Twilight League is Over, Sam is back to school, Summer is Fading

Quite a weekend in the rear view mirror. The weather was great, cooler and in the low nineties. It was Jennifer's birthday today and Samantha's last day before school starts. We had a nice visit with McKenny and Jennifer tonight on the phone. Jennifer was in the LA area since Thursday night as Diane's father in law passed away and they had a funeral and celebration of life. She got back on Saturday night and spent today with McKenny and Sam. The picture above is of Sam, Jennifer and McKenny at PF Chang's today.

 

Thursday night was the final night of our Twilight league golf. Ron and I played for third place and our match went down to the 9th hole before I birdied the hole and closed them out. We won an extra $10 for taking 3rd place rather than 4th, but better than that we won two skins in both the gross and net sides and took home an extra $64 to go with our $145 for third. Ron had a fantastic eagle on the number 2 par five hole when he hit the green in two and made a 25 foot uphill putt for eagle. We also won for my birdie on the 9th hole that saw the hole on the side of the hill sloping away from the green. My putt was a ten foot putt that likely would have rolled off the green if it hadn't found the bottom of the cup. The picture above is of Charlie and I. Charlie has run the league for the last 16 years.

 

Our numbers at work look really good this month, but we are down for the year and I am under fire to improve the metrics in the office. Our revenue per employee is about $895,000 and the metric goal is $1,000,000. The consensus is that I am over staffed and I will be in meetings this week to hash out what we will do. The good news is that our numbers this month are already over our numbers from August of 2015. I expect a $152,000 account to bind on Monday and we should finish the month up around 12%. Whatever the decision is on staffing, I have to keep the morale upbeat. Pray for me this week.

 

Saturday was our Invitational golf event and what I term "silly" golf. It was a two man scramble with several "contest holes". We had a par three where we rolled dice to see if we added a stroke or took a stroke away. We had an opposite tee shot on a par four. They had a left and right handed driver on the tee box and you had to tee off opposite of how you normally play. They had one par three hole with three holes on it and red, white and blue flags. You teed off and then when you got to the green found out which hole was yours. Finally, they had a par three where you rolled dice to see which club you had to tee off with and play until the ball was holed. It was all goofy. I played with one of my agents, Mark from an agency in Roseville and part of our twilight league. We worked our way around the course for a 75 and ended up with a net 59 with our 16 shared strokes. We finished in the money, but not by much. 55 was the winner.

 

Saturday night, Ron invited me to go with him to the professional soccer game with the local team, Sacramento Republic FC who were playing Vancouver at the stadium in Sacramento. I agreed to go, but invited he and his wife out to dinner with Darla and I before the game (so we could spend some time with the girls). We went to Claim Jumper and the photo of our dinner is above. I'm not much of a soccer fan and although the game was pretty exciting with several shots on goal, the game finished after 90 minutes of action 0-0. Ron and I had a good time together and I got home just before 11.

 

The NFL is gearing up to start the season in two weeks. I've got two fantasy football drafts this week. Tony Romo is already out for the first half of the season and may be done in the NFL. His body has been his own worst enemy with brittle bones being his kryptonite. You can see the picture of Colin Krapernick above, who is the local doofus quarterback for the Niners. They rewarded him two years ago with a $114 million contract and he has been a complete waste of money. His talent level was never up to his contract. He can't read defenses and is either sacked or throws an interception most of the time. Now he has decided that as a black man that grew up in a rich white adoptive home, he will not honor America by standing up for the National Anthem because black men are being oppressed in this country. He's a moron and has finally rallied the Niner fans together in concert to throw him under the bus. He is a disaster and my guess is he will be cut either this week or next. Looking forward to seeing what Dak Prescott and Zeke Elliott can do for the Dallas offense. It is the rookies to the rescue in Dallas.

 

 I got the motion detector lights installed. The inside and outside lights were both wired to the same switch and I changed the outside light to a plug and ran the wires to the indoor electrical outlet by the side door in the garage. Now the outside light comes on when we walk past it to the trash or pull the car into the garage. Similarly, the inside light comes on when we walk into the garage or pull the car in. The two ballasts on the garage door opener have blown and I needed light in the garage. It was a chore, but I got it done.

 

Darla has a corporate trainer coming in from Touchstone tomorrow and we will have two of her "glam bassadors" staying with us tomorrow night. They are coming in from Eureka and will head back on Tuesday. I'll go into the office Tuesday morning, but leave by ten with Mark and his business partner, Phil, for Pete's house. From there we will drive on to Discover Bay and play the golf course off Highway 4. 

