Somehow we survived what was supposed to be a HUGE storm over the weekend. We had rain and some wind, but the forecast was for a storm with winds of up to 60 MPH and about two inches of rain. It turned out that the Monster storm skirted past us and we received less than an inch of rain and the winds were about 25 MPH.
I had golf set up for both Friday afternoon and Saturday and figured that would be a wash, BUT we managed to carve a window between storms and I played both days. Friday morning was raining and kind of a cold, nagging chill in the air. I was supposed to meet my agent at the course at 11 AM for lunch and then golf at Noon. I called Mel and he decided to give it a try and met me at 11 AM. His other agent in the office, Jeff, had driven home to get another coat for the game, so Mel and I sat and ate turkey burgers for lunch at the grill of Lincoln Hills. I'm being good with my high cholesterol and have really cut back on red meat. In fact, the last red meat I've had was about two weeks ago. The turkey burgers aren't bad, they are just a little drier than red meat. The rain continued as we ate and commiserated on life in general. The rain slackened shortly after noon and we delayed our start until 12:15 PM. We had a little drizzle on the first hole, but it stopped after that and was an okay afternoon. The course was WET and the balls didn't go anywhere. I need to develop a "stinger" shot like Tiger hits for wet days. I hit the ball high and it tends to plug in wet weather. I managed a 41+45=86 on a wet, cold round of golf.
The BIG storm was due in Saturday at about 3 PM and we were able to sneak in our Saturday round of golf at Cherry Island. I started the round bogey-double bogey and then put up seven pars in a row to shoot 39 on the front side. I then double bogeyed number 10, but pulled my game back to go one over the rest of the way for another 39 and a total of 78, my best round this year. I won the skins and happily bought everyone a drink at the end of the round. I even beat Boyd 78 to 79, but Bob shot a nice 76.
The title is in reference to a trip this week back to Pebble Beach. One of my agents arranged for a $350 green fee at Pebble without a required stay at the lodge and I jumped on it. He called me the day that our CEO and my VP were in town and they both said to do it and expense the round. Who am I to argue? Anthony from the office will join us and we drive down Wednesday morning. We will play Pacific Grove Wednesday afternoon and Pebble on Thursday morning. The storm has passed, it is blue skies and the forecast is for continued nice weather this week. I look forward to another shot at Pebble this week without the wide eyed reverence that I had for the course last time we played. I'll be able hopefully to concentrate on my game and less on the incredible scenery that Pebble offers. I also look forward to playing Pacific Grove. I played nine holes there last Summer, but didn't get to play the back nine, which runs along the coast and the famous 17 mile drive. We will have dinner in Pacific Grove on Wednesday night. My agent is handling the hotel reservations, so I'm not sure where we are staying.
I referenced my CEO's visit. It went fairly well. The focus was on the Sacramento office and our need to increase both marketing efforts and premium growth. We had a topside growth of almost 13% in 2007, but the bottom line lagged. I have reduced staffing by one and one of my focuses this year will be to correctly shift expenses between my office and my satellite in Modesto. I have a tendency to sign off on a bill and have that billing fall against my office when it should correctly be billed to Modesto. I've also shifted some staff from Sacramento to Modesto as we are their back room. I've hired a new producer for Sacramento in personal lines and I am also looking at a new underwriter in Sacramento for Commercial Lines. My goal and focus is to reduce my expenses and increase the bottom line profitability in 2008.
Darla and I were able to watch Samantha on the Skype this weekend. She was happy, but having a bit of a "poopy" time. We spent a short time staring at the chair as Jennifer went and changed her diaper. Technology is awesome and it is a new way to stay in touch with how Jennifer and John and especially Samantha are doing.
Darla made it back from her trip to Sawgrass in Florida and is all geared up to increase her sales in Silpada. She continues to do really well in the company and is close to earning her trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas. Her goal is to win the upgrade trip and a private dinner with the founders of the company.
