The only thing I brought back from Detroit...is a COLD

Yep. There were a couple of Managers at the meeting with sniffles and I ended up next to one at one of our sessions and, sure enough, Friday night I felt the sore throat starting and have been basically miserable since. I flew back to Sacramento Saturday night and was suffering on the plane, especially with my sinuses and my ears. On both landings (Dallas and Sacramento), I cold not get my ears to pop and had severe pain in my eardrums. I know of little kids who have been screaming on landing and I think they had the same problem I had. It was so bad in Sacramento that I could barely hear Darla on the cell phone when I called her in the cell phone lot to let her know that I had landed.

We got home and I took a hot shower and went to bed. i hadn't slept well Friday night and it was 1:45 AM Eastern time and I was a zombie. Darla brought me some hot tea and honey and I drank about half of it before falling into a deep and restful sleep. I awoke at 7:00 AM and got up to gauge if I was well enough to play in the Past President's tournament. I had a runny nose and a sore throat and felt chills and decided that I needed to just rest and called Neil to let him know that I was WD in the tournament. Those who know me, know that I was truly sick if I missed golf. I relaxed on the couch today and drank hot tea and sucked on throat lozenges. Darla left at noon to meet her sister for lunch and for bridal gown shopping. She and Don will marry in January. I watched the end of the morning games and decided to go outside and clear the leaves off the lawn and then mow. Darla got home later and was mad at me, but it's tough to just sit, especially when there is work to do. I will try to get out to the driving range this week and try out my new FT iq before the trip to Nuevo Vallarta next week. It came in on Thursday. I have my FT-9 up for auction on EBay right now and it will close tomorrow. Someone will get a great deal on a Tour quality driver.

The meetings this trip were quite favorable to me and I got a lot of kudos from management for our results year to date. Young Anthony won two of the year end awards with Distinguished Underwriter of the year for booking over $650,000 in income for the year and he also won for New business underwriter of the year. Finally, our branch in Sacramento won the coveted Gold Award for Branch of the Year in Division 3. In spite of my growing cold, I was pleased to be up and down going to the stage to collect the awards for Sacramento. The meeting overall were very well done, from dinner at Cheli's (named for some Red Wing hockey player named Chelios) to the awards dinner and the meeting in between, it was a first class affair. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn and spent Thursday in Home Office with our companies and staff. They had me set up every 30 minutes with a different market and it was a great way to talk to our suppliers.

The company continues to have policy growth and, although the revenue is flat, we are poised for continued growth in years to come. My meeting with our CEO went well. I have some things to do to help grow the office, but management is very happy with the results. The ten month figures came out on Monday and my profit for the year has surpassed $500,000, which is fantastic.

I talked to Darryl briefly today and he wanted to know what to expect when he gets to Puerto Vallarta. Dad had told him that the airport is a zoo. It's true, there are 100's of time share people trying to entice you just outside of Customs, but if you walk through the second set of doors you will find cabbies lined up to take you to your hotel. I told him the fare to Nuevo Vallarta is $15, or was when we were there last and to make sure he agrees on a price before they leave the airport. Luckily, Darla and I will be picked up by the Grand Mayan when we fly in. Darryl and Cheryl could have been picked up as well, but they are spending an extra night with Dad and Shirley who are already in Nuevo Vallarta. The only drawback to our trip is that they are still doing construction on site and we are still at only nine holes of golf and the regular six restaurants is down to three. We will enjoy ourselves and I look forward to kicking this cold and getting down to some sun and fun in Mexico next week. Speaking of that, the blog is going on vacation. I may do a post before I leave, but only if I get to it. Darla and I will be packing and getting ready next weekend. We fly out at 6:15 AM on Sunday.

It is halftime of the Dallas Cowboy's Sunday Night Football game, so this will be short. Be advised however that I will be back with pictures and highlights from our trip to Mexico after next week. I look forward to seeing the troops tomorrow at work and sharing all of our good news. I hope you are all well. Ciao.

Correction from Butt Cramp Boy!

I have the attention span of a small child with a sever case of ADD and missed the official title that Darryl holds at McClane. He is definitely number three at the facility, but is the Vice President. There is a President on site and a Regional VP, well, let him explain...

"I am the VP and I run the facility (my next move is President) – my President handles the administrative side of the business and I handle 90 percent of the operations and transportation. I have a Transportation Manager who runs the distribution side and an Operations Manager who runs the warehouse side. There is also a Regional Vice President imbedded in the facility who is number two in the company."

Honestly, who wants to be numer two? There are some negative connotations there. Actually, it sounds like he has two middle managers that pretty well run things for him. Pretty good gig if you can get it.

Halloween? No, golf and relaxation in Monterey, CA!!

We have pictures of the little monkey from Halloween in Las Vegas. Jennifer decided to have Samantha wear the Monkey costume again and this time actually go out and do some trick or treating. Jen said the first house they went to Sam tried to walk into the house and Jennifer had to call her back. She finally got the hang of it and absolutely loved seeing the people and meeting her neighbors. We miss her SO MUCH and wish that they lived closer. She is a doll.

Darla and I spent the weekend in Monterey. I decided to work Friday morning and fore go a third day of golf and spend some time with Darla on the drive down and at the hotel. We left about 12:30 from Roseville and after a stop to deliver jewelry in downtown Sacramento got on the road. We stopped in Galt, CA (of all places) and had a late lunch at the Squeeze Inn, a Sacramento institution and once profiled on Diners, Dives and Drive-ins on the food network. The restaurant was a tiny shack with room for about 12 people to eat inside. They did a booming walk-up business, but after their 15 minutes of fame on TV, someone in a wheelchair sued them for lack of access and they were forced to close their doors. They moved to Galt in a new sprawling industrial center and the name "Squeeze Inn" is no longer appropriate, but it stuck. They make fantastic hamburgers, their signature burger a cheddar burger where a large 10"x10" slice of thick cheddar is laid over the patty after it has been turned once and a lid placed over the whole thing (with mushrooms or grilled onions added). They serve the creation with the melted fried cheese hanging over and around the patty and sitting three inches over the entire bun on all sides. We enjoyed two of those with fries and a tremendous milk shake and Darla's blood sugar level was rapidly on the rise. She has been so good and it was a treat to gorge on some diner food.

