefulness and that God wants us to be thankful of the blessings that he has bestowed on us. Wayne said that prayer is nothing more than us thanking God for his goodness and his grace. It was a great sermon and left me with a lump in my throat and a bounce in my step. There is something about sitting in your home church not surrounded by people that you know. We don't attend Saturday nights and it is a different group of people. It allowed me to concentrate on worship and to develop a sense of intimacy with the Lord that is often missing. I thoroughly enjoyed myself tonight.

David and Daniel both tried out for their respective basketball teams. It was no surprise that David not only made his team, but will be starting at Small Forward. The surprise was that Daniel did not make the team. The coach was looking more for speed and ball handling. Daniel at 6'1" and 205 pounds is more of a bruiser and certainly more football player than basketball player. Daniel almost didn't try out for the team and was conflicted about even going through the motions. He doesn't care for several of the guys on the team and felt like he needed a break after football. The coach ended up making his decision for him and Daniel is now deciding whether to go out for the wrestling team. The wrestling coach wants him, but Daniel is thinking it over. I'll keep you informed.

David already had his first game and he played all four quarters with just short breaks on the bench for a breather. David is a tenacious defender with a hand always in your face. He is developing a nice shot, especially when facing the basket, but he is a pass first, shoot seciond kind of player (his teammates love him for that). I sit in the stand and have Darla yelling, "Shoot the ball!" in my ear all season. It is a rite of Winter.

Jennifer was the chef at her Thanksgiving dinner with friends this week. All of the group is single and decided to get together. Jennifer offered to cook the turkey and stuffing. She called Darla and got her recipe and made a 14 pound turkey. She said it turned out great and she is enjoying all of the leftovers. They now have a microwave as I shipped hers to her a couple of months ago, so leftovers are a big deal to Jennifer and her roomate. She enjoyed cooking and was justifiably proud of herself. She is off on to the field this week, where she will be sleeping in tents and sleeping bags the whole week. Think of her out freezing when you tuck yourself into your warm beds this week. I certainly will.

I picked Alicia up at the Dodge dealer this morning where she was in for her 36,000 mile rip off of single women checkup with a price tag of $400. They did a tuneup and changed the oil and did a complete checkup which Firestone would do for $79. Oh well. We went from there over to Cal Expo to lend our support to Darla and her jewelry booth. She had a slow start yesterday with sales, but we were all hoping that it picks up today and tomorrow. We wandered the long lines of exhibitors and counted 29 jewelry booths out of the 300 plus exhibitors. It is pretty competitive in there with prices really low. Darla has quality handmade jewelry and was finding it hard to compete with the sheer number of shops.

I dropped Alicia off this afternoon and took a drive past David's Dad's house to see how the Mustang was coming. They were to be installing a new tranny this weekend. The Mustang was sitting forlornly at the front of the house with no sign of activity. David will be pretty sore if the work isn't done this weekend. He had done the research on rebuilt transmissions and was waiting for his Dad to decide which one to buy. Hopefully it gets done.

Darla and I are busy for the next few weekends with holiday parties. This coming weekend will be the Roseville Golf Club dinner banquet, followed by Darla's work's dinner the following weekend and my work's dinner the same weekend. So far, we haven't had a conflict on nights. We still have the tree to put up. I think we'll have a live tree this year as my fake tree left over from my bachelor days is a bit shop worn and old. Hopefully after the holidays we will replace the fake tree and be ready for the next few years. I am NOT a fan of live trees in the house. My pest control guy told me that the largest cause of winter pest infestations is the live Christmas tree. I will likely put up the lights on the house next weekend when I have those two six footers available to help me.

Well, that is it for this installment. Remember during the upcoming holiday season to keep the Lord in the middle of our festivities, after all, Christmas is named after our Savior. God Bless.

Monday again. It is actually a glorious Northern California day with a bright blue sky and sun streaming through the windows. I had to adjust the blinds to keep the sun off of my video screen as I sit here and postulate on the world around me. The only problem with the bright blue sky and sunshine is that we've had frost the last three mornings and it delayed my golf game yesterday by an hour.

Darla had me fill in for her volleyball team last Tuesday night and I felt a pop in my right elbow. I think I might have strained a tendon or something ( I guess this is the dreaded tendonitus), but it is so sore. I suffered through the malady yesterday and struggled to a 44-43=87, which won me nothing. Well, actually I got a turkey certificate, but then everyone that played did. I had them put the money on the books in the pro shop. I'll be buying some new irons this Christmas. I've had my Tommy Armour Silver Scot 845's for about five years and I'm ready for some new sticks. I'll probably end up with the Calloway irons, but I'll be shopping next month for some irons that feel right to me.

