Paul and I won the Inaugural 2 day Winter Challenge event at Diamond Oaks this weekend. I didn't play great, but had some really good holes and Paul played consistently and we shot a 59 on Saturday to open a one shot lead and then outplayed the second place team on Sunday (who had shot a 60 on Saturday) 63 to 66 to win. The turnout was not as good as it could have been and they only had a total of 21 teams in three flights, so we only won $110. It only cost us $80 total for range balls, green fees and a cup of chili both days, so we came out ahead of the game. I shot 89 and 91 and Paul shot 81 and 78, so we somehow managed to work our way around the course and win. Darla came out after the round today and had lunch with Frieda. Frieda had not played in the event, but came out hoping Charlie would buy her lunch. When she saw me, she had me call Darla and then grabbed the phone. Darla was just sitting down to a chicken sandwich at home and Frieda insisted that she" put the sandwich down and come out and have lunch with her". Darla complied. I actually had my chili and then went and hit the new Callaway Driver, the Rogue at a Demo Day event at the driving range. I hit it well, but didn't drop the $499 for the new stick. I ended up leaving, coming home, working on the yard, taking Samson for a walk and watching the Honda Classic PGA event before Darla came home. She and Frieda closed down the restaurant at the club and I'm guessing solved many of the country's biggest issues as they talked.
Darla and I talked to Jennifer yesterday and she was involved in a car accident on Tuesday of last week. She was out at lunch and there was an emergency vehicle that was driving on the main street. Her light turned to red flashing so the fire truck could go thru the intersection and the car behind her didn't see the light and hit her from behind, pushing her through the intersection and into oncoming traffic. She said her car did a 360 and came to rest in the other traffic lanes. When the police came, he checked on her and called for an EMT and then went to talk to the driver that hit her. She got checked out by the EMT and he walked her back across the intersection to the policeman who was laughing and having a conversation with the other drivers. He "shooshed" her when she tried to cut in and give her side of what happened. She thinks the policeman knows the other driver and his wife. When she got the police report, it showed no fault on either driver as the light had gone red flashing. Jennifer (I guess) talked to Diane and now has an attorney to get the incident changed to the driver that hit her being at fault for not stopping at a red flashing light. We'll see how that goes. I don't want to seem pessimistic, but my experience is the only people who win in that kind of an argument are the attorneys. Luckily, she is okay. She is seeing a chiropractor for her neck and missed one and a half days of work.
We got a call last night from Alicia's husband, Don, and they have decided to come out to Vegas and be at the wedding. I talked to Jennifer last night and we talked about the "no kids" edict. Right now, they have Sam (of course), her girlfriend Ava, McKenny's two nieces 12 and 16, a baby who belongs to one of McKenny's groomsmen and now Luke. They arrive on Wednesday and stay until Sunday. Darla finally got her dress for the wedding and I went and got fitted for my tux at Men's Wearhouse. Do you know that a tux rental for two days is now $270. What the hell? How does a teenager afford going to prom? Oh, that's right, they don't wear tuxes anymore.
We had the kids over last Sunday night and I got some pictures. Samson was a little overly excited and Darla wanted to leave him in his crate, but we have to get him socialized to guests, so I let him out after dinner and he did pretty good. I had him on his leash and he stayed calm, going over and getting attention from each of the kids and staying down from jumping up on them. Becky is not used to dogs and actually has a fear of dogs, but she is really bonding with Samson. They are all moved into the house in Roseville and have Dan's cousin living with them as a tenant and he has a pit bull mix dog that spends most of the day with Becky, who is home working on her dissertation for her doctorate. She is on the last lap for getting her doctorate. We had a great time with the kids.
We had a guest speaker at church Saturday night, Louie Giglio, who is the senior pastor and founder of the Passion movement and Passion City church in Atlanta Georgia. He is a dynamic speaker and preached about David and Goliath and the battle at the Elah Valley in the Promised land. His sermon was about battling the Giants in our life and he used the example of his own struggles with depression that lasted two years in his life and took a toll on him emotionally and physically. His point is that if you go into battle with the Lord by your side you have already won. It was pretty powerful.
The other picture above is from Darla at our favorite Italian restaurant, Rubino's in Rocklin. We went to dinner after church. We had wanted the waiter to get a picture of us, but he was one of those obnoxious 20 "somethings" who like to act like they are forty and smile and wink at you. We both could barely keep from laughing when he came by and refilled our drinks as he was so verbose.
Ron Floyd and I will team up next week in the 54 hole team championship. The event is three days over two weekends and encompasses a round of best ball, a round of alternate shot and a round of 2 man scramble. I have to do the handicapping for the event tonight and that entails coming up with individual handicaps for the first day and team handicaps for the final two days. It's a lot of work, but I only have to post the individual best ball scores.
I have the LA manager, Tim, coming in to my office tomorrow. He is part of the Surplus Lines Association board and they are meeting in Sacramento Monday and Tuesday. He had contacted me two months ago and set up coming in to my office to meet the staff and see the location and then have lunch with Pete and I. He also wanted to play golf Wednesday morning. He called me last Thursday and bailed on golf as he noticed that our morning temperatures are near 40 degrees. His flight is 2 PM and he wanted to play in the morning. He is spoiled as he grew up in Michigan, but is now a So Cal weather snob.
Work is going along okay. We were up substantially in January, but just missed budget numbers on income. However, because of three new employees and the cost of outfitting them and some overlap on salaries, I ended up only making $800 in profit for January, which compares with $23,000 last January. I was stunned when I got the financials and Harvey and I had a talk. He said that he has been caught off guard like that before and it is never fun. I will be watching the expenses very closely and had a heart to heart talk with the staff last Wednesday and went over commissions and fee income and told them point blank, that if an agent complains about our fee structure and is making more than 10% in commission, that we will cut their commission. It is amazing how well they all turn into Super Salesmen when their income is threatened.
Well, I have to get up and barbecue some pork chops. I am off to lunch with Tim and Pete tomorrow, so I won't be bringing leftovers, but the boneless chops are so much better on the barbie. We are expecting a pretty wet week this week with a storm front coming in tonight and lasting most of the week. Have a good week. Ciao.
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