We got down to Monterey about 5:00 PM and checked into the Portola Inn and Spa on the Monterey wharf. We had Priceline rooms at $89 a night at the $189 a night hotel. They upgraded our room to a King deluxe and we relaxed before meeting up with our friends in town. We had dinner with Rick and Jan and Neil and Lilly along with Jerry and his wife at a small Italian restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. Rick and Jan also got the Priceline deal and were two doors down from us. Bob and Vicki were supposed to be at the same hotel, but Vicki decided to go to SoCal and see the Grand kids and Bob stayed with his elderly Mom in San Jose.

The day on Saturday dawned foggy and cold, but the blue sky was evident on the cusp of the fog and we drove over to Poppy hills knowing a good day was in store. The fog lifted after the third hole and we were bathed in 72 degree sunshine by the afternoon. I wore shorts under wind pants and had stripped the pants off by the 6th hole. I shot 43+42 for an 85. Bob shot 40+50=90 and wasn't a happy camper by the time we finished. His driver was causing him fits and mine was misbehaving all day as well. I had four straight double bogeys on the back side from hole number 11-14. I birdied 15 before finishing par-par-par for a 43 on the back. The low gross on the day was an 80 and I took third low net and won $33.

Darla met up with Daniel and Becky as they drove up from San Luis Obispo (about two hours by car) and met for lunch. Darla had got her shopping fix on at the shops near the hotel and in pacific Grove after a breakfast at Toasties in Pacific Grove, a favorite of ours. Darla and the kids went down to the beach at the bottom of Ocean Avenue in Carmel and took the pictures posted above. They had a nice visit and the kids were back on the road by 4 PM.

We were dropped back off at the hotel by Bob and we went "rogue" and opted out of the group activity that night which was dinner at a Chinese Food place. Darla and Jan both said they didn't drive to Monterey to eat Chinese, so we got together and had dinner at the FishWife in Pacific Grove. I'm glad we did as we enjoyed a special of prime rib and lobster tail for $24.95 that was outstanding. We had drinks at he bar before dinner and basically acted like adults out on the town. It was wonderful.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny with no remnants of any fog. It was warm early and warmed further as it settled out at 76 degrees on November 1st in Monterey. We absolutely could not have picked a better weekend. The boys and I headed to the golf course early and had breakfast at the Del Monte Lodge. I played just as consistently inconsistent and had two birdies on the day to go with two double bogeys, some pars and a bunch of bogeys for 42+43 = 85. My driver continues to befuddle me and I've already taken care of that headache. Bob also shot 85 and I heard two things out of Bob that I thought I'd never hear. One was, "Give me a nine" on Saturday and the other was "That was a 10" on Sunday. Amazing. I ended up taking 6th low net and won $24, which bought me a nice Pebble Beach bag tag at the Del Monte pro shop.

Darla and Jan went to breakfast in Carmel and when they were walking the shops afterward witnessed a car accident. The driver left the stop sign and didn't see an elderly couple crossing the street and plowed into them. The older gentleman flew through the air and hit his head on the median, while his wife was thrown to the pavement and had contusions. It is a small and often wonderful world and a women who was near Darla grabbed her hands and said, "Let's pray" and prayed for the health of the couple as the paramedics responded to the scene. God is good and his people are everywhere. It was encouraging to Darla who had seen the car hit the couple and was pretty shaken.

We got home about 6:30 last night and I was just too tired to work on the blog and left it for tonight. We had a great time on our short vacation and enjoyed the hotel, the food, the friends and being together away from home. We are both so busy, it was good to be together away from the distractions of home.

I mentioned that I did something about my driver and on my way home tonight monitored an auction on EBay and was able to get a replacement for my FT 1q 9 degree driver, brand new one for $152. I had watched two other auctions during the day and both of those clubs went for over $200, so i lucked out. I waited until the last minute and the price was still at $119.50. I put in my bid at a maximum of $155.01 and got it for $152. I will sell the FT-9 Tour model on EBay and recoup some of the $228 I paid for it. Golf is a work in progress. Always.

I am off to Detroit on Wednesday for the annual Managers meeting and will get back to this on Sunday. Dad and Shirley leave for Mexico on Saturday and we follow the next Sunday. I hope you are all well. Ciao.

A good weekend in the books

It was about golf and relaxing this weekend. I got a chance to try out my new clubs and they are a work in progress right now. I think I actually played better with Darryl's second set. My problem right now is gauging distance. The new X-R 18 irons are about 10-15 yards longer than my R7 irons. The one club that is absolutely perfect so far is the Callaway X 3 iron. I'm nutting that about 215 off the fairway. The driver is probably too stiff for me, but I've hit some really good drives (and a few I'd like to forget). The Callaway FT-9 has an extra stiff shaft and a 8.5 degree face. When I hit it, I'm about 240-250 in the fairway, but I have a tendency to overswing and get a slice., something I didn't worry about with my Ft-iQ.

I went out with Matt and Darren yesterday and played Woodcreek. I was consistently inconsistent and flying some greens with iron shots and shot 44+44=88. Matt shot 75 and was ready for our two man scramble today. We each had to get 5 drives in and I figured that with my inconsistency, Matt would carry us. He hits the ball about 25-30 yards longer than me and was hitting the ball well. Funny, I hit more fairways than him today and we ended up using nine of his drives and nine of mine. It was a 7:30 shotgun, wet and cold (although it was 79 degrees today) at the start and the grass was covered in dew. We shot a par on our starting hole 17 and then Matt hit a 285 yard drive on the 440 yard number one handicap hole 18. We managed to both mess up our approach shot and left a par putt of 20 feet that we both missed. We settled down on the front side and shot a 34 with seven pars and two birdies. The back nine was fun as we had birdies on four of the first 5 holes and ended up with a 33 on the back for 67 gross and 60 net with our combined 7 strokes. Matt is a 4 and I get 11 and we get the average of our two scores which was rounded down for some unknown reason. We ended up taking $5 from Boyd and his partner and winning $45 in the tournament. Matt got signed up for the club at our renewal rate and has the rest of this year and all of next year to play the tournaments. He is an excellent golfer and will be right there with Bob Pando for a shot at the club championship in the coming years.

