Samantha back in Roseville if just for a day and night.

Of course, you can see that Samantha is sort of number one when she comes to visit. Yes, Michael and Jennifer were along for the ride. I was hoping to have my staff meet Samantha as they all saw her as an infant, but Diane didn't get them over to my office until almost 5:30 PM on Monday and most of the staff had already gone home. We ended up taking them to John's Incredible Pizza in Roseville. It is a Chuck E. Cheese style restaurant, but it is like Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. The place has midway style games and rides with bumper cars (Sam was too small), a tea cup style ride, but with more oomph (Sam was too small), a plummet drop ride (Sam was too small) and a mini roller coaster (Sam could ride with an adult). Most three year olds could go on the ride, but you had to be 44 inches tall and Sam doesn't make the grade. They had a buffet with pizza, pasta, a salad bar and a big dessert bar with cobblers, cinnamon buns, ice cream, donuts and pastries. We sat in the Toon room and watched cartoons while we ate and then Sam talked me into taking her over to the midway. The facility is in a former Sam's retail warehouse, so it is HUGE. I took Sam on the Frog ride, we did a jump rope game, the merry-go-round and I took her to the kiddee area with slides and a climbing tower. Jennifer and Darla met me there and they went on the roller coaster. By the way, take a look at Darla's black and white outfit. I'm married to quite the cougar, eh? No wonder I'm trying to color my hair.
We ended up there for about two hours and Samantha collected a grand total of 241 tickets. We were able to exchange those points for a ping pong game that throws the ball up in the air and you try to catch it in the basket. Sam no sooner got the game than she pointed it at her face and shot the ball into her forehead. She was walking out of the venue and shooting the ball up in the air and Jennifer was chasing it all over the place. We got into my car and Samantha managed to crush the ball. I didn't realize that and when I asked Sam where her toy was when we got home, she said it broke. I asked her who broke it and she said, "Samantha".
We had birthday cake and she opened her gifts when we got home and then watched "Toy Story 3" on video. Sam spent most of the movie letting us know that she didn't want to watch "Toy Story 3". We had rented that video and bought her "Sinbad" for her birthday. She wanted to watch Sinbad. I finally took the package and told her that it said "Sinbad" was to be watched in the morning only. That seemed to satisfy her.
I put her down and she asked me to lie down with her. I told her I would stay with her if she
promised to go to sleep. She had trouble and so I started pretending to be asleep and snoring a little bit. Sam then started pretending to snore too, which cracked me up. We were in giggling and laughing when Darla and Jennifer came in and I was in trouble for keeping her awake.

She woke me up this morning by coming in to my room when Darla was showering and telling me it was morning and she wanted to watch "Sinbad". The girl is smart. I took everyone out to breakfast this morning and Sam was fussy after a late night. Again, everyone frowned at me. She was crying and putting up a fuss when we got to the restaurant, but settled down as soon as she saw the big boxes full of toys at the front of the restaurant for the kids. She picked out a toy and brought it to the table and then was mesmerized by the miniature train that runs throughout the restaurant up at the top of the wall near the ceiling. It was a perfect place to bring a fussy granddaughter for breakfast.

We stopped at the store on the way home and bought some replacement balls for the ping pong game. The ball was smaller than a regulation ping pong, so Darla thought to buy some fishing bobbers that were the right size. When we brought it to the car, Sam said, "These aren't balls, these are for fishing." It turns out John has taken her fishing before. Sam and I got dropped off at the park on the way home and we met up with another family with two girls 2 and 4 and Sam made some fast friends. She wanted to ride the 4 year old's bike with training wheels, but I told her, "No, you didn't have a bike helmet." We played for a while and I pushed her on the swings and then she went to play with the two little girls. I was relaxing enjoying the sun and when I looked up she had the little girl's helmet on and was getting on the bike. She is a little schemer. She had also asked for more cake and when her Mom told her that it was too late, she went into the dark kitchen and brought over a step stool and climbed up to the counter by the cake. When I laughed later about it, Darla said, "Ken, she is totally Jennifer!" True that, eh?

Some really good news came as the kids were visiting and that is that Jennifer got a job. She will be working for a Tech Temp company that provides temporary workers for companies looking for electrical and fiber optics work. The first job is a 19 month contract. Jennifer found this out on the same day that she found out her worker's compensation benefits were due to run out. Even better news was that when Michael was giving a verbal recommendation for Jennifer, the recruiter asked him to join the team as well and he will meet with the guy tomorrow at 10 AM. Jennifer will meet with him at 11:30 and has a training tomorrow at 2 PM. The only "fly in the ointment" is child care, but Jennifer was working on that when she left. John is out of the country in Bermuda on a job until next Friday. Pray for them that this all works out. Sam will have an adjustment as she's had Jennifer to herself for the last year.

Well, Darla is waiting in the living room and I have to go spend time with my cougar. I hope all are well and I'll write more this weekend. Ciao.

