The Blog is going on Vacation

 

The blog will miss a week next weekend, but the good news is that we will have an Almanor vacation with Jennifer and Samantha, David, Daniel, Becky and maybe McKenny as well as Darla's parents, her sister and family and her Hawaiian brother and his wife. I will come back with plenty of stories, pictures and memories of a fun time with family.

 

The pictures above are of our friends from church, Rand and Julie. We decided to have them over as we just spent tie with Neil and Lilly and Frieda and Charlie. We weren't sure if they were swimmers and let them know the rule..if you come to a Lyon pool party, you are expected to get in the pool. They told us they would be over at three. I spent Saturday morning cleaning the pool, trimming in the yard and putting a coat of water repellent on the back splash of the pool. I did not take a shower in the morning and it as a hot 100 degree day and I sweat through my work clothes, stripped them off, put on a swimsuit and spent about two hours in the pool. I got out about 2:30, took a shower and then sat down to get caught up on the professional golf tournament that I had taped. Darla came in about three and we waited for them to come over. I watched the golf and the recording was over and I was up to speed by 3:30. At 3:45, they called to tell us that they were stopping at the store to pick up some chips to go with the guacamole that Julie made. We visited a bit and I went out and sat by the pool and got a drink. They weren't here at 4:15, 4:30 ad we were perplexed. They finally showed up at 5:00 PM and we went out to the pool with drinks, chips, dip and swimsuits. All except Rand, who showed up in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Darla and Julie floated on the lounges and Rand sat on the steps, while I sat in the pool on the long bench that is a continuation of the second stair in the shallow end of the pool and wraps around the end of the pool.

 

We had kabobs made with tri tip meat along with pork fried rice and potato salad. After dinner we sat and talked and waited for the fireworks from the Placer County Fairground about ix blocks from our house. We can sit in the back end enjoy the show, seeing only the higher fireworks that are shot up into the sky. If we had a seat up on our roof the view would be perfect. The finale was worth the wait as the sky lit up in color and light.

 

I played golf Friday and Sunday. Our regular group that plays every week welcomed about six guest and there were 22 of us playing in a blind draw for partners and total net score. I shot 42+41 for 83, net 66 and my partner, Chuck, shot net 67 and we won the $30. The weekday guys don't like us working stiffs coming in and taking their money, which made me enjoy the day even more. I got to play with Boyd, Andy and Neil.

 

I played again today and struggled with my drives on the front, shooting a tough luck 46. I figured out my problem with standing too far away from the ball and grooved my drives on the backside for a 41 and 87, net 72. I was tied for 4th place when I left. I should finish in the money. There was a little wind today and the scores were coming in well over par. I stayed on and helped Gary put in scores and finally begged off at 3:30 with five foursomes still on the course.

 

Darla and I had our car broken into on Wednesday night. We left the Explorer outside hooked up to the jet ski as we had a appointment with Yamaha on Thursday for Summerizing the ski. They change out the spark plugs, tune up the engine and make sure the engine is purring. Darla had left a small amount of her retired jewelry in the SUV and some degenerate broke the rear passenger door glass and helped himself to the jewelry. There were two boxes and it looks like the bonehead dropped one on the floorboard and took off with the other one. The car alarm will only go off if the door is opened.

 

Darla cleaned up the mess and got the ski in for its service. I called the insurance company and they arranged for Safelite to come out Friday to repair the window. David was to pick u the ski when it was ready and I called and left a message at 3:30 that it was ready. Darla tried to get hold of him and I headed to a Bowen appointment at 4 PM. When I got out of the Bowen treatment at 5:15, Darla called and couldn't get David on the phone. He had helped us get the ski out of storage in the side yard on Wednesday night, but apparently forgot 20 hours later that he was supposed to pick it up. I got home at 5:30, switched cars with Darla and ran over to the Yamaha service center to pick up the ski. Unfortunately the turn signals and brake lights weren't working on the trailer. The Yamaha guy thought that it was the ground on our Explorer. U-Haul put our hitch and wiring assembly on so we called them today and Darla rant the ski over at 4 on their advice. She got there about 4:20 and the place was jammed with trucks being returned from the weekend. She never got in and we plant to have her take it in at 8 tomorrow morning.

 

Jennifer is coming up to Almanor on Tuesday and we will arrive then as well along with Darla's parents. David will pick Daniel and Becky up from the airport Wednesday and head up after that. Darla's sister checks in on Thursday and her brother arrives Saturday. It will be a fun week.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I will be back in two weeks with all the pictures, stories, and news that is worth sharing with all of you. Be well. Praise God that w live in a free country and have a Loving God that helps to direct our paths. Ciao or now.

Bodega Bay 2015

Our Bodega Bay condo and Darla waving hello.

Pimp Daddy Charlie and Frieda

Frieda and Ken

 

Lee Janzen

Tom Watson

 

The Senior US Open came to town last week and it was a big deal for Sacramento. Not because of the fact that it was a major event (It was sort of), but more so for the money that it poured into our local economy. There were over 7000 additional car rentals over the course of the week and  an additional 25,000 hotel room bookings and all told the boost to the local economy was about $16.7 million. Not too shabby.