Well, that's it for this week. I will fill you in on the trip to Pebble Beach next week. Be happy and content, as Benjamin Franklin said, "Discontent can make a rich man poor, as contentment can make a poor man wealthy". Ciao.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Another Holiday Monday..here at work
President's Day. One of the major tenants in our building is Wachovia, and they have today off by virtue of being a bank and the parking lot is empty today. Today is the last of the Spring-like days that we have enjoyed for the past week and a half. Tomorrow is supposed to bring clouds and rain by the afternoon and the weather will remain unsettled until the weekend. We have been enjoying the cool crisp nights and sunny warm days over the past ten or twelve days, but we can still use some rain and the snow pack in the Sierra was starting to melt with the unseasonable weather. We want to see our lakes and reservoirs full this Spring and Summer, so bring on the rain. Hopefully, it will let up by Friday as I've been invited to join an agent at Lincoln Hills golf club in Lincoln. I buy lunch and he takes care of the golf. We call it Marketing around here.
I did, of course, make it out to the golf course this weekend and we played Cherry Island in Elverta. Cherry Island was built in the early 1980s and is located out on a farming community. You can hear animals, livestock and see horses and roosters and farm animals of every variety as we play the round. There is a large cattle farm along several of the holes and we heard the most awful bellowing by a cow. We weren't sure if they were butchering it, it was giving birth, it had got stuck in a fence or what, but it was not a pretty sound. I played with Bob and Boyd and Darren, the husband of one of Darla's friends at work. They just moved here from Southern California and she wanted to hook Darren up with us. He played several weeks ago and was shocked to find out that we WALK the course. His wife gave him heck when he got home and complained about being sore and tired. She told him he needed to lose weight. He responded by buying a new speed cart, a GPS system for distance and embracing the new exercise regimen. I didn't have the heart to tell him that my doctor doesn't consider walking a golf course exercise, because we don't elevate our heart rate enough to break a sweat. Hey, it beats riding a cart. Both Bob and Darren had never played Cherry Island and struggled. Bob, a 5 handicap, shot 85 and Darren had 92. Boyd shot a stellar 73 and I had 42+41=83. Boyd has been pushing us to play other courses besides Woodcreek and Diamond Oaks because he plays them so much he thinks his handicap is artificially low. He is a 7 and shot 36+37=73 at Cherry. He hadn't shot a round that low in three weeks. So much for trying new courses. Bob and Darren enjoyed it so much that they ran inside when we finished and made a tee time for next Saturday. Again, hopefully the weather will give us a window to play golf next week.
The gang here is all in jeans today as we scrub the office and our offices and cubicles in anticipation of our CEO's visit tomorrow. He is in San Francisco today visiting with Harvey's office and will be here tomorrow morning. He will then board a private jet at the Mather Air Field next door for a quick hop down to Los Angeles and the mid year NAPSLO (National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices) meeting in Indian Wells, California. He will visit our Los Angeles and San Diego offies while he is in the area. We haven't seen Alan since August of 2004 in our office, so he was overdo a visit to this area.
Darla is in Sawgrass, Florida as I write this. She left Saturday morning and will be there at a national convention of her Silpada Designs Jewelry until Wednesday. She won this trip by being a top producer and only had to pay her flight in to Sawgrass. The rest of the stay, hotel, food, etc. is paid for by Silpada. I talked to her last night and the hotel is excellent and the weather perfect. They are right on a beach in Sawgrass. Of course, Sawgrass is home to the TPC course that hosts the PGA Championship every year and The World Golf Hall of Fame is located just down the road from her resort at the Marriott. If I was there, I'd have my clubs.
It was quiet around the house with Darla gone. Daniel was in town for the three day weekend and we spent Friday night together and watched a movie. Darla was off on the flight early Saturday and the boys were gone to their Dad's house by the time I got home from golf. I relaxed Saturday night watching the TIVO of the golf tournament from los Angeles and watching Perfect Stranger, the movie with Bruce Willis and Halle Barry for a second time. It was good.
