Frannie Poo's Birthday

We were lucky enough this past week to celebrate Darla's Mom's birthday with her at Benihana's on Monday night. They were in Roseville and Folsom to do some errands (a trip into the big city from Paradise) and Darla mentioned that maybe we could go to dinner with them. We have been wanting to go to Benihana's as they had a special this month of Filet Mignon for two for $39. We made it work and all met at the restaurant at 6:00 PM, Don and Alicia coming from Folsom and Darla coming from Roseville. I drove in from Rancho Cordova following work. I had told Darla to tell her parents that we would buy their dinner, but Earl said, "No." He was planning on taking Frances out to dinner anyhow so we would go "Dutch". Dinner came and went and we enjoyed the show and dinner and, of course, the conversation. Don and Alicia had just returned over the weekend from their honeymoon to Hawaii and had stories to tell. The management at Benihana's brought out the Buddha candle and sang Happy Birthday and even took pictures and presented Frances with a 5x7 from Benihana's. It was nice. When the bill came, I sent my money over to Earl, but he said, "Hey, I'm the only "Dutch" man here, dinner is on us." It was a very nice gesture and I think they enjoyed celebrating the birthday with us.

Alicia went into to the doctor this week and found out that she is having a little boy, due in June. Congratulations to the newlyweds and newly pregnant. It will be great to have a little boy in the family. That reminds me of Frances' comment after the wedding of Alicia and Don. She said to her son Steve that he finally has a brother. Huh...hey!!!

We had such a tremendous 2009 at work and I had some serious concerns about the start of 2010 with the Modesto office shuttered and that premium bleeding away. It was critical that we didn't start the year in the hole and my guys came through with a solid effort in January. We are up over 20% in premium from January of 2009 and the profit is still to be determined, but what a great effort by the staff in the wake of a stellar 2009. I really see that we have turned the corner and are truly a profit center for the company now. I will be buying the staff a well deserved lunch this week.

The planned addition to my staff fizzled out this week. I won't get into specifics, but suffice it to say you should never lie on your resume. It was quite a disappointment, but we will persevere.

I am working on the blog today as Darla has a King's game. She is working her 4th job as a vendor at Arco Arena this year. She does it for extra money for the boys' college, but also for the exercise of climbing the stairs at the arena. That said, I am home alone again.

Retirement is really an issue with me right now as I turn 53 in March. I've made a decision to be financially independent by the time I retire. I've been reading books and following financial advisers and have a plan to pay off all of my debts including the house within 12 years. This includes car loans, credit cards, and both houses. It is a formidable goal, but extremely doable if we stay away from consumer credit and work diligently to make it a reality.

I set up a golf game today in the central valley with Matt, Boyd and Neil. The course, Lockeford Springs, sent me an e-mail that offered 2 rounds of golf with cart for the temperature today. I signed us up and we checked in at 9:15 and it was 48 degrees. We played golf at a championship venue today for $24 each. I played extremely well on the front nine and shot 38+43=81. Matt had an 80, Boyd an 82 and Neil a 99. The weather was spectacular, bright blue skies with some cirrus clouds and a high of 59 degrees. The sun felt great on my face as it has been rainy, foggy and generally overcast all week. I play again tomorrow in a birthday tournament for one of the guys in the club. He is turning 50 and will host this event. He is moving tee boxes and setting up all sorts of games and betting for the day. Tomorrow will be equally as nice as today.

Neil sends me a lot of e-mails with jokes and thoughts and I like how he always sends only the things he knows I might like. He sent this e-mail regarding Attitude, or perhaps more correctly Texas Attitude. Enjoy:

A young Texan grew up wanting to be a law man. He grew up big, 6'2'', and strong as a longhorn and fast as a mustang. He could shoot a bottle cap tossed in the air at 40 paces. When he finally became of age he applied to where he had only dreamed of working: The Texas Rangers.

After a big mess of tests and interviews the Chief Deputy finally called him into his office for the young man's last interview.

The Chief Deputy says: "You're a big strong kid and you can really shoot. So far your qualifications all look good. But we have what you call an 'attitude suitability test' that you must take before you can be accepted. We just don't let anyone carry our badge son."