 

I took one of my agents out to the event at Del Paso CC on Wednesday. The advantage of going before the event starts is smaller crowds and interaction with the players. If I was an autograph guy (and I'm not) I could have had a flag of the Del Paso CC completely covered in autographs. They also allow cameras. We went over about noon and I have several impressions. I've been to three PGA Open Championships and the prices were outrageous, like $8 for a bottle of water and $17 for a steak sandwich. Here the cost was $2.50 for water and $7 for  hamburger or chicken sandwich. The agent I took is a friend from church as well as one of our mid level agents. He insisted on buying me a souvenir and you can see the Sr. US Open hat that I'm wearing in the golf pictures above. The practice rounds allow each player 15 minutes on the green. They can chip and putt and  hit sand shots and calculate break. The caddies are busy with their notebooks and the players stroke putts from around the green. The course was in amazing shape, unlike many of the golfers.

 

We had a heat wave roll in last week and hit 106 degrees two days and it was brutal. I was astounded by how some of the golfers are so out of shape. Scott Simpson, who played for years at the AT&T Pebble Beach event with Bill Murray must be pushing three hundred pounds. Craig Stadler, whose nickname of the Walrus is apropos, his face was beet red and he was really laboring. We hung out at the 13th tee which is shaded and watched the groups come through. They would each hit drives, approach shots and putt on each hole to record a score and then chip and putt to try to learn the greens. When Tom Watson came through he was being shadowed by one of my buddies, Pamas, who is an FBI agent. Their office here in Sacramento was lending security to the more high profile golfers in the field. What they should have done is provide a medical person for each of the fat, out of shape golfers. One or two withdrew because of the heat, but most of them stayed the course.

 

It was a good time hanging out at the course and I ran into a lot of friends while we wandered around. I had no interest in watching the regular tournament and besides, we had reservations in Bodega Bay with their 68 degree high temperatures and sweater weather in the mornings and evenings.

 

I worked a half day Friday with the goal of heading to Windsor early afternoon. The 104 degree weather said otherwise and Darla and I stayed in the pool until about 4:30, when we saddled up and headed west. We got to Windsor, a small town near Santa Rosa, about 6:15 and checked into our motel in Rohnert Park. Neil and Lilly wanted to meet us for a "drink", but had already had dinner. Darla and I went to the Black Bear Diner near the motel and they came over and drank coffee while we ate our dinner. We visited for awhile and then they scooted back to their hotel in Santa Rosa and we packed it in for the night.

 

Saturday we met all of the ladies up at the golf course in Windsor and they piled into my 300 and headed off to buy up the town.  I played golf and made a hash of the whole weekend. I shot a 99 at Windsor and got into every sand trap and hazard on the course. It was quite remarkable to be so consistently bad for an extended period of time. The ladies had headed over to Bodega Bay to check into the three bedroom condo and I drove over to Bodega with Neil after the tournament.

 

We got cleaned up and looked halfway presentable and all six piled into the 300 (not easy when you take into account that I have two large bucket seats in the front). We stopped at John and Camille's condo one the other side of the golf course. Ours is on the first hole and they were near the 16th green. Our backyard faced the 1st fairway and the front faced the 9th green. Anyhow they were fixing chicken on the barbecue and tried to get us to stay. We were all in the mood for clam chowder and seafood so begged off.  We had eaten at the Tides restaurant on our visit last Fall, so decided to go to Lucas Wharf Seafood restaurant. Charlie is not a seafood fan and had a nice New York steak. Darla and I split an order of Fish and Chips and a big bowl of clam chowder. That and copious amounts of sourdough bread made for a nice evening. John had invited us back to their condo for a drink afterward, but we were all pretty deep into a food coma and begged off. Charlie snuck off to bed at nine o'clock and the rest of us turned in by ten thirty. Quite the party crowd.

 

We awoke Sunday to a heavy marine layer that left a misting rain on everything in it's path. Our tee time was 10:18 and it had mostly moved out by then and we had scattered clouds. I got a sunburn on my face and I can't remember a time when the sun was out in full. Sometimes the cloudy skies can fool you. I continued my poor play at Bodega and shot a 95, including three lost balls. I was pretty cranky and when one of our foursome had to go back twice to re-tee on a par five I almost lost it. I was short of the green in two and took a seven. I like playing with golfers who are much better than me as I find myself playing either up or down to my competition. I was pretty vocal after the par five and said, "imagine that it takes us forty minutes to play a hole and I get a double bogey"! Tim the player in question came up after the round and apologized and I in turn told him that I apologized for my outburst and he didn't deserve that. He did deserve the 12 he took on the hole, but not my attitude. I regretted it as soon as it poured out of my mouth. Funny thing is the course is so difficult that I took 7th place with my net 77.

 

Now about the condo. It is owned by the local motel. They have three condos on the golf course  and the one we stayed in is the biggest and nicest. For $350 a night we got a three bedroom two bath 2500 square foot home. The upstairs consists of a master suite with a sitting room and views of the golf course from every angle. Neil and Lilly got the suite this time. I'd like to get a group together again in the Fall to come out for three days and stay at the course. it was fabulous. The kitchen was not overly large. It is a galley style kitchen with a closed end. There is a two car garage and all of the bedrooms had queen beds in each room with large pillow top mattresses. The rooms each had walk in closets and views of the golf course. The condo was great. The carpets could use a good cleaning and the outside is in need of a fresh coat of paint. The wet and foggy conditions are hard on the exterior of the homes, especially ones with wood siding.

