The Biggest Little City in the World...Reno

 

Why Reno for Valentine's day? Well, I have a working wife and she had an event at the Reno Convention Center with her Silpada, so I agreed to go along. Pete and Matt in the office went to Missouri on a snow goose hunt. Pete and I were having lunch last week and I told him about Reno and how the weather here was supposed to be mid seventies and I had a couple of golf invitations. He said, "Are you going to go to Reno?" I said, "Yeah, it's Valentine's day, I wouldn't be away from my wife." Low blow?

 

I left work Friday at 2 PM and we made the drive up the hill. She had to be at the venue by 5 Pm to set up for Saturday. We got her gear dropped off and settled in at the Sands casino. I don't capitalize Casino on purpose. This is the place that time forgot. It is old, kind of in need of , oh, an implosion. There was a Shriner's gig at the hotel, which probably tells you everything you need to know about this casino. The architecture went out with the fez, about 40 years ago. It was cheap and Darla was paying. We went to dinner at the Copa Lounge on site (again...). We had Prime Rib for $9.99 and enjoyed each other's company. We are on a strict budget and leave for The Dominican Republic and Punta Cana on Thursday, so we went right up to the room and didn't gamble.

 

I had set up golf both days at a little 9 hole par three course in Sparks owned by Patti Sheehan. The course is okay, but the greens are brown this time of year and it is hard to get a perspective when you are hitting onto the "green". The online cost was $5.00 and I jumped on it. My tee time was 8:42 the first day and the shop didn't open until 9 AM. There was a foursome there ahead of me and had an 8:30 tee time, but waived me on ahead of them. I played 18 holes (9 holes with two balls) in one hour and 20 minutes. I went and checked in after my round and the guy in the shop told me I should have waited for him and that Golf Now has been told that the first tee time is 9 AM. Okay.

 

I had dropped Darla off at the Convention Center at 8:00 AM after a quick bite at the Mel's Diner attached to the casino. I shot a 68, which sounds great, but the par is 54. It was good to get some practice in with my irons. I will miss the next couple of tournaments at the club. They have a two day Zone qualifier this coming weekend and our 54 hole team championship on March 7, 8 and 21st. I will be in Scottsdale during that event.

 

I headed back to the room and watched the AT&T Invitational from Pebble Beach and Darla called about 3:30 to get picked up at 4:15. I called over to Bertha Miranda's Mexican Restaurant on Mill Street in Reno and got a reservation for dinner at 5 PM. We have been to this place the last three years and really enjoy the atmosphere and food. Darla had huevos ranchero for dinner and I had a steak chimichanga. I don't think either of those got us, but we were sick that night, both complaining of a bloated feeling and indigestion. I think the oil that they cooked their chips in was bad.

 

We were going to go right up to the room, but the elevator was packed with people standing in line, so we played some nickel poker machines. We played maybe 90 minutes on $120 that I stored away and I hit four aces with a 2 for $200 and Darla hit four twos with a 3 for $100 and we finally got up and cashed out and headed to the room with $360. When I sat down at the machines and pulled out the money, Darla looked at me sideways and said, "Ken Lyon, you are so your Father's son!"

 

The next day we were up at six and out of the hotel by 7 AM and decided to hit a different breakfast spot. l forgot that we were in Reno and the town is DEAD at 7 AM. We drove around near the Convention Center and found a favorite 50's diner and pulled in to see a sign that they open at 8 AM. We drove back up Virginia Street and stopped at the Atlantis Casino and had breakfast at their café. The Atlantis has a walkway from the casino over to the convention center. Smart on their part as they get the convention crowd.

 

I bid her good luck and drove over to the golf course and waited to check in with the pro shop and teed off about 9:15 with two guys that were beginners. One of the guys was playing his 7th round of golf. He was actually better than his friend who had been playing for a couple of years. I shot 62 on the day  and have to say, I was patient with the two guys who each shot close to 100 and that is with taking a maximum of 6 strokes on many holes. From there I drove over to the Alamo Casino in Sparks and played for awhile. I broke even on the afternoon, but had two hot dogs and four drinks (2 alcoholic and 2 diet Pepsi's). I got my money's worth, but missed the golf tournament. I was going to work on the blog yesterday afternoon, but my laptop was DEAD.

 

Darla called at three and said she was ready to pack it in and head home. We gassed up before we left as the gas is $2.29 in Reno and back up to $2.59 in Sacramento. It took us about two hours to drive home. Darla's truck hadn't been detailed in awhile, so I spent about 90 minutes cleaning the floors, seats, rugs and cargo area. I still found a remnant of a hot chocolate spill from Sammy probably a year or more ago. I need to get to her car a little more often. I finished in the dark, but the car was spotless inside when I was finished. The exterior is another story, but we will leave it at the airport from Thursday to Wednesday so I'll clean that when we get back. I had found fifteen minutes to wash my car before we left as it was still dirty from the rains.