Then, sliding a service pistol and a box of ammo across the desk, the Chief says: "Take this pistol and go out and shoot:

six illegal aliens,

six lawyers,

six meth dealers,

six Muslim extremists,

and a rabbit."

"Why the rabbit?"

"Great attitude," says the Chief Deputy. "When can you start?"

I hope you are all well, enjoying life and keeping the faith. Stay committed to being happy and you will be. Ciao.

A Good weekend in the books

It had been raining for a week solid, starting last Saturday night and it was a welcome, though cold respite on Saturday to see some blue skies.

I was in Modesto on Friday with a vendor who was there to de-install our telephone server and our network server. I brought both of those back to Sacramento with me as well as a computer, some files, a couple of calculators and all of the phones from the office. I had breakfast on the way down with a candidate for an assistant underwriter position in my office. Lee worked for a competitor in Stockton and they cut him loose after they found out he was interviewing with me. I think he learned a lesson about discretion when job hunting. I have my HR department running a background check on him now and hope to have an offer to him by mid week. He will work with Pete in my office who has been in the business for thirty years. Pete is excited to have a guy joining his team with experience and youth. Lee is only 25, but has worked with our companies for three years. He also has a lot of contacts with agents that we don't currently have under contract.

I played in the first of the NCGA qualifiers this weekend, a two day tournament that is two man best ball . Steve and I played well on Saturday, but finished terribly and slipped from a 63 to a 65 on the last hole. I shot 40+43=83 and Steve shot 86. He gets 14 strokes to my 10, so is a good partner to help pick me up when I have a bad hole. He is also great to have on those holes that I don't get a stroke. We hammed and egged it on Saturday and knew that we left some better golf in the tank for Sunday.

Saturday night we went to dinner with Neil and Lilly, our friends form the golf club and the couple that joined us in Nuevo Vallarta. Neil is my brother from another Mother. Bob and Vicki were supposed to join us for dinner, but Vicki had some minor foot surgery on Friday and wasn't feeling up to it Saturday night. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and had a great time with Neil and Lilly. As Dad, Shirley, Darryl and Cheryl know, they are very genuine people and a lot of fun to spend time with. Neil shared with me that he had been invited to go to Scotland by a couple of guys in the golf club. They tried to get Darla and I to go, but the cost is about $9,000 and I need a new roof and some sliders and French doors in the rear of the house, as well as a fresh coat of paint for the house. What Neil shared with me is that he had booked his flights on the promise that a group was going to Scotland and the two guys both backed out after he already paid. Neil was upset, but i think hurt more than anything. He told me several times that he was glad that I'm a man of my word and when we plan a vacation together, he can take it to the bank. We ordered an extra piece of cheesecake at the end of the meal and dropped it off for Vicki at their house on our way home. I think she appreciated it.

Today dawned wet and a bit windy. The coldness in the air was replaced by cold, wet rain. I put on my wet weather gear and stayed dry for about four holes, but eventually your golf glove, grips, towels and clothes get sopping wet and you more endure the round,rather than prosper. Steve and I shot lights out on the front nine paced by my 39 and we shot a 30 net. We even went out on the back nine and birdied 10 and 11, but then the world caved in. Steve hit his next ball in the lake, dead left on 13, popped it up about 100 yards right on 14, over the 17th green on 16 and out of bounds on 17. He finished with a 51 on the back for a 95. I tried to hold it together, but it is a team game for a reason and even shooting 39+42=81, the best we could do as a team was a 37 on the back for a 67 and a two day total of 132. 130 was in a playoff for the second qualifying position. All that we needed to do was par in with our strokes from 12 on, but couldn't get it done. If there was a hole that I didn't get a stroke, I shot a bogey and Steve was meeting the neighbors on the sides of the course looking for his drive. It was brutal. He joked afterward that he owed me a Bowen session from carting him around on my back the entire back nine. We finished in a tie for fourth, which should pay us about $130. We made $64 in skin money on Saturday, but got shut out today. Oh, well.

David got back from Boston. I think I may have said that he was going to New York with his Architecture Professor and ten other students, but it was Boston. He had a blast and really enjoyed the sightseeing and the tours of the historic buildings in Boston. They viewed the buildings from an architectural perspective and it was real hands on experience for him when he ventures into the world of work. He had promised to forward us copies of some of the pictures he took with his new camera, but so far nothing. I think he gets that from Jennifer.

