Now, why in God's name do they call it Daylight Savings? They actually make the daylight end sooner, so the whole idea of having kids safer and saving electricity is ludicrous. I like Arizona's idea of just letting the seasons be and stop trying to control them. Our government wants to control everything and sometimes the movement of time will not be controlled (like all the time). It was nice to drive in this morning with my lights off and sunglasses on, but as the days shorten, even that luxury goes away and I end up driving into the office in the dark and leaving the office in the dark.
Jennifer and John were in town on Saturday and Sunday for a race that Jen's Mom was in on Sunday morning. Darla and I met them in Old Sacramento and we had appetizers and a drink in the Pilothouse Lounge of the Delta King, the floating hotel moored at the dock of the river in Old Sacramento. We went from there to dinner at California Fats on Front Street. California Fats is a Chinese Steakhouse with eclectic dishes like the California Pot which John and I had. It is a stir fry of chicken, rice and vegetables cooked in a pot and served in the same. Jennifer had orange chicken and Darla opted for Honey Walnut Prawns. We ate pot stickers and drank sake and enjoyed our visit immensely.
John and Jennifer were at the house when I got home from golf, but Darla had a party in Monterey on Friday night and wasn't due home until 4:00 o'clock so I sent Jennifer and John ahead of us to the tourist spot and said that we'd join them later. They parked in the street, but the parking there is only good for two hours, so they moved the car to the parking lot. Only John managed to find an open spot off of an alley that let him into the garage. The problem was you need a ticket to exit the garage. He was afraid that he'd have to pay the daily maximum, but I told him to leave out of the same entrance he got in. I hadn't heard what happened to them as we didn't talk yesterday. Perhaps she will update me in her blog.
Darla and her sister did go to Monterey on Friday night for a jewelry party and Darla made about $400 on the show. Her Silpada business is going great and she is doing some traveling which we will write off on our taxes, including her lodging and meals. Darla got home about 4:00 PM and we went and joined Jennifer and John in Old Sacramento for dinner.
Daniel actually started and played left guard on offense for his entire game Friday night. I was not planning on going to the game, but he called and told us he was starting, so I went. It was a good game, although poorly coached, and they lost 22-20 late in the game when they were intercepted in the end zone with 22 seconds to go. They obviously only needed a field goal to win, so why they were throwing into the end zone from midfield is beyond me. Unfortunately, the Woodcreek football team has never finished better than 5-5 in their history and that has more to do with a history of bad coaching than talent. It will end in 2 games as the 4-4 Timberwolves will have to win their last two games against the number 1 and number 2 teams in their league in order to finish 6-4. Sadly, 4-6 is a stronger reality. Daniel played very well, even leading a quarterback sneak for a touchdown in the game, when Daniel manhandled his position and pushed his man back five yards into the end zone and the quarterback followed on his heels for a touchdown. He was much happier during the game and certainly afterward. I don't know why his coaches had a change of heart, but it seemed ludicrous to me to leave a 6'3" 235 pound man child on the sidelines every game.
I played in a Monster tournament on Saturday. The pros at Woodcreek Golf Course set up the course with things like multiple flags on par three holes (only two had holes), a red white and blue hole with the blue hole with an oversized cup, a monster hole with a bucket-sized hole but the pin placed on the side of a mound on the green, and one hole with three flags placed side-by-side-by-side at the back of the green. I played in the two-man scramble with Boyd Robertson and we shot a 71, net 68. It was a fun tournament, but they had some killer pin placements and several holes with the tees at the furthest point on the tee box. I left right after we played as it was a six hour round of golf and I knew that Jennifer and John were at the house waiting. I don't know how we did overall, but I'll find out this week. Boyd and I put $10 in the hat and we took on the two pros who had to play scratch. Hopefully, our 68 got us in the money, but who knows.
Hopefully, the demolition will start this weekend in our backyard. I say hopefully as I finally got a copy of the bid specs for the job and it says they will removes two birch trees (we have three), remove miscellaneous bushes and plants (we have four other small trees to remove), as well as the pond, raised concrete deck and the spa and steps. I will contact them this week and have them change the scope of work as I don't want to get into a situation where they are asking for more money when the crew gets there. I look forward to the work finally commencing. I don't do well with a mess and we will have a slight mess in the backyard for about six weeks.
I'm having a good month at work, leading the office in both premium volume and net retained (which is the important figure). I'm having some problems with the brokerage unit that we established this Summer and I'm working on a plan to improve it or remove it. I can't afford to bleed money there when we are looking at improving our bottom line.
I have a Home Office person in tomorrow and he will be here right in the middle of our Halloween party. The office wants to dress up for the holiday and although I hate Halloween and everything it stands for and won't participate in the frivolity, I've agreed to let them dress up. Greg Ludwig, the home office rep, will be here and get to see the goings on and be here for the potluck.
