San Francisco Giants 2012 World Series Champions!!

Sweep tonight for the Giants in the 2012 World Series. I just got back from Detroit and there are a lot of unhappy Tiger fans at Home Office. We won the first two games while I was at the Manager's meeting and the Detroit fans were completely shocked that the giants were able to get to their ace, Verlander and Panda (Pablo Sandoval) hit three home runs in game one to set the pace for the series. It was more than fun to watch the strong pitching and timely hitting of the Giants. We've already heard how the Tiger's went cold at the wrong time after knocking out the Yankees in four games, but that theory overlooks the dominant pitching performances by the Giants. Well, we've won it twice in the last three years and done it on the strength of our pitching. randy saw it first hand two years ago and the Tiger fans saw it again during this Series. There was a San Francisco fan that tried to get into Comerica Park in Detroit tonight with a broom and the stadium officials told him to lose the broom or leave the stadium. if he was smart, he would have brought a whisk broom in his pocket. I think, given the thug nature of Detroit, that those stadium officials may have saved his life.

The Manager's Meeting was great again this year and my office received a lot of recognition at the Awards Dinner on Friday night. Peter won a Director's Award for being in the top 30 of all Producers in the company. We have 270 producers and Brokers, so that is a prestigious award. Matt and Pete both won awards for being in the top 25 of all producers in new business. We have won awards the last three years for Office of the Year, but with the increase in wind rates in the South (Houston, New Orleans, etc) and Coastal Areas (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida), it is hard to compete from a premium perspective. I have finished out of the money for the last three years in the Manager of the Year award and have lost out to the Houston manager two of the last three years. This year I was very pleased to have my name read for Manager of the year in my division. Well, I was happy until they announced later that Tony had been promoted to a Vice President position. That is my next goal and I will be working hard to reach that summit.

There were a couple of funny instances during the meetings this year. I was standing next to one of our professional underwriters when the opening speech by our CEO was starting. The lobby at home office is a large open space in the middle of the three story building and the people on the second and third floor can look down on the proceedings. All of a sudden there was a loud "whack" and the guy next to me ducked. A water bottle had glanced off his neck and back and was spinning on the floor. i asked him what happened and he said that someone had "smoked" him with a water bottle from upstairs. It turns out that our Environmental Director from Denver had set her water bottle on the ledge of the second story and someone had knocked it off. The CEO was unaware of the water bottle falling from upstairs and the speech went on as planned. If the bottle had hit him in the face or head or fallen directly onto the floor and burst open, it would have been a different outcome.

The second event was on Friday when my office watched the speech from the Henry by our CEO. He tends to read his speeches and they finally talked him into spending $400 for a teleprompter system. during the video of the speech, the office could see the plastic panels that are used in the teleprompter and helps the speaker keep his head up and more engaged with his audience. Bonnie in my office saw the opaque panels and blurted out "Oh my God, he has bullet proof glass surrounding him!"  Uh no, the managers are not all "packing" at the meeting.

I got home about 9:30 on Saturday night and went right into the spa. I really missed the heat and soaking relaxation of the spa while I was gone. I have trouble adjusting to the time change and spend the first few nights tossing and turning. As soon as I do adjust, I'm back to California. I went to bed about 10 PM (1 AM Eastern time) and got up at 7:30 this morning.

I had the Past President's event at the club today and really wanted to play in it, so asked for the first tee time with Neil and off we went. My driver continues to cause me fits and I have little confidence in it. I even teed off with my 3 iron on the first hole and used it on shorter par fours all day. I managed my way around the golf course after going bogey-double bogey on the first two holes and shot a 40+40=80 on the day for a net 70. It would have been even better, but I had a triple bogey 7 on the back nine, backed up by two birdies. My game is not great right now, but obviously I can manage it  to keep my scores low. Well, at least at my home course. Carmel was a little rougher.

Jennifer was in a car accident on Tuesday and I found out about it right before I boarded my plane for Detroit. Jennifer and I had not been in contact because of the issues with Darla, but I called her. She had to go to a 24 hour Emergency because of pain in her neck and shoulders. She smashed into a Hummer that had stopped abruptly in front of her because of an accident. Jennifer could not stoop fast enough and slammed into the Hummer. It totaled her truck, which we had bought her and just spent $1000 to fix when we were there in August. Her Mom flew out to Vegas to be with her and to help her get a new car. She helped her arrange financing for a Hyundai Sonata that has 49,000 miles on it. I don't know the details of the financing, down payment, etc, but we were not able or willing to help out this time around as our $3,000 went up in smoke in the accident. Jennifer did end up calling and talking to Darla and they hashed out their issues. Darla and I are still working on some things with regard to Jennifer's relationship with us and how it sometimes splits us when issues come up. Luckily, Jennifer was on her way to work and did not have Samantha with her when this all went down. I have included some pictures of her new wheels above.