Speaking of the young Miss Lyon, she has moved into an apartment with a friend and has taken up residence with young Samantha. We will be in Vegas over the Super Bowl weekend and look forward to spoiling Sammy. I'd like to see John when we are there, but have no contact with him anymore. It's too bad, because he is a great father to Samantha. Darla and I will be staying at Courtyard Marriott in Vegas around the corner from Jennifer and Samantha. I look forward to seeing my granddaughter and being able to play with her. She is at such a fun age.

I had decided last Wednesday night to drain the pool down as it was back up to the top of the tile and our overflow works sporadically. I turned on the hose from the filter and promptly forgot about it and the pool was down below the top step when I get ready to go to bed. Darla was a doll and stayed up until 1 AM to refill it as I was tired and had to be up at 5:45 AM.

Everyone knows how I like a bargain. Darla and I went to the gym last Sunday and I was going to sign back up. We had a family membership and I wasn't using it regularly, so decided to drop our monthly cost from $79 to $59. When we went in to sign me back up, the guy at the counter, Rocky, told me that David and I were still on the membership and included at $59 a month. He's wrong and I told him that, but he printed out my key card and I've been going to the gym every day at lunch to ride the recumbent bicycle and read my book. I was up over 200 pounds and wanted to slim down and have my pants feel better on me. So far, so good. I have three of my people that belong to the same gym and also work out during the lunch hour.

Well, this is short, but blame the NFC Championship game that went into overtime and got it right. The perfect Super Bowl matchup in Indianapolis vs. New Orleans. The two best teams in the league and the two best quarterbacks will duke it out. A lot of people wanted to see Brett Favre back in the Super Bowl, but I wanted to see the two best teams and will get my wish. We will watch the game with Jennifer. Well, hope all is well with each of you. Keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on Heaven. Ciao.

We got Alicia all Married Up

Yep. Quite a weekend is in the books. We got Don and Alicia married and on a plane to Hawaii. Darla and I were able to see Dan and Becky and visit with scores of family and friends. We met Don's family for dinner on Thursday night and were off to Silverado for the annual retreat for the IBA Sacramento board on Friday.

The weekend started with a dinner hosted by Don and Alicia at their home in Folsom where the Westra family was able to meet the Hochenadal family for the first time. Don's dad (Don Sr.) is a card and was full of jokes and even serenaded Darla's Mom in song. His jokes are a little crude, but harmless (What's the German word for brassiere: "keepsemfromfloppin", the German word for Virgin: "gudentight", etc.). We met three of his brothers and the other two on Saturday at the wedding.

The board retreat this year could not have come at a better time as we had to be in Napa Saturday and were able to tie the board retreat in with the wedding. Darla and I were put up in the Silverado Country Club condos this year and the rooms were huge. We had a full living room, kitchen and a large bedroom with a patio. Darla got a full massage. They had set her up for a 30 minute massage and then a foot and hand manicure, but Darla called and changed it to a one hour massage. The guys played golf and I improved over my 87 last year, but it didn't start out so well. My driver was all over the place the first six holes and I shot an 8 over par 43 on the par 35 front nine. Golf is a mysterious sport and I just as quickly became a "down the middle" driver on the back side and shot a one over 38 for an 81 on the par 72 course. The board this year doesn't have as many true golfers on it and there was an 85, an 88 and several scores in the high 90s and over 100. The weather was great and the rectangular hamburgers served in a hot dog bun were a hit again this year at Silverado. The dinner with the board was great and we enjoyed quite a repast of Kobe beef stir fry for me and jumbo prawns for Darla.

We were up early Saturday morning as we had to be at the hotel at 9 AM so Darla could put her makeup on and style her hair with the girls. I dropped her off and went on a search for real breakfast food in Napa. This was tougher than you'd think as the town is quite pretentious and considers an omelette to consist of egg whites, brie and avocado with nine grain toast and a guava jelly on the side. I found a place called Mama Emma's Cafe and had some eggs, bacon and pancakes.