I got home from golf on Saturday and was exhausted. I talked to Darla for a bit and laid down on the couch and was soon fast asleep. The doorbell rang at 5:30 and Darla got up from her spot on the bed (she doesn't like to nap on the couch, which likely has more to do with my snoring than the relative comfort of the sofa). It was one of our neighbors letting us know that I had a flat tire on my car in the driveway. I had left it out to wash it. The 300 has low profile tires and I probably wouldn't have noticed it, put it in the garage and had to get the tire changed at 6;30 this morning before golf. Thank God they came by. I'd like to think I'd have noticed it when I washed it though. I ended up having AAA come out and change the tire. I then washed my car and Darla's Explorer. I moved my clubs into the Explorer and Darla agreed to take the 300 in to Firestone today after church. It turns out it was a bad air stem and they were able to change that out and put the tire back on my car for less than $25. Darla walked across the street from the Firestone and had breakfast at the Waffle House this morning while they were fixing the tire. I got home again today, watched the Dallas game and fell asleep again on the couch. I'm turning into Gramp Lyon. At least that's what Samantha calls me.

Darla and I are off to Monterey next weekend. I decided to go to work Friday morning as it is month end closing and work a 1/2 day. Darla and I will take a slow drive down to Monterey and have dinner likely on the wharf as our hotel sits at the foot of the wharf in Monterey. We play Poppy Hills on Saturday and Old Del Monte on Sunday. The blog will be late next week as I work on it around the Monday Night football game.

I had mentioned in an earlier blog entry that we had toured the facility at Darryl's work in Longmont, Colorado. I was impressed with the scope of the operation and Darryl is the number three man at this massive facility. There is a facility President, A VP and Darryl as the Operations manager. He has the warehouse report to him as well as receiving, shipping and the terminal operations. We walked through the refrigeration storage areas, the freezer, as well as the main warehouse full of ice cream, candy, cigarettes, dry goods and all types of food, tobacco and candy. It was very impressive and I was impressed with Darryl's respect that he had from everyone as we walked through the terminal and warehouses. They were having some sort of problem with cigarettes on the day we walked through. The cigarettes have to be stamped with a tax stamp from the state where they will be sold and corporate had made some error, so the shipment was late and they had about twenty people standing around waiting for work. They were relaxed until they saw Darryl and they all got busy. It was great.

After we left Denver, Darryl ended up with pneumonia. His guests were both sick when they were there, but he ended up flat on his back for a week sick as a dog. I haven't talked to him, but got an e-mail addressing his illness from him. He was hacking and wheezing and couldn't keep any food down. Tough stuff.

Work is going very well for me and I think we are getting into a rhythm with the Modesto office. I have never been busier than I am now at work as I handle a big portion of the Modesto agents and I QA every file coming out of Modesto. I still have to split up some of the agents to other underwriters, but the office will stay open until December 31st, so I have time before I need to do that. Our office is having another great month and it is fun to ride this wave. I had a young underwriter from a competitor contact me last week and I will meet him for lunch next Tuesday. He's interested in exploring the possibilities at Burns and Wilcox.

I leave for the Manager's meeting in Michigan a week from Wednesday. I fly out at 9 AM and fly through Dallas to Michigan, arriving at 6:30 PM. It is a long day of travel and the limo will pick me up at the airport and take me straight to the restaurant where all of the managers will meet for dinner. I stay until Saturday afternoon and fly back Saturday night. It is a grueling few days and I end up exhausted. Thankfully I am back for only a week and then I'm off to Mexico with Darla, dad and Shirley, Darryl and Cheryl and Neil and Lilly. It will be a blast to get back to the sun and fun of Nuevo Vallarta.

I do have one other leftover from the Denver visit and it feels a little like piling on what with Darryl's recent bout of pneumonia, but hey! We played Wii bowling in Darryl's basement while we were there. it was fun and competitive and we had a lot of laughs, but my 53 year old brother ended up pulling a muscle in his butt on the second game and had me in tears laughing as he hobbled around trying to play fake bowling. It is a new low in sports injuries, a pulled butt muscle in Wii bowling.

With that I will bid you all adieu and, until next week, keep traveling on the Lord's path and HE will direct your footsteps. Be well. Ciao.

You can see the mess to the left that I had to clean up from Tuesday and Wednesday's storm. The pool was full of leaves and branches and blown dirt. The patio had an abundance of leaves scattered throughout the backyard and I'd forgotten that Darla and I had quickly stashed the chairs umbrellas and tables into the shed on Monday night when we got home. That was also waiting for me Saturday. I had a good sleep in on Saturday as I still don't have my new clubs and was up playing poker the night before. Darla left for a Silpada gig about noon and I ventured out to mow the lawn, rake leaves, clean the pool and clean up branches that had blown into my flowerbeds and plantings surrounding the house. Darla came back from one event and was off to another and I continued working until 4:30 when I finally came in to get a shower before meeting the guys for a Kings game at Arco Arena Saturday night.

I had one extra set of tickets and we offered them to Alicia and Don, who are both ill and then to Darla's parents, who jumped on them. They drove down from Paradise and met me in the parking lot of Arco Arena before the game. I had sold tickets as a fundraiser for the IBA Sacramento group and ended up only selling 72 tickets (it's a tough sell for a team coming off the worst record in the NBA with only 17 wins last year). There were 40 of us at the preseason game and we had a good time. One lady had won the drawing and I brought her a signed Peja Stojakovich jersey from his days with the Kings.

I played golf today at Lincoln Hills. I used Boyd's second set of clubs and struggled with the slotback blade Nike irons. It was windy and cold and Boyd shot 81, Neil 93, Joe (a 7 handicap) 98, and I shot 44+42=86 and struggled with distance with the blades. I did have a nice birdie on the back nine with a long drive on a 368 yard hole. I put the approach within 5 feet and made the birdie. It is the only thing worth remembering about the round. I left right after the round and told Neil to collect my skin money and get it to me next week.

I will play in the Member-Guest Invitational next week and will play with Matt from my office. Matt is the insurance underwriting trainee and is a 3.7 handicap. He will join the club and play in tournaments with us next year. Bob has a friend coming in from Nevada for the event and we will play a practice round on Saturday and the tournament is a 7:30 shotgun next Sunday.

