Holidays are over, traffic is back to normal

That is one really nice aspect of the holidays, that the traffic becomes so light and easy to maneuver. I've been getting into work in about 25 minutes during the holidays and that was back to about 40 minutes this morning as I slept in a little bit and didn't leave the house until 7:10 AM, arriving here at 7:50. This is Monday which is a telecommute day for many of the state workers, so it was lighter than normal. I will leave at 6:30 tomorrow to beat the traffic and be here in about 30 minutes. I live 16 miles door to door, but most of my commute is done on inner city streets, so I deal with traffic lights. I came in a bit later today as I have a golf meeting at 6:30 tonight and decided to just go straight to the meeting rather than drive home only to turn around and leave right away. Tonight's meeting, the first of the new board, will probably take a little longer than normal as we will deal with new committees and some new functions for some of the board members. It is also our life group night and depending on when we wrap up the golf meeting, I may or may not make it to Life Group.

Peter Morrison, my top underwriter, is back from his vacation and we will swap assistants today. I have had the number one assistant in the office over the past year and a half. I felt that as I was doing both production and running the administrative part of the office, that I needed the best assistant. As Pete's production has met and surpassed that of mine, I've realized that in order to see continued growth for him, I needed to give him the best assistant. Connie is taking ten of my agents with her as I've had her take over a select group of agents for full underwriting responsibilities. I will work with Dinda, who is part time (32 hours a week) and she is in the process right now of moving her desk to the spot just outside my office. Connie never moved down here as she wanted to be part of the bullpen of assistants where she could help train the newer assistants. I think it also had to do with the social aspect of the job. Hopefully, Pete will continue to grow his book and be the leader in new business production month in and month out.

Jennifer and John were in town this weekend. They came in on Friday night and stayed with Diane. Diane had them in to install a new plasma television over her fireplace. Jennifer and John were able to put in a new outlet behind the TV and run all of the wires through the wall to the speakers. It turned out really nice. They will come over to our place sometime this Spring and install a new GFI grounded outlet at my front porch. John will be leaving for Afghanistan on Wednesday of this week and may be stuck there until the end of March. He had put in for vacation the week that the Lyon Family Reunion is scheduled in Vegas, but his bosses are telling him there is a chance they will need him longer in Afghanistan. His current assignment should wrap up in late February, but there is a second assignment that starts about that time and his boss isn't sure he can fill it with someone else. As is, John is leaving January 10th with a return ticket of March 30th. He isn't happy, but realizes that his job comes first.

I'm growing out my beard and my wonderful daughter noticed and said, "Gee, Dad, it looks like your trying to grow out your beard?" Darla and I both jumped her on that comment and I said, "What am I, 16, Jen?" She said she didn't mean it that way. Her trip to Okinawa has been cancelled and she will have foot surgery on February 5th in San Francisco. She has a bunion problem that is forcing her toes to cross and it needs to be fixed. It is quite painful and she hopes to be up and around by the time we head to Las Vegas.

The pool work should commence again this week as they need to finish the pool lights and finish backfilling all of the trenches. We may have plaster and water in the pool as early as next week. Once that is done, I can get a concrete flatwork contractor out to pour the driveway on the side of the house as well as a sidewalk and patio behind the shallow end of the pool. I will wait until Spring to plant the trees and flowers in the back, but will do the sprinkler lines and risers before the concrete work is done. I also have to install a couple of new drain lines in the back as the demo crew messed that up pretty good. The fence guys still have to come out and take the last bit of bushes and debris (sprinkler pipes, drain line and concrete) from the back yard. Art will also build an enclosure for the trash containers on the side of the house. He will put in pavers for the floor and build enclosures back to back for our neighbor and us for $600.

I played golf on Saturday with Bob Pando and two other guys from the life group. I forgot what it is like to play golf with non-golfers and watched both of them duff their drives off the first tee. We had fun, but I again struggled with a 46+42=88. I had to really concentrate on the back just to break 90, but managed another birdie on the par 5 16th, so I had something to remember in a mostly forgettable round of golf. Bob shot 80 and Kim and Karl both shot 110 or higher.

Our pastor is a history buff and he was telling us the story of Andrew Jackson as President. Jackson was fiery and known as a salt of the earth President, who would always speak his mind. Jackson decided to attend a church in Washington that was run by a very charismatic preacher named James Pope. Pope was also very salt of the earth and was known for his loud and very direct sermons. His church board told him about Jackson coming to visit and urged him to tone down his message. On the morning of Jackson's arrival, Pope stood before the congregation and welcomed President Jackson to his church. He spoke about how his elders had urged him to tone down his message for the President. He then said the following, "If President Jackson doesn't repent of his sins, he will surely go to Hell!" He then went on to an eloquent sermon on the vagaries of sin and the only path to Heaven through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Jackson approached Pope at the end of the service and said, "Sir, if I had 100 men with your passion and resolve, we could run the world!" Who do you know that needs to hear this message? I will add more later this week with maybe some pictures of the backyard. I hope you are all well and alive in the knowledge of the Lord. Ciao.