New Year 2013 is Upon Us

The New Year hits on Tuesday and in looking back over 2012, it was a really good year for us. My business really came alive during the year and the hires that I have made after losing my top producer to a competitor have brought some top notch college graduates to the office. Our move in April allowed me to occupy a first class office building, which has helped with recruiting and with the general mood and atmosphere in the office. It is nice to work in a really nice office building and we have picked up our game since the move. I have one day left in December and we are already up over 55% in premium over December of 2011. Our goals for 2013 are pretty lofty, but doable with an overall uptick of 13.3% for the year in revenue.

2012 was also a very good year for Darla and I personally as we saw our two sons graduate from Cal Poly SLO and get on to jobs of their own. They are not yet working in their fields, but they are active and contributing to society by paying taxes to allow Obama to continue to shift wealth from workers to bums and drug addicts. How proud we all are to be part of the enabling of the "don't want to works", also know as committed Democrats. It will be a long four years, but I have already shifted a big portion of my retirement into precious metals for the coming problems in the economy brought on by rampant overspending of the government. I hope things continue to pick up.  I see it with my business as some of the infrastructure contractors (remodelers, communications, etc) are beginning to ramp up. It is my opinion that Obama does not want to gulf the fiscal cliff). He will blame Republicans for his own failure (what else is new) and then will lower taxes just for the middle and lower classes and extend unemployment (again) for the hundreds of thousands of workers that are out of work and not really looking for a job, but collecting unemployment (the so called "long-term" unemployed). It is getting old with this President. One of the drones of Obama, Bill Maher, said that he worries about the American Public because they aren't very smart. Proof positive based on the reelection of Barrack Hussein Obama.

We had our annual New Years dinner on Saturday and both of our guests had leads for David. Camille is the head of a 1000 person call center with PG&E and has David signing up on their recruiting site and using her as a referral. Rick has used the services of one of the largest architectural firms in Roseville as a contractor with the e state of California and knows the principal well. He asked for a copy of David's resume to forward to him. Networking is good.

The Cowboys laid an egg again in a "do or die" game in the NFL and it gets old. Jerry Jones stubbornly sticks to his guns as a GM and spend all off season trying to fix holes in the organization only to overpay for talent, ending up with broken down offensive linemen that can't stop false starting or holding and even when cheating, can't keep the defenders from raining on Romo. Randy has been off the Romo bandwagon for awhile, but statistically Romo is a top five quarterback  and my problem is that I live in Northern California and have watched the side show that is Alex Smith for years. He is a mediocre talent that can't throw the ball beyond about 12 yards with any accuracy. When he is "on" he throws for 175 yards and one touchdown. Romo averages 300 yards and two touchdowns a game. He needs a better offensive line and they need to improve their defensive line, especially their end play. The team needs a makeover, but quarterback is not the problem. The GM and his fumbling of the draft and free agency is the biggest issue.

Darla and I talked to Samantha on Face Time tonight with Jennifer. She showed us all of her toys and presents she got for Christmas and her birthday, including the princess castle that we bought for her.  She took us on a tour of her bedroom and the boys also bought her an art program that has a camera and attaches to your TV. You take a picture and then can trace it on your paper. She took a picture of herself and had it on her TV. It was great. She hasn't traditionally done well on Skype, but she did really well on the Face Time, which is on the iphone system. Jennifer and I both have iphones and we were able to hook it up tonight.

Our weather has finally turned for the better. We added another 4 inches of rain this last week and we are now up to 85% of our total annual rainfall which takes us through June of next year. The weather finally broke Saturday afternoon. I played golf Saturday under the threat of rain. It was overcast, but the rain never did materialize. I shot a surprise 39+40=79 at Diamond Oaks and took $9 from my friends. Boyd shot 84 and Darren had a 92. I will play golf on Tuesday at Diamond Oaks with the weekly group and then play Woodcreek on Saturday with my weekend group. Darren and I spotted a couple of Golden Eagles in the trees by the sixth hole. Darren got the picture above right before the eagle swooped from his branch and grabbed a frog in it's claws and the two of them took off for a meal.

Jennifer will be moving into an apartment in Pleasanton. She has signed a one year lease. It is probably the easiest town in the Bay Area for us to get to because we drive in from I-5 to 580 and down to Pleasanton. We miss all of the traffic in the Bay Area. I can't wait until Samantha gets moved here. The waiting is the hard part.

I work until about mid afternoon tomorrow and then Darla and I will head over to friends tomorrow night to ring in the New Year. It is late after watching the mess that was the Redskin-Dallas game and
I will sign off now to spend the last of the evening with my bride. I wish you all a prosperous and relationship filled new year. Be nice to each other and if need be, draw closer to God. In these days, it is the only thing that keeps me sane, the knowledge that God is in control. Ciao.