Another weekend is in the books and it is back to business. It is supposed to be 104 degrees today and then the weather will begin to cool to the point that they are forecasting temperatures in the 80's by the weekend. What a nice change that will be.
Darla and the boys made it back on Saturday and I really missed them. It's difficult to live in a perfectly vacuumed, neat as a pin house. I felt like I was single again. The boys came in and dumped their clothes and things all over the place and it started to feel like home again. And people accuse me of being sarcastic.
I haven't been able to reach Jennifer recently. I tried calling her last night to see how things are going on base after the accident last week, but her phone was off. I assume that the Army will have a ceremony of some sort to celebrate the life of Specialist Lal, but who knows? I'm sure they went through with the change of command ceremony. It is the Army way to forge ahead in the face of disaster. It is how they survive during wartime.
I trimmed my moustache on Saturday night and inhaled a hair. It somehow got stuck in my throat and all manner of coughing, chocking, gargling and retching was unable to dislodge it. I woke up Sunday morning with an infection in my throat and a voice reminiscent of Barry White. The human body is an amazing creation, but an agonizingly imperfect one at that. This is why my blog is titled as it is by the way.
The three club tournament this weekend was an effort in survival. My choice of driver, six-iron, putter seemed at times wholly inept, such as when I found myself in a greenside bunker with a large lip and little room to land the ball on the green. After chunking the first attempt and skulling the second, leading to a double-bogey, I was glad that I get 14 clubs in all of my other tournaments. The winners shot net 70 and had a net 76 after shooting 45-43=88. I did win $22 in sklins, however thanks to one birdie and three pars. It was a tough tournament.
Darla, David and I went out to the lake yesterday. Daniel opted out, being tired and having missed television all week. He was in his element lolling about the house and watching B grade movies all day. The lake has lost at least 40% of its volume since the start of the Summer and it has become something of a muddy little hole. We drove down to the beach and spent about three-and-a-half hours relaxing. Darla and David went along with me, but both spent most of the day under the umbrella, having spent the entire week in the sun. Darla and I decided that will be our last trip to Folsom Lake this year. They increased the entry fee on July 1st and the lake is just not very nice right now, with tree limbs sticking up out of the water and no sand on the beaches as the water has receded to the mud of the lake bottom. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Work has been a boon lately and I'm having my biggest month since I joined Burns and Wilcox. So far this month I've booked over $200,000 in premium and over $30,000 in net income. My goal with a week to go is $275,000 in premium and $40,000 in income. I knew this would be a good renewal month, but I've also kept my new business up and I'm putting a great start on the new bonus period. I am sharing 10% of my bonus from the first half of the year with my assistant. Again, this is not something that has been done in this office before and I'm being a rabble rouser. The harder I work, the harder I force my assistant to work, so I am not only team building, but I am incentifying (is that a word?) my assistant and having him share in the rewards that come from hard work. Anthony and I earned the highest bonus in the branch last period and we plan to do the same this period.
Darla and I will sit down this week and plan out our trip to Hawaii for next year. We may visit two islands, but we're afraid that may counter our plan to relax with a twelve-day visit to the islands. Darla and I found that with a 7 day trip last year, it was too short. Two of the days are spent travelling, so if we take twelve days, we'll be able to relax for ten. If we move from one island to the other, it may seem that we are taking three days to travel. We'll decide this week and get it booked and get the dates out to Dad and Shirley and Earl and Frances to see if they will be able to join us.
Well, work awaits and it is calling my name. Have a good week. Ciao.
Monday, July 26, 2004
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
This is an URGENT call to prayer. Jennifer phoned this morning and there was an accident at her base in Augusta, Georgia. One of Jennifer's friends and a fellow soldier in her unit, Melissa, was killed this morning in a freak accident at one of the fields on base. She was working on a 30' ceremonial tower and it collapsed. Two other soldiers were injured, but Melissa Lal died of traumatic injuries to her body and head injuries. She was airlifted to the local hospital where she was on life support for harvesting of her organs, but brain dead.
