Batching it again

 

Greetings from the Animal House. Darla stopped in briefly Monday to say hi before jetting off to Atlanta for a Leadership conference with Silpada. I miss her when she's gone, because, as I've said before, I get off schedule with sleep and eating when she is gone. I've fixed hot dogs three times since she's been gone, had leftovers three times and fixed breakfast for dinner once. We were watching House of Cards on Net Flix the other night and the two main characters, the Vice President (played by Kevin Spacey) and his wife (played by Robin Wright) sleep in separate bedrooms. Darla made the comment that we don't do that and never will. I reminded her that lately, we had been as she'd been gone so much. She gave me The Look.

 

I also hosted Poker at my house Friday night. I served sliced ham and turkey with swiss cheese and cheddar cheese, pepperoncini's, onions, pickles, lettuce, Fritos, and a variety of rolls and rye and wheat breads. I bought enough for leftovers ( I thought), but the seven guys in attendance devoured everything in sight, including a whole bag of reduced fat Oreos and two bags of Corn Nuts. Traditionally the host does not win on poker night for some reason, but I bucked that trend with a smooth $90 in winnings by the end of the night. you can see the pile of change in front of the empty seat above.

 

Jennifer also posted a picture of Sam and her new bike on Facebook and I grabbed it for the blog. She looks really happy in the picture and is really glad to have Mom in Vegas full time again and a new house near her school. She has met some new friends in the neighborhood and loves her new room and big backyard. The picture was taken in the front of her house in Vegas.

 

I did get back to golf this week and played with some agents at Teal Bend in Sacramento on Thursday and with Boyd, Paul and Bryan at Haggin Oaks' Alister Mackenzie Course in Sacramento today. I have another round set up with Bryan and Paul tomorrow at Diamond Oaks. I was a little tentative on Thursday and worried that my back might tighten up. I shot 47 on the front side  and decided to heck with it on the back and shot a 37 for 84. Today was a rougher go and I shot 90 on the Mackenzie track. I think that may be why I want to play again tomorrow. Just to get the taste of this round out of my mouth. Or it could be the 74 degree weather with high thin clouds and a light breeze.

I'm set up to play the first two days of a 54 hole team even next weekend with Neil. The weather right now looks iffy as we have a major storm rolling in on Wednesday that is supposed to bring heavy rain to the valley and snow to the Sierras. Right now it is supposed to last through Friday, but we'll see. I'm taking advantage oft he Spring conditions this weekend. I played in shorts today for the first time since November, so it was extra nice. The November shorts were in Nuevo Vallarta as well.

 

Work continues to befuddle me with issue after issue coming up in the office. It's all employee related and I'm glad to have Shawna, Pete and Matt on the management team when these issues come up. I'm getting through it, but there are bumps in the road when you are successful and we are forging through some of those right now. Our numbers look really good and we were about 90% of the way to our budget goals as of Friday, so looking really good right now.

 

Congratulations to the Canadians for taking gold in the men's and women's hockey at the Olympics. It is a big deal to someone, I guess. Up next, curling.

 

I ran into an old friend from Stockton on Thursday at Teal Bend. I was invited out to play golf with Ron Floyd and two of his peers that mange offices in Stockton and Sonoma. I used to play golf and hang out with Greg from Stockton 25 years ago and we had lost track of each other. He is managing the insurance office in Stockton for the same national agency that Ron works for and Greg invited Matt and I in to his office next week to meet his staff. He wants me to take over all of his Surplus Lines business and Ron put in a really good word on my behalf. It was superfluous as Greg wants me in there because we are friends. The insurance industry is interesting in that as big as it gets, at it's core it is just a relationship business. I look forward to getting together with him and going to his country club in Tracy.

 

I will leave this for now and finish up tomorrow. I wanted to get a head start on it so I could spend more time with Darla tomorrow night.

 

Sunday Late afternoon...Darla is home and it is so good to see my bride after forever away. We went in the spa and the heater had shut off because of inadequate flow. The water has to be changed every three months or so because of the buildup of soap and oils and it is time as the water is cloudy and the flow is low because of the particles in the water. I am draining it right now as the temp was down to 95 degrees (the heater shuts off automatically if the flow is too low). I will refill it tonight and it will be good to go by tomorrow.