 

The reason that Darla and I came down early was a big NASCAR race at Sears Point, the Save Mart 350. It was Jeff Gordon's last race there as he is retiring and he'd won the race six times. and won the pole position 4 times. We decided that we would have dinner with the gang on Sunday before driving back. Darla had a gig at the hospital in Sac today and a party tonight, hence the reason I am sitting at my desk at 7:05 in the evening working on the blog. We rested after golf, got cleaned up, packed up the car and headed out to De Nucci's Italian, a place highly praised by Ron, my twilight partner (more on that in a minute). We drove up to a completely empty parking lot. It turns out that Mr. DeNucci had died and they closed the restaurant to prepare for the funeral. Funny, because it was open on Saturday night because Ron ate there. Maybe he died that day or the night before. We are in the sticks in Bodega and had driven up to Valley Ford for dinner. I told Charlie he was up for the next place and he drove for twenty minutes and finally pulled over. He found a nice place in Cotati and it was highly recommended. We drove another ten minutes and pulled into a strip mall that was mostly deserted Charlie swore the place was there, but the number of vacant stores said elsewhere. He went back to his yelp and I walked over to a heavily tattooed guy outs9ide the tattoo shop (must have been a good restaurant with neighbors like a tattoo parlor, eh?). He suggested Art's Place in Rohnert Park and we took off for there, not sure of what to expect. Darla said it had to be good with Art's name on the restaurant.

 

I was very pleased with the service, the food and the ambiance. We initially saw seating in a family style, but got a table for six. Art is from a little town in Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1960 and began working for restaurant owners. He opened his own restaurant in Petaluma in 1968 and moved to Rohnert Park in 1995. He has home made gnocchi which had me ready to eat before we even walked in. All of the food was good, from the Caesar salad to the wedge salad to the tri tip dips and spaghetti and meatballs. A great find and I have a tattoo shop employee to thank. Nice guy. He told me exactly how to get there and we had no issues.

 

The NASCAR race had ended at 2 PM and we thought we were safe leaving late for home. Think again. The drive back to Sacramento was a nightmare as Highway 37 had a one hour backlog and it is one of those two lanes that split, one to Sonoma and the other to Vallejo. The Sonoma side has nearly no one on it except drivers that are trying to force their way into the right lane and the traffic was at a crawl. It was pretty tense and the delay was exactly an hour until we got to the split. Not a lot of fun at ten at night when all you want to do is get home. All of those rednecks and married first cousins that live for NASCAR were making my night a pure slice of heaven. We made it home at 11:30.

 

I went to sub for Ron last week in the golf league. They are about 1/2 way through their schedule and Ron's partner quit on him. I agreed to step in and now have a Thursday night commitment. I can use the practice on my game, but man it was HOT last Thursday. Brutal to play in 108 degrees at 4:30 in the afternoon. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be 111, so Darla better not kick me out of the house again. I'll just go skinny dipping in the pool. That 'll show them. Or maybe not.

 

That's it for this week. Be good to each other and say thank you to our LORD and Savior for the blessings we all often take for granted. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 



OW, my aching back!

 

I fell asleep at one point and woke up in Nan Schnider's backyard. Darla has decided that she wants a green thumb, so has about 18 potted plant in the backyard now, including vegetables, flowering plants and even some citronella that sit by our gazebo. I call it Darla's pot garden.They are a little hard to see because they are in the shade. With four large 8' umbrellas surrounding the yard there is a lot of shade in the backyard. Most of the pool gets full sun, but there a few patches of shade where you can set a drink or your phone to keep them out of the sun. The pool is sitting at 82 degrees and we spend a big part of the afternoon just relaxing on lounges in the pool. We did that today and now I am updating the blog and watching the US Open golf tournament on TV.

 

The title of the blog is pretty descriptive. My back had been sore about ten days ago or so and finally starting feeling better over last weekend. I played golf Tuesday morning in our Day on the Oaks event. I got the second tee time at 7:44 and was off the course by noon. I shot an 85 with my 17 strokes and ended up with a net  68 that took third place in the tournament. I birdied number 8 a, but still took $31 in skin money.

 

I had an interview on Tuesday afternoon with someone who worked for one of our competitors for 26 years. She left them last year to go to work with a retailer. Honestly, it was one of the worst interviews that I've ever been a part of.  She had trouble answering even mundane questions like how many agents did you work with and who were your top ten agents. She had "stepped down" as an underwriter last year and went back to doing assistant work and couldn't remember how many renewals she worked on. It was brutal. Pete liked her personality and Renee liked her experience, so I decided to check references for her. I didn't check with the references she gave me, but called the company underwriters to get a handle on her abilities. The first one I talked to said, "she is very nice and has an engaging personality." When I pressed for evaluation of her underwriting abilities, she said "No comment". That told me everything I wanted to know. Pete talked to another company underwriter who was more forthcoming. Apparently she was demoted to an assistant position and had some terrible audit scores with that company and her employer was apparently "thrilled" when she left to go to the retail side. I crossed her off my list. When I talked to Harvey after the initial interview he asked why her long time employer wouldn't jump at the chance to hire her back.  He was right n as I later found out.

 

We do have a young man that I'm looking at that is in his early thirties. He worked as a contractor straight out of high school and actually was a foreman on a team of underwriters, but quit when the economy soured and spent the last four years getting his degree from Sacramento State University, my alma mater. He was President of the Insurance club at the school and has a degree in Business with minors in Marketing and Insurance. He has a brother who own one of the agencies that I work with and several of his cousins work in insurance. His brother strongly recommended Burns as a great place to work. I'm running a background check on him now and once cleared, I'll have him talk to Harvey and see if we can get him hired on.

