Spring has Sprung

 

 

Actually, the sky has sprung a leak as we have an early Spring storm that has rolled in and is supposed to last through Tuesday and then back to our 75 degree heaven. In fact is will be upper 70's by this weekend. I actually have this Friday off, which makes it a true Good Friday.

 

The pictures are from my game Friday at Sierra View Country Club. The country club almost backs up to our club, Diamond Oaks. I missed golf last weekend and my desire was to get out and play Diamond in preparation for our qualifier this weekend. I set up a 3 PM tee time on Friday and invited one of my agents and Paul to come out and play. I then called Jesse and he has joined Sierra View and invited us out to play with him. Sierra View is about 50 years old, but is an immaculate layout with nice views and tremendous holes. I had trouble getting used to the greens and shot a 45+42=87. The greens were very fast, but true. Once I figured them out, it was much easier around the greens. I had a couple of holes where I used driver and shouldn't have. I'll remember for next time and will get out there a bit more often with Jesse a member there now.

 

My cold has pretty well run it's course and I'm now just suffering from some sinus congestion and living on Afrin at the moment. The interesting thing is that I'm able to use my CPAP machine just fine at night and the positive air pressure keeps my sinuses open overnight. I was off the CPAP for four nights while I get passed the runny nose, sore throat and cough. I didn't miss any work, which would be my CEO's preference.

 

Things at work continue to progress. Our numbers are down and we are struggling with budget, which puts me under pressure, but seeing as I have several brand new producers, I'm overall satisfied with how things are going. Our trend is up each month and things are progressing in the right direction. I just need to manage expectations and make sure that we are doing everything to continue to grow our bottom line. I have another one of my long term employees off on a maternity leave and will be back in about three months. I've added a replacement for her from our Southern California branch that will help us out for the period that she is gone. I may shift the new employee to another team when Oksana is back. We'll see.

 

Darla and I were at church today and we continue to work or way through our ownership quandary. A large church in Granite Bay is willing to take us on and we are doing the dance with them to see if this is a good match. I went to a meeting last week to discuss the machinations of a merger of these two large organizations. Right now, we have the former dean of a Christian college here in Roseville who is acting as the senior pastor until we can find a replacement pastor and make the merger happen. Bryce has been part of our church since 2004 and is in his early 80's. Not a long term solution. Bryce is a lot of fun and Darla and I took a class that he taught several years ago. He handles the senior classes for the church and jokes that he can give the same presentation each week because half of them can't hear him and the other half can't remember. He says the only problem is that he has to prepare that same message every week, because he can't remember it either.

 

It was a nice service today and it feels like a lot of the shock and awe that came from the Texans pulling stakes and heading home has passed and we realize that it wasn't a good match after all. Our executive pastor said that he heard a quote this week that spoke to him: "The Devil knows your name and calls you by your sins. Jesus Christ knows our sins and calls us by our name." Pretty powerful, eh?

 

Darla and I had friends over last night and finally cooked our Prime Rib that we had bought for New Years and Darla got sick. We were concerned the meat might not be good, but it was excellent. Rand and Julie came over and we enjoyed a good meal. The only problem was that Darla told Julie that if they wanted wine to bring it. Neither of us drink wine. I'd much rather have a nice rye than a glass of wine. I'll drink it, but Darla's not a drinker and we just don't keep wine in the house. Strangely, Rand decided that he wanted a red wine with dinner. The problem was they didn't bring one with them. We should keep wine in the house for just such occasions, but I don't do the grocery shopping, so..hey.

 

I did play in the qualifier yesterday and actually showed up at 8:30 for a 10:23 tee time. Paul wanted to meet for breakfast, which I did. I ended up reading the paper and relaxing until about 10:00 and then starting my practice before teeing off. Again, I started slowly, this time leaving putts short because of the speed of the greens at Sierra View. I shot 45+41=86 and Paul shot 83. Together, our best ball score was 68. It was a tough day for most and scores ranged from 75 to 61. We ended up in the money.

 

I will be in charge of scoring and caddies at the National Trusted Choice Golf tournament in August. I was volunteered by the Tournament Director who is one of my agents. It will be a long week as I have to have spotter and fore caddies in place by 7 AM everyday and scorers ready to go by 7:30. I will need about 50 volunteers and need some millenials as the scoring involves the use of ipads and the scores have to be uploaded to the scoring system. it will be interesting and a busy week actually starting on Saturday and ending on Thursday night. This event will bring some of the best 16-18 year old golfers from around the country. In fact, there will be college coaches on site as well as some college recruiting trailers. Former winners and participants include Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Charles Howell III, Justin Leonard, Hunter Mahan, Webb Simpson, David Gossett, Grace park, Christy Kerr, Natalie Gulbis and Paula Creamer. Burns is a sponsor and I will have a number of my staff members there during the week.

 

Well, that it is for this week. I will be back at the keyboard next weekend. Be well and continue to follow in the footsteps of The Lord. Ciao.

 

 

Back from Canada with a Cold

 

I can't really blame Canada for this cold, but it started up on Friday at work. I was sneezing over and over like I was allergic to something in my office. It was bizarre. By the time I went to bed Friday night I was completely stuffed up and couldn't use my new CPAP machine that I picked up on Tuesday. I had planned to play golf for my birthday with three friends and when I woke Saturday, I was completely congested, feverish and feeling none the better for a night of sleep. I texted my buddies and begged off. They ALL knew I was really sick if I was missing golf.

 

I spent yesterday in bed in the morning and then Darla had a Silpada gig at the house and I decided to get up and mow the lawn and rake up some of the spiny balls that fall from the liquid amber trees on the side yard. I'd no sooner got outside and Darla came out and gave me Hell for being out in the cold. I had cabin fever and had to get outside. She said, "If you get pneumonia I'm not taking care of you." I promised to come in as soon as I'd finished the lawn. I put on some ear muffs and a hat and worked for about 45 minutes. Aside from that I've been cooped up in the house all weekend under blankets and hopped up on Day Quil. I feel a little better today and hope to be well enough to head to work tomorrow.

 

Darla and I met with the builder and picked out our granite counter tops on Tuesday (You can see a picture of the sample we have above). We have the floor picked out and are working on the faucets, shower tile and paint now. We know that we will have white cabinets and will meet with the builder again on Tuesday to go over the rest of the choices.

 

Our trip to Canada was fun. We flew out Friday morning at 7:20 AM to Seattle. Darla was up at 4 AM and I was up about 4:45 for the ride to the airport. We slept a bit on the plane and were in Seattle by shortly after 9. We shuttled over to the rental car location and ready to pick up our Chrysler 200 and they were out and we settled for a Mazda 5, which is a little Japanese POS that looks like a cross between an appliance box and an actual appliance. It got the job done and at $17 bucks a day I couldn't complain. As a matter of fact the little four cylinder putt putt made it to Canada and back on 3/4 of a tank of gas.

