Wow! The weather here in California has been nothing short of glorious the last week and a half. This weekend saw shorts weather in the low-to-mid eighties all weekend. I think I may have to dress warmer for Vegas as the temps there have been a few degrees cooler than our temperatures. This blog is a little bit late as I had a dental cleaning this morning at 8 a.m. The dental hygienist was very nice, but it was early for her. She got the button stuck on the water and thought she'd turned it off when rinsing my mouth, but ended up squirting me all over my face, hair and shirt. She was mortified, but I had a good laugh. I told her that I'd already showered that morning, but thanks for the effort.

I talked to Jennifer this past weekend. She was in great spirits and had spent part of her day Sunday sitting in a lounge chair soaking up the sun and reading. Basically she was just relaxing and suntanning in the most war torn area on the planet. She has made some excellent contacts with IMG and General Dynamics and will interview with IMG when she gets out. I'm happy for her, but IMG is based in Virginia, near Washington DC and Jennifer would be travelling the world working on military installations. The only difference from then and now would be that she'd be civilian and making serious cash. She has received packages from her Mom, us, Cam and Kathy in Canada (she loved the cards from the boys!!) and from the sorority that several of the ladies here at Burns and Wilcox belong to that inundated her with three boxes of books, games, food and movies. The chocolate that they sent made it to her intact. So much for the military's ban on sending chocolates. Jennifer is doing very well, although she was very jealous of my family's trip Friday night to Benihana's restaurant for dinner. She is also feeling a bit left out of the Lyon family reunion. We plan to take lots of pictures and get a big card to have everyone sign for her.

Darryl called me over the weekend to wish me a happy birthday and told me that his trip to Vegas is on hold. Apparently the Nazis that run Fed-Ex won't let him take his previously approved vacation because of an audit that is being conducted. Darryl is pretty well fried with Fed-Ex and looking forward to getting out of there and soon. The company is well regarded as a family friendly place to work, but Darryl says they do not walk that talk as he was overtly threatened with termination if he left for Vegas. So far, he has the family going and he hopes to arrive by Friday night and spend the weekend. I feel for him. Work should be only a part of your life. Fed Ex wants it to be his life. Hopefully Fed Ex is an ex in his life and soon.

I am really excited about getting to Vegas and spending some time with the family. It will be here soon and go by all too quickly, but I will hang on to the feeling while we are there. Jennifer is going to try to call me on my cell phone on Friday night (her Saturday morning) while we are all at P.F. Changs for dinner and talk to everyone.

I played golf on Saturday afternoon and the equipment, the swing, and the stars all came into alignment and I shot a blistering 75. In fact, I was one-over par going into 17 and finished bogey-bogey for the 75. The new clubs are awesome and I'm ready to bring that game over to my competitive side and start winning some golf tournaments. I have the California Amatuer coming up in May and look forward to seeing if I can bring the focus and energy to that weekend. It was a fun round of golf and this game is really awesome when everything clicks.

We had Darla's Mom and Dad and sister over yesterday to celebrate my birthday and watch the King's game. Earl's recovery from prostate surgery is coming along. He will have to undergo radiation once he regains full use of his faculties and he is in our prayers as he recuperates. The surgery hasn't slowed him down as he just bought a new 5th wheel for traveling. He also had to buy a bigger truck and bought a brand new Ford F250 pickup with a diesel engine and trailering package. He has his motor home at a lot in French Camp to be sold. Earl and Frances are living my dream, which isn't camping, but spending the kid's inheritence while you are still healthy. They are both great people and much of what I love in Darla is reflected in them. I'm blessed to have married into such a great family. Say a prayer for Earl that the radiation treatment will eradicate all of the cancer cells in his body.

The blog will be a little late next week, as we fly out to Vegas on Thursday afternoon and return home on Monday morning.

I'll leave you with the story of Winston Churchill at a cocktail party when a woman who did not agree with his political agenda confronted him. She said to Winston, "If I was your wife, I would put poison in your tea". To which Winston famously replied, "Ma'am, if I was your husband I would cheerfully drink it!"