 

 

I did play golf as a sub in the twilight league on Thursday night. My back was fine throughout the round and I shot 39. I came home and had some dinner and then sat and watched television with Darla. By the time I got up at close to 11:00, my back had me twisted over in pain. I slept fitfully that night and was still in pain when I got up. I decided to go into work and call my doctor who is right down the street to see if I could get in rather than have another Bowen treatment. He was booked up, but I was able to get in to see a nurse practitioner. She didn't even examine me, just listened to my tale (tail?) of woe, and prescribed me with Prescription strength (800 mg) Motrin and 10 mg Flexeral. I've been taking both three times a day since Friday night. My back is better, but still sore. I did pass on a tournament round on Saturday, calling in at 7:00 AM to withdraw from my 7:58 tee time.

 

Tomorrow I have a golf tournament in Chico with an insurance agent. We will join up with Gail and another agent from the area. Gail is a Producer in my office. I'm hoping my back holds up, but what I've found is that the worst thing for my back is sitting in a chair all day. We'll have carts, but I plan to do a fair amount of walking on the course. It is a scramble, so I can take a few holes off as well.

 

Well, Jennifer called to wish me a Happy Father's Day while I was writing this, so short though it may be, I'm out of gas. I hope all the Dad's out there had a great day, especially my Dad. We did get signed up for the cruise, although we somehow missed out  on the gratuity perk. I think Sherry was confused on when we had to sign up, but she is looking at trying to get me some additional perquisites. Well, be well and I'll talk to each of you soon. Ciao.

 

 

Summertime!

I am done with this drought and if you can't beat it, you join in. My lawn is going dormant for the Summer and I will only water it once a week to keep it alive. I did some research this last week on lawn paint and how long it lasts. Lawn paint has been used for years, mostly on golf courses and sport's venues. It is plant based and I found a product called Enviro Color, which is used by the NFL and the PGA. The product comes in a 32 ounce bottle for $25 and you mix 4 to 8 ounces per gallon. I bought enough to cover our 2000 square feet of grass in the front and side yard. It is mixed in a tank sprayer and applied with a fan spray nozzle. It will stain anything it touches, but will not adhere to wet surfaces, so I sprayed the trunks of the trees and had to wash off a few spots that got on the concrete. It went on amazingly well and it was literally like painting the lawn. I'm looking forward to someone turning me in for wasting water. It looks good and that's all I care about.

I did have one couple stop while I was applying it and ask me what it was that I was applying. We chatted for a few minutes and they left committed to buying the product and spraying it on. I should just set up a little side business and green up all the lawns around me.

It was a good week all told this week. I had a meeting with one of the larger agencies in the area. They are part of an Association and have never used wholesalers in the past. They work with smaller agencies all over the western United states and I was asked to sit in on an interview with their CEO for a board position. Jeff, one of my agency owner's, will be the President of the Association next year and he asked if I would serve on the board with him. When I met with Alan (the CEO) I asked him for a quid pro quo, namely that he allow me to come in with two of my underwriters and meet with their underwriting staff. That meeting was on Tuesday and couldn't' have gone better. They were impressed with our depth and size and we are moving forward on an appointment. It could be a real coup de tat for Burns and Wilcox. Both of the underwriters that I brought with me, Wendy and Linda performed tremendously well on the call and impressed their staff.

Our pool is at 84 degrees and Darla and I spent most of the weekend relaxing on the water. We have four umbrellas surrounding the pool and there's plenty of opportunity to get out of the sun. The one issue we have is bees. I have a ground cover surrounding the pool that is a cherry ground cover with little red flowers throughout. The bees love the ground cover. They don't bother me much on the pool, but seem to harass Darla unmercifully. I was working on the tile today and she was on the lounge trying to read. One of the bees kept dive bombing her and she ended up overturning the raft, drenching her sunglasses and book and my finding the whole episode tremendously funny did not endear me to my bride. She tends to have mosquitoes and bees bother her and is talking about tearing out the ground cover. We'll see if she follows through on that.

I played golf with Neil again this weekend. He had bought a coupon two weeks ago and paid for golf and I took us to lunch afterward. It was my turn to reciprocate this weekend and we went to Cherry Island in Elverta and then he took us to lunch at El Azteca in Roseville. We sat at the bar and visited with the owner. We had margaritas, lunch and then the owner treated us to smoothies after lunch. Smoothies are not on the menu, but she was making some for her workers with pineapple, coconut, strawberries, banana and lemon. They looked delicious and she gave Neil, Paul and I a taste. Paul played with us Saturday morning and then joined us for lunch. I played with no back pain, but was off on my game and shot 45+45=90. Neil beat me for the second time in three weeks with an 89.

I play in our weekday tournament on Tuesday. I'll take the morning off and then head into the office after lunch. I have the 8:09 tee time and play with Boyd, Andy and Jay. Next Saturday is the Diamond event and I'll play in that with Andy and Paul.

Darla has her team meeting here tomorrow night and that means that I'll work late and be able to get  a couple of my team caught up on their QAs. We approve the policies once they are written and when I have a few extra minutes I'll jump in and clear up some of the QAs. Tomorrow will be my chance to make a few team members happy.