 

I did play golf again today and had one of those good news/bad news days. I had three birdies during the round, which is great, but had five double bogeys and shot an 86. I'm not happy with my game right now, but was thrilled to be out in the sunshine and golfing with my buddies. I played with Paul and Bryan again and both of them are unmarried and in charge of their own schedules. I asked Paul to play again yesterday and he asked me if I needed to check with my wife. I said generally yes, but she wouldn't be home until Sunday night. Even better I had a free round today.

 

Darla did change her schedule and was home by three o'clock. She had some issues with her travel arrangements and was able to get home a little earlier, which is nice. we are going to go and get some Mexican food here in a little bit at the restaurant in the shopping center across the street. We went there with Dad and Shirley when they were here and it is one of Jennifer's local favorites.

 

The rain is now expected to arrive on Tuesday and last through next weekend. We will get a little break on Thursday and I am supposed to be up in Tahoe for business that day and looks like I'll have a little window to make the trip.

 

Well, that is it for this week. Darla and I are off for a walk to the restaurant and dinner together. I hope all are well and enjoying this life. It's the only life we get, so don't waste it. Be well. Ciao.

 

 

 



Ohhhh...my aching back!!

Yep. It flared up from last week to a full blown series of back spasms on Monday. I missed work as I couldn't stand up straight or even sit in a chair without suffering debilitating pain. I called Jane, my Bowen therapist, and she was able to get me in at 4:30 PM. I spent Monday going from the bed to the recliner in the living room and making a hash of it every time I got up or sat back down. I fixed myself dinner on Sunday night last week and when I was carrying it to the recliner, had a huge spasm that dropped me to my knees. The hot dogs that I cooked went flying in one direction and I ended up face down on the edge of the sofa. Naturally, the ketchup, mustard, cheese and onion smeared all over the couch cushions. I knew then that I was in for a bad week.

Jane checked her records and the last time I pulled my back out of alignment was in June of 2011 and again it was the left psoas that was inflamed and pulling my spine to the left. I would walk down the hallway and list to the left as I went. This is the reason that a chiropractor is useless to me. I have a congenital defect in my spine where two of the vertebrae did not completely form and it is right where the psoas attaches to the spine. When I have the psoas act up it pulls the spine out of alignment. If I go to a chiropractor, he or she would straighten my spine and the psoas would immediately pull it back out of alignment. So far, Bowen therapy is the only thing I have found that treats the muscles around the spine and it is a Godsend to me. I get Bowen therapy about every eight weeks and it keeps my back stretched and good. Somehow, I did something to throw it out of whack between sessions. I will be back on the massage table after work tomorrow.

Monday night I did go to my therapy session and spent 90 minutes on the table having Jane slowly manipulate the psoas muscle and stretch it out. After 90 minutes Jane went to help me up and my back was spasming something terrible. She rolled me onto my side and I rolled over into a sitting position with my feet hanging off the side of the table. When I stood up, a wrenching pain stabbed me in the back and I went to the ground. I turned white as a sheet and had sweat pouring down my face. Jane thought I was having a stroke and ran to get me a glass of water. The pain slowly subsided when she left the room and I moved to her swivel chair with a back support on it. Bad Move. Trying to get up from that rolling torture chamber just about put me over the edge. I finally grabbed my shoes and what was left of my dignity and headed to my car, where I suffered through another fifteen minutes of unrelenting spasms and pain. I was able to get the car out of her driveway and down to the end of the street, but I was afraid to drive any further in case I had a back spasm as I was approaching a red light or a stopped car. It sounds like I'm being overly dramatic, but anyone who has had severe back pain knows what I'm talking about. The cramped interior of a car is not a place to sit when you are suffering a bad back. I finally made it home and fell onto my bed and slept. For some reason, flat on my back on a mattress is the most comfortable position for me.

I had another employee quit on Monday and I wasn't there to talk to him. I asked Matt to sit down with him and find out what he was up to. Dylan is the employee and he is from New York and moved here in 2012 with his girlfriend. I hired him in December of 2012 as a typist. He worked as an Underwriter in New York, but was happy to take the job. I had moved him to an Assistant Underwriter position, but he has been offered a job with Zurich working on their mid level contractor program. Zurich is not a direct competitor of ours and I have allowed Dylan to stay through this week. He will be working in San Francisco for Zurich. He was definitely underemployed with me.