The unit is in a state of shock and Jennifer is extremely shaken and upset. She has been up and down the same tower over a dozen times and has dismantled it and re-built it as well. Please pray for Melissa, her family and her military unit. Each of those soldiers will have but one thing on their minds when they climb the next tower. Pray that God grant each of them peace and comfort in their time of extreme sorrow. God bless our soldiers who put their lives on the line every day so that we can live in peace and freedom. Amen. The link to the Augusta Chronicle story on this tragedy is : http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/072104/lat_tower.shtml
The unit is in a state of shock and Jennifer is extremely shaken and upset. She has been up and down the same tower over a dozen times and has dismantled it and re-built it as well. Please pray for Melissa, her family and her military unit. Each of those soldiers will have but one thing on their minds when they climb the next tower. Pray that God grant each of them peace and comfort in their time of extreme sorrow. God bless our soldiers who put their lives on the line every day so that we can live in peace and freedom. Amen. The link to the Augusta Chronicle story on this tragedy is : http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/072104/lat_tower.shtml
Monday, July 19, 2004
Jennifer has returned back to her base in Georgia. She left last Thursday after a whirlwind two weeks that saw her really enjoy herself with her Mom, her brothers, Darla and I and especially her friends. It was sad to see her leave, but she is that much closer to her final days in the Army and a return to civilian life. As I've said before, Jennifer will not be tempted by any monetary inducements to stay in the Army. She has enjoyed her stay, her training and the people that she has met along the way, but she is ready to put the military behind her when the time comes to make that decision. Jennifer had been leaning toward going to work for one of the civilian contractors or in the fibre optics field, but she is now indicating an interest in going into teaching. The nice thing for her is that she is young and has those options. If she does choose to go into teaching, she will have to finish her schooling first and the California GI bill and the GI Bill will provide her $50,000 to finish college. It will be interesting to see which path she chooses when she gets out.
She spent a week working with grade school kids in the Augusta school system. The base at Fort Gordon has a program whereby they provide several of the Army Specialists and Sargeants and they meet with the kids and discuss their jobs in the Army and tell the kids about their experiences. Jennifer thoroughly enjoyed her interaction with the students and got her thinking about teaching as a profession. I told her that learning how to starve as a soldier would provide good training toward starving as a grade school teacher.
Darla and the boys are up in Almanor this week in a two-bedroom cabin. I drove up Saturday morning and spent two days at the lake. The boys are wakeboarding and knee boarding and Earl (Darla's Dad) has decided that David needs to learn how to drive the boat and he is learning how to pull his brother, how to circle around and pick him up after he falls and all of the other ins and outs of piloting a boat. I watched him pull the boat in yesterday afternoon and park it between two other boats at the dock and he did great. David is a responsible kid, but more than that, he wants to excel at whatever he does. He knows enough to ask questions and really learn whatever he is trying to master. He's quite a kid. They will be up there all this week and return home on Saturday night.
The house was mercifully quiet when I returned home last night and I have plans to get quite a bit accomplished this week that it is hard to do when the family is there. I will wax my car, do yardwork trimming and perhaps even some new plantings. I have some sprinkler heads that need to be replaced and I want to work on a couple of spots on the carpet that need cleaning. I talked to Dad last night and he said that I'd be a little lonely by the end of the week. I'm sure I will, but I do have a loner mentality and I enjoy being alone. It will be a nice change and allow me the time and the ability to get some things done.
I copied a number of Jennifer's CDs while she was here. The interesting thing is that she would not have had a CD three years ago that I would have been remotely interested in. She had some of the more current music from some of my favorite artists including John Mayer, Melissa Ethridge, Norah Jones and Annie Lennox. Jennifer said that her interest in music is more mainstream Rock and Roll, but these artists are almost Easy Listening. I don't know who this bothers more, me or her, but I saved about $50 in music purchases and really enjoyed the three hour drive up and back to Almanor because of the music. She even introduced me to a new artist, Dido, who has nice mellow music. Three years ago, her music was all Rap and every CD had a Parent's warning on it for vulgar language. Nice to see your children grow up. Now we need to work on David, who has the rap music in his car. What is it with this genre? I'd think the angry young rapper music would have faded into banality by now.