Well, that's it for now. As our pastor said yesterday, "Jesus was rejected and died on the cross for our sins in our place, so that we could be accepted into the kingdom of heaven through his sacrifice." Turn your eyes to heaven and care more about how you stack up in the eyes of the Lord, rather than in the eyes of man. Ciao.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
Indian Summer
I knew that we would see an Indian Summer in Sacramento and it has arrived. It is as inevitable as the falling of leaves and the march of seasons in Northern California. After the snow and cold of Detroit, this weekend saw high, thin clouds and a temperature of 85 degrees. I'm sporting a bit of a sunburn after Saturday working in the yard and Sunday on the links.
Saturday I mowed the lawn and raked and vacuumed leaves, drained the pond for the last time and put away the backyard furniture in preparation for the pool construction. I stopped at the pool company on Tuesday and signed the contract to have the pool built. We have to do over $2000 of demo on the backyard having the spa and steps removed, the pond dug out and the rocks removed, trees and shrubs cut down and removed and the raised stamped concrete deck cut out and removed. I have to have the stump of one tree that I had removed earlier ground up as they have to run the electrical along a path right over the stump. I've included a picture of the backyard as it looked a few years ago. The trees have all grown up and this time of year is a disaster of downed leaves and debris from the trees. The pond is constantly covered in leaves and other debris and it will be nice to clear this out and start over with palms and agapanthas and other "pool friendly" plantings. They should start on the demolition either late this week or early next week as the plans are being approved by the city of Roseville now.
Sunday was an excellent day of golf as we had over 100 players competing in the Past President's tournament. We had a 7:30 shotgun start and it was a tad cold and wet on the ground. I had a very good day of golf and stayed away from the dreaded double-bogey or worse and ended up shooting a stellar 39+39=78 to take first place in my flight with a net of 66. One of my buddies shot a 76 to take low gross and actually beat me with a net of 65, but you can't take both ends of the Gross and Net divisions, so I will also get first place money. My driver is really beginning to be a consistent and positive part of my game as I am not only hitting it long, but also in the fairway consistently and when you get into Fall and some early morning dampness and downed leaves, the fairway is even more of a friend than normally.
I played poker on Friday night with the guys and won $18. There were five players and only two winners as my friend, Steve, cleaned up with over $100 in winnings for the night. He also played okay on Sunday at golf in my foursome, shooting an 85, but cleaning up on skins with over $78 in winnings. What a weekend for him.
Daniel continues to ride the bench on his football team and it is hard to watch him prowl the sidelines especially when they are losing. His team is now 4-3 with three games to go. Hopefully they do not make the playoffs and he can move on to a job. Dan somehow managed to get himself sideways with his position coach and he is buried on the bench.
Darla continues to thrive with her Silpada business and she now has four consultants under her and she continues to be a leader in sales for her region. She enjoys the challenge and will be in Monterey this weekend for a show on Friday night.
This coming Saturday we had planned to go into the Bay Area and see Jennifer's new apartment and take she and John to dinner. It turns out that they are coming to Sacramento to attend a race on Sunday that her Mom is doing, so we will take them to dinner here in town.
I was able to get out of Jury Duty last week. My plan was to ask out due to my job, but the jury commissioner told me that work related excuses had to be heard by the judge. I hung around the jury room until we were all called into the courtroom. The judge came out and told us that there was a glitch in the courtroom electrical and that we were all dismissed with the court's thanks and that would complete our service for the year. Nice.
Well, work awaits. I've had to be called away three times as I was writing this to deal with different issues. I have to get payroll out as my staff doesn't show up everyday for giggles. They expect a paycheck, so off I go. Be well and keep the Lord as the center of your life and you will never be unbalanced. Ciao.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Branch Manager At Last
I have returned from Detroit and finally have my legs back under me again. It was an exhausting trip, coupled with a seminar before I left last Tuesday. I left for Detroit on Wednesday morning and flew through Las Vegas. Our flight out of Vegas was delayed for thirty minutes and it turned out that Detroit was down to two runways for incoming flights and the delays in Detroit were up to two hours. My flight was supposed to arrive at 8:00 PM and finally touched down at 9:15 PM. The car service was not there as the flight was taken off the board at one point and the car service assumed it was cancelled. They were able to divert one of their Escalades from the Northwest terminal and they came over to pick me up. I arrived with golf clubs and a new heavy pea coat style overcoat, which was an anomaly, but both of the items came in handy.
We awoke Thursday morning to snow. Big, fat flakes were raining down on metro Detroit and the temperatures were in the thirties. These meetings are brutal for those of us coming in from the west coast as they start at seven-thirty, which jet lag be damned is 4:30 AM my time. Limos met us at the Ritz Carlton in Deerborn and whisked us through the gathering snow to the home office in Farmington Hills. We had a full day on Thursday including meetings all day with various department heads. After a trade show put on by the various home office departments at 6:00 PM, we were whisked away by bus to a restaurant for dinner and drinks. We finally arrived back at the Ritz at 10:00 PM, tired and ready for bed.
The Ritz was a nice bonus this year. Wayne Gretzky and his Phoenix Coyote NHL hockey team were at the hotel when we arrived on Wednesday and the Buffalo Bills arrived on Saturday and had a team breakfast next door to our team breakfast on Sunday. The accomodations and food were truly five star and the service was exemplary.
