Lake Almanor 2013!!

  

Yep. Lots of pictures from the trip. Ill have more to add next week, but this sort of sums up our week. We had a great time with Jennifer, Samantha, McKenny, David and with a surprise visit from Daniel. He was able to move his schedule at work around and come up for a very brief visit Monday thru Wednesday. Darla and I knew about Dan coming up, but kept it a surprise from David, Jennifer and Darla's parents. Alicia's husband, Don, had a new job this year so had to stay behind until Wednesday night and Alicia had to drive up by herself on Monday (she couldn't get into her cabin until Monday because someone had it over the weekend). Daniel had a funeral on Sunday in San Jose of a friend of he and Becky's who died from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 24. He took the bus Monday from San Jose to Sacramento and Alicia picked him up and drove him up to Almanor.

 

I happened to be in town getting gas for the jet ski Monday afternoon (a frequent occurrence) and ran into them while they were checking in. Dan jumped in the Explorer and we drive to the cabin to surprise David and Jennifer. We met them on the beach and I said I'd picked up some bum on the street in Chester. David was floored and Sam and Jen were thrilled.

 

The weather was awesome all week, a little on the hot side (low 90's) early in the week and moderating to the 80's by the weekend. I had bought a Jet Ski anchor, but we couldn't get it to set in the silt like lake bottom and finally Jennifer tied it to a tree stump about 30 yards offshore. She had to swim under water and pass the line under and around the stump to tie it securely. The anchor line has a red buoy on it and we were able to tie it up after each use. We could not beach it this year as the water level was too low and it would bottom out before reaching shore. The anchor line worked perfectly and thank God for the tree stump. It was divine intervention.

 

I did have one call from my Underwriting manager, Pete, while I was gone. We were supposed to get the extra desks and cubicles this coming week, but they showed up on Tuesday of last week. Pete and I had gone over it and I showed him the four spaces that were to be built out. Apparently the parts the guy had weren't enough to build out four spaces and he was only going to build out three. I answered the phone and Pete said, "Thank God you answered!" I told him to call the real estate Manger in HO and talk it over with them, but that they should have enough material to build out four cubes as we had extra in the office. Pete said he'd call. I went in to town later to ...get more gas for the jet ski and called to make sure everything was in order. Pete said and I quote,  "I've got it all under control, you relax and enjoy your vacation." Really? Apparently they were able to get the cubicles built out, power pulled to them and the desks all set up. One less thing for me to hassle with this week.

 

Samantha had a great trip. Jennifer and McKenny stayed with us until Monday. Darla and I made them sleep separately as it is our home and that's the way we wanted it. Jennifer didn't want to spend her whole vacation apart from McKenny, so they rented a campsite. They moved Monday, but were basically with us from early morning for breakfast until bedtime. Sam stayed with them Monday and Tuesday and Thursday, but fell fast asleep Wednesday night at our place, actually sleeping through dinner and overnight until about 8 AM Thursday morning. I think Daniel tired her out on Wednesday before he and David left for Roseville.

 

Earl and Frances treated everyone to Mexican food on Tuesday night at Maria's in Chester and we had a ball. Wednesday I arranged a golf game at the resort in Almanor, Bailey Creek. I had shot mid 80's there in the past, but was able to light up the course for an 81. We had six players and played in two threesomes. The other guys are recreational golfers. Robert shot a 94 and the rest were all well in the 100's. Don had called me over the weekend and wanted to play golf. I told him it was set up for Wednesday and he didn't get in until Wednesday. I agreed to play nine holes on Friday early and we snuck off to Lake Almanor Country Club for 9 holes at 7:30. We finished in 1 and a 1/2 hours and I shot a 40. I was amazed at how nice the 9 hole track was. It looked just like an upscale 18 hole country club and they had first class diesel golf carts. The cost at Bailey creek was $74 and it was only $25 for 9 holes at LACC. They charge $40 for 18 holes and you play a different set of tees. I have been going up there for years, but had missed playing at this gem. I will definitely add this to the rotation for vacation for sure.

 

Samantha made a friend while she was in Almanor. Darla's cousin, Staci, adopted a little girl four years ago and she is now 4 and will turn 5 in December. The girls mostly ignored each other the first half of the week, but were fast friends by the time we left and look forward to seeing each other again next year. Zoey is a little cutie and she and Sam made quite a pair.

 

Jennifer and McKenny were excellent house guests all week and tremendously helpful with meals, shopping, house cleaning and taking care of the jet ski. They made sure the ski was gassed up and that the oil level was kept up. They made sure the beach was cleaned up each night and the ski vests and towels were brought up to the cabin each night. Both Darla and I were very impressed with how much help they gave us all week.

 

Darla is dealing with a lot of medical issues right now and has neuropathy in her feet due to her diabetes which is really affecting her life and her health right now. She is going in to the hospital tomorrow for a colonoscopy. I will go in to work early and then pick her up at ten. Her surgery is 11 AM and I will return to work for about an hour and a half before picking her up. She is working on her bottle of Gaviolite know and working her colon clean. Her colon hasn't been very active lately, so the process is a little less intense than when I did it. Darla has been foggy of late and we think her meds need to be altered to clear her head, we are meeting with her doctor on Thursday and we will start to get a handle on this. Please pray for her and for us as we deal with this serious health concern for her.

 

Darla talked to Jennifer today. They left Almanor at 7:30 on Saturday and arrived in Vegas late afternoon Saturday, dropped Sam off with John and drove through the night arriving in Pleasanton after three this morning. They were going to stay over in Vegas, but wanted to get home to do wash and get ready for their work week. the job with Verizon looks good and we are praying for her to be back in Vegas full time in September. Sam is pretty traumatized by her Mom being gone and freaks out if Mom is out of her sight. Jennifer and McKenny went in to town a couple of times and Samantha was on "pins and needles" until her Mom got back. Poor thing.