Sunday I spent at church. I went to the 11 AM service as I had a celenbration of life to attend for Randy, one of the board members from RGC who passed away two weeks ago. They held the celebration in an old packing shed in Loomis and there were over 300 people attend to celebrate his life. Randy was the same age as I am and graduated high school in 1975 as did I. He had friends from high school, his work, his hunting , fishing and golf buddies, and family and friends. They say you can get a measure of a man's life based on how many people attend his funeral. If true, Randy had a Hell of a life. The Roseville Golf Club was in full attendance at his funeral as we had 12 in attendance including five former or current Presidents in attendance and we all wore our Presidential blazers in Randy's honor. They held the celebration in the city that he went to high school and he lived his entire life in Northern California. He will be missed.
Dad and Shirley are off to the islands tomorrow and will be in Hawaii for six weeks. I am definitely jealous and will live by their example when Darla and I retire. We will make sure to spend at least six weeks in Hawaii, if just to carry on a tradition. I'm calling it a tradition, so it's a tradition.
Jennifer had me set up a Skype account this weekend and now I can see Samantha on her web cam. It is a nice way to feel a little closer to my granddaughter. Darla and I have continued to have problems with our computer since our trip to Maui and the power outage that we had at the house. First of all, our user accounts on XP were wiped out and I had to set those back up. Then our audio device was stripped from the computer and I couldn't figure out how to reinstall it. John tried to walk me through it, but it wouldn't reset. Finally, I went on Google and from there to a computer users website and they suggested that I go back to the HP website and download the drivers for the device again and behold, our sound is back and we could see and hear little Samantha. Nice.
Well, the natives are growing restless and I have to settle them down, so off I go into the junge of office politics. Wish me a safe journey. Ciao.
I did, of course, make it out to the golf course this weekend and we played Cherry Island in Elverta. Cherry Island was built in the early 1980s and is located out on a farming community. You can hear animals, livestock and see horses and roosters and farm animals of every variety as we play the round. There is a large cattle farm along several of the holes and we heard the most awful bellowing by a cow. We weren't sure if they were butchering it, it was giving birth, it had got stuck in a fence or what, but it was not a pretty sound. I played with Bob and Boyd and Darren, the husband of one of Darla's friends at work. They just moved here from Southern California and she wanted to hook Darren up with us. He played several weeks ago and was shocked to find out that we WALK the course. His wife gave him heck when he got home and complained about being sore and tired. She told him he needed to lose weight. He responded by buying a new speed cart, a GPS system for distance and embracing the new exercise regimen. I didn't have the heart to tell him that my doctor doesn't consider walking a golf course exercise, because we don't elevate our heart rate enough to break a sweat. Hey, it beats riding a cart. Both Bob and Darren had never played Cherry Island and struggled. Bob, a 5 handicap, shot 85 and Darren had 92. Boyd shot a stellar 73 and I had 42+41=83. Boyd has been pushing us to play other courses besides Woodcreek and Diamond Oaks because he plays them so much he thinks his handicap is artificially low. He is a 7 and shot 36+37=73 at Cherry. He hadn't shot a round that low in three weeks. So much for trying new courses. Bob and Darren enjoyed it so much that they ran inside when we finished and made a tee time for next Saturday. Again, hopefully the weather will give us a window to play golf next week.
The gang here is all in jeans today as we scrub the office and our offices and cubicles in anticipation of our CEO's visit tomorrow. He is in San Francisco today visiting with Harvey's office and will be here tomorrow morning. He will then board a private jet at the Mather Air Field next door for a quick hop down to Los Angeles and the mid year NAPSLO (National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices) meeting in Indian Wells, California. He will visit our Los Angeles and San Diego offies while he is in the area. We haven't seen Alan since August of 2004 in our office, so he was overdo a visit to this area.
Darla is in Sawgrass, Florida as I write this. She left Saturday morning and will be there at a national convention of her Silpada Designs Jewelry until Wednesday. She won this trip by being a top producer and only had to pay her flight in to Sawgrass. The rest of the stay, hotel, food, etc. is paid for by Silpada. I talked to her last night and the hotel is excellent and the weather perfect. They are right on a beach in Sawgrass. Of course, Sawgrass is home to the TPC course that hosts the PGA Championship every year and The World Golf Hall of Fame is located just down the road from her resort at the Marriott. If I was there, I'd have my clubs.
