July 4th was fun and mostly devoid of fireworks which is fine by me. It amazes me what lengths people go to in amusing themselves with store bought fireworks. I'm cheap and sitting out in front of my house and watching $100 burn up isn't fun. I'd rather go to the casino and blow that money. As we were driving home from our friends on the evening of July 4th, the parade grounds were just letting out and there was a traffic backup in the "shortcut" to our house. We drove through older neighborhoods with 100's of people outside with fire pits, chairs, tables, ladders, hoses, buckets of water and other paraphernalia. I have never seen such a display of white trash America. It was like driving through a small town in Texas or Tennessee. I think the ladders started up because the fireworks specifically say to use on the ground only.
We were at friends on Friday and had a great time. I'm not mentioning their names because their interaction with one another was like the show that came with the dinner. I had to jump in when the dinner started because this gentleman is notorious for overcooking his hamburgers and I acted like I just wanted to help. I actually wanted to have a nice hamburger and not a hockey puck. Dinner was great with corn on the cob, baked beans, salads, the hamburgers and hot dogs. We checked with the gang as to who wanted what and most of the crew were up for hamburgers, so I cooked 10 hamburgers and four hot dogs. When the hamburgers were ready, I plated them and brought them in along with the four hot dogs. Unbeknownst to me, my friend threw the rest of the wieners on the grill to cook up. We went in and made up our plates and headed back out to the dinner table by the pool under the screened in gazebo and the barbecue was raging with a huge fire incinerating the wieners. The wife came out, took one look at the burned meat and laid her head against the wall and stayed there for about five minutes. The rest of us started eating our dinner. She finally came out of her trance and went over to the incinerated hot dogs still on the grill and stared at them for another minute before slamming down the grill and and storming off. She finally composed herself and joined us at the dinner table. The husband tried to laugh off his mistake by going over and fixing a hot dog made with one of the charred tubes of ash, but his wife was not amused.
She was on him for the rest of the night and he couldn't do anything right. I made a comment about a stone waterfall that they had on the hill behind the gazebo and she started in on him that he was supposed to have cleaned that out so they could run it. He jumped up and filled it with water and it was squirting all over the place because it was jammed with leaves. He tried to clean them out and just made it worse. I was dying inside as his wife let him have it.
She made a comment at one point during the evening that her husband had said that he wanted to sell their house in the upscale community they live in because PG&E was too expensive and their bills run close to $1000 a month. He wants to sell and move to Roseville, where the Roseville Electric rates are less than half their rate. She said that was like selling a Cadillac and buying a Toyota to get better gas mileage. From then on I teased her mercilessly about Darla and I living in Toyota Town and being blessed to join them in Cadillac City for the holiday. She was trying to backtrack and say that it was just a bad comparison, but it was too late. We had a good laugh over that.
It was a nice three days off, but it went too fast as always. Darla and I relaxed on the pool Friday before heading to our friends about 2:00 PM. We relaxed in their pool for most of the afternoon to chase away the 100 degree heat.
Saturday was 102 degrees and I had the Firecracker tournament. I've missed this tournament the last few years because we are usually in Almanor. We teed off at 10 AM and Boyd dropped out of the tournament. His doctor found a couple of spots on his face that are cancerous and one that is pretty large above his eyebrow. It isn't affecting his game as he shot his age or better for the 24th time on Wednesday with a 73. He wants to stay out of the sun during the peak of the day and is only playing if he tees off early in the morning. I played with Steve and John, the two cousins that I also play poker with. Both are now retired and their golf games are improving with more play. In fact, John, a 19 handicap (down from 27 a few years ago) shot an 82 in our last tournament for a net 63. Saturday was a hard day for me on the course. I felt great on the practice tee and was hitting the ball straight and long. Once I hit the course, I had a case of the "rights". My drives were fine, but my approach irons all were hit 15 yards right of target. I had five straight bogeys and then a double bogey. I followed that with two pars and another bogey for 44. I did straighten things out on the back nine shooting a 40 for 84 and net 71 to tie for fifth in my flight. One of my problems is getting tired toward the end of my round and I play 17 and 18 poorly. We have a year long Eclectic tournament and my gross score is 70 with every hole a par or better, but 17 and 18 both having a gross bogey. I picked up one of those in this tournament by parring 18. John, Steve and I all ended up with net 71's on the day.
Work is great. My boss is off the next two weeks on a vacation to Switzerland and I will be busy interviewing for a new pool assistant for the office. My Operations Manager has six interviews lined up for me tomorrow starting at 9 AM. We finished June off with a bang, beating our budget for the month after missing it the last two months. One of the main problems we have is that I had an underwriter leave in March and his numbers are reflected in the budget. I'm trying to get one of the trainees up and running and prepared to take his place, but it will be 2015 before she is ready to hit the ground. I will take the entire office out to celebrate at a Budget lunch at the Spaghetti Factory in two weeks.
I mentioned last week about Darla scrambling to get her incentive trip. She is amazing. She started last weekend down $7000 on her needed sales to qualify for the trip and she ended up with close to $7500 in sales in a three day period. She qualified for her trip and we will be off to sunny Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic in February. That will chase away the Wintertime blues. Here are a few pictures of the resort we will be going to.
I am incredibly proud of her. She was pretty intense all last weekend, at times fired up about getting there and then down in the dumps and then she'd get a $1000 sale and be right back in the saddle. It was a trip to watch her go through the motions (and emotions) and I mostly stayed out of her way. The fact that I get to join her on this trip is awesome. Last year was Panama and neither of us were excited about that. With all of her medical issues last year, it wasn't in the cards for us to go and we hear that it was one of the worst incentive trips that they have ever had. They are making up for it in 2015 with a trip to the all inclusive Paradisus Resort in Punta Cana. They even have golf included in the package, but I've already read the fine print that "motorized buggies" are required and cost $65 per round. I may play a round or two of golf this year early in the day, we'll see.
I want to remind my brothers that the condo in Aptos is a three bedroom and you are both welcome to join us starting on August 27. We will be at the condo August 27-30 and then move to Sunnyvale. Jennifer and McKenny will be there, but I will boot them out of a bedroom if you both join us. Alternatively, there are several nice motels in Aptos if you want privacy. We are encouraging you to come in early and enjoy Santa Cruz and Aptos and maybe even make a jaunt into Carmel and Monterey.
I will be in Pebble Beach on Thursday with a couple of my golf buddies (Neil and Steve) and will play the completely remodeled Poppy Hills. We will drive in early Thursday and back that night.
Well, that is it for this edition. I hope all are well and in good spirits. Ciao.
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