Monday, April 24, 2006
An Excellent Weekend in the Books
It was GREAT seeing Dad and Shirley this week. They got in about 5:30 PM on Wednesday night and had a nice dinner with us. Daniel is working at K-LOVE, the Christian radio station during their pledge drive, and had to work that night, so he missed dinner. As a matter of fact, you can see Daniel eating dinner in one of the pictures I'm adding to the blog and Dad and David visiting with him. He got home about 9:30 and we played pool and had a great visit. It was nice to have a guest room finally set up where we could have Dad and Shirley spend the night with us. In the past, they have always had a hotel. Dad was wearing sweats when he got in and we had a nice 75 degree day. He was quick to change into shorts and, of course, wash his Cadillac. People who think I'm a bit anal, just need to spend a few minutes with Dad and they see where I get it. We had a nice dinner of barbecued New York steaks and talked about Dad's childhood and mine. Dad and Shirley are off to the Lawrence Welk resort in San Diego for a week of sun and golf and then they head to Vegas for a week. Dad sort of off-handedly invited us to join them in Vegas and left us their numbers in San Diego and Vegas in case we could make it. They were barely on the road to Fresno and a visit with their friends, Ed and Brenda, before I'd decided to go to Vegas and I already had a tee time set up at the Desert Rose golf course for Saturday morning. Work has been unduly stressful lately and I need a break. I'm taking Friday and Monday off and Darla and I will drive down to Vegas. It is about a ten-hour car ride and I'd prefer to fly, but with short notice the cheapest flight we could find was $500 for two of us. it would normally cost $356 with a 21 day reservation. This way, we have wheels and I can bring my golf clubs and some snacks and drinks for the road. Darla and I will drive down on Friday and probably drive halfway back on Sunday night, stopping in Tonapah, Nevada. I opted out of the Roseville City Amateur in order to make the Vegas trip.
The computer and the blogger website is really slow this morning. I hope that I don't spend part of my morning updating the blog to find that I lose it all in cyberspace. I've been trying to upload some photos, so far to no avail.
I finally had some luck in a golf tournament this weekend. I didn't shoot lights out, in fact, I shot a "same old" 43+41=84, but it was a two-man best ball NCGA qualifier and my partner, Steve Matthews (a 14 handicapper) shot a 78 and we managed a team score of 61 to win a spot in the regional qualifier against 22 other clubs for a chance to advance to Poppy Hills in September. We will play in the regional tournament on August 3rd, a Thursday, and hopefully play well enough to qualify to move on to the finals in Pebble Beach. Steve had a heart attack in November and has come back from that episode with an improved golf game. In fact, he and his partner qualified for a two-man event at Spyglass Hills in August. I knew he was playing well and sought him out for this tournament. They took two teams and we had the low score at 61. The other team shot a 63. There was also a Senior division and the two teams that qualified shot 63 and 66. There were a total of 44 teams playing with 4 spots up for grabs. Not bad.
Work continues to be a source of some stress as well as some source of accomplishment. We may hire a new broker for my office today. My candidate is in San Francisco today meeting with Harvey and his brokerage staff. If indeed, it is a good fit, we will bring her aboard and she will open a brokerage unit for this office. My underwriters are all just that. We do both brokerage business and contract (underwriting) business. Most of the big brokerage markets require that we have a full-time broker assigned to them and we have not had access to the brokerage accounts because of that. I made it a priority this year, in my budget, to add a brokerage presence to this office in order to move us up and ahead of the curve. Katherine is a very good broker, but only has about three years of experience on the brokerage side. She would not be a good candidate for San Francisco, but would be a great fit for Sacramento.
I agreed to lead the Life group tonight and we generally follow the scripture from the sermon at church the day before. Well, just my luck, yesterday was Baptism Sunday and there was no message. I will be feverishly looking up scripture on baptism over lunch today to have some material for tonight. Our pastor of senior adults led the offering yesterday and he always has a story infused with dry humor to go along with his prayers. He told the story of a church in the midwest that was struggling financially. The pastor got up and gave an impassioned sermon about the duty of Christians to support their church financially and with their prayers. He stressed that ALL church members had an obligation to give an offering to the church. When the plate was passed, little Johnny reached up and plucked off his clip-on tie and put it in the basket. Later, when his Mom asked him why he'd put his tie in the offering, Johhny said, "I really like that pastor and he said to put our ties and offerings in the collection plate."
All is well in our little corner of the world. The boys are doing well. Daniel has worked it out with his father, that Steve owns the Ford F150 with the camper shell and Daniel can continue to look for a more suitable truck and buy it with the $4000 that his Grandmother has pledged toward a car. In the meantime, Dan is driving that beast. Somehow, he managed to pop a tire this past week when he hit the median of the road when he was driving. Teenage drivers...jeesh.
The blog will be late next week as we will be in Vegas. I likely won't have much to say about our trip as "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas". I hope you are all well and living in the grace and light of our LORD and SAVIOUR. Ciao.
The computer and the blogger website is really slow this morning. I hope that I don't spend part of my morning updating the blog to find that I lose it all in cyberspace. I've been trying to upload some photos, so far to no avail.
I finally had some luck in a golf tournament this weekend. I didn't shoot lights out, in fact, I shot a "same old" 43+41=84, but it was a two-man best ball NCGA qualifier and my partner, Steve Matthews (a 14 handicapper) shot a 78 and we managed a team score of 61 to win a spot in the regional qualifier against 22 other clubs for a chance to advance to Poppy Hills in September. We will play in the regional tournament on August 3rd, a Thursday, and hopefully play well enough to qualify to move on to the finals in Pebble Beach. Steve had a heart attack in November and has come back from that episode with an improved golf game. In fact, he and his partner qualified for a two-man event at Spyglass Hills in August. I knew he was playing well and sought him out for this tournament. They took two teams and we had the low score at 61. The other team shot a 63. There was also a Senior division and the two teams that qualified shot 63 and 66. There were a total of 44 teams playing with 4 spots up for grabs. Not bad.
Work continues to be a source of some stress as well as some source of accomplishment. We may hire a new broker for my office today. My candidate is in San Francisco today meeting with Harvey and his brokerage staff. If indeed, it is a good fit, we will bring her aboard and she will open a brokerage unit for this office. My underwriters are all just that. We do both brokerage business and contract (underwriting) business. Most of the big brokerage markets require that we have a full-time broker assigned to them and we have not had access to the brokerage accounts because of that. I made it a priority this year, in my budget, to add a brokerage presence to this office in order to move us up and ahead of the curve. Katherine is a very good broker, but only has about three years of experience on the brokerage side. She would not be a good candidate for San Francisco, but would be a great fit for Sacramento.
I agreed to lead the Life group tonight and we generally follow the scripture from the sermon at church the day before. Well, just my luck, yesterday was Baptism Sunday and there was no message. I will be feverishly looking up scripture on baptism over lunch today to have some material for tonight. Our pastor of senior adults led the offering yesterday and he always has a story infused with dry humor to go along with his prayers. He told the story of a church in the midwest that was struggling financially. The pastor got up and gave an impassioned sermon about the duty of Christians to support their church financially and with their prayers. He stressed that ALL church members had an obligation to give an offering to the church. When the plate was passed, little Johnny reached up and plucked off his clip-on tie and put it in the basket. Later, when his Mom asked him why he'd put his tie in the offering, Johhny said, "I really like that pastor and he said to put our ties and offerings in the collection plate."
All is well in our little corner of the world. The boys are doing well. Daniel has worked it out with his father, that Steve owns the Ford F150 with the camper shell and Daniel can continue to look for a more suitable truck and buy it with the $4000 that his Grandmother has pledged toward a car. In the meantime, Dan is driving that beast. Somehow, he managed to pop a tire this past week when he hit the median of the road when he was driving. Teenage drivers...jeesh.
The blog will be late next week as we will be in Vegas. I likely won't have much to say about our trip as "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas". I hope you are all well and living in the grace and light of our LORD and SAVIOUR. Ciao.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Resurrection Day has come and HE IS RISEN!
Yes. Another Easter Sunday is in the books and Spring is finally here. After a stormy and rain-filled Sunday, the sun has returned to Northern California in all of it's requisite glory. The sky is as blue as it can get and the sun is slowly awakening from it's hibernation to warm the denizens of Sacramento. Finally, we have some clearing and a week that is expected to see temperatures consistently in the 70-75 degree range. The fear here in Sacramento is that we would go from 50 degrees and rain to 90 degrees and oppressive heat, but it looks like we may get some Spring yet. Darryl sent a note to me last week showing Austin at 90 degrees and sort of mugging that he had warm weather. Frankly, 90 degrees is a little warm for me. This 72 and a light breeze is about perfect for me.
