Back from a wonderful trip to Vegas

A Bunch of pictures, the top ones from our Vegas Trip and the bottom two from our trip to Paradise today for Easter. It was a whirlwind week. We got back from Vegas at 9 AM on Saturday, I was on the golf course by 10:30 and we were in the car on the way to Paradise by 4:30 PM. We decided to stay over in Paradise and go to church with Earl and Frances today, but I was so tired that I pulled over outside of Marysville and Darla drove the rest of the way where we met her parents for dinner at a favorite Mexican food joint in Paradise.

The trip to Vegas was incredible and we had so much fun with Samantha and Jennifer and Michael. We flew in Wednesday morning and grabbed our rental car which turned out to be a silver HHR, which is a gutless little wonder. It is like the PT Cruiser, in that it was a concept car that was a good concept, but they put 4 cylinder little cheap engines in them and made them almost useless to men. We drove over to Jennifer's house and spent some time there before taking a run over to Weinerschnitzel (Sam wanted hot dogs for lunch) and then over to the Luxor, where we checked in, changed and headed to the pool. The temperature during our stay was a consistent 85 degrees, and perfect pool weather. Michael was working on Wednesday as they now have separate days off (Michael has Thursday Friday) and Jen has Wednesday Thursday). At least they share the Thursday off. We lounged by the pool and came back to the room, where we all showered and readied for dinner.

After we got ready we headed for the car. Sam was always wary of getting into the elevator with other people. If it was empty, she'd walk right in, but if someone was in there, she would hold back. Darla and I got on the elevator and she held back with her Mom and the doors closed. We could hear her crying as the car went to the ground floor. They came down a few minutes later and she was still teary eyed and said, "You left me and I cried when the "Alligator" doors closed." Her word for elevator is alligator.

We met Michael at Benihanas, a favorite restaurant of ours and a good choice for Samantha as she enjoyed the show. Samantha had to tell the waitress that we left her behind in the alligator and she cried. The waitress looked at us like we were nuts. Why did we have an alligator near a 3 year old? The kids packed up afterward and headed back to their place and Darla and I headed out on the town. We had a funny incident at the valet, when a family came up with us and Samantha had met them when she was looking at the fountains and other artifacts in the Benihana's. Samantha was saying goodbye and the little girl, who was maybe five, came over and gave Samantha a big hug, so big that the two of them tumbled to the ground. Darla and I went to the Orleans casino and played nickle poker for a few hours, turning $80 into $200 before calling it a night.

Thursday, we were up early and had breakfast at the cafe in Luxor and enjoyed a slow morning. We met Michael and Jennifer at the pool about 11:30 (we had given them our extra room key so they could get into the pool). Samantha had a great afternoon playing with both Michael and Jennifer in the pool and hanging out with us. We had some lunch by the pool and all had smoothies, ours alcoholic and Samantha's a virgin variety. They said their goodbyes about 2:30 and Darla and I walked over to the Aria Casino to pick up our Elvis show tickets. It was a long walk and Darla wore the wrong shoes and ended up with blisters on the tops of both feet. I thought I was going to have to piggy back her back to the Luxor, but she was a trouper and soldiered on.

We met up with the kids back at their apartment where Michael fixed us tri tip and chicken with potatoes and salad. They had a friend come over for dinner as well and he has an 8 year old niece who joined us and Samantha was in kid heaven, showing off her room and toys to Amy. They had squirt guns and were shooting each other, riding bikes, playing tag and hide and go seek. It was a joy to hear Sam's laughter all night. Darla and I changed into nicer clothes and left about 8:45 for our 9:30 show at the Aria. I know Dad has seen the Circus de Soleil Beatles show and I will sign up for that on our next trip, but the Elvis show was phenomenal. The costuming, sets, acrobats and singers were excellent. The show followed Elvis' life as narrated by Colonel Tom Parker and it touched on his birth in Mississippi, his discovery in Memphis, his recording career, his tour in the Army, his movie career and of course his life and comeback in Las Vegas. They talked about his early death, but did not dwell on it or embellish it at all. The show really ended on The Elvis portion of his career and showed his famous comeback concert where he threw a kerchief into the crowd. That scene was paused and 100's of kerchiefs fell from the ceiling into the crowd. It was awesome. The show includes some acrobats bouncing off trampolines in the floor and walls and they look like spider men as they stop on the edge of the wall and scale it to the top. Very, very well done and highly recommended. It will make you appreciate Elvis for his music, talent and celebrity all over again.
Friday, both Jennifer and Michael worked. Michael had a side job with a friend that paid him cash. Michael dropped Sam off about 8:30 and we took her out to The Black Bear Diner, the first restaurant she ever went to as a baby. We had a great time with her and she wowed the crowd there. We then went out shopping as we wanted to get her a new Easter dress and a Leapfrog Tangled game. The dress was a slam dunk and she picked out a princess dress and a matching purse. The game was sold out everywhere we looked. We had bought her the Tangled DVD when we showed up and she wanted a Tangled Rapunzle doll. It was fibre optic and cost $35. We agreed to get her a Rapunzle dress and she wore that to see her Mom that night and then over to John's.