Well, David's car ended up with major problems with the transmission and he and his father will be spending the Thanksgiving Holiday together installing a rebuilt transmission into the Mustang. David was pretty bummed, but warmed to the idea of working with his Dad to install the rebuilt transmission. He became less down about things when his Dad offered to pay for the rebuilt tranny and help him install it as a Christmas gift. I told David that I had $4000 invested in his car and that I pay his insurance, so repairs, maintenance and gasoline are on him. Hopefully, they get the car back up and running by the weekend and David can smile again.

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday with Darla's parents, her sister, and her brother and his family at Darla's parents ranch in Linden, California. Unfotunately, our star athlete, David, couldn't join us. His basketball team had a team meeting at the coaches' house on Saturday night. Darla was a bit non-plussed that he had to miss our celebration, but as David said, the coach didn't expect us to be celebrating Thanksgiving on the Saturday before the actual holiday. David has missed vacations and other family events due to his sports, so this is simply another chapter in that book.

I had to miss church yesterday because of my golf tournament and I was bummed until Darla told me that they had a children's program yesterday as the service. I've said for years that
they should have those children's services well marked and announced and allow those of us that would prefer to avoid the pain of sitting through one of those yawners, to plan around them.

Darla and I will host her parents and sister on Thanksgiving for a small get together and we will roast another turkey. We both love turkey and enjoy the leftovers.

I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and much love and laughter throughout the holidays. God Bless.

It is Monday once again. I come into the office at 7 a.m. mostly to avoid the traffic mess on the freeway. It's been almost eight years since I've worked in an office environment, having worked out of my house since January of 1996. The traffic outside my office window rattles along with each car on it's way to work or school. My office is located close to my alma mater, California State University, Sacramento. Darla and I came in to the office this weekend and decorated. I put up a picture of the third hole at the Makai course in Kauai that I bought and we had framed. I also put up a print of Thomas Kinkade, "The Forest Chapel", that my employees bought for me one Christmas at Republic Western. Finally, I put up the Golf Ball collection and clock combo that Dad gave me as a gift for being in his wedding. I have a large collection of balls of California courses at home, but this collection is of courses in Canada, Texas, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii.

This weekend saw the end of the football season for the boy's. Daniel's team finished the year at 6-4 and just missed tying for first place in their league. David's team went 2-6-2 and lost the final game 28-0. There was a collection of excellent junior quarterbacks in the division this year. Unfortunately none of them played for Woodcreek. The junior q.b. for Del Oro, the team that they played on Friday, threw four touchdowns in the game and threw for 357 yards passing. Our quarterback fumbled twice, threw an interception and managed a paltry 57 yards passing. There is a good sophomore quarterback coming up from JV next year and we hope that the team is improved on offense next year. Both David and Daniel played well this year and we hope that David is given some consideration for All League at Free Safety. It's time to start getting some attention from college recruiters.

The boy's both start basketball practice this week and David's first pre-season game is Wednesday. The basketball program has been practicing for two weeks and they will be approaching the final cuts this Friday now that the football players are on board. Both Daniel and David should make the teams. The Varsity squad is the league defending champion and played in the California championship game last year at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

David's car is on the fritz. He has been having trouble with the automatic transmission and Darla and he are taking the car into the shop today to have it looked at. We are hoping that the transmission simply needs to be adjusted and the belts tightened. He had trouble shifting into reverse last week and the car is clunking from first to second when he accelerates. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it isn't something more ominous than that.

My golf game got rained out this past weekend and the game has been postponed until next Sunday. It is our annual Turkey Shoot tournament and Tournment of Champions. I was lucky enough to win three tournaments this year and will play for the trophy. Darla and I went out to dinner on Saturday night after stopping by my office. We ate at Scott's Seafood of San Francisco, although at the Sacramento branch of the restaurant chain. We both had a delectable filet mignon and prawns dish that was to die for. I said to Darla that I couldn't remember the last time I'd enjoyed a meal out so much. She pointed out several meals that we'd had the week before in Hawaii. I just smiled.

Church was a nice refuge on Sunday. The sermon was on Christmas and how to claim Christmas back from society. Americans spend over $15 billion dollars on Christmas gifts and over 60% of that is bought on credit. Darla and I have never gone overboard on Christmas and the message was How to have a GOOD christmas. GOOD = Get Out Of Debt. The pastor was presenting his sermon early to try to prevent his flock from overspending this Christmas. A message that was both timely and well received by us.

Jennifer just returned from a mission where she spent five days in South Carolina setting up a new Communications network for an Army National Guard unit that is training for a tour to Iraq. They caravanned from Augusta with about twenty Army vehicles including three Hum Vees from Fort Gordon. Jennifer drove one of the Hum Vees and said that she got some nice "thumbs up" from the civilians on her trip. She enjoyed the assignment and just got back yesterday. She was tired and hoped to have next Thursday and Friday off to make up for her weekend duty this weekend.

Have a great week. Ciao.

