OOPS. I did it again!

It has been over a year since I have felt even the slightest back problem. The Bowen Therapy was a HUGE success and I couldn't be happier. I get to play golf pain free. Well, that was until Saturday. We played the Allister Mackenzie course out at Haggin Oaks, Sacramento's oldest golf course and still one of the best. I took a swing from the fairway on number two and felt a twinge in my back and it was all over after that. I was able to play through the pain and even managed a 43+42=85, which wasn't bad considering that I was in pretty bad shape and couldn't take a full swing. I even managed to win some skin money at the end of the round by parring the number 12 handicap hole which was a net birdie in my flight. This particular injury seems to respond to heat and I feel pretty good after a stint in the hot tub or a hot shower or even after working which heats the muscle and relaxes it.

I woke up Sunday morning sore and stiff and even missed church which is heresy in our house. I limped around and had breakfast, but worked with the boys installing a light fixture from the kitchen in the laundry room and my back relaxed and I was even able to get up in the attic and help secure the light to the ceiling while the boys worked below me. I moved the light from the laundry room into the shed and it looks great, but we still have the same problem with a bad ballast. I may take a look at Home Depot and see what it costs to change out the ballast. I will hopefully be able to see Harry today and have him treat my back. I'm done with chiropractors, especially when the problem involves musculature and not bones.

The boys were able to help me install the new light fixture in the kichen. We had to anchor the fixture with wood and anchor bolts, so David had to climb up in the attic and attach the bolts to some 5/8 inch siding that we had left over from the shed job in 2000. The siding was strong enough yet thin enough to do the job. The new fixture looks really nice and fits the kitchen. The old fixture was a neon shop light in comparison. I don't know if Dad remembers me commenting on the light before we bought the house. I thought it was a cheap looking fixture in relation to the rest of the house. He had come out to visit us after Mom died and we were in the process of buying a house. He came with me when I met with the home inspector we hired to check out the house. Anyhow, the new fixture has a wood base with crown molding and matches the quality of the cabinets. As I mentioned, the old fixture was moved into the laundry room and looks like it fits in there. It provides more light than the old two light fixture and is better for Darla.

We took Daniel out (finally) for his birthday dinner. We ate at La Provence, an upscale French Restaurant in Roseville. I'd bought the restaurant certificate at the football banquet silent auction for $55. It included a $50 gift certificate and a bottle of French wine. Our dinner was $103 and the boys ate to their hearts content, both of them ordering a hanger steak and French fries that was listed on the menu as "Onglet sauce @ chalotes: Grilled marinated Hanger Steak, pommes frites & shallot red Côtesdu Rhine reduction." They had no idea what they were ordering, but Daniel substituted the pommes fries for garlic fries, so he scored. I also ordered the hanger steak and ate it for the second time. The portion of steak is huge and it is cooked in a wine sauce and shallots that is to die for. Darla had prawns and pasta and we all enjoyed the meal together.

Darla then took Daniel out yesterday and he finally got his birthday present, an Acer laptop computer that has enough speed and memory to handle the CAD program that is also on David's laptop which is a Dell Pentium 4 computer. Daniel has been shopping for the computer for a month and finally made his selection this weekend.

David continues to enjoy his job and drove past a building in Natomas that has a trellis that he designed installed on it. He is beginning to see some of his handiwork around town and it is pretty impressive to know that he has the talent and ability to design things from concept to reality. He spent last Monday at the pier in San Francisco eyeballing where one of his loading docks will be installed. He was there with the chief engineer of his firm and they were scoping out the jobsite for design purposes.

We have decided to host the office Christmas party this year. Dinda, who hosted the last three parties is no longer working with us, so it was probably taboo to ask her to host again. I'm not sure if I hope we get the carpet in before the party or after. Party season is upon us as we have three events to attend over the first two weekends of December with our office party, the Golf Club party and Darla's office party. We will also attend the matinee performance of the Trans Siberian Orchestra on December 3rd before heading to the RGC Christmas party that night.

We had a record month in October and brought in over $170,000 in income into the office. That improved our bottom line by over $60,000 YTD and we are getting kudos. I took the staff to lunch at the Elephant Bar last Wednesday to celebrate and we enjoyed a good "gnoshup" on the company dime.

Jennifer is due home this week. I've only talked to her briefly, but we'll get caught up this week. I'll fill you all in next week.


As I mentioned we missed church yesterday and compensated by having Darla read the first three chapters of Exodus after dinner last night. Not that we felt compelled to make up for missing church, but we missed the sermon and the Bible teaching that is so prevalent in our church. Exodus is the story of Moses and how he grew up in Pharaohs family and went on to lead the Exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a Disney movie. Be well, consider your place in the world and why you are here. Be nice to someone today. It'll freak them out. Ciao.