 

My back is still somewhat sore and it is normally back to normal by now, but I've been playing a lot of golf and not giving it a chance to fully heal. It hurts when I sit for long periods, which pretty well describes my work day. Hopefully it will get better this week. We'll see. I did see Jane again on Tuesday.

 

Well, that is the news for now, so until the long Labor Day weekend, be well and treat each other kindly. Ciao.

Back to the grind.

 

Trying to get over vacation and back into the swing. I had Michael, our Training and Sales Development VP, in Wednesday to Friday and he worked with my younger producers on Wednesday and Thursday and then we went and played golf at Timber Creek here in Roseville on Friday. You can see his picture above at the course with the waterfall behind. Michael was born in Tobaggo. We worked in the office Friday morning and then met Gail and one of her agents at the golf course. The teams are having a very good month this month and we are way ahead of budget. Wendy hit on a $200,000 account earlier in the month and it I an account that we have quoted on for three years and finally closed the deal. I'd like to have a month like this right before I go to Home Office for the Manager's meeting in November. I'm proud of the teams and how they are n task even while I'm on vacation.

 

I added a few pictures that were on our camera. The quality of pictures taken with the newer iphones are every bit as good as the ones you can take with an SLR. Soon, there will be a close up zoom feature that will almost make the SLR obsolete.

 

I played golf three times this week and my back is still sore, but obviously good enough to hit a golf ball. I shot 42 Thursday night at league. We lost our match and fell out of second place, so this week we will play for third in the league against the fourth place team. I hadn't played in three weeks with  the youth event and the vacation. I was pleased with 42. I was supposed to pick Michael up at his hotel at 7:30, but overslept ( I NEVER oversleep) and had to call Pete to run over and get him. I hurriedly threw my golf clothes together, grabbed my GPS rangefinder and was out the door. I didn't realize that I had forgotten my golf shoes until driving to the course in the afternoon. Darla was out of the house so I had to buy a new pair. Luckily, there was a nice pair of FootJoys on sale for $69 on the sales rack.  I must have 10 pair in the garage. You can see a picture that Bryan took of Ron and my drives on number four at Diamond. You rarely end up with two drives side by side like that.

 

Friday I played very well at Timber Creek, a tough Billy Casper designed course. I shot 42+40=82 to Michael's 83. We had a great time and got to spend the afternoon with one of our up and coming retail agent who happens to love the game of golf. It was fun. I got Michael back to the airport by six and then myself back home to clean up and head to poker with John, Steve and Big John. We played at Scott's place in Citrus Heights and I lost like an air mattress losing air when you pull the stopper out. I hadn't won a hand when we stopped for dinner at 8 o'clock. I won the first hand after dinner and played well up until midnight. I was down about $40 when we broke for dinner and worked it back to about a $15 loss by the end of the night.

 

Saturday, Darla kicked me out of the house so she could have a party and I went and got breakfast, stopped by the office, got gassed up and had a car wash. I met Paul at the course about 11:20 and we teed off at noon. I shot 45 on the front and my back was acting up. I couldn't even bend over to get my ball out of the hole. My back was stiff and I had to stretch it out numerous times. The back nine was better and I recorded two birdies on my way to a 40 and a total of 85. Not bad considering the state of my back. I saw Jane on Monday and she gave me a treatment, but may go back this week for another tune-up.

 

Last night we had plans to go out to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Darla texted me on the golf course and said that Frieda had gone to her party and they were meeting us for dinner. We went to PF Changs and enjoyed a full course meal, including appetizers, a full meal and dessert. We had a great visit and Charlie and Frieda ended up picking up the bill over my protestations. Maybe Darla and I will sneak out for a meal on Tuesday night.

 

Today we were off to church in the morning for a great sermon, followed by a trip to Home Depot to buy a new light for the garage. Both of the ballasts in the garage door opener have failed and it is dark in the garage when you pull in at night. I bought a motion detector light and will wire past the light switch and just have it on all the time. The light will come on when we are in the garage or the door opens. I could buy another Garage door opener, but that one is only about ten years old and has a few miles left on the tread.

 

I'll play in the finals of our twilight league on Thursday night and then head to a year end pizza party at the pizza joint up the street. Saturday is our Invitational and I'll be playing with one of my agents who also plays in the twilight golf. We are playing a two man scramble format.