My clubs will arrive early this week with the bag, fairway woods, irons and driver due in tomorrow and the putter on Tuesday. I'm thinking of upgrading my cart as well as i have money on the books at the club from prior tournaments and want to get a Clik-Gear cart. It is a three wheeled cart like the Sun mountain that I have now, but the tires do not have tubes and it folds down smaller in my trunk. I received my replacement shoes this week along with 4 dozen Titleist Tour Prestige golf balls that should last me into next Summer.

It was Daniel's birthday on Tuesday and he turned 20. He spent part of the weekend last week in the Bay Area and was on hand to see his 49ers lose big to Atlanta at the 'Stick last weekend. Things are progressing for the boys at school and I look forward to the big raise that we'll get when they finish up at Cal Poly.

Darla is well and her business continues to grow and she is busy. We missed each other most of this weekend as I had poker Friday night and she had an event last night and then my golf this morning, so I better finish this up and go make dinner for my wife, I'm a lucky guy. Stay well, enjoy each other's company and ask God to help you through life's hardships. Ciao.

Stormy Weather, Denver and Lost Golf Clubs

Denver was great and the hospitality by Darryl and Cheryl was first cabin. They have a beautiful home in Loveland, Colorado, two stories with a 2,000 square foot basement consisting of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a great room and a kitchen. The main living area has three bedrooms, an office, a living room and a small library/loft for reading. We were very impressed with their house, but even more impressed with their home (if you know what I mean). We had a few glitches on the trip, not the least of which was the disappearance of my golf clubs somewhere between Sacramento and Denver. We looked and waited and finally went to the lost baggage office. The guy there assured me that the lost luggage ALWAYS shows up. Darryl found a bag that looked suspiciously like mine and we took down the information and called the guy to see if he grabbed the wrong bag. We reluctantly left the airport without my clubs and a feeling of foreboding about the clubs. I decided not to let the inept handling of my clubs by United Airlines ruin the trip and Darryl and I headed off to Mariana Buttes to play golf. I was in tennis shoes and used Darryl's ten year old set of Tommy Armour 845 irons and teed off with his Callaway X Tour driver. Darryl beat me on the front nine 40-42 and I played very well on the back, shooting 39 to his 44. The guy who's bag we found Larry, called in the middle of the round and told Darryl that he had missed his flight and flew in later and that's why his clubs were still on the carousel.

The problem for me was that I'd just put a dozen Pro V1 balls in the bag, along with a new pair of Adidas golf shoes that had just arrived in my office on Wednesday. We headed home to a sumptuous dinner made by Cheryl and relaxed afterward on the couch watching the President's Cup golf from that day. The weather had turned cold from the sunny and 57 degrees when we teed off and the last two holes were COLD. It started to snow after dinner and snowed all night. we awoke the next morning to 4.5 inches of powder on the lawns, roofs, cars and everywhere except the streets and driveways, which I guess retain more heat from the day before. We had breakfast and made a run into Fort Collins, a college town dominated by the Colorado State University. We ended up going over to the New Belgium brewery, the home of Fat Tire beer. It was homecoming weekend and we couldn't get into the tour of the brewery, but sat at the bar and tasted several of the beers and just visited for the better part of an hour. We then drove back to Loveland and ate lunch at the Green Onion, a little deli. We walked to the front to order and the gal behind the counter handed us menus and said to look them over and decide what we wanted. I pointed out that we could do that or look at the 8 foot wall behind her with the same menu on it. She said that the menu included all of the ingredients of the sandwiches and she was just about to say that before "Mr. Smartass" interrupted her. I was taken aback by her directness and asked her how long she'd been in a "customer service" position.

We relaxed back at home and Darryl and Cheryl's friends form Austin, Pat and Pauline, drove in. They were there for the week. They had planned to stay at a timeshare in Estes, Colorado, but Darryl talked them in to staying with them instead. Pat was sick as a dog and was coughing and wheezing. He went to bed and skipped dinner. I fell asleep on the loveseat sized sofa as we watched the play from the President's Cup matches of Saturday. It was a mistake as my head and neck were stretched and my spine twisted.

I woke up Sunday and could barely move as i was listing to the right and having back spasms. We had planned to go up to Estes and have lunch, but after getting stuck in the shower where I couldn't lift my leg the 24 inches to get out of the tub, I decided to stay home and rest. I finished my shower and sat upstairs for 1/2 an hour trying to get my back to stop spasming. I finally manged to get downstairs and eat some breakfast and found the couch and ottoman. The phone rang and it was United baggage letting me know that my clubs had not been found and telling me to file a claim. One good thing Obama has done is raised the airline's liability on lost luggage to $3300 from $1500. Good thing as my clubs, bag, shoes, balls, wind suit, etc. will cost $2200 to replace. By the way, I see Obama won the Nobel peace Prize. What a joke. it is tantamount to Todd Haley of the 0-5 Kansas City Chiefs winning the NFL coach of the year because he has his players believing they can win games. Of course, they can't, but that's beside the point. So far, it has been an Obamanation in his administration. The era of entitlement has once again arrived in Washington.

I digress. I did manage to order new clubs. I got a set of Calaway x-18 tour irons 4- SW, a Callaway FT-9 Tour 8.5 degree driver, a Callaway X 18 degree hybrid, a Ping G10 7 wood, A Callaway Chevy 18 cart bag, another pair of Adidas shoes, 4 dozen Titleist Tour Prestige balls, and Darryl gave me a McLane travel bag that I brought home with me. The clubs should arrive next Monday. I do have a tournament this weekend and will see if I can borrow some clubs from a friend. Either that or I'll bow out of the tournament.

Monday arrived and there was still snow on the ground. We decided to just relax at home or so I thought. Darryl ended up calling Ute Creek in Longmont and they were open. We headed over at 11:30 and it was 39 degrees when we teed off. I shot 42+42 for an 84 and Darryl shot 42+46 for an 88. Pat played with us, but was not at 100%. I enjoyed his company. We had to walk the course and Pat ran out of gas by the 16th hole. He was still recuperating from his illness and the cold mountain air and high altitude ate him up. I helped Darryl find a wayward tee shot on 10 and ended up in the muck and mire as I thought I was stepping on solid ground to jump a creek, but sunk into the ground and didn't clear the creek with my poor purchase on my plant foot. I was a muddy, cold mess and had to play the back nine with wet shoes and socks. To make matters worse, Darryl duffed his recovery shot and lost the ball I'd found for him. Some brother, eh?

