Back from Las Vegas

 

Back from Sin City with great memories and a good visit with Jennifer and Samantha. Jennifer has woken up and smelled the coffee and realizes that she cannot leave Samantha and has to work out her debt issues the old fashioned way, with hard work and perseverance. Our trip was great and the venue at Circus Circus was perfect for Miss Samantha as we got to enjoy the circus acts, midway and games. It is far enough from the busy section of the strip to actually feel like you are at a resort rather than just another notch along Las Vegas Boulevard. the weather was HOT (it is the desert after all), but there was some wind and even overcast on Saturday as a small band of monsoonal moisture moved over the Vegas area.

 

Our trip started out early on Friday morning as we were up at 3:45 for the drive to the airport and our 6 AM flight. Even leaving that early it was almost too late as we got stuck in the luggage line, the shuttle line and then the security line. we finally made it through about 5;45 and were running to catch our plane. We got the absolute back seats in the plane and were surrounded by 30 something revellers who were hooting and hollering at 6 AM. They started drinking Jack Daniels and soon their language devolved into cursing and the guy in front of me kept going into the back kitchen area and stealing bottles of wine. The flight attendants were all busy and he kept getting up and putting the little wine bottles into his hat and bringing them back to this gang. He thought he was quite the Man and at one point, one of his friends leaned over and apologized to Darla and I as we were trying to sleep. The thug leaned over and yelled, "You don't apologize for partying, dude!! Vegas, Vegas, Vegas!" All very immature and a little embarrassing. His wife was turning 30 and he was emotionally turning 14 apparently. 

 

We got into Vegas at 7:30 and Jennifer was just getting off her graveyard shift at work. She laid down to sleep and Darla and I got the rental car and headed to breakfast. We went to he Black Bear Diner and then out to buy groceries for the room (fruit, water, chips and snacks). We then drove back to the strip and parked in the garage and took a nap, waking up drenched in sweat and running the a/c. We finally checked into the hotel at noon and then headed over to see Jennifer and Samantha. Jennifer was having her truck worked on by a friend and would join us for dinner, and we packed up Sam and headed over to the Circus Circus and we went to the pool. Jennifer continued with her car problems and had to cancel dinner with us. They finally got the car running and she went in to work. We went to the pizzeria at Circus Circus with Samantha and then went up to see some circus acts. We ended the night with some ice cream and Sam was all smiles. We told her that she could have ice cream if she ate all of her pizza and she hugged us both.

 

Jennifer came over to the Circus Circus about 1:00PM on Saturday and we spent the afternoon together. We took Samantha out to breakfast and then went shopping for a new dress and shoes for her. We bought her the blue dress with the blue hair band.

 

Saturday afternoon we also met Linda, Jennifer's next door neighbor and her daughter, Ashley. Jennifer is getting out of her apartment and they are moving in together into a three bedroom apartment. Sam and Ashley will share the master bedroom and Linda and Jennifer will each have their own room. Ashley is 13 and loves Samantha. Linda is 52, a former fitness instructor who is now disabled because of back and neck injuries. Linda is willing to watch Samantha for Jennifer and save her over $350 a month in child care. They will also save $175 each on rent and share expenses.

 

Linda and  Ashley came over and we all relaxed by the pool before heading to dinner at the Rock and Rita's cafe in the Circus Circus. That is a picture of Samantha and Jennifer on the commode at the entrance to the restaurant. We went up to see some circus acts after dinner and Jennifer treated Sam to some midway games. Jennifer tried to pop a balloon with a dart and when she couldn't, Sam tried and popped the balloon to win a Shrek stuffed animal! They tried skee ball and those blasted rings that you try to throw onto a Coke bottle that never works. We were leaving and there was a game that had rubber chickens that you had to launch from a catapult into pots turning on a stage. We all tried and failed and then Ashley won Samantha a little stuffed animal that was her favorite. She kept showing us and telling us that "Ashley won this for me!" At one point Jennifer called the guy over and said she was missing one of the chickens, it was three tries for a dollar. It turns out Sam grabbed it and though it was her prize.