The wedding was very nice, but started late as the pastor wanted to let the Napa Valley Wine train pass by before they started. The wedding was at Brix restaurant in Napa and went very well. We had a nice social time as pictures were being taken and the servers had tempura green beans and brick oven pizza to pass out as well as wines from the Turnbull winery. Lunch was excellent with a choice of chicken in a light broth with capers and mushrooms or a pasta dish that Darla really enjoyed. Alicia's brother, Steve, flew in from Hawaii and was there with his wife Kirsten and they were able to catch up with his girls, Shea and Taylor. Taylor is through with her active duty in Cuba where she worked arresting drunken marines at Guantanemo Bay. She hopes to leave this week for a mission to Haiti where she will help out with police duties in the ravaged country. After that and during the early Summer she will take off on her second tour this time a mission to Dubai. It was nice visiting with the girls and seeing how they are growing up. We got some family pictures and you see a picture of me bringing Alicia to the courtyard where our pictures were taken. She was busy socializing with her guests and I had to go retrieve her.

That night we all gathered at the bar at the Marriott and visited until about nine o'clock. Several of the wedding party stayed over. We had Dan and Becky stay with us in our room. It was tight quarters, but not bad for one night. I fell asleep about 10:30 and Darla stayed up late talking to Daniel and Becky. Daniel slept on the floor at the foot of Becky's bed in a sleeping bag. We met the gang this morning for breakfast at the concierge lounge for eggs, toast, cereal and coffee. Steve joined us and we saw the happy couple off to their drive to the airport. It was a fun weekend, but a lot of time with family. Saturday was 12 hours and another 3 hours this morning. I was ready to get home by the time we left.

I watched the first half of the Dallas playoff game and thought we'd turned the clock back three years to an inept and shaken Tony Romo. The Vikings played well, but Dallas looked flat and uncertain of themselves. They moved the ball at will in the first half, but kept shooting themselves in the foot. Brett Favre continued to confound father time with another great game, although I think his luck will end in a defeat at the hands of the Saints this coming weekend. It was a tough way to end the season, but Dallas always seems to end the season with more questions than answers.

The rain came in last night and we have four storms set up off the coast ready to pound California over the next five days. We definitely need the rain, but it was slick travelling on the way home with a driving rain as we drove home from Napa. Alicia and Don were lucky. The sun actually came out for their wedding on Saturday although it got strangely cold right after the ceremony. The storm was rolling in, but the best man, Rob, and I kidded that it was hell freezing over when Don got married.

There was a very odd event that happened to me at the end of the wedding celebration. I was standing against the wall waiting for Darla to finish her goodbyes to family and friends and just relaxing when a woman of about 40 approached me. She had been drinking and wasn't too stable on her feet. She said to me" I've been watching you and you are quite the observant one, aren't you?" I was a little taken aback and said, "Yea, I guess I watch people." Her response was, "Well, I came here with my husband and have no control over where I go, so I guess I'm going home with him." Okay good to know I guess. She stopped me from walking away and said to look her in the eye. She told me that I shouldn't drink the rest of the night and I knew it, right. I told her she was freaking me out and started to walk away. She pushed me up against the wall and told me. "This is no joke and I'm not f***ing around!" Just then (finally) Darla walked up and I looked like I'd swallowed a bug. The girl walked away and told me that she'd be seeing me soon. It turns out this is one of Don's friends' wife and she doesn't handle her alcohol well. I can imagine her husband (a prison guard) has had to fight his way out of bars with his wife along. Don said she's done steroids for weight training and it messed her up. whatever.

Well, Darla is waiting on the couch and I am ready to relax. It has been a busy weekend. I look forward to getting back to church this weekend, especially after the run in with the voodoo woman. I added a couple of pictures that Jennifer texted to me. I hope you are all well. Ciao.

SOARing into 2010

SOAR is the name of the incentive trip that Darla wins each year. No one could tell me what the acronym SOAR stands for so I decided it is Sales Oriented Achievement Reward. We left Wednesday morning at 6 AM, flew to Dallas and then on to Cancun, arriving about 4 PM. We collected our bags and were met by a van driver who drove us the 50 minutes to the resort, which is past Playa Del Carmen and about 10 minutes from Tulum. We were very impressed with the architecture and grounds. There are over 3000 rooms on the property. The amazing thing to us is that our room had a two person Jacuzzi, a bar and a fully stocked refrigerator. The resort is all-inclusive and Darla and I gave them a good run for the money. We would meet the members of Darla's team for drinks each night before dinner and sample mudslides and Brandy Alexanders and Colorado Bulldogs and other exotic drinks. We were able to get a table for sixteen in La Huerta the second night of our stay. The hostess said that she would seat us at four different tables for four and I talked the Manager into taking care of us, picking out a spot away from the other guests for our party and putting all 16 of us at a single table setting. The manager even had his bartender prepare Mayan coffee for us, which is a blend of coffee, honey liqueur and ice cream served in a sugar crusted glass rim and prepared in a flaming liqueur that is poured from the glass back into a pitcher and back into the glass with the lights turned down and the show in full effect.