Friday we were up at 7:00 AM for breakfast and meetings all day. I had been tabbed on Thursday night to sit at Alan Kaufman's table on Friday morning for breakfast. The Advertising Department, which runs the meetings, tries to allocate a spot for all of the managers at Alan's table for at least one of the meals that we have.
The meetings were called to order with a recognition of all of the staff anniversaries from five years up to 40 years. Alan then called me up and promoted me to Branch Manager and went through the chronology of how long I'd been running the branch and how we'd turned profitable last year and were moving forward as a profitable part of the team. I received a very warm and appreciated ovation from the managers that I've sat in meetings with for now my third Managers meeting and my first as a Manager. It was long overdue and truly appreciated by me.
Saturday was a half day session followed by golf in the afternoon. The weather had moderated into windy and a high of 48 degrees and a wind chill factor of 38 degrees. The pro shop had winter gloves on sale for $15 and I bought a pair (Winter golf gloves come with both gloves for the right and left hand). I don't much like playing in a coat, much less gloves, but the weather was COLD and it made sense to stay warm. I had a truly good day on the links and our team took first place and I had both a closest to the pin award and the long drive to clean up on prizes. Many of the golfers complained about the bitter cold, but the course was in impeccable shape and the greens were beautiful.
We went from the golf course to Bucca Di Beppo in Livonia for dinner where we watched the Detroit Tigers eliminate the Oakland A's in four games and qualify for the World Series.
Sunday was another half day session and my one-on-one with Alan Kaufman. The meeting went well and Alan congratulated me on my promotion. He is still concerned about our low ROI (return on investment) and wants me to focus on increasing that number in 2007. With the number of staff that I have, the only way to do this is to either increase our premium income or to reduce staff. Obviously, I would prefer to increase our premium writings. I am looking to reduce overhead in 2007 by beginning to deliver our policies electronically. Right now my annual expense for postage is over $30,000 and if I can get the agencies to accept electronic delivery of policies, I can likely reduce that bill by half.
I flew home at 5:30 out of Detroit and through Phoenix. My flight out of Phoenix was again delayed and I finally arrived at the Sacramento airport at 9:45 PM and after collecting my luggage arrived home at almost 11:00 PM (2:00 AM Detroit time). I took Monday off as a mental health day and planned to be back in the office this morning. Well, lo and behold, I got called into Jury Duty and have to report to the jury commissioner in Auburn at 8;30 AM this morning. I will see if I can get out of the commitment this week due to work hardship as I haven't set foot in my office in a week. I truly enjoy Jury Duty, but the timing this time is abysmal.
Jennifer was here when I arrived home as her shipment of personal items from the military was finally being delivered. Jennifer had joined Das Net so quickly upon her return from Kuwait and her out processing from the Army that she had not had a chance to get her shipment from Kuwait. It arrived after she left for Korea and the Army put it into storage for her until she got back. Now that she has a place in Walnut Creek, she arranged to have the items shipped here. She had 12 boxes of stuff and wanted to go through it, put some in storage in our attic and give some to Goodwill. She spent at least three hours going through the boxes and culling out the clothes and shoes she wanted to keep and those that she would donate to charity. I took that time to go through my closet and ended up with two lawn bags of clothes to donate as well. Jennifer and I went over to the Cancer society thrift store and donated two boxes of her stuffed animals and clothes to the cause. Darla and I are up to three bags of clothes and Darla will add to the donation as she goes through her closet as well. We have a truck coming next Monday for the donations.
I was able to have breakfast and lunch with Darla and Jenn yesterday and get caught up on what is going on in their lives.
Darla and I will attend a funeral tonight for the husband one of Darla's good friends. Her husband just turned 50 and died last week of congestive heart failure. He'd been in the hospital after two heart attacks and died two hours after being released from the hospital. He turned 50 while he was in the hospital. Sandy, his wife, is devastated and Darla is improving my diet and is intent on keeping me alive.
Darla and I have decided to have Premier Pools build our new backyard pool. Their designer and construction supervisor was excellent. A big part of the dig for us is the excavation and demolition of our existing concrete and koi pond prior to the work starting. The guy we met from Aquatique Pools would not lift a hand to help us in the process, whereas Kevin bent over backward and got both a tree service and a concrete cutter lined up to clear the backyard. Kevin going the extra mile bought him the job. We had thought about contracting this ourselves, but I'm sold on the theory of having a project manager control the process, pull the permits and get the job done. Premier has all of their own subs save for gunite, so the argument that I could get the same work done myself is bogus. The cost savings would have been about $7,500, but the job likely would not have been handled as well and I don't need to buy headaches right now in my life.
Well, I need to get off to Jury Duty now, so I will add more next week. Jennifer's blog is now on a new site. It is www.jswanonline.com. Check it out.