Darla returned home from her mission in Mexico tired and a bit sore and carrying some kind of creepy crud malady that sees her taking the day off from work today. Nothing like a day off to get over your week long vacation. The Mexico trip was a huge success and her group built one of two homes on a lot for a family that was burned out of their home. Darla's group built the home for Mom and Dad and another group built the home for the parent's pregnant daughter and her husband next door. I'd guess everyone was grateful except the son-in-law, but that's my sense of humor. In total the group built 5 homes and there were about 18 people on each crew. Darla was sick one day and had to stay back at camp and they had a flu bug go through the entire group that made it pretty tough on everybody. Daniel managed to avoid the plague and made it through the week relatively unfazed. It is really good to have Darla home. The laundry was beginning to pile up. J/K.
Daniel's father did come through on his promise of a truck for Daniel. Unfortunately, Daniel had absolutely no say in the vehicle purchased and Steve bought a 1993 Ford F-150 Super Cab with, of all things, a camper shell on it. Daniel is mortified that he has to drive what he referred to as a 50 year old man's fishing truck. Steve wants Daniel to put $1000 of his money into the truck and Daniel refuses. It could get interesting. These are two pretty bullheaded people and it will be interesting to see who wins this round. The truck could be salvageable if they take off the camper shell and fix it up with some new rims and a cd player in the cab. I guess Steve considered it a good buy, but Daniel had in mind a smaller truck like a Toyota or Nissan.
I did play golf this past weekend and the course continues to have soggy conditions and a lot of heavy rough. I shot 41+43=84 on Friday in a practice round and won $8 in skin money. Saturday was our second medal play tournament of the year and I shot 41+45=86, which was pitiful. I shot a 9 on number 16 by hitting two balls into the rough, neither of which we could find. The rough on that hole is about two and a half feet thick and the ball just buries. We play right to the letter of the law in our club and, despite the conditions, both balls were considered lost balls and I ended up hitting six from the spot of my second drive, seven onto the green and two putted for a nine. Ouch! I play in a two man best ball tournament on Saturday, an NCGA qualifier tournament and then have signed up for the Roseville City Amateur on the following weekend. That is where the real good amateur golfers come out and shoot 67 and 68 for two days of golf and take the trophy home. I'm playing for the $160 prize for my flight. Hopefully, the maintenance crews can get out to mow all of the fairways and rough over the next few days as the weather improves.
I was still continuing to struggle with managing the office and this young lady that doesn't like to work. She has continued to take sick days and miss a considerable amount of work even since I met with her two weeks ago. She called me one morning and said that her alarm didn't go off. She finally showed up at 11:00 AM, took a one hour lunch and went home at 4:30. I called her in the next morning and told her that under no circumstances could she continue to cause problems in the office and that she had to work a full day of work every day. She smiled and agreed and then left work at 1:00 to go to a doctor's appointment. Thursday of this last week, I took the morning and drove to our Modesto office to handle two salary reviews in that office. When I called in to check on the staff, my assistant told me that all hell was breaking loose. This model employee overheard two of the other assistants whispering. The topic of conversation was the pregnanacy of one of them and how the office would handle her maternity leave. The model employee "assumed" the whispering was about her and she had a meltdown, screaming and yelling and finally packing up her desk and leaving. She called the head of our Human Resources Department in Michigan to resign. I tried to calm everyone down and returned to work that afternoon.
On Friday, the staff presented me with a card and a $100 gift certificate to one of the fine restaurants in our area. They could feel my stress and wanted to give me a night out. I told them that my stress resigned on Thursday. Today I arrived to find the worker's compensation claim for a stress induced leave of absence. I've turned that over to Home Office. I don't quite see how you can resgn your position and then ask for worker's compensation, but this is California, the home of the weasly and the weird. We'll see how all of that pans out. In the interim, I have no one to handle my accounts receivables here in the office.
I am close to hiring a new broker for the office. She'll be here today to take a couple of personality tests and we are trying to iron out some salary issues. Harvey, my boss, was very excited about her as a candidate when he met her, but then he discussed her with one of her former employers and he started to get a little cool on hiring her. I disagreed and moved forward, so hopefully I don't get myself sideways with my boss, but on the other hand, I am charged with running this office. Harvey and I will talk today. While he was on vacation, I had Katherine do a telephone interview with Harvey's Boss, Bill McCord, and Bill is totally on board with hiring her. I need to get a broker presence in Sacramento and this lady is experienced and wants to work for us.
Jennifer and I missed each other a couple of times on the phone this weekend and I hope to touch base with her this week.
Dad and Shirley are driving to San Diego and a week at the Lawrence Welk resort for sun, fun and golf. They will be staying with us Wednesday night on their way to the resort and we will barbecue steaks and enjoy an evening with family. It will be good to see them as it has been over a year since we last saw them. I look forward to next year. We've talked about a reunion in Vegas, but I think a Mexico cruise would be fun.
Darla and I went to our church Saturday night and welcomed back our pastor, Rick, from his four-month sabbatical. He is refreshed and ready to work. It was great to hear his Easter message. Darla and I then went and met Darla's parents up in Paradise at their church and heard the Easter message presented by their pastor. It was a great weekend..and the sun is awesome today. I hope you are all well. HE is Risen. Ciao.
Darla returned home from her mission in Mexico tired and a bit sore and carrying some kind of creepy crud malady that sees her taking the day off from work today. Nothing like a day off to get over your week long vacation. The Mexico trip was a huge success and her group built one of two homes on a lot for a family that was burned out of their home. Darla's group built the home for Mom and Dad and another group built the home for the parent's pregnant daughter and her husband next door. I'd guess everyone was grateful except the son-in-law, but that's my sense of humor. In total the group built 5 homes and there were about 18 people on each crew. Darla was sick one day and had to stay back at camp and they had a flu bug go through the entire group that made it pretty tough on everybody. Daniel managed to avoid the plague and made it through the week relatively unfazed. It is really good to have Darla home. The laundry was beginning to pile up. J/K.
Daniel's father did come through on his promise of a truck for Daniel. Unfortunately, Daniel had absolutely no say in the vehicle purchased and Steve bought a 1993 Ford F-150 Super Cab with, of all things, a camper shell on it. Daniel is mortified that he has to drive what he referred to as a 50 year old man's fishing truck. Steve wants Daniel to put $1000 of his money into the truck and Daniel refuses. It could get interesting. These are two pretty bullheaded people and it will be interesting to see who wins this round. The truck could be salvageable if they take off the camper shell and fix it up with some new rims and a cd player in the cab. I guess Steve considered it a good buy, but Daniel had in mind a smaller truck like a Toyota or Nissan.
I did play golf this past weekend and the course continues to have soggy conditions and a lot of heavy rough. I shot 41+43=84 on Friday in a practice round and won $8 in skin money. Saturday was our second medal play tournament of the year and I shot 41+45=86, which was pitiful. I shot a 9 on number 16 by hitting two balls into the rough, neither of which we could find. The rough on that hole is about two and a half feet thick and the ball just buries. We play right to the letter of the law in our club and, despite the conditions, both balls were considered lost balls and I ended up hitting six from the spot of my second drive, seven onto the green and two putted for a nine. Ouch! I play in a two man best ball tournament on Saturday, an NCGA qualifier tournament and then have signed up for the Roseville City Amateur on the following weekend. That is where the real good amateur golfers come out and shoot 67 and 68 for two days of golf and take the trophy home. I'm playing for the $160 prize for my flight. Hopefully, the maintenance crews can get out to mow all of the fairways and rough over the next few days as the weather improves.
I was still continuing to struggle with managing the office and this young lady that doesn't like to work. She has continued to take sick days and miss a considerable amount of work even since I met with her two weeks ago. She called me one morning and said that her alarm didn't go off. She finally showed up at 11:00 AM, took a one hour lunch and went home at 4:30. I called her in the next morning and told her that under no circumstances could she continue to cause problems in the office and that she had to work a full day of work every day. She smiled and agreed and then left work at 1:00 to go to a doctor's appointment. Thursday of this last week, I took the morning and drove to our Modesto office to handle two salary reviews in that office. When I called in to check on the staff, my assistant told me that all hell was breaking loose. This model employee overheard two of the other assistants whispering. The topic of conversation was the pregnanacy of one of them and how the office would handle her maternity leave. The model employee "assumed" the whispering was about her and she had a meltdown, screaming and yelling and finally packing up her desk and leaving. She called the head of our Human Resources Department in Michigan to resign. I tried to calm everyone down and returned to work that afternoon.
On Friday, the staff presented me with a card and a $100 gift certificate to one of the fine restaurants in our area. They could feel my stress and wanted to give me a night out. I told them that my stress resigned on Thursday. Today I arrived to find the worker's compensation claim for a stress induced leave of absence. I've turned that over to Home Office. I don't quite see how you can resgn your position and then ask for worker's compensation, but this is California, the home of the weasly and the weird. We'll see how all of that pans out. In the interim, I have no one to handle my accounts receivables here in the office.