Quick Update

I realize that we will not see Sammy until tomorrow, so I will update this with pictures after we get together on Monday and Tuesday. Darla and I spent part of the weekend getting our house decorated for the Holidays and doing some shopping for Samantha's birthday.
Darla and I met Thursday night at Clark's Ski Shop in Roseville and bought Samantha a ski bib, boots, goggles, sunglasses, gloves, boots, and a hat. Jennifer asked for some snow play clothes as they go up to Mt. Charleston in Vegas regularly and Sam is usually in jeans and gets soaked and cold. We were trying to decide between the goggles and sunglasses and the owner of the shop through in the sunglasses when we bought the goggles. That is definitely my style of shopping. We met at 6:30 and had checked out by 7:10 and were at the restaurant ordering dinner by 7:30. We went out to dinner at a new restaurant in Roseville, Granito's Italian Fusion, which was excellent. We then stopped at another store and picked up a few odds and ends (birthday wrap, a toy for our nephew, Lucas, and DVD for Samantha). I also stopped at the Blockbuster store and rented Toy Story 3 for her visit and also bought her the "Night Before Christmas" book for Jennifer to read her the Santa story.
Darla and I will take the kids out to Dave and Buster's in Roseville. It is a big adult play restaurant, sort of a Chuck E. Cheese for adults. They still ave a kid's area, so we will have dinner there and then let Samantha play some games. It will be a short visit for us as their flight is at 5 PM on Tuesday. I am taking the day off and taking everyone out to breakfast. As I said, I'll update this mid week and have pictures and stories from their visit. The kids have been here since Thursday, but were brought into town by Diane and spent the weekend with her. Diane leaves for Texas sometime this month.
I played in the final event of the 2010 golf year for RGC today, The Eclectic Final. I was in first place with a net 53 and played my closest challenger, who had a 54. he shot a 94 today and never challenged my lead. I shot (what else?) a 40+42=82 and did not improve my score any at all. There is another player that dropped his score down to a 53 today, but he has a gross 57 and is the gross leader, so he'll take 1st gross and I'll have first net. I also came oh so close today to my first hole in one. I hit a 9 iron on the 130 yard 12th hole that landed six feet past the hole and drew back to the pin, lipping out and leaving me a two foot putt for birdie. The guys on the 13th tee box were yelling thinking it was going in and then groaned when they realized that their hope of free beer was dashed. I did take closest to the pin on that hole. Also, Neil sent me an e-mail this afternoon and told me I won some "serious money" in skins. The pool was $110 and I split it with one other player. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but assume we will each take $55.
Darla and I attended Bob's sister's funeral on Saturday up in Auburn. She died last week of complications of Cancer. The funeral was at a Catholic church and the mass was long and full of chanting and recitations. It reminds me how happy I am to not be a Catholic. The priest was splashing the coffin with Holy water and waving a canister of incense that reminded me of the smell of Jennifer's room when she was a teenager and in to incense.
Bob did a great job with the eulogy and told a story of he and his older sister growing up together. They shared a room until she was 11 and he was seven. She was concerned with his hygiene as he shared her room and was always on him about taking baths and washing his hair more than once a week, etc. One day she asked him if he was cleaning his belly button. He asked her how to do that and she went and got him an old toothbrush and told him to take soap and scrub his belly button. After a week, his belly button was red and raw. He showed it to his Mom who heard the story and promptly disciplined Bev. When his Dad got home and heard the story, he came in a disciplined Bob for being so gullible. Funny stuff.
I will add more this week, with pictures of young Miss Samantha. In the meantime, I leave you with a Golfer's Love story. It sort of brought a tear to my eyes. Ciao.
" A couple were talking together and the older man said to his wife, "Honey, soon we will celebrate 50 years of marriage. I have to ask you, during our years together, have you always been faithful to me?"
The wife, held his hand and said, "My dear, I have always loved you and you are my world, but in our life I have been unfaithful 3 times, but always for a good reason and to make our lives better."
The husband was taken aback, but asked his wife, "What was the first time?"
The wife said, "Do you remember when we were in our twenties and almost lost the house because we were behind on our mortgage payments after the kids were born? I met with the banker one night and the next day our loan was renegotiated?"
The husband said, "I can forgive you that, you were only looking out for our welfare. What about the second time?"
The wife said "And do you remember when you were scheduled for heart surgery and we couldn't afford to pay the doctor? I met with him and the next day your surgery was done for free?"
The husband said, "Honey, you did that to save my life. I completely understand. Now what about the third time?"
The wife said, "Do you remember when you ran for President of the Golf Club and were 44 votes short of the election?"

