Jennifer is THIRTY, Good Lord, How Old Am I?

Well, at least Darryl is older than me and his daughter turns 31 this year. I guess in some ways it shows that you survived to get your child through the teen years and through the 20's..oh, Hell, I'm just OLD. At least I've got a young, good looking wife (But, even she is a grandma). Now, I'm all depressed.

Jennifer was out on the town in Vegas last night with dinner at an Italian restaurant and then relaxing at a club afterward. Sounds like fun, but she was with her Mother, who was in Vegas to help her celebrate her thirtieth.

Darla and I went on a river cruise last night to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary (Aug 23rd). I had won cruise tickets from the Marine Underwriters at Chartis Insurance at one of their Product fairs that they did in Rancho Cordova. The tickets were only good for one year (which actually is illegal in California when in the form of a gift certificate), but the tickets were only supposedly good until April and we wanted to go when the weather was a little nicer. We had a low pressure system over California this weekend with temperatures just in the upper 70's, so we signed up for a cruise. The dinner was actually excellent and the boat, The Empress, out of San Francisco was great. It actually is the same ship that we went on when the Colony Underwriters came out and hosted a dinner cruise in Old Sacramento.

When I called to sign up for the Saturday night cruise, we found out that the gift certificate , which listed two dinner cruises, was actually for $250. The cost of the dinner cruise is only $69.95 plus port taxes, so we had about $110 in shipboard credit. I asked if they had any packages and we were able to get the "sweetheart" package which guaranteed a window seat and came with a box of truffles and a nice bottle of Chandon champagne. We also upgraded one of the dinners and one of the desserts. Darla is not a drinker and didn't care for the champagne, and actually liked the free welcome aboard champagne, which was Brut champagne with a shot of grenadine. She drank both of those, while I proceeded to get plowed drinking the whole bottle of Chandon.

When we drove into Old Sacramento and were waiting to get into the parking garage, Darla nudged me and pointed out a cross dresser, a huge guy dressed like a woman. Hey, it's California. When we got to the boat and were ready to board, they stopped us to have pictures taken. There was a large group of people, including the cross dresser getting their picture taken. It became obvious that most of the crowd in the group were also cross dressers, but some were older couples. It was exceedingly odd and took both of us back to Nuevo Vallarta and our cruise with the lesbians. What is it about boats and short trips that brings out the other element? Of course it turns out that we were seated right next to the group. There were a total of 24 of them, many with their parents and other "straight" friends. We found out after the cruise that it was a meeting of the River City Genes, a support group for cross dressers. Actually it was the "Jims", but I didn't want anyone "googling" the name and getting my blog. It's amazing how often that happens with words like Silpada and Nike, I get hits all the time on my blog. There were some Godawful ugly large cross dressers in the group and one transgender ( I guess) who was a guy with a huge boob job and he/she was putting them out there. There's something about a curvaceous set of breasts with hair on them that's a bit of a turnoff (J/K!)

We were entertained by the group, but enjoyed our night nonetheless. We made friends with a couple next to us and had a few laughs. At one point the dj was asking for song requests and I went up and asked for Aerosmith's "Dude looks like a Lady", but the dj said he hadn't had enough to drink to do that. The evening was very mild and we enjoyed the trip up and down the Sacramento River. It was about 2 1/2 hours and the food, as I said, was great. I had a bacon wrapped filet mignon with mashed potatoes and Darla had a rosemary chicken dish with macaroni and cheese. We split both meals and enjoyed the repast. They also had an avocado soup and a green salad beforehand. Dessert was an apple tart for Darla and a chocolate decadence cake for me. We will go again sometime and maybe take friends. It was a great time. Darla said during the dinner that this was one night she didn't like being so tall because most of the c/ds were over six foot tall. She looked beautiful though as you can tell by the pictures.

