Yes, Jennifer returned home from 7 months in Korea. I don't know how her job calculates time away from home as her contract calls for overseas travel up to 75% of the time. In my calculations that would be 9 months out of the year overseas. She has a month off and then will start her job in the Concord office of Das Net. Jennifer and John, her boyfriend, both work for Das Net and they are having second thoughts about their career choice as they want to be together and there is no guarantee that they will be deployed to the same region. John's office is in New York and Jennifer's is in California. John, who lives in Las Vegas, has asked to be transferred to California, but that request has been denied. It remains to be seen how this all shakes out. They are both committed to sticking with Das Net until they can find other jobs or until they can work out the logistics of work and their relationship. We will get a chance to meet John later this month as he will come to California for two weeks.
Jennifer surprised her Mom at her bridal shower yesterday. She had told her that she was flying home on Monday and Diane bought it. Jennifer actually flew home on Friday, actually leaving Korea at 8:00PM Friday night, flying twelve hours and arriving in Sacramento at 7:30 PM Friday night. International travel can be bizarre. Jennifer coordinated with the hostess of the shower and arrived about twenty minutes after her Mom and surprised her. Jennifer called her on her computer through Skype, A VOIP (voice over internet protocal) Sunday morning from my house and acted like she was still in Korea getting packed to leave. Diane will marry for a third time and here's hoping this one sticks.
Darla and the boys went up to Lake Almanor this weekend and I stayed home to visit with Jennifer. We invited her up, but she was loathe to spend six hours in a car (to and from Almanor) on Saturday a day after spending twelve hours on the plane. I couldn't blame her. As it turned out the jet ski battery was drained again and they never got the ski into the water. I will stop and pick up a trickle charger from Kragen Auto Parts tonight and get the battery fully charged for our trip to Folsom Lake on Wednesday afternoon. David is taking a half day due to some computer changes at work and Jennifer and her friend, Sara, will join Darla and I at the lake for an afternoon of relaxing and jet skiing at the lake. Daniel starts school that day and will have to miss the outing.
Today is a bit overcast and breezy. The temperatures have remained in the upper eighties and low nineties since the heat spell. Today is supposed to top out at 90 degrees and Wednesday should be 95 degrees at the lake.
The hot weather took a huge toll on the course at Turkey Creek where I played the NCGA qualifier on Thursday. I was shocked on Tuesday when I saw how bad the course was. We'd just played there three weeks ago and it was in great shape. One of the course maintenance guys told me that they had sprayed a fungicide on several of the greens on the morning of the 116 degree day and it absolutely burned the greens up. They have about seven holes where the fairways are all but gone due to the sun baking the grass. The NCGA officials apologized for the conditions and said that if they had been informed earlier, they would have moved the tournament. Steve and I struggled to a best ball 68 which we thought was terrible, but they ended up taking four teams that shot 63, 64 and two at 67. We missed the boat by one stroke. The sad thing is we had shot a combined 62 three weeks ago albeit in wholly different conditions. The twosome that we played with had an even worse experience as they shot four under par for the first six holes and four over par for the last 12 holes to finish at 72. One of their players started the first hole by walking all over my line on the green and almost knocking my ball marker out of position. Both Steve and I jumped all over him for that. Three holes later, he played MY ball in the fairway and I coiuldn't find my drive and took an "X" on the hole. Steve parred the hole for a net birdie and I could have gone back and played my ball from where he hit it, but we were in with a net birdie already. This guy was obviously not used to tournament golf. I ended up with a 92 and Steve shot 91 in horrible conditions. Steve almost lost it when an NCGA official told him that he had to move his ball off of some newly laid sod and he went from inches off the green and a 15 foot putt for birdie to a 25 yard chip which he shanked. I told him to not take it out on the official lest we get DQ'd for his attitude. I went back to Diamond Oaks that night and shot a 39 in my twilight league to realize that all really was right in the world. It is too bad that my first experience in an NCGA qualifier was so poor, but I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to more in the future.
Work continues at a fairly frenetic pace. I hit a large renewal on August 1st to the tune of $215,000. My normal month is about $250,000-$300,000 in premium volume, so here it is the 7th and my month is made already. That's a good feeling.
Darla and I are hosting our life group at a dinner tonight at our house. We are barbecuing shish-ke-bobs and the group is bringing salads, drinks and dessert. We are trying to do a social event once a month and Bible study the rest of the month. This is our first time to host. Jennifer and the boys will join us for dinner. The group spent a lot of time praying for Jennifer while she was in the Army and it will be nice for them to meet her and hear some of her stories.
Jennifer talked to Jesse yesterday and he is doing better. He has plans to get well enough to attend a concert in Austin next month. Perhaps that is "pie in the sky", but it is a goal for him and he is working hard to rehab and get well. As soon as his neck is stable, he will undergo surgery to repair his broken shoulder. I talked to him briefly and he is such a positive kid. His outlook on life will help him to heal faster. Keep praying for him as there are costs associated with the surgery that need to be covered. There are doctors who will donate their services, but there are hospital costs that will have to be borne somehow.
I'll try to get some pictures from our trip to the lake on Wednesday to add to the blog next week. Jennifer was able to go to church with me on Sunday and it was a blessing to me. Pastor Rick came over and welcomed Jennifer home, which was nice. I hope all are doing well and leading a quiet Christian life. Ciao.
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