I've had some reflection recently on my commitment to the golf club. The board has some concerns that my job is interfering with my responsibilities as the Vice President of the club. (Does that sound kind of goofy to anyone else?) I've missed three board meetings so far this year and the last one I missed was set for July 5th. I was with Jennifer and wasn't about to cut my day short to sit through a board meeting of the golf club. The guys are concerned and I talked to the President about it....or perhaps more to the point, he talked to me. When he asked me to be VP, I worked for Republic Western, I worked out of the house and my time was mine. Now, I'm working fifty-hour weeks and I don't have a lot of extra time to donate to the club. I was very frank with him and told him that as far as I was concerned, the golf club is leisure time and Family comes first, Work second and everything else brings up the rear. He asked if as President, I could make ALL of the meetings next year and I told him that I wasn't sure. If work demanded that I be in Phoenix or Michigan, I'd be gone. I don't think he liked my answer and it could be that I won't take over as President next year. Either way, I'm okay with it. I'm involved in the golf club because I want to give something back to a group that has given me a lot of joy, but I'm not married to it. Not even close.
I talked to Dad last night and invited he and Shirley with us to Hawaii next year. We will take the boys to Kauai in early June for about 12 days as a Graduation present to David. We will upgrade our condo to a two-bedroom and hopefully Dad and Shirley will be able to trade into the same complex in Princeville. Many people enjoy Honolulu or Maui more, but I prefer the solitude and beauty of Kauai. We will spend a lot of time in Poipu at the beach, but will spend our down time at the Makai Village in Princeville and dinners in Hanalei. I look forward to it already. We are also inviting Darla's parents to join us. I hadn't planned on bringing my golf clubs, but if Dad and Shirley are there, I'd have to accompany them on the course. It'd only be right.
I have an insurance golf tournament on Thursday at the Woodcreek golf course in Roseville. We will have a barbecue dinner afterward. The tournament is for the Insurance Professionals Association, formerly Insurance Womens. It's a fun tournament with a female in every foursome. Gail, one of the other underwriters in my office will be in our foursome and she is quite a golfer. I think we will give them a run for their money this year. Saturday, I play in the Roseville Golf Club annual three-club tournament. We have to choose three clubs and play the whole round with those three. I will use a driver, six iron and putter this year. Last year I used driver, six iron and sand wedge and putted with the sand wedge. I had way too many putts and will remedy that this year. It is a fun tournament and I'll let you know how it goes.
Well think of me this week, getting caught up on my chores, unashamedly watching Sportscenter and baseball games and fixing my own dinners and lunches. I will survive. Ciao.
She spent a week working with grade school kids in the Augusta school system. The base at Fort Gordon has a program whereby they provide several of the Army Specialists and Sargeants and they meet with the kids and discuss their jobs in the Army and tell the kids about their experiences. Jennifer thoroughly enjoyed her interaction with the students and got her thinking about teaching as a profession. I told her that learning how to starve as a soldier would provide good training toward starving as a grade school teacher.
Darla and the boys are up in Almanor this week in a two-bedroom cabin. I drove up Saturday morning and spent two days at the lake. The boys are wakeboarding and knee boarding and Earl (Darla's Dad) has decided that David needs to learn how to drive the boat and he is learning how to pull his brother, how to circle around and pick him up after he falls and all of the other ins and outs of piloting a boat. I watched him pull the boat in yesterday afternoon and park it between two other boats at the dock and he did great. David is a responsible kid, but more than that, he wants to excel at whatever he does. He knows enough to ask questions and really learn whatever he is trying to master. He's quite a kid. They will be up there all this week and return home on Saturday night.
The house was mercifully quiet when I returned home last night and I have plans to get quite a bit accomplished this week that it is hard to do when the family is there. I will wax my car, do yardwork trimming and perhaps even some new plantings. I have some sprinkler heads that need to be replaced and I want to work on a couple of spots on the carpet that need cleaning. I talked to Dad last night and he said that I'd be a little lonely by the end of the week. I'm sure I will, but I do have a loner mentality and I enjoy being alone. It will be a nice change and allow me the time and the ability to get some things done.