I made it out golfing on Saturday, the morning that the cold front moved in. We had an 8:30 tee time and I got a message from Boyd that he was "passing a kidney stone" and wouldn't be there. Bob told Matt (who is 26) that he must be playing with old guys when one of them backs out because of kidney stones. It was windy and cool at the course and luckily, I had a wind shell from Poppy Hills in my bag and was able to put that on and survive the cool start to the day. Matt didn't have a coat and Bob offered him a set of sleeves from his bag. These are just sleeves made by Nike (here comes the Google hit) that you pull on up to your shoulders and are made for golfers who don't like to be restricted by coats or long sleeve shirts in cool weather. Bob claimed he bought them at three in the morning when watching QVC. Matt passed on the sleeves.

Bob mentioned that I had my "winter" swing going and I shot 40+42=82 on Woodcreek, the tougher of the two Roseville courses. It was nice to be back out on the golf course after the trip to Canada. Bob struggled a little with an 85 and Matt, smooth as ever, shot 75.

Another sign of aging, I had my fifth crown put on one of my teeth on Monday. Actually, I got the "bottle cap" temporary put on and get the permanent in two weeks. I don't remember the residual pain from the crowns like I had this time. I felt like I was punched in the mouth my jaw was aching so much after the Novocaine wore off. I mentioned it to Cora, my assistant, and she said "I know how it is". I said, "have you had many crowns?" She was totally confused and didn't know that I had been to the dentist. Now what could she possibly have meant when she said I Know how it is, when I said I felt like I'd been punched in the mouth? My personal lines underwriter and I had a good laugh trying to figure out what she was talking about.

Darla and I were up late today and missed church. We punished ourselves by cleaning the house. I was sandbagged Friday night by my poker group. We had poker lined up at Jon's house and he was not home when the guys started arriving. They called me and I offered to host here if John didn't show up. John is a poker addict and I figured he'd just run to the store. Well, he didn't show up and either had an emergency or flaked on the poker night, just forgetting it wad that Friday. I rushed around straightening up the house and the office took the brunt of things tossed quickly into the room to clean up. Darla and I both work and sometimes things pile up during the week. I ended up hosting four guys for poker on like no notice.

When the guys showed up , we were outside talking about what happened to John and just shooting the breeze when a small Chevy came screeching around the corner with some young kid at the wheel and two girls along for the ride. We shook our heads and went in to play. Later, we heard another screech of tires and an engine revving and then a large "BANG!" We jumped up to see what had happened and one of the neighbor's kids, a guy David's age and size had slammed on the front hood of the car when it went racing past him. By the time we got outside the car had stopped and tow of the girls were running up towards us. The guy in the car took off. The neighbor told them that he had called the cops and they were driving like maniacs. One girl yelled that it was a borrowed car and now it was all dented. The other girl (both twenty-somethings) began cussing and yelling. Big John, one of my poker buddies, told her to calm down and she whirled on him and dropped several F bombs. He was livid, calling her a little "blank" and asking her to hit him in the face that he could use the money. She was totally amped on something and her friend pulled her away. Later, when things calmed down, I told John he was lucky she didn't haul off and break his nose. He said, "Hey, I would have owned her house". I pointed out that she was a passenger in a "borrowed" car. She doesn't have a house or a pot to piss in. Just a show with the card game, I guess.

Well, my pork chops are just about done on the grill, so I better run. Hope you are all well. Ciao.

Happy 30th Birthday, Miss Jennifer. Weddings, Barbecues and 80 degree temperatures in August!

Another weekend is slowly winding down. It is a weekend that the golf group was in Carmel at our annual trip and I agreed to stay home and go to a wedding with Darla. Those are major husband points and don't think that I won't cash those in at some point. Darla's former roomate and best friend, Joni, was married on Saturday. I was a little surprised that Darla wasn't in the wedding, but Darla and Joni have grown apart in recent years, mostly because Darla was married and Joni wasn't. Joni was Darla's maid of honor in our wedding. I suppose it shouldn't be that big of a surprise as my best man, Jerry Tuel, and I barely speak now as our lives have just gone in different directions. We see each other maybe once a year. Her groom's father is a member of the Model A club in Sacramento and they had three of the model A's at the reception and took James and Joni on a tour of Folsom after the send off and reception. Darla and I walked out and talked to the owner of one of the cars during the reception and we had a couple of pictures taken in one of the Model A's.