 

We had a great time on vacation and thoroughly enjoyed Samantha for the whole week. She is growing into a very bright and adorable young lady and Darla and I played a few games of War and Go Fish with her and had a ball. The boys were great with her and she had her moments as young kids do, but overall was a delight. We took her miniature golfing at some run down course in Almanor next to an ice cream place and played for $3 a person and had a ball. that may be my third golf trip each year, as long as Samantha is along for the ride. We, of course, also took full advantage of the ice cream shop as well. You can see the one picture of Sam ducking down by the deer. She was trying to get up close to look at him without spooking him into traffic.

 

Well, that is our week in a nutshell. I will be back online next week and will add more of the 100 some pictures we took during the trip. I hope you are all well and do ask for prayer for health and healing for Darla. Be well. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

SUMMER is in Full Swing

 

Yeah, you can see the forecast from my iphone. We have already endured three straight days in the 100's and two days over 105 degrees. The really hot weather will last through July 4th and then moderate into the simple low 100's. It is actually supposed to cool off into the upper 90's, but we will be off to Lake Almanor by then and weather in the 80's and overnight lows in the 50's. Nice.

I look forward to Sammy being back in Almanor and able to play on the shore and take her for rides with the jet ski. She will  be thrilled to be out of Vegas where they have seen temperatures approaching 120 degrees. Jennifer shared the black and white photo above on her Instagram and I stole it.

You can see a picture of Neil and I with Doug from a couple of weeks ago. I am so glad that we went and visited with him and shared a few laughs. Doug Smith passed away Sunday morning in the arms of his loving family with his wife and two adult children by his side. Cancer is a beast and spares no one that it decides to stare down. Doug was tremendously active in the Roseville Golf Club and was our Tournament Bookkeeper for several years. Doug was a man of simple elegance with a calm demeanor and a perpetual smile on his face. I will miss him greatly and was honored to have known him. We do leave for Almanor early Saturday afternoon, but they are honoring Doug at the Firecracker tournament at the club on Saturday and Neil has asked me to make the announcement to the club of Doug's passing and that the tournament is being played in his honor. Neil is setting up a remembrance table on the first tee with pictures of Doug, his driver and a guest book for the members to sign for his widow, Mickey. It is a sad time for the club, but at least he suffers no more.

I also included a photo of the pool that you have seen dozens of times. Darla and I went out Sunday and bought two new umbrellas for the pool which we put in the holes designed for the volleyball net. We had breakfast Sunday morning out and then went over to Sam's Club to shop and saw a nice umbrella for $114. We passed on that and ended up buying the green ones on sale at Rite Aid for $29 a piece. I'm sure the Sam's Club  umbrella is much nicer and heavier, but I can buy almost four of these for the cost of one of those.

I only work three days this week as I have Thursday and Friday off for July 4th and then we are on vacation next week. I will golf with the guys at the club on Friday morning at 7:00 AM and hopefully beat the heat. In a nice twist, I am off on Friday and Darla has to work. Will wonders never cease?

I did play golf Saturday in spite of the oppressive heat. We had rain Monday and Tuesday and I spent part of Monday night clearing out the downspouts on my gutters. It was a decent rain with about 1/2 an inch of rain. That combined with the heat and the early morning watering of the course led to a hot and humid start on Saturday. We teed off at 7 AM and it was already 77 degrees and humid. The front nine was rather uncomfortable and my game mirrored that with double bogeys on 8 and 9 for a 44 front. In fact, Neil walked off the course as his game was so sideways. Boyd, Darren and I soldiered on and I shot a 38 on the back to match Boyd and Darren shot a 43 to finally break 90 this year with an 88. Boyd shot his usual 76. I was thrilled to turn my game around and had seven pars and two bogeys on the back side on my way to an 82.

I met with Neil today for lunch as he wanted to discuss his plans for the tournament and Doug. It was his first visit to my office and he enjoyed the man cave here in the back of the suite. We went to Mas Mexican food for lunch and I enjoyed our time together as I always do.

The office had an interesting month in June. I addressed the staff on Wednesday morning and pointed out that many of the staff had never seen us go through a month under budget, but with our budget number at $329,500 and our earned income at $258,000 with two days to go, it was a long shot. I praised the staff for eight straight months exceeding budget. A funny thing happened over the next two days and we booked another $79,000 in earned income to finish with over $2,000,000 in premium and $337,000 in net retained income.  We finished the six months with $11,500,000 in premium written and $1,900,000 in earned income up 25% and 27% respectively over 2012. My staff continues to amaze me and we finished June with five of my eight underwriters over $40,000 in retained income. Awesome stuff and I am a blessed man. I will be hosting a lunch for the eighth consecutive month as we beat our budget number again.

Jennifer will drive to Vegas on Thursday and pick up Miss Samantha for our vacation in Northern California. She will drive back over night on Thursday and Friday and be in Almanor with us on Saturday for a week's stay. Jennifer and McKenney were going to come up on Tuesday as McKenney couldn't get Monday off, but his bosses have agreed to allow him to be available by phone on Monday and they will be there all week. David is coming up with us on Saturday and will head home Monday. Daniel is broke and can't make the trip this time. He still works part time at Home Depot and the drive alone from So Cal would wipe him out. He also can't afford to miss any shifts. I hope he lands something in his field soon.

My fingernail has finally completely grown back in after I lost it a couple of months ago. This goes back to last year when I slammed my finger in my golf cart and it turned black and I had to lance it to release the pressure. it was an interesting process, but I'm thrilled to be whole again.

Well, obviously I'm reaching for news and have to get back to work. I had to do some handicapping for the Roseville Golf Club last night and was too lazy to work on the blog, so I did it today. The blog will be on vacation next week, but will return with a bunch of pictures from our trip and some great memories of our week with family. Be well. Ciao.

Fun in Reno

 

We had a great time in Reno. In fact, it couldn't have been better. I played some of my best golf of the year, taking first place in both days' tournaments and, as you can see above, also had some great luck at the video poker machine on Saturday night as well.

We had a great time with Vicki and Bob Pando who stayed with us in a condo at the Lakeridge resort in Reno. The condominium was nice, but the difference in the two bedrooms was pretty severe. As a matter of fact, Darla and I got there first and waited to pick a room until Bob and Vicki arrived in order to be fair. One room had upgraded furniture, a television, an attached bathroom and was a grade A room. The second bedroom had only a bed and a closet and a bathroom across the hall. Darla and I practiced tossing a coin before they got there and did win the toss and got the better room. I felt a little bad as Vicki had Bob bring a chair into their bathroom to house some of her stuff as there was only a small sink and vanity, toilet and shower stall.