I copied a number of Jennifer's CDs while she was here. The interesting thing is that she would not have had a CD three years ago that I would have been remotely interested in. She had some of the more current music from some of my favorite artists including John Mayer, Melissa Ethridge, Norah Jones and Annie Lennox. Jennifer said that her interest in music is more mainstream Rock and Roll, but these artists are almost Easy Listening. I don't know who this bothers more, me or her, but I saved about $50 in music purchases and really enjoyed the three hour drive up and back to Almanor because of the music. She even introduced me to a new artist, Dido, who has nice mellow music. Three years ago, her music was all Rap and every CD had a Parent's warning on it for vulgar language. Nice to see your children grow up. Now we need to work on David, who has the rap music in his car. What is it with this genre? I'd think the angry young rapper music would have faded into banality by now.
I've had some reflection recently on my commitment to the golf club. The board has some concerns that my job is interfering with my responsibilities as the Vice President of the club. (Does that sound kind of goofy to anyone else?) I've missed three board meetings so far this year and the last one I missed was set for July 5th. I was with Jennifer and wasn't about to cut my day short to sit through a board meeting of the golf club. The guys are concerned and I talked to the President about it....or perhaps more to the point, he talked to me. When he asked me to be VP, I worked for Republic Western, I worked out of the house and my time was mine. Now, I'm working fifty-hour weeks and I don't have a lot of extra time to donate to the club. I was very frank with him and told him that as far as I was concerned, the golf club is leisure time and Family comes first, Work second and everything else brings up the rear. He asked if as President, I could make ALL of the meetings next year and I told him that I wasn't sure. If work demanded that I be in Phoenix or Michigan, I'd be gone. I don't think he liked my answer and it could be that I won't take over as President next year. Either way, I'm okay with it. I'm involved in the golf club because I want to give something back to a group that has given me a lot of joy, but I'm not married to it. Not even close.
I talked to Dad last night and invited he and Shirley with us to Hawaii next year. We will take the boys to Kauai in early June for about 12 days as a Graduation present to David. We will upgrade our condo to a two-bedroom and hopefully Dad and Shirley will be able to trade into the same complex in Princeville. Many people enjoy Honolulu or Maui more, but I prefer the solitude and beauty of Kauai. We will spend a lot of time in Poipu at the beach, but will spend our down time at the Makai Village in Princeville and dinners in Hanalei. I look forward to it already. We are also inviting Darla's parents to join us. I hadn't planned on bringing my golf clubs, but if Dad and Shirley are there, I'd have to accompany them on the course. It'd only be right.
I have an insurance golf tournament on Thursday at the Woodcreek golf course in Roseville. We will have a barbecue dinner afterward. The tournament is for the Insurance Professionals Association, formerly Insurance Womens. It's a fun tournament with a female in every foursome. Gail, one of the other underwriters in my office will be in our foursome and she is quite a golfer. I think we will give them a run for their money this year. Saturday, I play in the Roseville Golf Club annual three-club tournament. We have to choose three clubs and play the whole round with those three. I will use a driver, six iron and putter this year. Last year I used driver, six iron and sand wedge and putted with the sand wedge. I had way too many putts and will remedy that this year. It is a fun tournament and I'll let you know how it goes.
Well think of me this week, getting caught up on my chores, unashamedly watching Sportscenter and baseball games and fixing my own dinners and lunches. I will survive. Ciao.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
The heat hit us last week, but someone decided that warm was not good enough. It is expected to be over 100 degrees for the rest of this week. Thank God the air conditioning in my office was fixed last week.
Jennifer and the boys will spend the day at the local waterpark in Roseville. She had promised the boys that she would take them and they kept missing the mark. They decided that today would work best for them and it is supposed to top out at 103 degrees today, so I can't imagine a better scenario for the kids. In fact, I envy them. After a nice three day weekend and a great trip to Reno/Lake Tahoe, the work is dammed up in my office and waiting for me to unclog the works.