I am close to hiring a new broker for the office. She'll be here today to take a couple of personality tests and we are trying to iron out some salary issues. Harvey, my boss, was very excited about her as a candidate when he met her, but then he discussed her with one of her former employers and he started to get a little cool on hiring her. I disagreed and moved forward, so hopefully I don't get myself sideways with my boss, but on the other hand, I am charged with running this office. Harvey and I will talk today. While he was on vacation, I had Katherine do a telephone interview with Harvey's Boss, Bill McCord, and Bill is totally on board with hiring her. I need to get a broker presence in Sacramento and this lady is experienced and wants to work for us.
Jennifer and I missed each other a couple of times on the phone this weekend and I hope to touch base with her this week.
Dad and Shirley are driving to San Diego and a week at the Lawrence Welk resort for sun, fun and golf. They will be staying with us Wednesday night on their way to the resort and we will barbecue steaks and enjoy an evening with family. It will be good to see them as it has been over a year since we last saw them. I look forward to next year. We've talked about a reunion in Vegas, but I think a Mexico cruise would be fun.
Darla and I went to our church Saturday night and welcomed back our pastor, Rick, from his four-month sabbatical. He is refreshed and ready to work. It was great to hear his Easter message. Darla and I then went and met Darla's parents up in Paradise at their church and heard the Easter message presented by their pastor. It was a great weekend..and the sun is awesome today. I hope you are all well. HE is Risen. Ciao.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Back Home with Time to Spare
I left work a little early today (4:45PM) after a full day of work. So far, I've put a number of items up in the attic that I'll get in trouble for when Darla gets home. The nice thing is she won't need them for three or four months and won't realize that the box of scapbook supplies that's been sitting in the corner for four months has been put away. I've also thrown away some newspapers which is heresy around here. I'm running a couple of loads of wash as I get caught up on some piles of laundry that have been sitting in the laundry room for far too long. I'm not sure if it was clean or not, but with the dust that collects in a laundry room, it wasn't clean anymore. I was able to sweep the floor in the laundry room and I cleaned up a couple of the throw rugs that tend to collect dirt and aren't cleaned by sweeping or mopping. This is my own little slice of heaven. Cleaning is a task I enjoy, because the results are so dramatic when you finish. With two overly large and active teenagers, sometimes a full time worker with two extra part time jobs can't keep up.
Darla continues to work for Lighthouse, which is a foster agency and she works with several families. She also sells Silpada jewelry, her own jewelry and Creative Memories scrapbook supplies. She used to sell Pampered Chef, but has given that up now that she has all of their gadgets and supplies in her kitchen.
Darla did Not get the supervisor position and she took it kind of hard. In truth, all of the signs pointed to her working for this particular boss as heavily negative, but she is itching for additional challenges in her job. Take it from me that managing people will be one of the biggest undertakings she will ever try. I have five salary reviews and two Manager's reports to finish by the end of the week. I'm going to try to knock most of that out tomorrow as I have a massage planned for Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 PM. Darla ended up buying me a massage and I wanted to use it after a particularly hard day of work, which tomorrow will be. I have to tune out, close my office door, shut off the phone and just concentrate on doing the reports and salary paperwork. Darla will continue to seek additional challenges at work and will leave to go to work for another agency if need be. With the boys grown up, she is able to take on more at work.
Daniel's Dad is finally seeing the light and is ready to buy Dan a truck. He has his eye on a 2001 truck with 149,000 miles on it. The owner just installed a new transmission and Steve thinks its a bargain. Daniel was all bummed out as he wants to pick out the car and I counseled him about looking a gift horse in the mouth. If his Dad is ready to buy him a vehicle, shut up, sit down and enjoy having wheels. We'll see if Steve is blowing in the wind or whether he is really going to step up for his son.
I mentioned the link for Jennifer's Thailand pictures. It is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnswan81/sets/72057594098501362/
Well, I've prattled on enough and it sounds like the washer is ready to be unloaded. I probably have four loads of wash to do. The boys won't appreciate having their clothes folded and sitting on their beds as Darla usually hangs it up and puts it in their dressers, etc., but I'm more concerned about teaching these guys to be men and not boys. I'll write more, Same BAT time....etc. Ciao.
Darla continues to work for Lighthouse, which is a foster agency and she works with several families. She also sells Silpada jewelry, her own jewelry and Creative Memories scrapbook supplies. She used to sell Pampered Chef, but has given that up now that she has all of their gadgets and supplies in her kitchen.
Darla did Not get the supervisor position and she took it kind of hard. In truth, all of the signs pointed to her working for this particular boss as heavily negative, but she is itching for additional challenges in her job. Take it from me that managing people will be one of the biggest undertakings she will ever try. I have five salary reviews and two Manager's reports to finish by the end of the week. I'm going to try to knock most of that out tomorrow as I have a massage planned for Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 PM. Darla ended up buying me a massage and I wanted to use it after a particularly hard day of work, which tomorrow will be. I have to tune out, close my office door, shut off the phone and just concentrate on doing the reports and salary paperwork. Darla will continue to seek additional challenges at work and will leave to go to work for another agency if need be. With the boys grown up, she is able to take on more at work.
Daniel's Dad is finally seeing the light and is ready to buy Dan a truck. He has his eye on a 2001 truck with 149,000 miles on it. The owner just installed a new transmission and Steve thinks its a bargain. Daniel was all bummed out as he wants to pick out the car and I counseled him about looking a gift horse in the mouth. If his Dad is ready to buy him a vehicle, shut up, sit down and enjoy having wheels. We'll see if Steve is blowing in the wind or whether he is really going to step up for his son.
I mentioned the link for Jennifer's Thailand pictures. It is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnswan81/sets/72057594098501362/
Well, I've prattled on enough and it sounds like the washer is ready to be unloaded. I probably have four loads of wash to do. The boys won't appreciate having their clothes folded and sitting on their beds as Darla usually hangs it up and puts it in their dressers, etc., but I'm more concerned about teaching these guys to be men and not boys. I'll write more, Same BAT time....etc. Ciao.
Hey, what's new? It's RAINING!
Wow, what a difference a week makes. It's called satirical comedy. The big change this past weekend was that although rain was forecast Saturday and Sunday, the rain spared us and didn't arrive until last night. The latest Canadian storm is expected to drop another inch on Sacramento, three inches in the foothills and up to 3 feet of snow in the Sierra. We may skip Spring altogether and just move from rain and 60 degrees to Sunny and 100 degrees. It was a nice respite from the rain over the weekend and I took full advantage with golf both Saturday and Sunday. The course was a full sponge as the fairways were wet and golf carts were restricted to the cart paths. If any cart rider was dumb enough to abandon the cart path and venture into the fairways, the carts would likely have gotten stuck in the mud. We had two days of sunshine on Thursday and Friday, but the grounds crew weren't able to get the mowers out onto the fairways because of the standing water. The greens had all been cut and the rough around the greens, but the rough along the fairways is US Open thick and the fairways are shaggy. Tough conditions. I shot 40+44=84 on Saturday and 40+45=85 on Sunday in the Titleist tournament. The back nine is wetter than the front and I hit the ball really high. I was getting no roll and several plugs in the fairway. It was frustrating, but overall (given the conditions) I was very happy with my play, especially on the front side.
Darla and Daniel headed off to Mexico and their annual mission trip to build houses for the homeless in Mexico on Saturday. Darla called me from San Diego on Saturday night where they were bedding down in a church for the night before heading across the border on Sunday. The trip had gone smoothly at that point and the weather in San Diego wqas nice. Hopefully they will get some good weather this year and be able to work and enjoy being in the sun.
Friday night I had my monthly poker game. Darla knew that I had a game that night and was going to meet with her friend, Joni, who was her maid of honor in our wedding. Those plans fell through and suddenly Darla wanted me to skip the poker game and stay home with her. I hemmed and hawed and we finally agreed that I would go, but would beg off early and be home by 11:00 PM. It was good seeing the guys as usual, but I got smoked on poker early on. It seemed that every time I had a flush, someone would pull a full house. Or if I had a full house, someone had a better full house. It was frustrating. By ten-thirty I was down about $30 and ready to head home. We played a three-card GUTS game that took a half-hour and I finally won the $80 pot. It was by far the biggest pot of the night and I felt like leaving right then would be bad manners, so I hung out until 11:30 and finally snuck out with $50 in winnings. Darla was not too happy with me when I rolled in at 11:35, but I was happy to have won the big hand and she got over it when I gave her some road money for her trip.
I plan to get a few projects done this week, touching up some paint around the house and cleaning the bathrooms and the tile floors throughout the house. Darla and I are both so busy and then we want to relax with each other at night. I'm batching it this week and can get some of my "To Do" list items cleared up.