We awoke Thursday morning to snow. Big, fat flakes were raining down on metro Detroit and the temperatures were in the thirties. These meetings are brutal for those of us coming in from the west coast as they start at seven-thirty, which jet lag be damned is 4:30 AM my time. Limos met us at the Ritz Carlton in Deerborn and whisked us through the gathering snow to the home office in Farmington Hills. We had a full day on Thursday including meetings all day with various department heads. After a trade show put on by the various home office departments at 6:00 PM, we were whisked away by bus to a restaurant for dinner and drinks. We finally arrived back at the Ritz at 10:00 PM, tired and ready for bed.
The Ritz was a nice bonus this year. Wayne Gretzky and his Phoenix Coyote NHL hockey team were at the hotel when we arrived on Wednesday and the Buffalo Bills arrived on Saturday and had a team breakfast next door to our team breakfast on Sunday. The accomodations and food were truly five star and the service was exemplary.
Friday we were up at 7:00 AM for breakfast and meetings all day. I had been tabbed on Thursday night to sit at Alan Kaufman's table on Friday morning for breakfast. The Advertising Department, which runs the meetings, tries to allocate a spot for all of the managers at Alan's table for at least one of the meals that we have.
The meetings were called to order with a recognition of all of the staff anniversaries from five years up to 40 years. Alan then called me up and promoted me to Branch Manager and went through the chronology of how long I'd been running the branch and how we'd turned profitable last year and were moving forward as a profitable part of the team. I received a very warm and appreciated ovation from the managers that I've sat in meetings with for now my third Managers meeting and my first as a Manager. It was long overdue and truly appreciated by me.
Saturday was a half day session followed by golf in the afternoon. The weather had moderated into windy and a high of 48 degrees and a wind chill factor of 38 degrees. The pro shop had winter gloves on sale for $15 and I bought a pair (Winter golf gloves come with both gloves for the right and left hand). I don't much like playing in a coat, much less gloves, but the weather was COLD and it made sense to stay warm. I had a truly good day on the links and our team took first place and I had both a closest to the pin award and the long drive to clean up on prizes. Many of the golfers complained about the bitter cold, but the course was in impeccable shape and the greens were beautiful.
We went from the golf course to Bucca Di Beppo in Livonia for dinner where we watched the Detroit Tigers eliminate the Oakland A's in four games and qualify for the World Series.
Sunday was another half day session and my one-on-one with Alan Kaufman. The meeting went well and Alan congratulated me on my promotion. He is still concerned about our low ROI (return on investment) and wants me to focus on increasing that number in 2007. With the number of staff that I have, the only way to do this is to either increase our premium income or to reduce staff. Obviously, I would prefer to increase our premium writings. I am looking to reduce overhead in 2007 by beginning to deliver our policies electronically. Right now my annual expense for postage is over $30,000 and if I can get the agencies to accept electronic delivery of policies, I can likely reduce that bill by half.
I flew home at 5:30 out of Detroit and through Phoenix. My flight out of Phoenix was again delayed and I finally arrived at the Sacramento airport at 9:45 PM and after collecting my luggage arrived home at almost 11:00 PM (2:00 AM Detroit time). I took Monday off as a mental health day and planned to be back in the office this morning. Well, lo and behold, I got called into Jury Duty and have to report to the jury commissioner in Auburn at 8;30 AM this morning. I will see if I can get out of the commitment this week due to work hardship as I haven't set foot in my office in a week. I truly enjoy Jury Duty, but the timing this time is abysmal.
Jennifer was here when I arrived home as her shipment of personal items from the military was finally being delivered. Jennifer had joined Das Net so quickly upon her return from Kuwait and her out processing from the Army that she had not had a chance to get her shipment from Kuwait. It arrived after she left for Korea and the Army put it into storage for her until she got back. Now that she has a place in Walnut Creek, she arranged to have the items shipped here. She had 12 boxes of stuff and wanted to go through it, put some in storage in our attic and give some to Goodwill. She spent at least three hours going through the boxes and culling out the clothes and shoes she wanted to keep and those that she would donate to charity. I took that time to go through my closet and ended up with two lawn bags of clothes to donate as well. Jennifer and I went over to the Cancer society thrift store and donated two boxes of her stuffed animals and clothes to the cause. Darla and I are up to three bags of clothes and Darla will add to the donation as she goes through her closet as well. We have a truck coming next Monday for the donations.
I was able to have breakfast and lunch with Darla and Jenn yesterday and get caught up on what is going on in their lives.
Darla and I will attend a funeral tonight for the husband one of Darla's good friends. Her husband just turned 50 and died last week of congestive heart failure. He'd been in the hospital after two heart attacks and died two hours after being released from the hospital. He turned 50 while he was in the hospital. Sandy, his wife, is devastated and Darla is improving my diet and is intent on keeping me alive.
Darla and I have decided to have Premier Pools build our new backyard pool. Their designer and construction supervisor was excellent. A big part of the dig for us is the excavation and demolition of our existing concrete and koi pond prior to the work starting. The guy we met from Aquatique Pools would not lift a hand to help us in the process, whereas Kevin bent over backward and got both a tree service and a concrete cutter lined up to clear the backyard. Kevin going the extra mile bought him the job. We had thought about contracting this ourselves, but I'm sold on the theory of having a project manager control the process, pull the permits and get the job done. Premier has all of their own subs save for gunite, so the argument that I could get the same work done myself is bogus. The cost savings would have been about $7,500, but the job likely would not have been handled as well and I don't need to buy headaches right now in my life.