Our trip was really fantastic. The accomodations at the Atlantis Casino were first rate. We drove up after church on Sunday. Jennifer was her regular zombie self after a night on the town with friends Saturday night. She was a trooper and kept her eyes open during the service and chattered away on the drive up to Reno through Interstate 80. We stopped in Auburn for fuel and breakfast and she began to look a little more human. Our plan was to spend part of the day at the beach in Lake Tahoe and then drive on to Reno in the late afternoon. It was idyllic weather at the lake and the beach was overflowing and closed to anymore cars. We stopped along the road, Jennifer took pictures and we decided to drive on to Reno rather than hike into the beach. We took our Subway sandwiches and drinks out to the pool after we checked in and enjoyed a picnic on the sundeck.
Jennifer decided to get her nails repaired at the nail salon of the hotel before dinner and Darla told her to bill it to the room. She had broken a nail and needed it repaired. Jennifer and I walked down to the Players Club where she signed up for a card and I inquired about a comp for dinner. They gave us $120 at the Atlantis Steak and Seafood restaurant on the second floor.
We had a wonderful dinner. Jennifer ordered the petite filet mignon and shrimp scampi with a Ceasar salad. They prepared the salad at the table beginning with the anchovies and mixing the dressing. They dried the lettuce and tossed it right there. Darla had the mushroom soup and I had a tossed green salad. After the soup and salad they came and served us champagne poured over a small dollop of sorbet. It was a classy meal and we really enjoyed it. I had a 16 ounce prime rib that was like butter, it was so tender. Darla had prime rib and coconut shrimp. The dinner proved to be one of the best that I can remember and Jennifer said that it was by far the best that she had ever had. She sat mesmerized watching them prepare her salad. I joked that they were going to have a small boy come out and feed it to her between bites of grapes as two men stood by fanning her with large fans. It was a lot of fun.
Jennifer's name was put into a drawing for $2500 as a new Players Club member and they drew for $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000 and finally $2,500. Her number was close on a couple of occasions. It would not have surprised me to hear her name called at all.
After dinner we sat and played video poker from ten o'clock until two a.m. I quit after hitting four Aces with a 2 on a triple bonus game and winning a $100 jackpot on a nickle machine. Jennifer could not catch a cold the entire weekend and Darla and I would have been way up for the weekend if we weren't feeding her habit. We figure between us we gave her about $100 in gambling money. Darla and I ended up down about $50, so figure we were up $50 for the weekend. We were up about $125 Sunday night, but made a deposit at the casino in Tahoe on Monday.
We have arranged a week's vacation through RCI (the time share group) in Tahoe for August 14-21st at the Tahoe Beach and Ski Club on the Lake at Stateline on the California side. We stopped by to see the facility and were thrilled with the sandy beach, tennis courts and pool on site. The facility is very nice and makes the older time share that we stayed at near Heavenly Valley ski resort last year pale in comparison. The location is excellent in the redevlopment area of Lake Tahoe. It is across the street from the Heavenly Valley gondolas and has a Marie Callenders on site. I'm excited for our vacation next month already. The boys will go up with us and then head home on the weekend. I'll work Monday and Tuesday and then Darla and I will go back up for the balance of the week.
Darla and the boys leave for their vacation at Lake Almanor on Saturday. I'll drive up with them and drive back down on Sunday night. I don't have much vacation and we have to use some of the bonus points this year that we got from RCI when we bought the time share in Hawaii. Darla gets extra vacation time, so will enjoy Almanor and then the week in Tahoe next month. I already took some time off for the trip to Vegas and for the Reno trip yesterday. I only have four days left.
We had a scare on the drive back from Tahoe yesterday afternoon. We were on Highway 50 on the road out of Tahoe on the Highway 89 bypass and had a woman pull out in front of us from the side road. I think she was following someone and when he pulled out, she drifted out behind him. There was a car coming in the opposite direction and no room for her to get by me. I slammed on the brakes of the Explorer and we fishtailed. The woman somehow managed to whip her car into a U-turn and we just avoided her. My only comment as this was happening was, "Unbelievable!!" when she began to drift in front of us. If she had continued, we would have T-boned her and likely knocked her into the oncoming car. Darla spilled a Diet Pepsi that she was drinking all over herself. Jennifer's comment in the back was, "You're not big on using your horn are you, Dad?" The Lord was looking out for us and for the numbskull in the compact car.