We met Neil and Lilly for dinner Friday night at La Strada, an Italian restaurant in the El Dorado Casino. We stopped in the bar and had some happy hour Italian margaritas before dining. It was nice to sit and visit and get caught up on what is going on in the Pando's lives over dinner. We got seated a little after 7 PM and left the restaurant at nine. We got back to the room and stayed up until 11 PM talking and visiting.

Saturday was the Lakeridge tournament and Bob and I met Neil and the gang at the golf course at 6:30 for breakfast. There was a double shotgun going off at 8:00 AM and we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, hit balls and headed to our carts. Neil was getting something out of his car and tripped over a curb and just about had a fall. He was flailing his arms and pin wheeling forward and finally caught himself on a cart after tripping forward about twenty feet. He got a round of applause from the guys.

Lakeridge is a Country Club in Reno that is like so many others and is currently in bankruptcy. The course itself is in beautiful shape and you can see the signature island green on number 12 above. You can see in the picture the skyline of the casinos in the distance. I shot an 83 on Saturday and really had to work hard to keep my score at that level. I hit one drive out of bounds and bounced the next shot (number 3) off the fence next to the out of bounds and was able to knock the next shot in front of the green and then on and one putt for a double. It was my only double on the day. Bob and I both hit our shots right on number 9 and he found his on the bank of the creek, but mine was nowhere to be found. I had to take a drop and hit my next one to about 200 from the pin and was finally on and putting for a double, when I noticed Bob's ball had my markings on it. He had hit the wrong ball. We both went back to the creek after apologizing to the guys behind us. I replaced my ball on the bank, hit it to about 150, knocked it on and 2 putted for a par. Bob didn't fare so well with the 2 stroke penalty, the lost ball and his nerves and posted a 10 on the hole. I won first place low net with my 83, net 67.

Saturday afternoon we headed back to the resort and went out to he pool. It was about 90 degrees in Reno and the high altitude always seems hotter. Somehow 90 degrees in Reno is hotter than 90 degrees in the valley, if that makes sense. Perhaps Darryl knows what I'm talking about, having lived a mile high in a former life. The girls joined us and we headed back to the condo to get ready for dinner.

We met Neil and Lilly, Tim and Sue and Kenny and Michelle for dinner at Bertha Miranda's, a 55 year old restaurant in the heart of Reno on Wells Avenue. The food  (Mexican) was great and the $20 margarita pitchers went down easy. We sat and visited until almost 9:30 and it was a hoot, laughing and enjoying the company of friends. Darla has struggled with her health recently and it was nice to see the old Darla back, laughing and having a good time. When other diners were turning to see who was laughing so hard, I knew she was having a great time. It was good for her to get away.

Darla and I went over to the Atlantis casino, one of our old stomping grounds and realized how long it had been since we had been at the casino when we saw the huge expansion they had done three years ago and added over 20,000 square feet to the casino floor. We got there about 9:45 and I wanted to get home early. We played $100 on the nickel machines and had about $115 dollars in winnings. We had decided to call it a night and were playing the last of our original stake when I was dealt the Jack, Queen, King and Ace of hearts with a Ten of clubs. It was a straight  which pays 20 coins on a 5 coin bet. I didn't hesitate and discarded the 10 and got the 10 of hearts for a Royal Flush and 4000 coins paid on a 5 coin bet.

Sunday we were able to sleep in a little bit and Bob and I got on the road about 8:15 for Portola, a 50 minute drive from Reno. We played Grizzly Ranch, a beautiful enclave of homes and a championship golf course in Portola. The course was tight and covered with pines and the scores Sunday went up dramatically from Saturday. For instance, the low gross player from Saturday shot 79, but carded a 90 on Sunday. The low gross was 80 and I shot an 82, net 66 and won low net for the second day. I also won $39 in skins on the strength of an Eagle two I carded on the 255 yard uphill par four 15th with a strong drive that landed on the apron of the green and I knocked in a 50 foot chip with a 6 iron. It was a fun day and the course was tremendous.

We met the girls back in Truckee about 5:30. They had spent the day in Reno and got into Truckee about mid afternoon. They weren't thrilled with the way that we had to travel so far to Portola. They were not going to come over tot he sleepy little mountain town with nothing to do. We transferred Bob's clubs and our bags into the vehicles and Bob and Vicki headed off to friends in Incline Village and we headed home to Roseville. We got home about 7:45 and went to our local Chinese food place for War Won Ton soup and pot stickers. Not the healthiest of dinners, but delicious.

It was a fun and a profitable weekend and I got to spend some of my winnings today on pool supplies. We had switched over to non chlorine shock this year on the advice of our pool supplier and have been having some algae blooms. I took in a water sample today and discussed it with another tech in the same store and he said we needed to use a chlorine shock, that the shock I have is meant for pools with either bromine or ionization. Somehow the $79 that I spent on 25 pounds of shock wasn't refunded and they sold me another 50 pounds of chlorine shock for $144. Nice. The guy that had helped me last time was no longer there and now apparently he's a dumbass. OK. I think I'm the dumbass.

Darla and I leave in a week for Almanor and I'm looking forward to the time with David and Jennifer and Samantha. It will also be a chance to get to know McKenny better. I've spent a little bit of time with him and he seems like a solid guy. Right now, Jennifer and McKenny are coming up on Tuesday and staying until Saturday as McKenny has to work on Monday. I'm trying to talk Jennifer in to coming up with us on Saturday and having McKenny join us on Tuesday.

Well, that is our weekend in a nutshell. We had a blast and it was good to get away. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your start to Summer. We have a Canadian storm that hit last night and will last through tomorrow. We are expected to get about a half inch of rain out of this storm and it would be a record for rainfall in June in Sacramento. It rarely rains here in the Summer. The weather will change quicly as106 is forecast over the weekend. we will be in the pool. Ciao.

