Late, but not forgotten

My work IT department has finally shut the door on bloggers and I can no longer access my account at work. I can still view the blog, but I can't work on it. It is fair and makes sense. I get to work at 7 AM and work on the blog, buy I wouldn't want my employees goofing off working on their blogs during work hours so it is a fair tradeoff for me. I had a golf tournament yesterday and will have Junior tournaments the next two Mondays and then be in Mexico, so you might have to look to find my updates. I have OCD, so doing the blog on Monday was my comfort zone. Now, I'll just have to venture into fertile fields.

I played in the Insurance Association Golf Day yesterday. I was in charge of the signs and my friend, Bob, picked me up at 9:30 and we loaded up his truck and had the signs at the course by 9:45 AM. We played at the local country club, Sierra View, and I stacked the deck with Bob's 4 handicap and another agent, Rich's, 5 handicap. I'm a 9 and Anthony in my office is probably a 16. I'm not a fan of scramble golf and half the field plays once or twice a year so it is an exercise in frustration if you take it too seriously. They sell "player improvement packages" with 2 feet of string, a mulligan, and a free throw for $20. The packs make a lot of money for the association, so it's good. We used all of the above and shot a 19 under par 53. We shot 15 birdies, two eagles, and a par for 53. The winners shot a 25 under par score of 47 and there were two groups at 48. When they went up to get their prize of $100 restaurant certificates, the tournament director said we better check their card. I yelled out they better check their urine! Unbelievable. It was a good time and I got to see most of our local agents in a single setting.

I played golf Friday and Saturday as well and it is getting to the point that I could fill out my scorecard before I play. I shot 43+40=83 at Rancho Murietta North. It is a course designed by Arnold Palmer and he has a green on the number three par five with huge undulations in it. It looks like two dinosaurs laid down on the boundary of the green and the grass grew up over them. Palmer thought it was unique. The country club design committee thought it was ridiculous and Palmer's group was paid to put in 18 holes of golf and 17 greens. His company was never paid for the third green as they insisted he change it and he refused. Palmer has never set foot on the course again. They named the road he lived on while the course was being built Latrobe Road. I think they thought that was his birthplace, but it was actually Youngstown, PA. The country club has several Palmer Courts and Arnold Drives, etc. I went out Saturday and played Cherry Island and shot 42+41=83. 83 is my number right now. Both Cherry and RMCC North are 133 slope courses and my nine is safe. I dropped to 9.4 this month and once was an 8.8. I'm giving that number a run for the money this Summer.

I leave Thursday night after my golf league for Reno. We are staying at the Peppermill Casino. We play Friday at Wolf Run, a course famous for it's run of marmints all over the course. I'll try to remember to bring a camera this year as the little furry creatures are fascinating. Wolf Run was built by a wealthy alumnus of the University of Nevada Reno as the home course for the UNR golf team. We will stay over Friday night and again make a trip to the Santa Fe Inn for their $17.50 rib eye steak. It is a Basque restaurant and they feed you pasta, salad, cheeses, chicken, sausages, cream corn, potatoes, a relish tray, asparagus, bread, butter, lots of wine and of course the main course. Amazing, even a better deal than the free drinks in Reno. Saturday we will pack it in and head back through Truckee and play Old Greenwood, a course that is storied and well designed and I really look forward to playing it. The course sits under snow all Winter and uncovers in late Spring in all of it's glory. It reopened two weeks ago and it will be a blast. I'll be home Saturday night, play in a tournament on Sunday at Diamond Oaks and then host the 41st annual David Oxley Memorial Golf tournament on Monday at Diamond Oaks.

I am the tournament director this year and now have 126 junior golfers signed up to play on Monday. I have Sysco Foods donating the hot dogs and buns, Darla and I are supplying 15 cases of water, I have one of the guys with over $80 of snacks for the kids. I have 22 volunteers that will work with me as scorers, marshals, closest to the pin monitors, starters, check-in people, scoring tent monitors, computer scoring, rules officials and some "hangers on" that don't do much beyond eat the free lunch and just hang around.

Darla and I will be off to Mexico in two weeks and the Nuevo Vallarta vacation is coming at a good time. This tournament has worn me out. The kids are great, but their parents are monsters. The deadline for entry was May 24th and I'm still receiving entries. I got one in the mail today with an April 30th dated check and the post mark on the envelope was June 2nd. I am not allowing any late entries and have been called a few names for my stance. The way I look at it is that 126 players got their entry in on time and I'm not sure I would want the kids of some of these parents. The kids are obviously spoiled and don't know the meaning of a deadline. I know the tournament will be excellent, but I'm looking forward to relaxing with a margarita at the pool bar at the Grand Mayan on June 21st.

Darla has been struggling just a little in her business lately. She has had several cancellations of shows and her girls have been dragging. The gas prices and the economy are definitely playing a role. She has a good attitude and will bounce back and is still doing so much better than her peers in the business.

Jennifer's Mom is flying in to Vegas tomorrow to visit with Jennifer and John and Samantha. Jennifer is going in to her union to see about getting placed in some jobs. She can't get her certification until she has worked in Nevada for a year and it has been less than that, especially with her pregnancy. She just needs to get on some union jobs and bide her time and she'll be fine. The pay is very good.

Well, that's it for this week. I will try to update this over the weekend sometime. I hope all is well with each of you. Be happy in life and you will influence others around you. Ciao.