We had a wonderful trip and Darla said that Cheryl is the best hostess she has ever stayed with. The food was great, the conversation as good and the accommodations first cabin. We hope to be able to reciprocate with them in Sacramento soon. I look forward to seeing them again in a month at Nuevo Vallarta.

The flight home was delayed 1/2 hour and I got stuck (somehow) in Darla's middle seat and she took mine. I as next to a very large woman and felt wedged into place. I like to put the armrests down to give me my own space, but when this woman tried to accommodate me, the armrest was digging into her flab and she had to lift it back up. I spent two hours wedged into a seat next to Big Momma and my thigh was hot and sweated out by the time I got off the plane. Darla, of course, chatted up a storm with her seatmates, laughing and carousing like old friends, oblivious to my torment and discomfiture across the aisle.

We got home at 11:30 and I had to lower the umbrellas and bring in the table and chairs for the backyard as a storm was coming in overnight. It arrived with 50 MPH wind gusts and 2 1/2 inches of rain in 14 hours time. I got home this afternoon after my convention downtown and spent an hour removing downed limbs and branches and draining about 4 inches from the pool water. You can see pictures of the storm above and what our front yard looked like. This is a warm storm as it was 65 degrees this afternoon when I was cleaning up the yard.

Well, I'll add more next weekend. My wife awaits on the couch with many shows taped for us to watch. Thank you, Darryl and Cheryl, for your outstanding hospitality. Darryl even took me by his work after golf Monday and I'll talk about that next week. I hope you are all well. If you ever fly United, say goodbye to your belongings when you check them at the airport.

Off to Denver next Weekend

I am looking forward to a relaxing visit with Cheryl and Darryl next weekend. Darla and I fly out early (6AM) on Friday and Darryl and I will be on the course by noon. The weather looks a little iffy with cool temperatures, but two things, it is Colorado and it is October. Darryl and I plan to play Friday and Monday, but I think I'm looking forward to relaxing and getting caught up on each other's lives as much as I am the golf. Cheryl called this week and was going grocery shopping and wanted to make sure that Darla didn't have any dietary limitations with her diabetes. Very nice of her. Cheryl is now working at a dietary store (I think) and will take Saturday off to spend time with us. Generally she works during the week and every other Saturday. We appreciate what they are doing to make our trip smooth. One thing my family has to know about me, once I decide to do something, I'm there. If you are inviting me over and think I won't come, think again.

Work has been tremendously stressful of late and now I have the budget to work on and the stress of combining two offices into one and the toll that will have on staff and income. The good news is that my office is bringing in about $70,000 a month after expenses. The Modesto office was at that total figure for nine months. Our return on investment is still not where I'd like it to be, but we have great momentum going and it is fun to be a part of something that is building so fast. It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work, but we are in a position to be a part of one of the fastest growing offices in the country.

I was worried about how to continue to motivate my number one underwriter, Anthony, but he and his wife, Erin, just gave birth to a 10 pound, 9 ounce 23 inch long third grader over the weekend. They had already picked out the name of Vincent James (he'll be Vinny whether they want that or not as they are Sicilian), but I would have suggested Mondo. Anthony is off with his family for most of this week, helping out with the baby and trying to give Mom some rest. She just gave birth to a heavy bowling ball and will need to rest.

I ended up buying the whole house fan last week and contracted with an electrician to install that and two automatic, thermostat controlled gable vent fans in the attic. He is coming over Wednesday morning to install the house fan, a control switch and the two vent fans. I also bought a pocket screen door for the front, but had some trouble with the sash plate overhanging the front step and will wait until Earl gets back from his trip to install it. I didn't want to "jerry-rig" something on the front of my home and regret it later. Earl was a contractor in his working life and can help me do it right.

We got snowed out in Truckee this past weekend. An early Fall snowstorm blanketed the Sierra and closed Old Greenwood down. We instead left early Sunday morning for Corning, California and another shot at Sevillano Links. Neil had a discount coupon that got us the $60 tee times for $30 a piece. We have played the course before and it was rough on us. I shot 86 last time in perfect conditions. Unfortunately, Sunday wasn't perfect. We had winds at 15-20 miles an hour all day and struggled on the lightning fast greens. The venue is beautiful in the valley of Corning, California, south of Red Bluff and on I-5. We saw coyotes and hawks and even a buzzard that I swear was following Boyd around (He's 69 now). I struggled to an 89, Bob had 85 and Boyd shot 82. Neil worked hard to keep his score at 99. As Darla said when I got home, it humbles you. Indeed. My handicap went up to a 10.4 for October and the only reason it went up is that the 76 I posted last weekend didn't get into the calculations or I would actually have gone down to a 9.4. So, look out Darryl, I'm coming to see you and I'm bringing strokes. 11 strokes on a course with a slope under 125 and 12 strokes over 125. Make sure you hi the ATM before we get to the course. By the way, the staff at Diamond made a mistake last weekend and I actually won my flight and the $70 first prize. Justice prevails.

I talked to Jennifer last night. She is busy at work as they are trying to finish their job at City Center by the end of October. Jennifer says "no way", but they are working overtime and there is a big push to get the venue open by December. She has seen a lot of Sam recently as John has moved to swing shift and he drops Sam off at her house at 1 PM and Jen drops Sam at John's at 4 :30 AM. They have her out of daycare right now, but hopefully she will be back in it before too long. It is a good social mechanism for children, especially an only child. Jen made a lot of friends in her day care and after school programs. She has some videos and pictures of Samantha that she has promised me and I will, of course, add to the blog as soon as I see them. She is having problems with her router and that is the latest excuse for no pictures. C'mon, Jen. I need my Samantha fix.

We have the trip to Monterey coming up over the Halloween weekend. We leave Friday and return on Sunday. That following week I'll be in Detroit for the Manager's meeting (happy to be ahead of budget for the year). I'll spend the next week in the office and then we are off to Nuevo Vallarta and a golf vacation with family and friends. It is a busy time for us right now, but there are some exciting things on tap and we look forward to playing out the string.