It was a spectacular weekend with Saturday's high temperature on August 21st just reaching 83 degrees. This has been one of the mildest Summers on record. Today was 88 degrees, BUT there is a high pressure system spinning toward us from Utah and tomorrow will hit 100 degrees with Tuesday and Wednesday at or above 102. The long range forecast is for a cool down with next Saturdays temperature back down in the mid eighties

We had the wedding on Saturday morning in Roseville and then a twenty minute drive to Folsom for the reception. From there, Darla and I ran by my office to change clothes and head over to the Burns and Wilcox Summer picnic. We were providing the main course and arrived about 4:15 after another quick stop at the grocery store for supplies. We played sand volleyball at the picnic and then had a repast of sirloin burgers and barbecued chicken with salads, chips, beer, soft drinks, zucchini bread, and fresh sourdough. We didn't have much dessert as the person signed up for dessert failed to show. We had a good time and although I stressed my back a little playing volleyball, it was great exercise and a lot of fun. Of course, Darla and my team won 7 out of 8 games played. Winning is always fun.

I have one of the senior brokers and a product manager in town tomorrow and tomorrow night and I was asked to join them for dinner in Sacramento. I know what my big boss and my father would say as far as being there for the visitors, but it is Darla and my anniversary tomorrow night and I already had a date to take Darla to dinner. I called and talked to the Brokerage VP and told her that in my first marriage I would have gone to the dinner and celebrated another night, but in this marriage my commitment is to my wife and that I would have my number one underwriter fill in for me and take them out to dinner. She asked how long we'd been married (14 years) and then asked me to come to San Francisco and teach her husband about setting priorities. I think I probably made more of an impresson on the two ladies coming to town because of my decision to have dinner with my bride rather that go out on the town with them. I know all about the sacrifices that a manager has to make for his job, but I also know what is most important in my life and I choose to honor that.

I did play golf today and teed off at 11:01 AM after church. I now remember why I don't like to play golf later in the day on a weekend. There was every father and son and boyfriend and girlfriend on the course taking five and a half hours to play 18 holes. We followed a work tournament that played a scramble format and had people on the course that had no business having a golf club in their hands. I saw one group almost drive their power cart onto a green and leave it parked steps from the green. Of course the driver was a big tub of lard that should have been walking and certainly could have used the exercise walking from the cart path to the hole. You just shake your head at things like that. I usually really struggle in a "hit and wait" golf game, but managed a 39 on the front and a 43 on the back for 82. Boyd shot a stellar 73 and Bob Hand had a 99. We enjoyed the fellowship together, but I look forward to my 7:38 AM tee time this coming Saturday.

I hadn't completely expanded on our trip to Vancouver and back. We had to meet Randy at the border as he left his Blackberry at the house when he left for the airport and Jenny and Justin's flight to Dallas. We met them and drove up to Tukwilla casino outside Seattle and played some video poker. The machines were tight and Randy pointed out how loud the machines were, making it sound like a lot of action, but no one was winning. We left them at the casino and drove on to Seattle. Our flight was 6:15 PM and we wanted to tour Seattle. Their flight was 3:30 and I can't imagine that the drive to the airport was fun as they were cutting it close. There was a slowdown in Seatlle with the traffic moving at a crawl. Darla and I got lost trying to find the fish market in Seattle and finally settled for a nice Italian restaurant close to the UW campus. We lucked into a great menu and wonderful food. We were able to visit and talk with each other, going over the weekend and the week ahead and then take a leisurely drive to the airport, where I watched the first half of the New York Giants preseason NFL game and Darla read. We were home by shortly after nine and able to wind down before bedtime. It was a great trip.

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We did get discounted tickets for Las Vegas, managing to find $149 flights and we will be in Vegas Thursday October 14th until Tuesday October 19th. We are hoping that Dad and Shirley can join us. They have time at their condo, but it is a cost consideration as they are off to Mexico in November. At any rate, we will get to spend some time with Miss Samantha, Jennifer and Michael. By the way, Jennifer turns 30 next Saturday. I guess I am officially OLD at that point.

I hope you are all doing splendidly and enjoying the dog days of Summer. Happy Birthday, Jennifer. I love YOU! Ciao.

We'll start with Canada Pictures and Randy at 50!

