It is Tuesday and it feels like Monday. Christmas has come and gone and some of the memories still ring loudly on the first day back to work. The highlight of this Christmas, for me, was going to Christmas Eve service with Jennifer, Alicia and Darla's parents joining our family. I told Jennifer after the service that the best present she could give me was going to church with me. The service was very well done with Christmas carols and drama interspersed. There was no sermon, per se, and there never is on Christmas, so I didn't even bring my Bible. The message was about the gift of everlasting life and it was told powerfully through the eyes of a mother who is spending her first Christmas without her married daughter, and a soldier in Iraq who is away from his family at Christmas.
We then returned home for a repast of Prime Rib and all of the other foods (salads, potatoes, rolls, etc.) Steve, Darla's brother, and his daughter, Taylor, joined us for dinner and then spent the night. Jennifer also stayed over and was there in the morning to open gifts and share in the family togetherness. It was a great Christmas. Darla decided that my Barbie tools are passe' and bought me a new roller cabinet and tool chest combo for the garage. My old one was worn out and the rollers were shot. The new one has drawers with ball bearings and I bought liners for each of the drawers. The boys bought me a new cordless drill that doubles as a screwdriver. I put in a couple of shelves in the garage above the roller cabinet to hold the WD40, and cleaners and waxes and tire treatments and car wash, etc. The things that gather in a garage and were stored on top of the old roller cabinet and were always a mess. Jennifer bought me some golf gear (hat, Nike jacket and golf towel) from The Lakes golf course in Osan, Korea. It is definitely unique and the jacket is first cabin. She did a great job in choosing gifts, which she always does and gave the boys some nice clothes and Darla a new padfolio and Cross pen for her work. I bought Darla a set of pearl earrings and a necklace. She had bought herself a slew of gifts (mostly sweats and jackets) and had told me not to buy her anything, but I don't listen. We bought David a new wakeboard case and a new neoprene vest that matches the jet ski. Daniel got the laptop as a combo birthday and Christmas gift. He also got some clothes. We bought Jennifer a new MP3 player that will hold up to 12,000 songs. She spent a big part of Christmas Eve downloading songs onto the computer and uploaded them after she opened the gift on Christmas day. I had her research the players before we bought one. She ended up with a 30 GB Creative Nomad Jukebox player and is having fun loading it for her trip back to Korea.
I'm planning to take Thursday off to spend with Jennifer. Darla and I are looking to buy a new tv. Our console in the living room is about 22 years old and we want a new widescreen DLP HDTV receiver. We are looking to go about 42" in diameter. Friends have told us to go larger, but our current tv is 27", so 42" will seem huge to us. I may play golf in the morning and have lunch with Jennifer and then go tv shopping.
We are in the rainy season. It rained so much over the weekend that I had to drain the pond in the back yard and again fix a clog in the downspout of the gutters, this time in the front yard. I waited for a lull in the weather and then bundled up and got on the ladder. Sure enough, the downspout was clogged with leaves and twigs and when I pulled them out the water all rushed to the downspout and caused a geyser that drenched me. I couldn't jump free of the water as I was up on a ladder. The joys of home ownership.
Well, that is it until next week. Jennifer will be off to Las Vegas for the New Year's Eve festivities. She is staying at Mandalay Bay and will ring in the New Year in style. Hey, to be 25 and have the world as your oyster. Not bad...I'd take that gig. Hope all are well. God Bless each of you and keep you safe into the New Year. Happy New Year all. Ciao.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Darla
Darla has decided that waiting for me to be promoted is like bad oral surgery: painful and unneccesary. She went on an interview yesterday with her company for a Supervisor position. It is a new unit in Roseville and is a very sought after position. She is up against five other service coordinators and two supervisors who are interested in a lateral move. She went out this weekend and bought a new suit for her interview and handled herself brilliantly during the interview yesterday. She will find out later this week if she is accepted for the position. She has mixed feelings about her chances, especially given the interest of the two supervisors. Often, these things are political, but I think the time is right for Darla to move into Supervision. Whether it is this job or another like it, she will soon be commanding a unit at her job place and we can commiserate on the inevitable calls from our employees feigning illness on a sunny day. I wish her well and good luck in the process. In many ways, she would be ideal for the position, given her training in Early Autism and her well rounded experience. I'll let you all know how it goes. Put Darla on your prayer list as she waits to hear the outcome. Ciao.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Snow in Detroit...a blizzard of work on my desk
I am back from the Home Office visit that I made last week. I thought I was prepared for the cold, but it is hard to prepare for 8 degrees and snow flurries. We had a bit of snow everyday and a full fledged snow storm on Thursday to see me off and back to Sacramento.