Father's Day 2013

 

It was a fun and enjoyable weekend and thank you to Jennifer and McKenny for the visit and the lunch on the beach. McKenny had his sister and two nieces visiting from Virginia and Jennifer was going to come up on her own to see me, but Darla and I invited them up for a day at the beach with the jet ski. Jennifer talked the group into coming up and McKenny had never been on a jet ski before and LOVED it. He said it was the coolest toy he'd seen in years. I think he will be pricing them out on the next few weeks. They met us at the beach on Saturday at 10 AM. Jennifer had a little trouble starting the jet ski until I realized that she wasn't using the choke. I pulled up on that and it fired up right away. I hope so as I'd just dropped $300 on repairs and Summerizing of the unit on Thursday.

 

The day was awesome with highs in the mid 90's and lots of sunshine. The girls are redheads and both got a little burn and McKenny got a lobster burn on his back and shoulders. They concentrated so much on lubing his bald head up, but forgot to get the rest of him protected. Jennifer said that they bought two bottles of Aloe Vera on the way home Saturday night. We had everyone over to our house Saturday afternoon. The girls swam and I fixed two tri-tips for dinner. It was a great visit and the only thing missing was Samantha.

 

Friday I was in San Francisco as my CEO was in town and Harvey asked me to suit up and come into the city for the day. It was actually nice to not be the focus of his attention, but he did use our success in Sacramento as a rallying point for the San Francisco branch, as in, "You may be up 12% on the year, but your cousins up the road in Sacramento are up 35%!" Nice. They were all going out to dinner on Friday night. I decided to join them for drinks after work and we cabbed up to the Top of the Mark, the bar at the top of the Mark Hopkin's hotel. There was a SERIOUS police presence when we got there and it turns out that Vice President Joe Biden was staying at the hotel and his daughter was graduating from Stanford on Saturday (Maybe it was his granddaughter I don't know). I saw his SUV pull up with six police cars in the lead and another six behind his car as they blocked the road and drove him into the garage of the hotel. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of the Obama administration, but I was happy to see Biden in SF and not Washington, where he can cause more damage to our country.

 

You can see the picture that I took from the Top of the Mark of the city skyline and the Transamerica pyramid. It is quite a view. I left the city about 8:15 . They were all still in the bar and were supposed to be over at the R&G Lounge for dinner reservations at 8:00 o'clock.

 

I did play golf early this morning at 5:50 AM over at Diamond Oaks. I shot an 81 and have finally started to turn my game around. I played four times this last week with an 82 on Tuesday in the day On The Oaks weekday tournament, an 83 at Turkey Creek on Wednesday afternoon with one of my agents and our rep for the inspection company that Alan owns. I also shot a 41 on Thursday night in the twilight league. It is nice to see all of the hard work that I've done with the new driver starting to pay off.

 

I jumped in the pool and spa when I got home from golf and then took a quick shower and we were off to Oroville to meet Darla's Mom and dad for lunch. We had a nice lunch and a good visit before heading back to Roseville, where I got a haircut and returned home. I had a nice snooze on the pool and then watched the US Open golf tournament on the DVR recorder. I washed the car after dinner and then we had a nice chat with Dad and Shirley.

 

The blog will be late next week as we will be in Reno with the golf league. We leave Thursday and will be staying at the Lake Ridge resort with Bob and Vicki Pando in a two bedroom condo. We play Lake Ridge at 8:00 AM on Saturday and will then head out to dinner that night and an evening in the casinos. Sunday we play Grizzly Ranch in Portola and the girls will head out from Reno about mid day for home.

 

Work continues to go well. We had our lunch celebration on Tuesday and I had Matt run out and pick up some barbecue from Lucille's in Rocklin. The handle on the bag broke in the parking lot and they dropped three quarts of baked beans in the parking lot. By the time I saw the mess, it had been baked into the concrete and cards had smashed it flat. The restaurant actually cut $50 from our bill because of the mishap and it turns out that we had plenty of food to go around as it was.

 

I now have 25 employees that work for me and we are busting at the seams in the office. I have four new desks and computers on order and they should be delivered the week on July 15th. Right now I have two employees that are desk hopping as I have staff out on Summer vacations. It will be nice to get the expansion completed. If I add any more staff I will have to blow out the back wall and pick up additional space in the vacant office behind us.

 

That is it for this week. It is late and Darla owes me a back rub because she bet me that Phil Mickelson would win the US Open today. Lefty came in second for the sixth time in his career and he has zero wins. have a great week. Ciao.

 

 

June Weather

 

The weather in June can run between 110 degrees and 75 degrees in Northern California. We had a 108 degrees on Saturday and 88 degrees today, a 20 degree drop. It is a strange feeling to feel these extremes. It will be 79 degrees tomorrow.

Matt and I were up in Arcata on Thursday and there was a marine layer over the golf course and it didn't get out of the sixties. I was dressed in shorts and quickly changed into long pants. Unfortunately, I did not have a coat and it got really cold on the back nine. One of the agents we were playing with lent me a medium wind shirt and I struggled into it. I had trouble swinging the club, but at least I was warm. I decided to take it off on the last hole as none of the three guys were able to hit the green on our approach. I got the jacket stuck around my neck with my arms trapped behind my head and had the three guys all laughing hysterically as I struggled to get it off. Matt finally yanked hard and got that second skin off of me. We ended up winning the tournament with a 62 and I won two dozen Pro V1 golf balls, a Nike golf shirt and a golf towel.

Matt and I stayed over Thursday night in Eureka and stopped in Ukiah on the way back Friday and visited one of Matt's agents for coffee and muffins and then my agent for lunch. We were back in Roseville about 5 PM and it was 106 degrees. I got into the pool and cooled off before hosting the  guys for poker.

I was surprised that we won the tournament with a 62 because my team shot a 60 on Monday in the Sacramento Golf Day and we took 7th. I was in charge of the signs and the awards at the tournament and it was a long day with arrival at the course at 9 AM and finally leaving for home at 7:45 PM. My company also put on a putting contest and I had to set that up and show Shawna and Ajay how to run the contest.