We stopped in El Dorado Hills and had dinner at one of my new favorite restaurants, an Italian outfit called "Strings". It was a marvelous little vacation and we got some good quality time with Jennifer. She professed to having a great time and I'm sure she did.
I am grateful to all of my family and friends that prayed for Jennifer's safety while she was in Iraq. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Ciao.
Jennifer and the boys will spend the day at the local waterpark in Roseville. She had promised the boys that she would take them and they kept missing the mark. They decided that today would work best for them and it is supposed to top out at 103 degrees today, so I can't imagine a better scenario for the kids. In fact, I envy them. After a nice three day weekend and a great trip to Reno/Lake Tahoe, the work is dammed up in my office and waiting for me to unclog the works.
Our trip was really fantastic. The accomodations at the Atlantis Casino were first rate. We drove up after church on Sunday. Jennifer was her regular zombie self after a night on the town with friends Saturday night. She was a trooper and kept her eyes open during the service and chattered away on the drive up to Reno through Interstate 80. We stopped in Auburn for fuel and breakfast and she began to look a little more human. Our plan was to spend part of the day at the beach in Lake Tahoe and then drive on to Reno in the late afternoon. It was idyllic weather at the lake and the beach was overflowing and closed to anymore cars. We stopped along the road, Jennifer took pictures and we decided to drive on to Reno rather than hike into the beach. We took our Subway sandwiches and drinks out to the pool after we checked in and enjoyed a picnic on the sundeck.
Jennifer decided to get her nails repaired at the nail salon of the hotel before dinner and Darla told her to bill it to the room. She had broken a nail and needed it repaired. Jennifer and I walked down to the Players Club where she signed up for a card and I inquired about a comp for dinner. They gave us $120 at the Atlantis Steak and Seafood restaurant on the second floor.
We had a wonderful dinner. Jennifer ordered the petite filet mignon and shrimp scampi with a Ceasar salad. They prepared the salad at the table beginning with the anchovies and mixing the dressing. They dried the lettuce and tossed it right there. Darla had the mushroom soup and I had a tossed green salad. After the soup and salad they came and served us champagne poured over a small dollop of sorbet. It was a classy meal and we really enjoyed it. I had a 16 ounce prime rib that was like butter, it was so tender. Darla had prime rib and coconut shrimp. The dinner proved to be one of the best that I can remember and Jennifer said that it was by far the best that she had ever had. She sat mesmerized watching them prepare her salad. I joked that they were going to have a small boy come out and feed it to her between bites of grapes as two men stood by fanning her with large fans. It was a lot of fun.
Jennifer's name was put into a drawing for $2500 as a new Players Club member and they drew for $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000 and finally $2,500. Her number was close on a couple of occasions. It would not have surprised me to hear her name called at all.
After dinner we sat and played video poker from ten o'clock until two a.m. I quit after hitting four Aces with a 2 on a triple bonus game and winning a $100 jackpot on a nickle machine. Jennifer could not catch a cold the entire weekend and Darla and I would have been way up for the weekend if we weren't feeding her habit. We figure between us we gave her about $100 in gambling money. Darla and I ended up down about $50, so figure we were up $50 for the weekend. We were up about $125 Sunday night, but made a deposit at the casino in Tahoe on Monday.
We have arranged a week's vacation through RCI (the time share group) in Tahoe for August 14-21st at the Tahoe Beach and Ski Club on the Lake at Stateline on the California side. We stopped by to see the facility and were thrilled with the sandy beach, tennis courts and pool on site. The facility is very nice and makes the older time share that we stayed at near Heavenly Valley ski resort last year pale in comparison. The location is excellent in the redevlopment area of Lake Tahoe. It is across the street from the Heavenly Valley gondolas and has a Marie Callenders on site. I'm excited for our vacation next month already. The boys will go up with us and then head home on the weekend. I'll work Monday and Tuesday and then Darla and I will go back up for the balance of the week.