She loves princess dresses and gets all sorts of comments when she is out. She is so petite and cute and the old ladies swoon over her. I think that's why she likes the dresses so much. We went back to the room and then down to the pool. It was Friday and they had a DJ and some of the models from the fantasy show down at the pool in gold bikinis and it was really loud and after swimming Sam wanted to go back to the room. Sam found my snore guard container and wanted to know what it was. We told her. I later fell asleep and I guess I was snoring because she woke me up and handed me the snore guard. We went back down to the pool and set up far from the DJ booth where we could relax and it wasn't near as loud. Sam swam and we then ate lunch at the pool deli.

We picked Jennifer up from work at 5PM and she said goodbye to Sam as we drove her over to John's house. We had a great visit with her. She is growing up so fast and saying some funny things and having independent thoughts. It is a great age.

Friday night we took Michael and Jennifer to Bautista's Italian Restaurant, the famous Vegas restaurant that was a mainstay of the Rat Pack. The food was incredible and included house wine and a great cappucino for after dinner. We gambled with the kids for awhile at Bill's casino and then headed back to the room for our early flight on Saturday. Jennifer and Michael seem to be doing well. Samantha has a great life with the two of them. Darla and I both like Michael a lot. He is very patient with Jennifer and cares about her so much. Jennifer is very lucky to have such a great partner in her life. Michael is very laid back and responsible and Jennifer, well, isn't. It is a match made in heaven.

Well, Darla is calling me for dinner and with all of the pictures, this blog episode will be huge. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We love you. Ciao.

Finally, I am off the Schnide!

Darla asked why I put such a drab picture of the flowers in the blog last week. It is "sometimes" fun being married to my editor. She often corrects me or questions why I put a certain story in the blog. I told her I'd be happy to help her set up a blog if she was interested. Anyhow, I went out this morning in the morning sun and took a picture of the pool and took a little better picture of the flowers in the planter above the pool. Darla also had taken a picture of the Iris by our bedroom window which is in full bloom.

Yesterday was warm, sunny magical and fantastic all rolled into one. I did finally get off the schnide by hitting my first hole in one after 41 years of playing golf. Better yet, I did it in a tournament on a closest to the pin hole and the ace actually helped salvage what was turning into a bad round of golf. I was 5 over par after four holes and not hitting anything crisp, rimming putts out and basically stinking up the joint. We had wind in our face from 139 yards so I clubbed up to an 8 iron from a 9 iron and absolutely nutted it. The hole was tucked behind a sand trap to the left side of the green and I hit the pin on the fly. Normally, that isn't a good thing as the ball ricochets away from the hole, but I hit the pin low near the hole and it jarred into the cup. Great day, although wit an open tab in the bar it cost me $150, which is coincidentally the amount the club pays me in hole in one insurance. I was really amped after the ace and drove the next par 5 in two and just missed an eagle putt, but settled for a birdie. Unfortunately, the course was set up in championship form for the Roseville City Amateur with tight pin placements and I finished at 84 for a net 71. I picked up two shots on the first round leader and sit in third place going into the final today. I'm working on this now as I have one of the last tee times as a leader in the tournament. Hopefully, I can pull it together today and win this thing.

Darla and I are really amped about our trip to Vegas this week. Jennifer had taken Sam out to the Town Center in Vegas to play on Wednesday and when they passed the Luxor casino, she pointed it out for Sam and said that Papa and Grandma will be there next week. When they finished at the park, Sam asked if they could go to Papa's house at the Luxor. She didn't get the concept that we will be there next week. we had planned to use Jennifer's van while we were in town, but it has been having some problems and now has a recall on it for service work, so they have it in the shop. I managed to find a Dodge Sebring for $22 a day and we will rent a car this trip. We fly out Wednesday morning and fly back Saturday. We will spend Easter with Darla's folks up in Paradise.

