Jennifer and Samantha in Town

The computers are messed up this morning at work and my IT guy called in sick. Curses. For some reason the upload of pictures is stalling and not cooperating, so I will add pictures of Baby Samantha later. The IT guy (Anthony) called in and said that he was having cramps. I thought that excuse only worked for women? It is a new world, eh?

Jennifer and Samantha are in town until tomorrow to visit with Diane. She decided that she wants them here now before her surgery so she can enjoy their visit. She will be in some pain after her surgery to remove the tumor on her thymus gland. She brought Jennifer and Samantha over on Friday so Samantha could meet my staff (or vice versa I guess) and she has really lost a lot of weight and is skin and bones. The Graves disease causes weight loss and hopefully the surgery and recovery will let her put some weight back on.

I will have lunch with Jennifer and Samantha today in Folsom. Darla has a couple of meetings scheduled and won't be able to join us unfortunately. Jennifer joined us for pizza on Saturday night and her friend Sara and her boyfriend, Evalio, came over along with Alicia and David. Darla and I took turns holding Samantha while the kids played Wii. Evalio really seemed to enjoy himself and wants to get a Wii for their house. Samantha was a little cranky, but she slept for awhile and seemed to calm down while she was in her swing or being held. What I notice as a big change in Samantha from one week to 5 weeks is her awareness. She is looking around and much more active. She also seems to be less scrunched over (if that makes sense). She is stretched out and seems to have a straighter back and neck. I remember that with Jennifer as a baby, she was really more compact right after birth and more in a fetal position, whereas she tended to lie straighter after about a month. The hematoma on her head where they had to suction her out of the womb has healed and she has a flatter head. She also seems to smile more and is active with her hands.

Jennifer and Samantha will be back the end of February when Diane has her surgery and will stay for a couple of weeks. John was really missing Samantha. He sent me some pictures that he took of the Monte Carlo fire in Las Vegas. His office is located just beyond the strip near Interstate 15 and he got quite a show with the fire burning Friday morning.

I played in the Spyglass qualifier this weekend and we had wet, rainy conditions. In fact it was so bad that we shortened the tournament to one day. Steve and I played poorly as a team and ended up with a 71. Steve has always played well with me in his group (until this weekend). He is the one that beat me in the Club Championship final this past year. He shot a 93 with four....count them...four out of bounds.I struggled to an 86 in the windy, wet conditions. We have had constant rain for about ten days now and it broke on Saturday, but the course was sodden with water in the sand traps and several areas where creeks had flowed over their banks. Our course beaver even had trouble keeping up with the rain and his dam got knocked down and the water rushed across the fourth fairway to the confines of the creek bed below. There is an underground culvert that takes the water under the fourth fairway, but when the rains are heavy the water rushes across the fairway and down to the creek. I had won $48 in skins from the week before at Lincoln Hills and Steve and I won $46 on Saturday due to his birdie on the number 12 handicap hole (number 8) that resulted in an eagle due to his 12 handicap. I was forced to play as a 9 handicap as the NCGA allows 90% of the course handicap in its' qualifiers. The winning teams had 59 and 61 (which became a 63 after a two stroke penalty for slow play). The third place teams were tied with 64, so the penalty did not result in them missing the Spyglass event.

We did play yesterday as the rains slackened overnight. The course was even wetter and when the rains came at about noon, the greens were quickly overcome with water and the holes filled up with rain and we finally called the event much to the dismay of many players. The conditions were just not going to allow us to complete the round. I was cold and my pants, coat, glove, grip and shoes were soaked and I was happy to retire back to the clubhouse and the warmth of the restaurant.We will tee it up again next weekend in the Super Bowl event and right now with rain all this week, it looks like about a 30% chance of rain for Saturday.

Darla and I will return to the NBA on Friday night for our fourth game of the eight that we bought a mini season package for. The Kings take on New Orleans on Friday night.