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

A nice four day weekend has passed and we are on to the annual rush to Christmas. All of the people who are so easily cowed into what everyone else does were up at 3 AM Friday crushing into stores for the so called sales. As always, there were injuries as a crush of shoppers knocked people down on their way to grabbing bargains at a Wal Mart at 4 AM in Honolulu. Darla and I were happily sleeping the night away and never saw the inside or outside of a store or mall this weekend. We spent Wednesday night in Paradise at Darla's parent's house and celebrated the repast of turkey and all of the fixings the next day. Alicia and Don and their son. Lucas arrived mid afternoon and we all worked our way back down the hill on Thanksgiving night.
Darla arrived home from Rome after missing her flight Monday morning. She and Carrie were flying Al Italia Airlines and when they arrived 70 minutes before their flight, they were not allowed to get boarding passes as the airline requires passengers to be checked in 90 minutes before the flight. It seems like a scam, but they ran into heavy traffic in Rome and were late getting to the airport. On top of that Al Italia would not let them use their tickets for the next flight because "they were bought from a travel agent and the airline didn't know what amount of money to credit toward the next flight." They were told to call their travel agent. Of course, it was 12:30 in the morning on the West Coast. Carrie ended up paying full fare for two tickets back to San Francisco and is disputing the transaction through her Visa card. The cost of the whole trip per person was $1800 and the cost for a trip to SF was $1100 on the day of the flight. The $1800 included round trip airfare, a hotel and daily breakfast. It sounds like a scam. There is no reason that they have to be checked in 90 minutes ahead of their flight. They are working with their travel agent for a partial refund and Carrie is working with Visa to see what can be done. Al Italia is notorious for doing this last minute and you have to wonder if they are double selling seats.
Jennifer, Samantha and Mike arrive in NorCal on December 2nd. Jennifer's mom is flying them in to celebrate Sam's birthday and Christmas. Diane leaves for Texas next week, where her husband has already moved and is working. We will steal an evening during their 6 day stay to celebrate Samantha's third birthday (her birthday is December 21st) and will celebrate Christmas with them when they fly back out on January 7th for a four day stay with us.
I was talking to one of the guys at the golf club last week about his hair. He was as gray as me and is now a dark brown. I asked him if he had it professionally done. I can't handle peroxide or any petroleum based (PPD) coloring agent on my hair. My scalp burns easily. He said , "No. It was a Henna product I ordered online." I checked the website and decided to try it. I bought a light brown henna shade and after two treatments, now have light brown hair on the top and orangeish red on the sides and back where the gray was. Darla is working with one of her friends who is a hair stylist to fix the color. I have a little bit of a Bozo complex right now. The good news is that it covered the gray really well. I should have known. The only time I'd heard of henna was in Lucille Ball's biography. She swore by it and had it applied twice a month.
Jennifer was without Samantha this weekend and went the longest without seeing her in about a year (5 days). She dropped Sam at John's mothers house on Wednesday night and will see her later this evening. Jen and Michael spent the holiday at some friend's house and called us up in Paradise to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving.
I had golf plans on Saturday and of the four holiday days, Saturday was the only rainy day. I ended up sleeping in and leaving the wet golf to others this weekend. I will go the longest I've gone in a while between golf games when I hopefully compete in the Eclectic Final tournament on Saturday the 5th. The Eclectic is a year long tournament where we keep our best scores on each hole at Diamond Oaks during non NCGA qualifiers and only in stroke play tournaments. I am at 64, which will give me a net 53 if I don't improve any in the final event. My score is 32+32 and I picked up one birdie in the President's event a few weeks ago.
I had Darren, one of my golf buddies, take my Scotty Cameron putter so that he could flame it for me. He had flamed his, Basically, you remove the color infill with acetone and then take a butane torch and flame the stainless steel metal a carmel color. It looks beautiful. He had to remove the two bottom 15 gram weights prior to flaming the putter or it would seal the removable weights into the putter head. What he discovered was a shock to me. He couldn't remove the weights as his Scotty Cameron tool didn't fit. I have a counterfeit Scotty Cameron putter made in China. I bought it from a golf retailer on e-bay and called them last Tuesday and they admitted being duped last year and offered to refund $100 of the $175 I paid for the putter (I've had it for over a year). I putt great with it, but will probably buy one of the new Scotty Cameron California series putters, which is a gold flamed putter. The putters new sell for $325. Live and learn. Maybe my whole set of clubs are counterfeit, I bought everything on e-bay. Maybe my 9.7 handicap is counterfeit too?
I took Darla's Explorer in on Friday for new tires. Bridgestone had a buy three get one free promotion and $750 later, we have new tires. I had to drive into San Francisco on Monday night to pick up Darla and Carrie and it was wet and rainy and the tires were due to be replaced. I felt a couple of slips along the way and decided it was time to bite the bullet. We got some new Bridgestone Uni-Trac AQ tires with a 65,000 mile warranty. We bought the Duelers she had on the truck in 2005 and she puts close to 18,000 miles a year on.
Darla and I were able to get in and clean out the utility room and it looks great. We have the washer and dryer in there as well as the cat's food, our recyclables and a collection of outdoor coats. There were other odds and ends that had collected in there over the years and it looks nice and neat right now. Of course, the kitchen was immaculate when Darla was gone and now has mail, papers, Silpada boxes and jewelry scattered on the kitchen table. We can really only do so much, after that the rest of it is just living.
I will be adding a little holiday movie we made to the blog as soon as Jib Jab gets it downloaded to my account. I hope you are all well, properly stuffed and sated after the Thanksgiving meal and ready for the push on to Christmas. I will have some fresh pictures of Jennifer and Samantha next week. Be well, Ciao. And, so, here is the video. Happy Holidays:

Stormy Weekend

These are a couple of pictures from David's blog. He is wearing a cap in both of them. If you want to see more, check out his blog in the link on the right of the page. David's new camera takes some awesome pictures.

It has been about 2 inches of rain so far, but it didn't stop us from golfing on Saturday. If you want to see idiots, go out to a golf course when it's raining, there's always a few in evidence. The rain came in on Friday and we got a good soaking. I played poker with the guys Friday and told them that the tournament would be on in the morning. At the time, it was pelting down rain. The guys all said, "No way!!" The forecast was for a slight break in the storm pattern Saturday morning with the bulk of the storm coming in Saturday afternoon into today. The forecast was right on. We teed off at 10:45 in a slight drizzle, which lasted three holes and gave way to sunshine by the 4th hole. The winds were gusting up to 40 MPH and it was miserable on the course. We didn't see rain until we were off the course though.It rained hard overnight. I took my turkey certificate won at the tournament and did some shopping Saturday night, picking up a hen turkey and some other things and got drenched packing the car. I then ran to the local Mexican food Cantina and picked up a chicken burrito and some chips and salsa for dinner. I have the other half of the burrito for dinner tonight. I also bought a nice pot roast for dinner Tuesday night when Darla gets home. I'm ready for some comfort food after batching it for a week.

I awoke today, a little later than normal and the rain had stopped overnight. I was able to get out and clean up the pool, drain the pool, and clean up leaves from the downfall of the grove of trees in the park across the street. I did the backyard in the morning and went back out a little after 4 PM to work on the front and the sky turned really dark and hail started pelting me about half way through the task. At one point, I took shelter in the garage as it was really sheeting down. It stopped as quickly as it began, but turned to rain, so I finished up and headed inside to work on my blog and have some dinner while watching the Sunday night NFL game on television.

Darla gets home tomorrow night at ten o'clock after traveling all day. She leaves Rome at 9:50 AM, which is 12:50 AM our time, flies to Newark, NJ arriving at 1:30 PM. She then has a three hour layover in New Jersey before flying out of there at 4:30 and arriving in Sacramento at 10:07 PM. She will be dead tired as that is 7 AM Rome time. It will take her a few days to get caught up. She sent me an e-mail mid-week and asked me to add some money to her account as she was running low. Yeah, I'm just here working for the man, here to help my wife spend some Euros to help the European economy. It sounds like she's had a great time, but we haven't spoken since she left last week. It will be GREAT to have her home.

I have fixed up the guest bedroom and rearranged our bedroom and closet since she left. I'd hoped to get to the laundry room which is stacked with furniture and jewelry, etc. from the remodeling of this room, but I think Darla and I will tackle that together next weekend. I also fixed her driver's side seat, which had a panel break loose when the side clip had broken on the plastic covering over the controls facing the door. I simply used some gorilla tape and secured the panel to the seat frame from the bottom of the panel.

Poker was fun and it actually kept me out of the casino this trip. I usually make a run to the local Indian casino when Darla is gone to kill time and have some fun. I had so much good luck on Friday night, taking over $100 from my friends, that I decided not to press my luck. I ended up getting a video "Get Him to the Greek", a sophomoric comedy that was two hours of mindless fun.