Well, I need to get off to Jury Duty now, so I will add more next week. Jennifer's blog is now on a new site. It is www.jswanonline.com. Check it out.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Columbus Day
A holiday for some, but just a nice driving day for me. The roads were next to empty as the state and municipal workers have the day off. Darla also has the day off, but was up as usual at 5:40 AM and off to the gym to work out with her friend, Missy. I rolled out of bed about 6:15AM and was in the office by 7:10 AM with two pieces of sourdough toast and a cup of ice water.
I had a nice weekend, starting with missing the high school football game on Friday night. It was the homecoming game and there wasn't a parking spot anywhere near the school. I finally decided to drive into the parking lot to let Darla out, but lo and behold a spot opened as we were driving in. I decided to stay and we grabbed our stadium seats and coats and then looked up to see a line of about 200 people waiting to buy tickets. I gave Darla a kiss and a hug and drove home. Daniel is not playing this year. He has the size and the strength to play, but doesn't have the heart. He played two plays at the end of a blowout win 44-20 and Darla had left by the time he did get in. The stands were packed and I personally get tired of all the tough 16-18 year-olds who strut around like God's gift to the world and then get in their cars and drive home to Mommy and Daddy's house. I've never been a big fan of teenagers and sure enjoy my relationship with Jennifer more now after she finally grew up.
Saturday I played golf in our invitational. For $65, we had breakfast, a cart, golf, prizes and a barbecued tri-tip lunch with ranch beans, salad and bread. I played in the two-man scamble with Bob Pando, a friend from our life group. Bob is joining the club and we managed to win our flight with a 70 and won $78.00. Bob, of course, thinks the club is great and plans to win every tournament from here on out.
I played golf with some agents on Thursday and struggled to a 44+42=86. Brian, one of my golfing buddy agents shot a 39+37=76, but I parred the last hole of the day to win 23 skins on that hole (25 in total) and I won $18.50 to his $20.50. The other two players dropped the $39 that it cost to pay us off. I left my six iron on the course and for the third time in the last three years it was not turned in. What do people get out of keeping a club from someone's golf set? Thank God for Club Scouters as for $59, they replace the club.
We finally made it back to church this week after being AWOL for trips and golf the last couple of weeks. It was Missions Sunday and a missionary from Chile spoke. He grew up in a dysfunctional family in Oregon and his two alcoholic parents actually had a hat made for him at the county fair when he was 5 that read, "Mistake", as he was an unplanned pregnancy. He found God after a life of drugs and booze and turned his life over to God. He just celebrated his thirtieth year in the missions field and has two sons and a daughter who also do missionary work. Amazing.
The weather is absolutely crisp and beautiful this time of year. It heated up to 87 degrees on Sunday and we should have taken the jet ski out for a last run. I need to get it into Yamaha and have it winterized. We'd hoped to have it on the water one last time, but Fall hit fairly quickly and we are still waiting for a little Indian Summer. It is supposed to be in the 80's all of this week.
I leave for the Branch Managers meeting on Wednesday. This will be my third Branch Managers meeting and my first as a Branch Manager. I've heard that my promotion is on the agenda this year and, frankly, it's about damn time. The meeting is being moved this year from the Westin in Farmington Hills to The Ritz Carlton in Deerborn, Michigan. I'm hoping that this is a real first class affair. The Westin has been nice, but the food was subpar last year and they had problems keeping our rooms clean. I got out of meeetings at 4:00 PM and came back to my room and it hadn't been cleaned. We spend a LOT of money on these annual meetings and the hotel should be catering to US, not dumping on us.
This year will be a little different as we will start the meeting at the home office on Thursday and finish the meeting with the golf tournament and dinner on Saturday afternoon/evening. My office has gone from losing $500,000 the year that I took over to making about $140,000 in profit this year. I just finished the budget for 2007 and we have a goal in 2007 of making just south of $800,000. If we hit that, my bonus will be a nice chunk of change.
On top of the Branch Manager's meeting, we also have the annual Sacramento Insurance Day tomorrow at the Community Center in Sacramento. We have a display booth again this year as we do every year. My assistant is already panicking as she will have to pick up the slack this week while I'm gone.
I went out and bought a new suit for the meeting on Saturday and also got a new dress shirt and a couple of ties. I don't wear dress clothes at work as our dress code is slacks and collared shirts, no ties or jacket. This is a good excuse to improve my wardrobe. I also bought a new overcoat that is a cahmere blend pea coat style overcoat. I've had the London Fog style overcoat for years and it was time to upgrade. Finally, I bought a new pair of black oxford dress shoes.
It was actually an expensive weekend as I took Darla out to Home Depot and we picked out a new dishwasher (the quiet style) and a new side-by-side refrigerator. Our fridge has been on it's last legs for a while and the milk is barely lasting until expiration and the seal around the door is losing it's seal. We will move the fridge to the garage and have them take the garage fridge away. Darla never loiked that one in spite of the fact that it was FREE. I will also replace the seal on the refrigerator we are moving to the garage.
