I was afraid that with one of the worst defenses in the league in New England and the worst rushing team in the league in the Giants, that the SB would be dull, but this was ridiculous. Sure the score was close, but there was a tremendous amount of mediocrity and sheer boredom in the game. I can hearken back to the divisional games with Denver beating Pittsburgh and The Niners upsetting New Orleans. Those were exciting, well played games. How did both of these teams make it to the Super Bowl and not realize that you can only play 11 men on defense? Thank God it is over. As Randy said on his Facebook page, this was the WORST Super Bowl in history. And to name Eli Manning MVP? Wow, that was an amazing two yard passing TD to Victor Cruz. That was the extent of his scoring in the game. MVP, eh? At least I won $75 in our office football pool. That will pay me back for the four hours of my life I lost today.
I had a call at almost 11 PM last night and it was Pete's wife, Vicki, telling me that Pete had suffered a mild heart attack and was in the hospital. He had done yard work and was sitting on the couch early in the evening and felt his chest tightening and his left arm go numb. They had a neighbor who is a nurse come over and tell them to get him to the hospital. He was sweating profusely. They ran some tests today and he has three blockages in the ventricles leading to his heart. Right now they are trying to decide if they should put stints in to clear the blockage or do a bypass. The stints have a life range of 12-15 years and they would likely have to replace them when he is in his late 60's. The other option is a triple bypass, which would permanently correct the problem, but have him in the hospital for 7 days and out of work for three months. I plan to visit him in the hospital tomorrow night. Darla has a Silpada sales meeting at the house.
Connie had her surgery on Tuesday and will be out of the office for six weeks. She is feeling stronger every day, but has a great deal of pain. The timing can never be good, but this is really stretching my staff thin.
I took Matt up to Chico this week and introduced him to my agents there. We left Roseville at 6:45 AM and had an 8:30 breakfast, another meeting at 10 AM and then a lunch with another agent. We finished that with a 2 PM call on a fourth agency and all of the calls went really well. The agents that I am turning over to him write a combined $350,000 in premium with us. As I said before, it was a hard decision to make, but one I just had to do. Matt can get up and see the agents and perhaps grow them to over half a million in premium with a more concerted marketing effort. As I told the agenst, I'm still here, but I only expect to hear from them when Matt isn't reaching the customer service level they expect. In other words, I don't plan on hearing from them. It was a good trip and I'm impressed with Matt's demeanor and marketing savvy shown on these calls. He will do very well.
Darryl called me on Friday afternoon and announced that he is leaving McClain and will take a job with Standard Beverage Company in Lawrence, Kansas. I admire him and Cheryl for their ability to shift on the fly. If I was offered a position in our home office in Detroit, I would be moving on my own. Darla isn't leaving Northern California and I can honestly say that I'm not either. I'm lucky to really enjoy my job and the people that I work with. On top of that, I love California (politics aside) and can never imagine leaving. I love the weather, our church and our friends and the golf club and our home. I wouldn't want to mess that up by looking at what is behind door number three. I certainly wish him well and one consolation is that he is moving closer to his family in Texas. I know they all like coming up to Denver to visit and hit the slopes. Kansas has....well......uh, good barbecue? The golf group had tentatively planned to head up to Denver in the Spring to visit Darryl and Cheryl and play golf.
I did make it out to the golf course this weekend, but all of my buddies let me down. Paul from the club joined me and we played the Orchard Course at Lincoln Hills. I shot 42+44=86 and really struggled with my driver on the backside. I managed two birdies during the round, but was quite inconsistent. Paul shot 46+39=85 and played much better on the backside with his two birdies coming on 10 and 12. Paul is an 8 handicap. With Bob having left for San Jose, Mel back in the Philippines and Matt doing his Masters program at UC Davis, that leaves Pamas, Darren and Boyd. Pamas plays in the Golf Channel Am Tour tournaments and works one Saturday a month for the FBI. Darren is inconsistent at best and always has to check with his wife. Boyd is usually good to go, but had a granddaughter's birthday party Saturday. Paul is in now with Boyd and I on Saturdays and I will try to sprinkle in Matt, Neil, Rick, Darren, Pamas and Bob Hand. We had a good time on Saturday. Paul is 58, divorced and likes to carve out time for golf every Saturday (my kind of guy). He moved to the US from Guadalajara when he was 15 and is a registered alien just like the rest of my US family. His green card expired last week and he didn't realize it and was scrambling around to fix that oversight last week. He plans to take out his citizenship in 2012. Darryl and Randy, you should do the same. It's about damn time.
Darla is back in our office working on taxes, getting her receipts together so we can get our tax package off to our accountant before we leave on the cruise. It is always so much fun. We owe every year because Darla does not withhold taxes on two of her jobs. We get our returns back and then wait until the 15th to send in our money. Luckily, I have a bonus check that comes to me in mid March that pays for the taxes due.
We do only have three weeks until we will be on our cruise to the Bahamas. Darla and I leave for San Francisco on February 23rd where we will leave our car at a Sleep and Fly hotel (La Quinta Inn close to the airport). We are looking forward to the trip and I just hope I have a full staff when I leave. That, of course, remains to be seen.
I haven't heard from Jennifer in about a week. She was on nights last week as she was changing out radio receivers on some of the cell towers in Vegas and they have to do it at night when the phone activity is lower. The benefit was that she got some extra time with Samantha and John got to see Sam every evening.
Well, that is the news that is fit to print. Darla has a trip to Dallas coming up right after Valentines Day. She will return from that on Sunday night the 19th and we leave for the cruise on Thursday night. Wild. I hope you are all well. As our pastor says, If you want to be in a better (Friendship, Marriage, Neighborhood, etc.) be a better ( Friend, Spouse, Neighbor, etc.). Good advice. Ciao.
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