It was a fantastic weekend in Northern California with a high of 76 degrees yesterday and 75 degrees today. Great weather for golf and for a little yard work which I got done today. I was able to mow the lawn, edge, weed, put down some crabgrass preventer and fertilizer as well as clean the pool and for all of my trouble, I even got a little sunburn. To be honest, I also walked dead into one of the limbs of a tree on the side yard and almost knocked myself down to the ground. For that I got a nice smile shaped cut in my forehead and a bit of a ringing in my ears. What a dope!
As to the title of this epistle, we had Darla's truck in the shop all week and rented a car for Darla to use. She returned the rental truck on Friday and after juggling some money in our accounts to pay the $2600 tab, she picked it up and was on her way. We were meeting Darla's folks at 6 PM at Visconti's in Folsom to celebrate Frances' birthday. I was on my way to the restaurant Friday afternoon when Darla called and said she had a problem over at her sister's house with the truck and to detour over there. I turned into their side street and was confronted with both the Folsom Police and Fire vehicles directing me around a large spill in the roadway. Apparently one of the hoses on the transmission worked loose and sprayed hot transmission fluid all over the roadway. A Folsom police officer saw Darla's truck smoking and followed her to Alicia's. As they were discussing her truck, one of the neighbor's on a motorcycle hit the slick transmission fluid in the roadway and his bike slid out from under him. He landed hard on the roadway and one of the handlebars on the bike was broken and the tank and side of the vehicle scratched up. The firemen stayed on site cleaning up the haz mat spill and waited for the tow truck to come and take the truck away so they could get the rest of the spill beneath the truck. We ordered dinner delivered to Alicia and Don's house and the tow truck showed up just as the food arrived. The driver said that he needed to have one of us at the delivery site, so I gulped down my food and headed over to the transmission shop in Rocklin. Lucky for us, we needed to be there as the BOZO tow driver dropped the truck right in front of the dumpsters on the side of the business. He planned to leave it there, but I made him help me push it into a parking spot. He wasn't happy, but I don't care. The truck would have been towed this weekend if we left it there. The shop doesn't open until the morning and the owner will find out he not only has to redo our rebuilt transmission, but also has to turn in a claim to his general liability carrier for the motorcycle accident caused by his tech not tightening an O ring on to one end of a hose on the transmission.
We decided to have them do the work as AAMCO screwed up last Fall by changing the solenoid rather than checking the belt, which is what caused the "check engine" light to come on. Gene at the shop said it is one of two things when the light comes on, the solenoid or the belt. AAMCO chose wrong. Alicia had work on her Dodge there a few years ago and recommended them, but when I was talking to her after the wreck, she said, "The guys great, after my truck was fixed the light came on when I was leaving and he got me right back in, got me a rental and fixed the problem." Alicia was commenting on the good customer service, what I heard was that this shop has screwed up before by not getting a vehicle fixed right the first time. We will deal with him in the morning, but right now I need three things, a rental for Darla, the transmission fixed properly and a claim presented to his GL carrier for the motorcycle wreck of which the proximate cause was their shoddy workmanship.
The Super Bowl is over. Some will say what a great game, but I saw a sloppy performance by the Steelers and a lack of killer instinct by Green Bay. They should have rolled the Steelers after going up 21-3, but their own ineptitude and their players falling by the minute made the game closer. Miss Samantha won the first quarter of our neighborhood pool and won $25. We always put the kids names in and give them the money of they win. I think we've played for seven years and this is our first win. Good for Sammy.
I also wonder how Forty-Niner fans feel after watching a local product, Aaron Rodgers win the Super Bowl and also take home the MVP trophy. They chose first the year he came out and could have traded down to get him, but instead chose a Utah player to be their franchise quarterback, Alex Smith, who has been a colossal failure in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback for the Cal Bears and a local hero. David and Daniel say that the divergence of Rodgers and Smith is a byproduct of coaching, but I see a star quality in Aaron that is sorely lacking in Alex Smith. Smith was a good college QB who won the Heisman Trophy and is a serviceable backup quarterback in the NFL. Where would the Niners be if they had traded down and drafted both Aaron Rodgers and a wide receiver in the first round that year? We'll never know. Someone should have been fired in the Niners front office for that blunder.
I did play golf on Saturday in a shotgun at 8AM. It was a little cold when we teed off. My drives are straight and long, but I couldn't chip or putt all day on my way to an 88. Next week, we are on another road trip, this time up to Auburn and Darkhorse Golf Club. looking forward to it. Matt and I will play together in the next qualifier on February 19th, a two man best ball regional qualifier for the NCGA.
This will be a crazy week for me at work. Last week was companies in and dinners out. in fact, we saw Tyreke Evans and Donte Green of the Sacramento Kings at Benihanas on Wednesday night. They bopth had dates that were about 5 foot tall. Funny sight. This week will be a little more intense with our CEO visiting Tuesday night and Wednesday. I spent two days on the phone with both of his executive assistants last week setting up his itinerary. He flies in on Net Jets on Tuesday night and I will pick him up and drive him to the Hyatt in downtown where he will check in and then we are off to dinner at the Firehouse in Old Sacramento where we have dinner with one of my top retailers. I received his itinerary on Friday and it shows his arrival at 6:15 PM, a 25 minute drive to the hotel, a fifteen minute check-in at the hotel followed by a three (3?) minute drive to the restaurant. The next morning we have a breakfast meeting with one of our retailers, a thirty minute drive to the office, meetings scheduled with times during the day, an office lunch at 12:30 and departure at 4 PM. he and Harvey go on to SF, where they will meet a retailer for dinner. both of my retailers are excited and nervous about meeting a CEO of the largest wholesaler in the country.
I had the carpets cleaned Friday night, have been grilling the office on company trivia and will be doing walk throughs of the cubicles and offices on Tuesday morning. I will pick Anthony up Tuesday morning and he will go with me to the airport and dinner and, of course, Harvey will be in tow. It should be an interesting visit as it always is.
Well, this is a bit late due to the Super Bowl telecast, so this will be a bit short. I will have news on the transmission shop's response to all that has happened since Friday in the next visit. I hope you are all well. Darla and I made it back to church on Saturday night and it felt like coming home. Honestly, if you find a good local church, it makes your life so much better. Be well. Ciao.
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