 

We did mostly relaxing and visiting with Dad and Shirley on this trip. Shirley had a nice Italian soup waiting for us when we got there and we sat and visited. Darla and I were tired and took a nap before our cocktails and "appies" at 5 PM. You can set your watch by Dad on their cocktail hour.

 

They had a family dinner planned on Saturday with Cam and Kathy coming over and Sherry and Al. Tyler had just celebrated his 21st birthday the week before, but he had to work and couldn't join us. , Josh, Mathew and Jonathon were able to make it, but Chris had just had his wisdom teeth out so was rehabbing at home. Mathew had his girlfriend there as well, a nice young lady named Sydney, who will be in Australia this week on Spring Break. It was great getting caught up with everyone that night. It turns out that Cam and Kathy had forgotten about the cruise next year and got signed up to join all of us on the trip. That makes it extra fun.

 

Sunday, we visited in the morning, had leftover ham and eggs from the dinner the night before and then we drove out in Dad's new Cadillac to White Rock. It was kind of cold and rainy, but the resort town was busy and we were lucky to find parking across the street from Moby Dick's, the fish and chips shop we wanted to eat at. The fish was outstanding and the shop doubles your order. Darla and I split a one piece and each got a huge piece of fish, chips and we split a clam chowder. It was awesome. We stopped at Al and Sherry's on the way home for a drink and an opportunity to see their new kitchen and bathrooms as we get started on our plans.

 

Monday, we had breakfast with Dad and Shirley, visited for a bit and then followed them over to the White Spot at the mall. Dad tried to ditch us by making a right turn in front of a bunch of traffic, but I spotted him ahead and he pulled over in a shopping center to wait for us. It was a great visit, just what we needed and a chance to honor my 79 year old father. Next year will be a blast with everyone together to celebrate Dad's 80th.

 

I did go and get my CPAP machine after we picked out the granite. The CPAP is actually a computer modem that runs the results of my sleep to my doctor and to the provider of the machine. I can't wear it when I'm congested as it is a nose pillow that blows air into my airway through my nose. I breathe in and out through my nose when I have the contraption on. I don't snore with it according to Darla.

 

Spring is in full bloom in our yard and you can see a couple of pictures of the African Daisies that are around the pool. Everything is in bloom, although we have had wet weather all week. There was a break in the storms Saturday that would have allowed me to play golf and the club was able to get the third day of the 54 hole team event in. I have an NCGA qualifier next week and will play with Paul Gonzalez instead of Steve. We needed a break. His 101 the last time we played sort of broke the bank on that partnership. I hope to get out and practice a bit this week. I have Good Friday off and will play golf at Ancil Hoffman with Steve, Neil and Charlie and I host poker that night.

 

Darla is back from her visit with David at the Kings game. He called me on Wednesday and had tickets to see Lebron James, so John and I went to the game. It was fun, but the Kings are horrible again this year and their star center got into a verbal altercation with his coach (George Karl) during the game and was suspended for the Friday night game. They lost again this afternoon, but at least David has access to good seats and they were about ten rows from the floor. You can see the view from the seats Darla sat in tonight above.

 

The picture of Sam studying was from Diane who is there (or was) visiting this week. Darla and I have reservations for the weekend of April 22 in Vegas and will be there to see Sam's soccer game and spend the weekend with them. Jennifer has been working a lot more lately on cell sights in and around Vegas for her company. McKenny has been helping out with Sam while she worked.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I will be back next week with a fresh perspective and hopefully full health. Be well. Ciao.

 

 

A week until our Canada trip

 

It is always good to go home even if that hasn't been your home for 50 years. I left Canada when I was 9 years old and became a US Citizen when I was 33, but the Canadian Immigration officials always welcome me home when they see that I was born in Vancouver. I need to prepare myself for the rain as I see the forecast is pretty wet during the weekend that we are there. 

 

We had rain in the forecast up until today for this area. We were supposed to see a storm in on Thursday and then rain returning on Sunday through a big portion of next week, but that has dropped out of the storm track. We still need rain. It has been in the 70's for about 8 days and you start to get concerned after 5 years of drought. We have an above average snowpack at the moment, but that could slip at any time if we don't get more storms in the Sierras.

 

I played golf on Tuesday with the retired guys and they are all glad that I am still working. It was a blind draw and I show 84, net 68 and got paired with Boyd who shot a 76, net 69 ti win the $30 first prize. There were 6 groups that showed up and I had my friend, Bob Hand, who is retired join me and play with Boyd and Andy. I also played on Saturday and struggled with my putting stroke all day. I was pulling the ball left and ended up with a 45+44= 89. I had a good time with Charlie, John Parola and his daughter's boyfriend, Justin. I hope to play golf on Thursday as I have one of our Inspection company representatives coming into the office. We will meet one of our agents for lunch and then play golf at Morgan Creek Country Club here in Roseville. He works with US Reports, which is an owned entity of our parent company, Kaufman Enterprises. Gail and her agent, Ed, will join us. It is the one =day that was forecast to rain, but now just shows as cloudy. We'll see.

 

Darla and I fly out early Friday morning for Seattle, where we will rent a car and be up at Dad and Shirley's place by lunchtime. I'll buy the requisite bottle of Canadian at the border before crossing over. I look forward to helping Dad celebrate his 79th birthday. Next year is the cruise, his 80th and my 60th. Fun stuff.

 

Darla and I met with another contractor, Valley Home Construction, on Tuesday and he met ALL of our requirements. We will have a large shower with two heads, one on either side. One will be a rain shower head and the other an adjustable stream head. We will put in a tile floor that will mimic hardwood in a white/grey color. The two cabinets will be white with a white and gray marble look granite countertop. We will remove the two windows that are behind the shower and tub and put in a 4' x 1' slider high on the wall. We will have a nice mosaic floor in the shower and tiles all the way to the high ceiling. We will have a shower door in the center of the shower. We were going to have an open entryway if we went with the one showerhead. That changed and I think we'll like the double shower. Darla and I went out last night and looked at tile and fixtures. You can see the picture of the tile décor that Darla liked (It matches her jewelry). The place that we went is called Floors and More and it is a HUGE showroom that formerly was a super store called Food 4 Less. We were there for over an hour looking through tiles and flooring.

 

This morning we went to church. Our church has changed from 3 services to 2 and the new 11 AM service has about the same amount of people that we had at the 9 o'clock service. I guess when you make an announcement that you are getting out as the pastor and church, people get out and find other churches. I was really upset aster the last service and the announcement, but have had time to reflect and I'm in for staying for the new iteration of our church. I guess in looking at the Texas ownership they either cut and run when things get tough, or they realized that they made a bad investment. Either way, it hurts for the long term church members.

 

Darla and I went out and looked at more tile and fixtures this morning before church and then afterward went to a flooring store in Roseville. It is owned by an Indian family (from India) and it is the most cramped, crowded and messy retail store that I have ever stepped foot in. And their prices were about 50% higher than the box stores. Darla and I have a good idea of how our finished project will look. We have appointments on the Tuesday and Thursday that we get back from Vancouver and will pick our granite countertops and do our pre site meeting with our designer and contractor.