And one of David on his last day stateside. This will be short as it is 9:00 on Wednesday night and Darla is due home any minute. We had a gas in Canada, lots of laughs, too much food and booze and lots of good, fun family time. Thank you, Al and Sherry, for the use of your home and the hospitality. It was much appreciated. Thank you, Dad and Shirley, for being base central and for all of the great food and drink while we were north of the border. Darla said a prayer while we were having dinner in Seattle and it was basically praising God for such a great family. We are truly blessed. Jenny and her boyfriend, Justin, were a highlight of the trip. Jenny is so down to earth and basically calls it as she sees it. She kept Darla and I in stitches. Justin was the butt of a few jokes, but took it all in stride. Great people.

We have heard from David and he is in Germany today and off to Switzerland tomorrow. He's had some difficulty with language and getting around, but has some amazing pictures and experiences. His traveling companion, Mya, only lasted a few days with him and bolted for a trip to the Alps with some of their friends in Germany. David wanted to stay in Germany and see more sights and is hooking up with the group tomorrow. He will get together with my former employee, Toni-Anne, in Zug, a suburb of Zurich probably Friday. We have sent some paperwork and a Schwab debit card to home care of Toni-Anne, so he will pick that up from her. he will continue travels in Switzerland over the weekend and then be in France next week. he arrives in Italy the weekend of the 28th and school starts on Monday the 30th. I will post some of his pictures when we receive them.

Dad and Shirley have a great house for entertaining, but only have two beds in the five bedroom house. It's an odd set-up, but they have theme rooms, a music room, golf room, etc. We stayed with Al and Sherry, just a stone's throw from their house. The home behind them has been torn down to make room for three more houses and right now you can see Al and Sherry's house from their backyard. Al's boys come through the lot and hop the fence.

You can see the picture of all of us taken up at Grouse Mountain on Saturday. We asked one of the climbers that had just finished the Grouse Grind and he was a pretty boy with flat abs, but a little lite in the loafers. It looks like he thought the tree was part of our family as he lined up the picture. Grouse was fun with the tram ride up and down and the bird show and lumberjack show on top of the mountain. We rode down and found a White Spot over in West Vancouver and had a late lunch.

Sunday we took a trip in to Granville Island and the farmers market. It was hot and absolutely packed. The people were like ants on syrup crawling all over each other in the market. There were Asian people with cameras poised at the fruit, taking close up pictures of bunches of grapes and heads of lettuce. I wouldn't want to get stuck watching slides of their trip to Canada. Randy treated us to a late lunch at Bridges restaurant on the waterfront that afternoon. I almost ran over a little kid when I was exiting my parking spot. Some woman let her kid go loose and he walked in back of my car from the driver's side. A car had stopped for my spot and I started backing up and the woman smacked my car and screamed at me. The spot I had was so tight I had to crawl out of the car from the passenger's side when we parked. I couldn't see the kid and was looking back over my left shoulder as I backed into the street. Luckily I didn't hit him, but the whole place was a mass of humanity. Not my cup of tea (not that I really like tea to begin with).

I will add more to this on the weekend. I've been working hard to get caught up at work. Darla and I had dinner at one of my agent's homes in Lincoln last night, so tonight is my first down night. Ciao.

Lots of Sammy Pictures this week

Thanks to David for the great pictures of Las Vegas and Samantha. He certainly had a great time as did Jennifer and Samantha. Samantha decided she kind of likes Uncle David and David was pretty smitten with Miss Samantha as well. It was a quick trip but the kids had a great time together. The only downside was that Michael lost his paternal grandmother while David was there. Mike has flown back to Detroit for the funeral and will be back in about a week. He is planning to drive his Grandma's car back as he needs new wheels. His minivan has been having problems.

You can see the picture of Samantha riding in a little toy Jeep. David and Jennifer were waiting for the Y swimming pool to open and went over to a park with water features and ran into this little Cassanova and his Mom. This will be the first of many pickups attempted on little Sammy and my advice is to hold out for a Porsche. The picture of David and Sam by the waterfall was taken at City Center, the big casino project that Jennifer was working on before Obama got in the White House. There's also a picture of Sam squatting and picking flowers (likely right by the sign that says "Don't pick the Flowers"). The picture farther down of Jennifer sitting at the Diner while Sam fixes lunch is one of my favorites. The last picture is of Sammy and her bright blue eyes. Great pictures, David!