We are still working on getting quotes for the backyard pool. Daniel saw the plans and was complaining that it is a game pool. 3 1/2' depth to 5 1/2' depth back to 4' depth. He complained that there is nowhere in the pool that he could stand and be covered by water. I told him two things. One, you don't stand in a pool and Two, I'm planning this pool for Darla and I and our grandchildren, not for a 17 year-old who will hopefully be out of the house in two years!!
Well, that is it for this week. Pray for me as I enter the danger zone in Detroit. Hopefully, my trip will go better than last year. Be well. Ciao.
I had a nice weekend, starting with missing the high school football game on Friday night. It was the homecoming game and there wasn't a parking spot anywhere near the school. I finally decided to drive into the parking lot to let Darla out, but lo and behold a spot opened as we were driving in. I decided to stay and we grabbed our stadium seats and coats and then looked up to see a line of about 200 people waiting to buy tickets. I gave Darla a kiss and a hug and drove home. Daniel is not playing this year. He has the size and the strength to play, but doesn't have the heart. He played two plays at the end of a blowout win 44-20 and Darla had left by the time he did get in. The stands were packed and I personally get tired of all the tough 16-18 year-olds who strut around like God's gift to the world and then get in their cars and drive home to Mommy and Daddy's house. I've never been a big fan of teenagers and sure enjoy my relationship with Jennifer more now after she finally grew up.
Saturday I played golf in our invitational. For $65, we had breakfast, a cart, golf, prizes and a barbecued tri-tip lunch with ranch beans, salad and bread. I played in the two-man scamble with Bob Pando, a friend from our life group. Bob is joining the club and we managed to win our flight with a 70 and won $78.00. Bob, of course, thinks the club is great and plans to win every tournament from here on out.
I played golf with some agents on Thursday and struggled to a 44+42=86. Brian, one of my golfing buddy agents shot a 39+37=76, but I parred the last hole of the day to win 23 skins on that hole (25 in total) and I won $18.50 to his $20.50. The other two players dropped the $39 that it cost to pay us off. I left my six iron on the course and for the third time in the last three years it was not turned in. What do people get out of keeping a club from someone's golf set? Thank God for Club Scouters as for $59, they replace the club.
We finally made it back to church this week after being AWOL for trips and golf the last couple of weeks. It was Missions Sunday and a missionary from Chile spoke. He grew up in a dysfunctional family in Oregon and his two alcoholic parents actually had a hat made for him at the county fair when he was 5 that read, "Mistake", as he was an unplanned pregnancy. He found God after a life of drugs and booze and turned his life over to God. He just celebrated his thirtieth year in the missions field and has two sons and a daughter who also do missionary work. Amazing.
The weather is absolutely crisp and beautiful this time of year. It heated up to 87 degrees on Sunday and we should have taken the jet ski out for a last run. I need to get it into Yamaha and have it winterized. We'd hoped to have it on the water one last time, but Fall hit fairly quickly and we are still waiting for a little Indian Summer. It is supposed to be in the 80's all of this week.
I leave for the Branch Managers meeting on Wednesday. This will be my third Branch Managers meeting and my first as a Branch Manager. I've heard that my promotion is on the agenda this year and, frankly, it's about damn time. The meeting is being moved this year from the Westin in Farmington Hills to The Ritz Carlton in Deerborn, Michigan. I'm hoping that this is a real first class affair. The Westin has been nice, but the food was subpar last year and they had problems keeping our rooms clean. I got out of meeetings at 4:00 PM and came back to my room and it hadn't been cleaned. We spend a LOT of money on these annual meetings and the hotel should be catering to US, not dumping on us.
This year will be a little different as we will start the meeting at the home office on Thursday and finish the meeting with the golf tournament and dinner on Saturday afternoon/evening. My office has gone from losing $500,000 the year that I took over to making about $140,000 in profit this year. I just finished the budget for 2007 and we have a goal in 2007 of making just south of $800,000. If we hit that, my bonus will be a nice chunk of change.
On top of the Branch Manager's meeting, we also have the annual Sacramento Insurance Day tomorrow at the Community Center in Sacramento. We have a display booth again this year as we do every year. My assistant is already panicking as she will have to pick up the slack this week while I'm gone.
I went out and bought a new suit for the meeting on Saturday and also got a new dress shirt and a couple of ties. I don't wear dress clothes at work as our dress code is slacks and collared shirts, no ties or jacket. This is a good excuse to improve my wardrobe. I also bought a new overcoat that is a cahmere blend pea coat style overcoat. I've had the London Fog style overcoat for years and it was time to upgrade. Finally, I bought a new pair of black oxford dress shoes.
It was actually an expensive weekend as I took Darla out to Home Depot and we picked out a new dishwasher (the quiet style) and a new side-by-side refrigerator. Our fridge has been on it's last legs for a while and the milk is barely lasting until expiration and the seal around the door is losing it's seal. We will move the fridge to the garage and have them take the garage fridge away. Darla never loiked that one in spite of the fact that it was FREE. I will also replace the seal on the refrigerator we are moving to the garage.
