The heat continues unabated. We had another weekend of 100 plus temperatures with another week of heat ahead. It looks like we will cool down to 99 degrees next Sunday, which is the first day of the Club Championship.
The heat is oppressive and we had three days of our air conditioning being out at my office in the prior week (I forgot to mention it last week). There are a couple of air conditioners in our building and the one that decided to go out was the one that serves our office space. The air conditioning was working in the hallways and bathrooms, even the gym had air. It was brutal as the temperatures were all over 100 degrees and the interior temperature was probably close to 90 degrees on that first day. I sent the staff home early and we brought in fans and dressed more casually the second day. We were able to put fans at each of the major doors drawing the air into the office. The problem for me is that my office is in the corner of the building where the sun hits the windows all day long. I was all over the building management and was shocked that they didn't provide fans or a portable air conditioner. The office manager showed up everyday at about 2 Pm with ice cream. Nice, but not really what we needed. We were out Wednesday -Friday and they had to order a part for the compressor. They finally got it installed Friday afternoon and the air came on and started to bring the temperature down.
Good news? Well sort of. We came into the office Monday morning and unbelievably, the temperature was about 90 degrees again. WHAT??! Apparently they forgot to reset the schedule and the air conditioning is turned off over the weekend. They were able to get it up and running by about 9:30, but that was an unwelcome development. Hopefully it's cool when I get in tomorrow at 7:30.
Pictures this week. The first picture is of Darla when she walked the stage to receive a Leadership Award in Rhode Island. The second picture is of a replica of the hole flag on the 18th hole at Baltusrol at the PGA Championship in 2016 signed by the Burns and Wilcox brand sponsor, Jimmy Walker. It is a gift from our Marketing Department to my office. Very nice. The third shot is from dinner Saturday night where Darla and I went out to Rubinos Italian restaurant in Rocklin, California. I had a Groupon and we enjoyed lasagna and gnocchi at the white tablecloth restaurant. The food was excellent and the gnocchi was some of the best that I have tasted. We will be back. The last two pictures are from today when Luke and Alicia came over to swim with us. I was watching the Canadian Open and he was dying for me to come out to the pool. I finally put it on hold and went out and he wanted to play "bumper boats" with he two float lounges. Darla and Alicia sat and visited under an umbrella and Luke and I tried to empty the pool of all of its' water. I had a good time with him.
I mentioned that we have the Club Championship next weekend. My game is about what you'd expect after four months off. I played Thursday night in 106 degree heat and shot 48. It was brutally hot. I played again on Saturday morning the night after poker and shot 41+45=86. I can't figure out where my game is right now and what to expect. I had a great front nine Saturday followed by a sloppy driving performance on the back nine that lead to the 45. My index will go up to a 16.7 and I'll get 17 on the white tees at Diamond...except in tournaments. We use a Tournament handicap and I'm stuck at 15. I'll let you know how the first round match goes when I update the blog next week.
I did have poker on Friday night and had a good night with the cards. I was down to about $40 in quarters when I got there and brought another $40 in cash. I left the game with $85 in quarters and $50 in cash. It was good to get together with the guys. That was actually my first poker game since the surgery in February. I physically could have played in any of the games, but we were busy every time they played, either with vacations or Sam being here or whatever. Always nice to fleece some cash from my friends.
Charlie is back and has three new stents in his left side and is now rehabilitating. He made the mistake Friday of trying to play golf and it really wore him out. The incision in his groin needs a chance to heal and he is out for at least another two weeks. He had planned to play in the Club Championship, but sent everyone a note and told us that he overdid it on Friday and was paying for it now. He was at poker on Friday night as well. Rest is his best friend right now.
The rest of the story on Darla's Touchstone representative's medical event is that she admitted to having the same event the week before her trip and not telling anyone because she wanted to go on the trip. She has diverticulitis, Her husband has MS and is a handful and she was looking forward to getting away with her friends. They were not happy and she was in the hospital in Sacramento from Monday until Friday, so it was serious. My guess is that she probably shouldn't have flown home and the doctors in Rhode Island likely didn't know that she planned to fly on Monday.
Finally, work is going well. We had a good month last month and passed our results from 2016 on Friday and have all of the business from the weekend and Monday to book on top of that. We have a good chance to be up 5-8% this month and my absent maternity leave Underwriter will be back on Tuesday the 1st, so August is looking good already. Harvey will be in the office on Thursday and we have lunch with one of our national retailers. It is actually a smaller family owned agency that just sold to one of the national retailers. We have both a national agreement and a special California agreement with them, so I look forward to the visit. I also met with another of our national retailers on Thursday with Pete and one of the young guys from both the Personal side and the Commercial side. We have marching orders to grow with these guys and I have put these two "twenty-somethings" in charge of following up with all of the local agents. We met with the regional manager and I bought lunch at a restaurant in Granite Bay. I am really thrilled with how hard the staff has been working lately and my focus has been on hit ratios, retention and new business. Amazing what can happen when they actually listen to me.
That's it for this week. I hope you are all doing well. I'll be back at this next week. Ciao.
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