I was up early this morning and teed off at Diamond Oaks at 6:30 AM. We were off the course by 10:30 and I was home working on the "Honey-Do" list by 11:00 this morning. I shot 42+39=81 and I'm happy with the state of my game right now. I will take next week off as we couldn't squeeze golf into a very short Canada vacation for Randy's 50th. Some day I'll get up and play their course. I played golf with Neil this morning and he said he'd love to join us on a trip up to see Dad and Shirley. Maybe next year.

One of my tasks today was to change out a ballast in a fluorescent fixture in the kitchen. The ballast had blown earlier in the week and I had to turn off the power to it to disassemble it. The problem was the light was dead and I couldn't tell if the switch was off or if I found the right breaker (there are two switches for the same light, so up is down and down is up if you know what I mean). I tested the line with a Volt meter and it was dead and took the ballast out of the fixture and ran to Home Depot to change it out. In the meantime Darla had come home and I asked her if she had touched a switch for the ceiling light. She said no and I went ahead and changed out the ballast and turned the switch and it came on. Apparently I didn't find the right breaker and had power off to the refrigerator for over an hour. Oh well. The light is working well and we don't have to work in a dark kitchen anymore.

I also worked on the pool today and added some wet look sealer to the stone backsplash of the pool. It wears down over a season with the waterfalls and splashing in the pool. I then checked the chemicals and added chlorine and acid to the pool. When I opened the acid, I burned my finger. The acid comes in gallon "milk type" jugs and it has a seal over the opening. There isn't a pull tab, you have to poke a hole in the seal and then pull it off. I reached into the hole and yanked the foil seal off and felt an immediate burning in my index finger. Being a complete dumb ass, my immediate reaction was to plunge my burning finger into my mouth. Let me tell you, the taste of Acid in the morning as it burns your tongue is priceless. Luckily I have enough body chemicals in my mouth to fund a small chemistry set and the acid was quickly neutralized. I definitely had an "oh oh" moment today when that finger hit my mouth.

You might wonder why I am working on the blog on a Saturday night. Darla is off to a "Toga" party as a vendor at a hotel in Rancho Cordova. There are 100 couples of a fairly decent income level that have monthly outings planned by this promoter and Darla was invited to bring her Silpada jewelry tonight. Hopefully, it is a lucrative event for her, I decided to work on this now as tomorrow is busy. We have a going away swim party for David tomorrow and I am barbecuing a 7.5 pound pork loin roast that is about two and a half feet long and 8 inches around. The family will gather around the pool and enjoy barbecue and say their goodbyes to Dave who leaves for Rome on Thursday night. Tomorrow night is also the Hall of Fame game with the Cowboys opening the preseason schedule against the Bengals and I want to watch that. I may try to add some pictures of the barbecue tomorrow sometime this week. Darla and I fly out to Seattle on Friday morning for our trip to Vancouver. We fly back on Monday the 16th, so no blog next weekend.

Well, that is it. We hope to set a date for our next trip to Vegas with Dad and Shirley while we are in Canada. I'm thinking September or October. I know Dad and Shirley have a Puerto Vallarta vacation in November. Well, that is it for this week. Stay healthy, wealthy and relatively intelligent. Until next time. Ciao.

David is in Vegas

David leaves in less than two weeks for his semester abroad in Rome and Darla and I decided to send him to Las Vegas for four days with Jennifer, Mike and Samantha. He flew in yesterday and Jennifer, Mike and David hit the town. i don't have any details, but what happens in Vegas... We did talk to him briefly today and Sam was dropped off about ten and they had a big day planned with a swim, a trip to Fremont Street and then a big barbecue by Michael, who is a great cook. We told David to take scads of pictures and I'll add some to the blog next week.