 

I did work on the yard today and added some topsoil and grass seed in the bare areas of the yard. The grass is bright green and looking good after the wet January that we had and the warm, sunny February. I sprayed for the early season weeds and added fertilizer and Ironite to the lawn. I was planning on the coming rain to help with the seed and fertilizer, but will likely have to water the lawn.

 

The blog will be late next week, but I will be back with pictures from our trip to Canada. I hope all is well. It was a Happy Birthday for McKenny yesterday and the March birthdays begin this week. I hope you all have a good week. Be well. Ciao.

 

Just Chillin' on a Sunday

I mentioned the fruitless cherry tree last week and how it is in full bloom here in mid February. It is pretty well flanking our house and leaving white blossoms all over the lawn and sidewalks. We did get back to rain this past week and had three days of good storms. It rained right into Friday night and cleared for the weekend and our 36 hole NCGA qualifier. The above pictures were taken Saturday morning as I prepared to leave for golf. It was a transition day as the day started out overcast  with low level clouds. It was breezy and downright cold. The sun finally came out about 2 PM and warmed us up. Today was the start of a stretch of days in the mid seventies and it was borderline hot today as I played in shorts and a golf shirt. It was a Chamber of Commerce day with no wind and a high sun in a cloudless blue sky. I was able to get the lawn mowed yesterday and the pool cleaned and the backyard vacuumed of leaves and other detritus. I also had a chance to vacuum the car out, wash and spot wax the car. I had a couple of scratches that were in the handles of the car that I was able to buff out and clean up.

 

Our bathroom remodel is coming along. We have a budget of $20,000 and one more estimate to come in and one more contractor to see on Tuesday. I m taking the day off work and playing golf in the morning and meeting contractors in the afternoon. I think Darla and I have a good feel for who we will use, but I want to do my due diligence before signing a contract. I'm also talking to a contractor on Tuesday afternoon that specializes in re-facing cabinets and getting a quote for the kitchen cabinets. The old honey oak cabinets that were all the rage in the 80's look yellow now. We will get a quote to have them refaced and painted antique white with new hardware. Darla is really leaning toward having two shower heads installed in the new shower and having the entry in the middle of the two. I'm concerned about pressure and how often we would use them at the same time, but she knows what she wants. (Hey, she married me, she has good taste!).

 

I played poker Friday night and won about $65. I couldn't win a hand early on, but it is always best to win late in a 4-5 hour game of cards. Carl hosted and we had seven players, which is perfect. My golf partner for the weekend, Steve, had a horrible night and lost about $120. He was crabby and mad that we had a tee time at 8:16 AM. He likes to sleep in and plays better after 9. What?

 

Saturday was the first round of our 36 hole qualifier and Steve was not on his game. He had five holes where he picked up and left me to play on my own. It was a two man best ball tournament. We ended up shooting 37+34=71 the first day, but that doesn't tell the story. I shot 86 and had a decent round, nothing spectacular. I received 13 strokes. Steve had 12 strokes and shot a blistering 101. It is not fun to play yourself out of the tournament on the first day.

 

We had an 8:23 tee time this morning and I got to the course about 7:45 and Steve was at the driving range hitting balls. When I joined him, he was talking to one of our members and telling him that he had to play a "little" better today. I corrected him as a little better would be breaking 100. I told him I needed an 84 out of him. We teed off on time and I hit a big drive down the middle and Steve....hit his drive out of bounds into the driving range. What??!! He settled down and shot an 88. I had an 85 that included a birdie on 16, where I was on the par five in two and just missed an eagle putt. We finished the day with a 65 for a two day total of 136. The winners had 129, so we needed a 64+65, which wasn't to be. Steve asked me if I was available or the Senior 4 ball in April and I was non committal. It may be time for a new team.

 

I have been interviewing at work. One of my underwriters lost her second assistant to a young lady. His girlfriend is a fitness instructor and is going to work at a gym in Colorado Springs and he is going with her. He was never really an insurance guy and a bit of an odd duck. He liked to play on the dance reality machines in bars and the bowling alley and liked stuffed animals and was a soft soul. I need a few tigers at work. I interviewed a couple of very bright women this last week, but both are socially awkward and one I think has a speech impediment that she has overcome and now pauses a painful amount of time before she responds to a question. She spent Summers in England and went for a semester to Scotland where she actually worked for the Scottish government. She has a background in insurance, but is young and only has a few years of experience. The other is a graduate with a degree in mathematics. She has worked for a couple of firms in accounting and finance and Pete wants to hire her for his team. She had another offer and the hands of time turn slowly when we are interviewing, so I'm guessing she probably took the other job.

 

I am done with the employee reviews this year and just have the compensation package that I sent in to be approved. Once that is complete, I will meet with each of the staff members and do salary reviews. Each of the underwriters now do performance reviews with their teams and I do only the production staff and the managers. It makes life much easier for me. I put in some fairly aggressive compensation plans for my staff, so we will see how it all pans out.

 

Darla and I went out to dinner Saturday night at McCormick and Schmick's steakhouse and ran into an old friend. Rob and his wife Cheryl were very close friends of ours once upon a time and we spent many weekends together when our kids were younger. They were a blended family like us and we had a lot in common. Darla and I pulled away from them when Cheryl kicked Rob's daughter, Katie, out of their house. She was 13 and rebellious, but we really liked her and the rules were different for Rob's kids from Cheryl's and it bothered us. They ended up moving away to Washington state and we kept track through Christmas cards. We had heard that Cheryl had pancreatic cancer and Rob let us know that Cheryl passed away in October. It is sad and he retires next year. I feel for him and it makes Darla and I cherish our marriage all the more. Cheryl's son, Nick, was there with his fiance' and came by and said hi to us as well. It was good catching up and seeing that the kids all turned out.

 

Well, that is it for another week. We are in town next week and then off to celebrate Dad's birthday in Vancouver the following week. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weather. I see from both Darryl and Randy that some nice weather has hit both Kansas City and Texas. Surrey, I'm sure. has some nice days to go with the rain. Be good to each other. Ciao.

El Nino

A good weekend is in the books. What happened to our rain. 77 degrees is forecast for tomorrow after 75 degrees today. I played golf on Saturday and got a little burn as the sun was so high and warm and I'm such a white guy. El Nino is not over, but taking a break right now. The temperature of the ocean in the Pacific is so warm and still in control of the weather, but right now the storms just aren't out there, s they aren't coming our way. We are expecting a little storm to roll in Wednesday and last until Friday. Hopefully it brings some good rain. My fruitless cherry tree (which is an oxymoron, btw) is starting to bloom now. Our sunsets have been incredible as you can see above.

 

I took a day off on Tuesday and played golf with the retired guys. I ended up shooting 42+43=85. I won $5 and bought myself some chicken breast at KFC on the way home. It was nice and I had a coupon for $20 to play with a cart. I also saw the old center for the Kings, Brad Miller out playing behind us. He's almost 7 feet tall and hit the ball about 300 yards. It was fun to watch him pound the ball.