I already had four candidates for an Underwriting Assistant position coming in on Wednesday to meet with Harvey for second interviews, so figured I'd hire two instead of just one. I was feeling marginally better on Wednesday and had made it through a full day of work on Tuesday. Our first interview was 10 AM and we had one at 11:30, 2 PM and 3:30 PM. All of the candidates are good, but the best is an Underwriter from one of our companies in Los Angeles, USLI. USLI is a Berkshire Hathaway company and they really train their people well. Alison was everything I told Harvey she would be and we hired her and another lady, Jennifer, to replace Dylan. Alison will work as Matt's Assistant as Leah is now in our management trainee program and is one of Matt's Assistants. Harvey also had time to meet with me and go over my employee review and I was very pleased with the high marks that I got from him. Money is a great reward, but so is recognition and Harvey is very generous with his praise for me and the job that I'm doing in Roseville with our branch. Finally, Harvey met with Andy, our Personal Lines KELP (Kaufman Emerging Leadership program) who almost left for Anthony's company last week.

Harvey met with me after talking to Andy and said he was worried that Andy was having second thoughts. He kept saying that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Andy and I had shaken hands on my counteroffer and he gave me his word that he wouldn't listen to any more counteroffers if I could essentially match what they were offering. We got creative and made it happen.

Friday morning I had a meeting with one of the other KELPs in my office and just wanted to make sure he was comfortable with his place in the office and the direction that his job was moving, salary, income, etc. As soon as Ajay left my office, Andy was standing in my doorway. He said that he'd been sick all week and couldn't sleep and that the counter offer to my counter offer was HUGE and that he was accepting it. I just stared at him. Hadn't he just given me his word three days before? I told him that I was calling Harvey and to sit tight and maybe Google the word "INTEGRITY" as he waited. Harvey and I talked to him and asked him how he could be so indecisive? The core of an underwriter is a decision maker. We don't second guess ourselves or waffle about. He said that it was a life changing amount of money. He also told me I was the best boss he had ever known and that he was sorry he had to leave. I told him that was nice and to clean out his desk and vacate the premises.

He sat at his desk with his head in his hands as I started damage control. I offered his position to a five year employee who came over to us as a Personal lines Underwriter when we took over Cambridge Insurance five years ago. Oksana has been a Senior Assistant Underwriter during her time with me, but she is ready for this new challenge in her life. She is Ukrainian and a very hard worker and all of the managers in the office will help her to get up to speed on Marketing in a quick hurry.

I met with Pete and Matt and  then with Oksana and finally had to go over to Andy's desk and gently push him out the door. I shut down his computer rights as soon as he gave me the news. I spent the balance of the day on the phone with his top agents and drafting an announcement of Oksana's promotion.

Friday night, Darla and I met some friends from church for a quick drink and then we were off to the church for a tri tip dinner followed by the comedian Steve Mittleman. Steve is from Los Angeles and had a role in Steve Martin's film, Roxanne as well as been a regular on Jay Leno's tonight show. His bit was hilarious, but the church held him to a strict 45 minute set because of child care. Here he is on You Tube:


Darla is in San Jose this weekend at a Girl's Volleyball Tournament. No, she's not playing, she is selling her jewelry and was there all day yesterday and had over $1750 in sales. She is staying over again tonight, but will be back tomorrow. She is staying with her cousin Brenda.

The Roseville Golf Club had their first NCGA qualifier of the year this weekend and I had to miss it because of my back. It was a Saturday and Sunday event. I was going to wait until Saturday and hit balls and see if I could make a go of it, but decided Wednesday to get a replacement as my back was still so sore. It was really difficult for me to pass it up, but I did the smart thing for a change and my back is all the better for it. It was windy and cold yesterday and the rain came in overnight last night. Today was sunny and nice with a high near 70 degrees. I went over to the club both days to help out and even hit balls today and my back held up. I have a game on Thursday with one of Matt's $1,000,000 agents and two of his counterparts from Stockton and Novato. I hope to make an appointment to get out and see the guy in Stockton with Matt soon.