I flew in on Sunday night and the sight of the snow piled up on the sides of the runway caught me a bit unaware. I knew they'd had some snow, but I really wasn't prepared for the raw cold. I had played golf on Saturday in our last tournament of the year and it was sunny and 68 degrees on Saturday. It was 17 degrees with a wind chill factor of 12 degrees when I landed.
The golf was great, in fact I shot my best round of the year with a 37+40=77, which included a chip in for eagle on number 5. I won low gross in my flight with a 77 and took low gross in the Eclectic tournament which is the year long tournament that tracks our best scores on each hole throughout the year. We play by flight and I shot a 63, which gave me a net of 50 for the year. I'll have some money in the pro shop after the first of the year and may shop for a new hybrid club to replace my 4 iron. The hybrids are so easy to hit.
Of course, I bragged to anyone who would listen in Detroit that the weather was so nice back in Sacramento and how could they live in such a cold environment? The Thursday storm left the parking lot a slippery mess and coated most of the cars with a six inch blanket of snow. The one item that we don't see out here is heated seats and they all seem to have them in their cars. It is a welcome luxury to sit in a warm front seat when it is 8 degrees outside.
The week was great and I got some excellent training as well as a chance to bond with many of the upper level Managers. It is apparent that they all have my back and have lobbied for my promotion. I still have the boss to convince, but it is obvious that he is beginning to thaw. He wants to see the Sacramento office get off to a good start in 2006 and will be ready to pull the trigger if we do get started strong. Our budget is actually built with a heavier lean to the later months for our stronger premium months, so it is quite doable that we could meet and exceed our budget in the first quarter. We are making money now and that is just a start.
We are having a good month and our Christmas party at our house a week ago last Friday was a nice way to thank the staff for a great 2005. We had most of the staff here save for our Personal Lines Underwriter who is still mourning that she had her assistant promoted and now has to do her own assistant work. Our accounting person, Audra, had six crowns put on her teeth on that Friday and was at home in pain while we all celebrated here. She had told me that she would be there, but I had no plans to see her. I had one crown put on and was down for the count earlier this year.
The trip back from Detroit was an ordeal. Getting out of Detroit was delayed because of a crew change and then we had to wait on the tarmac while the plane was de-iced. That is an interesting process as a lift truck sprays a hot solution on the wings, tail section and engines before takeoff. The steam fogged up the window as we watched the lift trucks work both sides of the plane.
I arrived in Phoenix a half hour late, but with plenty of time to catch my 10:47 PM connection to Sacramento. I was in the very back of the plane and had to wait to deplane. When I got out, it was about 10:20 and I raced to the Departure board to find my gate. There, in color, was the word "Cancelled". I walked to the America West Courtesy Desk and saw over a hundred people in line to talk to the two harried clerks. I bypassed that office and went back down to ticketing to see if I could catch another flight. The Sacramento flight was cancelled beacause of weather at the originating sight of the inbound plane. The best they could do was seat me on a plane the next morning leaving for Sacramento at 8:10 AM. I had to wait and collect my luggage and then had to grab a hotel room and spend the night. nIt was about midnight (2 AM Detroit time) by the time I got checked into the hotel. I stayed at a Super 8 dive motel for $50 and at that price, it was still a ripoff.