We did book our Almanor trip again this Summer and are planning on Michael, Jennifer and Sam coming out to stay with us for the week. We got the two bedroom house with the private beach again at the North Shore resort. It was perfect for us last year, sort of away from everything and really private. it will be a perfect location for Samantha. Some of Darla's cousins and family will be there again this year. They enjoyed the 50th wedding anniversary trip so much last year that they are coming back. It will be good for Jennifer and Sam to see family and there are a couple of kids close to Samantha's age. It will also be good for Jennifer and Michael to take an actual vacation. They have both been working hard and didn't have any vacation with the union.

Work continues at a frenetic pace. We are having a solid month, although we likely won't hit our budget number this month. Our budget is tremendously optimistic, but we hit our nut the first three months of the year. We had a great year last year and only exceeded budget three times all year. This start to the year has been extraordinary.

Well, I will finish this up tonight after the final round of our tournament.

The best part of my day today was breakfast out with my lovely wife, Darla. The golf that I played today can only be categorized as , uh..."inefficient"? I started the round in second in my flight and blew up with an 89 to finish in fourth place. I went from 6 under par to 2 under for the tournament. It took 5 hours and 20 minutes to complete which is the best reason that I can give for my play. I am a rhythm golfer and need to keep moving. When there are three groups on a tee and I have to sit and wait, it all goes bad. I shot 48 on the front and came back with a 41 on the back (when it picked up), but too little too late. I will take the warm feeling I had from my hole-in-one and concentrate on that as I look forward to, and prepare for, our trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday.

I was thinking of Darryl when I got my hole-in-one. He has a plaque in his office that says "I've never had a hole-in-one. (I'm looking forwards to the day that I can give this damn plaque away!)." If I had that plaque, I would be looking for a new owner for it. Darryl has the game to get an ace and I'm sure he will. I've been playing this sport for forty years and I have only one. BUT I HAVE ONE! I hope you are all well. I will return next week with pictures and stories from Las Vegas. Be well and Happy Easter to every one. Ciao.

April Flowers

I played golf with some guys from Ft. Collins, Colorado on Friday and they were amazed at the flowers and buds on the trees in our area. In California, the saying is that "March showers bring April Flowers". The pool is in pinks and purples right now as the plants and trees are putting on a show. It was 72 degrees today and a perfect Spring Day. I know it is 90 degrees in Texas, Nevada and Arizona, but I really like the milder Spring temperatures here in Northern California. We get overnight lows into the 40's and highs in the 60's and 70's. Occasionally, the temperatures spike into the 80's, but usually cool right back down. Our average high temperature for this date is 72 and the low 49, so we are perfectly normal and I'm loving it. We are supposed to warm up to about 75 degrees next weekend.

I mentioned that I played golf with two men from our sister company in Colorado, US reports, our inspection company that Kaufman Group purchased last year. Their VP of large accounts joined their local representative out of Oregon for a round of golf with us on Friday. Matt and I met them at a small cafe at the Auburn Airport. The restaurant, Wings, is well known in aviation circles and was profiled in the NY Times a few years ago in their article on the $500 hamburger. There are aviation enthusiasts that fly out of their area to have a good meal at airports all over the United States and Wings was listed as one of the top ten destinations for pilots. They have a huge outside seating area where you can watch planes taking off and landing. If a pilot flies in and comes over to the restaurant to eat, there is a group of pilots that sit on the closest table to the airstrip and hold up pie plates and rate the landing (8.5 or 9.0). You don't want to get a 6 rating from these guys. Breakfast was great and the golf course next door stopped serving breakfast because all of the golfers eat at Wings.

Jason, our rep, and Jon, the VP were great guys and we had a lot of fun playing. I met Jon last year and he mentioned it at breakfast. I couldn't remember him and we ended up riding together in the cart and he mentioned he'd lost 45 pounds since last year. It dawned on me then and I blurted out, "I remember now. Man you were FAT then." He had a good laugh.

Jon is an 8.5 index golfer, but had a lot of rust in his game having come from Colorado where it is 70 degrees one day and snowing the next this time of year. He really struggled and shot 92. Matt and I had trouble on the freshly aerated and sanded greens and we both shot 85. Jason shot 100 plus. He did provide some comic relief late in the round, when he got tired and started shanking the ball. Jon and I were ahead of him as he was hitting his fifth shot to the par 4 and he shanked it right at us. Jon ducked behind me and I felt his hand on my back as he dove for cover. It reminded me of the Seinfeld Episode where George Costanza knocks down an old lady when he is trying to get away from a fire at a kid's birthday party. I harassed Jon the rest of the round for pushing me into the line of fire. The ball ricocheted off my golf shoe and went into the bunker. Taylor Made was having a demo day out at the range before we teed off and I got to hit one of the new R-11 drivers. It is a very light head and I was pulling the ball left big time. I am very happy with my Callaway Big Bertha 460 and have no plans to change drivers any time soon.