I set up golf at Alister Mackenzie Golf Course in Sacramento for next Saturday. It is the area's oldest course and one designed by the same designer (Alister Mackenzie) who designed Augusta National in Georgia. I'll get back to golf next week and do it in style. We play the Teal Bend course in Sacramento on Thursday.

Well, that is all the news that is fit to print. I hope you are all well. I am on the mend and hope to be 100% later this week. Be good. Ciao.

Blessed Liquid Relief from Above

 

Yep. Rain has come to the valley. The Pineapple Express rode into town on Wednesday and we have had 5 days of off again, on again rain with most of the accumulation coming right over the weekend and washing out any plans I had for golf. We really need the rain, but we need it Monday thru Friday only. The weather has been so beautiful that we have trees in bloom and the rain will cause some of those trees to lose their buds and hopefully go back into a winter snooze before budding once again this Spring. To further complicate the process, the forecast is back to dry and temperatures back in the 70's by next weekend. Along with this storm came snow that has plagued Portland this weekend and over a foot of snow up in the Sierra. This late season storm won't do much to soften the blow of the drought here, but we have enjoyed the 2 and a half inches of rain we received. I had to cancel a trip to Darkhorse in Auburn that we were going up to play on Saturday. It was windy and raining and we smartly opted for a spot on the couch watching the Pebble Beach.

 

I have watched about an hour of the Olympics so far and it just can't hold my interest. I avoided the Opening Ceremony like the plague as it such an overhyped and mindless display of excess. I admit I watched the ceremonies from Vancouver, but was wholly unimpressed with the gaudy over production of a simple amateur sporting event. The Soviet Union is a repressionistic regime that does not believe in human rights and I wanted nothing to do with it. Some of their qualities I kind of like in that they provide access to health care, adequate nutrition and both basic education and employment. It is the tyrannical style of government that I dislike. When government provides all of these things, the citizens become wholly dependent on the government and are vulnerable. This is what Obama is doing to the United States right now. Interesting that there was a HOAX that came out that the man responsible for the Olympic Ring mishap was found dead one day after the Opening ceremonies. The story was that his body was found badly mangled with multiple stab wounds, but the officials say they don't expect foul play. The fact that people believed it says something about the country that they are in.

 

You see pictures above of Darla from her Christian Women's conference this weekend. She was there Friday and Saturday and stayed overnight Friday. They did a Sister Act bit where they all started out in the audience and stood up singing and went to the stage where they donned robes and sang several songs. Darla was in her element there.

 

She is off now at her monthly Silpada team meeting at a restaurant in Granite Bay. I woke up this morning with a stiff back and suffered through church before returning and spending most of my day in a recliner. I did get out and drained water from the pool for a second time today as it was running dangerously close to the top of the tile. I also handled the chemicals in the spa and swept up some of the overflowing bark from the flowerbed in front of the pool. It was quite a gully washer that we had and of course I had a couple of clogged downspouts. I had gutter guards installed over the gutters when I had the roof redone on the house a couple of years ago, but with so many trees surrounding my property even the small leaves and debris that hit the roof end up in the gutters and a big rain will carry all of that to the downspouts and clog the opening. We had a couple of spots where the water was careening over the top of the gutters, but it was too windy and wet to get out and fix the problem. That will be a task for next weekend in the 70 degree sunshine.

 

We continue on our study of the ten commandments at church, a series that Pastor Rick calls Love Carved in Stone. He quoted Robert Fulghum, the author of "All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten". The author listed 11 things and these are things we should all know and follow as adults:

 

1. Share everything.

2. Play Fair

2. Don't hit people

4. Put things back where you found them

5. Clean up your OWN mess

6. Don't take things that aren't yours

7.Say you're SORRY when you hurt someone.

8. Wash your hands before you eat

9. Flush

10. Live a balanced life with both hard work and play mixed in

11. Take a nap every afternoon

 

Now, if we just followed these rules, the world would be a better place.

