Daylight Savings Time

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.