It was quiet around the house with Darla gone. Daniel was in town for the three day weekend and we spent Friday night together and watched a movie. Darla was off on the flight early Saturday and the boys were gone to their Dad's house by the time I got home from golf. I relaxed Saturday night watching the TIVO of the golf tournament from los Angeles and watching Perfect Stranger, the movie with Bruce Willis and Halle Barry for a second time. It was good.
Sunday I spent at church. I went to the 11 AM service as I had a celenbration of life to attend for Randy, one of the board members from RGC who passed away two weeks ago. They held the celebration in an old packing shed in Loomis and there were over 300 people attend to celebrate his life. Randy was the same age as I am and graduated high school in 1975 as did I. He had friends from high school, his work, his hunting , fishing and golf buddies, and family and friends. They say you can get a measure of a man's life based on how many people attend his funeral. If true, Randy had a Hell of a life. The Roseville Golf Club was in full attendance at his funeral as we had 12 in attendance including five former or current Presidents in attendance and we all wore our Presidential blazers in Randy's honor. They held the celebration in the city that he went to high school and he lived his entire life in Northern California. He will be missed.
Dad and Shirley are off to the islands tomorrow and will be in Hawaii for six weeks. I am definitely jealous and will live by their example when Darla and I retire. We will make sure to spend at least six weeks in Hawaii, if just to carry on a tradition. I'm calling it a tradition, so it's a tradition.
Jennifer had me set up a Skype account this weekend and now I can see Samantha on her web cam. It is a nice way to feel a little closer to my granddaughter. Darla and I have continued to have problems with our computer since our trip to Maui and the power outage that we had at the house. First of all, our user accounts on XP were wiped out and I had to set those back up. Then our audio device was stripped from the computer and I couldn't figure out how to reinstall it. John tried to walk me through it, but it wouldn't reset. Finally, I went on Google and from there to a computer users website and they suggested that I go back to the HP website and download the drivers for the device again and behold, our sound is back and we could see and hear little Samantha. Nice.
Well, the natives are growing restless and I have to settle them down, so off I go into the junge of office politics. Wish me a safe journey. Ciao.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Spring Fever in Northern California
I just talked to Dad last night and looked at a video montage of his house covered in three feet of snow. His backyard is covered in heavy, wet snow that obscures the gazebo and patio furniture and plants and trees. And we had a weekend where the temperatures exceeded 70 degrees for the first time this year. I not only got the Mustang washed on Saturday, but I waxed it on Sunday and it sits gleaming in the parking lot outside my office window. Dad's car is snow bound in their driveway and according to Dad and Shirley the street is a sheet of black ice. Funny how 736 miles can make such a big difference. It is another holiday of sorts today with schools closed and the state workers all out for some reason or other. I look on my calendar and see nothing, but tomorrow is Lincoln's birthday and politicians are quick to move someone's birthday to accomodate a three day weekend. Next Monday is President's Day which I thought was supposed to combine Washington and Lincoln', etc birthday into a single holiday. Oh, the state will take that Monday off as well. Nice.
Glad to see Hillary Clinton reeling in the polls right now after Obama swept the primaries this past weekend. Her reaction was to fire her campaign manager. Of course, her best course of action would be to adopt a new personality. The current one of "contemptuous bitch" doesn't seem to be working for her. But that's just my opinion. I'm pretty well resolved that the Republicans will cede the Presidency to the Democrats next year, but I loathe to think of another Clinton ("I did not have sex with that woman!" Who knew he was talking about Hillary?) in office. Bill Clinton is the most embarassing excuse for a President that this country has ever had (Bubba in the White House) and now another Clinton wants to bully her way into office. Please God...no!