 

Charlie and Frieda both called us this week and wanted to go to dinner on Saturday night. They had thought they were going to dinner with us last Saturday night and wanted to make up for lost time. I played golf with Charlie on Saturday and then had another remodeling contractor out to bid the master bathroom. We are completely gutting the bathroom and putting in a new walk in shower, new cabinets, new mirrors, new granite counter tops, fixtures and tile. Our first quote was $40,000 which was ridiculous. He dropped his quote to $30K, but we are looking at other contractors. The guy we met with on Saturday is about 38 and full of energy. He wants to put in a walk in shower with mosaic tile on the floor and 24X36 tiles on the walls all the way to the ceiling. He will fill in the two windows that we have now and put in a rectangular slider above the current window line now. He should have us a price on Wednesday. I will meet with another contractor on Thursday and one more and then make our decision. We are taking out the tub in the room and putting in a shower that runs the length of the back wall. What I mean by a walk in shower is that there will be an opening at the far end, but not a shower door. The controls for the shower will be moved to that side so that we can turn on the shower without having to step under the head.

 

We went to PF Chang's with Charlie and Frieda and had quite a feast. We met at 4:30 and were over to their place by about 7. We were going to play a game and Darla decided she wasn't in the mood. so we ordered a movie, The Butler. It was a fun night and an excellent movie.

 

I did play golf with Paul, Charlie and big John Parola on Saturday. I had a good front nine with 41 and a bad back with 45 for 86. I did have two birdies on the day, which was encouraging. I have a two day tournament this coming weekend and it is an NCGA qualifier. Steve asked to play with me again and I agreed. We'll see how we do. I had to get the handicapping for the event done this afternoon. It is difficult because I have to do it by teams, so hard to work from an alpha standpoint. Then I use 90% of the lower of the GHIN or our tournament handicap for our course (which I keep on my computer). And is the two players have more than an 8 point differential, I take another 10% reduction. It is time consuming and my Valentine was good enough to help me.

 

We had an e-mail from our pastor this week announcing that we were having one service this weekend and an announcement would be made. Darla and I attended. After 18 months ago being bought by a Texas church corporation out of Amarillo, thy have decided that the purchase wasn't to their liking and they are looking to sell to a big church in Granite Bay. Our Pastor, Tommy, was reached out to by our former pastor, Rick, and things moved pretty fast. Tommy, who is 49 took over the church and the corporation in Texas assumed our debt burden, which is significant. From the time we completed the new church building and school 12 years ago, the attendance, membership and giving has dropped precipitously. I sat and listened to the explanations and the discussion and left feeling completely abandoned by our pastor. Darla says that I'm looking at it all wrong, but I can't shake the feeling that the Texas group has come to the realization that they made a bad play and are cutting their losses and getting out. i was really steamed when we left. Tommy took over for a senior pastor who was with us for 20 year and he wasn't up to the task. The church that is looking to take over is the church that Darla and I left 22 years ago because we didn't like the ego of the senior pastor. Time will heal these wounds, but it colors my feelings about my church right now. I need to pray about this and come to terms with it.

 

I received the final figures for 2015 at work and we ended up making just over $800,000 in profit, down from over $1,000,000 last year, but not bad with all of the turmoil that we experienced last year. 2016 will be a great year for my branch and I'm very comfortable with the staff that we had. We are still looking at the possibility of bringing in a high profile competitor and that will happen in the first quarter if it pan out.

 

Darla and I have bought our tickets for Vancouver and we will be with Dad and Shirley for Dad's 79th birthday. Well, we won't actually be there on his birthday, but we will celebrate the weekend before. After that, we have to set up our next trip to Las Vegas. We are both  ready to see Jen and Sammy soon.

 

Well that is it for this week. I hope all is well with all of you and you are staying close to the Lord and letting him lead your way through this life. Be well. Ciao.

Super Bowl Weekend

 

 

A great weekend is in the books. I was batching it at the end of the week as Darla was away at a Christian networking conference in Lodi on Thursday and Friday. She then worked a volleyball tournament over the weekend and I played golf.

 

Friday night I headed over tot he casino for dinner and played some video poker. I lost about $100, but that included $12 fir dinner at Fatburger. I had a nice run in the middle of the night and ended the evening on a horrible run. I should have headed home about 9:30. I was up about $80 at that point.

 

Saturday, Darla was up early at her hotel and off to Cal Expo for the volleyball and I had a 9:15 tee time in the Super Bowl tournament. We had 96 players signed up for the Super Bowl, which will probably be our biggest turnout of the year. I played with Paul Gonzalez and Neil didn't put me in with Boyd and Andy for some reason. Andy had been rushed to the hospital on Thursday with congestive heart failure. Andy is 79, so I was worried, but he got out Friday and played golf on Saturday in the tournament. I had an up and down round, missing three foot putts and making a 40 footer for par. I shot 42 on the front and 43 on the back for 85, net 71. I walked off feeling that I left a lot in the tank and figuring I might take 5th place or so. I know from the other players in my foursome that the course was playing tough. I was the only one under par net. As it turns out, this was one of the highest scoring tournaments that we have ever had. Gary Krohn shot 66 net, but there were many, many players that had nets in the 80s and 90's.. My net 71 was better by four than anyone in my flight. I didn't win 1st place net though as my 85 was the low gross in my flight, so I took 1st place low gross. Neil took low net in my flight with a 75.

 

Charlie Aichele played on Saturday and we had a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party for he and Frieda that night a Cabo's Mexican Restaurant in Granite Bay. He had to leave early as he was "going out with his two girls for dinner". I asked where they were going for dinner and when he said "Cabo's", I told him that Darla and I love Cabo's. He invited us to go with them and I told him that it was family time and we'd do it another time. I laughed with the other guys going to dinner. Charlie texted me about 45 minutes later after he'd talked to Frieda and they decided we HAD to go to dinner with them. So, we had to play along, checking in that night with the group in the banquet room and then heading to the bar to meet them for dinner. We met their daughter Karen for the first time. She is the blonde in the family shot. We know Jennifer as she is a golfer and has played in our club before. Karen was at the restaurant getting things prepared for the party and planned to meet her parents for dinner. We met her and were sitting at the bar visiting when they came in. They had NO clue that there was a party planned. Karen told them that she wanted to show them something in the back room before we got seated and the gang was all there to surprise them. Charlie jumped right into the party, but Frieda was shocked and stood in the hallway and cried. It took some encouragement by her daughter and I to talk her into the party. Once she relaxed and got over the shock, she had a great time. We enjoyed fajitas and rice and beans for dinner as well as a nice cake for dessert. The party started at 6 PM and we were home by 9. Darla and I enjoyed the spa and got caught up on each other's lives.  

 

The weather tuned warm the middle of the last week and we had 70 degrees yesterday and 72 today. The rain really helped put a dent in the drought and the picture of Folsom Lake tells quite a story.