 

I was going to do the blog last night, BUT I had to do some handicapping fort he upcoming Zone event. I like to have those completed by Sunday night and we had 80 players. This qualifier is at 90% of your GHIN and our club uses a Tournament Handicap which also needed to be checked. I finished up about 8 o'clock and called it quits. I brought my laptop into work today and I'm working on this now. It is President's day and the phones aren't ringing. I'll probably send the staff home early as it is not productive to stare at the clock for three hours.

 

Well, note that the blog is on vacation next week, but I will return in two weeks with the saga of our trip to the Dominican. I hope you are all happy and spent quality time with your Valentine on Saturday. Ciao.

Rainy Sunday

 

It is one of those dreary, rainy Sundays where a blanket and a warm spot on the couch seem to hold the most allure. It has been a warm storm with about three inches of rain so far. We hadn't seen rain here in the valley since early December, so this is very welcome locally. Unlike Vancouver where it rains incessantly, we actually cheer the rain here. The only complaint I have is the weather folks who want to throw a wet blanket on things by complaining that this storm is a tropical storm and doesn't include much needed snow for the mountains. Well, the local reservoirs will go from half full to overflowing with the heavy rains from this weekend and we'll take it. You don't break a drought with one storm, but you can put a dent in it. I know when this finally slows down that I'll be out draining about four inches from the pool. You can see in the bottom picture through the pouring rain that the pool is getting near the top of the tile. It rained heavy on Friday and Saturday morning and we were actually between storms yesterday. I took the day to clean up around the house, wet mop the tiles floors and wood floors and do a bit of yard work. The fertilizer that I put down last weekend is getting soaked into the turf this weekend.

 

I don't mean to say that I do all of the housework around here, far from it, but Darla had a Christian Women's conference up in Grass Valley on Thursday and Friday and has been at Cal Expo the last two days at a girl's volleyball tournament. I usually play golf over the weekend and had a tournament planned up in Marysville today that was postponed because of the rain. I considered playing out at Diamond today if it didn't rain and you can see by the pictures how that worked out for me.

 

Darla and I did get caught back up with one another last night as we headed to church at 5 Pm and then went out to an early Valentine's Day dinner last night. She has another volleyball event up in Reno next weekend and I will join her up there. I had a gift card for McCormick Schmick's in Roseville and we decided to go out and celebrate the holiday a week early. We'll likely find a nice prime rib dinner in Reno next Saturday and enjoy a bit less of a fancy dinner.  Our tag came last night and it was $71. When it came back to us it was $51. We brought it to the waitresses attention and she said it was correct. When we checked the bill, it showed a trout dinner and  a pasta dish. Darla and I shared a rib eye and shrimp meal with a clam chowder bowl and an appetizer of calamari. The waitress was so busy, we couldn't hang around to argue, so we just paid the bill and got out of there. I don't feel you should have to fight someone to pay them more money.

 

Samantha has to have her two front teeth removed. The baby teeth are not coming loose and the permanents are starting to push through, so the dentist set up an appointment to remove them. He wanted to do it that same day, but Sam wanted to wait so she could prepare for it. She will have them removed on Friday. Jennifer probably should have had him do it that day and then Sam wouldn't have to think about it.

 

I had my new Personal Lines Underwriter start on Monday and I took Linda and the unit out to lunch. We tried to go to Sammy's restaurant downtown, but they were closed on Monday and we ended up at the new brew pub, Monk's. I only mention it because they have a British style pub food menu and I tried duck fat fries for the first time in my life. If my cholesterol wasn't so high already, I could see living on these things. They are crispy fried on the outside and when paired with a brioche arugula burger, life is good. I'm excited about the opportunities that we have with Linda's experience in Personal lines. She has sold insurance for 25 years and knows her stuff. We will write $30,000,000 in premium this year and we only had $2,800,000 in Personal Lines premium. My office is way behind in PL writings and I want to get our numbers up. We should be writing about $10,000,000 in the Personal Lines unit.

 

Our next couple of weeks are starting to look a lot like Dad and Shirley's schedule. As I mentioned, we are off to Reno next weekend and then we have Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic the following weekend. Darla and I fly out on a red eye on Thursday night and fly through Atlanta. We catch a 9:30 AM flight to Punta Cana and arrive on the island at 2:30 in the afternoon. Most of the crowd arrives on Saturday, but Darla and I are checking in a day early to enjoy a bit more fun in the sun. We stay until Wednesday and wanted six days and five nights instead of five days and four nights. We are staying at the Paradisus Resort in Punta Cana. The weather this time of year in the Dominican is mid eighties daytime and low seventies overnight.

 

We get back from that trip and two weeks later we are off to Scottsdale, AZ for Spring Training and Pete and my annual trip to see our carriers. We are bringing the girls this year. Pete and Vicki fly in on Friday and she will stay until Sunday night. Darla and I are driving in and will stay over until Wednesday. Pete flies back to Sacramento on Tuesday night. Darla and I will relax at the apartment on Wednesday if the weather is good and then drive on to Sedona for Wednesday night. From there, we drive on to Las Vegas and a weekend with Sam and Jennifer. We are not staying on the strip this time and will stay either at the Station Casino near their house or the Alliante Casino near there as well. Jennifer invited us to stay with them, but Daniel and Becky will meet us in Vegas and stay with Jennifer. Sam likes staying over at the hotel and we will get a room with two queen beds, so she can stay over and have a staycation. David may fly out as well and make it a real party.