I had to miss church yesterday with a 9:30 tee time in the tournament and really missed the weekly injection of faith and prespective that comes from drowning yourself in the Word. We used to have Saturday night service before we moved into the 3000 seat worship center and now it's Sunday only. I miss the intimate gatherings of Saturday night, but our regular service is 9:00 Sunday morning. It was just nice to have the option if I had golf on Sunday. Our church is a Bible teaching church and every sermon is based on the Word. The great news is that our pastor, Rick Steadman, returns from his four-month sabbatical on Easter Sunday. Praise God!
Jennifer called me when I was on the course yesterday. I hope to be able to talk to her this week. Jenn, call me at work, when you are home at night. I'm anxious to hear about her trip to Thailand. I will add the access to her pictures later this week. She sent it to me, but I only have it on my home computer. It looks like they had a great time.
This is short, but we were having network problems this morning and I have to do payroll by 9:00 AM local time. I'll add more later. Ciao.
Darla and Daniel headed off to Mexico and their annual mission trip to build houses for the homeless in Mexico on Saturday. Darla called me from San Diego on Saturday night where they were bedding down in a church for the night before heading across the border on Sunday. The trip had gone smoothly at that point and the weather in San Diego wqas nice. Hopefully they will get some good weather this year and be able to work and enjoy being in the sun.
Friday night I had my monthly poker game. Darla knew that I had a game that night and was going to meet with her friend, Joni, who was her maid of honor in our wedding. Those plans fell through and suddenly Darla wanted me to skip the poker game and stay home with her. I hemmed and hawed and we finally agreed that I would go, but would beg off early and be home by 11:00 PM. It was good seeing the guys as usual, but I got smoked on poker early on. It seemed that every time I had a flush, someone would pull a full house. Or if I had a full house, someone had a better full house. It was frustrating. By ten-thirty I was down about $30 and ready to head home. We played a three-card GUTS game that took a half-hour and I finally won the $80 pot. It was by far the biggest pot of the night and I felt like leaving right then would be bad manners, so I hung out until 11:30 and finally snuck out with $50 in winnings. Darla was not too happy with me when I rolled in at 11:35, but I was happy to have won the big hand and she got over it when I gave her some road money for her trip.
I plan to get a few projects done this week, touching up some paint around the house and cleaning the bathrooms and the tile floors throughout the house. Darla and I are both so busy and then we want to relax with each other at night. I'm batching it this week and can get some of my "To Do" list items cleared up.
I had to miss church yesterday with a 9:30 tee time in the tournament and really missed the weekly injection of faith and prespective that comes from drowning yourself in the Word. We used to have Saturday night service before we moved into the 3000 seat worship center and now it's Sunday only. I miss the intimate gatherings of Saturday night, but our regular service is 9:00 Sunday morning. It was just nice to have the option if I had golf on Sunday. Our church is a Bible teaching church and every sermon is based on the Word. The great news is that our pastor, Rick Steadman, returns from his four-month sabbatical on Easter Sunday. Praise God!
Jennifer called me when I was on the course yesterday. I hope to be able to talk to her this week. Jenn, call me at work, when you are home at night. I'm anxious to hear about her trip to Thailand. I will add the access to her pictures later this week. She sent it to me, but I only have it on my home computer. It looks like they had a great time.
This is short, but we were having network problems this morning and I have to do payroll by 9:00 AM local time. I'll add more later. Ciao.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
I may lack "pinkie" class, but I've always got FAMILY
Those of you who know me well, know that I am a fairly frugal person. I tend to buy nice things for the house and for the family, but when it comes to buying myself things, I'll opt for the nice used car over a new one. Well, Jennifer knows me as well as anyone and she decided to splurge for my birthday. As she put it, she wanted to buy me something she knew I'd never buy myself. She bought me a Citizen Perpetual Calendar, Eco-Drive watch. It is silver and gold with a black face and it has the month, day, date and even the year on the face as well as military time to indicate AM or PM. Frankly, I had to have Daniel set the watch for me. If the alarm goes off in a meeting, I won't know how to turn it off. It is one of the nicest gifts I've ever received. So, to my wealthy daughter in Korea, THANK YOU, doll, for making your Dad so proud. I love you.
Monday, April 03, 2006
I woke up today in Vancouver!!
Funny, I remember going to the Sacramento Kings game last night at Arco Arena, driving home with Darla, watching a movie on disc and going to bed in Sacramento. The rain, it's all about the rain. Having just completed the rainiest March in 35 years in Sacramento, it is April 3rd and we will get up to an inch of rain out of the latest storm to darken our skies and darken our moods. I know why Seattle has the highest percentage of suicides in the country, constant rain is depressing. I was not able to play golf this weekend. The course was open, but had running water through several fairways and golf carts were not allowed on the course. I never play with a golf cart, but that answer to my query on Saturday morning was enough to keep me in bed at 6:45 AM, as my playing partners had already alerted the course that they were not going to show for our 7:20 AM tee time. Usually by this time of the year, we have had several stretches of weather in the eighty degree range, but so far it has had trouble sustaining stretches above 60 degrees. I look out on a slowly lightening sky that is overcast and raining. The dreaded time change hit yesterday and it was dark, raining and downright cold when I left the house at 6:15 AM this morning.
Darla and I did attend the Sacramento Kings vs Los Angeles Clippers game last night and had a great time. Our friends, Gary and Liz, couldn't make the game and are season ticket holders. We paid them the $66 face value for their two tickets and preferred parking and thoroughly enjoyed the game, which Sacramento won 106-96. I went to the game last week with Gary and really enjoyed it. I could tell Darla would like to go to a game, so when I got an e-mail from Gary that the tickets for the Sunday night game were for sale, we jumped on it.
Darla and Daniel leave Saturday for a week in Mexico building houses. We sincerely hope that the weather rains itself out and they end up with a dry and warm week. They endured torrential rains last year that required shifts where water was kept from building up on the sides of the large tents that the group stay in. It was muddy and miserable and they loved it last year. This year, Darla is praying for some sun.
Jennifer called me last Wednesday and told me that she had a few days of comp time and that she and her friend, John, were taking off and flying to Bangkok, Thailand for a few days of fun in the sun. The weather has been in the 90's in Bangkok at the beaches with overnight lows in the upper 70's. I haven't talked to her since her return, but I'm sure they had a ball. She's been freezing in Korea and was ready for some sun. Thailand is about a two-hour plane ride from Seoul, Korea. Frankly, Jenn has been doing nothing but minting money since she started this job. She had several 17 hour days of work leading up to the end of her project at the air base. They have a new project that starts today, but the air base had some sort of military process going on that precluded them from working last Wednesday through Sunday, so the call of the sand and sun was heeded. I'm jealous as I sit here bailing out the flower pots in front of my home, lest the Spring flowers die from root rot.
With Darla gone this weekend, the plan is for poker Friday night with golf on Saturday and Sunday. A look at the extended forecast shows rain ending by Wednesday afternoon with the next round of wet weather due in on Saturday. Naturally.
I was in San Francisco last Thursday night as one of my Contractor markets had an open house, followed by dinner in the city. We started the trip by visiting Harvey's office in San Francisco. I sat through a meeting with his brokers and then Harvey called me in to his office. One of my employees had called Home Office and complained of a hostile work environment. Supposedly, I expected her to work a full week, attend all meetings and help out in the office with tasks that she felt were beneath her. The final straw was when I told her that she could not get off at 3:30 in order to seek a part time job to help her pay bills. The nerve. I will be meeting with this mental giant late this morning to see if I can lessen her burden. I think a seat in the unemployment line should allow her plenty of time to seek additional sources of income.
The office continues to show momentum and I'm beginning to lose patience with running the office, but not being the Branch Manager. I interviewed with Unigard, a west coast company owned by a large Swiss conglomerate, last week for a Commercial Account Manager position. I was very intrigued with the job, which is a field underwriting position handling accounts in the $20,000-$150,000 range and really impressed with the Branch Manager of the Roseville office. The position would pay me more money and release me from the management aspect of the job. I would in essence be an entreprenuer, handling a book of about $6,000,000 in business and traveling about 25% of the time. My next step with Unigard would be a trip to the Home Office in Bellevue, Washington to meet with the CEO and upper level management. It would be nice if Burns and Wilcox would step to the plate, but it has been 18 months of doing the job without the recognition, pay and benefits of being the Branch Manager. After a while the promises ring a bit hollow.
Well, that is all the news that is fit to print. Be well, stay smiling and touch a life with a random act of kindness this week. Ciao.
Darla and I did attend the Sacramento Kings vs Los Angeles Clippers game last night and had a great time. Our friends, Gary and Liz, couldn't make the game and are season ticket holders. We paid them the $66 face value for their two tickets and preferred parking and thoroughly enjoyed the game, which Sacramento won 106-96. I went to the game last week with Gary and really enjoyed it. I could tell Darla would like to go to a game, so when I got an e-mail from Gary that the tickets for the Sunday night game were for sale, we jumped on it.