I did have an NCGA qualifier on Saturday and played pretty benignly on the front side, finally hitting a birdie on number 9 for a 42 on the front. I followed that up with birdies on 10 and 11, but the 108 degree heat wilted me on the back side and I finished with a 41 for 83, net 70. I missed qualifying for the qualifier tournament by one stroke. Darla and I had dinner with Neil and Lilly tonight and Neil told me that he was having trouble getting the qualifiers to commit to going on to the next event. He ended up calling me when he got back and the final 69 qualifier backed out and he gave me the spot based on my net 34 on the back side. I will play with two other players from my club in the regional event in September and try to qualify to move on to the finals at Spyglass Hill in October. I'm happy, I haven't made it to a qualifier in about three years.

You can see the picture of Darla with her new car plates "SILVR GL" and the picture from the tournament up in Arcata where a family of deer came to join us on one of the holes. Also, we did go to Alicia and Don's for dinner and Lucas' 3rd birthday celebration. They had planned to have a birthday party in the park, but it was 108 degrees and they cancelled it earlier in the week.

I talked to Jennifer this weekend and she is looking into a position with Verizon back in Vegas, hopefully starting in August. If it works out, she hopes to move with Sam into a house close to John's place so she can be there to take Sam to Kindergarten in the Fall. She is conflicted because of her boyfriend and because she REALLY likes working for Ericsson. I think it will all work out and the sadness that I saw from both of them when Jen had to leave last Sunday can't continue.

This is really short, but I got a late start because of dinner with Neil and Lilly. we did have our largest month ever in May and 5 (FIVE!) of my producers had personal best months. I have to go into San Francisco on Friday to see our CEO and I have no issues. The office is really humming right now and it is a great place to work. As I told my boss in my Manager's Report this month: "There is a misconception that the happiest place on Earth is Disneyland, but it is actually my office!" I hope you are all doing wonderfully and living life to the fullest. Be well. Ciao.

Fun with Sammy in Vegas!

 

It was the best of times and it was over all too quickly. It had been far too long since we visited Vegas (last September) and we made up for it with four days of fun and frivolity. We flew in early on Thursday morning and met John to pick up Samantha. We were able to get an early check-in at Circus Circus and we were in and off to the pool by late morning. Samantha made a couple of fast friends at the pool, one of which was a four year old from Oklahoma that at one point asked Sam if her Mom could take pictures of them together. The little girl had an older sister with her who looked to be about 16 or 17 and when she brought out the camera and started taking pictures, Darla and I were amazed. The young girl WAS the mother! We met the father, who was about thirty. We also kept a close eye on him the rest of the afternoon as he apparently likes young girls. Jeesh.

 

That afternoon we cleaned up and went out to dinner at the Deli at the Circus Circus, and then took Sam up to watch the circus acts and to have some fun at the midway. I was able to pound hard enough with a rubber mallet to send a rubber chicken through the air and into a pot on a rotating base and win her a small stuffed snake. We let her ride the rides and play some of the video games, one of which had Samantha and Darla riding a motorcycle through the streets of Los Angeles. Samantha was tired that night and we let her watch a cartoon of Curious George and she was fast asleep by nine. Jennifer's plane came in at 11:15 and I was off at 10:30 PM to meet it, but got turned the wrong way on Industrial Avenue and never did find the I-15 freeway, instead backtracking to Las Vegas Boulevard and getting stuck in the world's biggest traffic jam before finally getting to the airport at 11:30. Jennifer was amused by my story of trying to find the freeway and getting utterly lost.

 

Friday, we were up pretty early and off to the Black Bear Diner with Jen and Sam. It is the first restaurant that Sam ever went to as a baby and we make sure to go there every time we are in town. From there it was back to the hotel and another day at the pool. Friday was 98 degrees, Saturday 102 degrees and Sunday topped out at 106 degrees. Yes, we were in the desert.

 

Friday night was Sam's Day Care graduation and we had her over to the school by 5:30 to get dressed in her cap and gown. She was the smallest one there and her gown dragged the ground where most of the kids were at mid calf. There were 12 graduates and they sang four songs, recited the pledge of allegiance and all got there diplomas. It was very cute and I'm glad we got to be a part of it. John was there with his mom and step dad  and we all got along okay. Sam was happy to have her Mom and Dad both there to share in her day. Afterward, we went to Chinatown in Vegas and had Korean barbecue at Mothers, a great place that we have been to twice with Jennifer. Good food and a nice hibachi grill at your table.

 

Saturday, we were up fairly early and off to Karate. Sam was cranky and didn't want to go to her class and really lost it when we stopped at Burger King instead of McDonald's for breakfast. She got over it, ate some food (fuel) and then was great at karate. She was the highest belt there for the first ten minutes, but then some of the older kids showed up and her red belt was trumped by yellow. She is very good and pays attention to her Sensei and really does her moves clearly and correctly. She even had a one on one with another smaller boy in the class and knocked him out of his stance and won the match. She lost to a bigger boy first, but was beaming when she won. The class is well done and both of her instructors preach discipline and focus to the class and most of the kids respond. There was one bonehead in there that kept trying to leave the room to get to his father and the Sensei's were all over him. It was fun. We went from there to the pool.

 

Saturday night we had dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy on the strip. Sam was a little cranky again before dinner and I think she really feels the separation from her Mom and acts out  a little bit. She pulled it together and had a nice dinner. We even had the guitar player play "When you wish upon a star" for her. It was a fun night.

 

Sunday, we talked to the hotel staff and got an extended check-out and were able to stay in the hotel until 6 PM for $20. We used the pool after going to a late breakfast at the Egg and I in Vegas. It was a wonderful little coffee shop packed fifteen deep with people waiting to get in. It is a big place with indoor and outdoor seating. It was 106 degrees Sunday and we lucked into an inside table. We had dinner at the Grill in Circus Circus and Darla and Jennifer used the Aqua Massage tables before dinner. We had a 9:10 flight that night that kept changing. I got a call in the morning that it was delayed to 9:45, then a call that it was back at 9:10 and a third text that it was now 10:05 PM. We did take off at 10:05, but not until we drove out to John's to drop Sam off and she took us on a tour of her room, the garden in the back and her turtle cage. She was so proud and then the water works came as we had to leave. She pleaded with Jennifer to come with her to California and poor John had to hold her as we drove away.

