New Year, Same Old Life

I just had a contractor out to the house to replace a damaged potable water expansion tank. The tank is only there because it is required by the City of Roseville. We have water meters in Roseville and the tank is added to the hot water heater and allows water to flow out of the hot water heater into a 5 gallon expansion tank. The tank has a bladder and expels air as water is let into the tank. Ours was installed in January of 2004 when the hot water heater was installed. We immediately heard a hammering noise which was intermittent when it was installed. Recently the hammering has increased to a deafening "fog horn" sound and it was apparent that the tank had been compromised, likely a ruptured bladder. I finally got the plumber to come out and replace the tank at a cost of $406. At least they offer a two year parts and labor warranty, which Home Depot did not. In fact, they put me in contact with the manufacturer of the tank, a Canadian company called Watts Regulator. Watts told me that their product only has a one year warranty and I could get a plumber to replace it. Thanks for nothing.

This follows on the heels of the hot water heater rusting out in the rental house in Galt. I had that repaced last week by Lowes for a cost of $744. As the title indicates, it is a New Year, but the same old problems and headaches abound.

Jennifer is on an Asiatic flight to Korea as I write this. She spent the New Year holiday in Las Vegas. She was met by John, her friend from Korea and Atlanta. John lives in Vegas and invited Jennifer to come and spend the holiday with him. John had told Jenn to wear comfortable clothes on the plane, that he had a surprise for her when she landed. Jennifer guessed that he was taking her "quadding" out in the desert. She was wrotng. He drove her about 20 miles out of Vegas to a small airport where they went skydiving. It was a tandem dive, meaning both John and Jennifer dove out of the plane strapped to the stomach of a trained diver. I think John was a little presumptious that Jennifer would go along with the game, but when you have climbed 350 foot towers together without anything more than a small harness attached to the structure, I guess you can read the other person pretty well. Jennifer said that the experience was AWESOME and that she can cross one more thing off her list of things to do before she dies.

Jenn had trouble getting to Vegas. She had a package deal that flew her on United from Sacramento to Los Angeles and then to Vegas. Why? I have no idea as there are 50 flights a day from Sac to Vegas direct. Anyhow her flght was 6:00 AM out of Sac and I dropped her at 4:45 AM Friday. She got stuck in a large line outside and was told to go inside to show her credit card (It was an Orbitz deal). She got stuck in an even longer line inside and missed her flight. She was P.O.'ed to say the least. She ended up paying an extra $100 and took a direct flight to Vegas on Southwest, arriving at about the same time that she would have from Los Angeles. It all worked out and she stayed at the Mandalay Bay Casino and partied at a street party on the Las Vegas Strip, ringing in the New Year with fireworks, bands and confetti. She loved it.

Again, this morning, she had trouble with United, who told her that she could not fly to Korea without a Visa. Korea only allows visitors to stay for 30 days without a Visa and her Visa is being issued by the US Military at Los Osos Air Base in Korea. Her Visa should be there when she arrives. The problem is that her return flight to the states is scheduled for March 10th, which is over 30 days. She didn't have that problem in December as she was there for only 21 days and got an automatic 30 day Visa. It turns out that she got to the Asiatic desk and they told her that she'd have 30 days to get an extension Visa in Korea. The United employee was being a little overly diligent, especially given that she wasn't flying on United Airlines to Korea. Jennifer is loving her new job and got her fitrst paycheck before she left and said "I want to stay overseas all the time." Her per diem makes a big difference.

Jennifer likely will not move to Georgia. Because she will only be in Georgia three of four weeks at a stretch, she's decided to stay at an extended stay resort while in Georgia. She can stay for about $50 a day. That would be $1400 for a 28 day stay as opposed to paying $800 a month for an apartment that would be empty most of the time. She also would not have to pay for utilities, garbage, phones, cable, etc. It makes sense to me as she'll be overseas 9 months out of the year and on Vacation for one month of the remaining three. In other words, she will pay about $3,000 for an extended stay hotel versus $9,600 for an apartment she wouldn't use. Smart girl.

Jennifer and I spent Thursday, December 29th together. I took the day off. She needed a ride to the airport Friday morning and I volunteered, so I picked her up Thursday morning and we spent the day together and she stayed over at our house. We went together to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento to visit her friend, Jason. Jason has a tumor in his throat that is cancerous and is being treated with chemotherapy. He went into the hospital on November 14th for a three day stay and was still there as of January 1st. He had a shocked reaction to the first round of chemo and ended up in intensive care for three weeks. They started him on a high dosage of chemo and his body went into shock and he coded. When he finally got out of IC and back into a regular room, a nurse gave him codeine in pill form which he was not supposed to have. The tumor has lodged in his throat and pushed the larynx, and vocal cords out of place. He can't even drink water. The pill went down his throat and lodged in his lungs, which promptly collapsed and he was back to Intensive Care for another ten days. When he finally got out, he contracted shingles and was in isolation for 10 days. He is finally ready to get out. They implanted a "J" tube into his stomach for feeding on the day we went to see him and we waited several hours for him to get out of surgery. Jay looks good in spite of having lost 50 pounds (from 188 to 138) and also having lost his hair to the chemo. He has a good attitude and he and Jenn are still the best of friends.

We had a quiet and relaxed New Years with games and another Prime Rib on Sunday. The boys are currently at their Dad's playing a board game with their cousins. Darla is in watching "Million Dollar Baby" on our new big screen tv. We ended up buying a 50" Samsung DLP HDTV projection television. I did my due diligence research and found the Samsung to have the best picture as well as the best warranty. I then bought an extended 4 year warranty through Best Buy. I don't usually buy the warranty, but the DLP bulb burns out about every three years and the new technology could have some problems. I'd rather be safe than sorry for $395. The television is great and replaces our 20 year old Panasonic 27 inch console tv, which now resides in our bedroom. I watched the NFL games yesterday and was in my element with the nbew television. Very nice. I hear Darryl also bought a new Samsung for his house. Nice choice.

Randy and Chris were at the Cotton Bowl today, where Randy suffered through his teams' 13-10 loss to Alabama on a waffle field goal of 46 yards as time ran out. The ball looked like a dying quail as it just sailed over the crossbar for the win. We visited by phone with Randy on Christmas day as well as Darryl. I couldn't get ahold of Dad, but they called and talked to us on New Year's Eve as they were into their second course of hors de 'oevres and cocktails. They had finished the martinis and were in the white whine portion of the evening. It was great to hear from them.

This is it for me at work. I will NOT return to home office as other than a Branch Manager. We finished the year strong and have some solid goals for 2006. I earned a nice bonus and will push for a Manager bonus as well. The Sacramento office finished the year about $150,000 in profit after having lost money the last five years. Pete Morrison is beginning to hit his stride and Anthony is doing better than anyone imagined. His year end bonus will be in the five figure range, which is huge for him.

Well, Darla is calling me to join her. I'll try to get some holiday pictures on the blog later today. I hope all are well and firmly in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.