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.