 

Jen knows that she has to find a solution to her situation. She has a GREAT job, but she is away from her daughter who needs her now more than ever and it is really hurting both of them deeply . Jennifer was really emotional in the car and has come to hate everything about Vegas and just wants Sam in California. John won't allow that, so it is an impasse of mega proportions. We'll see how it plays out, but it is very emotionally draining.

 

Well, on that upbeat note, I wish you all a great week. Be good to each other and say a prayer for Samantha and Jennifer. Ciao.



Memorial Day 2013

The weather today is a full 20 degrees less than what is normal for this date. We are at 65 degrees after a high of 83 yesterday. The sky is cloudy and earlier there was an incessant rain that was never hard, but a constant drizzle. Darla and I had planned to go up to Hidden Falls Park up in Auburn yesterday, but when we saw the forecast for today, decided to relax by the pool yesterday.  We were up early today and off to breakfast in downtown Roseville this morning. We ate at Pacific Street Café and then went over to The Linen Outlet where Darla bought some chair pads and some sheets, from there we went over to Home depot and bought some new rugs for the kitchen and a set of solar lights for out by the pool (the old ones were worn out and the metal was flaking off from the pool chemicals). We drove form there up to Auburn and went to the park. We didn't quite make it to the falls as it was raining and Darla failed to make a bathroom stop before we left the parking lot. We got about half way to the falls and she had to go. We backtracked after a stop by the river and made it back before any accidents happened. we will go back up and make the hike to the falls at another time as the trails are nice and the area rustic and tree filled. Very nice.

Yesterday, we decided to make a pool day and relaxed by the pool after I put a second coat of "Wet Look" sealer on the pool deck. Darla relaxed on the pool and I slept on a chaise lounge by the pool.

Saturday we went to a wedding for one of my employees at the Blessed cathedral in downtown Sacramento. The church is pretty incredible and reminds me of many of the Catholic Churches that we have seen in Mexico. It was quite an event with about half of the ceremony in Spanish and the other half in English. The ceremony itself was at 11:30 PM, but the reception wasn't until 2 PM. I am not a big fan of the gap that so many couples have so they can take a bunch of staged pictures. They did have a bar close by that had Happy Hour prices and we went over and visited with my Assistant, Shawna and her family as well as Pete, my Underwriting manager. I was able to get four margaritas, a beer and a diet Coke for $14. I think the guy undercharged me and I gave him $20 for the six drinks. From there it was a short walk to the Masonic Temple, where the reception was held. The groom finally showed up at 2:30 and the bride made her appearance at 3 PM?? It was a nice venue, but quite spread out and Darla and I only got a few appetizers as they ran out of food before dinner was served to our table.  It was 4:15 when we finally left and they hadn't started any of the dances or toasts or anything. Darla and I wanted to get to church at 5 PM.

After church, we went to McCormick and Schmick's. I had a $50 gift card from Christmas and we were both dressed up so decided to go have a nice meal and we did. We got home and relaxed and watched a movie.

Darla and I leave for Vegas on Thursday morning and will spend four fun days with Samantha. We are staying at Circus Circus in Vegas and will have Jennifer and Sammy stay over with us. Sammy graduates from her Day Care on Friday night and we will go to that. She also has her Karate class on Saturday and we will go see her at that as well.

The forecast is that we will reach the triple digits for the first time over the weekend and Darla and I will be in Las Vegas. Monday we have the Insurance Association's golf tournament at Serrano Country Club. We are coming off of three straight years of rain on our tournament that is always on the first Monday in June. It looks like we will finally have some warm and dry weather. My company will sponsor the Putting Contest this year and I have Shawna running it with one of our newer employees.

Thursday of next week I leave for Eureka and the Humboldt County Insurance golf event. Matt and I will drive up at 6 AM and we tee off at 1 PM. We will stay over Thursday night and hit a few agent's offices on Friday on our way back. I will host poker that night.

Well, that is it. The blog will be quite late next week as I will get home late Sunday night and then have the golf event on Monday. It will likely be Tuesday night before I update the blog, but it will have lots of pictures of my granddaughter. Hey, the good with the bad. I hope you are all remembering those that have served and gave the ultimate sacrifice. Just remember: Freedom is not Free. Ciao.

May Birthdays

 

The busy birthday month has hit. Mother's day, Darla's birthday and David's birthday all seem to hit in a 10 day period. Darla and I got together with David on Darla's birthday and went to dinner at TGI Fridays. I gave her carte blanche on where to go and with her evolving dietary restrictions, she chose TGI Fridays because it has a more American menu, with less carbs. She ended up with soup and salad and you can see her look in the picture with her birthday dessert that she watched David and I eat. She is really serious about her diet and watching her sugar and carb intake. It was like the ice cream could impact her blood sugar just by proximity.

 

I don't know what's up with David and his beard. I'm not sure if he is David or Orville Redencbacher. His job is going well and he is doing some estimating and bid work as well as CAD work and design work. He is very comfortable at his old firm, but will eventually move into something a bit closer to the architecture field. It is a great first job out of college and they appreciate him. 

 

Daniel, on the other hand, is sort of caught between paying his bills and finding a job in his field. He just passed a civil engineering test that will give him some credibility in his job hunt. He works for Home Depot and would like to take on some temp jobs from an engineering perspective, but is torn between paying his rent in Southern California and getting started in his career. Hopefully, he can get hooked into the Engineering temp firm and work Home Depot on the weekends. It is nothing but fun for recent college graduates in the land of Obama.

 

I played golf at 6:12 AM on Saturday. Despite the hour and the difficulty rolling out of bed, the course was pristine at that time of day and we were able to play for $39 with a cart in the Power Hour promotion at Woodcreek, which is the first hour of tee times in the morning. I played with Darren, Neil and Matt and shot a 44+39=83, finally waking up on the back nine and playing some golf. Matt shot 80, Neil 84 and Darren 90. We will try the Power Hour again as we had a twosome in front of us that were gone with the wind after about four holes and nobody behind us. We finished a little after 10 AM and had the whole day ahead of us.