My back has made a tremendous return to normalcy. I played two days of golf this weekend shooting 44+38=82 on Saturday at Diamond Oaks and then taking second place at Woodcreek yesterday with a 40+44=84 and winning $50 in the club tournament. I bought myself a new set of Nike golf shoes with my winnings. They had an odd lot sale and there was a pair of white and black Nikes in my size for $47.95 marked down from $97.50. I have about six pairs of golf shoes in the garage and that is down from about ten pairs when I finally thinned the herd last weekend when I was cleaning out the garage. I wasn't thrilled with my game this weekend as I struggled on the front side at Diamond and the backside at Woodcreek, but shot 78 on the other two sides combined. And winning money always salves the wounds of ineptitude.
The office is starting the year struggling a little bit with the market really softening and the standard line carriers really beginning to reassert themselves in what has traditionally been surplus lines insurance. Our renewal retention has dropped from 75% to less than 50% with our premium retention at about 40%. We need to write more new business, but the lines that we traditionally excel in are getting blurred. Unfortunately, in order for the insurance world to skew back to normal we will need a big natural disaster to steal surplus from the standard carriers and make them tighten up their underwriting. When that happens, we will again be in a position to grow. Until then we will tread water and hope to stay ahead of the game.
We have our CEO and President in to visit the office next Tuesday. He hasn't been in Sacramento since 2004 when the Manager at the time was let go. I look forward to having him see the positive changes that have been made since his last visit, but it is always stressful for the staff when the big Kahuna comes in.
Jennifer and Samantha will be back in Sacramento on March 8-17th and will therefore be here over my birthday. I can't imagine a better present. Diane will have her surgery on February 27th or so, but has asked that Jennifer be here on the 8th because her husband, Bob, is away on a business trip.
Dad and Shirley leave next Thursday for Maui and six weeks in Paradise. Dad said that Vancouver had their heaviest Winter month in January in 60 years and he is tired of shoveling snow. The snow is so heavy and wet that he has to shovel three times a day to stay ahead of it. I think he looks forward to being on the beach and walking in the sunshine and relaxing in the warm tropical air.
I got called in to my doctor's office last Friday and was read the riot act on my diet and my cholesterol. My triglyceride level was off the chart at about 557 and my doctor told me in no uncertain terms that I have to change my diet. I eat far too much red meat and things like pasta and peanuts. She told nme that if Darla opens more than one package of hamburger a week, it is too much. I guess we will be having ground turkey in our spaghetti sauce for awhile.
I have a heating and air tech in my office right now. Somehow, one of the heating units has stuck for about two weeks and my office has been an oven in the afternoons. I have put in several service orders and they always show up in the morning when the office is comfortable and adjust the temperature down two degrees. By about two-thirty the office is 85 degrees and approaches the ides of Hell in here. I was doing reviews last week and the employees where sweating them out. Strangely, in December I had the opposite problem and it was so cold in here you could hang meat to cure.
Well, that is the news to the moment, such that it is. I hope all are well and following in the footsteps of the Lord. Ciao.
Glad to see Hillary Clinton reeling in the polls right now after Obama swept the primaries this past weekend. Her reaction was to fire her campaign manager. Of course, her best course of action would be to adopt a new personality. The current one of "contemptuous bitch" doesn't seem to be working for her. But that's just my opinion. I'm pretty well resolved that the Republicans will cede the Presidency to the Democrats next year, but I loathe to think of another Clinton ("I did not have sex with that woman!" Who knew he was talking about Hillary?) in office. Bill Clinton is the most embarassing excuse for a President that this country has ever had (Bubba in the White House) and now another Clinton wants to bully her way into office. Please God...no!
My back has made a tremendous return to normalcy. I played two days of golf this weekend shooting 44+38=82 on Saturday at Diamond Oaks and then taking second place at Woodcreek yesterday with a 40+44=84 and winning $50 in the club tournament. I bought myself a new set of Nike golf shoes with my winnings. They had an odd lot sale and there was a pair of white and black Nikes in my size for $47.95 marked down from $97.50. I have about six pairs of golf shoes in the garage and that is down from about ten pairs when I finally thinned the herd last weekend when I was cleaning out the garage. I wasn't thrilled with my game this weekend as I struggled on the front side at Diamond and the backside at Woodcreek, but shot 78 on the other two sides combined. And winning money always salves the wounds of ineptitude.