 

I also bought a voucher for a two night stay at the Olympic Lodge in Pacific Grove. Darla and I both love the Monterey Peninsula and Groupon had a deal for two nights with breakfast for $139 and we couldn't pass it up. We will likely head to Pacific Grove in April and we also have a certificate for  $99 companion flight to Dallas and will set up a date with Randy to come out for a visit and a bit of golf. Busy times.

 

The weather has stopped for a moment and I think I'll get out and drain out the pool while I have a chance. We expect a bit more rain tonight and into tomorrow and then it is supposed to clear up and warm up with 70's on tap for Saturday. Dad and Shirley were due back in Canada yesterday and we'll try and call them tonight and see how their vacation went. I hope everyone is happy and healthy. Be well. Ciao.



Super Bowl Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

It is Super Bowl Sunday and 70 degrees of sunshine and happiness here in Northern California. Darla is at Cal Expo on the 2nd day of a Girl's Volleyball tournament and I am at home relaxing. I got up about 8 PM and went out to get some fertilizer for the lawn, and an appliance light bulb for the garage refrigerator. I got that accomplished and then ran over tot he grocery store and picked up some eggs, cheese and Ritz crackers for our Super Bowl party tonight. It's not really a party, just Darla and I relaxing at home after a soak in the hot tub watching the game. She said that it is really cold in the gym and she looks forward to warming up in our 103 degree hot tub when she gets back home. I'll fix a couple of margaritas and take those outside in our plastic stemware relax in the spa. The game starts at 5:30 and Darla should be home about 4. If you were wondering what snack I could fix with eggs, cheese and Ritz. I have no idea. I bought the eggs and fixed a breakfast burrito this morning before working in the yard.

Darla and I met with four couples last night for dinner at Pizza Rock in Sacramento followed by a concert with Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Troubadours. Darla and I have been fans of Antsy for about 15 years and enjoy his brand of humor and soft ballads. Check out a link to one of my favorite songs performed by Antsy: Antsy McClain: Field Trip. We had a blast last night and, true to form, Antsy put on a two hour show interrupted by a fifteen minute intermission. The only downside was he had a guy from Australia as his opening act. This guy was very talented and could make his guitar play incredible music by drumming on it while he played and making the music croon by turning the tuning keys, etc. The problem was that Antsy is very high energy and this guy was almost asleep. it was an odd start and, funny that those of us who know Antsy were disappointed, but John and Neil both loved the opening act and were impressed with his abilities.

Darla and I got there a little late as she had to pick up some jewelry from one of her associates out near Sac State. I thought we would be on time, but had a little trouble finding her place. We got a call from Neil and Lilly and the reservation was for 5:30. Pete had changed it to 6:00 after originally making it for 5:30 when I realized that the show started at 8:00 instead of 7:30. The food was great at Pizza Rock and the place was packed. It is located on K street right across from the Crest Theater where we saw the show. It was Neil and Lilly, John and Camille, Pete and Vicki and Darla and I.

Yesterday was equally as nice as today, but just a little breezier in the afternoon. Darla was up at 5:30 and off to her Volleyball gig. I wasn't up at 5:30 as weekends are an opportunity to sleep in. I did get up and have a nice breakfast before heading over to the Woodcreek. Bryan called me on the way over and said that we didn't have a tee time. I made a tee time on Tuesday and the course has been squabbling with their online provider. Luckily, they were able to squeeze us in. My poor start this year continued with a 46+41=87. I did have a birdie on the back nine, but struggled with the driver all day. Bryan had a poor game by his standards and decided to try to drive the green on the shortish par four 297 yard 11th hole. The problem is that he didn't wait for the guys to finish on the green to finish up and nutted a drive that hit the green and rolled to about 12 feet. The guys in front were hot, screaming and yelling at Bryan.  We yelled "fore", but the fact is they were right and Bryan should have waited, but live and learn. The 12th hole is 303 yards and a par 4 and both Bryan and I drove it up to the edge of the green. If either ball had rolled on, there could have been a rumble.

I have my new Personal Lines Underwriter, Linda, starting tomorrow and I'm anxious to see some positive growth start to come out of that unit. We wrote $28,000,000 in 2014 and we only wrote $2,600,000 in Personal Lines. Some offices have a 50-50 split on Commercial to Personal business. We barely write 10% and that needs to change. with Linda's experience, contacts and marketing sense, we should see some real growth this year, especially in the second half of the year when she is fully up and running.

The Super Bowl is tonight and despite a huge up swell in Patriot fever, I think the Seahawks will prevail. That defense is special and Russell Wilson is a true professional. Also, I always pull for the NFC, unless the Niners are playing.

Well, this is short, but it is February and not much is happening. I hope you are all well. I hope to talk to Dad and Shirley soon as they will be home on the 7th. I hope you are all doing great. Happy February! Ciao.