 

Jennifer had to go into work again and she was back by about 5:30 Sunday morning. We all got up and headed to breakfast and then to church. Jennifer went to the church on Easter and Linda wants them all to start going on a regular basis. We went back to her apartment afterward where we planned to spend the day relaxing by the pool before going to dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy on the strip. Jennifer got called into work and we had left her truck at the casino garage. I ended up driving her to North Las Vegas where she had to pick up a "sniffer" (a sensor for gasses). I then drove her to her office where she picked up a truck and then headed over to her warehouse to get 2 blowers for use clearing out a vault where communication lines are installed. I headed back to the apartment about three and Jennifer was back by 4:30.  Jennifer thought she would have to work Sunday night, but the job got called off, so she was able to hang with us after dinner.

 

Monday, we were driving to breakfast with Jennifer and Sam following us and Jennifer's car started acting up again. She wanted to take it to a mechanic a friend of her knew, but I told her to take it to Firestone. They found a loose ignition wore and tested the electrical to find a bad fuel pump. I had them replace it with a new one and paid the bill for her. She promised to pay me back, but I will stand in line behind her other creditors. we dropped the car and I took them to lunch at Marie Callendar's. We ate lunch and then had them bring Jennifer a cupcake with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday. We went to the pool for about an hour and then went back to the apartment to watch a movie (Tangled) with Samantha. We then had to head to the airport for our flight back.

 

It was a good trip. Sam is doing well. Jennifer is struggling financially as most single Mom's do, but her work has two new contracts that should keep them busy through the Winter. She has started night school and is back on days at work with weekends off as the fiber side of the shop has a new big contract and that is Jennifer's specialty. We are praying that the relationship with Linda and her daughter will be a good one for Jennifer and Sam and she will be able to dig out of the hole she is in. Jennifer and Sam head to Los Angeles this weekend and w=Jennifer will run with her Mom in a half marathon and Samantha will go to Disneyland for the first time and have lunch at  the castle on Saturday with Tinkerbell (or some other character). It should be fun for her.

 

Well, it is late on Wednesday night. Darla is due back from a party soon and I worked on the lawn, pool and garden this evening and haven't even eaten dinner. I should have something light before bed. I hope you are all well. We miss you. By the way, did you see that I hit 10,000 visits on the blog? Pretty amazing over the last 10 years. My first blog post was December 16, 2002. Ciao.

VEGAS next week

I will be happy to be in Vegas next week. Jennifer has been having a rough time of it lately. Her hours have been spotty at work and she has had a tough time making her bills. She feels like she just can't catch a break and it's been hard for her to be on her own completely with no one else to help with the bills. She has been enticed with an opportunity to go overseas for several months and make some good money, but conflicted with leaving Samantha behind. She is scared and stressed and needs some time with family to sort things out. I will be there to listen, give advice if it is asked for and just to love her and Sam unconditionally. I feel for her stuck in Vegas with John and his family entrenched in Sin City, a city that has really felt the pinch of unemployment, the housing crash and a slow economy. The failed policies of Barrack Hussein Obama are felt more keenly in a town like Vegas, a city that has little to no economic activity outside gaming and the infrastructure that supports it. She has needed our help to get by recently and is embarrassed and frustrated and wants a quick fix to a problem that has been long in the making. We will sit and talk next weekend.


Hopefully a change is coming in November, but it is hard to be positive as this administration has been one large teat, using our kid's inheritance as a sucker for the unemployed, the welfare recipients and even the big banks that created their own problems. Obama has the lower class, the blacks, the Latinos and the government employees in his hip pocket and it is a long, uphill battle for the Republicans. The answer to our problems is support for small and mid sized businesses that will be the engine that drives employment and prosperity in this company, not taxation of the rich and middle class. That doesn't work and our spending policies are out of control. The current administration is a serious concern for the future of this country as a super power. The one thing keeping us alive right now is the US dollar's use as a trading currency. That is in real jeopardy as China, Saudi Arabia and other countries are refusing to accept dollars as a trading currency instead using the Euro to complete their international transactions. Most oil is now priced in Euros as OPEC has abandoned the US dollar as a trading currency. It's scary and you wonder if the Manchurian candidate Obama is reeling us all into his plan to destroy America. This is all documented in the new movie "2016" that is having a limited showing in cities with a population of thinking Americans. It is getting heavy play in conservative areas like the Midwest and south. The Republican ticket may not be perfect, but the alternative may be the end of America as a super power in world politics.

