A couple of pictures of Miss Samantha sent to me by Jennifer via cell phone. One is of her playing with Mike's DJ setup in the apartment (They can't yell at her now for getting into his stuff if they are going to pose her using it). Actually, the set up is about four and a half feet off the ground and Sam can't get to it without help. The other is either of an over sized soccer ball or my undersized granddaughter (you figure it out). Double cick either of the pictures for a screen sized pic. Jennifer and Mike are both out of work electricians and both are looking outside of the union for work. Mike has had a couple of interviews and Jennifer interviewed with MGM Mirage on Friday. The position is a tech job working out of the Mandalay Bay casino. I talked to Jen Friday night before my poker game and she said the interview went well. They have several more interviews to conduct, so pray for Jen on this one. Jennifer, Samantha and Mike have been getting out to some of the local parks and hiking areas for exercise recently. Today, it was 80 degrees in Vegas.
We will be in Vegas for Darla's birthday, arriving May 12 and staying until the 18th. I thought about exchanging time with RCI, but the condo market is CHEAP in Vegas right now and I have arranged a week at a two bedroom condo in a gated community two blocks off the strip and across the street from The Palms and Rio for $555. It is a privately owned condo with it's own covered parking, a complete granite kitchen and two master suites. The $555 is less than the cost of maintenance at any of our three time shares. The facility has a workout room, two spas and three pools. We will invite one of our couple friends to join us as we couldn't work it out with any of our family. Darryl, if you want to go, let me know as I don't want another Mexico incident.
Darla and I have a neighbor across the street from us who was married when we moved in and her husband was a horse's ass. He treated her terribly and it was only a matter of time before they split. He was gone in the first year. Carol has moved on, dated for awhile and has a fiancee now. They announced their engagement two years ago and were to be married that Summer. Well, as these things go, life happened and the engagement was put on hold. Her fiancee moved into the house and all talk of nuptials has ended. I was out working in the yard last Sunday and Carol came over. I was raking up those little round spiny balls that the liquid amber trees produce in volume. I have to rake them up before I mow, because the mower will shoot them out the side and I could crack a windshield or put an eye out if someone was walking by on the sidewalk. Carol told me that she and her fiancee were at the nursery store and talking to one of the arborists and found a spray that can be applied to the tree when it is first blooming and it will kill the fruit production the next year. We walked over to her place and she called out to her fiance in the garage, "Honey, what is that stuff that kills the balls?" You know I couldn't leave that line teed up, so I said, "You mean a wedding ring?" Carol turned so quick and gave me a nasty look and her fiance just about peed himself laughing. They are bringing in a hoist truck next weekend to spray the trees in their yard and I hope I'm still in good enough graces to get in on that.
I told Darla the story and her reaction was: "Well, that doesn't make me look very good." I tried to explain the concept of a perfect line, but she wasn't buying it. I told the guys and they said there are some things you don't tell your wife. Really? I'm too stupid to actually filter my thoughts and comments. I think comedians are the same way and that's why so much of their routine is about their wives, girlfriend and family. REAL life is always funnier.
Work was a bit nerve wracking this week. My number one underwriter is a young man that worked as my assistant shortly after I joined the company and after I promoted him to underwriter, he has had a meteoric rise in the firm and is now in the top three in new business and one of the top producers in the whole organization. I walked into work Wednesday morning and went for my regular cup of coffee and Anthony yelled out that he needed a minute. I got my cup of decaf joe and joined him in his office. He prefaced his conversation with, "Ken, you know I love you, but I am going to be the source of a REALLY bad day for you today." I asked him if he was leaving me and he handed my an offer letter from one of my competitors that almost blew my mind. I asked him if he was resigning and he told me that he wanted me to have a chance to respond to the offer. He said, if we could work a deal he would commit to staying with me for five years. I immediately contacted my VP and the CEO of the company and we came up with a counter offer that was close to the offer, but with more potential upside. I sat down with Anthony, after telling him straight out that I was speaking as his boss and not his friend, and pointed out the pitfalls of making a move and especially at that salary level. I figured they would give him six months to excel and if it wasn't working, they would cut him loose. In the meantime, much of his business would move to them. If he stayed at a company where he was already a rock star at an increased income, it was a win-win. He accepted our offer and I started to breathe again. Nothing like a dose of reality to make you realize how tenuous success can be. His "REALLY" bad day for me turned into a great one for all of us. Anthony even ended up speaking to management who asked him how Ken was doing in the job as manager. He told them that if he worked for anyone else, they would have simply received his letter of resignation. He praised my management style and let them know that my support and mentoring had everything to do with his success and that he and the rest of the staff love working for me. I guess I even got some cred out of the whole thing. Not a bad day, all things considered.
Golf this week consisted of a mid week game at Woodcreek. Two lost balls and a lot of scrambling for a 41+40=81. I had a tournament on Saturday and woke up with a stiff back and struggled my way around the course to a 43+42=85. Boyd shot 77, but was so upset with a four putt on number 16 that he slapped his ball off the green and was DQ'd. Matt shot 38+42=80 and none of us were too happy at the end of the round.
I have a supplier coming in Tuesday and will take myself and four staff members out to golf at Empire ranch. We had one opening so I invited Don, my brother in law to join us. He lives almost on the golf course and has been asking to get out and play. I have also set up a golf outing next Saturday to Eagle Vines Golf Club in NAPA. Johnny Miller designed the course five years ago and I've been wanting to get out and try it. I enticed seven of my friends to join me and we'll play two foursomes and do a blind draw best ball afterward with full handicaps. I'll split the golfers into high and low handicaps and pair them by drawing one from each pile until we fill out four twosomes. It will be a $10 buy in and a pot of $80, $60 to the winners and $20 to the runners up. Here is the website: http://www.eaglevinesgolfclub.com/.
Well, short and sweet, but we had guests over today to visit with the boys (Darla's folks and sister and Don). So it got late and then I had to run out and wash the car. Darla and I made it to church today and it was a blessing. The boys will be home until next weekend. Hope you are all well. Ciao.
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