Darla and I would meet other nights for drinks, but then steal off on our own to try different restaurants. They had twelve restaurants from a steak house to Italian, Mexican, Sushi, Mediterranean, and Polynesian. Our favorite restaurant was the steakhouse with a choice of rib eye, top sirloin, New York, Filet Mignon, kebabs, etc. They cooked the meat over coals and it was excellent. The Mexican was good and we enjoyed the Italian as well. There are certain things the Mexican people do well: meats, pastries, juices, peppers, etc and some they do bad: chocolate, milk, butter, cheeses, and breads. The restaurants were largely buffet at breakfast and lunch and sit down for dinner. Darla and I would get fresh omelette's, pancakes, waffles, etc for breakfast cooked on the grill. The buffet food was largely tasteless and unappetizing. For lunch we would do salads, tortillas and burritos as well as hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and steak sandwiches cooked to order. We would ignore most of the buffets again due to a sameness and unappetizing display.

Darla and I did take an ATV tour in Playa Del Carmen that took us on a two hour ride through the jungle and to the beach. When we took the ATV tour in Hawaii, we had a half hour riding lesson where the instructors "certified" us ready to ride. In Mexico, they had us get on, showed us how to put the bike in neutral, start it and off we went. We were put with a group of Canadians, a family of 8 from Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver Island that had met in Cancun for vacation. They had 14 in total, but only eight on the ATV tour. They had 80 year old parents that had gone para sailing the day before, so this family was tough. We went through a cave in the jungle that had stalactite and stalagmites, fruit bats, a huge roots of the trees of the jungle on the cave floor, one of them an anaconda root, which is thick and long like the snake. It was very interesting. As we exited the cave on the opposite side of where we entered the guide told us to be careful of pumas and that he'd point out their tracks. Several of the ladies got a bit concerned and he admitted that there were also Nike tracks, Adidas tracks, even Converse tracks. The trail was very rocky and I had to stand on the four wheeler ( A Grizzly 350) as the pounding on my back was too much. We finally got out of the hills and down to the beach and the trail became sandy and smooth. After two stops to swim, we took off for the compound which was two miles away. The lead guide was flying and I was right behind him spinning and sliding through the turns as we drove upwards of 50 MPH. Finally, we stopped to wait on the group behind us and they were a good 5 minutes behind. I have to hand it to Darla, she was right there on my tail the whole way. It was alot of fun and we decided to ATV rather than go on the visit to the Mayan Ruins.

Darla decided to go rogue Saturday night and skip the closing ceremonies. It rained Saturday and we were confined to our room with trips to the bar and meals in between. We met the gang for drinks and then headed back to the room to watch the Dallas playoff game. I had told Darla that this was her trip and that I'd gladly miss the game, but she wanted me to be able to see it and it was a great win for the Cowboys Saturday night. We went to the steakhouse Saturday at half time and then ordered room service dessert.

Darla definitely has issues with direction and she was completely turned around at the resort. There are two sides, the Spa side (adults only) and the Palace side for families. We would usually hit the beach on the Palace side and eat lunch there at Manducas. She would blindly follow me and admit she had no idea where we were at any time. On Friday night we decided to go to The Hacienda Mexican restaurant. I was ready before her and wanted to get some air so told her I'd meet her outside. Unfortunately, I walked to the ocean side and listened to the waves and looked at the lights on the water. She came out to meet me and turned in the other direction and walked to the front of the resort ( a pretty good hike). I walked back to the room wondering what was taking so long and she was gone. I knew then I was in trouble. She came back seething, telling me that "my game of hiding when she didn't know where the Hell she was wasn't funny". Her reaction was unfortunately funny to me which didn't help the situation at all.