 

I had an interesting week of work. One of my rising stars came to me on Wednesday and told me that he had been approached by Anthony (my ex employee) and they offered him twice his salary to come to work for them. He gave me his letter of resignation. I immediately got on the horn with Harvey and we began to formulate a plan to keep him. Frankly, there are probably five employees in my office that I would do this for and he is one of them. We worked out the details and presented it to him as a take it or leave it counter offer. I told him that I needed a commitment from him to stay and that we would not get into a bidding war to keep him. He agreed and we shook hands on it. Anthony's company came back with an offer at 3 times his salary, but true to his word he stayed. There is no guarantee that we will keep him long term, but it just goes to show you that when you have a successful business your competition will go after you and try to steal your success. I sat down with my underwriter and told him that when the money gets that crazy, look out. I know this company had five years to pay back their venture capitalists and they are two years into this now with not much to show besides a tremendously high overhead and no profit. My guess is that they are trying to land people to bring in premium and then will sell the company to someone like my boss who would then offer the employees a reasonable salary in a "take or leave it" fashion. I didn't need the stress this week, but it was great to be able to tweak Anthony after all of the grief he has caused me. 

 

I really want to pick up the phone and let Anthony have it, but Harvey told me to wait. At some point Anthony is going to need my recommendation and he isn't going to get it. He never finished college and when he was in school studied IT and not business. He doesn't understand the concept of tact, loyalty or honor as a business person and it will come back to haunt him at some point. In the mean time, stay away from my staff and go out and develop your own talent!

 

I received my revised budget for 2014 and it is set at $26,750,000. When I took the office over in 2004, we finished the year just under $8,000,000 and lost over $400,000. Last year we wrote $22,700,000 and made a profit of $1,200,000. The increase is 18% and we are coming off a year where we increased premiums by 25%. It is going to be tremendously difficult to reach our budget, but we are game to try. The budget I proposed was $25,300,000 and they like to keep me on my toes. I can't afford to lose staff. The other problem is that I am out of space and the Real Estate division moves really slowly and I have to stay on them. We are negotiating to pick up extra space for extra bodies. I have one spot left in the office. It is one crisis after another. SNAFU.

 

I hope you are all well. Life is good here in Roseville. Have a great week and I'll be back at this next weekend. Ciao.

 

 

Defense Wins Championships

So, why a goose? This picture kind of sums up my round of golf on Saturday in the Super Bowl tournament. Neil called me on Thursday and asked if I would be able to take on a newbie in my group who was playing his first tournament round of golf. I agreed, but what I didn't know was that this guy just retired and his wife signed him up for the club to get him out of the house. Nice guy, but his round started with a tee shot into the water, a second ball dropped outside the hazard and his fourth shot topped back into the same hazard. He took a 14 on the first hole, but I had to help him with his scoring, the drop, and a litany of rules questions. During the round he asked me what club he should use at one point (I told him that was against the rules), he walked over my line on the green multiple times, he backhanded a putt-missed it and picked it up and put it in his pocket, he pulled his cart up right next to the green, he was talking during my tee shot, etc., etc. Everyone needs to learn, but it absolutely ruined my round. I shot 45+45=90 and was lucky to do that as I was in the middle of ALL of his 140 strokes. I counseled him throughout the round and helped him with what to do when and what not to do. He was very appreciative, but I told Neil this was a one time thing.

Oh, the goose. On the second hole, I pulled my drive left right up next to the fence and had to try a punch shot under the trees and to the green. I hit a perfect three iron that stayed low and was screaming to the green until it struck the goose above and bounced off one of his buddies behind a tree. If you double click the picture above you can see the dent that my Pro V1 left in his side. He limped around for a few minutes and went back to crapping all over the course like all the geese do at Diamond.

I set up a foursome at Darkhorse in Auburn next weekend and it is a championship course that will require all of my concentration. I didn't invite the new guy. Right now I have Paul and Rick and I'm looking for a 4th.