I finally arrived home, tired, beat and sore at ten o'clock Friday morning. I ran by the house, showered and then went into the office. It was a long week.
Jennifer will be home on Thursday and we will spend Christmas Eve here with the boys. I'm anxious to hear some of Jennifer's stories from Korea. I've already heard that she spent a weekend in Seoul and met a group of Canadian guys. They had a good time together along with one of her friends from the unit. She sent on some pictures.
I spent part of this morning after church cleaning out gutters on the house. I have gutter guards up on the house, but they are optional as small pieces of leaves and branches find their way into the gutters and clog the downspouts. We have a Winter storm under way with rain and wind and three of the gutters were clogged, one so bad that the weight of the water pulled a portion of the gutter loose from the roof. I had to repair that all in a driving rainstorm. Nice, eh?
Well, that is the news for now. Have a great Christ-Mas day and remember that Christ is the reason for the season and that if you are unhappy with your worldly gifts, know that the best gift we will ever receive was the gift of everlasting life bought by Christ's death on the cross. Ciao.
I flew in on Sunday night and the sight of the snow piled up on the sides of the runway caught me a bit unaware. I knew they'd had some snow, but I really wasn't prepared for the raw cold. I had played golf on Saturday in our last tournament of the year and it was sunny and 68 degrees on Saturday. It was 17 degrees with a wind chill factor of 12 degrees when I landed.
The golf was great, in fact I shot my best round of the year with a 37+40=77, which included a chip in for eagle on number 5. I won low gross in my flight with a 77 and took low gross in the Eclectic tournament which is the year long tournament that tracks our best scores on each hole throughout the year. We play by flight and I shot a 63, which gave me a net of 50 for the year. I'll have some money in the pro shop after the first of the year and may shop for a new hybrid club to replace my 4 iron. The hybrids are so easy to hit.
Of course, I bragged to anyone who would listen in Detroit that the weather was so nice back in Sacramento and how could they live in such a cold environment? The Thursday storm left the parking lot a slippery mess and coated most of the cars with a six inch blanket of snow. The one item that we don't see out here is heated seats and they all seem to have them in their cars. It is a welcome luxury to sit in a warm front seat when it is 8 degrees outside.
The week was great and I got some excellent training as well as a chance to bond with many of the upper level Managers. It is apparent that they all have my back and have lobbied for my promotion. I still have the boss to convince, but it is obvious that he is beginning to thaw. He wants to see the Sacramento office get off to a good start in 2006 and will be ready to pull the trigger if we do get started strong. Our budget is actually built with a heavier lean to the later months for our stronger premium months, so it is quite doable that we could meet and exceed our budget in the first quarter. We are making money now and that is just a start.
We are having a good month and our Christmas party at our house a week ago last Friday was a nice way to thank the staff for a great 2005. We had most of the staff here save for our Personal Lines Underwriter who is still mourning that she had her assistant promoted and now has to do her own assistant work. Our accounting person, Audra, had six crowns put on her teeth on that Friday and was at home in pain while we all celebrated here. She had told me that she would be there, but I had no plans to see her. I had one crown put on and was down for the count earlier this year.
The trip back from Detroit was an ordeal. Getting out of Detroit was delayed because of a crew change and then we had to wait on the tarmac while the plane was de-iced. That is an interesting process as a lift truck sprays a hot solution on the wings, tail section and engines before takeoff. The steam fogged up the window as we watched the lift trucks work both sides of the plane.
I arrived in Phoenix a half hour late, but with plenty of time to catch my 10:47 PM connection to Sacramento. I was in the very back of the plane and had to wait to deplane. When I got out, it was about 10:20 and I raced to the Departure board to find my gate. There, in color, was the word "Cancelled". I walked to the America West Courtesy Desk and saw over a hundred people in line to talk to the two harried clerks. I bypassed that office and went back down to ticketing to see if I could catch another flight. The Sacramento flight was cancelled beacause of weather at the originating sight of the inbound plane. The best they could do was seat me on a plane the next morning leaving for Sacramento at 8:10 AM. I had to wait and collect my luggage and then had to grab a hotel room and spend the night. nIt was about midnight (2 AM Detroit time) by the time I got checked into the hotel. I stayed at a Super 8 dive motel for $50 and at that price, it was still a ripoff.