 

I got back home and put the cabinet doors back on the lone cabinet we have lining the wall by Darla's car. She pulls her car straight in and then angles toward the wall. Unfortunately, with the doors on, it adds about six inches to the distance she has to travel around the cabinet and left her car too close to mine at the rear end. I struggled getting the heavy doors back up and ended up with a blister on the palm of  my right hand. I took the doors back down Saturday night when we got home from Alicia's.

 

We did go over to Don and Alicia's Saturday night  to celebrate Darla, Alicia and David's birthdays and Don fixed ribs and tri tip for dinner. He smoked them both in his smoker. The food is good and the sauce he uses (from Kansas City) is excellent. The flavor is of apple wood, which is just a little strong for me. I think you either like the flavor of smoked wood or you don't. It has a little bit of an ash flavor for me and I prefer a straight barbecue. We ended up playing cards and relaxing during the evening. We were home by 7:30 and I took the doors back off the cabinet. I may eventually take that cabinet down altogether and give her the entire room that she needs for her Explorer.

 

The reason that the blog is late is that we met Bob and Vicky Pando for dinner last night. They were in Roseville to see family and we had dinner with them and Neil and Lilly. The Pando's will join us in Reno next month for our two day tournament at Lake Ridge and Grizzly Ranch. I secured a two bedroom condo at The Wyndham Resort at Lake Ridge for $151 per night and we will share that with Bob and Vicky and have time to get caught up on their lives. We still haven't seen their new house in San Jose and have to get a trip planned to visit with them soon.

 

Next weekend I will miss the Memorial Day tournament as one of my employees is getting married on Saturday in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento. It is one of the oldest buildings in Sacramento and certainly one of the mort historical. It will be a full on Hispanic Catholic wedding. Wendy was born in San Salvador and her fiancé in Mexico. The service will be in English and Spanish and the reception following will have traditional Mexican dances, like El Mandillon,  the apron dance and El Meuertito (Dead man) where the groom's friends pick him up and carry him around the room as if he were dead. This symbolizes the death of his freedom and bachelor status. They will also perform the La vibora de la mar (The snake of the sea) where the crowd forms a barrier and the couple run up against it, symbolizing the couple's union even against all of life's adversities. It should be interesting and something neither Darla nor I have ever experienced. Pete and Vicki will be there as well as Shawna and Jeff, so we will have some other non Hispanics to drink this in with. It should be fun.

 

Well, this is short, but the work day has started and I must get to it. I will likely add my next entry on Memorial Day next week. It is Victoria Day in Canada today and they are all off enjoying a three day weekend. I also heard that Darryl is working again and I'm happy to hear that he is off the roles of unemployment. I was afraid that he would turn Democrat if he stayed unemployed much longer. J/K. I hope all are well and living life to the fullest. Ciao.

 

 

Mother's Day 2013

Happy Mother's Day to Alice Lorraine Lyon. I still miss you every day and mourn the time that we lost together. I wish that you had a chance to meet Samantha and see how all of our lives have turned out. We lost you way too soon and I'm guessing you were needed in Heaven more than we needed you.

Darla had a nice day today with David joining us for church this morning and then coming back to the house and fixing us omelets for breakfast. His style is just a little different than Darla's and it was nice to have olive oil and basil and fresh vegetables. Darla's breakfast is excellent, but this was different and it was nice to see her served for a change. I'll make breakfast occasionally, but for the most part Darla is pretty territorial when it comes to her kitchen. I enjoyed watching her hover over David as he prepared breakfast. David also cleaned up the dishes and I just had to sit and watch the Players Championship on TV. In fact, I fell asleep for about an hour while Darla and David visited on the couch and woke up in time to join them outside by the pool. It was 94 degrees today, but we have a little cool down coming during the work week.

David also joined us after my golf yesterday and we tore out the cabinets in the garage to give us more room or the cars. We kept two of the four cabinets and realized that the stuff we had stored in there was mostly junk. I saved a couple of boxes, one consisting of a slide projector and slides from when Jennifer was little. I thought she would get a kick out of them, so I stored them in the attic. Much of the computer peripherals (ISDN boxes, manuals and saved floppy discs) were sent packing to the dump along with tons of rags and camping silverware and camp stoves. Things we haven't used in years and likely won't use any time in the future. David took one of the newer camp stoves and some mason jars that we stored for some reason (Darla doesn't do canning). We started at 2 PM and barely made it to the dump before they closed. We took the two cabinets and doors, assorted junk from the side yard (old furniture, lamps and metal) that had been siting waiting for a dump run for years. David brought Daniel's old truck over and we packed it to the gills. We would have been on time, but had a couple of empty boxes and an old ski vest fly out for the back as we were driving. I could see someone stopping to grab the vest thinking it flew out of some one's boat.

I had played golf on Wednesday in the Senior Invitational at Serrano Country Club. We played 9 holes of best ball, 9 holes of alternate shot and 9 holes of two man scramble. I played well, but Gary had a rough day. in fact, I parred the first five holes and he went 6 over par over the same holes. Gary was really struggling early on and when we were even par approaching the sixth hole, he turned to me and said, "this par golf isn't going to cut it, Ken." I looked at him and started to laugh. Give me a break. We finished fifth in our flight and they paid the first three places.

I played poker Friday night and Darla went to see Lucas' Day Care's Spring concert in the park. I had a good time and about broke even which is a nice change. I'd been losing money the past three or four outings. I will host the next game in June.

 

 

I took Darla's Explorer in on Friday and had a hitch and slide installed so that we can tow the jet ski. I need to get it into Yamaha to have the rig Summerized. We will be in Almanor in July for our annual trip. We have several trips planned over the next couple of months with Vegas at the end of this month, a Reno golf trip in June and Almanor in July. I booked us into a two bedroom condo in Reno at the Lakeridge golf course, which we will play on Saturday. I told a few of the guys about it and they all wanted to know if it included a casino. Funny, the fact that it doesn't is one of the things that attracted me to the resort. Bob and Vicki Pando will stay with us and it will be good to see them and spend some time together.