Saturday, we started golf in the rain and the scores were really ballooning in the weather. The wind ruined a few rounds, including Pamas in my flight, a 4 handicap that shot 85. I also had a 5 handicap in the group that shot 80. I managed my game well and only had one double bogey on my way to a 42+40=82, net 72. My handicap dropped on Nov. 15 to 9.7 which nets me a 10 on Diamond. 9.8 is an 11. I took low net in my flight with a 72 and won $35 in a Raley's gift card and did go buy a turkey. I hope that Darla will fix us a turkey on Saturday as we will be at Darla's Mom and Dad's house for Thanksgiving (I want leftovers). I also snuck out on Wednesday for some "Sports Marketing" and took one of my agents out to Winchester CC for a round. It was 72 degrees and sunny on Wednesday, but the course was set up tough and we all struggled. Matt from my office played with one of his agents, Micah, who is a 9.4 handicap. Micah shot 98, Matt had 95, I shot 90 and Gary (my agent who is a 6) shot 85. We stunk up the joint, but had a great time together golfing and fixing the state of the insurance markets as we played.

I received Randy's ProV1s as payoff of our World Series' bet and there was a handwritten note from Cake in the package that said: "I hope you sink all of these....in a lake!" I texted Randy and told him what her note said and he says she takes good dictation. All in fun and I've got another dozen Pro V1s. I hope all are well. Dad and Shirley are out to dinner tonight to celebrate their 10th anniversary. 10 years already, that's amazing. I have trouble remembering that Darla and I have been married for 14 years, too. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Ciao.

Wifeless in Sacramento

Some Pictures from Jennifer sent to me by text. These are cell phone pics from Jennifer's cell phone. She has been great lately at keeping me in pictures of Miss Samantha. She is a living doll, and, yes, I'm a little biased in my opinion. The top picture is of Samantha playing on a horse at Chuck E. Cheese.

Darla left this morning for Italy. We were up at 3:45 (or she was) and her friend, Carrie was over at 4:30. I drove the girls to the airport and dropped them off for their 6 AM flight to Chicago and a layover and then their flight to Rome. They should be arriving shortly in Italy. I was thrilled that Darla has an experienced international traveler in Carrie, a friend of Darla's from work. Carrie is used to catching trains and buses in foreign countries and speaks Spanish, which will help in Italy and a side trip that they are taking mid-week to Madrid. Darla is known as "wrong way Westra" and is lost without a GPS. I know that Carrie will get them on the train and to their hotel and over to David's apartment Monday night. I had never met Carrie, but gave her a hug when I dropped them off as I was so impressed with her organization and preparation for the trip. I can relax knowing that Darla is in good hands.

I have some work to do this week getting the guest bedroom set back up after Darla painted it while I was in Detroit. The bed is still pulled away from the wall and laden with pictures and boxes from the floor of the room. The kitchen is also a little cluttered with papers and mail from when i was gone. Darla is so busy with three jobs that sometimes the housework piles up. I have little to do while she is gone and can make it a priority to get some of this done. I also need to fix the seat in her SUV, where the side panel at the bottom of the seat has torn loose. It is plastic and covers the seat controls. i need to get on the Ford website and order a new one or head over to the Pick 'n Pull yard and take one out of an Explorer. We'll see.

I did come back this morning and went back to bed and slept until 8:30. I had a golf game at 9:52 at Diamond, the Past President's tournament. I played solid golf today and finished with a 42+40=82. Neil won the trophy as low net for the Past President's with a net 67. I had a net 71 and finished in a tie for second out of the 8 Past Presidents playing in the tournament. Neil has ballooned up to a 19 after working his handicap down to 15. He is obviously playing better with an 86 today.

I played yesterday in the last Diamond tournament of the year and the course was set up as hard as I have ever seen it. if their was a ridge on a green, the hole was cut there. I played out of my head on the front with two birdies in the first three holes and finishing with a 36 on the front. I struggled on the back with a double bogey and two triple bogeys for a 45 and a total of 81. Boyd pointed out that water always finds it's level. I wasn't amused. Somehow a round of 45+36=81 is easier to swallow. I finished 4th in my flight and would have taken the $105 first prize with a 42 on the back. Oh, well. Matt shot 38+37=75 and took second in his flight. Boyd struggled badly (for hi) and shot an 83. Bob didn't play in the Diamond Tournament, but came out today and shot a smooth 73 to take low gross in the tournament for the field of 100 golfers.

This will be a good week at work. We have to make up our premium this week as the holiday (Thanksgiving) is next week and the agent's start to lose focus. I have a couple of large accounts that hit this week and the office has a $3000,000 account that looks good for us. I took the staff out to lunch last Wednesday at the Elephant Bar to celebrate our "Budget Busting" in October. We need to hit the number in November as the staff wants to go to a restaurant and have our White Elephant gift exchange and they want $50 restaurant gift cards for the Holiday gift. I am given $50 per person, but have to use that for all of the festivities and we want to hit our budget number to have the lunch come out of that pot. If not, we will be getting $25 restaurant cards and the lunch will eat up the rest of the money.

Well, this is short, but it is late. I helped out with the $400 skin pool, collecting the money and doing the payouts today and didn't get home until after 6:00 PM. I then watched the tape of the Dallas Cowboys dismantling of the New York Giants. I was thrilled as their coach, Tom Coughlin, bugs me. He has a look on his face always as if he just swallowed a turd and is constantly whining and complaining on the sideline. It was nice to see Dallas, the doormats in 2010 put one on the division leaders in their own house. We also have a radio personality that is a big Giant fan and has been riding the Dallas situation all year (rightfully so). He called them the joke of the league and said he's sell his season tickets if they lost to Dallas this week. I look forward to the drive home from work tomorrow night listening to him explain this butt whipping. Fun stuff. Be well and pray for traveling mercies for my bride while she is in Italy. Ciao.

