Darla is Back from Convention..Thank God, the Laundry Needs to be Done

Darla got home about 11:00 last night and after she gathered her luggage, it was almost midnight by the time we got back home. I slept in a little bit this morning and got in to the office a little after 8 AM. She had stayed a little later in order to tour Silpada's factory where the jewelry is made and she ended up spending about three hours in the airport in Kansas City waiting for her flight to Denver. It was a long day for her.

Her trip went well, but her recruit, who joined her on Thursday was a bit pretentious. Most of the conventioneers were at the Westin Hotel. Darla had got bumped to the Raddison, which was away from the Westin, but closer to the Convention Center. Darla is a camper and is happy with any accommodations. The Raddison was older, but clean and acceptable. Her recruit showed up late Thursday night and took one look at the Raddison and was appalled. They had dinner at the Westin and the girl excused herself from the table, went to the Westin front desk and booked a room. She came back to the table and told Darla what she had done. Darla was sick. She had reservations at the Raddison for $131 a night with her roommate paying half the fare. They went back to the Raddison and tried to check out, but the front desk told them they needed a 24 hour notice (makes sense to me). The gal told the front desk that their hotel was a dump. Darla was mortified. Finally, she talked to the desk clerk herself and explained that her roomate had made reservations at the Westin and left Darla up the creek. They were nice enough to cancel the reservation and let her off the hook. They had to up and move at 11:00 PM and come to find out that the Westin had the convention rate of $131 as well, but it was overbooked on that rate and the girls had to pay $259 a night. Darla was spitting mad by then. She actually had several power problems and the hotel never changed their sheets and didn't get them a new light bulb for the lamp by the bed. When they checked out Darla raised a beef and they comped them one night. It still ended up costing her about $80 more than the other room would have cost. She has vowed not to travel with her recruit again.

The event was a good time for Darla. She was one of the companies' top individual sales consultant. The top sales consultants sold between $85,000-$100,000 in sales and were recognized in front of the group of 4500 women. There are over 20,000 Silpada Sales reps across the country and Darla did over $72,000 in sales in her first year and this is her third job.

I got along fine without my wife, but I decided I like being married and don't like having to change the cat litter and fix all of my own meals which I ate alone. Marriage is good (and that was not a message for Jennifer and John). I played three games of golf. I thoroughly enjoyed Harding Park in San Francisco, although it was cold and I wore shorts like a doofus. It never got over 64 degrees and there was a constant ground fog that was wet and cold. Our team shot 62 which was good for third place and they paid the top two teams. I also played on Saturday at Diamond and shot 41+40=81 which was highlighted by a chip in for eagle on number 11. I'm still getting used to my new Taylor Made R7 driver. Sunday was the three club and I played alternately good and bad. I shot 42 on the front side and 43 on the back for 85, net 74. I played with a driver, eight iron and putter. The turnout for this tournament was below par for the second straight year and we will have to decide if it stays on the calendar for 2008. We may replace it with another medal tournament as many of the guys don't like to play in a tournament where you can't post a score.

I found out that the Burns and Wilcox Managers meeting is the same weekend as the club's annual Monterey trip. Major Bummer. At least we had the Graeagle trip on August 11-12. Well, interest was limited and that trip got cancelled. I don't believe in getting mad and set up a weekend golf and wine outing up to SaddleCreek Golf resort in Copperopolis. The guys will golf and the ladies will shop and have lunch and then we will all meet for dinner. Four couple are staying up at the Shenandoah Inn in Plymouth, CA Saturday night and we will do some wine tasting on Sunday. SaddleCreek is rated 9th in California for Public Access golf courses and included in that list is Pebble Beach, Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill and Torrey Pines. Good company, eh? I have never played it and look forward to giving it a whirl. So far I have six confirmed and have two tee times at Saddle Creek.

I got home from golf yesterday afternoon and took a swim. I was laying on the raft, half asleep and felt a bug crawling on my stomach. I picked it up between my first two fingers and my thumb and the yellowjacket stung me on my middle finger. I haven't been stung in awhile. That hurt like a son of a gun for about five minutes.

The office continues to do really well and we are actually over budget for this month. We made close to $200,000 for the first six months and are on target for about a half million in net income for 2007. As the manager, I'm thrilled.

Well, this was late, but I wanted to get it out. Jennifer is at the doctor today for an ultrasound and I'll talk to her tonight to see how it went. I hope all are well. Ciao.