 

That agent, Mark, will join me and Alan, the CEO of Western Insurance Agents Association, at lunch at McCormick and Schmick's steakhouse tomorrow. I have referred him as a potential board member. Jeff Barnett, my friend and one of my retail agents will become the Chairman of the board beginning on September 15th and I've been asked to assume the Vice Chairman position. We are still working on an Agents Errors and Omissions program for the sister company of WIAA and their retail arm. It is a process, but it has been a great partnership so far.

 

Glad to report that David is serious about his job hunting as he finally shaved off his beard! Darla is happy. I feel that he could actually have shaved it off completely, but he did trim it to a simple "mountain man" cut.

 

Well, Darla and I are watching some Lifetime movie and I must suspend reality to watch the show about a widow who remarries a man that wants to take everything from her, including her daughter. I hope you all have a great week. Ciao. 

 

 

Tahoe Family Vacation was nothing short of AWESOME

 

It was another fantastic trip with our family. Darla and I haven't seen Italy, England or Spain together yet, but we have a nice anthology of fun family trips. This one was no exception as the weather was incredible, the accommodations somewhat Spartan, but there were four bedrooms and two baths, a nice kitchen and dining room and a great family room that was our headquarters for the week. It also had an incredible view as you can see by the pictures of the sunset. McKenny continues to ingratiate himself with Darla and I as he brought Sam up on Sunday and stayed a week. Jennifer flew in Thursday night and was there until Sunday.

 

 Jennifer has a new job that really couldn't be any more perfect for her. She is working for a service provider for Cox Communications Las Vegas. The very day that she started work, one of the supervisors for Cox took a look at Jennifer's resume and created a job for her that is supervisory in nature and requires her to be a Project Manager for various Vegas projects throughout the area. That is a good boss that looks at all of the strengths of their staff and creates jobs that fit their skill set. Apparently her supervisor was not in on the hiring decision and was getting to know the three new hires and pulled Jennifer aside and talked. Her supervisor has already told Jennifer that she wants her to hire on fulltime with Cox when her contract is closer to completion. The contract has a buyout for Cox, but they want to work into the time remaining on the contract and also look at Jennifer a bit more to make sure she is what they want. It sounds promising as Jennifer and her supervisor are creating her position as they go along. Jennifer is thrilled with her new position.

 

In the meantime, McKenny continues to shine at Erricson. He does the work of about four people and I said before when we have travelled with him that he is one of the hardest workers that I know. He is in charge of about 120 sites that are being worked on now and he worked about three days full and one night went to bed at 2 AM and was up at 5 AM because some inferior part was in play at his cell sites and 90 of them went off line right in the middle of the Olympics. He was able to get most of them up and running. He had promised Jennifer that he would take Friday and Saturday off and he was true to his word. He put his phone on DND  and enjoyed the two days with all of us.

 

I threw out my back in the middle of our trip. We took the hiking trail from the Emerald Bay overlook a mile down to Vikingsholm Castle on Wednesday. I had always wanted to make the hike down, but unfortunately, you have to hike back up. I had worn a backpack, but I think I overloaded it on our way back up the hill and was stiff and sore from the hike. I had to park the car about a 1/2 mile above the overlook, so left before Darla, Sam and McKenny to get the Explorer and drive back to pick them up. You can see the pictures of the castle above. It has a sod roof on one side. My back was pretty sore Wednesday night and by the time I got up Thursday morning my sciatica had already gone out of whack. I could barely stand up straight. luckily, I had several muscle relaxant pills with me as well as a couple of 800 mg Motrin that helped me get through the weekend.

 

I was able to get in to see Jane at my Bowen clinic this afternoon and although I'm still sore, I can feel her movements beginning to loosen up the nerve. It's a process.

 

Sam had to carry a cooler up the hill and she was slow to get ready, so her wet towel didn't make it into my backpack. Darla put it in her cooler and I heard about it when Sam made it to the truck. She carried it the whole way up the grade and neither Darla nor McKenny would bail her out. I was praising her for making it up the hill without help and she said, "Yeah, it would have been easy, but Grandma made me carry a wet towel, too." I guess Darla told her that if she made it up the hill without complaining that she could have an ice cream shake on our way back to the condo. She was true to her word as we stopped at the local ice cream shop and Sam had an Oreo cookie shake.