In fact, I played in the first round of our 54 hole individual championship today and was bombing the driver right in the middle of the fairway. I'm up to a 13 handicap with my 11.6 index and I put together my best tournament round of the year with a 40+40=80, which gave me a net 67. I was the leader in my flight at -5 when I left the course to get home and watch the Masters on TIVO. There were about half of my flight of 20 golfers still on the course when I left, but I should be in good position going into next Saturday and will be in one of the last pairings in my flight. Both Matt and Boyd struggled today, Boyd shot 81 for a 75 net and Matt shot 79 for a 75 net. It was a perfect day on the golf course and the course is in great shape. The greens are still a little bumpy and the poa anna flowers begin to bud on the greens in the afternoon.

Darla is off at a vendor fair in Folsom this afternoon and she just called to let me know she was at the car and on her way home. We have a pork loin roast that I will barbecue for dinner tonight.

Darla and I leave for Vegas a week from Wednesday. Our return flight is at 7:25 AM out of Vegas and I called to see if we could delay it and fly back in the afternoon (Southwest doesn't charge change fees). They will charge you the difference in fares however and our flight being part of a package, the change in fare was an extra $358. We will catch up on our sleep over the Easter weekend and keep our early flight. We will be out with Mike and Jennifer on Friday night after Sam goes over to John's Friday night, so we'll either call it an early night or just stay up all night and sleep when we get home. I'm voting for the early night.

I will be out Thursday afternoon on a real estate tour of offices in Folsom, California. We will give our landlords a 6 month "early out" option and begin the job of having our build out done for the new site. My understanding is that we will have new cubicles, desks and equipment in the new location. Things are going great at work and I just received a quarter million dollar profit sharing check credited to our bottom line from Colony. Our profit through the first three months in Sacramento is $383,000 vs. $177,000 last year. I am absolutely beside myself with pride and joy at the job my team is doing in Sacramento. It is a great thing and going to work every day is a blessing to me. I'm lucky to work with the staff that I have. They are good and decent people, hard workers and a joy to be around. I have Matt and Anthony leaving for a carrier seminar in Scottsdale on Wednesday.

I have finally decided that with 19 people now reporting to me, I have to start shedding some of my production responsibilities. Matt and I have a trip to Redding planned in early May and I will introduce him to several of the agents that are in outlying areas that I have and just can't adequately service anymore. I want to keep my agents that are in the Sacramento area and peel off some of my outlying agents. The production staff likes to give me a bad time because I used to be second or third in production monthly and now run 4th or 5th out of the 7 producers in my office. My goal is to have every producer beat me month in and out and have me still bringing in about $20,000 in income a month. Pete was giving me a bad time early in the month because Matt was ahead of me. I pointed out two things. 1 Matt was doing great which was a cause for celebration and 2, the bottom line of the branch IS my number, not my personal production. I think it was an "oh yeah" moment for Pete. I am thrilled to see how focused and intent Matt is on being successful. I was talking to him as we were out on the golf course Friday and asked how he was liking his job. He said, "I think I'll get tired of it in about 40 years". He was smiling ear to ear.

I hear the garage door opening, signaling the arrival of the jewelry lady. We will enjoy a nice meal tonight and then take a walk in the neighborhood to walk off the calories. The pictures of Jennifer and Samantha were from a trip this last week that they took to the Seigfried and Roy white tiger exhibit in Vegas. The one of Samantha in her car seat is just a diva shot. Samantha wears sunglasses outside whenever it is sunny. I've never seen a three year old wear sunglasses before, but Sam is sort of special, you know?

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I'll let you know how I fare in the tournament as my next epistle will come after the final round next Sunday. Darla by the way blew in here, dropped off her jewelry and is now outside washing her car. I got mine washed yesterday afternoon after the Masters ended. I may take the opportunity to vacuum out the interior while she is washing her ride. Be well. Ciao.

A Sunny Weekend...Finally!

You can see the house in the above shots and how the trees have grown so much in the 13 years we have owned the house. At times I think they are too big, but they provide tremendous shade for the house on hot Summer days on both the front and the sides of the house. The second picture of Samantha is my new favorite, she looks like such an angel and is in contrast to the first picture where she is mucking around in the cake batter while Mom makes a cake. We are definitely looking forward to our trip on April 20th.