We are still working on getting quotes for the backyard pool. Daniel saw the plans and was complaining that it is a game pool. 3 1/2' depth to 5 1/2' depth back to 4' depth. He complained that there is nowhere in the pool that he could stand and be covered by water. I told him two things. One, you don't stand in a pool and Two, I'm planning this pool for Darla and I and our grandchildren, not for a 17 year-old who will hopefully be out of the house in two years!!
Well, that is it for this week. Pray for me as I enter the danger zone in Detroit. Hopefully, my trip will go better than last year. Be well. Ciao.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Back from a short Golfing vacation
It was a quick run up to the foothills, but we had a blast. I got off work early on Friday and Darla and I met Bob and Debbie Hand and we drove up together to Angel's Camp above Jackson and below Sonora in the Sierra Nevada foothills. We considered stopping in Sutter Creek on the way up for dinner, but Angels Camp is only about 30 minutes southeast of Sutter Creek, so we pushed on to the Greenhorn Country Club and the Trendwest facility that borders the tenth hole. Ed Powell and his wife Janette are Trendwest members and invited us to stay with them in a three-bedroom condo. We got checked in and asked for a good Italian restaurant and were pointed to Main Street in Angel's Camp and a small ristorante with good food and a great wine cellar. We met up with Greg Wanee who was bunking on the couch in the condo and drove over to the main downtown area. When we walked into the restaurant we saw four other golfers from the club and their wives (including Ed and Janette), so we all visited in the alcove of the restaurant near their table as our table was getting prepped. It was funny with all of the choices in town that we ended up at the same restaurant.
The facility was first class with a penthouse bedroom and two bedrooms on the main floor, each with their own bathroom. Bob and I flipped for the bedroom with the queen bed and I lost out and Darla and I were relegated to the bedroom with two twin beds. We quickly rearranged the furniture and pushed the two beds together. The disadvantage of our bedroom was the two beds and the fact that our bathroom was open to the main hallway and used by Greg and Boyd who drove up on Saturday and spent Saturday night with us as well.
Saturday we played Greenhorn and it is a first rate golf course and a tough test of golf. I played exceedingly well on the front nine, shooting a smooth 40, but lost my mind on the back nine and went double-bogey, double-bogey, quadruple-bogey to start 8 over after three holes and finished with a blemish of 52 on the back for a 92. My free fall down that flight of stairs cost me winnings as I tied for sixth low net out of twenty golfers and lost a tie breaker which is the back nine score. I was disappointed, but was driven to enjoy myself that night as we were hosting a barbecue for the thirty people on the trip at our condo and I was on barbecue duty. We had a few beers and drove back to the condo.
Poor Bob received a phone call on the course that his aunt had died. She was a spinster and Bob was her closest relative and the executor of her estate. He considered going home as he had to call relatives and set up the funeral and mortuary services, but I convinced him that there was nothing he could do that couldn't wait until Monday. I did drive him back to the condo right after we finished so he could start on calling relatives.
Darla was still out with the girls shopping when I got back and Ed, Greg and I put on swimsuits and headed to the spa. Bob joined us shortly and seemed relieved to have some of the phone calls out of the way. I fired up the barbecue at about six o'clock and the girls fixed snacks and margaritas and we had about eight bottles of wine and beer and a good time. I fixed five tri-tips and about eight pounds of chicken quarters on the grill and we ate three salads, bread and fresh fruit for dinner. It was awesome.
Darla and I snuck out of the party about nine o'clock and went over to the spa to relax and get caught up on each other's days. It was nice to visit with everyone and yet to have a quiet moment together as well. We headed back to the condo at ten and the party had already broken up and the folks were heading to bed. We had made plans to meet at seven-thirty the next morning for breakfast in town and then drive the thirty miles to Valley Springs to play La Contenta golf course. Darla and the girls were going to sleep in and take a slow drive back to Sacramento, stopping for lunch along the way.
We were up about six-thirty Sunday and visiting with the gang. Bob and Debbie were slow to arise and finally at 7:20 we knocked on their door and they were still asleep. Bob quickly jumped up and showered and met us about 7:40 at the car. Somehow the breakfast plans had not trickled down to them and he knew we didn't tee off until 10:50 AM so was in no hurry to get going. We had breakfast with six of the golfers and then drove on to La Contenta, arriving about 9:30 after a leisurely breakfast.
I played a little better on Sunday, shooting 44+43=87, but still not really on my game. My score was good enough to win $25 and $16 in skin money and I left town with a new hat and golf glove. We had a great time and Darla and the girls enjoyed their shopping and lunches together, so it was fun for one and all.
I talked to Jennifer last night when we returned and she and John are doing great. I teased her about not keeping up with her blog and she said, "what are you talking about, Dad? I 've updated it three times." I had given up checking her blog as she hadn't added anything to it since she left Korea. But check out the link at the bottom of the page as she is back to blogging.