 

Monday, Darla and I took Sam with us and we headed out to Incline Village. The condo had a PlayStation system with tons of games, but one of the prior renters had taken the PS cord that wires the system to the TV. McKenny was able to go out between calls and get a replacement cord while we were gone. Our plan was to take Sam to Sand Harbor beach, but it was already full by the time we passed it at 11:00 AM. We went into Incline Village and had our picnic lunch at a nice park. From there we went on the hunt for a nice beach, I saw one on YELP, but when we pulled in it was a Private beach. We headed down the street to the city beach and it was full, but the guy at the entry kiosk told us to park across the street and walk in. We did that, but what he didn't tell us is that it was $12 a head for adults and $8 for children. We just walked in and Darla didn't find out until we left when she stopped at the gate to talk to the guard about the best time to get there to beat the crowds. Oops. We had a great time and you can see a picture of Sam at the beach above in her pink bikini.

 

Tuesday, we relaxed at the pool and had a picnic lunch there (McKenny came down and joined us). Afterward we packed up and headed to town and saw the movie "The secret life of Pets" at the Heavenly Resort shopping area. It was cute and Sam loved it. We went to pizza afterward at Blue Dog pizza. You can see the picture of Sam and Grandma standing at the counter and the drawing that Sam did and had added to the wall of fame. Her masterpiece is the one right between the two of them.

 

Thursday, my back issues started, but we went out to the beach anyway and went to Round Hill Beach, on the Nevada side of the border. Darla's uncle Junior had arrived Thursday and was staying over with us. Earl and Frances had tried to meet us all at the beach, but couldn't find the beach we were at. They stopped at two different beaches and told us about Nevada Beach.

 

We had all planned to go to Reno to pick Jennifer up Thursday night, but my back was balking over the hour drive each way. McKenny left about six and Sam stayed with us and we met Darla's parents and Uncle for dinner Thursday night at the Lakeside Casino for Prime Rib. We had a forty five minute wait to get in to the restaurant and Darla and Sam headed to the store to pick up some breakfast items and some flowers for Sam to give to Mom.

 

Dinner was excellent as always and the Lakeside is well known for their $9.99 Prime Rib Special. That special is now $14.99 and they've added another special with a lobster tail and Prime Rib for $19.99. We met up with McKenny and Jennifer after dinner at the condo and played a new dice game called "Shut the box." Sam was thrilled to have her Mom there and sat on top of her as she showed Uncle Junior how to play "Monsters' Inc." on Play Station.

 

Friday I had bought four tickets for the Heavenly Valley gondola. The cost for a single rider is $49 and I got two vouchers for $44 for two riders. I was happy with my buy right up to the point that Jennifer, Junior and the rest of us showed up at the gondola and I turned in my vouchers. It turns out that the vouchers were for Squaw Valley, about 31 miles away. We decided NOT to drop another $200 and skipped the gondola trip. We stopped at Fire and Ice and McKenny, Junior, Darla and I all had a drink while Jennifer and Sam shopped for trinkets in the store. Afterward, we said our goodbyes to Junior as he was off to see Earl and Frances at their RV park. We went to Nevada Beach which Frances had told us about earlier and it turned out to be the closest to our condo.  We were able to scout out an area for the gang on Saturday when there would be 11 of us. The beach is about 1/2 mile of sandy beach and has a rental operator for kayaks and stand up paddleboards. Miya had said she wanted to try a SUP, so we were good to go

 

. I'm saving the four Squaw Valley gondola tickets until we go to Reno in September for a stay at the Peppermill. I had bought that voucher which is good for one night in a Tower Room with $100 in services (spa or restaurants) for $100 at one of the silent auctions at a golf tournament. No one was bidding on it and the hotel room in the concierge tower goes for $120 on the weekend. I basically paid for the dinner and we get a free stay out of it. We'll invite friends to go with us and hit the gondola ride on the way back.

 

Friday night, the boys arrived. Daniel and Becky got there about 8:30 and Dave and Maya got there at 12:30. Maya had a work commitment on Friday night and Dave overstayed at work getting caught up on his workload. They finally left Sacramento at 9:30. Darla stayed up and waited for them, but I went to bed. My back was sore.

 

Saturday we were all up early and had a big breakfast of quiche and toast and then packed up and were headed to Nevada Beach by ten o'clock. There was a line of cars to get in and the close in parking was already gone. We pulled around to drop off kayaks and boats that David brought and our chairs, towels, coolers and whatnot. As we pulled up, a lady told us that three of them were leaving and we could have their parking spots. It was God's Will as we parked front and center next to the beach.