The office is starting the year struggling a little bit with the market really softening and the standard line carriers really beginning to reassert themselves in what has traditionally been surplus lines insurance. Our renewal retention has dropped from 75% to less than 50% with our premium retention at about 40%. We need to write more new business, but the lines that we traditionally excel in are getting blurred. Unfortunately, in order for the insurance world to skew back to normal we will need a big natural disaster to steal surplus from the standard carriers and make them tighten up their underwriting. When that happens, we will again be in a position to grow. Until then we will tread water and hope to stay ahead of the game.
We have our CEO and President in to visit the office next Tuesday. He hasn't been in Sacramento since 2004 when the Manager at the time was let go. I look forward to having him see the positive changes that have been made since his last visit, but it is always stressful for the staff when the big Kahuna comes in.
Jennifer and Samantha will be back in Sacramento on March 8-17th and will therefore be here over my birthday. I can't imagine a better present. Diane will have her surgery on February 27th or so, but has asked that Jennifer be here on the 8th because her husband, Bob, is away on a business trip.
Dad and Shirley leave next Thursday for Maui and six weeks in Paradise. Dad said that Vancouver had their heaviest Winter month in January in 60 years and he is tired of shoveling snow. The snow is so heavy and wet that he has to shovel three times a day to stay ahead of it. I think he looks forward to being on the beach and walking in the sunshine and relaxing in the warm tropical air.
I got called in to my doctor's office last Friday and was read the riot act on my diet and my cholesterol. My triglyceride level was off the chart at about 557 and my doctor told me in no uncertain terms that I have to change my diet. I eat far too much red meat and things like pasta and peanuts. She told nme that if Darla opens more than one package of hamburger a week, it is too much. I guess we will be having ground turkey in our spaghetti sauce for awhile.
I have a heating and air tech in my office right now. Somehow, one of the heating units has stuck for about two weeks and my office has been an oven in the afternoons. I have put in several service orders and they always show up in the morning when the office is comfortable and adjust the temperature down two degrees. By about two-thirty the office is 85 degrees and approaches the ides of Hell in here. I was doing reviews last week and the employees where sweating them out. Strangely, in December I had the opposite problem and it was so cold in here you could hang meat to cure.
Well, that is the news to the moment, such that it is. I hope all are well and following in the footsteps of the Lord. Ciao.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Bowen Therapy is Awesome!
I am back up and around after a weekend of pretzel illogic. I went to see Jane on Monday although it isn't a magic elixir and I didn't prance out of there like Bill Walsh skipping across the field after he won his first Super Bowl. It is a process and here three days later, I have two games of golf planned for this weekend and I am upright and feeling frisky. I do have an appointment with Jane next Tuesday, so if I overdo it this weekend, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We talked about setting me up on a maintenance program and coming in every 8-10 weeks for treatment.
Randy's son, Chris, has signed a letter of intent to play college football at Southwestern Oklahoma State. He will likely redshirt his first year and play as a redshirt freshman next year. It will also allow Chris to concentrate on his school studies in his first year away from home. The scholarship includes room and board as well as his class work. I'm proud of him. He will be about 3 1/2 hours from home and be able to scoot home on long weekends.
I also talked to Jennifer and Samantha is doing great. John is leaving for LA next week to continue his training in home theater and home based communications installations. He will miss Samantha while he is gone. We look forward to Jennifer and Samantha coming to visit in the next couple of weeks when Diane undergoes surgery.
Darla and I have booked our Mexican vacation this year. We will be in Nuevo Vallarta on June 20-27 along with three couple friends from the golf club. All are board members and we will bring our clubs and enjoy the resort. This is just an update on my health and how thing are going. I'll write more next Monday. Ciao.