 

Saturday I played with Darren, Paul and Boyd and had one of my better recent rounds with a 41+40=81. Boyd shot 73, one off his age and Paul shot 78. Darren hasn't played a lot lately and struggled with a 100. I had Darren meet me at Firestone at 7:30 on Saturday morning and had some new Falken tires put on my 300. The size of the tires made it kind of hard to find as the size is P285- 35R-22. In other words they are a very wide and tall tire and a low profile to boot. Add to that the fact that the 300 has the tire inflation monitor on them and I walked out of there with a bill of over $900 for tires. It is nice to have some new kicks on the car. The Michelin's that I had on the car had over 60,000 miles on them. Darren had been out to see the Miranda Lambert concert the night before and had a designated driver along. He and Marissa had enjoyed themselves quite a bit and Darren was struggling on Saturday. He was sweating beer out of his pores for the first six holes, but I was proud of him that he showed up and remembered to pick me up at Firestone.

 

Darla has started on insulin and she is still pretty shook up with all of the physical changes she is going through. She really wanted to control her blood sugar through diet and exercise, but her numbers were so elevated that her doctor insisted that she start on an insulin protocol. I'm proud of her, she's lost 17 pounds since Jenny's wedding and her diet has changed considerably. She is still having trouble sleeping and I'm looking forward to getting my carefree wife back soon. Pray for her as she is really struggling.

 

Well, happy Mother's Day to Shirley and Darla and Jennifer and to all of the Mother's in my life, including Alice Lorraine Lyon. I miss you, mom, and I love you.

 

 

Nice weekend...and a blessed cooldown.

The heat has come and now it has gone. We hit 98 degrees on Friday and it was down to 91 degrees Saturday and cloudy and 81 degrees today. We expect some thunderstorm and a chance of rain tomorrow and then back to more seasonable weather with mid to upper 70's thru Wednesday and back up to 90 degrees by Friday and the weekend.

I have been invited to play in the Serrano Country Club Senior championship on Wednesday with Gary. This is a one day 27 hole event that starts with breakfast at 7:30 and a shotgun start at 9 AM. We will play 9 holes of best ball, 9 holes of 2 man scramble and 9 holes of alternate shot. We'll have a barbecue at the 19th hole and then a nice dinner at 6 PM. Darla and Kelly will meet us at the course for cocktails and dinner.

My game went downhill this weekend and I continue to struggle with the driver. I may switch back to my Exotics driver for awhile and put the Callaway on time out. I shot an 85 on Saturday and remained tied for first net with a 144, which was even par.  I struggled today and shot 46+45=91, net 80 and tumbled down the leader board, finishing fifth right behind Neil. The only good thing I did today was put up a couple of birdies on the back side to help my Eclectic score and win some skin money. The Eclectic is our year long tournament where I track the best scores on each hole for the participants in all stroke play events. I picked up 5 strokes last week and another two today and now stand at a 71 for the five play dates we have had so far this year. The leader is at 66, but is a four handicap. My net at an 11 handicap is a 60 to his 62.

I played with our club secretary yesterday and he stopped at number 14 to use the restroom and when he came out someone had grabbed his driver that he left leaning against the wall outside the men's room. It was a little weird, because he called me last night and asked if I remembered when he hit into the cart girls. He seemed to think that he pissed them off and they stole his club. It was a little out there, but he was upset, just having bought the new Cobra driver. As of today, it had not been returned to him and my guess is that one of the greens keepers probably saw it and grabbed it as they were driving by in a cart. I feel bad for him. He had just spent all of the money he had on the books on that club.

Darla and I were able to get out for breakfast on Saturday before I teed off. She even went over with me when I got my haircut. We hung out on the pool when I got home and then went to church before going to dinner Saturday night. We slept in a bit this morning and she sent me off with a nice breakfast before I left for golf. We worked on the pool when I got back today.  The pool is still a little cloudy and I cleaned out all of the filters and rebalanced the water. I then washed my car and sprayed down all of the leaves and dust from the front of the house.

I heard from my prodigal daughter on Friday night. She has been kind of down and out lately with how things are going with trying to get Samantha to California. She met with an attorney and it looks pretty bleak as far as any opportunity to make a move. She is hoping to get Sam for part of the Summer this year in California and her thought now is that she will move back to Vegas next Fall. She loves her job, but knows that her daughter comes first. It was nice to talk and I let her know that Dad and Shirley will be in Vegas over the same weekend that we are there at the end of this month.

Darla and I booked our trip to Nuevo Vallarta for December 14-21st. We will head to SF on Friday night the 20th and stay over and fly out at 9:15 Saturday morning with a direct flight to PV. I shared our plans with Neil and Lilly and invited them along and Neil told me yesterday that they are IN. It will be a fun trip. Dad and Shirley have booked into the Grand Luxxe from December 7th through the 21st, so we will join them for their second week at the resort.

Work continues to really set some new records as we had our largest premium month ever in Sacramento and had our second straight month with over $2,000,000 in premium and $300,000 in net retained income. I have responded to the continued growth by putting in a requisition for two more employees which will bring my office up to 26 people. I've also ordered three more desks and two more computers for the office and we will expand into the last three spots in my current office configuration. I had one of our consultants who is in charge of growing the companies' brokerage presence call me this week and told me that there is a broker in Stockton that is an auto expert and is looking to make a move. It is a mother-son team and she grew the auto book at her current employer from zero to $12,000,000 in four years. Harvey and I will likely interview her for a position in my office in the next month. I have one of the candidates for the typing position coming back on Monday to meet with my Personal Lines Underwriters as a potential candidate as a new Assistant Underwriter.

Well, that is the news that is fit to print. I took the doors off of the storage closets in the garage to give Darla more room and will likely dismantle them this coming Saturday. I'm going to ask David if he'd be willing to help and borrow Daniel's old pickup truck so that we can make a dump run. I hope you all have a great week and I'll check in again next weekend. Ciao.