Back From Detroit and Getting Caught up

It is always a bit of a trial when I fly East to Detroit. That first day when the alarm goes off at 6:00 AM and it is 3:00 AM California time, I groan and bury my head under the pillow. I finally got caught up after Wednesday and then flew home Saturday at 7:30 PM though Denver and arriving back in Sacramento at 11:00 PM (2:00 AM Detroit time). It was a rainy Sunday and we got some help from the end of daylight savings time. I slept in this morning and was asleep again on the couch by noon in front of the TV.
The meetings were good for the company and good for me personally. Our branch won the Bronze award for Branch of the Year for Division 2. My office had been Division 3 up until this year when we surpassed $15,000,000 in premium and got into the tougher Division 2 ranks which include offices with premium up to $20,000,000. We won the Gold award for Division 3 last year and when the Division 3 awards were presented and I was left out, I felt bad. Due to the compression of premium in our industry and company, the Divisions were realigned and I'm pleased to have made the leap to Division 2, which encompasses 14 offices and still take an award. Anthony in my office won the Directors Award for premium production being in the top 30 producers in the company.
It was an interesting week. Our bus suffered a flat tire on the way to the office on Thursday morning and we got stuck on the side of the road for an hour while the bus company brought us a replacement bus. Fun at 34 degrees in Detroit. I ate too much, drank too much and put on four pounds in five days and look forward to getting back on the Lifecycle at the gym tomorrow at lunch. My meeting with the CEO went well. He had nice things to say about the turnaround in Sacramento and the fact that an office he was afraid at one time would be closed is now a leader in percentage increase in profitability year to year. Many of my meetings in the past have been fast, he talks and I listen meetings, but this one was a 45 minute dialogue on what changes have been made in the office and where I see the office going in the next five years. I told him that the third year that I met with him when I had brought the office from losing to $480,000 to profitability at about an $80,000 profit, I met with him expecting to be praised and he handed me my head, saying that if I was a grocery store he'd close me down with the kind of margins I had. He laughed and said, he has high expectations for all of his offices and he knew I could do better. This was my seventh Branch Manager's meeting and I think I am firmly in the club now.
I got to the hotel Tuesday night after my flight in and realized that I had left my ties at home. Luckily it was only 8:30 and I was able to catch a ride with the bellman over to Macy's in the mall next door and bought three new ties for the meeting. They had hand painted ties in the gift shop of The Henry (formerly the Ritz Carlton) for $85 each. I passed on those.
Darla took the opportunity when I was gone to paint this guest bedroom/office and the guest bathroom next door. The smell of fresh paint is in the air and I had to reconfigure the internet in order to get on the computer after she took everything apart Friday. She painted this room an eggplant color with one wall a chocolate color. She painted the bathroom purple with a chocolate accent wall as well. Now, of course, we have to change the blinds and window coverings. I'm actually looking forward to redecorating the boy's rooms. I will likely move the office into the front bedroom and make Daniel's another guest room. Both of those rooms have been "doors closed" kids rooms for so long, it will be nice to have those rooms become part of the house again.
Our golf tournament got canceled today because of the rain and pushed back to next Sunday. I will play both Saturday and Sunday in tournaments as the final Diamond tournament is on Saturday.
Darla will leave for an 8 day trip to Italy next Sunday. She will meet up with David and see the sights of Rome and make a trip over to Venice as well. I was invited, but will wait until the 23 and 21 year old are off the payroll before taking any expensive trips. David still has a year and a half left and Daniel 2 quarters until he graduates.Hopefully the job market will improve by the time they get ready to look for work. Now that the Republicans have control of the House and are pushing for more int he next campaign, business is no longer a curse word in the White House. Obama got slammed HARD with the unprecedented losses in this last election and it is a clear mandate that Americans have had enough of Hope and Change. Toward the end, Obama was trying change and hope and that wasn't working either. Hopefully, we can undo the Health Care mess before it cripples businesses and working families. One lesson is never elect someone with no experience, it is ALWAYS a disaster. Hopefully, Republicans learn from that and turn Sarah Palin out to pasture before 2012. IF she runs against Obama, he WILL win another term. Anyone else with true experience and the Presidency should be returned to the party that supports small business and will get America back working again.
That is it for this week. Darla will be off to Europe next week and I will have time to write more, David also plans to update his blog and I'll put some pictures from that on this site as well. Be well, happy and healthy. Ciao.

Halloween night

Fun and games and all things strange lurking about the neighborhood. We turned the lights off about 8:30 and immediately, some dope was at the door beating on it. We had a fairly normal low turnout of trick-or-treaters. Darla says it is because we live across from a park and the kids can't run from one side of the street to the other. Whatever the reason, it's nice not to be bothered every five minutes with the doorbell ringing. Darla had one little girl about Sam's age come and her mother was dressed up as well and had her own bag for candy. It was pretty early, she probably went back home, poured it in a bowl and gave it out to the kids coming to her house.
We talked to Jennifer and Samantha as Tinkerbell had a great night. Jennifer took her over to John's neighborhood and Samantha was able to walk with the other kids and get her candy. Samantha considers all of the other kids out trick-or-treating with her to be her friends. Very cute.
We had a mixed weekend weather wise with the wind down of a storm Friday and Saturday and 70 degrees and snshine today. I played golf both days and started on one in a drizzle on Saturday and finished in 3 hours and 20 minutes with no one on the course. Woodcreek had their Monster Day with a reverse shotgun at 8:00 o'clock. I set up to play with Bob and Matt before the tournament. Bob met us out there, but said he wasn't playing. I said, "why not?" He said, "because it's raining!". We put our umbrellas away after the first hole and it was dry until we finished. In fact, it rained again about 3:00 PM when I was mowing the lawn, just a drizzle. I called Bob after golf and left him a message that we was a "Wuss". He had a good laugh over that today. I shot 83 and Matt had 82 yesterday. Today was our Invitational and Matt couldn't play as he was in a fun today and Boyd took his spot. We started on the 441 yard par four number 18 in a scramble and promptly birdied the next ten holes before suffering a bogey, we parred the next five holes and then birdied number 17 for a 72. Not a great day for us, but we had fun and enjoyed the tri tip barbecue afterward.
I enjoyed watching the SF Giants win the their third game of the World Series and now own a commanding 3-1 lead over the Texas Rangers. Game 5 is tomorrow night and if they lose, will return home Wednesday and Thursday with the need to win only one game to win the title. Of course they can wrap it up tomorrow night and have their ace on the mound. it has been fun watching the games and texting back and forth with Randy. We put a dozen Pro V1s on the outcome. There have been some pretty hilarious texts zipping back and forth. He was in Rochester sitting in a hotel room and ruing losses for his Tech team, the Cowboys and now the Rangers.
I leave Tuesday for the Managers meeting in Detroit and was pushing my guys all month for a good solid month as Alan will be looking at the figures YTD and for October when we meet. We were up about 15% on the top line and up about 8% on the bottom line this month, with another $1,300,000 month. I have my budget completed and sent in and we estimate about $16,000,000 in revenue next year with $900,000 in profits. We are on pace for $14,000,000 this year with about $800,000 in profit. The branch was losing $480,000 a year when I took over as Manager. I hope to get rewarded this year and hold out hope of once again getting the Gold branch award, but also the Branch Manager of the Year award. It will be an intense week as it always is, so pray for me. I fly home Saturday night.
Jennifer promised to send us some pictures of Samantha as well as a video and I will get those uploaded to the blog. This is short, but baseball put me behind tonight and I have to spend some couch time with my wife. I hope you are all well and living "La Vida en Cristo." Ciao.