Darla and I were supposed to be at a Super Bowl party at Charlie and Freida's house in Granite Bay. They both came down with the flu and had to cancel the invitation. I was okay with that, but they were the ones that were originally supposed to play with the new guy. I like parties, but I'm definitely a homebody when it comes to Super Bowls. If we have a couple over I'm okay with that, but Sundays are my wind down day and I like to relax before heading back to work on Monday. We went to church this morning with David and then went to breakfast afterward. Pastor Rick is doing a new series on Love Carved in Stone, a series on the Ten Commandments. He quoted T. S. Eliot. a noted atheist who turned his life over to the Lord late in life; "If you have any false gods in your life, they will all become demons." How true. We had a nice visit with David and enjoyed our morning with him. I stopped after church and got a haircut and Darla and David worked on clearing out his bedroom. Darla is turning that into her office and David is going to build her a bookshelf and a window seat for under the front window. Darla also wants a Murphy bed in there for visitors and David is looking into building one for her. They moved the bed out of his room today and Darla is working on getting the room cleaned out and will move the desk from our bedroom into her office and we will change that area in our room into a sitting area.

The Super Bowl was pretty amazing in how a great defense was able to completely dominate a great offense. the Broncos never had a chance in the game as the Seattle defense was suffocating. A bonus for me was the fact that Niner fans hate the Seahawks and had to watch them dominate a year after they themselves were dominated by Baltimore before mounting a comeback. I always pull for the NFC, even when it is the Giants or another member of the NFC East. The Seahawk offense was a complete second thought in this game as their defense absolutely controlled the line of scrimmage all day. The Denver Broncos picked the Super Bowl to play arguably their worst game of the year.

 I fixed a nice barbecued rib eye for dinner, but we didn't really do any snacks today. I handled all of the score inputs on the computer from the tournament on Saturday and the Eclectic numbers and updated the Tournament handicaps. I watched the golf tournament and then we turned on the game.

The commercials this year were mostly forgettable. Nothing really stood out. I suppose the Bud commercial with the puppy and the Clydesdale was pretty good, but kind of more of the same. The Coke commercial with America the Beautiful sung in different languages caused a stir in the blogosphere with people complaining it should all be sung in English. Whatever. The commercial is for colored sugar water. I missed Terry Bradshaw at the game and feel for his loss as his father died over the weekend. Phillip Seymour Hoffman missed the game because he was in the bathroom. Dead. With a syringe of heroin in his arm. Another stupid celebrity that couldn't control his addictions.

By the way, rain came to the valley this week. We had a nice quarter inch of rain on Wednesday that came with about two feet of snow up at the higher elevations of the Sierra. It's not much, but its a start. We hope to get more rain in the near future, but so far it is clear sailing this week. We did get a bit of rain today, but mostly just a sprinkle. The Bay Area got a good soaking as most of the storm was to our west and up in the mountains, where they got a nice snowstorm that wasn't expected and caught some Super Bowl partiers off guard.

We finished January up 48% in premium and 35% in income. We were 23% over budget for January and it was awesome. I'm taking the office to lunch at the Claim Jumper in Roseville on Wednesday to celebrate. It is also my assistant's birthday, so we will kill two birds at one time. I usually buy Shawna jewelry from Darla, but decided to get her a business desk organizer that consists of a business portfolio, a business card holder and a pen, all in a plum color. I have Shawna working toward being promoted to an Office manager position (it's called an Operations Manager). I have her working with the typists and the clerks in the office and she handled the goals and objectives for each of them in their reviews this year and will sit in with me when I meet with each of them. She is in charge of the marketing and the systems in the office and handles all of our training now. Harvey has agreed that it is time to turn her loose.

Jennifer and McKenny got packed up on Friday and drove overnight to Vegas. They loaded all of their things into the new house and then went over and loaded up Jennifer's apartment. Unfortunately, the gas didn't get turned on and won't until Monday. They have no hot water, no heat and the stove is gas. I told her to go over and buy a space heater. They hadn't had showers since Thursday and were going to take sponge baths with heated water from the microwave. It doesn't sound like fun to me. There was a note on their door that the gas company came out on Friday and was going to turn on the gas, but didn't because no one was home. It doesn't make sense to me as the only thing the service tech would have to do is light the pilot light on the hot water heater. I had never heard anything like that. I feel for them as they are excited about the new digs, but having no heat or hot water is no fun.

Well, that is it for this week. Darla has a couple of meetings with Silpada this week where she has to speak again. She is getting to be a real rock star with them. Have a great week and I will be back at the keyboard next Sunday. Ciao.