Darla and Daniel leave Saturday for a week in Mexico building houses. We sincerely hope that the weather rains itself out and they end up with a dry and warm week. They endured torrential rains last year that required shifts where water was kept from building up on the sides of the large tents that the group stay in. It was muddy and miserable and they loved it last year. This year, Darla is praying for some sun.
Jennifer called me last Wednesday and told me that she had a few days of comp time and that she and her friend, John, were taking off and flying to Bangkok, Thailand for a few days of fun in the sun. The weather has been in the 90's in Bangkok at the beaches with overnight lows in the upper 70's. I haven't talked to her since her return, but I'm sure they had a ball. She's been freezing in Korea and was ready for some sun. Thailand is about a two-hour plane ride from Seoul, Korea. Frankly, Jenn has been doing nothing but minting money since she started this job. She had several 17 hour days of work leading up to the end of her project at the air base. They have a new project that starts today, but the air base had some sort of military process going on that precluded them from working last Wednesday through Sunday, so the call of the sand and sun was heeded. I'm jealous as I sit here bailing out the flower pots in front of my home, lest the Spring flowers die from root rot.
With Darla gone this weekend, the plan is for poker Friday night with golf on Saturday and Sunday. A look at the extended forecast shows rain ending by Wednesday afternoon with the next round of wet weather due in on Saturday. Naturally.
I was in San Francisco last Thursday night as one of my Contractor markets had an open house, followed by dinner in the city. We started the trip by visiting Harvey's office in San Francisco. I sat through a meeting with his brokers and then Harvey called me in to his office. One of my employees had called Home Office and complained of a hostile work environment. Supposedly, I expected her to work a full week, attend all meetings and help out in the office with tasks that she felt were beneath her. The final straw was when I told her that she could not get off at 3:30 in order to seek a part time job to help her pay bills. The nerve. I will be meeting with this mental giant late this morning to see if I can lessen her burden. I think a seat in the unemployment line should allow her plenty of time to seek additional sources of income.
The office continues to show momentum and I'm beginning to lose patience with running the office, but not being the Branch Manager. I interviewed with Unigard, a west coast company owned by a large Swiss conglomerate, last week for a Commercial Account Manager position. I was very intrigued with the job, which is a field underwriting position handling accounts in the $20,000-$150,000 range and really impressed with the Branch Manager of the Roseville office. The position would pay me more money and release me from the management aspect of the job. I would in essence be an entreprenuer, handling a book of about $6,000,000 in business and traveling about 25% of the time. My next step with Unigard would be a trip to the Home Office in Bellevue, Washington to meet with the CEO and upper level management. It would be nice if Burns and Wilcox would step to the plate, but it has been 18 months of doing the job without the recognition, pay and benefits of being the Branch Manager. After a while the promises ring a bit hollow.
Well, that is all the news that is fit to print. Be well, stay smiling and touch a life with a random act of kindness this week. Ciao.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Back from The Land of the Sun
Hey. I'm back from paradise and wondering how Dad and Shirley ever sold their place in Sun City. The temperatures were 79, 83 and 85 on the three days that I was in Scottsdale. Not too shabby and probably a little warmer than what Dad and Shirley are experiencing in Vancouver. I stayed at the Resort Suites in Scottsdale off Princess Avenue. It is the resort situated right next to the Fairmont Resort and the Fairmont makes anyplace else look like a dive. The Resort Suites was very nice and the rooms were about 900 square foot suites. The Miss Teen Arizona pageant was gearing up and the girls and their parents were checking in and fashion photo shoots were taking place outside my room. These girls are all adorable and it was a pedophile's delight as the 16-18 year olds lounged by the pool and walked around wearing tiaras and sashes all day long.
We started Wednesday night with a 30 minute bus ride out to Cave Creek, Arizona north of Scottsdale and went to a country restaurant and bar where they set us up in the rear yard with horseshoes, volleyball and six large fire pits surrounded by picnic tables. The grub was pulled pork, chicken, cowboy beans, corn on the cob and biscuits. The food was excellent and the music was very good with a rockabilly band with a lead singer who crooned in the Elvis Presley style. It was a fun night.
The underwriter in Modesto, Margaret, contracted tonsilitus from her kids and had to stay home. I caught the six am flight to Phoenix on Wednesday morning and rented an SUV when I arrived. I had a ten am meeting with Scottsdale Insurance and my Colony underwriter was trying to track me down and had three messages on my cell phone by the time I landed. She wanted to invite Anthony from our office to attend the seminar in Margaret's place. I talked to Anthony, he was caught up on his desk and could catch a Wednesday night flight to Phoenix in time to be at the seminar Thursday morning. I cleared it with our VP in San Francisco and Anthony was on a flight by the time we got to the dinner house in Cave Creek.
The trip was fun. They had a casino night on Thursday night and I opened and closed one of the Texas Hold'em tables. It was a lot of fun. We played golf Thursday afternoon and they put me with three complete non-golfers. We managed four over par which was amazing given that we used 17 of my drives and 90% of my other shots. I was playing really well and likely would have won if they'd given me even one golfer to play with. We had a good time and I got to know a couple of my Colony Underwriters better over the five hour course of the golf tournament.
The underwriters from my old firm, Richter Robb were there. That firm did about $36,000,000 in premium when I was with them. We hired away their top two underwriters last year and they finished 2005 with a little over $18,000,000 in writings. I expected to be treated as a pariah, but two of the three underwriters approached me about employment. I'm not looking to hire any more of their underwriters away, but it was funny to see the marketing that they each tried to do with me to sell themselves.
I returned from the sun and fun to a rainy Friday afternoon in Sacramento. I got in about 3:05 PM and was back in the office by 4:30 to clean up my e-mails and voice mails so I could get a fresh start this morning. I worked until about 7:30 PM. Darla had a site meeting with the kids from Adventure Christian Church in preparation for their Mexico trip. I figured that I could get more done at work, even though I was tired and needed to get caught up on sleep.
The Titleist golf tournament scheduled for Saturday was postponed due to inclement weather and rescheduled for April 8th. Darla will be out of town that weekend in Mexico and I plan to play golf both days. I did not play this past weekend, partly because of the weather, but mostly because I pulled a muscle in my back mowing the lawn Saturday afternoon. I reached down to pick up one of the spiny balls that fall from my trees and felt something snap. I have a call in to Harry for a Bowen Therapy appointment. I hope to get in this afternoon. If I stand in front of a mirror, I am listing to the left right now as my spine is out of alignment due to the muscle strain in my back. I was in agony last night and had trouble sleeping. The last time I did this, I had one Bowen session and was good to go after that. I'm done with chiropractors. They did little but lighten my wallet over the years.
I got an e-mail from Randy showing Chris' new truck, a beast of a Ram Quad cab. It is Cowboy blue and would require a step ladder for me to get into it. I was going to show Daniel the pictures, but Darla said not to. His father is still making him wait to get a car. We did our part and got David the Mustang when he turned sixteen. Daniel is so under his father's thumb that he cannot get a job and can't buy a car until they sell Steve's junker of a Jeep Cherokee. It has 270,000 miles on it and Steve wants $1,000 for it. I told Daniel to buy it and then sell it for $300 and buy a truck. He has $4,000 to put toward a truck, but has to put up with his Svengali father. In the meantime, I've added Daniel to our insurance at $1500 a year. I look forward to both kids hitting 18 and having a say in their own lives. Daniel is not allowed to get a part time job, because it would interfere with Steve's time with him. Frankly, I want the kid to get a job. He watches way too much television and lies around the house doing nothing. When he finally gets up some plans, he looks to us for money. I tell him to go see his Dad or get a job. It is immensely frustrating to me and I don't know how Daniel handles it. He will end up hating his Dad for being so controlling.
We had a guest speaker at church yesterday and he was a dynamic speaker who advocates getting out of our comfort zone and being an evangelist for Christ. He talked about how the vast majority of people live without any purpose...like a feather on the wind. He said that we need to take control of our lives by giving our lives to the Lord and letting him set our path. He called it making ripples and impacting others for Christ. It was convicting stuff. I hope that each of you can make a ripple and impact others. Ciao.
We started Wednesday night with a 30 minute bus ride out to Cave Creek, Arizona north of Scottsdale and went to a country restaurant and bar where they set us up in the rear yard with horseshoes, volleyball and six large fire pits surrounded by picnic tables. The grub was pulled pork, chicken, cowboy beans, corn on the cob and biscuits. The food was excellent and the music was very good with a rockabilly band with a lead singer who crooned in the Elvis Presley style. It was a fun night.