I also talked to Dad and Shirley last night. They have picked the dates for the trip to Vegas for the Lyon family reunion and celebration of Dad's 70th and my 50th. It will be the week of March 5th-11th. Darla and I will likely drive down on Wednesday night, staying over in Bakersfield and then driving on to Vegas on Thursday morning. This time around we will have all of Darryl's kids, Randy's kids and our children. Jennifer is planning on coming with John and I will set up golf for Friday. It will be fun. Shirley kidded us about traveling so much, but forgot that they had just arrived home from Vegas after their week long trip to California in September.
Now that we have the date set for that trip I can book my tee time and stay at Pebble Beach in April. I will play Pebble Beach in my 50th year of life.
Well, the gang is arriving and my door is constantly being darkened, so I better attend to the staff. We had a good audit last week from a home office Vice President, who was in town for three days and I'm off to the Manager's meetin in a week from Wednesday. Stay well. Ciao.
The facility was first class with a penthouse bedroom and two bedrooms on the main floor, each with their own bathroom. Bob and I flipped for the bedroom with the queen bed and I lost out and Darla and I were relegated to the bedroom with two twin beds. We quickly rearranged the furniture and pushed the two beds together. The disadvantage of our bedroom was the two beds and the fact that our bathroom was open to the main hallway and used by Greg and Boyd who drove up on Saturday and spent Saturday night with us as well.
Saturday we played Greenhorn and it is a first rate golf course and a tough test of golf. I played exceedingly well on the front nine, shooting a smooth 40, but lost my mind on the back nine and went double-bogey, double-bogey, quadruple-bogey to start 8 over after three holes and finished with a blemish of 52 on the back for a 92. My free fall down that flight of stairs cost me winnings as I tied for sixth low net out of twenty golfers and lost a tie breaker which is the back nine score. I was disappointed, but was driven to enjoy myself that night as we were hosting a barbecue for the thirty people on the trip at our condo and I was on barbecue duty. We had a few beers and drove back to the condo.
Poor Bob received a phone call on the course that his aunt had died. She was a spinster and Bob was her closest relative and the executor of her estate. He considered going home as he had to call relatives and set up the funeral and mortuary services, but I convinced him that there was nothing he could do that couldn't wait until Monday. I did drive him back to the condo right after we finished so he could start on calling relatives.
Darla was still out with the girls shopping when I got back and Ed, Greg and I put on swimsuits and headed to the spa. Bob joined us shortly and seemed relieved to have some of the phone calls out of the way. I fired up the barbecue at about six o'clock and the girls fixed snacks and margaritas and we had about eight bottles of wine and beer and a good time. I fixed five tri-tips and about eight pounds of chicken quarters on the grill and we ate three salads, bread and fresh fruit for dinner. It was awesome.
Darla and I snuck out of the party about nine o'clock and went over to the spa to relax and get caught up on each other's days. It was nice to visit with everyone and yet to have a quiet moment together as well. We headed back to the condo at ten and the party had already broken up and the folks were heading to bed. We had made plans to meet at seven-thirty the next morning for breakfast in town and then drive the thirty miles to Valley Springs to play La Contenta golf course. Darla and the girls were going to sleep in and take a slow drive back to Sacramento, stopping for lunch along the way.
We were up about six-thirty Sunday and visiting with the gang. Bob and Debbie were slow to arise and finally at 7:20 we knocked on their door and they were still asleep. Bob quickly jumped up and showered and met us about 7:40 at the car. Somehow the breakfast plans had not trickled down to them and he knew we didn't tee off until 10:50 AM so was in no hurry to get going. We had breakfast with six of the golfers and then drove on to La Contenta, arriving about 9:30 after a leisurely breakfast.
I played a little better on Sunday, shooting 44+43=87, but still not really on my game. My score was good enough to win $25 and $16 in skin money and I left town with a new hat and golf glove. We had a great time and Darla and the girls enjoyed their shopping and lunches together, so it was fun for one and all.
I talked to Jennifer last night when we returned and she and John are doing great. I teased her about not keeping up with her blog and she said, "what are you talking about, Dad? I 've updated it three times." I had given up checking her blog as she hadn't added anything to it since she left Korea. But check out the link at the bottom of the page as she is back to blogging.
I also talked to Dad and Shirley last night. They have picked the dates for the trip to Vegas for the Lyon family reunion and celebration of Dad's 70th and my 50th. It will be the week of March 5th-11th. Darla and I will likely drive down on Wednesday night, staying over in Bakersfield and then driving on to Vegas on Thursday morning. This time around we will have all of Darryl's kids, Randy's kids and our children. Jennifer is planning on coming with John and I will set up golf for Friday. It will be fun. Shirley kidded us about traveling so much, but forgot that they had just arrived home from Vegas after their week long trip to California in September.
Now that we have the date set for that trip I can book my tee time and stay at Pebble Beach in April. I will play Pebble Beach in my 50th year of life.
Well, the gang is arriving and my door is constantly being darkened, so I better attend to the staff. We had a good audit last week from a home office Vice President, who was in town for three days and I'm off to the Manager's meetin in a week from Wednesday. Stay well. Ciao.
