Back to California and I can leave the Jet Lag behind. The trip to Michigan and the annual Branch Managers meeting was a big success and a great opportunity for me. It was long and intense and the jet lag that I experienced was omnipresent. I've actually never experienced jet lag before, but the intensity of these meetings and the long days in warm rooms with panelists and technical jargon lead me to the brink of intense jet lag. I flew in on Saturday night at about 5:30 and we were off to dinner at a local sports bar by 7:30 that night. The dinner was hosted by SRD International, our in house Lloyd's syndicate group that writes some of our toughest risks. I was fine being on California time. What made the trip rough was that we started out the next morning at 8:00 a.m. in a New Managers meeting and went straight through to six p.m. with only a few breaks. 8:00 a.m. in Detroit is 5:00 a.m. in California. I was so tired by that night that I skipped the dinner hosted by the Hiscox group, one of our London affiliates. I got a good night's sleep and was ready for Monday, which is the formal day, with business attire.

I was presented during the awards presentations as the newest Underwriting Manager at Burns and Wilcox. I received a very warm reception from the other Managers and the Home Office Vice Presidents and staff. It was generally a very good meeting with a positive presentation of ideas and success stories. I have an opportunity to run the branch and audition for the permanent job of Branch Manager and I feel very positive about the opportunity and the prospects.

The jet lag really hit me on Tuesday morning when my alarm did NOT go off and I slept right through to 9 a.m. I missed beakfast and the breakfast presentation by one of our companies. I woke up with a start and saw the clock at 8:55. I never sleep in like that and always wake up at 6:00 or 6:30 whether I have an alarm or not. The morning session began at 9:15 a.m. and I dashed up, quickly showered and shaved and made it down to the meeting. Harvey, the San Francisco Branch Manager and Vice-President, was a little miffed, but after I told him what happened, he said it had happened to him a couple of years ago and he learned to set his cell phone, clock radio and a wake up call. It turns out that the maid had turned the volume on the radio off, probably when dusting it. Oh well. I felt bad, but the jet lag was unbelievable.

We played golf on Tuesday afternoon at Tam-O-Shanter Country Club in suburban Detroit. It is an enclave of the rich and richer and was a very tough, but fair test of golf. We played a modified scramble and I found out the extent of the expectations on me when we teed off on the first hole. I played with three of the Vice Presidents from Home Office. Each of them teed off before me and one went dead left, one dead right and the other skulled his shot short of the lady's tee. I had to carry the group and we struggled to 14 pars, two birdies and two bogeys. The modified portion of the scramble was that if you teed off and the group used your tee shot, you couldn't hit the next shot. I spent the day hitting pretty good drives and then having to chip onto the green after the other three hit the approach shots. It was a scramble to make par and the two birdies came on a par three where I put the ball about ten feet from the cup and a par five where I put our third shot from behind a tree about two feet from the cup. The Burns and Wilcox Management group is not embued with golfing talent and we managed to take second place out of twelve groups with a 72. The winning group shot 69 and had a Vice President from Scottsdale Insurance Company who was on the ASU golf team. ASU has year in and out one of the finest college golf teams in the United States. It was fun and I got a nice Tam-O-Shanter golf jacket for my efforts as well as the gratitude of several of the Home Office executives.

I have a lot of ideas and changes that I will slowly bring to the office in the coming weeks and months that I culled from the meeting.

Football. David is suffering a bit this week, after a very tough outing in his last game. We lost 35-20, but David was sacked six times, intercepted once and had three fumbles, two of which were returned for touchdowns. It was his worst showing as a player in four years of high school ball and unfortunately, he lost his starting position at quarterback because of it. He was under intense pressure the entire game and he had a huge problem hanging onto the ball. They blitzed him early and often and our line and backs couldn't control the blitz. David was often running for his life. He is handling his demotion with the grace and character that he always shows, but the biggest problem is that he lost his starting qb slot and he is now second string on defense. I can't imagine that he'll be on the sideline much, because the coaches need his fire and leadership on the field, but you can imagine the angst that he is experiencing. He told me last night that he is playing on both special teams and that he will make big plays and force the coaches to play him. He PLANS to block a punt in the next game.

Daniel's team suffered another loss and the energy at Woodcreek is tough right now. Daniel did play both ways on offense and defense and played well. We play our crosstown rival Roseville High School this week and I'm really concerned with Adam at qb, but it can't get worse than last week. It is Roseville's Homecoming and a big game for them.

Well, I have to get to work, so this is a short and sweet update this week. I'll write more on Monday. Ciao.