Before the Rain

If you watched any of the Pebble Beach Pro Am Golf Tournament this weekend, you know that Northern California is bracing for a cold, wet storm. It will blow in overnight tonight and the snow level is expected to drop to around 3000 feet. They were lucky to get the golf tournament in and actually did without any major weather problems. The only issue was fog and cold temperatures. They actually started the week out in perfect conditions, it was 70 degrees here on Thursday and about 65 degrees and Sunny on the Monterey Peninsula. It is one of my agents' birthday tomorrow and his wife asked me to take him golfing. I called the course in Camino today to make a reservation and the pro told me that they may be snowed out tomorrow. This agent, Gary turns 55 tomorrow and his wife turns 48 in April. I turn 55 next month and Darla turns 48 in May. We definitely live common lives, although he has a son who is 11. I'm pretty sure that I don't.

I did get out today and put some fertilizer on the lawn. I also took a garden rake to a portion of it and de-thatched some of the grass. In fact, I just looked outside and the rain has started already.

Darla is at her sister's house. Her parents came into town tonight and I guess are staying over and will watch Luke tomorrow. I was invited, but had some handicapping things to prepare for next week's tournament and wanted to get the blog completed. I just finished a nice dinner of turkey meatloaf. It actually sounds worse than it is and Darla and I have substituted ground turkey for a lot of red meat. If you season and spice it enough, add onions, etc., it actually isn't bad. The meatloaf is a relatively new recipe and delicious.

I guess given what went down with Pete in my office, we need to eat healthier. Pete ended up having surgery on Tuesday and getting the stints installed. He had one stint installed on Saturday night. That artery was 99% blocked and was the cause of his heart attack. They went in Tuesday and did three more. I talked to him Thursday and Friday and he was doing great, but one of the meds caused a rash on his body and he went back into emergency this morning and they took him off one med and put him on Prednisone, which is to help fight the allergic reaction he is having to the drugs he is taking. He will see his cardiologist on Tuesday and we'll know if he will be back the following Monday and also whether he is able to travel with me to Scottsdale in March. If he is not able to travel, Anthony may come in on Sunday night and see the markets with me. Darla and I will still go on the Friday and probably have Jennifer and Samantha come to Scottsdale and hang out with us. It is about 280 miles from Vegas to Scottsdale. Colony is giving me free use of a two bedroom corporate condo in Scottsdale.

I sent Pete a personalized padfolio with his name embossed on it. I also sent him a personalized greeting card with a picture of Anthony, Pete and I on it that reads overlaid on the picture: ""We Need You! and inside it says that if we are to get to the next level in Sacramento, we need Peter back and at full strength for the stretch run. He called when he got it Saturday and said, "Hey, what are you trying to make me cry?" The cost was actually less than the flowers and teddy bear I sent to Connie at the hospital two weeks ago when she had her surgery. I need to get back to having all healthy employees in the office. I really like Personalization.com. Try it sometime, it makes great corporate gifts, but also unique gifts for loved ones.

I got out and played golf on Saturday with Paul, Pamas and Darren. I got up a little late and was rushing to make my tee time. I got there on time and was even able to make it into the restroom for a little morning constitutional and then hit a few balls on the range before rushing to the tee. I teed off and then was transferring my i phone and keys and what have you into my golf bag from my coat when I realized that I left my wallet in the men's room. I asked Darren to take my cart and I ran back to the rest room to get my wallet. Thankfully, it was still stuffed into the seat cover holder where I'd put it. I should have put it in my coat, but that would have been too easy and smart for me. I ran back out toward the first fairway in time to see Darren with both carts flipped over and clubs and balls falling all over the place. He was pushing both carts down the hill when the carts started moving in two different directions and he tried to save both of them from crashing and managed to save neither of them. I played with Paul , who is an 8, Pamas who is a 5 and Darren who is an 18. Paul, Pamas and I all shot 46 on the front side and struggled all over the course. Darren played very well for himself and shot 42. We played marginally better on the backside and I ended up with a 46+43=89, Paul shot 89, Darren shot 86 and Pamas shot 38 on the back for an 84.

Darla leaves for Dallas on Wednesday morning and leaves me to my own devices. I have a tournament, our 4 ball qualifier on Saturday and I also set up a tee time for Sunday. I won't be playing golf on the cruise and need to get my fix in this coming weekend. I don't think we'll be able to play tomorrow, but I will probably get in a game later in the week with Gary. Darla will be at the leadership conference for Silpada.

By the way, I haven't seen the "poop man" at the office since his "problem". I'm wondering if he's still with the company. We had an office lunch on Friday and I had one of the caterers bring in the food. This was a reward for the office hitting our budget goals in January. Anthony suggested that we have lunch catered from the Thai food restaurant down the street. That is the restaurant the man had lunch at that caused his issues.

Our lease has finally been signed for the office building in Roseville. I first met with the leasing agent in March of last year and we toured the Roseville site in June. So, basically seven months after we decided on our space, the deal is done. They were fighting over stenciling on the front glass doors and who was going to pay for 15 replacement ceiling tiles and silly stuff. Our lease runs for 88 months, so the cost of either one of those items likely would have been about $10 per month. Whatever. It is done and we can now start planning for our move probably in April. The permits will be pulled for the buildout this coming week and then they will start on the tenant's improvements and betterments. I am really looking forward to the upgrade in our office environment. A bonus in all of this is that my monthly lease nut will drop from $10,000 to $9,600. It will really be nice to work in the community that I live. I'm already considering joining the Chamber of Commerce and maybe even the Lion's Club or another civic organization.

I talked to Jennifer this week and she went from working nights to working in Temecula and being away from Samantha. She got back on Wednesday and her boss asked her to work Thursday night because the job of replacing the radio receivers wasn't complete. She seemed a little aggravated that her boss isn't as organized as she is. He tends to fly by the seat of his pants and with her a single Mom, it doesn't work well. I guess John was a little upset that she had to work after not being with Sam all week. She does get to spend part of the day with Sam, but she also has to sleep.

Finally, I talked to Darryl as well. He talked to his company on Monday about his move and they asked him to stay on for two weeks and help transition his move. The new company has also given Darryl the flexibility to work from Colorado his first week and then start in Lawrence when we get back from the cruise. Darryl will not be working in the corporate office and has told the CEO that he will do a buildout for a new office in the warehouse. He wants to be close to the action because he has a lot of deficiencies that need to be worked on. He seems pretty excited about the possibilities of this new job. He also said that they do all of their offsite conferences at the winery in California, so hopefully we can see something of him. By the way, Darryl, our golf trip to Reno this year is Saturday and Sunday June 9th and 10th. The courses are Somerset Country Club and Lakeridge Golf Club. You'll have to plan to come out for that or if Cheryl isn't working for Spirit, you can come out to Monterey again for the weekend. The dates on that are October 13th and 14th and we will play Poppy Hills and Carmel Valley Ranch Country Club. Spend some of that money you are making and visit California.

That is it for this week. I think I was a little wordy with Darla being gone. If so, I apologize. I hope everyone has a good week. Be well and walk with the Lord. Ciao.