 

 Darla was up and off to the second day of the volleyball event today and I headed off to the Super Bowl tournament at Woodcreek. They had a nice breakfast buffet with a Bloody Mary bar followed by a hosted driving range. We teed off at 9 AM from the 16th tee playing a four man scramble with Paul, Bryan and Jesse in my group' We birdied the first three holes and then went on a five hole stretch of pars. When we turned the corner from back nine to front nine, we stopped at a Margarita Bar hosted by 1800 tequila. It was great and I had a grapefruit raspberry margarita. It was awesome. We ended up shooting a 62, which was 7 shots off the lead. We were 8 under on the back nine, but only two under on the front. We finished up and had a great appetizer bar of crispy shrimp, Thai chicken wings and Buffalo chicken legs. It was a great day and included a sleeve of Super Bowl 50 golf balls and several ball markers and ball mark repair tool. We also got 3 squares in the Super Bowl pool that paid $320 total.

 

I got home right before Super Bowl and actually taped the game and watched the playoff at the Phoenix Open between Ricky Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama that Hideki won on the third playoff hole. Darla got home about 4:15 and we put on the DVR recording of the game. It was hard to catch up to the live game as we wanted to watch the commercials. Honestly, there was nothing that excited me about the commercials. I was pleased to see Peyton win his second Super Bowl in 4 tries. I am not a fan Eli Manning and didn't like the comparisons between Peyton, one for the greatest of all time and Eli,  bland quarterback that isn't even in the top 10 of quarterbacks in the league, much less all time. It was a very well played Super Bowl, especially by the two defenses. Well done. I ended up winning $100 in my office pool for winning the third quarter, which was nice.

 

Well, it is getting late and Darla wants to hit the spa. I'm in on that and say goodnight to all of you. Darla and I will call Dad and Shirley this week and set up our Canada trip. I hope all is well. Ciao.

 

 



Wind and Wet weather

 

The gazebo has seen better days after this last storm. I had a couple of small tears in the fabric that got just a little bigger after this last storm. I will replace the top this Spring, but not before. Yesterday was a transition day for us as far as weather goes. We had rain overnight that ended about 4 AM Saturday morning and it was a cloudy morning and a sunny afternoon.

 

I did manage to get out and play golf on Saturday with Paul. It was the first Diamond tournament of the year and the tournament had been delayed fro the week before. It was cold and wet early on and warm once the sun came out. I started out with a long sleeve shirt under a golf polo and was sweating by the time we finished the front nine. I struggled all day and shot 45+44=89, but withdrew on the 16th hole when I lost my second shot into a swamp under the trees on the right side of the fairway. It is supposed to be just grass and rough, but he rain has left the ground inundated with rain and it is a sloggy mess. If eache of my fellow competitors agreed that the ball was lost in the mud, I could have taken a drop, but one of the guys hadn't seen my shot so wouldn't agree. I was playing poorly, so decided not t walk back and replay my second shot from the drive position.

 

I have two tournaments this coming weekend, with the RGC Super Bowl event on Saturday and a Super Bowl tournament at Woodcreek on Sunday. The Sunday event is a 4 man scramble and I'm playing with Bryan, Jesse and Paul. It starts with a breakfast buffet, range balls, a bloody Mary bar, followed by appetizers and drawings after the round. Darla has an event at Cal Expo on Sunday and I decided to play both days. Right now it looks like a Sunny and warm weekend ahead. We have 94 players signed up for the Super Bowl event n Saturday at Diamond Oaks.

 

We had a tough start to the year in January and ended up down about $300,000 in premium and $40,000 in income on the month. Our expenses are down, but my budget calls for about a 12% increase this year and a bad January puts us behind the eight ball already. The good news is that Wendy will be back in the office tomorrow after 13 weeks off for her pregnancy. The baby still has some medical issues, but Wendy's mother-in-law will be in town during the week to watch Natalia. Wendy will also work from home for to days a week for the time being. She is smart in that she has a host of marketing calls set up this month and will be busy seeing her agents and letting them know she is back and ready to rock. I have to really push the other underwriters to get out and do more marketing. I've instructed the teams to come to the Wednesday staff meeting with their marketing plans for February. We need to turn this around quickly.

 

I talked to Darryl tonight about their plans to come to Vancouver in march. I found tickets R/T to Seattle on March 4th and back home on March 7th for $345. I texted Darryl and Randy to see what their plans were. I heard crickets. I followed up with Darryl and it looks tough for them with Cheryl having something at work and Darryl having the opening of the season for lawn care in March. Cheryl is looking into whether she can get off or not. I asked him to let me know. Our plan is to be there in March if Darryl or randy make it. If not, we will join Dad and Shirley for a few days up in Whistler in April. Hopefully, they can work it out as it would be nice to be together to celebrate the March birthdays.

 

We were over at Don and Alicia's place for dinner on Saturday night and the couple of pictures from Darla's phone are included above. David continues to say that his goal in 2016 is to find a new job. As a hiring manager, I say "lose the beard".  You get one chance to make a first impression and, unless you are interviewing to join the "Duck Dynasty" group, lose the beard. Don fixed a prime rib and a rack of pork ribs. He also fixed a dish of gnocchi that was awesome. The only downside to the evening was a chair leg broke on the chair I was sitting on at dinner. I felt bad and probably need to do a few more push-ups. Don said the chair and set were old and cheap, but I still felt bad.

 

We stopped on the way home and picked up a dorm refrigerator from my office. I've had it at my desk for years, but Darla would like it for our master bedroom so she can keep her insulin in it. It works for me, because just as I get comfortable in bed, invariably I get, "Hey, Ken, can you get me one of the blue insulin pens from the kitchen?'

 

Well, a short entry this week, but I got started a bit late. I hope you have a good week. Until next week, ciao.

 



Steak and Rice in the oven

Darla has dinner in the oven, the smell of steak an rice is in the air. The end of the Carolina beat down of the Cardinal is almost over. Carson Palmer is trying to throw his fifth interception as he throws the ball down field in a 49-15 route. Cam Newton has already called it a day and helped to douse his coach, Ron Rivera, with a bath of orange Gatorade. There were three quarterbacks in the conference championships over the age of 36 and only one, Peyton Manning, has emerged and will play in the Super Bowl.  Peyton isn't playing because of his abilities, but because his team has the number one defense in football and forced Tom Brady to look mortal today. I would think based on how the teams are playing right now that the Panthers will be favored in the Super Bowl. I'll guess a six point favorite. We'll see. I would not put it past Peyton and the Broncos to win won for the Sheriff.

 

This was a busy weekend with poker on Friday night and golf Saturday. Darla went out with the girls on Friday night. Their plan was to go to dinner and then out to the movie, but the ladies ended up in an epic gabfest and missed the movie. Poker was at John Parola's house here in the neighborhood. I had a poor night with the cards and would have lost big, but hit three pots at the end of the night that shaved my losses to less than $20. It was good catching up with the guys and hearing how the retire guys live their life. John and Camille are looking at buying a new house and moving out of the neighborhood. They had some new furniture in their living room and I envy him. He's retired and his wife was just promoted at PG&E to a management position. She had been in charge of a call center with over 1000 employees and now will be in charge of all of the pay centers in the Western United States. I kid. I wouldn't want to be buying a new house at 65. Darla and I are hard at work paying off bills and planning toward my retirement in about 7and a half years.

