Back from Carmel..What a weekend!

Darla and I snuck out of work early on Thursday afternoon and made the three hour drive to Carmel. The weather was absolutely perfect, with highs in the low seventies and great sleeping weather at night. We got into Carmel about 6:15 PM and got checked into our hotel. We unpacked and ventured out about 7:00 PM for some dinner. We walked down to the Wells Fargo ATM in the middle of town and got some funds for the weekend and did a bit of window shopping in the warm night air as the sun slowly set over the ocean. We walked over to one of our favorite restaurants, The Forge in the Forest on fifth street. It was packed and there was a wait for outside tables. They did however have a table in their "dog friendly" patio and there was a nice German Sheppard and a Collie in residence. We chose to eat sans canines and opted for a table next to the fire inside near the bar. Our waiter was one of those fussy looking quasi-gay fellows with a bright pinkish orange shirt (NOT that there's anything wrong with that). He seemed somewhat harried as he rushed about, but seemed genuinely unhappy that Darla and I chose to split a steak sandwich and I ordered a salad and Darla a crock of French onion soup. Darla's soup arrived and we shared that, although Darla was not thrilled with my technique of folding back the cheese to get at the soup. We waited an interminable amount of time for dinner and my salad never did show up. Finally, Mr Finicky (our waiter) arrived with a plate of steak tacos. I balked as he was setting them down and told him that we had ordered a steak sandwich. "No." he said. I insisted and he left to check his tag and came back to the table with the plate. "Uh, you were right, I ordered the wrong entree." (No shit, Sherlock). We accepted the steak tacos and shared that dinner. Darla mentioned that as Christians we needed to set an example of understanding and grace. When it took the waiter another twenty minutes to bring us the bill when we finished eating she was ready to "dine and dash" which seemed to me counter to the Christian grace posture she had avowed earlier. I left a ten percent tip as the waiter didn't even offer to discount the meal for his mistake. Whatever.

Our friends arrived later in the evening both couples taking wrong turns and getting lost en route to the hotel. One couple missed the 156 turnoff at Hollister and went in to Gilroy and the other drove through Pleasanton and San Jose to get to Carmel. I never drive to Carmel via the Bay Area. I always take I-5 to Santa Nella and cut through Hollister and San Juan Batista. The traffic is lighter and it is a nicer drive throught the San Juan reservoir. They finally made it and we made plans to have breakfast together the next morning.

We played Poppy Hills on Friday, teeing off at 12:20PM. We ate breakfast at our favorite breakfast restaurant. The Swiss Cafe on seventh street. We decided to have dinner at the Pasta House in Carmel that night and made reservations for twelve. Golf was tough, but I shot 93 on Friday and 91 on Saturday. I took second low net on Saturday with a net of 78 and won $29. Boyd had to leave early and gave me his winnings, which turned out to be $54, as he took low gross with a 79 and closest to the pin on number two. I had the shortest drive of my golfing life on number 18 Saturday as I hit a 235 yard drive that pushed left under some trees and came to rest (I thought) on the cart path. The hole is a 410 yard uphill par four. As Boyd got up to hit, I said, "I think my ball is moving." Indeed it began to roll back down the cart path and by the time the 4th player hit, the ball was rolling down the cart path past the tee box. It rolled another 100 yards off of the course. So I hit a 235 yard drive that rolled back 335 yards and I took a 6 on the hole, instead of a par. C'est la Vie. I have shot 80 before and won nothing, so second place for a 91 was not so bad. I bought a sleeve of balls, a golf vest, hat, glove and a towel for my $81. Thanks, Boyd.

We did head home Saturday night after golf, caravaning with our friends and having dinner at the Cedar House near the Casa De Fruta. We had a lot of laughs and truly enjoyed some good conversation and some quality time with our friends. The weather was ideal and although the golf could have been better, they were tough championship courses and I actually shot a 41+50 on Saturday, so I at least had one good nine hole stretch of golf.

Finally, we will get started on our kitchen this week. The tile guy will be in on Wednesday and will start the floor project and the granite installer is supposed to start this week. We have yet to hear from him, but the contract says that he will have it installed by 10/7/05, which is Friday. I will talk to him today. We are ready to have the work done as half of the kitchen is sitting in the living room. We have to take down the armoire this week and tear out the tile in the entry for that installation next week.

I leave for the Manager's meeting this weekend in Detroit and will be gone until the following Wednesday. I hope and plan to talk to the powers that be about promoting me and hiring another underwriter. The Sacramento office is beginning to take off and we need to stop being treated like a red headed stepchild. I will let you know how that goes. The blog will be late next week as I will be in Detroit. I have been asked to present my sales meeting profile in a best practices session on Sunday. Management likes the interactive tone of my meetings which are short and deal with where we are at that moment with regard to renewals, new business, quotes, etc. versus our budget. We have our meetings once a week and everyone in the office knows where we sit versus our budgeted numbers at any given time.

Jennifer called last week. She is still in countdown mode and will leave Kuwait sometime near October 28th. She will be in Georgia processing out of the Army until about November 10th, but will be home for the holidays. One of her best friends, Jason, who was a boyfriend has contracted lymphoid cancer and is being treated for it. Jason is only 25 and it is a call to prayer. Please pray that Jason receive the best medical care available and that the Lord will heal him. His parents lost his brother to a suicide last year and they need Jason to survive. Please PRAY hard.

Our pastor, Rick, will be taking a three month sabbatical beginning in late December. He has spent eleven years building a church family in Roseville/Rocklin and he needs to get away and recharge his batteries. We give thanks to God for his leadership of our church body and wish him well on his break and look forward to him coming back to the lectern in April.

Well that's it for this week. Be well and focused in your walk with the Lord. Ciao.