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.