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.