A Rainy Sunday..Perfect for Football!

It is the first REAL rain of the season with over 2 inches coming down. The weather man will say less than an inch, but I'm out draining my pool and know how much extra water is now in the pool. It has rained pretty solidly since last night and we postponed our Golf Invitational tournament from today until next Sunday because of the weather.

I have added a few pictures, some of the rainstorm to let you see what I have to deal with every Fall what with a grove of oak trees in the park across from us and the prevailing winds blowing onto my property. On windy, wet days like today, the leaves fall and blow up onto my roof and over into the side yard and back yard and, yes, even into the pool. The deluge of leaves lasts from the first storm of the season until about the middle of November and clogs up the street gutters, drains, gardens, bushes, front walks, entryways and every definable space near our home. For a neatnick like me, it's a difficult time, but with Prozac and ten years of experience, I'm learning to let it go. I have the hose attached to the faucet on the pool pump and I'm draining the pool now.

I also added a few more pictures of our Vegas trip and a few that Darla has gleaned from other blogs of Cal Poly students in Rome that feature David in them. She talked to David on Skype this morning and will be in Italy herself in a about a month with a girlfriend from work. She asked me to go, but with two kids in school at Cal Poly and one on an international jaunt through Italy and France, the pocketbook is a little bare at times.

Darla and I slept in this morning, letting the lilting sounds of rain pounding the roof above our heads lull us to sleep and on into the morning. I watched several football games, mostly leaving the channel on the NFL Red Zone channel that switches to any game where a team is in the red zone and shows all scoring plays. It's an interesting way to watch football, but actually fairly entertaining if you are in Fantasy Football and aren't really set on watching any particular game that's on at the moment.

I did make it out between raindrops yesterday and got in a game of golf. The forecast showed the heavier rain today and boy were they right. We had a shower right before we teed off at 9AM and the rain stayed away until we finished. Strangely, the rain started up again as we were loading our clubs back in the car. We all had our rain gear on and had our clubs covered with the rain hoods, but it turned out we didn't need it. I continued my spate of good play and shot a one over par 37 on the front side before settling down to a more normal 42 on the back for a 79. I beat both Boyd (80) and Bob (82), but Pamas shot 71, with a matching 37 on the front and a 34 on the back. That little runt can play golf. I was recently lamenting that my 20 recent scores didn't include any scores in the 70's and now I've shot 79 three straight games.

The picture of Samantha with the little shit zu (Well that is phonetically correct) was taken at the Korean restaurant and when our name got called, we told Samantha to give the puppy a hug goodbye. She was apparently confused and surprised the lady with the dog with a big hug. It was cute.

I talked to Dad and to Jennifer and they were able to get together on Friday at 3 PM for a visit with Samantha and then John picked her up for his weekend. Dad and Shirley and Jennifer and Michael then went out to dinner together at the Cheesecake Factory. I talked to Dad on Friday when Jennifer was there having cocktails with them, but haven't talked to either of them since.

I texted Randy in response to a text from him after the Texas Rangers made the World Series. He was hoping that the San Francisco Giants could make it so he could raz me during the Series. Well, SF defeated Philly last night and Randy and I have a box of pro V1s bet on the outcome of the Series. It starts Wednesday night in San Francisco and should be worth a few jabs back and forth.

The Manager's meeting is coming up the week of November 1st. I fly out to Detroit on Tuesday (Election Day) and return home Saturday night the 6th. My office has done really well this year, continuing on from a stellar 2009 and I look forward to getting back to Detroit and sitting down with my boss to discuss the future. We have Anthony in the office as one of the top ten underwriters in the company and Peter now as an Underwriting Manager and one of the top 20 in new business in the company. We are doing well and I have my eye on getting our premiums up over $20,000,000 in the next three years and into a Division 2 office level. We are the Gold Branch for Division 3, but that kind of feels like winning the AAA championship in baseball, I'm ready for the big leagues.

I also have a picture of young Lucas, my nephew courtesy of Alicia and Don. He is growing up fast and can now turn over by himself, lift his head and all of that baby stuff they do. He is also still at that stage where he'll be sitting staring at nothing and just spit up all over himself and anyone near him. I let Darla and Earl and Frances sit with him and I watch from a safe distance.

Well, another NFL game awaits and there is the unmistakable smell of pork tenderloin wafting through the air and this after Darla made corn chowder for lunch. I may have to work out a bit harder at the gym tomorrow, but I love rainy days. I hope you are all well sated and happy. Ciao.

Something Keeps Bringing us Back to Las Vegas

..and it's not the $10.99 Prime Rib or the Gambling. It is a little blonde girl named Samantha. This was a great trip because we were able to share it with Daniel and Becky as well as Dad and Shirley. The only real drawback was the condo, which was an apartment in a rundown apartment complex off the strip and behind a closed Outback Steakhouse. You could see the Rio and the Palms casinos as well as the Gold Coast Casino, but the grounds were rundown and the tenants were section VIII housing at least. I hadn't seen so many Obama supporters in one place since my last trip to the Capitol in Sacramento. The room itself was fine with new granite counters, clean rooms, decent beds and a washer and dryer. The kitchen was large and we had plenty of room to make several meals (mostly breakfasts) in the room.

