A good weekend is in the books. I was complaining last week about being bored and ready to get back to life. I was so tired after work each day this week, it was ridiculous. My stamina was shot. I got some good rest this weekend and only have a four day work week this week, so I'll get through it. The golf club had their second straight two day tournament this weekend and it was actually the first 36 holes of a 54 hole event. In fact they have another event on the Sunday that we return from the cruise and I have to have one of my handicap committee members handle that event for me. The due date is this Friday and it needs to be handicapped over the weekend. I added the picture from our cruise in 2012 and we look forward to making new memories with the family. I also included a picture of Sam from her reading adventure that was set on Dr Suess' birthday
Darla, David and I went last night to Stockton to see Woodcreek High school play in the Section championship for basketball. They were playing the number one seed in Sheldon from Elk Grove and they are ranked number 2. Darla had a Touchstone event from 3-5 pm and we were supposed to meet David at his house at 6:30. Darla was afraid that her event would run long and she would be late to pick me up. I told her to let me know as she was close to downtown and I could Uber it to his house if I had to. She texted me at 5:45 and told me that she was still there and I contacted Uber for a ride. I haven't used the service before, although have ridden with people who did order it. I put in David's address, hit "order" and a Scion XP picked me up in about ten minutes. The driver was from Puerto Rico and moved here with his family last year. He had snacks and water in the car and was a kick to talk to. It took about 20 minutes to get downtown and I met Darla and David at his house in mid town.
The game was at Spanos Center at the University of Pacific in Stockton. Woodcreek has a nationally ranked player on their team, Jordan Brown, and he is expected to be heavily recruited by Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, etc. Jordan is just a Junior. Sheldon and Woodcreek had both gone undefeated in their conferences, but had two losses to nationally ranked schools in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Woodcreek had lost to a team that Sheldon had beaten, so they were number 1 and Woodcreek was 2. They did not play each other this year. Woodcreek was 28-2 and Sheldon was 29-2. The games was up and down. Woodcreek scored the first ten points and led after the first quarter, but only scored 6 points in the second quarter as their star power forward got mugged by a collapsing defense and was taken out of the game after throwing an elbow at one of the Sheldon players for his 3rd foul. Woodcreek struggled and was behind by five at the half. Sheldon upped that lead to 11 halfway through the third quarter and Brown suffered his 4th foul and was taken out. We kind of gave up hope, but the team pulled together and went on a run of their own and closed down only four after 3 quarters. Brown came back in and played brilliantly down the stretch getting rebounds and drawing fouls. He also had one massive dunk that brought down the house. They went up one point with 8.2 seconds left. Our point guard brought the ball up under a trap defense and passed the ball to Brown in the corner, but behind the basket. He put up a prayer with .1 second left that missed everything, BUT a foul was called. He made both free throws for an improbable 87-86 win. For me, it was nice to get out of the house.
We went out to dinner with Charlie and Frieda on Friday night. Darla was supposed to go to lunch with Frieda on Friday, but her job is too busy. She asked to reschedule and somehow we ended up with dinner plans for Friday night at the Claim Jumper. I don't know what I did, but when we got home I had a nerve cramp in my right shoulder that was so painful. Darla had to find the Oxycotin and get it to me fast. I was dying. That was a first. I think we were at dinner for two hours and I had my arm resting on the table the entire time and it just locked up on me.
I saw the doctor on Wednesday and I cannot drive for three more weeks. I will begin physical therapy on April 3rd and can lose the sling at that point. Darla will have to drive me until then, which is a pain for both of us. At least we have almost eleven days with the cruise that I will not have to be driven, so that's something.
My big boss in Detroit has scheduled a trip up to Northern California the week of March 27th and he will be in my office on March 29th. We haven't had the pleasure of a visit from him since 2015, so we were due. I have four employees who have yet to experience a visit from our CEO. I am working with the staff on knowing the different entities owned by KFG (our holding company and Alan's family business). I have schooled them on sales figures, numbers of employees, number of offices, foreign holdings and our personal budget and top agents, etc. I leave on this cruise and have a week to get prepared for his visit. Pete leaves on the Sunday that we come back from the same port for a cruise down the Panama Canal and gets back on the Tuesday before the trip. He will need to transition from party to work pretty quickly.
Darla and I have our final meeting with our trust administrator on Wednesday. We are setting up a family trust that will make our estate so much easier after we pass away. The trust will help our kids avoid taxes and have our estate pass to them quickly and without any headaches. We have needed to do this for awhile and the death of Darla's uncle intestate made up our minds for us.
Darla's two jobs outside of Touchstone have been busy. Her job with the social service agency whereby she does visits with the natural families has really picked up. She has a new family and got into a pickle last week when the boyfriend showed up and got into a fight with the ex who is the Dad. It all happened in a McDonalds in front of the kids. Darla tried to get between them, but the guy didn't even acknowledge her and luckily she just went to the kids and tried to calm them down. The police were called and it turns out the boyfriend has a restraining order against him. Those meetings have now been moved to the county offices. She is also trying to get in her meetings with her institutionalized clients with her other job. They are in Stockton and Lodi and her plate is full right now.
Well, that is it. We are off to Ft Lauderdale on Thursday night. I got a cheap flight, but we have to fly to New York and then on to Ft Lauderdale. We were supposed to have a three hour layover and be in Ft Lauderdale by 3 PM (after flying out of Sacramento at 11:59 PM the night before). Unfortunately that flight was cancelled and we now have a 6 hour layover with a 2:23pm flight that gets into Ft Lauderdale at 6:05 PM. I have looked into airport lounges and we will stay at the Jet Blue lounge which has showers, a bar, soft drinks, coffee, teas and juices. The cost is $25 per person and includes a voucher for lunch. It will be better than sitting in the airport killing time. The change in planes means that we will miss dinner with the family that night as we won't get to the hotel Friday night until after 7 PM. We will go over and at least have a drink and toast Cheryl's birthday. It's a bummer, but the flights were $248.00 instead of $800 each. The even better news is that our return flight on Jet Blue is direct to Sacramento. I will be back at the keyboard in two weeks with tails of Aruba, Caracao, Bonaire and the crazy Lyon family. Be well. Ciao.