 

Darla has a great opportunity with the foster care agency that she works at to take over the agency in the next five years. The two owners now are both in their 70's and depending more on Darla every day. She works part time, but is picking up more of the management of the facility as time goes on. Our biggest concern as I move toward retirement is health coverage for Darla as she is 7 years younger than me. If she is running the agency, she can get her health care paid for by them.

 

I got out of poker a little before midnight and it was absolutely sheeting down rain. I had parked across the street from John's house and was soaked to the bone by the time I got to the car and buckled in. I was pretty sure that golf was out for Saturday. I had signed up for the first Diamond tournament of the year, which are the events that are set u and run by the golf course itself, rather than by our club. Robert from the pro shop called me Friday at work and let me know that the tournament had been delayed until next weekend. Paul and I decided to meet at the course Saturday at 9 AM and see if the rain ad let up enough to play. I got home visited with Darla and was asleep by 1 AM.

 

I woke up Saturday about 7:45 and found a text from Paul that he saw rain coming in about 11 AM and headed to the course at 7:00 AM. It had stopped raining and the current forecast was for scattered showers throughout the morning. Darla had an event at the house and I had to be out from 11 to 2. I decided to go over to the course and see if I could hook up with Paul and play the back nine and then go over to the casino until the coast was clear to head home. I was covering for our club secretary while he is back East and had about 6 new golfers to add to our club handicap system. I got that taken care of and sat and waited for Paul to come around. He came around with the second group that I waited on and I grabbed my gear and headed out to he course. They charged me $20 to play the back nine and off we went. Paul had hooked up with one of our other members, a 79 year old guy who is about a 17 handicap. Joe is a wiry guy who married for the second time at the age of 63. I played really well on the back nine shooting a 39. It started to rain on the 18th hole and we finished up. Paul wanted to play another 9, but the rain seemed to intensify and I suggested lunch and then we'd play it be ear. The rain moved out while we were eating and we decided to play another 9 holes. The course was literally empty. I checked in with the pro shop and they said. "Hey, go play, no charge."

 

I struggled on the front nine that doesn't drain as well as the back side. There were more puddles on the greens and in the fairways and the creek on number four had run over its banks and was rushing across the fairway. I ended up with a sloggy 44 on the front side for 84. I ended up in the sand on three of the holes and it was mostly mud. I have a new sand wedge that I bought specifically to help me get out of the sand. It worked brilliantly on all three holes and it's a great investment. The wedge is a Cleveland Smart Sole wedge.

 

I got back home and sent the next two hours working on the yard, cleaning up downed leaves in the back yard and blowing off the front yard of leaves and twigs from the storm. I also drained about six inches of water off the top of the water. The recent rains have filled the pool over the tile line. It took about 90 minutes to get the waterline down to the correct level. I have a water faucet on the pool pump and filter and just run a hose line to the front yard. Darla still had a few guests at the house and they slowly trickled out as I worked.

 

Today, I cleaned my car. I wanted to completely vacuum the interior and the trunk as my golf cart had let a lot of dirt and mud in the trunk. I cleaned my golf cart and clubs while I was at it. I got the car washed and cleaned and then decided to change out the metal trim on the drivers and passenger doors. I'm really enjoying the new stereo and back-up camera on the 300. I got the Bluetooth set up this week and can now listen to my music and take and make phone calls without hooking up the lightning cable to the phone. I still have to plug it in to use Siri or to use the Apple Play features, including maps and directions.

 

Darla and I went to lunch together on Friday, knowing that she was out with the girls and I had poker. I took her out to Benihana for lunch and we had a table to ourselves. It was nice to have some private time before we went our separate ways that night.

 

Work is going well. We are having an okay month, but Wendy will be back on February 1st. I'm looking forward to getting my entire crew back together and really starting to work hard to get our numbers up. Wendy's numbers are okay, but it will be important for her to get back out doing marketing and seeing her agents to get the flow of business turned back on.

 

It was a nice weekend. The rain has moved on for now and, unfortunately, it's not due back until Friday and then expected to stay throughout next weekend. We need rain, but I'd rather see it rain during the week. The forecast is always in flux, so we'll see how it goes.

 

I hope you all have a good week and enjoy all the friends and family in your life. Ciao.

 



Sleep study in the bag

 

A good, wet weekend is just about completed. The rain is expected to stick around until Tuesday and bring us another two inches of rain. We had rain Thursday, Saturday and today.

 

I got a call on Thursday night on my cell phone. Darla and I were watching TV and my phone rang and she picked it up. It was a Roseville number and a young female voice asked to speak to me. Darla handed me the phone and watched closely as I spoke to the caller. I asked her what I should wear and what time to get there. Darla was a little overly interested in the call. It was the sleep study center just checking in with me. I told Darla that they asked me what I normally slept in and if I slept with anyone in the bed. They waned to bring a surrogate in to make sure the sleep test was accurate. She wasn't amused.

 

Darla had agreed to babysit our nephew Luke overnight at his home as it was Don and Alicia's wedding anniversary. She was in Folsom Friday afternoon to pick Luke up at his day care. I have been looking at getting a backup camera installed in the 300 and to replace the stereo that I have in the 300 now. I picked out a nice Pioneer system with Apple Car Play that allows your iPhone to be mirrored on your video screen on the stereo. The cost at the top stereo shop in Roseville was $1400 and I decided to go over to the local Fry's Electronics store to see what they would charge to do the work. They had a floor model available for a $150 discount and could get the job done for $1000. I decided to pull the trigger on the deal and would drop the car off at 9:30 Saturday morning.

 

I went home, had some dinner, packed up and headed to the Sleep center in Roseville. I stopped at the Best Buy on the way over to pick up an antenna connector that was needed for the stereo shop. I checked in at 8 PM. There were two technicians working the overnight study and were concerned that my ride would be there by 6:30 the next morning as they wanted to go home. I told them my wife was tied up until mid morning and they were both a little concerned. I then asked them if I could just drive the car home that I had parked in the parking lot.

 

The room was about as pedestrian as a Motel 6, with a queen sized bed with no head board or foot board, a small chair and a table. There was also a 19 inch old RCA television with DirecTV hooked up to it. I guess I was the late sleeper as the others were all due to go down at 9 PM and I said my normal sleep pattern was about 11 PM to 6:30 AM. I worked on some paperwork I had and looked at a book from 8 to about 9:15 and then they called me into the lab and hooked me up with all of the sensors and wires. They put 16 sensors on me. They put two on each leg, four on my chest, five on my head and three on my back. They put two straps around my waist and chest to hold all of the wires and a holster around my neck that all of the leads were plugged into. I waddled back to the bathroom and had my last comfort stop before sleep. When I got in bed, they added a sensor under my nose and plugged me into the wall. They also asked that I have "lights out" and try to sleep. It was about 9:40 at that point and I just laid in bed hooked up to wires and sensors and tried to relax and sleep.