I finally arrived home, tired, beat and sore at ten o'clock Friday morning. I ran by the house, showered and then went into the office. It was a long week.
Jennifer will be home on Thursday and we will spend Christmas Eve here with the boys. I'm anxious to hear some of Jennifer's stories from Korea. I've already heard that she spent a weekend in Seoul and met a group of Canadian guys. They had a good time together along with one of her friends from the unit. She sent on some pictures.
I spent part of this morning after church cleaning out gutters on the house. I have gutter guards up on the house, but they are optional as small pieces of leaves and branches find their way into the gutters and clog the downspouts. We have a Winter storm under way with rain and wind and three of the gutters were clogged, one so bad that the weight of the water pulled a portion of the gutter loose from the roof. I had to repair that all in a driving rainstorm. Nice, eh?
Well, that is the news for now. Have a great Christ-Mas day and remember that Christ is the reason for the season and that if you are unhappy with your worldly gifts, know that the best gift we will ever receive was the gift of everlasting life bought by Christ's death on the cross. Ciao.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Cold Crisp start to the week
It is another Monday and it woke with frost on the lawns and rooftops and has morphed into a crisp, clear and sunny December day. So far the fog has only been sporadic this year and sunshine has been the norm, aside from the last week of on and off again rainstorms. The forecast is for more of the same cold, clear days ahead. We got caught up on our rainfall totals last week as it rained from Monday until Friday, clearing for the weekend.
My garage door opener was so old (circa 1987) that I couldn't buy replacement parts or new remotes. I'd ordered some parts that didn't work and finally decided to replace the old dog with a new one. Sears seemed to have the best deal with a unit that included two remotes and a keyless entry. The keyless entry is nice if we take a walk or Jennifer comes over or the boys get dropped off by a friend after school. I was a little cool to the idea of going to the mall to pick up the opener, but went online, picked out the opener, paid for it and picked it up at the Merchandise Pick-up. I never had to go into the store. It was almost as convenient as shopping online and having the item delivered to the house. The boys and I installed the new opener on Saturday morning.
I played no golf this weekend and I think it was my first golfless weekend in a couple of months. We had tickets to the Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas show on Saturday afternoon and then dinner that night with the Roseville Golf Club. The show was great, we got our tickets from Gary and Liz Krohn. Liz is a marketing specialist for one of the large malls in Sacramento and has connections. We had seats in the lower level to the right of the stage. It was nice. We met at the dinner location and left our car for the 3:00 PM show. We returned at 6:15 PM for the 6:30 PM party and had a drink while the board members set up. I got a gift of a session with Harry, my Bowen specialist along with a martini sampler. I'll probably regift the martini sampler in the white elephant gift exchange at our Christmas party on Friday night. We will christen our remodel project and the new carpeting with the Burns and Wilcox holiday party on Friday night. We'll have turkey and ham and all of the trimmings on Friday and will have our gift exchange after that.
Jennifer has arrived in Korea and had a surprise awaiting her. One of the guys from her team in Kuwait has also joined the Das Net group and met her at the airport. He is part of the New York based team and won't be working with her out of Georgia, but it was a nice surprise for Jen to see a familiar face in Korea. She is having a good time and sent me an e-mail to let me know that she was getting a new cell phone and buying some international minutes for the phone and would call soon. She will, of course, be home for Christmas and we look forward to seeing her.