We are almost back to full staff. I have one more interview on Thursday morning and I hope that it is a good one. This woman I'm interviewing has worked at an MGA for 25 years with several competing firms and she decided to try the retail life last year and went to work for an agent on commission. She is not progressing at the rate she had hoped and is interested in coming back to the wholesale side of the business. It would be a quick training exercise for her and we'd have her up and running quickly. She also happens to be a neighbor, living about two blocks away. Darla had told her next door neighbor who works in banking about the job and she must have told her friend as they both applied. Small world.

Rand and Darryl are both back from Hawaii and the reality is probably settling in that work awaits tomorrow. Dad and Shirley are still in Iceland and their reality is retirement.

Well, that's all for this week. I hope everyone is in good spirits and living in the footsteps of our Lord. Ciao.

Summer 2015 is Here!

The calendar may not agree, but the first 100 degree day is due tomorrow and today was 98 degrees. The heat is on and the pool is open and in use. We went to church this morning and I went into the pool after breakfast to clean the tile. The water is at 80 degrees, which is fine, but I was cleaning the tile from a lounge and when I pulled over to the steps, I went to step out of the lounge and totally missed the step and ended up under the water. It actually felt pretty good. I stayed in the pool and relaxed until we had to leave for Charlie and Frieda's party this afternoon at three o'clock. We are all heading to Bodega Bay in late June and for the first time, Frieda is not golfing the first day and wanted to get everyone together to discuss what the girls would do and who she was driving with. When we finally got to the discussion, we all just said we'd work it out when we got there. Frieda was frustrated. Oh well.

 

This was a busy week with our annual Insurance Association golf day on Monday at Serrano Country Club. My team shot 62 and tied for third (the first two teams and last place got paid). It was fun. Burns and Wilcox hosted the putting contest again and I had Odyssey Versa putters for the closest man and woman. One of my male agents, Doug, who was playing Pete's group, won the men's side.

 

Tuesday night Darla and I headed to Walnut Creek for a claim deposition that I was deposed for. It turns out that the plaintiff attorney hurt his back and the deposition was postponed. I already had a hotel, so we went ahead and did the deposition preparation. Darla drove down with me and we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Main Street. We drove downtown after the deposition and strolled the shopping area before finally picking a restaurant. We ate at an upscale Chinese restaurant and really enjoyed ourselves.

 

We drove back Wednesday and stopped off in Galt to see the paint job on our rental. The guy did a tremendous job with the repairs and the paint. The rental looks so much better, although the lawn looks horrible. They had to dig up the stump after the tree was removed and the whole left side of the lawn by the driveway is missing grass. I never did pay for the tree removal as they dropped it on the roof and broke some tile. They couldn't find a bull nose end piece  for the slope and I had the paint guy repair it. I told the tree guy I wasn't paying for the tree removal until he fixed the roof. He stopped calling me about two months ago and decided to forget my bill as he knew it would cost him more than the $350 he would owe more to have a  roofer repair the damage.

 

You can also see a picture of the palm tree in the backyard of the rental. It was a 2 pound $1.99 Payless special back in 1995 and is now a 60 foot giant in the backyard. I also have another palm that is about 25 feet tall. Pretty amazing.

 

Thursday morning I was up at 5:30 and off to Eureka, CA for another golf tournament with the Humboldt County Insurance Agent's Association. It was a five and a half hour drive up and I got there at noon for the 1 PM shotgun. There was no parking left as they had a morning shotgun for the members at Baywood Country Club. I had to park out on the course adjacent to the 9th fairway. Most of the cars just parked along the road, but I put my car directly behind a huge tree.

 

This is the tournament that I played with Matt, my old employee who left for greener pastures with a competitor.

 

My back has continued to bother me and I pulled it on Monday when I was taking one of the sponsors out to their hole at the Sac Golf Day. The sponsor was a Collision repair facility and they had a margarita machine. That wasn't the problem, i5 was the gas generator with 15 gallons of gas in it. I tried to help lift the generator and I felt a pull in my lower back.

 

When I finished lunch and made it to my cart, Matt walked up and said hi. He was in the cart next to me and I told him it was the wrong cart. It actually belonged to the group in front of us. He grabbed his bag and moved to our second cart.

 

Anyhow, I was on Advil and exercise and the 5 1/2 hour drive didn't help at all. My back was killing me. I took two Motrin and it took me about four holes for it to kick in. We ended up shooting a 64 and taking second place in the tournament.

 

When we finished playing and were putting our bags away, Matt realized that he left his wallet in the other cart. We were all going to dinner afterward and blowing off the buffet and awards. He scrambled around trying to find his wallet. I talked to one of the guys in a cart from in front of us and they said they didn't find a wallet.

 

We went back in to the clubhouse to say goodbye to everyone and ran into the other  two players in front of us and it turned out one of them had put the wallet in his pocket thinking it was his. Really? He gave the wallet back.

 

We went to Abruzzi's restaurant in Arcata and had the filet mignon and gnocci preceded by clams and calamari. A Regional VP from Blue Shield joined us along with his sales manager came with us, along with the two agents we played golf with. Toward the end of the evening Matt used the restroom and left his hat and wallet on the table. Again? I grabbed it and stuck it in my pocket.

 

When the bill came, Matt made a big show of paying it, grabbing the bill and reaching for his vanished wallet. His face turned green and he looked at all of us with a confused look on his face. I handed him the wallet and he was relieved. Our agent in Redding, Chris, picked up the bill and we headed to the hotel.