 

Then, I heard the sawmill in the room next to me. This Samoan lady was already asleep and snoring like a freight train in the next room over. I wasn't tired to begin with, was a bit uncomfortable especially with the wires that were attached to my head and trailing down my back. I actually took a picture of what I looked like, but when I reviewed it the next morning it scared me, so I'm saving you that image. It took me about 90 minutes of tossing and turning to finally fall asleep. I slept fitfully, waking about every hour or so. I guess I finally settled in after midnight and according to the technicians, I was asleep on my back and snoring consistently. I did stop breathing a couple of times and gasped back awake and then rolled over to fall asleep again. I was awakened at 2:00 AM and had a CPAP machine attached to my nose. They remove the sensor under my nose and the CPAP did it's work pumping fresh air into my nasal cavity. I took about 45 minutes to get used to the machine and fall back asleep, but according to the techs I slept comfortably on my back until 6 AM when they woke me. I didn't stir and slept well. Overall, I was exhausted when I was woken up.

 

The techs removed the sensors from me and told me to go ahead and change clothes. I told the tech I still had a sensor on my back and she said, "Yes, you slept well on your back!". I said no I still have a sensor stuck to my back. They take the sensors and quickly rip them off and leave you cringing. She got that removed. I brushed my teeth, changed, filled out a final report on how I felt I slept and was on the way home. I had a golf game set up, but it was raining and I was exhausted. I headed home and slept until almost 9 AM. I woke with a start, got showered and off to Fry's to drop off the car for the stereo install.

 

Darla and Luke met me a little after 9:30 and we drove home. I offered to buy them breakfast, but they had already eaten so we drove home and I fixed ham and eggs for myself. The phone rang about 10:30 and it was the stereo shop. The floor model that was sold to me was defective and they didn't have another in stock. He offered me a Kenwood that had all of the same features of the Pioneer, except that it had a 6.2 inch screen instead of a 7 inch and not a detachable face. It was $100 more than what I paid, but he wanted me to check it out and if I was game, he'd match the price I paid for the Pioneer. I checked it out on the net and looked at online reviews which were very positive. It was introduced in October 2015, whereas the Pioneer was being fazed out for a new model. I called him back and said "Go for it."

 

We played with Luke and hung out at the house. Two of the guys I was going to golf with showed up at the course and played in the light drizzle. I was happy to be inside and warm and really appreciated the extra sleep. Don and Alicia were irritated that Darla had come home and weren't thrilled about having to come to Roseville to pick Luke up as Don wanted to catch the Kansas City Chiefs game (They lost.) . I let Darla deal with that. They called about 1 PM and the car was ready. Darla dropped me off at Fry's and then drove Luke over to meet his folks. It turns out that the deck that I bought also has a $50 rebate on it, so I got it for $100 less than the store price and get another $50 rebate from Kenwood in the form of a debit card.

 

The system is great and I'm really happy to have the backup camera installed. With the heavy window tint that I have on the car, it's often hard to see people directly behind my car. Darla won't drive it because she thinks it's unsafe. Well, not anymore. The backup camera works good and the stereo is awesome. The fun part of the stereo is that it hooks up to my Siri system on the iPhone and if I want to listen to music, I just say something like, "Play John Mellencamp" and my entire library of music on my iPhone is available to me. The system has a one disk cd player, but it won't be used much as my music is on my phone or in the cloud. It's funny how fast things change. I remember tape decks and eight track players, now everything is digital.

 

I got the budget completed for the office and we have a goal of $28,150,000 this year after finishing 2015 at $26,440,000. We should have no problem hitting this number. I interviewed a young lady from our Woodland Hills office on Friday and will likely hire her in to my office in March. She is moving back to the valley after growing up in Lodi, California and attending the University of California Stanislaus. Harvey will also be meeting with the competitor that I talked to in December. If we hire him, all bets are off on our numbers and we should blow through them.

 

Well, I have poker next weekend and golf Saturday and a golf meeting on Thursday night, so a busy week ahead. I also offered Harvey my help with our new Manager in Fresno completing his budget. If he takes me up on it, I'll be off to Fresno tomorrow. I hope you are all well and wish you a tremendous week. Ciao.

Sleep Study this Friday

 

Yep. Friday night I check in at the Sleep lab here in Roseville and will finally be checked out for sleep apnea. Darla has suffered with my snoring, gasping and stopped breathing for 20 years and I owe it to her to after all this time. I will sleep the first half of the night hooked up to wires and sensors and they will monitor my sleep pattern. They will wake me up half way through the night and put on a CPAP machine and then monitor my sleep for that period of time. Hopefully I handle the machine well and it helps me get better and more refreshing sleep. The CPAP has changed so much over the years and is much less intrusive. With the old one, you couldn't even roll over and had wires and tubes all over the place. I have several friends that use the CPAP machine and absolutely swear by it. We'll see.

 

We have had a ton of rain this month. In fact as of the 9th, we have had more rain in January this month that the four prior Januaries combine. God bless El Nino. We are over 5.5 inches already in January and the snowpack up in Tahoe is at 128% of normal. This won't end our drought, but it will put a big dent in it.

 

I did get a break in the weather on Saturday and was able to play in our Captain and Crew event. My team was weak from the start with me as the lead player. We break our players out A-D/ We had three C's and a D on our team. It changed the last night before we played and we picked up an A player. Jim is a nice guy, about a 9 handicap, but can't hit the ball more than 230 yards off the tee. We had a good time, but ended up with a 68. We were actually 4 under after 7 holes and finished 4 under. Not great.

 

Darla and I were up early today and off to church. We got home about 10:30 and I had an urgent message on my e-mail that our golf club was out of compliance with the USGA and needed to have someone complete the 4 hour handicap seminar by January 30th or we would lose our certification and not be allowed to issue handicaps as of February 1st. I had checked with the NCGA last Fall and was told that we were fine. It turns out that Rick Rusk had taken the seminar last and his certification was good until 2017. The problem is that Rick passed away in 2014 and that doesn't count for our club anymore. Thanks for the heads up. The NCGA actually was the one to contact me. I jumped on the website this morning and spent four hours taking the seminar and ended up getting 88% on the exam and we are now back in compliance. That is four hours that I won't get back, but all hell would have broken loose if our members lost their handicap service as of February 1st. At least the football games were on to keep me from going too bonzo.