We got home at 11:00 PM last night and I'm tired today as we were on central time in Cancun. I made it through the day of work and look forward to a good night's sleep in my own bed tonight.

Darla and I are off to Napa this weekend leaving Friday morning for my retreat at Silverado Country Club and Spa with the insurance board that I serve on. Alicia will be married Saturday and we will stay over at the Marriott in Napa Saturday night. I'm sure I'll watch the Dallas game Sunday morning in the sports bar.

I hope you are all well. It is good to be home, if only for a few days, See I am like my father. Be safe and healthy in the New Year and God Bless. Ciao.

2010, A New Year!

It is a New Year. We made it through another night of Dick Clark mumbling through his monologue and counting down the last seconds of the year like a downs syndrome sufferer. Don't get me wrong, I have great sympathy for what Dick Clark went through with his stroke and recovery, but his agents and handlers need to force him out of the limelight. I still remember Ronald Reagan for the strength and character of his Presidential years and the reason is that Nancy loved him enough to keep him out of the public eye when his Alzheimer's symptoms began to impede his memory and his actions. Dick Clark is a multi-millionaire and he should retire into a non-public life and let his memory not be tarnished in his later years. We had five couple over on New Year's Day and we played games (billiards, dice, cards, Wii), watched bowl games, ate appetizers and finally enjoyed a repast of prime rib that Darla cooked. She had bought an 18 pound prime rib and it was exactly the size of the pan that she cooked it in.

Saturday, Darla was hosting a wedding shower for her sister, Alicia, so I invited my soon to be brother-in-law, Don, to play some golf with Boyd, Bob and I on a road trip up to Valley Springs. I met Bob and Boyd at the Starbucks up the street at 7:40 AM and we drove to Elk Grove to pick Don up at a small golf course. Don lives in Folsom and it was out of our way. We got to the course early and did some chipping and putting. Don showed up and we piled him into the truck and went to La Contenta up in Valley Springs, about an hour drive from Elk Grove. Don played much better than I had expected on a tough course and shot 45+54 for 99. I shot 86, Boyd struggled to an 86 and Bob shot 87. Boyd and I had played the course before and it is really a tough track with alot of blind shots and very unique holes. Bob looks forward to another shot at it when he knows what's coming. The weather was great when we got there, sunny and nice, but the clouds and high fog moved in on the back nine and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. The back side is tougher than the front ( I shot 40+46) with some severe greens and a stimp meter on the green of almost 12. Don can really hit the ball a long way and both Bob and Boyd said that he could be very good if he played regularly. He has a nice touch on his short irons, but tends to occasionally spray the ball of the tee. When he hits a pure drive, he hits it about 280 yards and leaves me in the dust.

I drove home that afternoon and Darla's Dad, Earl, was there enjoying the leftover food from the shower, including the cake. David came over and snacked a bit, picked up his gear and was off to Cal Poly where school starts back up tomorrow. As a matter of fact you can see David in the pictures from New Year's Day playing dice with us. He came by for some prime rib late in the day and I had him playing pool with the guys and he sat in on the dice game.

I bought Darla a four-hour house cleaning as a Christmas present and she had the crew in on Tuesday to clean the house. They did a good job and it turned out that one of the crew had gone to school with Daniel and was in many of his classes. She left Daniel a note to call her to catch up on old times, but Daniel could barely remember her and he is pretty loyal to Becky. We teased him a bit about it. Darla and I may have them come in once a month to do the floors and bathrooms, kitchen, dusting, etc.

The Dallas Cowboys completed their season ending makeover with a 24-0 shellacking of the Philadelphia Eagles today. I enjoy the games, but admit that I fell asleep late in the fourth quarter. Dallas absolutely dominated the Eagles. They play them in Dallas again next weekend in the first round of the playoffs.

Darla and I are off to the Mayan Riviera on Wednesday morning and will be home next Sunday. The following weekend is Alicia and Don's wedding and we'll be in Napa. I will likely get to the blog with details of our Silpada trip early next week. We stay at the all-inclusive Adventura spa and Resort in Mexico and all meals, spa treatments, etc are paid for. We look forward to getting away, but don't like the Christmas extra weight we are carrying.

I hope everyone's new year is special and that you all make a commitment to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in 2010. Ciao.