That is a sunny beginning to a blog entry, eh?  I have serious doubts about the intentions of one Barrack Hussein and see ObamaCare as a huge ticking bomb that will implode in this country and take away all of the democratic and American freedoms that this country represents. Once a government begins to dictate to the people and we lose our free will, we become servants to the government, instead of the government being there to serve us. We have veered way off on the wrong tack and we are drifting toward the rocks. I pray that we can save this country and the future of our kids and grand kids before it is too late. Obama is popular, but so was Hitler and Mussolini.

We had an interesting sermon this morning on the perils of ignoring the teachings of the Bible and doing things our own way. Pastor Rick had an interesting point that Buddhism mirrors the thoughts and viewpoints of Siddhartha, Mormonism follows the thoughts and viewpoint of Joseph Smith and that the Muslim faith follows the teachings and viewpoint of Muhammed. The only religion that has a differing viewpoint is Christianity, it teaches good and evil and warns against having false gods in our lives. CS Lewis wrote: "Anything we make into a god eventually becomes a demon." So true.  All of this ties into what is happening in America today. Moral and religious confusion leads to war and civil war. Civil war leads to loss of life and loss of life leads to loss of personal rights. We are traveling down a slippery slope right now and need to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

I'll climb down off my soap box now. I saw Neil yesterday and we played golf together. We rode together in the same cart and I got the Reader's Digest version of his vacation. they had a total blast up in Vancouver with Dad and Shirley and he couldn't stop raving about them as a couple and as hosts. They got to see Langley and enjoyed the car show in Cloverdale immensely. Neil was retelling the story of driving the 44 Mercury to the car show and how careful he was and then the crush of humanity as they left the show later and how his heart rate spiked as   he drove the several miles back to Surrey. He loved the car show and the time spent with Dad that day. Shirley and Lilly took off and shopped the stores of Cloverdale and the whole gang ate both breakfast and lunch in Cloverdale. Dad and Shirley talked them into staying an extra night and they got to take the SkyTrain into Vancouver and saw the steam clock and other attractions. Neil was tickled pink with the trip. another highlight for them was Mount Rushmore that Neil said was a stirring sight at night when they turn the light on the mountain and play the National Anthem. They enjoyed Yellowstone National Park, but it was really smoky from the forest fires. Neil asked one of the rangers when the smoke would clear and the answer was "not until the first snowfall". Wow.

We have a line of smoke that encircles the valley, but the high level winds have cleared out our skies and it is blue above us, but you can see a ring of smoke to the West and north of us. It is odd.

I did play golf three times this week. Wednesday I played in a scramble event following a Continuing Education event at Timber Creek golf course. The golf started at 1PM and took 5 hours to complete. There wee about 22 teams, but only about 15 actually finished and turned in cards. I played with Gary and Stan and Vicky. I had planned to play with Gary and hook up with two others, but I saw Stan and Vicky when I was registering them and got us all in the same group. We shot a 66 and took second place, which is a $50 gift card. The marketing rep will stop by this week and drop off our winnings. There were only two ladies in the group and Vicky won the closest to the pin for women and one of Pete's agents won the ladies long drive.

Thursday I played in our twilight league. We only have two weeks left and Steve and I are in second place. We are three points behind first, but don't need to move up as the final night will be 1 vs 2 and so on, so we need to stay in second to get a shot at winning the league. I shot 39 on Thursday and Steve shot 42.

Saturday I played power Hour with Neil, Bob and Darren and shot a nice 36+41=77. I thought I had a chance to put a really low round together, but ran out of steam on the back side. I will play in a Tuesday day event this week and twilight league Thursday before boarding the plane Friday morning for Vegas. I decided to play in the Tuesday event when I found out that one of my carriers is coming in that afternoon and wants to have dinner that night. We will go out to the Chinese Food restaurant in the Thunder Valley casino.

I will add the final piece to my work puzzle tomorrow when Kennah starts. She will be an endorsement specialist and eventual assistant to Connie, my newest underwriter. Connie is putting some serious constraints on when and how Kennah will be used as she will be training her and wants to make sure she isn't inundated with work. This will be a real boon to the office as several of the teams are buried in endorsements.

Well, the blog will be on vacation next week, but will return with pictures of Jennifer and Samantha next week. I hope you are all doing well and will add pictures next week. Be well. Ciao.