The weather has definitely turned Spring-like and Darla is out in the garden as I write this planting a couple of flowering plants in the palm garden to replace a few that the sever winter killed off. I was out when i got back from golf and I mowed the lawns, fixed a couple of sprinkler heads and cleaned the pool. I also trimmed up some plants around the pool and picked up the leaves from a windy morning.

I did play golf today, my third game in four days and it was a bit windy and cold when we teed off. The forecast was for winds gusting to 25 MPH this morning tapering off to a breeze this afternoon. I didn't bring a coat and we teed off at 8:30, so I went into the pro shop and shopped through the lost and found bin for a wind shirt that I put on and wore for the round. It is a size 2X and I'm sure Bubba was probably looking for it when he finished his round (actually, Dale in the pro shop said it had been there for a week). I played golf with the guys at work on Thursday. We closed the month at a new Sacramento record of $235,000 in income and Matt, Anthony and Peter all had their best months ever, so we took a mid afternoon on our close and went and played golf. The course, Mather, which is near our office had just plugged their greens and it was not in the best of shape. It is not a good drainer and they had several holes where the fairways looked like Master's rough. We played the white tees and I managed a 41+42=83. In fact, I played in a tournament yesterday and shot 42+43=85 and today and shot 45+39=84 and came back from the course figuring that it was coming around. My drives are long and in the fairway, but I'm struggling with my sand wedge and putter right now.

Darla and I had dinner with our friends, Neil and Lilly on Saturday night after church. We went to the local Italian restaurant, Strings, and enjoyed two hours of food, drink and good times with good friends. They are both such good people. I told them about Cheryl's mom passing away Saturday morning and they asked me to pass on their sympathies to Darryl and Cheryl and the family. I also suggested to Neil that perhaps I could get Darryl and Cheryl to come out for our annual RGC trip to Carmel in October. Darryl, put October 15 and 16 on your calendar for coming out to California. We will leave Friday for Carmel and stay two nights and play Pacific Grove on Saturday and Poppy Hills on Sunday. Neil and Lilly will be there and some of our other golf friends. It is a shopping and lunching trip for the ladies and a golf trip for the guys. We all meet up in the evenings and have dinner and visit. It is a lot of fun. If you can make it, we'll see about getting a 2 bedroom condo in Pacific Grove for the weekend.

Work is going well, but we have triggered our option to take an early out on our lease on the office building in Rancho Cordova. I spent one afternoon this past week looking at office space and will have another tour in two weeks in Folsom, California looking at space. Our building is thirty years old and doesn't have the amenities available in the newer buildings (gym, relaxation room, upgraded interior moldings and interior doors and windows.) The economy has dropped prices on leases and the longer the lease the better the terms. We are looking at a five year lease and will save money over the space that we are in now and improve the surroundings. There are many class A five year old and younger buildings looking for tenants. I look forward to upgrading the space and then throwing an open house for the agents after we move in.

Our taxes are done and we had to write a couple of big checks again this year. Obama needs the money for illegal aliens that aren't willing to work that want a free handout. God forbid we kick them out of the country. I was astounded this last week when there was an INS raid on one of our local nursery companies. They found that over forty of the workers were illegal aliens. Many of them had worked for the nursery for over twenty years and were paying taxes, had children that had grown up and married after going to college. Those people are being deported. I know I harp on the illegal alien situation, but why is the INS going after the illegals that have jobs, paying taxes, and being positive members of society , yet they leave the illegals that are out of work, on welfare, sucking on the government's teat and being a drag on the taxpayers alone to continue to siphon money from hard working taxpayers? The ignominy of the situation galls me. Dad loves it when I go off on a rant, so this is for you, Dad.

I have our company owned inspection company coming out this week with our local rep and one of his vice presidents and they are taking me golfing on Friday. The VP is a 6 handicap, so I'm bringing Matt with me to round out the foresome. We were going to play at the local Country Club in Roseville, but they have a tournament on Friday. We will go up to Auburn and play The Ridge Golf Club instead.

Well Darla is making fried potatoes and has a London Broil that has been marinating since last night that she wants me to cook, so I need to fire up the barbecue and get to work. I hope you are all doing well. Pray for Darryl and Cheryl as they deal with the death and funeral of Cheryl's mom, Delores, this week. Pray especially for Ray, who has seen his life partner of 61 years fall ill and over the past couple of years and now, mercifully, pass on to heaven. It will be a big transition for him as he learns to live without his friend and wife. Ciao.