Back to the Mundane

It is hard coming off such a fun and relaxing vacation. I had salary reviews this last week which may or may not be tougher on my employees than it is on me. I did manage to get out on my birthday and play golf with some friends and I received many calls from family and friends on my birthday which was nice. Jennifer sent me some personalized golf club markers, which attach to the hole in the end of the grip and have my name and phone number on them, not that I really expect if someone picked up my Scotty Cameron putter that it would be returned to me, but I might get one of my numbered irons back if I left them laying about on the golf course. She had said she'd ordered me something and it wouldn't be here for a few weeks, but arrived as if by divine intervention on my birthday.

It is overcast and cold today (60 degrees for those of you in Colorado and Denver) and threatening rain. One of those days that you know will not rain, but the clouds are dark, but high in the sky. It is supposed to stay unsettled today and tomorrow and be in the mid seventies by mid week. Our rain is slowly catching up and the recent storms have brought us up to 79% of normal (13.05" vs 16.5" normal).

We went to church this morning and I was for some reason exhausted and felt my self drifting during the sermon. The sermon was on Haggai and being the kind of Christian that says Yes to God. I was saying yes to a nap and we came home, had some pancakes, watched a Tivo episode of Gray's Anatomy and fell fast asleep. I slept from 12:15 until almost 3:00 PM on the couch. Darla had worked her way back to the bed and slept just as long. She is off to the gym now for a workout and I sat and watched the WCC CA Championship from Doral on tape. I was going to go out and do some trimming of the plants around the pool, but stole in here to work on the blog.

My golf group is in the middle of a 54 hole team event that started last weekend while we were in Vegas. I set up a round with Mel, Darren and Bob Hand at Woodcreek for Saturday. Mel is a 13, Darren an 18 and Bob a 22. I get 11 now and shot 43+39=82 and ended up owing $1 at the end of the round. Mel shot 92, Darren 93 and Bob 101. Somehow I beat the field by ten strokes, but owed money, I won $5 in the team play, but lost $6 in the skin matches. Go figure. I'm at the point in my golf where it takes me awhile to warm up. The weather was cool and blustery and I played in shorts and a jacket. I shot 44+39=83 at Woodcreek on Thursday with Bob and Boyd on a 75 degree perfect Spring day, but they had us teeing off on the back nine to start because of their mowing schedule, so you could say I shot 78 and 87 combined for the last two rounds. The 82 and 83 will be safer for my handicap because of the way they figure the index based on your best ten differentials out of your last twenty rounds. I went over to Diamond after the round on Saturday to see the guys at the tournament and also to sign up for the tournament next Saturday which is a Nike event put on by the club pro. I walked in and was harassed for not playing. They just finished the two man scramble portion of the event and I let everyone know that I played GOLF and entered a score at the end of my round. They are finishing up today with the alternate shot format.

Work is going well. I've mentioned before that my former assistant, Anthony, is doing very well at work and is head and shoulders my best underwriter. He is great at relationships and his risk analysis is superb (he learned from the best!). I was sitting in his office on Friday waiting for him to return from one of his infernal smoke breaks and he walked in. I was sitting at his desk and he sat down at one of the chairs across from the desk and we discussed the issue I needed to go over with him when his phone rang. I answered it, "Anthony's desk, this is Ken Lyon, can I help you?" The caller was John from an agency in Roseville and a guy I know well. He said he had to discuss something with Anthony, but to also tell him that he owed him $5.00 for their bet. I asked what bet and John said, "Anthony bet me $5.00 that you'd be working for HIM within 6 months." I handed Anthony the phone and John was laughing his head off. I'm going to miss Anthony.

Jennifer and Dina took the Harley and drove to the Los Angeles area this weekend. Jen was going to work overtime, but decided she needed to get away with all the hassles from John. I talked to her Friday and she had a bit of a sunburn from the beach. It is about a four hour ride from Vegas to LA.

Next week will be a perfect Guys weekend. I have a poker game here Friday night and play in golf tournaments both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is an away tournament at Wildhorse in Davis, CA. Darla has parties at the house Thursday night and then a Silpada party on Saturday night. She leaves the following Friday for Hawaii where she is signing her sister-in-law up as a Silpada rep and helping her with her first party. It would have been nice to go, but my ticket can't be written off. Her brother lives in Kona.

We went out to dinner with our friends, Bob and Vicki on Saturday night to Il Forniao. I brought a nice bottle of 2007 Santa Christina San Giovese (actually a mix of 10% Merlot and 90% San Giovese) and it was excellent. They celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary and we celebrated my birthday. It was a fun night out and here are the pictures.

I hope all are well. I will check in with you again next week. Be good and keep Christ alive in your lives. Ciao.