Sunday, April 19, 2009

The HEAT is On!!
















It happens every April and it shocks us every time. We had 91 degrees Saturday and 93 degrees today and the pool water is up to 72 degrees. It is supposed to be warm all week and we will probably be swimming by next weekend. I played golf both yesterday and today and feel like I was rode hard and put away wet. I ventured into the steps of the pool, but 72 degrees is still a bit cool for me. 77 degrees is just about right and our pool has a dark bottom and is a play pool with a depth of 3.5' x 5.0' x 3.5', so it warms up quick. i have two friends with older 9' deep white bottom pools and their water is about 60 degrees. I'm already running chemicals in mine.
We met the Mexico gang for dinner on Saturday night at a new restaurant in Roseville, Cloud Nine. It is an upscale bar and restaurant (with a martini menu) and because the main restaurant was rented out to a 25 year high school reunion, we had to sit in the bar for dinner. We had an excellent margarita and brought our own wine for dinner. Darla had a double crusted chicken and I had the Kobe steak and it was very good. The dessert was even better with a strawberry cheesecake that was the best cheesecake I have ever tasted. The gang was happy to be back together and we had a lot of laughs before finally calling it a night about 9:30 as the bar was really happening by then and we had to yell to hear ourselves. The bar was pretty well taken over by twenty-somethings at that point and the old farts were the 25 year reunion folks at 43, so we decided to beat a hasty retreat. The Mexico gang is the group that went to Mexico with us last year and stayed in our condo.
I've included pictures from our group dinner and from Darla's trip to Hawaii with her brother and sister-in-law.
Friday night was poker at John's house in Roseville. He lives four blocks over from our house and fixed barbecued chicken and hamburgers for us. We played four handed as John worked the barbecue. he started screaming at his dog and we all jumped up to see what happened. His fifteen year old retriever had an albino ferret in his mouth and was tossing it up in the air and catching it. The neighbor popped his head over the fence and asked if we'd seen his ferret. john got it away from his dog and the only thing that saved the ferret's life was the fact that the retriever had been a bird dog and has a "soft mouth" from retrieving downed birds during hunting season. I won about $50.
Saturday I had golf at Woodcreek Golf Course and shot a 41+43=84 in the heat and a 5 1/2 hour round of golf. Today I was able to go to church and then meet the guys for our 10:58 tee time. We teed off at 11:11 and it was a four hour and forty minute round of golf. I shot 40+39= 79 today and my partner, Steve, shot a 91 for a combined best ball score of 67. He was heavy today and struggled tee to green. Boyd also struggled with Bob as his partner, although Bob shot 75. Their combined score was 70. Well, I'm going to leave this until tomorrow. I'll be in my Modesto office tomorrow and likely home early, so I'll continue with this then. Ciao
Monday April 20th
The pool is at 75 degrees and almost habitable. I was thinking about the heat and how it always seems so oppressive when it hits in April. I remembered last week looking at the weather in Denver and seeing 74 degrees on Monday, 58 on Tuesday and 34 with snow flurries on Wednesday. Now, that is a shock to the system. It was a straight shot from tank tops and sandals to parkas and galoshes in 48 hours. I'm surprised any plants survive this time of year. It was 93 degrees today and I have to have the building maintenance crew out to check the a/c in my office. This happens every year. My office has a bank of windows on the west side of the building and the temperature in my office this afternoon was probably 85 degrees at 4:30 PM. I called the landlord and specifically asked to have their guy come out tomorrow about 4 PM. He'll show up at 10:30 AM and it will be comfortable and he'll say "what's the big deal?" If I can catch him, I'll tell him to come back in late afternoon (right before I throttle him). The windows are actually too hot to touch with your palm late in the afternoon.
My boss, Harvey, will be in the office tomorrow and we will tour four of the office complexes we are looking at. My favorite is about a half mile from our current space and the anchor tenant is Zurich Insurance. We would be on the first floor of this class A office space and the lobby is done in marble and smoked glass. It is really first cabin.
I had an e-mail from the CEO's executive secretary and he will be out to see the Sacramento office in June now. I will actually just be returning from a conference in Scottsdale on Tuesday June 16th and he will be in the office on June 18th.
Darla and I just returned from a walk and it is about 8:45 and I need to get to the couch and spend some couple time with my wife. I'll add more this Sunday. Be well. Ciao.

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