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.