Randy's son, Chris, has signed a letter of intent to play college football at Southwestern Oklahoma State. He will likely redshirt his first year and play as a redshirt freshman next year. It will also allow Chris to concentrate on his school studies in his first year away from home. The scholarship includes room and board as well as his class work. I'm proud of him. He will be about 3 1/2 hours from home and be able to scoot home on long weekends.
I also talked to Jennifer and Samantha is doing great. John is leaving for LA next week to continue his training in home theater and home based communications installations. He will miss Samantha while he is gone. We look forward to Jennifer and Samantha coming to visit in the next couple of weeks when Diane undergoes surgery.
Darla and I have booked our Mexican vacation this year. We will be in Nuevo Vallarta on June 20-27 along with three couple friends from the golf club. All are board members and we will bring our clubs and enjoy the resort. This is just an update on my health and how thing are going. I'll write more next Monday. Ciao.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Ouch! My Aching Back!!
It has been a year since my last flair-up and that episode was much worse than this as I ended up face down on the floor in the bathroom at 3 in the morning unable to move without spasming. This time I simply pulled something on a chip shot to the green and ended up listing to the left and waiting for treatment. I have a session with my Bowen therapist and missed work today. The chip where I hurt my back was a great one from about sixty feet and over a sandtrap. I dropped the ball about eight feet from the hole and cozied it up to about three feet and made the putt. I played two more holes and went par, bogey and finally gave in to the mounting pain when I was trying to stretch and my back spasmed.
It was a tough start to the day on Saturday as I was told that one of my board members, Randy, had died from heart failure the night before. Randy was one of those big, big men, about 6'4" and 280 pounds. He had shaved his head and often wore a doo rag on his head and was fond of leather vests. He looked like a biker, but was the softest hearted guy you'll ever want to meet. I was just getting to know Randy better this year and had plans to play in his thirtieth annual golf tournament in June, where he cooks tri-tip every night and makes bloody marys every morning. I will miss him dearly and had to console his friend of forty years, Jim, who was a basket case on Saturday. I had our head pro get on the PA system and announce to the group of 95 golfers waiting for the modified scramble start at 9 AM that Randy had passed away and that we would all play with heavy hearts, but play the round and the tournament in Randy's honor. I really was affected and wanted to just quit and go home and as it turned out, I would have been better off following my heart instead of my head.
I had to miss one of my main company underwriters visiting the office at 10 AM today and had to cancel an interview that I'd set up with a candidate for our personal lines underwriting department. I have rescheduled the interview for Wednesday as I have a lunch with another company marketing person tomorrow. I think my boss Harvey will be in Wednesday and I will meet a candidate for his office who will work out of my office if they hire her. She is a big broker with another firm in Sacramento and Harvey is looking for a new broker for his office. I've offered to have her work out of my branch to save Harvey the cost of another office for her. Partly it is a selfish move on my part as we use the SF branch to broker some of our business and having her domiciled in my office will make that process easier for us. I also hope to use her influence with retailers to write more contract business for Sacramento.
I ended up going over to the video store on Saturday after I left the golf course to get a movie for us to watch Saturday night. As I wandered the store, limping as I went, I saw a movie of interest on the bottom shelf and idiot that I am, I reached down to get the box and had a HUGE spasm that sent the box flying one way, my keys and wallet the other and me flopping like a fish in the middle of the aisle. I had three people move away from me quickly and one come over to help me up. The spasm finally passed and I gathered my things, grabbed a copy of the Bourne Ultimatum that was my first choice and got out of there. This back problem is one of the major problems of my life, but again, I made it through 2007 largely unscathed, so was getting a little comfortable with my body and not stretching as much as I should before playing golf. My treatment is at 2 PM today and I can't wait. I am sitting on a pillow in the office of my house with a heating pad on my back.
I will have my car washed at a car wash for the first time since I bought it today. I wanted to get out yesterday and wash it as the rains that we have been having have finally left us. Darla offered to divorce me if I did go out and wash my car as I couldn't even stand up straight. She said that vanity is a sin and that I needed to get over myself. I just hate driving a dirty car and it's been three weeks since I have washed the car. It's filthy.