Samantha loved the apartment and Daniel made it special for her by building a fort out of our bed in the master bedroom. Daniel and Becky and Samantha must have played in there for over an hour. Sam was loving the attention and I think Daniel was enjoying his time with Samantha as well. She has the cutest laugh and she was in there jumping on the bed and making a ruckus with Daniel along for the game. Samantha also learned how to pull out the middle drawer of our chest of drawers and climb up into the entertainment section of the furniture, close the door and play hide and seek. You can see Sam peeking out of her fort and also a shot of her pounding Daniel with the pillow while Becky laughs at them.

We got into Vegas late, as our flight was delayed. We picked up our rental car at 11:30 and then went out to the local Food 4 Less to do grocery shopping. We realized that the car stunk like cigarette smoke and later realized it had New Jersey plates, A coincidence? I think not. When we got into the store, none other than George Wallace, the New Mr. Vegas (after Danny Gans passed away) was in there after his 10 PM show at the Flamingo shopping. We loaded up and got to the "condo" at about 12:55 PM. We couldn't find the right building as there are 13 buildings on site and the guard at the gate directed us to the wrong place. I walked all over the place and left Darla standing outside a locked car as I finally found building E on the other side of the complex from where the clearly over taxed guard thought it was. Those guards stand in the guard shack and wave everyone into the facility, waving at you as if you are his long lost relative or something. Crazy. Darla said there was a suspicious looking guy on the phone within ear shot of her and she was uncomfortable until I got back and we drove to the correct building. He was a little crackhead and I think she could have taken him.

Jennifer drove over the next morning and brought Samantha for swimming. The complexes' pool is probably the nicest accoutrement to the grounds, although as Darla pointed out, it was probably built in the 80's. The pool was not heated, so Samantha hung out in the hot tub, which also was not heated, but was warm as it was heating in the 92 degree heat. Michael came out and joined us and we took Daniel and Becky and Jen, Sam and Mike to dinner. It was Daniel's birthday dinner and he was set on dim sum. We went over to one of the nicer Chinese places in Vegas and the parking lot was empty. It turns out that they had a kitchen fire in the afternoon and were closed. Jennifer suggested Chinatown, a small village of Asian shops close to the Rio. We ended up having a very nice dinner at a Korean Barbecue, where they cooked the food right at the table on a propane grill. The food was good and Samantha was a trooper trying all of the different dishes and really enjoying herself. Darla asked Jennifer if it was possible that Samantha was conceived when John and Jennifer went to Thailand. Friday night we took Becky and Daniel out to the Orleans casino and Daniel got his first taste of gambling. He did ridiculously well, even winning a $140 jackpot on a penny machine (of all things). He walked out of the casino up about $180. Darla and I had given him $200 for the trip to pay for gas and some of his gambling. He did so well on Friday night that he bought half price tickets on Saturday to the Circus Soleil at the Tropicana. Darla and I ended up down about $90.

Saturday we slept in and met Jennifer at her house about 12:30. They had friends flying in from California and one driving in. It was Mike's birthday and he had a gig that night from 10 PM to 5 AM. Mike fixed us a pot roast for lunch and then shish-ke-bob for dinner. The food was excellent and we enjoyed playing with Sam. Darla and I took her out to a park and let Mike and Jen have some alone time to get ready for guests. Daniel and Becky hooked up with us for dinner at Jennifer's and then they took off for their show and we brought Samantha home to stay at our ghetto apartment. When we left, all of the company was there and they were all getting ready for their night out and getting their costumes on. In the hustle, we forgot Sam's bag and Jen called when we got back to the apartment. I decided not to run back to her place, but went to Wal-Mart and picked up some clothes for Sam on Sunday and some overnight diapers for her. She is potty training and doing a great job, but has problems still overnight, although her diaper was dry Sunday morning.

Daniel and Becky met Dad and Shirley after their show (Dad flew in Saturday night) and did some gambling with them at Bill's on the strip.

Sunday we were up and met Dad and Shirley at the Black Bear Diner on Tropicana. It is a "kid friendly" restaurant with great food and even better prices. This is the first time that Dad and Shirley have had a chance to meet Samantha and she definitely bowled them over. We had a great breakfast and then met up with Jennifer at noon. John wanted to see Samantha and we agreed to drop her off at Jen's and then return at 5 PM for dinner. Darla and I had bought rib-eyes for everyone and we were barbecuing at her place. Daniel went with us to Jen's on Sunday morning and then was supposed to leave to go back to LA and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo after dropping Becky in Pasadena. They decided to go get a late lunch (dim sum) at Ping Pang Pong at the Gold Coast and then were going to come back and get packed up to go. They left at 2 PM and we never saw them after that. The gambling bug must have taken hold as we called several times and finally left for Dad's. He had invited us over at 4:30 for drinks and we finally got there at 5 PM. We ended up at Jennifer's about 6 PM. Daniel and Becky got on the road about 5:30 and he got to Cal Poly after 2 AM. Jennifer talked Dad into designing a pumpkin for Sam and you can see the picture of him drawing it. The finished product was nice and it will remind Sam of our trip. We went out with Dad and Shirley afterward to the Palace Station casino and then the Rio. Shirley did well and was winning at a penny machine. Darla and I left down about $160 in total for the trip.