When I got back from Hawaii there was a blue Chrysler Sebring parked in the parking lot in the space next to our reserved BW spaces. I noticed the car because it was frozen over several mornings in a row when I arrived at 7:15 AM. It was still in the parking lot last week and I called the management people to have them check with the police to see if it was stolen. Sure enough, the car had been stolen on January 3rd and was sitting in our lot from then on. The thieves likely used it for their nefarious purposes and dumped it after they ran out of gas.

Well, it is off to another work week. I will add pictures to the blog tonight. Be nice to each other. Ciao.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Yep. Just another excuse for our public servants to sleep in and take another day off. Meanwhile corporate America continues to work and strive toward profitability. The last two holidays that were approved were for MLK and Cesar Chavez and were so blatantly directed at minorities and the policy of inclusion that so many Americans (Democrats) subscribe to. Both men were tremendously influential in directing policies that helped both blacks and hispanics receive equality and certainly justice in these United States. That said, neither one held any public office and a National or State holiday is a bit much in the scheme of things. I enjoyed the lighter traffic this morning. Darla is, of course, off today and she and Alicia will travel north to Paradise and help celebrate their Mom's birthday. Traffic was so light this morning that the traffic controls were off at my on ramp to Highway 50 this morning. Smooth sailing.

The pictures of Samantha are from Jennifer. One is Samantha's first bath with Mom. The other is of Samantha in one of the jogging outfits that we bought her when we were in Vegas. She is adorable, eh? It is her one month birthday today.

I had a great weekend and it started early with a trip to the Thunder Valley casino with an insurance agency who had lunch there and followed that with an afternoon of gambling. We dined at the new Koi Palace, which is a Chinese restaurant in the casino. The food was excellent and the service even better. I played my regular nickle video poker and got hammered until I hit four aces with a two for $305 with 20 coins bet. I left the casino about 5:00 PM and headed to the store where I stocked up on meat, cheeses and bread for my poker party at 7:00PM. Darla drove to Vacaville and met her friend, Joni, for dinner. I was a poor host and took my guests for $170 over the next five hours. I had one of the guys from work join us and he took an $80 beating.

Saturday was golf and a warm up round for the tournament on Sunday at Lincoln Hills. Saturday saw a 45 minute frost delay and we finally teed off at 9:20 AM. I met a friend of Darla's husband, Darren, for the first time. He is new to the area and a golfer and looking to hook into a club. Darla thought that as President of a golf club, I might be able to hook him up. I got him the sign up information and I think he will play with Boyd and Bob and I in the Super Bowl tournament in two weeks. I found more of a rhythm on Saturday and shot 42+41=83. It was actually warm on Saturday after the frost burned off and it was about 60 degrees.

Sunday was another animal entirely as the winds kicked up and our 8:00 AM shotgun was brisk and cold. The wind kept the frost from forming and we got out on time, but the temperature was about 39 degrees with a wind chill of about 30 degrees. My ears were freezing and my nose started running and the wind caused my eyes to water. It was brutal. We had similar conditions at this tournament last year and I struggled to a 92. The wind then was about 40 MPH, whereas it was closer to 20 MPH on Sunday. I struggled early and went bogey, triple-bogey, bogey for five over after three holes. The triple bogey was a shank out of bounds off the tee on the second hole. I couldn't even see the ball as my eyes were watering so badly and I was freezing. Happily I pulled myself together and shot 41+43=84 and took third place in the tournament. Poor Boyd could never warm up and shot an 87 and quickly exited the premises when the game was over. Bob shot some really stellar golf under the conditions and tied for the low gross in the tournament with a 77. Bob has the stuff to be our club champion and may even pull it off this year.

My next tournament is next weekend with the qualifier for Spyglass. It is a two day tournament and I am playing with Steve, one of my poker crew. He played yesterday and shot an 86 as a 13 handicap. Many of the scores were upper stratosphere with mid nineties a common score. I think Steve and I have a chance to be one of the two groups that head to Spyglass in June.