Kind of sorry I joked about the Dog Days of August last week

Heat. It can be oppressive and relentless and we are on our fourth straight day with a high temperature over 105 degrees. It seems that no matter how moderate the Summer has been, it will always have a stretch of days over 100 degrees. I know it's not Texas or Kansas City with heat and humidity and our humidity has averaged about 30% (It's a dry heat!), but HOT is HOT. Our pool is sitting at just below 90 degrees and it is truly a bit of a bath. Luckily the 90 degrees is only the top foot of water and it is much cooler when you dunk yourself completely. The forecast for the rest of this week is 107 to 103 degrees through Friday and perhaps cooling down to the mid nineties on Saturday.

Heat and golf don't mix well, but my game lately has been as hot as the weather. I played in our twilight league on Thursday night. It was 106 degrees when we teed off and the sky was hazy with smoke from the Belden fire up near Lake Almanor. I went out in the heat and double bogeyed the first hole and then kicked it into gear, going 1 under par over the next eight holes to shoot a 37. I finished birdie birdie and anchored our team to a win over the second place team 14 1/2 to 5 1/2 to move us back into first place. We play the third place team on Thursday. My partner had a touch of the flu and had a wardrobe malfunction before the round, whereby he had to have his wife bring him a new pair of socks, underwear and shorts. You will have to do the math. I pulled into the parking lot and he was standing with his shirt untucked and a sock and shoe off, looking like death warmed over. I guess you can say I carried the team as he shot a 43.

Yesterday was the Rose Cup team qualifying tournament and again the heat was on with a day at 105 degrees. We teed off at 8:55, but it was 100 degrees when we walked off the course. I shot 40+40=80 and my net 70 didn't qualify for the team. There was a 65, two 66's and a 67 that made the four man squad. I finished 6th out of the 14 contenders in my flight with my 70.

Today was just a Power Hour round at 6:45 AM and Darren and I decided to move up to the white tees and play with Boyd up there. Boyd is 72 years old and he managed to shoot his age today with a 34+38=72. I shot 38+40=78 and Darren shot 90. It was nice to get done before the heat hit  and we were off the course at 11 o'clock. Darren stopped Boyd at one point and told him that he was standing too close to the ball on the tee. Boyd just about had me in tears when He looked at Darren and said, "I've really lost my touch if I have to take golf advice from you, Darren."

Darla had a Silpada party at her Mom's house on Saturday morning and then a Silpada gig at a winery up in El Dorado. I was scheduled to go with her and was all set and suddenly, she had one of her reps replace me. She told me Friday I was out and left to my own devices on Saturday night. I took a trip out to the casino for a spot of video poker and some dinner. I took $140 and spent about 90 minutes at a quarter machine and walked away with $363. I had dinner at the Beach Hut Deli, a nice local chain that is now part of the food court at Thunder Valley. I was home by 8:30 and watched some of the Olympics and Sports Center until Darla got home at ten o'clock. Darla had a booth at a wine event at the winery that had music, food and tasting. She was in line behind an older guy and he had two hot dogs that he put two huge scoops or pickle relish on. Darla commented to him that it was a LOT of relish and the guy went off on her about not needing another mother and he knew what he wanted to put in his mouth, etc. She was totally put off by it.

I worked on the pool, cleaning the tile on Saturday afternoon and it is a time consuming and tedious process. I use muriatic acid and a brush to clean the calcium deposits off the tile. As I was working my way around the perimeter of the pool, I got a cramp in my right calf and it tightened up like a steel ball. I dropped the acid and the brush and limped over to the steps and worked out the cramp. Ouch!

Today we just relaxed on the pool and I sat for awhile in the air conditioning and watched the PGA Championship and the Giants game and slept for a little bit. Darla was tired from her busy weekend and a massage she had at noon. I was tired from being up early and all of the sun I had over the two days golfing.

I hired two new entry level employees this week. Both are young, recent college graduates and will bring a lot to the team. One of them, the new data entry person starts tomorrow and the other, an endorsement specialist, will start next Monday. I am up to 23 people in the office now and we are on track to do $20,000,000 in premium writings this year. They would prefer me to do about $1,000,000 per employee, but my goal for 2013 is $25,000,000 and I need to get the horses ready for that run.

Well, again, there is not much news around here. We talked to Dad and Shirley tonight and Neil and Lilly had a great trip to Surrey and Dad and Shirley enjoyed their company. Neil and Lilly had a great time. Here is a note from them to us: "Hi Ken, Lil & I are in Edmonton, a bit of a let down after the fantastic weekend we had with your folks in Vancouver. You are absolutely the most blessed man I know of to have such gracious and caring parents as you. We were treated to one of the greatest and most unforgettable visits that Lil and I have ever experienced." Pretty high praise from two people that I greatly respect. Have a GREAT week. Ciao.