The blog will be extra late next week because of the Colorado trip, but I will return with stories, pictures and hopefully even a new video of Samantha. I hope you are happy, healthy and in God's good graces. It's a great place to be. Ciao.

Goodbye Summer!

It was likely our last 100 degree weekend in Sacramento with a high of 104 degrees on Saturday. It is not unusual for such hot temperatures late in the year, but the average high temperature for this time of year is about 88 degrees. I used the hot weather to do a last good cleaning of the tile on the pool and shut off the waterfalls until next Spring. The waterfalls are great and add a nice touch to the backyard, but they tend to get quite a bit of calcium buildup around the tiles below the waterfalls and I can only truly clean the tile from inside the pool. The pool water had dropped to 75 degrees and it was a little cool in the water, but it bounced back up to 82 degrees this weekend with the heat and I was able to get back in the pool and do some cleaning. The boys took down the outside gazebo before they left for Cal Poly and I have to take down the chairs and umbrellas eventually. It is still nice enough to occasionally eat out side, so I'm going to wait on that. It is now completely shaded on the pool by 5:00 PM and the sun is down by about 7:40 PM. The days are growing shorter and soon we will turn back the clocks and make it dark early at night.

I played golf in the sweltering heat on Saturday and had my best round of the year. I wilted a bit on the back nine, but had six pars, two birdies and a bogey on the front nine for a one under par 35. I parred the first two holes and then had three straight bogeys before hitting a par, birdie, bogey and finishing (limping home) with a double bogey for a 41 and 76 on my round. It was in a tournament and I took second low net with a 65. Some 71 year old 12 handicapper shot a 75. Boyd had low gross with a 73. It was a great round of golf and I wonder how I'd have finished if I wasn't walking the course in 104 degree temperatures.

Our trip to Denver comes up in two weeks and I plan to prepare for the golf by taking a trip with Bob, Boyd and Neil up to Jack Nicklaus' Old Greenwood course in Truckee next Sunday. The course is at 6500 feet and is 7518 yards from the tips. We will play it at the 6457 yard configuration, which is still a challenge with a 564 yard par five (that would play 631 yards from the tips). Take a look at the website: http://www.oldgreenwoodgolf.com/golf/proto/tahoemountainclub/
Click on the gallery and look at the course. It is equally as beautiful as the pictures. I played the course back in 2008 on a trip to Reno with one of my agents, but we made the mistake of playing it at 6,944 yards and we struggled. I shot 89 and had to make a par on the last hole to break 90. My agent kept saying the ball flies farther in the high altitude. it does, but not that much farther. my home course is 6200 yards from the tips. Hopefully, the day at Old Greenwood will prepare me for the course in Colorado. Darla and I look forward to the trip.

Things are getting busy for us as we approach October with the trip to Denver and then a trip to Monterey over Halloween where the golf group will play Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach and Old Del Monte in Monterey. I will venture out with some of my buds and play Bayonette at the old Fort Ord military installation. It was completely renovated in 2007 and 2008 and I look forward to playing that one. I also have the Manager's meeting in Detroit the first of November and then we are off to Nuevo Vallarta in mid November with Dad and Shirley, Darryl and Cheryl and Neil and Lilly. That schedule seems to fit Dad and Shirley better than Darla and I.

Darla and I were in church today and we had a guest worship leader Wayburn Dean, former member of the Christian group Acapella. Our worship leader stepped down last month and is getting a divorce from his wife. Wayburn is on fire for the Lord and it was a delight listening to him today and worshipping with him. He is a candidate to take the worship leader position and I hope he takes it. I heard Wayburn and his group in concert probably ten years ago and have one of their Cd's. The sermon today continued the series on icebergs in our life and is on the theme of the Titanic, an unsinkable ship that hit an iceberg. The series is about the threats to our Christian life: temptation, deception and this week, addictions. They showed a clip of an interview between James Dobson and Ted Bundy in the night before Bundy was executed and it was chilling to hear him talk about his life growing up in a Christian home and how he got into pornography that kept escalating until he killed 39 women. The point that Bundy made is that he talked to other inmates who had killed and raped women and 100% of them were in to pornography as well. With the Internet, our children are exposed to it constantly. It is scary.

Darla talked to Earl and Frances and they had a great week up in Tahoe. The weather was incredible and they even ran into some friends from paradise while they were there and had dinner with them at the Lakeside Inn. They spend a lot of time sight seeing and spent time at lake Tahoe. It sounds like they really enjoyed the trip.

I hope to have Earl and Frances over next weekend and have earl help me put in a screen partition over the front door. We want to be able to open the front door and let the cool air come in and move down the hallway into our bedroom and living areas. I've not put one in so far because we have a very nice wood front door and I didn't want to cover it up with a storm door. Earl bought a roller screen door from Home depot and installed it on his double wood front door and loves it. I'm also looking at having a whole house fan installed this Fall to help cool the house down on hot days. Everyone that has one loves it.

I played in a charity golf tournament on Thursday and my team shot a 15 under par 57. Everything went right for us in the round, we sunk long putts, chipped in from off the green, were on par fives in two. Our 57 was good for fourth place in the tournament. Unbelievable. Darla had a party that night and wouldn't be home until ten. The tournament wrapped up at 7:15 and was right next door to the Thunder Valley casino. I went over with $50 and came home with $577. I wasn't there for an hour. I was playing a quarter machine and putting in one and two coins. i hit a couple of four of a kinds and had my pot up to $170 and on my first bet of four coins, I hit four aces with a four for 1,600 quarters ($400). I immediately cashed out and was home by 8:45 Pm. Nice, eh?

Well, that's it for this week. I may work on the blog early next week because of the Truckee golf, but whatever, I will be back at it next week, Jennifer, send me some videos of Samantha!! Be well and keep living your life for Jesus. Ciao.

