It's been fun, but I can't say I'm shedding any tears over the fact that it is done. I had to host two of the parties and it is a little distracting and certainly time consuming making sure that all of the tees are crossed and i's dotted. Both parties went off with nary a hitch and we truly enjoyed using Dinda and JP's home this year. As you can see from the pictures, they have a home that accommodates a large party very well. I called JP and Dinda up at one point and we presented them with a $100 gift certificate to Scott's Seafood restaurant and Dinda quickly blurted out, "We'll do it again next year". I also gave her a $50 Starbucks card for being such great sports and allowing all of us to trample through their beautiful home every year. She took a sabbatical a few years ago and the party was at our house. Although it was still fun, our home can't quite as comfortably accommodate 35 people. It was a little tight. We did two twelve pound turkeys and a ham from Honey Baked Hams this year and although it was a little more expensive, the food was certainly better. We also went through eleven bottles of wine (including five 750 ML bottles), two and a half cases of beer, a 12 pack of Mike's Hard Liquor variety pack, two bottles of Martinelli's cider, two bottles of champagne, two cases of soda and 48 bottles of water. Gail brought hors de oeuvres, Darla fixed mashed potatoes and stuffing and a green bean casserole, Cora brought garlic bread, Steve brought some M&Ms and Pete brought the carving knife and cut the turkey this year.
We did the gift exchange again and everyone enjoyed the experience. Darla and I ended up with an Almond Rocha gift pack and two tickets to the 49ers-Bengals game on Saturday. We checked with the boys to see if they wanted to go to the game. David couldn't make it, but Daniel and his Dad went to the game and actually saw the 49ers 4th win of the season as they beat the Bengals. Darla and I brought a dinner gift certificate and a collector copy of the Bourne Ultimatum DVD. Darla took pictures of each couple as they left and I've posted those on the office G Drive so everyone can view the pictures. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over.
I had a golf club board meeting on Saturday morning and the gavel was turned over to me. I will sit on my first board meeting as President in January and then host the first Open Meeting of 2008 on January 17th. We all met for breakfast and the board presented Neil (the outgoing President) with a $150 gift certificate in the pro shop. I will lean heavily on Neil's guidance in 2008 as I navigate the club throughout the year. I will likely be the most popular and the most reviled President as I plan to begin penalizing players for slow play. Our rule is that you have to finish within 4 hours and 40 minutes or within fifteen minutes of the foursome in front of you. If you miss both of these guidelines everyone in the foursome will receive a 2 stroke penalty. It is the number one issue in the club and the rule has been on the books for a full year, but has not been imposed as yet. I will have a representative on the first hole to note the starting time and on the 18th hole to monitor the groups.
We played golf after breakfast and I managed an uninspired 40+44=84. I basically fell asleep on the back side and messed up a good round of golf. The final eclectic scores and payouts came out last week and I went back over the year to see how much I had won. I finished in the money in 13 tournaments and won a total of $579.50 in the club this year. Not too shabby. My handicap varied from 9.0 to 11.9 this year and I finished the year at 9.3. I didn't win the club championship in my flight nor did I get a spot on the Rose Cup team, two of my goals, but it was otherwise a very good year. I was runner-up in the Club Championship and got in a playoff for the final Rose Cup spot.
I played in a Texas Hold'em tournament Saturday night at a friends house. He had 21 players and I was the 8th player out of the tournament. I just couldn't get any cards. The winner won $500 and he paid 5 spots. I did knock the host out on an All In when I pulled a straight on the river. I've played in two of the Texas Hold'em tournaments and I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the game simply because there is little skill employed in the game. It is all luck and bluffing. I prefer five card draw.
Sunday, Darla and I did little more than lay in front of the fire and relax. We got up for church and I was hard pressed to stay awake during the sermon. I think the weekend's activities finally caught up with me. We both slept for about two hours on the couch with a nice roaring fire in the fireplace. We awoke to a smoldering fire and I had to rebuild it from scratch. We had the fire going from ten AM until we went to bed last night. I watched Dallas lose and go from the second best record in the NFL to the second best record in the NFL. They have to win their last two games to assure home field advantage in the playoffs and hopefully they learned that they can't just wait until the end of the game to put a team away.
We talked to Jennifer last night and she is beginning to dilate and has about a week to ten days until the baby comes (supposedly). Samantha may make her appearance this week or wait until after Christmas. Hard to say. We meant to give Dad and Shirley a call, but it got too late last night and we will try to call them tonight.
Well, it is payroll today and I have to approve everyone's hours, so off I go. Have a great week leading up to the celebration of the birth of our Saviour. By the way, the announcement of my promotion was in the Business Journal last week. Here is the link to the article:
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