Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Las Vegas: 95 degrees and AWESOME




Back from a vacation that could not have been nicer. The weather was great, the golf was great, the gambling...well, maybe it could have been a little better. Darla and I rolled out of here Thursday night and spent the night in a little hole in the wall motel off the freeway in Fresno. Fresno is not my favorite city in the United States and this experience did little to improve my view of the armpit city. We checked in at one o'clock in the morning and half of the parking lot was gated closed because of it's proximity to the all night AM/PM next door where the bums hang out trying to score enough spare change for their next fix of Ripple. I checked in at the night window which looked to be six inch thick bullet proof glass to protect the night clerk from the EconoLodge robber. He checked me in and handed me the tv remote and my key. I was surprised I didn't get the two-inch long bar of 1/4-inch wide soap as well. We checked in and Darla complained about a smell in the air, but I was too tired to notice and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow (our pillow thankfully, as we travel with our own pillows). I awoke the next morning to Darla blow drying her hair in her underwear and tennis shoes. When I enquired about her mental state, she pointed at the worn carpet and just shook her head. What do you expect for $40?

We got into Vegas a little after three PM after a stop for breakfast in Bakersfield. I tried to weasle my way into the room as Dad and Shirley weren't in town yet, but to no avail as the Jockey Club apparently has snapped up all of the former security detail at the Pentagon. They wanted me to recite Dad's phone number and address and all even though I told them I was his son and invited to stay the week. I failed the test and turned our bags over to the bellman and walked dejectedly to the pool. At least they didn't throw us out on our ear. Dad and Shirley finally arrived just before 5:00 PM and we were able to get checked in. The Jockey has sold their parking lot to Bellagio and they are in the process of expanding around the Jockey. All parking is now done by valet, which is tremendously inconvenient especially when we wanted to put Dad and Shirley's golf clubs into our Explorer for our 8:00 AM Saturday golf game. I found out later that Dad and Shirley thought I was nuts for setting up a game so early, but as it turned out we were off the course and back at the pool shortly after 1:00PM which more than made up for the early start as the temperature rose to the mid-nineties and the desert winds started to kick up. I shot 41+42=83 to keep intact a string of 12 out of my last sixteen games at either 83 or 84. I've shot as low as 77 during the span and as high as 87, but it is a consistent run of golf. Dad and Shirley both had nice games and Shirley actually tired a bit toward the end of the 18 holes while Dad began hitting his driver very consistently and had several drives on the backside that were both long and straight. I had a blast playing with Dad and Shirley and even had Darla along as a caddy. She drove with me all day and kept up a banter with everyone and everything as is her wont. She also used my cell phone several times and I had to restrain her when people were trying to play golf.

We were able to make it over to the new Wynn casino and see the arboretum at Bellagio as well as have a great dinner at PF Chang's. It was a great weekend and short vacation and Dad and Shirley are always very accomodating and willing to go along with the ride no matter what. It's almost like they're retired or something. Darla and I left Sunday night and drove four hours up to Tonapah and stayed at the Tonapah Station Ramada Inn and Casino. It was a cute little casino and the room made the dump in Fresno look like, well.... a dump. We drove back Monday through Reno and were back in Roseville by 5:30 PM. We would have made it back sooner, but we stopped for a couple of hours at the Boomtown casino in Verdi and had lunch and got our last taste of the poker machines.

Work continues like an omnipresent shadow. We had our best month ever and brought in more earned income than this branch has ever produced. I will host the staff at a celebration lunch next week. I am in the process right now of finalizing an offer to an Accounting candidate. He needs to come in and finish some testing and then we will make the offer. I tried to screen for psychos and did everything except ask directly, "Are you a psycho?" We'll see how I did in a few months. I am also interviewing for a new Underwriting Assistant to replace one of the ladies who is out on maternity leave. I do appreciate the case for maternity leave and Family Leave, but also appreciate that businesses have to be able to continue to thrive while an employee is out making a life decision. If I hadn't been allowed to replace the position, it would have sat waiting for five months.

I came in this morning to a resignation letter from Cora. Cora is Mel's wife who I play golf with. She is leaving to go to work at a retailer. It is horrible timing, but as they say, it is what it is. I have two new employees in this week as I've hired a second assistant for our Modesto office and our new broker, Katherine, started yesterday. Staff turnover is the only consistent thing in this office lately.

I pulled something in my back last night as I put some snail killer and insect killer on the lawn and around the flowerbeds. I felt something when I squatted down to fill the tank sprayer with some weed killer. I'm trying to get in to see Harry at Bowen Works. He said that he was booked solid, but we are hoping (praying) for a cancellation. I can barely move today and I had to have my assistant make my lunch and bring it to me. I was going to go without and she came in and offered to get it for me. I feel like the old man that Tim Conway used to play on the Carol Burnett show. I'm hobbling around all hunched over. I need the magic of a Bowen session to straighten me out.

Well, work awaits and I need to get to it. I may be in Bellevue, WA next week meeting with the upper brass for Unigard Insurance. Something about not managing an office appeals to me right now. Ciao.

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