A New Day is Dawning

I have been a little coy in discussing what is happening with me regarding work and that was due to the internet and the fact that this blog can be viewed by anyone. I have been recruited to go to work for Unigard Insurance as a Commercial Account Manager. My function would be that of a field manager handling the key agents with accounts over $25,000 and up to $250,000 and higher. A recruiting firm had been in contact with me back in 2003 when I left Republic Western and this firm, in Dallas, had kept my profile of the "perfect job". I've always enjoyed the freedom and relationships that are built in a field underwriting environment. I spend alot of time with the agents and create accounts that fit their needs, meet with them regularly, trouble shoot accounts and make sure that their needs are met. The company, Unigard, is located in Bellevue, Washington within a stone's throw of the Microsoft campus in Redmond. In fact, between the two companies is a road, Bell-Red Road which is the dividing line for Bellevue and Redmond. I flew in to Bellevue last Tuesday and visited with the upper management of Unigard and was suitably impressed. The company is a large regional insurance company and they are owned by an even larger Swiss parent, the Winterthur Group, who also owns National Casualty, a large East Coast regional insurance company. Unigard put on the dog for me and I really enjoyed the staff and managers that I met.

Friday, Darla had some minor surgery, oral surgery in fact and I stayed home to drive her to the clinic and back home again. Unigard wanted to have a phone conference with me on Friday at 10:30, which was during Darla's surgery so I was okay with that. I got Darla set up at the oral surgeons (she was having gum surgery, where they graft a strip of skin from the roof of your mouth to the recessed portions of your gums. It sounds hideous, but she seemed to handle it fine.) Unigard called right on time and offered me a wonderful starting salary and pay package. It was not quite what I had hoped for, but given that I would no longer have to commute (the office is in Roseville), the job includes a pension and 401K, and I'd no longer have any management responsibility, it is a great offer. I told them I needed the weekend to decide what I would do. I then called my boss and told him that I'd been approached by another company and offered a very tempting position. He listened and told me that he'd discuss it with his superiors and give me their response. True to his word, they were able to get back to me within an hour and offered me a 5% bump from what Unigard offered and a $300 a month car allowance. I, in turn, passed on that information to Unigard and will see what response they can come up with. I'm trying now to get ahold of Alan Kauffman, the CEO of Burns and Wilcox. I need to hear from him that he considers me his guy in Sacramento. I have the confidence of Harvey, my boss, and Bill McCord, Harvey's boss, but I want to hear from Alan. Things will untie themselves this morning.

The surgery for Darla was a stunning success and I'm still amazed at how well she did. The grafting was hard for me to imagine, much less having it done. She popped out of surgery feeling fine. It was partially due to the fact that the surgery went so well and mostly due to the wonderful drugs that she was on. Darla has such a bubbly personality that I really couldn't tell that she was looped when she came out of the office. She wanted a frappacino from Starbucks so I stopped and got her an iced frappacino, which the doctor recommended. As we were driving home and she was prattling on about this and that, I looked over and she had the frappacino running down her chin and on to her blouse. Her mouth was still frozen from the novacaine. I looked at her and told her I'd marry her all over again...or something like that.

I had poker Friday night and Darla stayed home to rest and recoup from the surgery. It was a surprise 55th birthday party for one of the guys we play with and he was caught totally off guard when we showed up. One of the guys had gone on his computer and traced back our game to May 15, 1987. We've been playing poker for 19 years. Some marriages don't last that long. The game went late and I got home about 1:30 AM. I crept into bed as Darla was fast asleep and turned the alarm off that I thought we'd left set from Friday morning. Saturday, Darla woke with a start at 7:45 and asked what time it was. I told her and she jumped out of bed. Her new jewelry sales organization, Silpada, was having a Sacramento convention and her sister and friend, Missy, were coming over at 8:00 AM to pick her up. So much for babying herself and taking it easy. Off she went to the conference, one day after surgery. What can you do?

I played in the final day of the three-day golf tournament Saturday and after shooting 84 and 82, averaging 83, I shot 39+44=83. I was really disappointed in my back nine, but the greens were really bumpy and I just lost focus. So I played three days as an 11 handicap and ended up 33 over par or even par net for the tournament and took fifth place in my flight. I didn't shoot great golf, but played steady and kept myself in the running with a consistent run of golf that now stands at about three months and counting.

Jennifer sent Darla a very nice bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day that arrived just as we got home from her surgery on Friday. Thanks, Jennifer, you are really showing some class lately. We went to church yesterday and then out to breakfast. From there we took the boys up to the Empire Gold Mine in Grass Valley. Darla and I had toured the grounds last year and wanted the boys to see the history and the mansion and gold mine shaft. They had all of the docents on staff and we were able to tour the blacksmithing shop, the mine shaft and the pump house, as well as the gardens and mansion and the clubhouse. It was a fun day.

Well, work awaits. I will update this when a decision has been made. Ciao.