My only dilemma is that Jennifer and Samantha will be here this weekend and I want to spend some time with them. I think she is flying home on Tuesday, so hopefully we can have dinner together one night. Diane is flying them in because she wants to spend a weekend with them while she is not recuperating from surgery. Jennifer will be back for two weeks in February while her Mom goes under the knife.

I was telling Jennifer the story about Steve's granddaughter. his daughter had a baby girl (their third child) the same week that Samantha graced our lives. Steve's son-in-law decided to take the family up to the snow last week as Tahoe is now covered in a fresh blanket of snow and he wanted to take the boys sledding. Steve and Brenda offered to watch their granddaughter, but the mom wanted to bring her along. She said that she would stay in the car with her daughter. When they got up there it was such a nice day that the Dad decided it was great picture opportunity. He went around to the back of the car and unbuckled their daughter. He took two steps with his one month old and slipped on some black ice. He fell straight back and dropped his daughter who flew through the air and landed head first on the road. They spent the next twelve hours at the emergency room getting cat scans and neurological tests. Steve said he could have killed his son-in-law.

I did call and talk to Darryl last night as it was his 52nd birthday. We chit chatted about his birthday and how things are going. he then dropped the bomb that he is leaving his job of one month and going to Denver to take a position with McLane Food Service, the leading food service and restaurant supply company in the United States. McLane is owned by Berkshire Hathaway (I'm a stockholer) and is a huge company. He had wanted to go to work for them before Christmas, but they were slow with the offer. His current company is flying in a Vice President to talk to Darryl today to see if they can keep him. The carrot at McLane is that he will only be in Denver for two years and then will relocate to Tyler, Texas where he will take over for a Vice President who is in his late sixties and plans to retire in two years. Darryl will be a Vice President in charge of distribution. I told him that I'm glad to see him finally settling down at the age of 52.

Well, work awaits. The hum of my office is palpable as the staff arrives for another work week. I have to lead the life group tonight, so will study up on the sermon notes from yesterday at lunch today. I was a heathen, playing golf instead of being at church. Next week will be the same agenda. Oh well. Ciao.

Getting Back into the Swing after all of the Time Off

It is a difficult transition from vacation to work, especially when it happens in the middle of the week. I struggled last week to get my mind back into work mode after the sun and fun of Hawaii. I am in the middle of working on bonuses, and bonus plans for 2008, as well as a large relicensing project for all of our agencies that is due on January 31st. That alone is helping me with focus on a nice, sunny Monday morning.

The weekend was relaxing and Darla and I took advantage of a cooler, overcast weekend to get caught up on our rest and down time. We watched a number of good films: 3:10 to Yuma, Shattered, Lonely Hearts and Griffin & Phoenix, all good films that you can rent at your local video store. I did play golf on Saturday and struggled with my almost four week layoff, as expected. I shot 45+43=88 and my short game and putting were abysmal. My drives were long and straight, so at least I've got something going for me. I will play both weekend days next weekend with a tune-up game on Saturday at Diamond Oaks and then my first tournament of the year at Lincoln Hills golf course in Lincoln. Interestingly, I just had a call from the President of the Lincoln Hills golf club and he was interested in trying to set up a home and home event with our two clubs next year. Actually, he wanted to do it this year, but our schedule is set and we are playing his course this weekend (he didn't know that). I also have poker at my house on Friday night, so it is a games weekend coming up.

My interest in the NFL playoffs took a hit this weekend when Dallas slept-walked through their playoff game against the Giants and lost. I think this is the Patriots year. They are so solid in every facet of the game. They won this past weekend convincingly over a good Jacksonville squad without Randy Moss being involved in the game at all. As it is, I have golf this next weekend and won't have to rush home to watch football.