Well, that is it for tonight. It is late as I watched the Giants game before starting the blog tonight. I hope you are all well and living your lives to the fullest. Ciao.

 

Off to the Manager's meeting in Detroit this week. The whole town will be buzzing because of the Detroit Tiger's presence in the World Series. We will have dinner Wednesday night at the Detroit Athletic Club downtown and it will be the first night of the World series. I'm hoping that game will be played in San Francisco as the Giants are still alive playing in the sixth game of the NLCS as I write this and they are ahead 1-0 in the game. They need to win tonight and tomorrow night to move on to the World Series. Oh, wait, they now lead 4-0. Wow.

 

You see the picture of our friends from our Life Group at church, Vance and Terra Lee. We haven't been in the life group for about 5 years, but try to keep up with all of the people that were in our group. Vance and Terra Lee generally go to Sunday Service and we go to Saturday night, so rarely see them. They were at service last night and we caught up with them and invited them to dinner with us. We had a Groupon for a Pizza restaurant not far from church and had a great visit, getting caught up on each other's lives. Vance is a former Pastor from Oregon who now works for an Audi dealership in 'Sacramento. They both teach a Marriage Enrichment class at church and they invited us to join them for the next series in January.

 

Our weather has finally caught up with the calendar and a storm front will move in tomorrow and bring us our first measurable rain since early Summer. There is a Winter storm warning up in the Sierra and we are expecting about an inch of rain out of this system. I spent a portion of the day cleaning out the rain gutters and clearing some of the leaves off of the roof. I had gutter guards installed when I had the new roof put on two years ago, but dirt and debris still gets into the gutters and the downspouts will clog up on the first rain of the year. I also bought and installed new windshield wipers for Darla's Explorer and also fixed the trim on the drivers seat that had worked it's way loose. I had finally mowed the lawn yesterday two weeks after having the lawn aerated and overseeded for the Fall. The new grass had sprung up and was about 3 inches in spots. I set the mower height at 2 1/2 inches and cut the lawn and trimmed it. Today I trimmed a few of the bushes and then put down another application of fertilizer in preparation for the rain that is coming.

 

I leave for Detroit on Tuesday and Matt will go with me this year. I had Anthony along last year and that didn't work out so great for me. If Matt leaves, I will no longer allow employees to go to Home Office. In truth Matt is locked in pretty good with us. He is my Director of Branch Operations and a member of the Accelerated Management Program with the company. He is enrolled at UC Davis in their MBA program and we are paying his way. I keep close to him and he is happy with his position in the organization and can do the math. Pete and I are both in our 50's and Matt is 29. He is the future of our branch. We have a 10 AM flight to Denver and then change planes for the trip to Detroit. I will be home Saturday night.

 

I got out with Darren, Boyd and Neil this weekend and we played the Timber Creek Country Club in Roseville. My driver is still giving me issues, but I was able to use the 3 iron I bought with the Rifle X shafts on the shorter holes and managed a 42+42=84 in spite of getting into some tough spots with my driver. I can hit the 3 iron about 225 yards off the tee and can find the middle, so if the hole is 375 yards or less, I'll use the 3 iron to tee off. I will play in the Past President's event on Sunday next week when I get home. I sent off the handicap information to Neil today for the event and also sent him a report of the course handicaps for each player in case he adds anyone during the week.

 

Darla had Alicia and Lucas over today as Don is off to Las Vegas for some medical convention this week and flew out this morning. She wanted to get out of the house and visited with Darla while I watched the Dallas game this morning and worked outside. They stated until it was time for his nap and then she drove him home.

 

I haven't heard much from Jennifer lately. I had asked her to reach out to Darla and talk to her about some things that came up while we were in Las Vegas. She ended up sending her a text, but has yet to call like I asked. I don't plan to call her until she follows through on this.