Work here is going well and I leave next Sunday for a week in home office for some Branch Manager training. I assume this means that they are happy with the success of the Sacramento and Modesto offices. I will have to pack warm for the trip to Detroit, where there is snow on the ground and a heavy chill in the air. I don't own a wool suit, but I'm sure that I will wish that I did. I'm excited to go back and spend some time in the home office. I've been to Detroit twice for the manager's meeting, but have yet to visit the Home office site. I'm encouraged by the invitation and the continuing good numbers that we are putting up.
As I will be in Detroit, the blog will take a little holiday until I get back. Darla and I were in church yesterday and a gentleman behind us had chest pains during communion. Our church is so large that we have an emergency team of doctors and paramedics on staff that were able to monitor the man and get his vitals stable and he was ready to be transported to the hospital when the ambulance arrived. The pastor stopped the service and prayed for the man and the team working on him. Rick said that due to the size of our church that there is a medical emergency almost every weekend and the Emergency team is called into service. It is nice to be part of a church that plans for every eventuality. Well that's it this week. Be well and stay in lock step with the Lord. Ciao.
My garage door opener was so old (circa 1987) that I couldn't buy replacement parts or new remotes. I'd ordered some parts that didn't work and finally decided to replace the old dog with a new one. Sears seemed to have the best deal with a unit that included two remotes and a keyless entry. The keyless entry is nice if we take a walk or Jennifer comes over or the boys get dropped off by a friend after school. I was a little cool to the idea of going to the mall to pick up the opener, but went online, picked out the opener, paid for it and picked it up at the Merchandise Pick-up. I never had to go into the store. It was almost as convenient as shopping online and having the item delivered to the house. The boys and I installed the new opener on Saturday morning.
I played no golf this weekend and I think it was my first golfless weekend in a couple of months. We had tickets to the Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas show on Saturday afternoon and then dinner that night with the Roseville Golf Club. The show was great, we got our tickets from Gary and Liz Krohn. Liz is a marketing specialist for one of the large malls in Sacramento and has connections. We had seats in the lower level to the right of the stage. It was nice. We met at the dinner location and left our car for the 3:00 PM show. We returned at 6:15 PM for the 6:30 PM party and had a drink while the board members set up. I got a gift of a session with Harry, my Bowen specialist along with a martini sampler. I'll probably regift the martini sampler in the white elephant gift exchange at our Christmas party on Friday night. We will christen our remodel project and the new carpeting with the Burns and Wilcox holiday party on Friday night. We'll have turkey and ham and all of the trimmings on Friday and will have our gift exchange after that.
Jennifer has arrived in Korea and had a surprise awaiting her. One of the guys from her team in Kuwait has also joined the Das Net group and met her at the airport. He is part of the New York based team and won't be working with her out of Georgia, but it was a nice surprise for Jen to see a familiar face in Korea. She is having a good time and sent me an e-mail to let me know that she was getting a new cell phone and buying some international minutes for the phone and would call soon. She will, of course, be home for Christmas and we look forward to seeing her.
Work here is going well and I leave next Sunday for a week in home office for some Branch Manager training. I assume this means that they are happy with the success of the Sacramento and Modesto offices. I will have to pack warm for the trip to Detroit, where there is snow on the ground and a heavy chill in the air. I don't own a wool suit, but I'm sure that I will wish that I did. I'm excited to go back and spend some time in the home office. I've been to Detroit twice for the manager's meeting, but have yet to visit the Home office site. I'm encouraged by the invitation and the continuing good numbers that we are putting up.
As I will be in Detroit, the blog will take a little holiday until I get back. Darla and I were in church yesterday and a gentleman behind us had chest pains during communion. Our church is so large that we have an emergency team of doctors and paramedics on staff that were able to monitor the man and get his vitals stable and he was ready to be transported to the hospital when the ambulance arrived. The pastor stopped the service and prayed for the man and the team working on him. Rick said that due to the size of our church that there is a medical emergency almost every weekend and the Emergency team is called into service. It is nice to be part of a church that plans for every eventuality. Well that's it this week. Be well and stay in lock step with the Lord. Ciao.
