Back from Lake Tahoe and a short vacation.

We only took one picture on our short week in Lake Tahoe which is odd for Darla, but we were both in a total relaxation mood. You can also see that I've added pictures of the "new" living room which is now a milk chocolate color and, strangely, I sit watching television and end up craving a Hershey's bar. Go figure. She also bought the new clock, cross and Italian banner to dress up the room and add some class to our home. The cross is huge and I'm concerned that we are now Greek Orthodox or something, but Darla says that crosses are very "in vogue" at the moment. If she left it up to me, I'd have the Three Stooges golf poster hanging above the fireplace. Note the new white mantle on the fireplace. Double click on the pictures to see a larger view.

Again, Tahoe was very relaxing and I really needed the downtime after the trip to Detroit. The weather was absolutely perfect with daytime highs in the mid seventies and overnight lows in the mid twenties. I actually ended up with a slight sunburn on Tuesday. Darla went out scouting out a couple of the local boutiques for a nail appointment on Wednesday and she wanted to be able to set up her Silpada jewelry at the spa for the day and sell some items. I relaxed at the resort and ended up down at the pool with my book and a towel. I called Darla as I left the room to head down to the pool and she said she was on her way. That was 12:15 PM and I read for a bit and finally shut my eyes and slept. Darla ended up back at the resort at 2:30 PM and I ended up with a sunburn. The rays in Lake Tahoe are so intense because of the elevation. I had called Darla to remind her to grab the sunscreen from my golf bag and bring it to the pool. Oops. We ended up playing tennis, eating out, gambling and relaxing during the week. I met Bob, my friend from church and the golf club, at the resort Wednesday morning and we drove in to Carson City to pick up one of his friends (Jim) and play golf at his country club in Washoe Valley near the Montreaux Country Club. His course was difficult (a 134 slope versus our club's 121). My 9 index netted me 11 strokes at his club and I shot 44+42=86 on the day. Bob also shot 86. It was a perfect day and I enjoyed Jim and the club. Jim came down to Roseville a couple of weeks ago and played in our Invitational with Bob and they played in a foursome with Pete and I. Pete is my number one underwriter from work.

We had an evacuation on Thursday morning as the fire alarm went off at about 9:30 AM. It turns out that one of the guests had poured hot grease from the stove into a basin of water in the sink and sparked a fire. It set off the alarms and we all met in the parking lot. We had met another couple the night before in the hot tub. The husband had apologized as he slipped out of his trunks after donning a robe. I was sitting in the tub at the time and told him I was glad he had on a long robe as he squirmed out of his wet trunks. He laughed and putting on a Swedish accent, said, "Ya, we're just Europeans." That morning he made his way over to Darla and I and said that they'd had a methane explosion in their suite after using the restroom that morning. Funny guy.

We returned home on Friday night as Darla wanted a chance to relax in her own bed after being away from home all week. She left this morning for Monterey and is at a home party for Silpada as I write this. Darla had some good luck at the casinos and hit a Royal Flush for $200 on the nickel machines on Friday night. It was good to see as I had little luck all week, finally hitting a Straight Flush at the Nugget in North Lake Tahoe on Friday afternoon for $32.60 on a 25 cent bet on the nickel video poker.

I have sent a request through the San Francisco Exchange Company for a week in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving. Jennifer has invited us up for Thanksgiving and we will drive up on Wednesday the 21st of November and stay until Sunday. We plan to ask Dad and Shirley if they want to join us as well, if they can get away so soon after the trip to Austin. In fact, they are still in Austin and will fly home to Canada on Tuesday. Jennifer gave me a couple of hotel choices and we will use those as a backup in case the exchange doesn't come through. I hope we can get in on the exchange as it will only cost us $129 with the exchange instead of $140 A NIGHT at the hotel.

I am writing the blog on Saturday night partly because I have the time, but mostly because I have one of the Senior VPs from Burns in on Monday along with Harvey. I actually worked pretty closely with Irene in Detroit as I was on her team in the sales training and we were in competition with eight other teams. Our team was made up of Branch Managers and I think the goal was to get us acquainted with Irene, who is in charge of Branch Development and has been on the job a little over a year. I had the crew clean up the office and had the office management company set up to have the floors cleaned and polished prior to the visit. Hopefully the office will show well as this is Irene's first visit to our office. Harvey's office is in the middle of converting to Imaging and she is out to work with San Francisco, but asked to come out and see Ken's office as well on her trip. C'est la vie.

I played golf today in the 3rd Diamond Tourney, It is a club within our club as there is a Diamond upgrade that buys us six free rounds, exclusive tournaments with industry vendors (today was Srixon), a hat, a windshirt and ten range tokens all for $50. It's a good deal. I met with Scott, our club pro before the round and he said that he is going to give me free golf next year for every tournament we have. it is a savings to the club of about $360 as they were going to pay my green fees in 12 events. Scott has agreed to pay for all of my golf this next year, so I'm very pleased with his generous offer. I shot 39+42=81, for a net 71 and third place in today's tournament. I played with Bob, Boyd and Robert (our pro shop starter). They shot, 79, 78 and 78 respectively, so my 81 was a reflection of the talent I was playing with.

Tomorrow, Darla will be home about 2 PM and we have a Halloween event to attend at the church tomorrow night. it is Trunk or Treat, where cars are dressed up and the trunk is full of candy for the kids and each car is part of a booth with games and fun. Darla and I will work an hour at one of the booths and hand out candy. It should be fun and is an outreach of our life group.

The church continues to struggle with the resignation of about half of our church leaders. They had asked our pastor to step down and he refused, leading to a mass exodus. Pastor Rick is being tutored by the dean of our local Christian college and being held accountable by two of the senior pastors in the church. The whole disagreement has to do with Rick's management style. Apparently, he is a bit of a micro-manager and the staff rebelled. It is a mess, but the dissenters are leaving and a new staff will emerge with an emboldened and chastened pastor, who is moving the church past this event and hopefully we will end up stronger through all of this. That is the prayer. The life group leaders, including Darla and I will meet with Rick next Sunday and I'm anxious to hear what he has to say.

Well, I have a movie waiting with my name on it, so i will bid you adieu. Ciao.