We are back from paradise and mired in the minutia of day to day life once again. Hawaii was an awesome and awe inspiring site. Kauai, the garden island, is by necessity the rainiest of the islands and, although this Sun God prefers heat and sun, the misting rain was a nice respite from the sun and heat. It rained every day off and on, but the rain is more of a mist and never seemed to last more than five minutes or so and then the sun was back in all it's glory. We spent three straight days in Princeville, which is on the jungle side of the island and I played golf two of the three days. It was nice to have the misting rain on and off as we played. The temperature remains at near 80 degrees when it rains and it moves on so quickly that it is nothing more than a chance to cool off from the heat. The temperature in Kauai at this time of year is an overnight low of 75 degrees and daytime highs ranging from 83-85 degrees. I realized the cooling effects of the rain when we played Poipu Bay Golf Resort (the site of next month's PGA Grand Slam of Golf). Poipu is on the sunny side of the island and it was brutally hot when we played. I found myself missing the rain, strange as that may sound to those of you who know me well.

Darla, true to her word, matched me dollar for dollar on her purchases in relation to my golf expenditures. She bought some jewelry, clothes, candy and gifts for the boys and for others. She and Marilyn had a good time shopping, especially in Hanalei Bay, which is about ten minutes from Princeville. She also made some good buys (according to her) in and around Poipu Bay and Lihue while Dave and I were playing the Poipu Bay course.

Golf is great, but expensive in Hawaii. It cost me $234 for two days at the Princeville courses, which included the Makai course and the Prince course. The Prince course is the more difficult of the two, but the Makai course is more picturesque as the front nine plays along the ocean and has some spectacular views. In fact, the third hole (a par three) plays over water to a small green with the ocean as a backdrop and the Princeville Hotel off to the right. A local artist has a painting of that hole that was put into print form, numbered and signed and I bought a print for my new office and had it shipped home. I'll have it framed and mounted and hang it in the new office when we move in January. I shot 40-46=86 at the Makai course and 44-47=91 at the Prince course.

Dave was able to sign us up for a tournament (The Big One) at the Poipu Bay course and we got in for $100. The normal green fee is $185, but it was cheaper for the tournament and he decided to save some of my hard earned money for me. I shot 39-49=88 at the Poipu Bay course and was fortunate enough to put the ball about four feet from the pin on the par three seventh hole. I won a free round of golf at Poipu ($185 value) for closest to the pin. The problem is that I have to use it by next November. I'll probably sell the round on E-Bay as we likely won't be back to Hawaii that soon. I was tired after three straight rounds of golf.

We will be back to Hawaii and we assured ourselves of that by buying a time share rental at the Makai Villages at Princeville. The Makai Villages have just been taken over by the Pahio Resorts and the condos have fallen into some maintenance problems. The prior owners were not maintaining them to Gold Crown standards and they lost the Gold Crown designation. In taking over the units, Pahio kicked out about twenty owners that were in arears on their maintenance fees and that was one of the units that Darla and I bought. The complex is twenty-three years old and is showing it's age. Pahio will completely gut the units next year and put in all new flooring, cabinets, furniture and appliances as well as new fixtures in the bathroom. They will remodel the exteriors and add skylights to each unit. They will also remodel the pool and spa and make the facilities at the other three resorts at Princeville that they operate open to the Makai owners. All of the seven properties operated by Pahio are Gold Crown resorts and it is their intention to have Makai upgraded and returned to that designation as well. We jumped on the opportunity for two reasons. One, we wanted to own a timeshare in Hawaii and we wanted to shift our RCI membership from the "weeks" concept to the "points" program. The upgrade has a one time charge of $2,690, but it was included in the cost of the timeshare. We got a very good deal.

Included in our purchase were several two-for-one dinner coupons and a two-for-one helicopter tour of the island. Kauai has over 1400 waterfalls and most are not accessible by car. We took a 45-minute helicopter tour of the island on Friday and saw the desert, the jungle, the volcano, the Wailea canyon, the waterfalls and the beautiful coastline, all in one. A helicopter tour is the ultimate way to see Hawaii and Darla and I had a ball on the trip.

I have begun my new job at Burns and Wilcox and it is living up to my expectations already. The staff is very professional and helpful. I am taking over an office from someone who is out on disability and I had to spend most of yesterday just clearing out the office and getting myself situated. The former office occupant was a packrat and had reams of paperwork jammed in every corner of the office. I am just beginning to get my feet under me and will spend the next several weeks in training. The move to our new office has been delayed by corporate until January as Tampa Bay had a greater need to move than we did. We are disappointed, but it gives me that much more time to get educated in the Burns and Wilcox way before the move.

Well, this was long and winded. I enjoyed the vacation immensely, but really missed church while we were gone and look forward to getting back to the Word this week. It is truly the sustenance of life. Be well.