A Little Lake Tahoe is Good for the Soul

This update will be quick as Darla and I got home from Lake Tahoe about 5:30 this afternoon and I laid down to watch the start of the Monday Night Football game and woke up during halftime. I know if I don't get to this today, it won't get done as I'll be at work tomorrow until about 8:30 getting caught up from a day off of work. The trip was tremendously relaxing and I feel actually pretty relaxed. I have been overly stressed lately, running my desk, the Sacramento office, the Modesto office and an underwriting desk in Modesto. I've really felt the stress in my neck and shoulders as the entire yoke of my body is sore and I've even had some stress headaches lately. I know this sounds like an employee about to put in for a stress related leave of absence, but I wanted to put into context how relaxing this weekend was.

The condo in Tahoe is located in the Tahoe Summit development on the Nevada side of Heavenly Valley Ski Resort, right off the Kingsbury Grade in Stateline, Nevada. The condos are about 28 years old and unfortunately four stories without an elevator. Darla's dad, Earl just turned 70, but is in great shape from cutting wood on the church's wood cutting ministry (they provide firewood for the elderly and those in need of free wood). Darla's Mom, Frances, has a bad knee and the 60 steps that it took us from the parking lot up to the room was starting to wear on her by the time we left. The good news is that the condo has some wonderful views of the Carson Valley and the eastern slopes of Heavenly Valley. The condo has five buildings and the unit we had was a loft unit on the top floor and consists of three bedrooms and can sleep up to eight. We had six Saturday night as Alicia and Don joined Earl , Frances, Darla and I up in Tahoe.

We met Earl and Frances at the Jax by the Trax diner in Truckee on Saturday afternoon. They had stopped for lunch earlier, but came by and had a sweet roll and coffee with us as we finished our lunch. Jax is an old boxcar style diner right next to the railroad tracks in Truckee. From there we drove up to Stateline through Highway 28 around the eastern side of Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is an absolute jewel of a lake with three distinct colors, a golden green near the shore, an emerald color off shore and a deep blue deeper in the lake.

We went out to dinner at the Chart House in Stateline and watched the sun set over Lake Tahoe. Dinner was excellent with a large salad bar, a good (yet thin) clam chowder that had won awards in Boston, and a great New York strip and Coconut prawns dinner that Darla and I split a plate of. We played cards (3-13) Saturday night and tried weakly to get some interest up in going to the casinos. The condos are located on a dark road about 10 miles south of Stateline off the Kingsbury grade and we decided to hit the sack early.

Sunday we got up early and went to Heidi's for breakfast. Heidi's is the breakfast joint in Lake Tahoe that we like and Don and Alicia had eaten there before. The food is great and although we had a bit of a wait, well worth it. Darla and the ladies went out to the outlet mall after breakfast while Earl, Don and I went to the Cool September Days car show at the Horizon. We saw some very nice cars including a $150,000 1967 Shelby Cobra that was the hit of the show. Carroll Shelby actually owned a Ford dealership in Lake Tahoe in 1968 and sold it in the 90's. There were plenty of 1957 Chevy's and some tremendous Apache trucks and even an original first run Harley Davidson motorcycle from the first year of production. The held gravity drags at the back of the casino that were a hoot. A VW beetle beat a custom Freightliner for the title.

Don and Alicia headed home after that and we went back to the condo with Earl and Frances after stopping to show them the Tahoe Beach and Ski club condo that we've stayed at a couple of times. We took some pictures at the beach as you can see above. We went out to dinner at the Lakeside Inn in Stateline and all of us enjoyed the $10.99 Prime Rib dinner. Earl signed up for a Player's Club card and got a free birthday dinner and a cocktail that Darla and Frances drank for him. We headed back to the condo and watched as the Cowboys self destructed in their loss to the Giants 33-31. We then played a couple of hands of 3-13 and headed to bed.

This morning we enjoyed one of Earl's breakfasts. Darla and her folks had pancakes with strawberry preserves and whipped cream. My stomach doesn't do sweet early in the morning and I had eggs and sausage. Darla and I took off a little after ten and stopped at the casinos and got our gambling fix in, only losing about $60 in the process and having a good time. We stopped for lunch in Tahoe City after stopping at the overlook at Emerald Bay where we had our picture taken by some tourists. The drive home after that was the drive from Hell as we hit construction traffic on both Highway 89 ( a half hour wait ) and Highway 80, finally getting home at 5:30.

This is short, but it is late and I want to relax with Darla. I did play golf early Saturday morning and shot 82 to Boyd's 71 and Matt's 72 and we were off to Tahoe after that. I hope you are all doing well and leading lives that we can all be proud of. Be well. Ciao.

Opening Weekend of NFL Football 2009

It is the Kickoff weekend of the NFL season, just another sign that Summer is slowly slipping away. That, and the rain yesterday pretty well solidified the concept. It was nothing more than a light drizzle that interrupted the tranquility of the golf course and some thunder far off in the foothills that sounded more ominous than it was. I could live in a tropical climate as I do enjoy Summer more than any season. Fall and Spring are close seconds and I abhor Winter as the light stealing, cold, miserable two months (in Northern California) that rob us of our will to go on. The pictures above were made as part of Jennifer's new Flip video camera that has a snapshot feature. You can break the movies down to individual frames and capture those as jpeg images on your computer. We sure enjoyed having Jennifer and Samantha home.

the boys will pack up and head back to Cal Poly this week, both to begin their junior years. Daniel is three years behind David, but much of David's junior college work didn't transfer over to his Architecture major and he fell behind. His 5 year major will take him seven years to accomplish. Daniel is heading back to a house that he will share with some guys from his dorm and David is still trying to arrange housing. We always joke that David should just stay in the Architecture lab because he's there seven days a week anyway. Funny how reality often collides with humor. He is looking to move into a room off campus with two other Architecture students, but hasn't arranged the particulars yet. Daniel will bring his truck with him this year and will load up my old gas barbecue to use while he is in San Luis Obispo. David finishes up his job with his old architecture firm (they brought him back in August to help out during vacations). Daniel will finish up the to do list his Dad has had him working on all Summer and turn in his serf badge and probably be happy to get back to SLO and out of the indentured servant business.