 

We had a ball. Miya rented a stand up paddleboard for four hours ad everyone had their turn. I demurred due to my back, but got pictures. David went out on his one man kayak and rode along as Miya rode the SUP. Jennifer and Sam were next. Darla had a go as did Becky. David tried it, but McKenny, Dan and I all bailed. The boat got used as Daniel, Becky and Sam went for a ride. There were sand castles and volleyball and smash ball and relaxing on the beach. It was fun and we all enjoyed the sandwiches and fruit that was prepared.

 

Saturday night we all went out to dinner at Tep's Villa Roma, an old fashioned Family Italian restaurant. Darla and I treated the bunch to dinner in honor of our 20th wedding anniversary. We are proud of all of our kids and where they are in life. Daniel is well respected in his job and Dave has worked at his firm since he was 17 years old, taking five years off for college. Jennifer is in a good place in her life with a great guy who loves her and Sam and would do anything for them. It was a nice night and there was a lot of laughter and joy at our table as we enjoyed the pasta bar, salad bar and entrees.

 

The kids wanted to go out as siblings and have a drink and see the casino life, but decided to come home and play dice with Sam and the old folks (us). We played until about ten and they all headed out for a shuttle to the casinos. Darla and I put Sam to bed and sat and talked about the trip together after Sam fell asleep.

 

Sunday was cleanup and goodbyes as Jennifer, Sam and McKenny had a seven hour drive home. they left at ten after another filling breakfast. Daniel, Becky, Miya, Dave and Darla and I cleaned up the condo and headed over to visit with Earl and Frances at their RV. We left there about 1:30 and it took us almost three and a half hours to get home in stop and go traffic. We stopped in Auburn for an early dinner at 4:15 and then drove on home. The warmth of our memories are still with us as I close this.

 

I hope you all are doing great. Darryl and Cheryl are living their dream in Dallas and Randy and Cake out at Possum Kingdom Lake out in the boonies. I know Dad and Shirley plan a trip to Dallas soon. We will all be together before you know it on our cruise in March. Happy Birthday to Randy, a man who knows the saying "Living Well". I love you guys. Ciao.

 

 

 

Tahoe Family Vacation

 

Hey all. A lot of pictures for your enjoyment. We checked in Saturday and David joined us Saturday night. He was actually up this way helping a family member with some plans for a new brewery and came over and spent the night. McKenney and Sam came in about 1:30 on Sunday and we had a quick lunch of barbecued hot dogs and then went to the pool. It is about a 7 and a half hour drive from Vegas and they left at 6 AM. Sam had a little cry leaving Mom behind, but is pretty focused on our trip to the beach today and having fun on her vacation. We went to dinner last night at Chevy's in South Lake Tahoe and came home and played games last night. They have a nice video game set up, but on of the HDMI cables is missing, so we will pick one up today. Also, the wifi isn't working o McKenny and I are working off our smartphone's hot spot. The techs are working with McKenney to get us up and running.

 

We are heading into Incline Village today for lunch at a park that has all sorts of slides and things for Sam and then we will stop at Sand Harbor beach for the afternoon and swim and relax. Jennifer flies into Reno Thursday night and we will pick her up and have a late dinner there. Friday, we will take the tram up to the top of Heavenly Ski resort and play disc golf and do some hiking. Friday night the boys get here and Saturday we will rent a paddleboat and two kayaks for a fun day at the lake.

 

I'm looking forward to all of it. The Trusted Choice golf event really wore me out as I was there both Saturday and Sunday and then Monday-Thursday 6 AM to 9 PM. Tuesday was the cut party swim event for the kids and we were told by the national committee about two hours before the event that we were responsible to chaperone the event. I was afraid that we'd be having couples sneaking off into the bushes, but it was like a middle school dance. The boys were on one side and the girls having their dinner on the other. One of the agents asked Todd if he could spare $100 and announced to the kids to all stand up and empty their pockets of cell phones, money and anything valuable. He then announced that the first girl and boy into the pool would get $50. There were about 60 kids all diving in the pool at once. it was hilarious and got the party started. No one was in the pool prior to that and it was a bit uncomfortable.

 

We did have several records set at the golf tournament. A local girl, Emillee Hoffman from Folsom set a new Del Paso Country Club women's record with a 7 under par 64 on Tuesday. The course is 100 years old and had hosted the LPGA for about seven years. We also had the all time low total by a boy with 18 under par for the event. It was a huge success and named the "Gold Standard" by the National Committee as far as golf tournaments go. We had a few glitches here and there, but overall it went swimmingly.

 

This is short, but the munchkin is up and ready for breakfast. I hope all is well and I will touch base next week. Be happy. Ciao.

 

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