The underwriter in Modesto, Margaret, contracted tonsilitus from her kids and had to stay home. I caught the six am flight to Phoenix on Wednesday morning and rented an SUV when I arrived. I had a ten am meeting with Scottsdale Insurance and my Colony underwriter was trying to track me down and had three messages on my cell phone by the time I landed. She wanted to invite Anthony from our office to attend the seminar in Margaret's place. I talked to Anthony, he was caught up on his desk and could catch a Wednesday night flight to Phoenix in time to be at the seminar Thursday morning. I cleared it with our VP in San Francisco and Anthony was on a flight by the time we got to the dinner house in Cave Creek.
The trip was fun. They had a casino night on Thursday night and I opened and closed one of the Texas Hold'em tables. It was a lot of fun. We played golf Thursday afternoon and they put me with three complete non-golfers. We managed four over par which was amazing given that we used 17 of my drives and 90% of my other shots. I was playing really well and likely would have won if they'd given me even one golfer to play with. We had a good time and I got to know a couple of my Colony Underwriters better over the five hour course of the golf tournament.
The underwriters from my old firm, Richter Robb were there. That firm did about $36,000,000 in premium when I was with them. We hired away their top two underwriters last year and they finished 2005 with a little over $18,000,000 in writings. I expected to be treated as a pariah, but two of the three underwriters approached me about employment. I'm not looking to hire any more of their underwriters away, but it was funny to see the marketing that they each tried to do with me to sell themselves.
I returned from the sun and fun to a rainy Friday afternoon in Sacramento. I got in about 3:05 PM and was back in the office by 4:30 to clean up my e-mails and voice mails so I could get a fresh start this morning. I worked until about 7:30 PM. Darla had a site meeting with the kids from Adventure Christian Church in preparation for their Mexico trip. I figured that I could get more done at work, even though I was tired and needed to get caught up on sleep.
The Titleist golf tournament scheduled for Saturday was postponed due to inclement weather and rescheduled for April 8th. Darla will be out of town that weekend in Mexico and I plan to play golf both days. I did not play this past weekend, partly because of the weather, but mostly because I pulled a muscle in my back mowing the lawn Saturday afternoon. I reached down to pick up one of the spiny balls that fall from my trees and felt something snap. I have a call in to Harry for a Bowen Therapy appointment. I hope to get in this afternoon. If I stand in front of a mirror, I am listing to the left right now as my spine is out of alignment due to the muscle strain in my back. I was in agony last night and had trouble sleeping. The last time I did this, I had one Bowen session and was good to go after that. I'm done with chiropractors. They did little but lighten my wallet over the years.
I got an e-mail from Randy showing Chris' new truck, a beast of a Ram Quad cab. It is Cowboy blue and would require a step ladder for me to get into it. I was going to show Daniel the pictures, but Darla said not to. His father is still making him wait to get a car. We did our part and got David the Mustang when he turned sixteen. Daniel is so under his father's thumb that he cannot get a job and can't buy a car until they sell Steve's junker of a Jeep Cherokee. It has 270,000 miles on it and Steve wants $1,000 for it. I told Daniel to buy it and then sell it for $300 and buy a truck. He has $4,000 to put toward a truck, but has to put up with his Svengali father. In the meantime, I've added Daniel to our insurance at $1500 a year. I look forward to both kids hitting 18 and having a say in their own lives. Daniel is not allowed to get a part time job, because it would interfere with Steve's time with him. Frankly, I want the kid to get a job. He watches way too much television and lies around the house doing nothing. When he finally gets up some plans, he looks to us for money. I tell him to go see his Dad or get a job. It is immensely frustrating to me and I don't know how Daniel handles it. He will end up hating his Dad for being so controlling.
We had a guest speaker at church yesterday and he was a dynamic speaker who advocates getting out of our comfort zone and being an evangelist for Christ. He talked about how the vast majority of people live without any purpose...like a feather on the wind. He said that we need to take control of our lives by giving our lives to the Lord and letting him set our path. He called it making ripples and impacting others for Christ. It was convicting stuff. I hope that each of you can make a ripple and impact others. Ciao.
Monday, March 20, 2006
SPRING?
I see that the calendar claims that Spring begins today. Once again, after a relatively dry weekend, the rains are coming back tonight and tomorrow. I'm worried that the Spring might rust if this rain doesn't subside at some point.
This will be a busy week and I'll only spend two days of it here in the office. I have a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona that begins on Wednesday afternoon. It is the kind of conference that I like in that we will have a brief opening session (5:00PM-5:30PM) on Wednesday afternoon, followed by buses that will take us all out to dinner at Buffalo Chip Saloon and Steakhouse. The next day has breakfast at 8:00 AM followed by a trade show with the various underwriting departments and then golf from noon to 5:00PM followed by a catered dinner at the resort and then Casino night with slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps and Texas Hold'em. The next day breakfast at 8:00AM followed by speakers from 8:30-10:00 AM and meetings with individual underwriters. They offered tickets to the Giants Spring training game in the afternoon, but I wanted to get back home, so I fly out 2:07 PM and arrive back in Sac at 3:05PM. There is a one hour time difference in Phoenix.
I'm traveling with one of the underwriters out of Modesto and we will visit with Emery Jensen, my old boss at Republic Western, who is now the Pacific Region Manager for Scottsdale Insurance. We will meet with Emery and his luietenant, Greg Buckley, who is the Underwriting Manager for our territory. Scott Epstein from our San Francisco office will piggyback that meeting with us. It should be a good trip. The conference is being hosted by Colony Insurance, our third largest carrier. I have yet to visit them and hope to make it over to the office on Friday morning. It will be a busy week, but it should be fun as well.
I did play golf over the weekend and in fact played both Saturday and Sunday. I played Saturday with Boyd and Mel in my regular foursome and then had an old friend from the golf club in town on Saturday. Mark Forbes was our webmaster and works for Sharp Electronics in their computer disk division in Portland. He moved to Washington State in 2004 and we keep in touch mostly through fantasy sports. Randy actually has been in touch with Mark through our football fantasy league. Mark sent me a note and said that he'd like to play golf on Sunday, but that he couldn't get out until 1;30 PM. I got a 1:35 tee time and arranged for two of his other friends (Gary Krohn and Neil Thomas) to play. We about finished in the dark last night, getting off the course at 6:30 in heavy shadows. The last two holes were played in the darkening skies of late twilight. I managed to string together two good rounds of golf over the weekend and shot 42+39 on Saturday followed by 39+42 on Sunday, for a pair of 81s. Sunday was more of a challenge as we had winds of 20-25 MPH blowing and I played with golfers with indexes of 24, 19 and 18. We met up with Greg Wanee and his wife as well as Liz, Lily and Darla afterward and all went to dinner. We had margaritas and toasted Mark's new bride, who was waiting for him in Washington. Mark was in town working on his business, Ventana, an antenna business for CB enthusiasts. She knew that he'd be busy building antennas and then playing golf. We hope to meet her next trip. It was fun and a nice end to the weekend.
Saturday night we hosted one of our friends from church, Marilyn, and her husband, Dennis for dinner. Marilyn has been going to church for thirty years and Dennis has not. We have been praying for him for years and decided to invite them both to dinner. We had never met Dennis as he is a non-church goer. He is a golfer and we are both about 12 handicappers. We had a great time. Dennis is the president of his golf club, Peach Tree Country Club in Linda, California. I will play with him some weekday up at his club. It is one of the jewels of the area, a 6400 yard track in Linda that was formed in 1965 by a group of peach farmers in Marysville. It has grown to 455 members, but the initiation is only $1000 and the dues $265 a month. We saw Marilyn at church on Sunday and she said that Dennis had a great time and wants to invite us over. He was surprised that we didn't give him the "bum's rush" about going to church. It was his biggest fear when Marilyn told him that they were going to some friends from church. I will encourage him to come to church eventually, but want to get to know him, play some golf and become friends first.
Jackson Sonyanga, the African minister from a church in Kampala, Uganda was back speaking at our church yesterday. Jackson brought some video and news about the 21 orphanage homes that have been built thanks to the support of Adventure Chrisitian church. AIDS is still an epidemic in Uganda and there are tens of thousands of orphans due to the epidemic. The homes are all clustered together in a park area and called Adventure Village. There are about twelve children in each home and they are separated boys and girls. It was amazing to see the work that is being done a world away because of our friendship with Jackson. He gave another very convicting sermon on evangelism. He talked about the new converts to Christianity in Uganda and how they go door-to-door preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how here in America we isolate the new Christians and don't let them get involved until they have been properly indoctrinated into the body. He always brings a "slap you upside the head" message with him from Uganda when he visits and it was great to see him. Rick will be back from his sabattical on Easter Sunday and we are all anxious to see his return. He wanted to come back sooner, but the Elders made him take his full four months off and wouldn't let him return.
Darla and I went to see a movie Friday night. We've been so busy the past few weeks that we needed a date night and went to see the new movie "Failure to Launch" It was hilarious and Terry Bradshaw steals the show. Darla has four jewelry shows over the next week and our time together is limited, especially with me leaving town.
