Las Vegas (and Sammy) Here We Come!!

No pictures this week, but I will make up for that next week. The blog will be late as we will be in Las Vegas from Wednesday until Tuesday the 18th.

It is Mother's Day and I stop yearly to give thanks for the 43 years that I was blessed to have Alice Lyon as my mother. She was funny, forthright, gregarious, outgoing, tender and tough all at once. She lived with four men who could be introspective and moody, yet she shined on all of us like a Summer sun. If I was ever in a bad mood, I had only to pick up the phone and Mom had me laughing within just a few minutes. We lost her way too early in both her life and ours, but she did shine bright for the time she had on earth and is likely drawing a crowd up in Heaven as the life of that party as well. Of all of the compliments that I can give Darla, the biggest is that she reminds me of my Mom with her constant laugh, positive outlook and sunny disposition. I am doubly blessed to have had a great Mom and a wife that herself is a tremendous mother. Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's in my life, including Jennifer who is turning into a GREAT Mother to Samantha.

We, of course, look forward to our trip to Las Vegas this coming week and our visit with Miss Samantha, and Jennifer and Mike. Darla and I are staying at the Cliff's at Peace Canyon, a condo complex in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas, well off the strip, but close to Jennifer. We couldn't get any family or friends to join us on this trip which is probably a condition of a rotten economy. At least that's how I prefer to view it. It will be Darla's birthday during our trip and I've told her to find a show that she wants to see in Vegas and that I will take her for a nice dinner and a Vegas show on Sunday night. It is supposed to be in the high 80's and low 90's while we are there. Nice.

I had my annual "over 50" exam with my MD two weeks ago. I picked a very small Indian woman named Uma as my personal physician precisely because she has small hands and (by definition) small fingers. Uma found my prostate to be a bit "hard" during the exam and suggested that I see a Urologist. She set me up for a second opinion "just to be sure" and has also scheduled me for a colonoscopy sometime this Summer. All the fun begins when you turn 50 and it all seems to center around your rectal area. What the Hell is with that? At any rate, I went into the main Kaiser Hospital campus in Roseville to see the Urologist. It turns out the Urologist is a man that could either have become a Urologist or crushed rock into diamonds with his bare hands. The man doesn't have hands, he has mitts. He came out and shook my hand, swallowing my tiny hand into his huge paw. I noticed that he had a splint on the middle finger of his right hand. My sense of curiosity is almost as strong as my sense of humor and I asked him if the broken digit was a workplace related injury. He smiled and held up his index finger and said, "Oh, no. This is the money finger." The site of his finger that looked more like a croquet stick than a finger made my blood run cold. He lubed up and gave me the exam as my back straightened like a card table. It turns out that I have an unusually small prostate and that is why my PSA tests are always so low. My doctor was likely feeling my urethra rather than my prostate. He tells me that I'm one of the lucky ones, but I had a bit of trouble believing it as I walked bowlegged out of the office on my toes with my spine straighter than it has ever been. Who needs Bowen therapy, when you have Doctor "Mitts" working for you?

The final round of the individual championship at our golf club was on Saturday and all of the good feelings that I've had about my game lately disappeared in that 4 and a half hours. I shot 46+44 and although my driver was crisp all day, I couldn't chip or putt to save my life. I hit one approach shot with a sand wedge from 105 yards that must have travelled 140 yards in the air. If I had a 40 foot putt, I'd hit it 25 feet and then blow my second putt 10 feet past the hole. I missed at least six putts inside of five feet and had to par the tough 425 yard 18th hole that is forever dead into the wind to save a 90. When I came into the clubhouse after my round, the guys in my flight all wanted to know how I did. I told them it was a good news, bad news round. The good news was that I shot a 79. The bad news was that was my net score. I don't know where I ended up in the tournament, but likely 5th after my blowup. Very disappointing and I'm actually looking forward to a week off the golf course this week.

Friday night was our fundraiser at the River Cats game, Sacramento's AAA baseball club that is the farm team for the Oakland A's. I went out on the field before the game and presented the large check to the Ronald McDonald House charities and Dan, our First VP, threw out the first pitch, actually getting the ball over the plate and into the catcher's mitt. Jeff and Linda were my guests and we had 189 strong at the game. It was fun, but so cold. We had 82 degrees during the day, but once the sun went down and the wind started rolling in off the river, it got nippy. I left my coat in the car and sat freezing. Linda shared her blanket with me and Jeff and I warmed up a little. We left at the start of the ninth inning with the locals down 10-6. If it had been a warmer night, we would have stayed. Darla had a Silpada gig, so it was just me. I had to carry the 3 foot by 5 foot check from the car to the game and some 10 year boy came up to me as I stood in line and asked what the check was for. I told him I didn't have any cash and wrote a check to get into the game. His parents didn't think I was funny. I guess seeing Bill Engvall this Spring inspired me.

My office is on a hot streak and we had another great month in April and I bought the staff lunch on Friday. We are on track for a record year with revenues and profits well ahead of 2009, which was our best year ever. Pete's assistant gave her notice this week and will move to Switzerland with her husband. The last three employees that I've lost have all moved overseas, Dinda to Korea, Ben to Thailand and Toni-Anne to Switzerland. What are we the UN? Hopefully we can find a good replacement for Toni-Anne who is a business graduate from UC Davis and very bright. She has helped Pete grow his book dramatically this year.

The deck guy showed up Saturday and touched up the stain job in the back yard. It is a nice variegated look and now I have a warranty for the work, which is nice. We are on the schedule for our painting contractor in early June and I look forward to seeing the house and shed repainted. I also want to install some pavers along the garden areas on the side and front of the house. I thought about a mow strip, but the Edgeguard pavers are nice and a tan color. As a homeowner, your work is never done.

Well, that is it for this week. Be good to each other and I'll write another epistle after our trip to Vegas. Be well. Ciao.