 

I took a break later in the afternoon to work on the gutters and downspouts in the backyard. We have gutters over the "L" shape of the house that fronts the pool and the corner turns along the master bedroom. We have a high ceilinged home and the trees from the front and side of the house blow leaves onto the roof and down on the back side of the house. Even with the leaf guard covers, the leaves break down and cause mud and debris to clog the downspouts. I had cleared out the downspouts twice this year, but a lot of the debris and mud were dammed up before the turn of the corner and the water was pouring down on the bay window off the kitchen. It is a bad design because I have always had problem with the gutters overflowing at that spot, to the point that I had wet rot all around the bay window that I had repaired this past Spring. I cleared it out as best as I could today without taking off all of the gutter covers which are metal screening and screwed down about every 12 inches. I got the car washed before I came in.

 

Work is really busy right now and hard to stay on top of everything I've got on my plate. I'm working on reviews that are due Friday and then have the budget due on January 20th. I have a lunch for the office on Wednesday for hitting our budget in December. I'm buying everyone lunch at Macaroni Grill. I'm still handling Wendy's desk, so I'm busy.

 

Tuesday, I'm taking the 300 in for new shocks and struts. I'm ready for the ride to get back to that pillow soft ride I bought five years ago. The shocks are over 10 years old and I'm really looking forward to getting this installation done. I'm also looking at having a new sound system installed along with a back-up camera around my birthday. I have the windows tinted pretty heavily and backing up is an issue with my car.

 

I am taking my clubs and golf clothes on Friday night. They kick me out of the clinic at 6 AM and I have the second tee time at Woodcreek on Saturday morning with Neil, Bryan and Jesse. Right now it looks like rain, so we may not play, but its a week away. We'll see.

 

Glad to see that Dad made it through his cancer surgery cancer free. He is stitched up like a major league baseball, but prognosis is good and I probably know more about his surgery than I should, but seeing the pictures and his drawings of the cancer cells and the roto-rooter of clearing out the tentacles will hopefully keep an extra layer of sunscreen and a hat on my head. Get well soon, Dad. We love you!

 

It's late, I'm tired so I will bring this to a close. Have a great week. Ciao.

 

 

 



Another Year has come and gone

 

As I have mentioned before, turning the page on 2015 did not see many tears shed on my part. It was a good year personally and a challenging year professionally. We did finish 2015 strong as Pete and his assistant worked until the 11th hour on December 31st to close a $252,000 account. We got it, then lost it, then renegotiated and finally closed the deal late in the day. It was pretty quiet after noon on New Years Eve and the staff was itching to head off to their holiday. I finally called everyone together (all 10 of the skeleton crew) about three and told them that as soon as all binders were processed and the two refrigerators in the office were cleared out and wiped down, that they could go home. I've never seen people move so fast. In fact, Shawna, my Operations Manager, had some chicken in the kitchen refrigerator that was tossed before she had a chance to grab it. It was her lunch and she was obviously planning a late lunch that day. I felt bad and gave her $5.00 to buy a hamburger. We finished with a record December and over $300,000 in income to the office. I will be buying the staff a lunch at the Macaroni Grill here in the New Year, the first of many, I hope.

 

I am working on the office budget and corporate sent the templates out really late this year. I've asked each of the teams to give me their projections for 2016 and I will then massage those numbers before sending in the final budget. It is due on January 20th, Darryl's 60th birthday. I have asked the teams to have me their numbers by this coming Friday. I'm also in the middle of reviews and have to take on a couple of extra reviews as Wendy is still out on her extended maternity leave. All of that and I'm still the lead underwriter on Wendy's book of business. I've mentioned before that it is good for me to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty doing some real underwriting again. I get involved in the larger accounts in the office, but it had been awhile since I was working on $1200 heating and air guys. I had a couple of the underwriters and assistants giving "Train the VP" sessions for awhile to get ne up to speed on some of the new rating platforms, but it all worked out. Her numbers are down, but this is a relationship business and her clients are slow to get back to their former flow of business. Hopefully that is more a sign of her relationship strength than any weakness in mine.

 

I've included some pictures from my golf trip up to Grass Valley and the scenic Alta Vista Country Club. It is about 18 miles Northeast of Roseville and up in the pines. The course was beautiful and I had a great time last Tuesday afternoon playing golf with one of my agent buddies from Rocklin. Doug also attends our church and is a Godly man. I had a blast with he and two of his good friends. I drove them all up to the course and was the youngest by about ten years. At my age, that's a good day.

 

The bottom picture is of a photo collage that Darla put together and hung in the guest bathroom in the hall leading to the garage. We are keeping our memories of the family trip to Mexico alive here in Roseville. As I look back on the trip I'm amazed that we were able to get every one's schedules to coincide. I guess a free condo in Mexico helped that cause. I know they would all be on board for doing it again. We would only need to say the word. 

 

Darla and I plan to be back in Mexico later in the year, but also plan to take a trip in August back to Hawaii. Daniel and Becky have a bunch of airline miles and have offered us a trip for our 20th wedding anniversary. We are looking at dates now, but will be back to our time share in Kauai for only the second time since we bought it in 1999. We have since bought timeshares in Mexico and the cost of living is so much less there and the ease of travel from the west coast so much better. We have traded the Kauai time share every year for other accommodations and Becky and Daniel used it for the honeymoon two years ago.

 

Darla is coming off a nasty cold that she picked up at Don and Alicia's on Christmas day. We had a 7 rib Prime Rib that was destined for our New Years Day party and we had to cancel as Darla got progressively worse during the week. She started out with sniffles, then a sore throat, chills and finally a bad cough. She is finally starting to feel better and we ventured out for dinner last night at Benihanas. I took second place in my office fantasy football league this year and used the $70 to take Darla to dinner. I also have six $10 off cards for Benihanas that I got when I bought gift cards for the staff. I was able to use 2 of those last night. We even brought home an extra large serving of the  chicken fried rice and had that today as I watched to final weekend of NFL action.

 

 

 

I had to work on the handicapping for our first golf tournament of the year today. Neil is back in as our Tournament Director, so it will be good working with him again. John Parola is our VP this year and John is a good friend of mine who I play poker with. He s the cousin of Steve, who also plays poker and is often my partner on Best ball golf events. We played in the NCGA qualifier in Santa Clara this year.

 

Darla and I bought a new pre-lit Christmas tree after the holiday this year. Our old one had a strand of lights on the pre-lit tree that didn't work anymore. I was looking at Big Lots and they had all of their trees half off. We went over on New Years and looked at them and Darla wasn't impressed. The trees were $80-$100 after the 50% off. We drove over to Home Depot and they had the perfect tree for $75 (half off from $150. We didn't realize that the half off was off the discounted price and got a new 8 foot tree for $37.50. I think that was a God thing. Darla plans to keep both trees and put one on the front window and the new one in our family room. Maybe next year we'll actually have some gifts beneath the tree, too.

 

Well, that is it for now. We are still discussing a trip to Canada in either March or April this year. It depends on whether Jennifer and McKenny can join us. Dad and Shirley have a condo up in Whistler in April that I might enjoy. It all depends on whether Jennifer, McKenny and Samantha can join us. If so, we will go to Surrey and let them see Vancouver and the surrounding area. I hope the New Year is treating everyone well. Take Care. Ciao.