My job has been wearing a bit lately and I accepted an offer from Darryl to fly out to Denver for a long weekend of golf, food and family. Darla and I will fly in on Friday October 9th and stay until Monday October 12th. I look forward to getting away, playing some golf with Darryl and spending time with Darryl and Cheryl visiting and relaxing. He said he plans an outing up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We will breathe some fresh air, hit the ball extra long n the mile high air and hopefully return relaxed and reinvigorated. I am two days in Modesto a week right now and the commute and disorganization is getting to me. We are slowly sorting out the problems in the office (Pete is there two days a week as well), but it is a big job and it remains to be seen what ends up happening in that office. I have a few candidates lined up to interview.

Today was the first day of our club championship at the Golf Club and the first that I have missed in about eight years. Darla and I will be in Lake Tahoe next weekend hosting Darla's parents, Earl and Francis to a week's stay at the Tahoe Summit Village up in Stateline, Nevada. The condo is a two bedroom condo with an extra loft bedroom, a living room, full kitchen and a wood burning fireplace. It is Earl's 70th birthday and we will go up Saturday and Sunday to enjoy it with them and then leave them the rest of the week to their devices. Again, I look forward to getting away.

I did play golf yesterday and struggled around to a 42+42=84. I was hitting the ball well off the tee, but struggling with my short game. I even lost all sides of the 6+6+6 competition with the guys and lost $15. Darren bought me a beer and Bob bought me lunch. It's good to have friends, eh? I'll play Saturday morning in the first tee time and then Darla and I are off to Lake Tahoe, where we will wear light coats and long pants and build a fire in the fireplace. It should be nice.

The blog will be late next week as I will be gone, so don't look for it before Monday at the earliest.

Jennifer called me this week on my way back from Modesto and picked my brain on football as she is in a fantasy league. I'm in three leagues this year, including one at work. My team name? Corner Office of course. I haven't been able to reach her to see how it turned out.

Well, we are all well. I'm happy to see the boys heading back to Cal Poly. The quicker they get done, the quicker Darla and I get a huge raise (We won't be paying tuition for two guys). I'm hoping they both get jobs next Summer. They need it for the money and need to stop depending on mom and Dad for their support at the age of 22 and 20. I didn't really feel independent until i was paying my own way and making my own decisions. They will realize that as well when they get there and wish they'd done it sooner.

Well, be well this week. I believe that there is yet another game on TV that awaits me. Darla is doing well with her three jobs and I even get to see her a couple of days a week. imagine that. Ciao.

Labor Day 2009

Labor Day. The unofficial end of Summer and I'm not ready. I enjoy Summer more than any other season. I enjoy the long days and the warm Summer nights. I enjoy the pool having water that is almost too warm, the excellent conditions on the golf courses, the family times that come with good weather and the vacations and long weekends that add to the fun. The days are getting shorter and the nights are cooler. The pool water has dropped back to 80 degrees and cooler and some of the infernal leaves from the park across the street have started to drop from the trees and end up in my alcove at the front of the house and stuck in my bushes.

We have had a good weekend this weekend with some pool time, some golf for me, and a night out with friends last night at Benihana's. I am a member of their Captains table and get offers all the time. Their offer in September to celebrate their 45th anniversary is Their Rocky's Choice meal for $19.64 (they started in 1964). So , we went out last night, drank a few Asahi's and enjoyed shrimp appetizers, onion soup, oriental salad, chicken and steak cooked on the teppanyaki table. We had a few laughs and enjoyed each other's company. The group got a big kick out of the fact that I thought diverticulitis was what happens when a skin diver surfaces from the ocean too fast (it's the Bends).

Bob and Vicki picked us up and drove us to dinner and they have a new 2007 Tahoe LTZ. New, of course, to them. it only has 30,00 miles on it and is a champagne color. beautiful car. Bob has always been a new car guy until he heard my explanation of buying newer model cars with about 20,00 miles on the odometer. I said that I'm inherently frugal (my word) and can't stand driving a new car off a lot and losing $10,000. He apparently took my words to heart and bought used this time. The car looks absolutely brand new.

I noticed a break in my front window when Jennifer was visiting. Apparently some Yahoo with a bb gun shot at our house putting a hole in our front window and the bb was still in the dual pane frame. What possesses some punk that doesn't even own a house or likely a car to do that? I'd have preferred that he paintball my garage than shoot at my house with a gun.

I am taking the club championship off this year. It starts next Sunday, but the following weekend we are hosting Darla's parents, Earl and Frances to a week in a condo in Lake Tahoe. We had some extra RCI time on the books and booked a two bedroom condo with a third loft bedroom up near Heavenly Valley. Darla and i are going to drive up Saturday morning (the 19th) and meet them for lunch and then check into the condo. We will stay over Saturday and Sunday nights and then they'll have the condo for the rest of the week.

I did play this weekend and had a great front nine on Saturday. I shot 82, but had a 37 on the front nine (YOU do the math for the back). I left the course frustrated and stewed Sunday. I decided to get out and play early this morning and play the par 60 course in Elverta. We teed off (mel, Boyd and I) at 6:50 this morning and were off the course by 9:45 AM. I shot 36+32=68 and feel much better now than I did on Monday. Sometimes you just have to erase a bad memory. I played with Boyd, Bob, and our current club champion, Jay, on Saturday. one of us had a hole-in-one and you know I would have lead with that in my blog, so congratulations to Jay. It is the second hole-in-one that I have witnessed in my group and I enjoyed my part of a pitcher of Fat Tire beer at the end of our round bought by jay. The club pays $150 for his drinks and I think he spent short of $100, so he actually made some money. We had the third to last tee time, so most of the guys were gone when we came in at 5:30 Saturday night.

We are off to a backyard BBQ this afternoon at Charlie and Freida's, friends from the golf club. We will get there about three and stay until 6 or 6:30 and have some part of the evening to ourselves.

I had a rough week at work and had to terminate a couple of employees this week. I'm now in the Modesto office two days a week and it is slowly wearing me out. I hope to have a replacement in place within a month. Our numbers in Sacramento are stellar and I took the gang out to lunch at Chevy's last Wednesday.

Finally, Darla and I are toying with a trip to Denver to see Darryl and Cheryl in early October. The cost of flights to Denver are cheap and Darryl is dangling the carrot of golf at Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton. I hope to talk to him today and see when would be a good time to come out and then look into booking our flights.

That is it for this week. Be good, love one another and look to the Lord for answers everyday in your life. Ciao.