 

There was an after party at the Red Lion, but I decided to turn in early as my back was sore. I drove back Friday via the Redwood Highway and you can see the windshield pic of the "tunnel of trees" that I drove through on Highway 101. I stopped in Willits and had lunch before stopping to see an agent in Ukiah.

 

I got home about 4 PM and met Darla on the pool. She had to leave pretty shortly afterward for a graduation at Luke's day care. I had poker that night at Steve's house in Roseville. We had a large storm blow in that night and had strong winds, rain, thunder, lightning and hail as we sat in his backyard and played cards. The hail was particularly loud on the metal roof of his back patio. I had a particularly good night and won about $85 from my friends.

 

Saturday was our last NCGA qualifier of the year and I finally had the round I've been searching for this year. My handicap is up to 17 and I got 16 because I play from the white tees now. The rating between the blue and whites is a difference of one stroke. I shot 41 on the front and finished with a birdie-par and the par on nine was after a missed 8 foot putt. I shot a 40 on the back nine and finished double bogey-bogey. My 81 less the 16 strokes was a 65 and I was the low qualifier. The other three qualifiers all shot net 66. I will move on to the regional qualifier with the other Nor Cal qualifiers in late August. This is the second NCGA qualifier I will play in as Steve and I will play our Senior 4 ball regional qualifier in July.

 

Jennifer and McKenny have their tickets for Nuevo Vallarta in December and will fly in with all of us. We are really looking forward to a family vacation with Dad and Shirley at the resort in Mexico.

 

Well, that's it for this week. I have two new employees starting this week and have several more interviews this week as I look to add one more piece to the puzzle. I'm looking to get back to being one of the star offices of the company. It is a process and it all takes time. Be well this week. Darryl and Randy and their wives are together in Maui this week  I wish them all well and am quite envious of their vacation. I plan to post a lot of pictures from our trip in December. Be warned. Ciao!

 

 

 

 

 



Busy Week Ahead

 

 

It will be a week to remember. I have our annual Insurance Association golf event at Serrano tomorrow. We are sponsoring the putting contest again this year and I went out and bought two new Oddysey putters for the winners. I am playing in the event and have Gail and one of her retailers as my partners as well as a guy in Gary's office, Jeremy, who will fill in for Gary, who bailed on me at the last minute. I think he's still sore because I had to drop out of an event when Alan was last in town. I have to be at the course at 9 AM tomorrow to set up the signs on the course and to get the putting contest set up and ready. Shawna will run the putting contest again this year and I will have Linda, my new Personal Lines Underwriter, join her.

 

 

.Tuesday I have to be in Walnut Creek in the afternoon to meet with our lawyers to prepare for a deposition that I have on Wednesday morning. I'm staying in downtown Walnut Creek and Darla is joining me. I have the deposition at 10 AM on Wednesday and we should be out of there in 30 minutes. The case is where an insured became ill after ingesting fecal matter from pigeons that were roosting near the air intake for the furnace and became ill. We insure the property management firm and the loss should be paid for by the apartment owner for improper maintenance. We have declined coverage on the claim and they want to deposition me to see if coverage should apply. I'm not a coverage expert, but the duty of care and control of the apartment rests with the property owner. It's a waste of time, but it has to be done.

 

We will drive back Wednesday after lunch and I leave early Thursday morning for Eureka and the  Humboldt County Insurance Agent's golf event. I am playing with my old Assistant Managing Director, Matt. I haven't talked to him since he left, so it should be interesting. We won the event two years ago and are keeping the team intact despite the obvious issues involved. We set up to play after he left and I agreed to pay for one of the agents and myself and Matt would take care of the other. I got a note from the TD this week saying that Matt and Chris hadn't signed up and he could put Jeff and I with another group. Matt screwed up and the guys gave him a ration. They told him that things have gone to Hell since he left BW. Yep.

 

I drive home from Eureka, CA back to Roseville on Friday and have poker that night. Saturday I have a 10:10 tee time in our final NCGA qualifier of the year, the NCGA Net Amateur. I'm tired just writing it. Eureka is about 5 and a half hours from Roseville.

 

I took one of my agents to the River Cats AAA baseball game on Thursday. I had given him the tickets, but he couldn't find anyone to go, so gave three back to me. I invited Darla and her girlfriend to join us. We had a great time and the stands were filled with kids, many of them perfect attenders at their school. It was a nice outing, not too hot, but good weather.

 

After our Memorial Day gig, I was talking to the guys about our pool being a little cloudy this year and subject to algae. Charlie asked me when I'd last changed my filter cartridges and you know what, I still had the original cartridges in the filter. I clean them with a hose about every three months, but they were shot. You can see the picture of the old ones above. I ordered a new set through Amazon. They wanted $350 at the pool store and I found them for $198, no tax, no shipping cost. I also bought a new vacuum for the pool floor and a 35 foot vacuum hose and a 50 pound bucket of shock (hypo chlorite). The damage was another $240, but the good news is that the pool is sparkling again. The PSI on the filter gauge dropped from about 25 to 10 after installing the new cartridges.

 

The palm garden is absolutely thriving this year. You have to trim the old fronds off the palms when the new growth appears in the middle of the stem. You can see a picture above of the corner palm in the yard before and after trimming. If you leave the old fronds on, it will retard the growth until the fronds turn yellow and fall off. The little ten pound palms that I put in ten years ago are huge now and I have to trim them just so I can get around the pool perimeter to brush the pool or vacuum the floor.