Well, that is the news that is fit to share with you all. I hope you are all well. You will never stand so tall as when you kneel to PRAY. Take care. Ciao.
This will be a busy week and I'll only spend two days of it here in the office. I have a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona that begins on Wednesday afternoon. It is the kind of conference that I like in that we will have a brief opening session (5:00PM-5:30PM) on Wednesday afternoon, followed by buses that will take us all out to dinner at Buffalo Chip Saloon and Steakhouse. The next day has breakfast at 8:00 AM followed by a trade show with the various underwriting departments and then golf from noon to 5:00PM followed by a catered dinner at the resort and then Casino night with slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps and Texas Hold'em. The next day breakfast at 8:00AM followed by speakers from 8:30-10:00 AM and meetings with individual underwriters. They offered tickets to the Giants Spring training game in the afternoon, but I wanted to get back home, so I fly out 2:07 PM and arrive back in Sac at 3:05PM. There is a one hour time difference in Phoenix.
I'm traveling with one of the underwriters out of Modesto and we will visit with Emery Jensen, my old boss at Republic Western, who is now the Pacific Region Manager for Scottsdale Insurance. We will meet with Emery and his luietenant, Greg Buckley, who is the Underwriting Manager for our territory. Scott Epstein from our San Francisco office will piggyback that meeting with us. It should be a good trip. The conference is being hosted by Colony Insurance, our third largest carrier. I have yet to visit them and hope to make it over to the office on Friday morning. It will be a busy week, but it should be fun as well.
I did play golf over the weekend and in fact played both Saturday and Sunday. I played Saturday with Boyd and Mel in my regular foursome and then had an old friend from the golf club in town on Saturday. Mark Forbes was our webmaster and works for Sharp Electronics in their computer disk division in Portland. He moved to Washington State in 2004 and we keep in touch mostly through fantasy sports. Randy actually has been in touch with Mark through our football fantasy league. Mark sent me a note and said that he'd like to play golf on Sunday, but that he couldn't get out until 1;30 PM. I got a 1:35 tee time and arranged for two of his other friends (Gary Krohn and Neil Thomas) to play. We about finished in the dark last night, getting off the course at 6:30 in heavy shadows. The last two holes were played in the darkening skies of late twilight. I managed to string together two good rounds of golf over the weekend and shot 42+39 on Saturday followed by 39+42 on Sunday, for a pair of 81s. Sunday was more of a challenge as we had winds of 20-25 MPH blowing and I played with golfers with indexes of 24, 19 and 18. We met up with Greg Wanee and his wife as well as Liz, Lily and Darla afterward and all went to dinner. We had margaritas and toasted Mark's new bride, who was waiting for him in Washington. Mark was in town working on his business, Ventana, an antenna business for CB enthusiasts. She knew that he'd be busy building antennas and then playing golf. We hope to meet her next trip. It was fun and a nice end to the weekend.
Saturday night we hosted one of our friends from church, Marilyn, and her husband, Dennis for dinner. Marilyn has been going to church for thirty years and Dennis has not. We have been praying for him for years and decided to invite them both to dinner. We had never met Dennis as he is a non-church goer. He is a golfer and we are both about 12 handicappers. We had a great time. Dennis is the president of his golf club, Peach Tree Country Club in Linda, California. I will play with him some weekday up at his club. It is one of the jewels of the area, a 6400 yard track in Linda that was formed in 1965 by a group of peach farmers in Marysville. It has grown to 455 members, but the initiation is only $1000 and the dues $265 a month. We saw Marilyn at church on Sunday and she said that Dennis had a great time and wants to invite us over. He was surprised that we didn't give him the "bum's rush" about going to church. It was his biggest fear when Marilyn told him that they were going to some friends from church. I will encourage him to come to church eventually, but want to get to know him, play some golf and become friends first.
Jackson Sonyanga, the African minister from a church in Kampala, Uganda was back speaking at our church yesterday. Jackson brought some video and news about the 21 orphanage homes that have been built thanks to the support of Adventure Chrisitian church. AIDS is still an epidemic in Uganda and there are tens of thousands of orphans due to the epidemic. The homes are all clustered together in a park area and called Adventure Village. There are about twelve children in each home and they are separated boys and girls. It was amazing to see the work that is being done a world away because of our friendship with Jackson. He gave another very convicting sermon on evangelism. He talked about the new converts to Christianity in Uganda and how they go door-to-door preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how here in America we isolate the new Christians and don't let them get involved until they have been properly indoctrinated into the body. He always brings a "slap you upside the head" message with him from Uganda when he visits and it was great to see him. Rick will be back from his sabattical on Easter Sunday and we are all anxious to see his return. He wanted to come back sooner, but the Elders made him take his full four months off and wouldn't let him return.
Darla and I went to see a movie Friday night. We've been so busy the past few weeks that we needed a date night and went to see the new movie "Failure to Launch" It was hilarious and Terry Bradshaw steals the show. Darla has four jewelry shows over the next week and our time together is limited, especially with me leaving town.
Well, that is the news that is fit to share with you all. I hope you are all well. You will never stand so tall as when you kneel to PRAY. Take care. Ciao.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Monterey was a Beach
I decided to update the blog this afternoon, as I had today off and I know what my desk and e-mails will look like tomorrow. I'll save myself some self-induced stress and update this now.
We took a chance and loaded up the SUV, the boys, some food (I said we brought the boys), and Darla and I drove through a steady drenching of rain the 3 hours from Roseville to Monterey. We had periods of sun, some light drizzle and some heavy squalls that put the Explorers' windshield wipers to the test. Darla really needs new blades and I need to get out and find some replacement blades for her car. Daniel decided to join us as he couldn't get a ride from the poker game back home on Friday night and I think he didn't want to miss the food and fun.
It actually snowed in Monterey on Friday night and it seemed that our trip would be one of ducking the rain and trying to stay dry. We had a two-bedroom hotel room and it was certainly servicable if not a luxury suite. The name of the hotel is Quality..it used to be the Quality Inn, but now is known simply as Quality. I suppose quality is subjective, but we had three queen-sized beds in a resort town and only paid $108 a night, so Quality it was. Darla and I awoke Saturday morning and there was a partly cloudy sky and sun streaming through the blinds. We got up and readied for our day and kicked the kids out of bed. We were at the Black Bear Diner in Carmel by nine o'clock and enjoying a hot breakfast. The hotel offered a continental breakfast that left much to be desired. There was coffee, some sort of watered down Tang and muffins cut into razor thin slices and some generic white and brown bread for toasting. I managed to drink some of the coffee while waiting for Daniel and David to shower and get on to our day. I knew I'd be buying breakfast, because if I'd brought those two six-footers in to the breakfast room for a "continental breakfast", there would have been some yelling and gnashing of teeth.
The weather ended up being nice enough that we were able to take a whale watching cruise out of the wharf in Monterey. I had looked into it before we left and it was to be $25 per ticket with a discount. The weather was so iffy, that the tour operator had lowered the price of the cruise to $19.95 and we jumped on it. It was certainly colder on the water, but the boys absolutely loved the trip. We saw a humpback whale and several gray whales as well as several schools of dolphin, including a school of white dolphin. The waves were at their peak about 18 feet and the little boat was thrashed about in the sea. There were about four or five passengers that got sick and Darla and I both had our moments on the trip where we thought we'd lose it. We both hung on and endured the trip.
We ran into an old friend from Stockton, Tai Famusili, a guy I played softball with and formerly a boyfriend of Darla's best friend, Joni Minear. Tai was there with his fiance, and his daughter as well as a group of singles from Quail Lakes Baptist Church. They were there for the day and had brought the church bus which we saw in the parking lot when we left. Their group also took a whale watching tour, but it was a different company.
We went out to dinner in Carmel and tried to eat at our favorite restaurant, The Pasta House on Fifth Street, but alas, it had closed and was looking for a new tenant. We just ate there in October when I played Poppy Hills. We switched gears and headed over to the Forge in the Forest Restaurant, which is also one of our favorites. We had a large meal of French Onion soup and steak sandwiches and steak fajitas. It was a fun evening. We ended up back in the hotel room watching one of David's buddies from high school, Ike Okoye, who is a forward on Wyoming's basketball team. He started for a while during the season, but was relegated to the bench during the conference tournament. He got in the game late in the first half, had three rebounds and made two shots for four points to give Wyoming a one point halftime lead. They ended up losing in overtime and Ike never saw the floor again (perhaps a correlation?)
We went in to the Cannery Row area on Sunday and a heavy squall came through and dropped rain and hail on the area while we ate breakfast. It had passed on and the sun was out by the time we finished up and headed to the shops. The boys both wanted to get an Aqua massage and it was 2 for 1 before noon, so they pooled their money and got a 15 minute aqua massage each. The massage takes place in a chamber where a heavy black curtain lays over your back and the water beats against you. I took pictures of the boys in the massage chambers.