Monday we went to Jennifer's and took the kids to a park where we barbecued hot dogs and relaxed. I offered to take them to dinner at Maggiano's on the strip, an Italian chain restaurant owned by the same restaurant company that owns Chili's and the Macaroni Grill. I had won a $50 gift card at one of the tournaments for a second closest to the pin. We stopped for drinks at Dad and Shirley's beforehand and got to see them one last time. We thought we might see Jesse, who was rumored to be in Vegas, but he was off with his company people and didn't show up. Dad decided to wait for Jesse and maybe have a late dinner with him and didn't join us. It was their loss as the food was spectacular, the venue outstanding (the view on the strip is of the Wynn and Encore casinos). The food was incredibly priced with pasta dishes priced $10-$15. Samantha had a ball coloring and playing at the table and we enjoyed our last night with them. As we said goodbye I got emotional (shades of Pop crying as we left Vancouver each trip). I had enjoyed our time with the kids so much. Samantha is learning to string words together ("C'mon, Papa, let's go swimming!") and Jennifer is truly at a good point in her life. She is interviewing for a tech position with the Cosmopolitan Casino, the newest on the strip and located right in front of the Jockey Club and next door to Belagio. I am praying that she gets the job as she needs to get back to work. Being unemployed is grating on her, but it has been a blessing for Samantha, who is such a Mommy's girl now.

We met up with Dad and Shirley back at the Gold Coast casino and played for an hour. It turns out that Jesse was busy all night and they never did hook up with him Monday night. They couldn't catch a cold and left after burning through $60. Darla and I were over $200 down and the night was drawing to a close, when I hit 4 Aces dealt to me with a Jack. The payout was 800 coins. I discarded the Jack and was dealt a two for a 4000 coin payout (4 Aces with a 2-3-4). I cashed the winning ticket and left with two crisp hundred dollar bills in my pocket. Sometimes its good to win late.

Well, Darla is waiting for me and I have to watch a bit of TV before bed. Darla and I had a great time. Thank you to Daniel, Becky, Dad, Shirley, Jennifer, Michael and, especially, Miss Samantha for such a great vacation. I hope you are all well. Ciao.

Great Fall Weather in Northern California

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It was another tremendous weekend in Northern California. High, very thin clouds and temperatures in the mid eighties with a hint of a breeze in the air. The guys snuck off on Saturday to Fairfield and Rancho Solano Golf course. It is a beautiful course perched in the foothills of Solano County. There are some very nice homes built throughout the course and there were joggers and people walking dogs and babies through the public streets that intersect the course. Pamas, Boyd, Neil and I met at the Park-n-Ride n Roseville and all piled in my Chrysler 300 for the ride to Fairfield (about 45 minutes west on Interstate 80). Pamas is a member of the Roseville Golf Club as we are all and he took second place in the Club Championship losing 1-down to the winner this year after 18 holes. Pamas is the type of guy that drives me nuts. He took up golf about 7 years ago and became hooked, playing upwards of six times a week and often 36-54 holes a day. He is a 3 handicap, weighs about a buck fifty and hits his drives about 285 yards. He is also a heck of a nice guy. He moved to the states from India about 25 years ago and was a translator for the court system. He speaks six languages, including Hindi, Arabic, several Muslim country tongues as well as English and French. He was discovered as a translator by the FBI in a court case and recruited to join them and he has worked for the FBI for 25 years. He works in intelligence translating interrupted transmissions from the Taliban and others and also works with those sympathetic to the US mission in the Muslim world. Great guy and if we were going to take a road trip, it's always nice have a G man along for the ride. The course was in great shape and Pamas brought his camera along and got the pictures shown above. Neil was very impressed with the layout and is looking into having an away tournament at Rancho Solano next year. I shot one of my better recent rounds and really had my driver working on Saturday. I shot 40+39=79, Pamas shot 78, Neil had 92 and Boyd was aching and not feeling well all day. He shot 85. Boyd had been to the doctor during the week and had a flu shot. He not only had a really sore arm where they gave him the shot, but had flu symptoms as well. Boyd is doing incredibly well for his age, but we all forget sometimes that he is 70 years old.

Darla and I went to church again on Saturday night and slept in this morning. We went out to dinner in Lincoln at Buonarroti's restaurant after church and enjoyed Gnocchi and chicken dishes as well as a beer battered zucchini for an appetizer. It was nice to get away and get caught up on each other's lives.

We leave Thursday night for Vegas and our fourth trip to see Samantha this year. We are staying in a two bedroom condo just off the strip and across the street from the Rio and the Palms casinos. Darla and I will babysit Samantha on Saturday night as Jennifer and Michael hit the town to celebrate his birthday. He has a deejay gig and then they are going to a costume party with friends. They have some out of town guests staying with them on Saturday night. Darla talked to Daniel tonight and he will not be arriving in Vegas until about midnight on Thursday as he has a test tat won't be finished until about 5 PM at Cal poly, He then has to drive to Los Angeles and rendezvous with Becky and then drive the four hours to Vegas. Daniel turns 21 on Tuesday.

Dad and Shirley get into Vegas on Saturday night about 9 PM and we are hoping to have Daniel and Becky hook up with them. Daniel wants to spend some time with them and visit a little before they have to leave Sunday. We will definitely do a breakfast on Sunday. I don't know how fast Jennifer and Mike will be moving after a night on the town Saturday, so we may make it late morning. Darla and I plan to bring plenty of videos and things to keep Samantha entertained on Saturday night. We really look forward to the trip and to our time with her Saturday night.

Work continues to go great. We just finished another month where we cleared over $70,000 in profit for the branch. I have promoted Pete in my office to an Underwriting Manager position and he will be helping me out, especially when I'm not in the office. He will also sit in on selected reviews and help with budgeting and forecasting. He will take on the role of liaison with a number of our companies and help monitor sales and new products with those carriers. It's great to see the branch grow and need some additional management. Pete has worked hard, been undyingly loyal to me (he used to work with me at Republic Western and took my position as Field Underwriter in the Sacramento territory when I was promoted to Manager).

I have the Insurance Day on the day that I get back to Sacramento from Las Vegas. I'll have time to get back from the airport, get changed and run down to the Sacramento Convention Center for the luncheon and then will work the booth in the afternoon. Pete and the rest of the staff will have to set up our booth, stock it and work it Tuesday morning. I then have a dinner with a premium Finance Manager from our home office that evening at McCormick and Schmick's steakhouse. At least now I can turn things over to Pete and know that I can hold him fully accountable for getting things done.

Well, that's it for another week. The blog will be late next week as we will be gone, but will return with pictures of Jennifer, Sam, Dad and Shirley, Daniel and Becky, Mike, Darla and I. I'll write more then. Ciao.