 

I was talking to Neil at our party and he told  that we hadn't played golf together since we were in Mexico together. I think he's wrong, but that was a year and a half ago. He set up a tee time on Saturday at Wild Hawk in Elk Grove for 7:40 this past Saturday. We tried to get a couple of guys to join us, but got no takers, so Neil was at my front door at 6:30 AM Saturday morning and we drove out to the course in Elk Grove. He paid for the round and I bought lunch afterward. I played better than normal, shooting an 84 and Neil had an 82. I used to be a 9 handicap and Neil was an 18. We are now both 17. I am working on getting it back down.

 

I got a note from corporate this week informing me that our production in Roseville is flat for the year and the company as a whole is growing 15%. They asked me for a brief explanation and an Action Plan to improve our results going forward. Is no one paying attention in corporate or is it a "what have you done lately" mentality? I explained that we have lost 5 high potential employees under the age of thirty in the last three years to competitors and that included the number 5 producer in the entire company. We will get back on the horse, but unfortunately it takes time to train people and it is hard to replace a  superstar with a person just entering Production for the first time. I added a bunch of Action steps like agency segmentation and focused marketing, etc., but the bottom line is that I am hiring four brand new people and it will take time to get them up and running. There is no magic bullet and we will see how patient they are with me. Fun, eh?

 

Neil and I ran across the Polaris Slingshot three wheel motorcycle pictured above at the golf course. The owner works at the golf course and bought the first Slingshot sold in California. It is a belt drive engine and gets 50 MPG. It doesn't have a hard top and you have to wear a motorcycle helmet when you drive it. The cost is $24,000 which compares with the more mundane Can Am three wheel motorcycles that sell for $27,000. The lines and paint on the body are amazing. We had a back-up on number 10 and ended up visiting with the owner of the vehicle for about ten minutes.

 

Well that is the news that is fit to print today. Darla is on her way home from the Italian Fest in Lodi, CA. I just talked to her and she said she had a GREAT day, so perhaps it will be a great night as well. :-)

 

 I hope everyone is well. Darryl and Cheryl and Randy and Cake are in Hawaii celebrating some 60th birthdays. I wish we were there, I'd love a week at the beach, but soon enough. Looking forward to the trip with Dad and Shirley and all the kids to Nuevo Vallarta in December. Ciao.

 

 



Memorial Day 2015

 

Fun times with good friends today. I was up by 8:30 and fixed Darla a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and ham with onions and cheese. I then mowed the lawn and made a trip to the hardware store to pick up a new dual light switch for the fan in the living room. When Charlie installed it, he tied in the light and fan to the same switch. We want to have the fan on during the day and not the light, so got the switch changed over. We had Neil and Lil, Steve and Brenda and Charlie and Frieda over. Charlie and Frieda's daughter, Jennifer, is back in town from six month in Europe and joined us as well.

 

The weather was nice, but the pool is just at 78 degrees and not swimmer friendly yet, so we just sat out by the pool and enjoyed the company and the 84 degree day. I fixed a couple of tri tips and we had potato salad, asparagus, Jello salad, macaroni salad, chocolate cake and brownies. It was great.

 

I did wake up this morning to several friends who wished everyone a "Happy Memorial Day". It's a nice sentiment, but those folks miss the purpose and idea behind Memorial Day. There are others, several of whom I know, that post pictures of their family that were in the military thanking them for their service. Again, Veteran's Day is the time to thank those that served. Memorial Day is a day to give honor to and thanks for the brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice and died in battle fighting for our freedom.

 

Saturday was our Memorial Day golf tournament at the Roseville Golf Club. I played alternately great and poorly, shooting a 44+43=87, but adding two birdies to my year long Eclectic score, which is now at a 5 under score of 67. My handicap is up to 17.0 and my tournament handicap is 16, up from 15. I did win $20 in skin money on Saturday and likely in the money with my net 72.

 

I did also get my car back this week. I had said there was no way I was paying $2,000 for the repairs. I called the dealer Monday morning and raised heck with them. He told me the cost would be $1400 plus the installation of the Power control module for the steering column, which was $440.  They also rented me a car, but I had to have a Dodge product and the only vehicle on the lot was a Dodge Caravan minivan. Nice. They picked me up at the office and brought me to the rental. I had a golf game Tuesday afternoon and wouldn't be able to pick u my car until Wednesday. The dealer said they'd have it ready Tuesday night and that I could pick it up first thing Wednesday. I was able to get done early Tuesday and back to Enterprise by six. I turned in the van and got a ride over to the dealership. I had the guy wait because I didn't see the car. It turns out is WASN'T READY. I got back to the dealer and got the van back and thought, "Freakin' Typical!!"

 

I called the dealer first thing in the morning and raised Hell. The service guy offered to bring me the car and I told him I still had the rental. He said it was ready and I could come over at any time. I returned the car and caught a ride to the dealer and saw my ride for the first time in 8 days as it was parked out front. I went in and they handed me a bill for $2,190. At that point, I bypassed the service writer and asked for the service manager. I explained the situation and he brought the service writer over who explained that the difference in cost was the labor. I refused to pay the labor as they had the steering wheel apart to put in the clock spring. The manager waived the labor and the cost was $1,840. The car works great and the gas gauge is operable and all is good again in my car world.