The Dog Days of August

Strangely, in spite of the calendar, we had a cloudy day Saturday that started out cool (in the 50's) and ended up overcast with a sprinkling of rain which hit while we were at church. It was cool when we teed off on Saturday and I had a light jacket on for the first two holes.  The weather did turn back to seasonal today and we were back close to 100 degrees and a cloudless blue sky.

Darla and the boys went up to Paradise today and surprised Earl and Frances at church. They all went out to lunch afterward and Earl pulled Darla aside and told her that they made her mother's day. They all went to the house after lunch and visited. Darla was home by about 5:45 and met me on the pool.

I missed the trip because I had a tournament at the club today. It was the two man best ball blind draw tournament. I ended up with a partner, who happens to be the office manager for one of my big retailers. I played poorly on the front side and had problems with my putter early on, three putting four of the first nine holes. I pulled it together and had a strong backside, shooting 44+39=83. Ron, my partner, struggled and shot a 91 with his 16 handicap for a 75 net. I had a 74 net with my 9 strokes. My handicap did go up to 9.1 on August 1st and I now get 10 strokes at Diamond Oaks, but this tournament used the 7/15 handicaps because the deadline was last Friday. I don't know what score Ron and I ended up with as I headed home to get in the pool and cool off. I'll find out tomorrow when Joe sends me the scores to post. Joe is filling in for Neil as he is on his Canada vacation.

I did go and play Woodcreek on Saturday for Power Hour and got the $30 green fee and cart special. I played an okay round of golf and shot 42+41=83, only to be usurped by my playing partners, Matt (75), Pamas (79) and even Darren (81). Darren gets 16 strokes and played really well on the back nine with a 39. It was nice to be done early, although Darla was out with Darren's wife, Marisa, signing her up for Silpada. Darren and I stayed at Woodcreek in the sports bar and had lunch and a beer. Darren set up another Power Hour tee time next Sunday. I have a qualifier on Saturday with a tournament that will decide the Rose Cup team for Diamond Oaks. I agreed to play on Sunday as well, but only because it will help Darla with her Silpada business. At least, that's my story. I will be done by close to 11 on Sunday.

Work continues to go well and we were up about 14% in July over the same month last year. I promoted my main typist to an Underwriter Assistant position and I have been doing interviews for the last three weeks for an entry level position. I had narrowed the candidates to two. One young lady graduated in June from Westmont in Santa Barbara in only three years. She had so many honors classes in high school that she entered college as a sophomore. Very smart girl. The other is one of my good agent's daughter. She just graduated from Sac State with a degree in Communications. I had both of them Skype with my boss in San Francisco on Thursday. Both of the ladies did really well, were articulate and engaging and it was really hard to make a decision between the two of them. Harvey and i talked about it on Thursday night and he asked me if I wanted to hire both of them. I'm a big bottom line guy and told him that I wasn't sure and wanted to mull that over. When I shared it with Pete, he almost came unglued and wanted me to call Harvey back and hire them both. He just finished a $95,000 income month, which is our biggest individual month ever. I told him what I would need from the office from a bottom line income standpoint to hire both and he agreed that we can make it. I slept on it Thursday night and Harvey and I decided to make offers to both ladies. I'll know tomorrow if we will add both of them to staff.

The boys are over tonight and have me watching some of the Olympics and it is interesting. we watched Misty May Treanor and Kristi Powell crush the Italians, we watched some women's diving and now are watching the 100 meter men's semifinals. Again, the Olympics aren't high on my radar, I've been watching the Giants play lately as they work toward the end of the regular MLB season and a spot in the playoffs. I have watched a few events, some swimming and the women's gymnastics events, but it's too much and it's not live. If by chance, I've seen the results, I don't waste my time.

Daniel is busy working on some blueprints fro his job in the Bay Area. He is already talking about the fact that he'd like to move to the Bay Area if his boss can guarantee him at least 30 hours a week. He will show her what he is made of before broaching the subject.

Well, not a whole lot of new news this week. Darla and I are really looking forward to our trip to Vegas at the end of the month. Have a great week. Ciao.