Darla and the boys leave for their vacation at Lake Almanor on Saturday. I'll drive up with them and drive back down on Sunday night. I don't have much vacation and we have to use some of the bonus points this year that we got from RCI when we bought the time share in Hawaii. Darla gets extra vacation time, so will enjoy Almanor and then the week in Tahoe next month. I already took some time off for the trip to Vegas and for the Reno trip yesterday. I only have four days left.
We had a scare on the drive back from Tahoe yesterday afternoon. We were on Highway 50 on the road out of Tahoe on the Highway 89 bypass and had a woman pull out in front of us from the side road. I think she was following someone and when he pulled out, she drifted out behind him. There was a car coming in the opposite direction and no room for her to get by me. I slammed on the brakes of the Explorer and we fishtailed. The woman somehow managed to whip her car into a U-turn and we just avoided her. My only comment as this was happening was, "Unbelievable!!" when she began to drift in front of us. If she had continued, we would have T-boned her and likely knocked her into the oncoming car. Darla spilled a Diet Pepsi that she was drinking all over herself. Jennifer's comment in the back was, "You're not big on using your horn are you, Dad?" The Lord was looking out for us and for the numbskull in the compact car.
We stopped in El Dorado Hills and had dinner at one of my new favorite restaurants, an Italian outfit called "Strings". It was a marvelous little vacation and we got some good quality time with Jennifer. She professed to having a great time and I'm sure she did.
I am grateful to all of my family and friends that prayed for Jennifer's safety while she was in Iraq. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Ciao.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
The heat is on here in Sacramento. This past weekend was a scorcher just in time for July 4th. Jennifer made her return to California and she is certainly enjoying herself. She flew in on Thursday afternoon and she has already been water skiing, out to see a band at a local venue, to several parties, out with friends and out to dinner with me last Friday night. Jennifer looks great and is back to 105 pounds of soldier, after losing 13 pounds in Iraq. Jennifer did get as high as 122 pounds during basic training, but her musculature around her neck and arms has softened as she has evolved in the Army from a workout monster to a soldier. Jennifer continues to rack up Personal Training marks and is one of the few soldiers in her unit to max out her PT test. The maximum score is 300 and she had hit 299 in Basic, but re-tested just before her vacation and maxed the test with 300 points. She got a day off work and has a four-day pass waiting for her when she returns.
Jennifer had a really nice visit to Pittsburgh with her friend, Ryan. They stayed at Ryan's parents house in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and visited with Ryan's friends and buddies while they were there.
Darla and I will treat Jennifer to a trip up to Lake Tahoe and Reno this weekend. Jennifer's Mom is having a party for her at their home in Folsom on Saturday. Jennifer will stay with us on Saturday night and then we are off to Lake Tahoe after church on Sunday. We'll spend the day at the beach over on the Incline Village side of the lake and then drive over to Reno, where we will stay at one of the luxury rooms at the Atlantis casino. The Atlantis has spent over a half million dollars renovating their 13 year-old casino and they now have rooms with all cherrywood furniture, granite and marble in the bathrooms and flat screen televisions in the rooms. The rooms are a little higher than the normal rack rate in Reno, but I think Jennifer deserves it.
Darla and the boys spent the weekend up in Lake Almanor with her folks. The boys skiied and swam to their hearts content. Jennifer and I joined them Sunday morning and spent the day on the boat. Jennifer was whipped from the night before where she saw the band with the lead singer who was formerly with the Smashing Pumpkins and Hole. I guess she had a blast, but got back to my place about 3 a.m. I rousted her at six a.m. and poured her in the Mustang for the three hour drive to Lake Almanor. Jennifer was chatting up a storm early in the drive, but was soon fast asleep. I woke her about 7:30 and we had breakfast in Oroville. She proceeded to tell me every story that she told me at six a.m. She swears she didn't remember being awake and told the family that she was dead to the world until I woke her up for breakfast. She slept part of the rest of the trip to Almanor after breakfast.
Jennifer is full of stories from Baghdad and Augusta. It's a good thing as a golfing buddy of mine is friends with a reporter from the local Roseville paper and she wants to interview Jennifer for a story in the paper. She wants to see Jennifer's pictures from Iraq and do a story that will put a local spin on the war in Iraq. Jennifer isn't thrilled about meeting the reporter, but I'm guessing that she will warm to the idea when they meet later this week. I'll try to get a link to the paper's website and add it to my blog if and when the story runs.
