We got Anthony all Married Up

Wow, what a busy weekend. The heat was on in the valley with temperatures exceeding record levels for most of the weekend. The mean high temperature for the weekend was 108 degrees...and it was mean. Darla and I were handling video chores at Anthony and Erin's wedding on Saturday. We drove up early Saturday morning to the small town of Willows where Erin was born and raised, stopping in the larger town of Williams for breakfast at Denny's. Anthony asked me to be at the wedding site by noon for pictures. We arrived at 12:30 PM and I had Darla take still pictures, both digital and photos, but couldn't bring myself to film a photographer at work. Would there be any video more boring than watching a photographer work? I think watching paint dry on growing grass would hold more drama.

Anthony asked that I film the ceremony and told me that he'd have a tripod available. I was using his Sony Handicam and alas, on the day of the wedding, no tripod was proferred so I had to film the wedding freehand. The church has a small half-attic alcove space above the church and to the rear of the sanctuary. The room has a window and that is where I chose to film the wedding. It was a good venue, but the room is not air conditioned and did I mention the record heat we were having? The room has the window set at about waist level and I thought about shedding my pants and filming the proceedings in a state of Half-Monty as the temperature rose and my back began to sweat. The air conditioning from the church worked its way into the room via the window, but the room is used as storage for Christmas decorations and other bric-a-brac that piles up over time in a church. The room is accessible by a set of attic stairs that are located right above the entrance to the church and has to be pulled down by use of a pole and hook. Once I was in place, I was there for the duration. A simple bottle of water would have been nice, but I wasn't thinking when I mounted the stairs and the pastor closed the door behind me.

The ceremony was blessedly short and sweet and then Anthony and Erin had all of their guests gather around the altar and the photographer traded places with me and took a group photo of all of the wedding party and guests gathered at the altar. I told her it was really warm in the attic, and she said she'd be fine that she was raised up here. I assume she meant Willows, but perhaps she was raised in the church attic. The group picture was unique and genuine and could only be done because of the vicinity of the small half-attic at the rear of the church.

We all changed clothes into shorts and more comfortable attire and drove out twenty minutes into the foothills of Willows to Erin's parents' ranch where a large tent was set up on the side yard of the house with a large swamp cooler and misters. We drank lemonade, iced tea and Pepsi and Darla took the video camera (at my urging) and went to each table and got individual blessings and well wishes to the bride and groom from literally every guest at the reception. It was my job to do the video work, but Darla frankly has the personality to pull off that task as she cajoled everyone into giving a wish. Several said they had nothing to say or couldn't think of anything and Darla told them to give it some thought and she'd be back. True to her word, she was and got everyone to give some message to the bride and groom.

Our ex-boss, Bill Sousa, had found Anthony and Erin's wedding website and had RSVP'd to the wedding. He wasn't invited. Anthony and Erin were both upset and figured it was a joke, but right on time and in all his glory, Bill and his wife, Storma, arrived at the wedding. They sat with Darla during the service and I caught up with them after my stint in the attic. Bill kept asking about directions to the reception and I finally told him that it came with the "Wedding Invitation". He still didn't get the hint that he was crashing the wedding. In fact he made a comment about some neighbors who came to the reception late and joked that they weren't invited, but just smelled the food. I kicked Darla under the table and we shared a laugh.

Anthony and Erin are off to their honeymoon just outside of Cancun, Mexico for five days. I am exceedingly happy for both of them. The maid of honor told the story of how Anthony and Erin met. They discovered each other online at a social networking site and communicated online for about three months before they finally met. Erin brought her cousin with her on the night that she finally met Anthony at an ice skating rink in Sacramento. Her cousin was there in case Anthony was some predator or weirdo. She met him, shook hands and waved her cousin off. It was definitely a good first meeting and they were able to get to know all about each other's lives before they ever met face-to-face.

Darla and I went to dinner Friday night, saw a video, went to the wedding on Saturday, stopped at a casino on the way home and won $50 in about 90 minutes of playing video poker, went to church Sunday, went to the beach after church, and Darla had a Silpada jewelry party Sunday afternoon at 4 PM, and we watched another video (The Good Girl) last night. It was a jam packed weekend and I'm a bit tired now that it is all over. I finally opened my new water pressure unit Sunday afternoon and completely sprayed down the backyard stamped concrete, front walkway and washed both cars. I also sprayed down Buddy's Igloo doghouse on the side yard and realized why they call it an igloo as it is actually white under the years of dirt and grime built up on it.

My front desk guy, Ben, and I are off this morning to our storage unit to pick up two cherrywood desks and file cabinets to put into the office next to mine. We have been using the office as the underwriting library, but I combined the underwriting conference room and libraries and we will put both desks into this office and my accounting guy will move into this office. The second desk will be used as a spot for visitors to use a telpehone and computer while they are at our office. We get auditors and home office personnel as well as my Modesto underwriter who visit regularly. These desks have been sitting in storage for two years (unbeknownst to me) at a cost of $65 per month. I have decided to put them to work for us in a virtually empty office. Unbelievable. The billing on the storage unit was going directly to home office.

I did play golf last Thursday afternoon at 3:20 PM. Little did I know when I made the reservation that it would be 107 degrees on the day we hit the links. I shot 41+41=82 in the heat, finishing my round with a triple bogey 7 to leave a little blood on the course. It was unbelievably hot and I drank about two gallons of water while I was out there.

I hope you all have a good week. Check out Jennifer's new blog at the link below. I love you all. Ciao.