 

Well, I am writing this looking at the NFL game and the NLCS game (5-0 Giants in the 5th). There isn't much news after our trip last weekend. I will check in with you after the trip this week. i hope you are all well. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from Vito's in Pacific Grove

Our annual trip to the Monterey Bay area

 

We are back from a glorious weekend in Carmel, Pacific Grove, Monterey and the Carmel Valley area. The weather was perfect, the friends were an absolute joy, the food was tremendous, even our hotel was something both Darla and I really enjoyed. The golf on the other hand was historically bad for me. Darla and I stayed at a little Inn (Sunset Inn) on Asilomar in Pacific Grove that features 6 tri-plexes, all recently remodeled with fireplaces, 40 inch flat screen TVs, wood floors, Italian tile bathrooms and large overstuffed beds. The rooms were not large, but came with a refrigerator and a nice big closet, a window seat to store your belongings and a freshly remodeled look with earth tone colors. We loved it.

 

I played golf with an agent at his club in Rancho Murieta on Friday morning while Darla went to court for her job. I played relatively well there, shooting an 83. Little did I know what the weekend held in store for me. I bought lunch for the guys and then drove by the office to pick up an Australian bush hat that I had ordered for my head. i have to keep the sun off my ears or I will end up like Evander Holyfield after Mike Tyson finished gnawing on him..or Dad.  The hat is wide brimmed and made to be able to roll up and it springs back to it's regular shape. The hat was $55 on line and I am loathe to roll it up, but nice to know I could if I wanted to.

 

I picked Darla up at 2:30 and we were off to Pacific Grove. The drive over was uneventful, but I pulled over in Santa Nella and had Darla drive the rest of the way. With my Achilles heel injury being on my right foot, it gets painful after long periods sitting in the car with my foot on the gas pedal. We got into Pacific Grove a little before 6:00 PM and then made plans to meet the gang for dinner in Monterey on Alvarado Street. We met, Neil and Lilly, Rick and Jan, and Tim and Sue for dinner. Darla and I shared a salad and each had a bowl of clam chowder for dinner.

 

Saturday, we were up early and off to breakfast at Toasties in Pacific Grove. Toasties is one of the best breakfast restaurants in the Monterey Bay area and the owner almost gagged when we told her 12, but she was able to accommodate us. Boyd and his wife, Jo, met us for breakfast before we headed into the 17 mile Drive and Poppy Hills. Poppy will close in April for 16 months while they renovate the course, changing several of the holes' layouts and putting in a new irrigation system. The course is 25 years old and the management figures that the system has reached it's useful life. They want to lessen some of the severe doglegs to allow the course to unfold more naturally and they will redesign all greens as well as the clubhouse, restaurant and restrooms. 5 of the holes will be completely changed and all of the holes will have the mounds in the fairways removed and additional waste areas added to the course. I look forward to seeing the changes in 2015. This will be our last shot at poppy until 2015. I did go out with a bang, shooting my highest score in 20 years with a 51+53=104. I even took a 10 on the par 5 9th that I birdied last year. I did have a closest to the pin on number 17, so all was not lost.

 

Saturday night, we all gathered at Vito's Restaurante in Pacific Grove. Darryl will remember it as we ate there with the gang last year and the boys came up to visit as well. Vito and his ex-wife, Sara, run the restaurant and Sara says Vito is a much better business partner than a husband. I read between the lines on that and gather that he is quite good in the kitchen, but not so much in the bedroom. Vito is about 60 and a body builder. No offense to my Godson, Chris, but I think the steroids have given Vito a tiny peppino. Vito came out and serenaded us with "Volare" and "That's Amore" and we had a great time. There were about 20 of us there Saturday night. Believe it or not, Darla forgot her camera this trip and I am waiting to get pictures from Neil sent to me of the dinner. I did take a few pictures of the two courses on my cell phone (Carmel Valley Ranch and Poppy) which I've included above. Bob Pando came out to play this year and stayed over Saturday night and had dinner with us, which was great. He took a picture of Darla and I with Vito and Sara and completely cut off Darla and my heads. Bob's daughter is a photographer and she didn't apparently learn the craft from Bob. Vicki was in Southern California with the grand kids.

 

Sunday, Darla and I picked up Boyd at the Lighthouse Lodge next door at 7:30 and we headed off to Carmel Valley to have breakfast with the other golfers at the Black Bear Diner. It is one of our favorite diners and we always eat at the one in Vegas. Alas, the Black Bear in Carmel Valley closed and reopened in Monterey. We had ten people joining us for breakfast and the joint was closed!. We quickly scrambled and found a great little breakfast place on Carmel Valley Road called the Wagon Wheel. We met Bob, Rick, Jan and Tim there and ate before our 9:30 tee time.