The boys made it back from their football camps. David had a blast with the Stanford coaching staff and worked out with one of the top quarterback recruits in the country. He is a quarterback from Florida where he won the high school state championship. He was at the camp as a guest of the Stanford coaching staff (I thought that was illegal???). He is a recruit for Stanford as well and will make up his mind on a college this Spring. David said the kid has a rocket for an arm. David learned alot from not only the coaches, but from the other quarterbacks in camp as well. He learned proper footwork and how to read defenses and setup drills, etc. He said it was well worth his time and our money.
The temperatures are supposed to remain near 100 for a few days and then cool off. I'm hoping it warms back up next weekend as Tahoe is especially nice when it is 100 degrees in the valley. I hope all are well. Jennifer is in town until July 15th and it is a blast to spend time with her and hear her stories. I'm really enjoying myself. The blog will be late again next week as we'll be in Nevada with Jennifer. Take care.
Jennifer had a really nice visit to Pittsburgh with her friend, Ryan. They stayed at Ryan's parents house in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and visited with Ryan's friends and buddies while they were there.
Darla and I will treat Jennifer to a trip up to Lake Tahoe and Reno this weekend. Jennifer's Mom is having a party for her at their home in Folsom on Saturday. Jennifer will stay with us on Saturday night and then we are off to Lake Tahoe after church on Sunday. We'll spend the day at the beach over on the Incline Village side of the lake and then drive over to Reno, where we will stay at one of the luxury rooms at the Atlantis casino. The Atlantis has spent over a half million dollars renovating their 13 year-old casino and they now have rooms with all cherrywood furniture, granite and marble in the bathrooms and flat screen televisions in the rooms. The rooms are a little higher than the normal rack rate in Reno, but I think Jennifer deserves it.
Darla and the boys spent the weekend up in Lake Almanor with her folks. The boys skiied and swam to their hearts content. Jennifer and I joined them Sunday morning and spent the day on the boat. Jennifer was whipped from the night before where she saw the band with the lead singer who was formerly with the Smashing Pumpkins and Hole. I guess she had a blast, but got back to my place about 3 a.m. I rousted her at six a.m. and poured her in the Mustang for the three hour drive to Lake Almanor. Jennifer was chatting up a storm early in the drive, but was soon fast asleep. I woke her about 7:30 and we had breakfast in Oroville. She proceeded to tell me every story that she told me at six a.m. She swears she didn't remember being awake and told the family that she was dead to the world until I woke her up for breakfast. She slept part of the rest of the trip to Almanor after breakfast.
Jennifer is full of stories from Baghdad and Augusta. It's a good thing as a golfing buddy of mine is friends with a reporter from the local Roseville paper and she wants to interview Jennifer for a story in the paper. She wants to see Jennifer's pictures from Iraq and do a story that will put a local spin on the war in Iraq. Jennifer isn't thrilled about meeting the reporter, but I'm guessing that she will warm to the idea when they meet later this week. I'll try to get a link to the paper's website and add it to my blog if and when the story runs.
The boys made it back from their football camps. David had a blast with the Stanford coaching staff and worked out with one of the top quarterback recruits in the country. He is a quarterback from Florida where he won the high school state championship. He was at the camp as a guest of the Stanford coaching staff (I thought that was illegal???). He is a recruit for Stanford as well and will make up his mind on a college this Spring. David said the kid has a rocket for an arm. David learned alot from not only the coaches, but from the other quarterbacks in camp as well. He learned proper footwork and how to read defenses and setup drills, etc. He said it was well worth his time and our money.
The temperatures are supposed to remain near 100 for a few days and then cool off. I'm hoping it warms back up next weekend as Tahoe is especially nice when it is 100 degrees in the valley. I hope all are well. Jennifer is in town until July 15th and it is a blast to spend time with her and hear her stories. I'm really enjoying myself. The blog will be late again next week as we'll be in Nevada with Jennifer. Take care.