 

We went to a college graduation policy for John Parola's daughter, Christine. She graduated high school in 2002 and finally completed her undergraduate degree this year at Sacramento State University. Christina is 30 and has no plans for marriage any time soon, so this party was just like a wedding reception with favors, speeches, food drink and everything. I'm surprised they didn't through the tassel at some point. It was fun and a great accomplishment, but I think John and Camille are hoping for a wedding soon.

 

This is really short and I'm exhausted. ALL of my friends that came over are retired and stayed until almost 9:00 tonight as they don't have work tomorrow. I do. I have a new employee starting tomorrow and we are finally starting to backfill the positions lost. I'm excited to get back to work and meeting our budget. I hope you are all well. Take good care. Until next week...ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chrysler 300 is in the shop!

 

Back from Paradise and a visit with the Westra clan. It was Darla's birthday this weekend as well as her sister Alicia (born on the same date five years apart) and today was David's birthday. We went to church this morning and then met Dave back at the house and drove up to Paradise where we met the gang up at the local Black Bear Diner. Earl was nice enough to treat us to lunch ad we then drove over to Earl and Frances' home in Paradise. Earl has the house absolutely teeming with plants and flowers. In particular, the ferns planted in and around his house are thriving. They are a rich, bright green and so healthy. His farming skills are on full display on his one acre parcel.

 

We relaxed and the boys all played dominoes. I begged off as I was a little tired. Luke, who is 4, played and won twice, Darla's Mom is doing much better after surgery for a knee replacement in April. The swelling has all gone down and although she gets sore after standing for long periods, her pain has reduced dramatically over the last few weeks. Good to see her up and around.

 

I played in the last team NCGA qualifier yesterday and my game is a mess. I have risen to a 17 handicap and can hardly play to it. This qualifier required a 10% reduction and I had to play to my 15 Tournament handicap, so only got 14 for the qualifier. It was two man best ball and Steve and I ham and egged it around the course for a team 63 net. We tied for first with one other team and Steve and I are on our way to San Jose for the qualifier in July. I shot 86 and Steve shot 81, but it was good enough. We have one more qualifier, an individual qualifier, which is the NCGA Net Amateur Championship in June.

 

The car. Wow, I washed the 300 on Sunday night last and the next morning when I left for work there were warning codes up on the dashboard and everything attached to the steering wheel (turn signals, windshield wipers, washer, power controls for the radio and the four flashers) were dead. I was able to limp to work and at lunch checked all of the fuses. I checked each one and they were all intact. When I went to leave that night from work, the car wouldn't start. I called AAA and they had to tow my car to the dealership. It was after hours by then and I dropped my keys in the Night box and Darla picked me up there. I had already set up a 7:30 AM appointment earlier in the day.

 

I got a call the next morning from the dealership and they gave me a $160 estimate (sure!!). They worked on the car and couldn't get it started. They had to keep it overnight and I had a golf game on Wednesday with one of my agents at his country club in a Senior Invitational. The picture of Darla and the brunette at the top of the page is of she and Kelly, Gary's wife. They showed up at dinner at the country club wearing the exact same colors.

 

The golf game went poorly and both Gary and I had a net triple bogey on the first hole. It got better from there, but we put ourselves in such a hole, we were doomed. It was a nice day and we enjoyed the company.

 

I called the dealership when we got off the course and they told me the main computer ( a Power Control Module) in the car had gone bad and they had to bring one in from Oregon. They'd need the car for two more days and the total cost was $1850. I'd already set up a rental car and I was driving a Kia Tuscon SUV. On Thursday I talked to the dealership and asked them to fix my gas gauge as well. That service was $800, but he would do the whole thing for $2250.

 

On Friday, I had one of my employees meet me at the rental car place and then drive me to the dealership. The service employee met me inside and checked with the technician. They hadn't had to install the Power Control Module after all and the new cost was $1600. The cost of the PCM was $1000 installed and the math was getting fuzzy. It turned out that they test drove the car and it was fine. Thirty minutes later the codes were back and all of the things attached to the steering wheel weren't working again.  The tech felt that the steering wheel was likely not balanced when it was reinstalled. They needed it overnight. I ended up walking home as Darla was in Sacramento. She met me in downtown Roseville and drove me the two miles home. I'd walked for about forty minutes in the sun with black jeans and was soaked with perspiration. Bad shape? Yeah.

 

Saturday I had Steve pick me up at the house and drive me to golf. I bought him breakfast. the tech called me after the round and made the decision that I now need a Steering Wheel power module and they had replaced a clock spring mechanism. It would be another $400. I told him to order the part (it will be in on Tuesday). I will have a fun call with the service manager tomorrow as I refuse to pay for the clock spring or installation as they guessed that was what was wrong and blew it. The Steering Wheel power module would have been installed last week and I'd have got out of there for about $1200. I am asking them for a loaner and a significant discount on the work done to date and the removal of the cost for the clock spring. I'm ready to rumble with them tomorrow. This will not be a $2000 deal for them. I guarantee it.

 

Darla had a wonderful birthday and I'm blessed to have her in my life. I wonder how my life would have turned out if we hadn't wound up together and I truly think that I wouldn't be as happy and content as I am now. I took her out to Benihana last night for her birthday. 

 

 

 

Well, that's it and I hope to have my ride back by the time I hit the keyboard next weekend. I hope you are all doing great. Be well. Ciao.