I talked to Jennifer this weekend and she is planning to come out next month to visit. Her Mom offered to pay her way on a flight, but Jennifer wants a car and is thinking of driving out and staying two weeks. I'm not too comfortable with her driving with Samantha, but Jennifer will make up her own mind. I know that much about my daughter. It will be GREAT to spend some time with Samantha and Jennifer. John is the plowhorse and will be home making money for the family. Samantha is doing great. She gets fussy and was crying when we talked on the phone, but it is all normal. Jennifer is coming out because her Mom is having surgery. She has a serious thyroid problem and a tumor in her thymus gland. Her thyroid was being radiated and she will be on thyroid medication for the rest of her life. She also has Graves Disease, but is very optimistic that her health will be much better after surgery. Jennifer will be here to help her during and after the surgery. I'm sure just having Samantha nearby will really help her get better. Please pray for Diane. She has lost alot of weight and does believe in the power of prayer. I have her on our prayer chain at church and with our life group as well.

My first meeting as President of the golf club was one for the books. It was cloudy and rainy last Thursday and the restaurant at Diamond Oaks decided to close early and left us without a venue for the meeting. Someone from the restaurant called me about 2:30 and told me (our meeting was scheduled for 6:00PM). I quickly called as many on the board as I could reach and also e-mailed everyone. I remembered about three years ago we had met at a Sports bar in downtown Old Roseville called the Sports Page. I called them as they have a room in the back that is private. They were "thrilled" to have us come out. That should have been my first clue of a problem. I arrived at 6:20 PM after sitting at Diamond Oaks to make sure that no one showed up at the course expecting the meeting. I was met by Charlie and Freida a married couple on the board. Freida said the place was a bug infested dump and she wouldn't go in. The place had devolved into a dump with pool tables with torn felt and broken chairs and tables and a musty smell of wet insulation. She was right, but the board was coming and I presided over my first meeting sitting at the end of a worn pool table, drinking a Bud Light while Freida sat in her Lexus outside and ten of us got the business of the club taken care of.

Well, work as always awaits my attention. I had four members of my staff call in sick this morning and one showed up and had her son call from school. He had thrown up and she had to go pick him up. Nice start to the week. Ciao.

Back from the Sun and Fun to a Wet, Cold and Dreary Reality

Well, no, we didn't hijack Baby Samantha and take her with us to Maui. Jennifer had sent us a picture to show us that Samantha was wearing one of the outfits that we bought for her. I think Jennifer said that she asked to wear it, which may sound strange, but Samantha actually sent us the e-mail and thanked us for the outfit, so she is quite a resourceful young lady.

Our trip to Maui was relaxing and surprising, warm and wonderful. Darla and I went out to dinner on our first night in Maui and decided to go get a pizza in Lahaina at BJ's Chicago Pizzeria. It is the best pizza joint in Maui and also has a great view of the ocean as it sits on the second floor of the city center overlooking the street and the ocean beyond. As the greeter seated us at our open air window seat, the group next to us said, "Well, Hello, Darla!" It was Bob and Debbie from Reno who we vacation with in Lake Almanor. They were there on a week's vacation to Maui and it was their daughter, Brooke's 20th birthday. We talked and got caught up on their lives (you can see Bob leaning over and talking to me in the picture) and made plans to meet them on Friday afternoon for PuPu at their condo in Napili.

Darla and I stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Kanapali, right on the golf course. It was hard for me not to golf and have to hear the tales from the other men in the group who were out hitting the links. This was Darla's vacation and her trip that she won from Silpada, so I decided to refrain from golf. That didn't stop me from spending a morning at Kapalua and the Mercedes Benz Championship, the "opening drive" of the PGA Tour, but that is another story. The Hyatt is an older resort, but very nice with lush, manicured grounds, an abundance of Flamingos, swans, koi, squirrels, ducks, geese and even some African penguins (I didn't know either), who handle the warmer temperatures. The pools are great and the grounds large.

We did meet at Bob and Debbie's the next day and even took a walk along the beach to Turtle Bay where the snorkelers get up close and personal with the sea turtles. The weather was cloudy the first few days, but the sun came on strong our last four days in paradise. Bob took a map of Maui and scouted out several venues and beaches for us to try. They were packing up and heading back to Reno and a snow storm on Saturday. I brought a six pack of beer and left with chips, fruit, a margarita mix, more beer (Corona) and a bottle of wine. Darla and I being the big drinkers that we are, were able to "pay it forward" when we left on Tuesday and passed along a six pack of beer and a bottle of wine to one of Darla's up line leaders in the company. We enjoyed our stay with Bob and Debbie and loved their condo in Napili Shores.

