Oh, yes. I did finally make it back on the course. I think Darla was as relieved as I was. It rained again on Saturday and I had to cancel our Morgan Creek outing. We went from a foursome with Neil, Boyd and Darren to me and Paul. It poured rain yesterday and the course was pretty water logged, but today dawned bright and Sunny and the wood fence behind the pool was steaming in the sunshine when I woke up this morning. The funny thing is that there was no one on the golf course until about 11:00 AM. Paul and I played the front nine in about an hour and 45 minutes. The back nine was much slower and it took about 2 hours and ten minutes. I shot 40+43=83 and was very happy with my round in spite of this being only my third round of golf in 6 weeks. I was pushing the ball right off the tee and will have to work on that this week as I have a tournament at Sunset Whitney. You can see the picture from today of the 12th hole at Diamond Oaks. it was good to be out there again. The rain on Saturday was one of those driving rainstorms with wind and heavy rain and we sent March out with the same intensity that it came in. The rain was quite a storm and Darla and I spent the day hunkered down indoors with books, iPads, Kindles, and NBC golf coverage. We did make it out to Palm Sunday services on Saturday night and the service was a collection of dramas, art and music depicting the days leading up to Jesus's death on the cross and the various emotions that he went through.
I have a Management trainee candidate coming in to meet me tomorrow. He was offered a position in Los Angeles and told them that he couldn't afford to take the job at the salary they were offering. his rent is close to $2500 a month in Woodland Hills. He is a Berkeley graduate and said that he would be interested if there was a position available in Sacramento. I offered a job to a young woman who is a finance graduate from Sacramento State University. She chose to go to work for the state of California for less money and better benefits. I didn't realize she was a Democrat. Ajay was the top candidate out of 32 candidates they interviewed over two days in Los Angeles (the gal that turned me down was number two). I will meet with him at ten and then go get some lunch together.
I spent the better part of this last week doing employee reviews and realized how much that impacts my ability to handle new business. luckily, I have been cutting back and it wasn't too bad. I also finished up my ASLI class and took the final exam on Thursday night. The office completed our BEST month ever and we wrote over $1,750,000 in premiums this month with net income to the office of over $280,000, both of these numbers are records for us. It costs me about $135,000 to run the office each month with payroll, rent, etc. so it was a really awesome month for us. Anthony, my old assistant, did over $550,000 in premium and $80,000 in net income himself in March. Everyone had a solid showing with the office up about 23% in premium and net income for the month. I told Harvey that it would be an expensive month for him because I will take the office out to celebrate. We will go to either Elephant Bar, Benihanas, or Logans Roadhouse. I have been doing lunches catered into the office, but a month like this deserves a real treat for everyone.
I'm also in the process of adding another assistant to the office who will be my assistant and also help out other teams when they need help. I interviewed one of Darla's friends last week who has a retail job as a store manager and hates the hours. I can't afford to match her salary, but she won't have to work nights and weekends with me. Darla convinced her to call me and apply for the position and when she called I told her that we had the days pretty well covered, but I was looking for someone that didn't mind working nights and weekends and I heard she was up for that. She stumbled around with that and I finally let her off the hook.
I finally bought a new pool sweep with my Prime Amazon membership that I got with the new Kindle. I get two day shipping free with all purchases made through the Amazon warehouses. My sweep has needed to be tuned up and have new parts installed probably for the last year. I looked at Leslie's Pool Supply and they wanted $229 for a tune up kit with new wheels, hoses, bag, etc. I was able to get a new Polaris 360 sweep through Amazon for $358 including no tax and no shipping cost. I had a Polaris 360 and can now cannibalize that one for parts when needed, although a lot of them are worn out. I now have two silt bags and can change those out alternately. It is hard to clean out the bag when it is wet and a snap after it dries out.
I like the Kindle very much, but it is definitely not an i-Pad killer. The i-Pad definitely is a better machine overall, but the Kindle is great for video and definitely for reading. I am working on the Bible in a year and have the Bible in the cloud and can have it read to me which is nice when you are digging through the Old Testament (Merari, father of Ithamar, Aaron, Kohath, and Gershon, who were married to Liz, Beth, Shilo and Qa....). It is the history of the Bible, but one reason most people can't get through the reading. I like it for what it is, but Steve Job's little invention is definitely the bomb.
We will spend Easter up in Paradise with Darla's parents. Darla and I will go to Easter Service on Saturday night at our church. I tee off at 10:02 and the last group is off after 12:30. We have 68 golfers going on the away tournament.
I left my driver at the club today to have a new grip installed. I had worn it out along the thumb line. I'll pick it up Wednesday night as I will be at the club to sign up for the Twilight league. I haven't played in that since 2009, but with our move to Roseville in May, I will be able to make it by 5 PM for our weekly matches this Summer.
Well, that's it for this installment. I just finished cooking barbecued chicken and I'm finishing this up while Darla eats the last of her artichoke. Be good to each other and celebrate the death and resurrection of our saviour this weekend. Ciao.
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