I talked to Darryl last night and he is in Denver at his new job in Longmont, Colorado with McLane Food Service. He now expects to be in Colorado for about four years and will return to Texas after that. He will be in Austin next weekend as the company is having a Vice presidents meeting at their Tyler Texas site next week. I asked Darryl if he would buy on a golf course in Colorado and he said no. He's been spoiled living where you can golf year round. Colorado is lucky to have six months of golfing weather. Darryl's prior company made him a nice offer to stay, but this is a great opportunity and was his first choice for a new job.
Well, I need to get on with my day and will add more to this later in the week. Ciao.
It was a tough start to the day on Saturday as I was told that one of my board members, Randy, had died from heart failure the night before. Randy was one of those big, big men, about 6'4" and 280 pounds. He had shaved his head and often wore a doo rag on his head and was fond of leather vests. He looked like a biker, but was the softest hearted guy you'll ever want to meet. I was just getting to know Randy better this year and had plans to play in his thirtieth annual golf tournament in June, where he cooks tri-tip every night and makes bloody marys every morning. I will miss him dearly and had to console his friend of forty years, Jim, who was a basket case on Saturday. I had our head pro get on the PA system and announce to the group of 95 golfers waiting for the modified scramble start at 9 AM that Randy had passed away and that we would all play with heavy hearts, but play the round and the tournament in Randy's honor. I really was affected and wanted to just quit and go home and as it turned out, I would have been better off following my heart instead of my head.
I had to miss one of my main company underwriters visiting the office at 10 AM today and had to cancel an interview that I'd set up with a candidate for our personal lines underwriting department. I have rescheduled the interview for Wednesday as I have a lunch with another company marketing person tomorrow. I think my boss Harvey will be in Wednesday and I will meet a candidate for his office who will work out of my office if they hire her. She is a big broker with another firm in Sacramento and Harvey is looking for a new broker for his office. I've offered to have her work out of my branch to save Harvey the cost of another office for her. Partly it is a selfish move on my part as we use the SF branch to broker some of our business and having her domiciled in my office will make that process easier for us. I also hope to use her influence with retailers to write more contract business for Sacramento.
I ended up going over to the video store on Saturday after I left the golf course to get a movie for us to watch Saturday night. As I wandered the store, limping as I went, I saw a movie of interest on the bottom shelf and idiot that I am, I reached down to get the box and had a HUGE spasm that sent the box flying one way, my keys and wallet the other and me flopping like a fish in the middle of the aisle. I had three people move away from me quickly and one come over to help me up. The spasm finally passed and I gathered my things, grabbed a copy of the Bourne Ultimatum that was my first choice and got out of there. This back problem is one of the major problems of my life, but again, I made it through 2007 largely unscathed, so was getting a little comfortable with my body and not stretching as much as I should before playing golf. My treatment is at 2 PM today and I can't wait. I am sitting on a pillow in the office of my house with a heating pad on my back.
I will have my car washed at a car wash for the first time since I bought it today. I wanted to get out yesterday and wash it as the rains that we have been having have finally left us. Darla offered to divorce me if I did go out and wash my car as I couldn't even stand up straight. She said that vanity is a sin and that I needed to get over myself. I just hate driving a dirty car and it's been three weeks since I have washed the car. It's filthy.
I talked to Darryl last night and he is in Denver at his new job in Longmont, Colorado with McLane Food Service. He now expects to be in Colorado for about four years and will return to Texas after that. He will be in Austin next weekend as the company is having a Vice presidents meeting at their Tyler Texas site next week. I asked Darryl if he would buy on a golf course in Colorado and he said no. He's been spoiled living where you can golf year round. Colorado is lucky to have six months of golfing weather. Darryl's prior company made him a nice offer to stay, but this is a great opportunity and was his first choice for a new job.
Well, I need to get on with my day and will add more to this later in the week. Ciao.
