Back from a marathon weekend, actually an extended weekend. Our trip to Monterey was nothing short of fabulous. The weather was incredible with high blue skies and temperatures in the 70's. I even managed to get a sunburn on the sock portion of the golf tan that I sported prior to this trip. Darla applied suntan lotion liberally on my still winter white body, but missed the part of my leg where I wear sport socks when I'm golfing. The sun burned down on us as we relaxed at the beach in Carmel on Friday and by that evening, I had bright red socks on the back of my legs from a nasty sunburn. We wore SPF 30, which we have used ever since Mom succumbed to skin cancer in 1999. I used to wear SPF 2 or 4 and think that I had an olive complexion. Mom's ordeal taught me that I am nothing more or less than a white boy and I need to protect my skin when I'm out in the sun. I wish Dad would wear a more protective sunscreen. His "George Hamilton" tan looks good now, but I worry about him.

Darla and I enjoyed Mark and Mike's 40th birthday celebration. It was supposed to be a beach party, but high tide moved the party indoors to the fourth floor restaurant overlooking the ocean. The only detriment to the party, from my perspective, was the eight or ten kids that were running amok during the dinner. Mark's friends and family all seem to have kids in the 1-8 year range and the parents seemed oblivious to the kids running around the tables and doing chinups on the waitress station at the bar behind us. Mark and Mike picked up the tab for the dinner, but frankly the food was a little weak in quality. I had a chicken dish served in a garlic pastry and the chicken was bland and I only ate half of it. Mark has one friend, Victor, who stood up and gave about a fifteen minute speech that was rambling and he got emotional in the middle of it and cried. The bizarre part was that half the people continued to carry on conversations while he spoke. Darla and I kind of looked at each other and figured that there must be a history here as the group are all friends. Victor finished the speech and gave a copy of it to Mark and told him to keep it for ten years and then read it over. Victor's wife then handed him their daughter and told him to deal with her as his speech had woken her from a nap. I'm guessing that Victor is the guy who gets no respect.

The golf game at Poppy Hills was a disaster for me. Poppy is a difficult and challenging course and you need to bring your A game when you play. I left that and my B game somewhere in Sacramento. I shot a 52-42=94. I could complain about the poor start/strong finish, but 94 is firmly in the realm of hackerville. I shot three triple-bogeys over the course of the day, won no skins and paid Mark $5 as he managed a 44-44=88. I told him to consider it a birthday present. The course was in excellent shape and I did manage four pars on the course, but my game was in the toilet most of the day.

Darla and I went out to dinner on Friday night and planned our meal around the Kings basketball playoff game. We ate at a sports bar in Monterey, but the Nets-Pacers game went into double OT and we were able to eat, drive back to the hotel and we watched the second half in our room. We had some very marginal meals on this trip starting with a chinese food dinner on Wednesday night, encompassing the 40th birthday dinner, and including the fish and chips at the Sports bar. Darla and I drove home Saturday and she grocery shopped, I mowed the lawn and we then went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurtants in Roseville, Strings Italian, and the poor meals were washed away in a dash of garlic and marinara sauce and a bottle of Peironi Italian beer. Nothing like one of your favorite restaurants to save the day.

Yesterday was Darla's 40th birthday and we met the boys in the morning and then went to church. We met Alicia, who is apparently allergic to church services, at the restaurant for breakfast. One of her paramours was trying to line up tickets to the Kings Playoff game at Arco arena at 12:30 and her phone was on waiting for his call. We had no sooner got seated, ordered our meal and were waiting to be served than her phone rang, she spoke briefly to her gentleman friend and she was out of there. Alicia was born on the same day as Darla, and is five years her junior, so Alicia was able to celebrate her 35th birthday at the Kings-Timberwolves playoff game. The boys returned to their Dad's after lunch and Darla and I watched the game at home.

I had tickets for Darla and I to see the Christian band, Third Day at Recreation Hall at UC Davis Sunday night. The show was 7 pm and we didn't get home until ten thirty last night. It was a busy weekend.

I hope you all are well. Tonight is David's 17th birthday. We are giving him a Borders Gift certificate, a new wallet and a $100 bill. To be 17 and flush with cash. Can you imagine? Ciao.