Friday night was a big Luau with Silpada and we drank rum drinks and watched hula dancers and a fire dance that ended with the dancer lighting a large "SILPADA" sign which burned enticingly. It was a fun night, but it sprinkled rain all night and we called it an early night.

Saturday we drove into Lahaina for dinner at Moose McGillicuddy's. Actually we were planning to have dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise, but the wait was too long. We took our "light up" call device with us and found Moose McGillicuddy's with open tables, in fact one overlooking the drive and the ocean beyond. We decided to ditch the Cheeseburger for the Moose and put the call device under a small potted bansai plant at our table. About fifteen minutes into our meal, the device lit up and then began vibrating LOUDLY as the waitress laughed and the patrons across from us scowled at us. We ate our shrimp and pork and then returned the device to the Cheeseburger rather sheepishly.

Sunday morning dawned sunny and bright and we were up early for a catamaran trip snorkeling over by the island of Lanai. The catamarans do not go under sail this time of year because of the whales. They have to stay at least fifty feet from the whales, but the whales can approach them when they are stationary. Well, we got quite a show as a Momma whale and her baby came to see us and Mom proudly lifted her baby up on her snout and showed her to us. They hung around our boat for about twenty minutes and we got pictures. Unfortunately, we were advised to not bring our expensive digital camera and have some Kodak throwaway digital that I have to see if I can find the memory card in. I'll post those eventually. There was a professional photographer from Silpada on our boat, so his pictures will be priceless. The snorkeling was great and the booze and food on board were very good. It was definitely a highlight of our trip.

Monday, Darla and I drove to Kehei and Waileia and spent part of the afternoon at a small beach outside of Wailea called Polo Beach. It was great and the boogie boarders were in full evidence. We drove back to Kanapali and went to a Surf party that night. The picture of the two women on the lifeguard stand are the two founders of Silpada, best friends, who made it big in the jewelry company. They are high energy ladies and a lot of fun. Darla and I took the picture on the blow up "wave" and thoroughly enjoyed a 7 piece band that played mostly surfing songs, but included Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Janice Joplin, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton and even Patsy Cline in their repertoire. They were excellent and the beach balls were flying on the dance floor. I think Darla thought it was a volleyball game, because she was spiking the balls off heads left and right. It was a good final night party as we were off to the airport Tuesday afternoon. Darla and I took in the Iao Needle and park before turning in the rental car and saying goodbye to Hawaii. It was a great visit.

Our home here took the brunt of a storm and I spent about an hour and a half this afternoon cleaning up downed tree limbs and leaves from the property. Many of our neighbors have downed trees and fences, but we escaped with just a blown off American flag that the pest control guy found in our bushes today. We got home at 1 AM last night and I was at work by 7:30 this morning (5:30 Hawaii time). I called it quits at work by 3 PM and headed home.

Alicia, Darla's sister, watched the animals while we were gone and felt sorry for Buddy. He doesn't handle rain very well and this was a major storm ( 2 inches w/in 24 hours). Alicia decided to bring Buddy to her house one night to let him sleep inside. Buddy proceeded in one night to: fall into her pool, pee on a poinsetta plant, run away in the front yard, and get attacked by her cat. Needless to say, he spent just one night at her house.

Well, Darla is relaxing on the couch watching TV and I think I'll join her. Our computer is on the fritz after the power outage as Darla and I lost our user settings in Windows XP and I had to recreate my mail account with Comcast. All of my e-mails have been lost, so Darryl, send me your address book when you get a chance. That should take care of the family. I have to recreate my golf lists and all of my e-mails have been lost. John is looking to see if I can retrieve them from the hard drive. I certainly didn't erase them and all of our pictures, etc are still in memory. Strange stuff, eh? Take care. Ciao. Oh, and isn't Samantha a living doll?