 

I played marginally better on Sunday, but was still struggling with my driver, hitting my first shot out of bounds and my second tee shot into a grove of trees before finishing with a 7 on the par 4. I shot 45 on the front and 48 on the back for a 93, but had to finish birdie -par to manage that feat. It was a difficult weekend on the golf course and I think I need a break. Oh, I'm not going to take one, but I probably need one.

 

Darla and I left Carmel Valley about 4:30 and stopped for gas in Marina on the way out of town. As I pulled out of the gas station and on to the freeway, I hit the clear trip button on the dash board as I have to track my mileage because the gas gauge is screwy. When I cleared the trip, the entire dashboard went out. The speedometer, lights, RPM and oil, temperature and gas gauges all went dark. We were in fairly heavy traffic and I decided to wait until we got to the 156-Highway 101 split to pull off. We found a little shopping center and I parked outside the Auto Zone parts store to check to see if a fuse had blown. I opened the fuse box in the engine compartment, getting my hands black as I went and found that the fuse was intact. I inspected it, put it back in, started up the car and all of the gauges were working again. We decided to have dinner at a little Chinese food restaurant and I was able to get cleaned up.

 

We got home at 9 PM after enduring about a 30 minute slowdown on I-5 between Stockton and Sacramento because of a car accident. It was cleared to the side of the road by the time we passed it, but the rubberneckers were still holding things to a crawl. It picked right up once we got past .I had hoped to get the scores in prior to the 9 PM deadline for the GHIN handicapping system, but I missed that deadline. The indexes (handicaps) now change on the 1st and the 15th of each month.

 

Well, that was our weekend. I will try to get some of Neil and Lilly's pictures added once they are sent along to us. I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for a good week. Be well and be nice to each other. Ciao.

 

Back from a day up in Lake Tahoe and the Resort at Squaw Creek. It was a tremendous day weather-wise with temperatures in the mid sixties after an overnight low in the 20's and a slight frost on the greens and fairways. The course doesn't take tee times until 10 AM because of the frost concerns, so we got off right on time with our 11:00 AM tee time. I met Neil, Tim and Pamas at the Park n Ride in Roseville at 8:00 AM and we packed up my 300 and we were on the road and up to the resort by 9:30. We had breakfast up at the resort and then hit some balls and putted before teeing off. The front nine is narrow and hilly and I struggled over the first seven holes before finishing the front nine par-birdie for a 49. The back nine is a bit more open and although still pretty up and down, I managed a 41 for a 90. This is my second straight round of bad front nine and good backside as I shot a 51+40=91 on Tuesday in our Day on the Oaks tournament. We had a great time today. Tim struggled to over 100 and Neil shot a 95, but Pamas shot a 79 and had four birdies during his round. The guy can play golf.

The Tuesday tournament started off a little weird as the Pro in the shop took a shot at me when I was checking in and asked me if I was skipping work to play. I told him that I was going in after the round. He told me in a loud voice that it must suck to have to go into an office every day and that he just pinches himself when he wakes up knowing that he gets to go to the golf course every day. I was pretty taken aback as the other guys in the shop all laughed.The sarcastic side of me took over and I blurted out, "When I get my paycheck every two weeks I pinch myself when I realize that I 'm not paid like a Municipal golf pro." The laughter was deafening as I walked out of the shop.

We finally got our spa fixed on Thursday and we have been in it every night since. Darla was in Lodi last night and today for a big street fair and we both got home about 6 PM today and spent twenty minutes catching up while we soaked in the spa. My Achilles heel was pretty sore after the round and that was complicated by the 90 minute drive home with my right foot on and off the gas pedal as we drove home in the Holiday traffic.

Oh, yeah, tomorrow is Columbus Day, when state and federal workers all take the day off. also funny, the powers that be in Washington want to rename the day Indigenous Persons day. I just call it regular people have to work day also known as Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Day, Cesar Chavez Day, et al.

I had a rough week at work and had to let one of my employees go after five years. It was a messy situation and it took a lot out of me. Suffice it to say the employees that remain are on the same page as I am and we will continue to grow the office and be successful. We finished the month up 16% over the year before and beat our budget handily. I hosted a barbecue lunch on Friday featuring brisket, roast turkey, mac n cheese, beans, salad and fresh baked rolls. It was outstanding and we are off to another good month in October.

I am off to Monterey and Pacific Grove on Friday and won't be back until later Sunday night and the blog will be late. I'll try to get to this on Monday of next week. I know this is short, but so is the news that is fit to share, so I'll wrap this up. Be well and have a good week. Ciao.