Darla has been having problems with the Explorer's A/C for several weeks and we finally took it into Firestone today. The compressor has a leak in it and the replacement will be about $600. We also need new tires. When it rains, it pours. They kept the car overnight as the part won't come in until tomorrow. Luckily, Darla works from home and she has David's Tahoe to use in an emergency. The car is nine years old and we have had good luck with it up until now. The a/c on the drivers side has actually been blowing hot for the time in question. We've had a mild Summer, but 98 degrees is still hot when your car is sitting in a hot parking lot and you have no way to cool it off. I'll get he a/c fixed now and get new tires before the Fall.





Dad and Darryl both know Neil and Lilly, our friends from the golf club and Darryl and I refer to Neil as our brother from another Mother. They were in Mexico with us last year. Neil played golf on Friday as is his custom now that he's retired and shortly after he left the house, someone broke in their side garage door and entered the home, grabbing pillowcases off the bed and making off with jewelry, electronics, laptops, cameras and some old coins and cash. Neil was distressed that some of the jewelry and rings were family heirlooms dating back over many generations. He was upset, but also had a realistic attitude about things. He said, 'almost" everything can be replaced. They left behind camcorders, VCRs and, although they took the ZZ Top key ring with his keys to his mint 1964 1/2 Mustang. They didn't steal the car. He is having the ignition locks changed tomorrow.





We got together with them at the Pando's last night for dinner and a game night. We had a few laughs and they were able to talk it all out. he sent us a note today thanking us for our friendship and for letting them blow off some steam and have some laughs. It was a stressful weekend. Both Neil and Lilly are both quality people.



Darla and I made it to church today and the Sermon was on Procrastination. Pastor used an example called "Senior Personals" to illustrate his point. He had a variety of 'looking for love' examples, a couple of which tickled me. One had a recently widowed woman, who lost her third husband looking for a new man:



"Recently widowed (for the third time) woman seeks elderly gentleman to round out a four unit plot at the cemetery. Good health is not an issue. A cigarette smoker or someone with a chronic illness preferred."



Another was a man just looking for some peace and quiet:



"Serenity Now. Elderly gentleman who enjoys quiet walks, peaceful contemplation and afternoon naps seeks elderly woman who likes the same. Lets get together, turn off our hearing aids and enjoys some peace and quiet...together."



Another was a woman who won't let age slow her down:



"Sexy 80 year old woman, in good shape, well cared for and well maintained seeks elderly gentleman of same mindset and circumstances. Extra points if you have stylish white shoes with a matching belt."



I guess she was looking to wow the cruise set.



Work continues at a frenetic pace. We were down a bit in July, but our comparison last year was a record month for us. We still finished with numbers approximating our monthly average this year and made a nice profit for the company. Our SF broker who shared my office has left the company to open a new office for a competitor. It will free up her office for me to move one of my assistants into who is moving into underwriting. I now have two new employees in the office, the latest a 26 year old moving onto Anthony's team. She is a Dallas Cowboy fan and I have no feelings one way or the other about that, but I see a great future for her in my office.



Golf this week was on two very difficult courses, NorthRidge Country Club and Darkhorse Golf Club. I struggled on the Stimp 13 greens at both courses and shot 44=42=86 at Northridge and 46+44=90 at DarkHorse. I did birdie 18 at DarkHorse, so all was not lost. Next weekend we will head down to Fairfield and play Paradise Valley Golf Course. it will be a little bit of a roadie as it is about 50 minutes away. DarkHorse Saturday was in Auburn, but in the unincorporated area of Auburn about twenty minutes from town and about 40 minutes from Roseville.



We are off to Canada in two weeks and hope that Darryl and Cheryl can join Randy and Cake and Darla and I in Vancouver. I think Dad has plans to take the gang up to Grouse Mountain on Saturday and then golf on Sunday. I think I will bring my clubs as Southwest doesn't charge for bags.



We had an interesting conversation with Neil on Saturday night. Darla mentioned that Avon had bought Silpada and discussed the pros and cons of the merger. Neil dropped on us that when he was driving truck, he would use Avon's "Pretty Feet" moisturizer on his feet after a tough day on the job. It would clear up calluses and soften his feet. He will NOT live this one down with me.

That's it for this week, I hope you are all well and living a life your kids would be proud of. Ciao.