Settling In for a long Winter

It is another nice Autumn morning. The sun is just beginning to brighten the sky to the Eastern horizon and the office is quiet as it is just myself and my Accounting person, who sits in the far end of the office. I can hear her poking around at the copy machine and she dropped off some papers for me to sign, but other than that it is a peaceful morning at shortly after 7 AM in the West.

It was a nice weekend, although the Friday night football game was in the boonies of South Sacramento. We won the game 51-36, but it was a bigger blowout than that as we had a 51-16 lead and lost focus in the fourth quarter with our backups in the game. It has been a difficult year with Daniel playing just on the special teams and in a mop up role in blowouts. The team has a chance to make the playoffs, but they really aren't good enough to make any noise in the playoffs as the number one team in their division is also number 5 in the state. After last year with David at qb and starting free safety and Daniel starting on the offensive line and defensive line, it has taken a lot of adjustment. I've deduced that high school football is entertaining, but overall is a poor substitute for real football. Daniel has handled himself well this year and is a 6'3" 235 lb cheerleader for the senior players.

Our remodel is all but finished. We got the quote for the carpet and Darla will set up installation of that today and we'll know when we have to uproot our lives and move furniture. One of the big challenges is the pool table in the living room. Darla will arrange to have a company take down the table and then reinstall it after the carpet is installed. I am finished with the baseboards in the part of the house that has had new flooring installed and will tear out the old baseboards in the bedrooms, living room and family room prior to the new carpet going in. I will then install the new baseboards after the carpet is in. We've also decided to hold off on any work on the kitchen cabinets. I will sand and touch up the existing cabinets and we will live with them for now. I also want to install a new light fixture in the kitchen and one in the laundry room where the fixture has a bad socket.

I went to an insurance seminar last Wednesday. Our office hosted a booth and all of the underwriters attended the seminar. Our luncheon speaker was Ed Hochuli, who is a defense attorney, but is likely more famous as an NFL referee. Ed told some great stories. One of them involved YA Tittle, who was asked to be the honorary captain of the Super Bowl a few years back. Ed was handling the coin toss and the NFL uses special commemorative coins that all wind up in the Hall of Fame. While they were practicing the coin flip, YA told Ed that he had promised his grandson the coin from the coin toss. Ed explained that that was impossible, that the NFL had an official who would collect the coin right after the toss and take it to Canton, Ohio. YA insisted that he HAD to give the coin to his grandson. Ed showed the special coin to the television camera and then pocketed it and pulled out a half dollar that he keeps for most of the coin tosses during the year. He tossed the 50 cent piece, gave that coin to YA Tittle, and returned the commemorative coin to the NFL official.

Ed also told a story about perception and reality. There was a blind man who always walked New York city with his guide dog. One morning as he was walking, his dog took him across the street against the light. Cars were swerving amd honking and the blind man came close to being hit several times. Finally, the dog got him across the street and safely back onto the sidewalk. The blind man reached into his pocket to get a dog treat and as he was handing it to the dog, a passerby stopped him. "Your dog crossed against the light and almost got you killed. I hardly think you should reward him for that behavior." The blind man said, "You don't understand, I'm giving him the treat so I can determine exactly where his mouth is, so I can turn around and kick him in the ass!"

We had a little excitement at our office while we were gone to convention. I called in to talk to my assistant, Connie, and she told me that I'd missed all of the excitement. The fire department and two paramedics had been called to our office. Our receptionist, Renee, who is losing weight, was in the break room talking to Natasha, Pete's assistant. Renee talks with her hands, gesturing and emphasizing her points. Natasha opened her mouth to say something just as Renee was gesturing. Renee's ring flew off her hand and flew right into Natasha's mouth and lodged in her windpipe. She was gagging and couldn't catch her breath. Finally, she swallowed the ring and the crisis was over. It was a bizarre set of circumstances and we have yet to see the ring reappear, though the re-emergence is imminent.

I did play golf this weekend. I got to the course early and warmed up. I hit the ball well on the driving range and then started play. I was nothing short of pathetic on the front nine, losing my ball out of bounds on consecutive holes on my way to a 47 front side. I pulled my head together and improved my game on the back nine to record a one over 37 for an 84, net 72. I won two skins and had the closest to the pin at 3'9" on the back nine. I'm just glad that it wasn't a 37 on the front and 47 on the back. I also won the 50-50 drawing that we do at each tournament to help fund the Christmas party and took home $55 for a $5 ticket. Not bad.

Jennifer flies home this week and should touch down on American soil by Friday. She called and talked to Darla last week and is excited to get home. Her friend Jason has lymphoma and is beginning treatment with radiation this week. They did a biopsy and it could have been much worse. The prognosis is good, but the lump had grown so large that it attached to some of his other organs, so it is still too early to call it a victory, but so far so good. Please keep Jason and his family in your prayers.

David continues to do well at school and with his job. They recently gave him a 25% raise and continue to ask him to do more complex assignments. He loves it. His car was hit the other night as some moron sideswiped him. I noticed that his side mirror was lying on the road next to his car when I was leaving for church. Darla and I drive separately as she helps at the high school. The only thing I noticed was the mirror had come loose from the mirror housing and I thought it happened when he shut his door. Darla came out and found a Ford emblem laying near the car. On closer examination, someone had brushed the car and scratched the paint, tearing off the Ford logo on the front right side of the car. There is very little body damage. David thinks it might have been the paper carrier as we didn't get a Sunday paper that morning. It is irritating that someone didn't leave a name and number. The loss is less than our deductible and with what I already pay to insure David, I'm not sure I'd let him turn in the loss. His insurance is for his liability in the event of an accident.

Well, I need to get at it. I'm having a great month at work, which is good timing coming off the bizarre meeting in Detroit. I should personally write close to a 1/4 million this month with income to the branch of over $40,000. The office as a whole should have a record month and I can only keep working hard and hope to open some eyes (well one pair in particular) at home office. Be an Obediah for those around you this week. Obediah comes from the two words "Obed" and "Ya", which means servant of God. Ciao.