We drove home, stopping for a picnic lunch at the Casa De Fruta Complex outside of Hollister. It was a great weekend and the weather really held on for us. It was raining by the time we got back to Sacramento. This week calls for rain from Tuesday to Friday.
I took the day off today and played golf with Boyd, Dave and a friend of Boyd's. It was cold and the course was wet and I managed a 44+41=85. I told Dave that he jinxes me on the front side. Luckily, he's busy next Saturday when we play. Perhaps I'll break 80.
I set up our trip to Puerto Vallarta today and we'll be in PV from Saturday, August 26th to Saturday September 2nd. We'll celebrate Jennifer's birthday with or without her in Puerto Vallarta. We bought our timeshare in PV back in 2001 and haven't been back since. I'm ready to start taking a vacation to Mexico one year and Hawaii the next. It was the idea when we bought them and I'm ready to get on that train.
Well, that's it for this week. Hope you are ALL well and living in the footsteps of our Saviour. Ciao.
We took a chance and loaded up the SUV, the boys, some food (I said we brought the boys), and Darla and I drove through a steady drenching of rain the 3 hours from Roseville to Monterey. We had periods of sun, some light drizzle and some heavy squalls that put the Explorers' windshield wipers to the test. Darla really needs new blades and I need to get out and find some replacement blades for her car. Daniel decided to join us as he couldn't get a ride from the poker game back home on Friday night and I think he didn't want to miss the food and fun.
It actually snowed in Monterey on Friday night and it seemed that our trip would be one of ducking the rain and trying to stay dry. We had a two-bedroom hotel room and it was certainly servicable if not a luxury suite. The name of the hotel is Quality..it used to be the Quality Inn, but now is known simply as Quality. I suppose quality is subjective, but we had three queen-sized beds in a resort town and only paid $108 a night, so Quality it was. Darla and I awoke Saturday morning and there was a partly cloudy sky and sun streaming through the blinds. We got up and readied for our day and kicked the kids out of bed. We were at the Black Bear Diner in Carmel by nine o'clock and enjoying a hot breakfast. The hotel offered a continental breakfast that left much to be desired. There was coffee, some sort of watered down Tang and muffins cut into razor thin slices and some generic white and brown bread for toasting. I managed to drink some of the coffee while waiting for Daniel and David to shower and get on to our day. I knew I'd be buying breakfast, because if I'd brought those two six-footers in to the breakfast room for a "continental breakfast", there would have been some yelling and gnashing of teeth.
The weather ended up being nice enough that we were able to take a whale watching cruise out of the wharf in Monterey. I had looked into it before we left and it was to be $25 per ticket with a discount. The weather was so iffy, that the tour operator had lowered the price of the cruise to $19.95 and we jumped on it. It was certainly colder on the water, but the boys absolutely loved the trip. We saw a humpback whale and several gray whales as well as several schools of dolphin, including a school of white dolphin. The waves were at their peak about 18 feet and the little boat was thrashed about in the sea. There were about four or five passengers that got sick and Darla and I both had our moments on the trip where we thought we'd lose it. We both hung on and endured the trip.
We ran into an old friend from Stockton, Tai Famusili, a guy I played softball with and formerly a boyfriend of Darla's best friend, Joni Minear. Tai was there with his fiance, and his daughter as well as a group of singles from Quail Lakes Baptist Church. They were there for the day and had brought the church bus which we saw in the parking lot when we left. Their group also took a whale watching tour, but it was a different company.
We went out to dinner in Carmel and tried to eat at our favorite restaurant, The Pasta House on Fifth Street, but alas, it had closed and was looking for a new tenant. We just ate there in October when I played Poppy Hills. We switched gears and headed over to the Forge in the Forest Restaurant, which is also one of our favorites. We had a large meal of French Onion soup and steak sandwiches and steak fajitas. It was a fun evening. We ended up back in the hotel room watching one of David's buddies from high school, Ike Okoye, who is a forward on Wyoming's basketball team. He started for a while during the season, but was relegated to the bench during the conference tournament. He got in the game late in the first half, had three rebounds and made two shots for four points to give Wyoming a one point halftime lead. They ended up losing in overtime and Ike never saw the floor again (perhaps a correlation?)
We went in to the Cannery Row area on Sunday and a heavy squall came through and dropped rain and hail on the area while we ate breakfast. It had passed on and the sun was out by the time we finished up and headed to the shops. The boys both wanted to get an Aqua massage and it was 2 for 1 before noon, so they pooled their money and got a 15 minute aqua massage each. The massage takes place in a chamber where a heavy black curtain lays over your back and the water beats against you. I took pictures of the boys in the massage chambers.
We drove home, stopping for a picnic lunch at the Casa De Fruta Complex outside of Hollister. It was a great weekend and the weather really held on for us. It was raining by the time we got back to Sacramento. This week calls for rain from Tuesday to Friday.
I took the day off today and played golf with Boyd, Dave and a friend of Boyd's. It was cold and the course was wet and I managed a 44+41=85. I told Dave that he jinxes me on the front side. Luckily, he's busy next Saturday when we play. Perhaps I'll break 80.
I set up our trip to Puerto Vallarta today and we'll be in PV from Saturday, August 26th to Saturday September 2nd. We'll celebrate Jennifer's birthday with or without her in Puerto Vallarta. We bought our timeshare in PV back in 2001 and haven't been back since. I'm ready to start taking a vacation to Mexico one year and Hawaii the next. It was the idea when we bought them and I'm ready to get on that train.
Well, that's it for this week. Hope you are ALL well and living in the footsteps of our Saviour. Ciao.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Deja Vu all over again
Strange how sometimes a week goes by and nothing really changes. Last week I wrote about having good weather on Saturday and then the rains coming in to wipe it all away. Well, hello rerun as we just had the same weekend again this past one. Jennifer didn't call, but weatherwise it was a redo. Saturday was not as warm as last weekend, but it was clear and some sun came out and made us all smile and think of Spring.
I played golf again on Saturday and actually had a pretty good round. I played golf with Dave Armijo, my old partner who left the club two years ago because of continuing back pain and his new status as a grandparent. He and his wife were traveling to the Bay Area every weekend to see the grandchild and golf became no more than an afterthought in that scenario. Dave and I caught up on old times and I forgot to concentrate on my game and shot 44 on the front side. I woke up on the back and went even par through seven holes before finishing bogey-bogey for a 44+38=82 score. Dave struggled and shot 90, but it was his first game of 2006. I will take next Monday off and will play with Boyd and Dave at Diamond Oaks. Dave and I teed off a half hour before the RGC tournament which runs last weekend and next. I'm going to Monterey next weekend with the family to celebrate my last year of youth as I turn 49 on Sunday.
Darla went to Marin on Friday to visit her friend, Joni, and I had poker Friday night and golf on Saturday. Mix in church on Sunday and it was a perfect weekend. Darla was home midday on Saturday and we relaxed and watched movies on Saturday and Sunday night (Pride and Predjudice and Walk the Line). I would have liked both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix to have won Oscars for Walk the Line, but at least Reese won. She was excellent as June Carter and I highly recommend the movie.
The rain squall has slowed and it is one of those strange weather patterns, where the storm sits over the city, but the edges of the storm are visible with blue sky and sun showing through. It is but an optical illusion as the forecast is for rain all week long. I have to drive to Modesto tomorrow to interview a candidate for an assistant underwriter position and do a 90-day review on the assistant in the office now. The new position will be in Sacramento and that person will technically work for Modesto, but be housed locally. The ladies in the office there have a candidate who lives in Stockton, but is willing to move to Rancho Cordova for the job.
Work continues to flourish. I'll be in Scottsdale, Arizona in two weeks for an underwriting conference with one of our carriers. We will also have a Burns and Wilcox conference in Dallas, Texas in June. The conference is just for underwriters and not Managers and I'm still somewhere in between. Our Branch Manager conference will be in Detroit in October and I've let it be known that I will NOT return to that conference as anything but a Branch Manager. I will likely send three representative from our office to the conference in Dallas.
The pastor had a good story this weekend on how three preachers each handled their take of the weekly offering. The first preacher said that he takes the offering into the field behind his church and draws a three-foot diameter circle in the grass. He then throws the money in the air and whatever lands in the circle he keeps and whatever land outside the circle goes to God. The second preacher said that he does it similarly, but whatever lands in the circle is for God and he keeps whatever lands outside the circle. The third preacher said that he does it differently. He throws the money in the air and whatever God wants, he grabs and whatever lands back on earth the preacher keeps.
We will be off to Monterey next week and the blog will be late. I'll either do it on Tuesday or late Monday afternoon. I look forward to a weekend away with the family. We found a great deal on hotel rooms and will stay in a two-bedroom hotel for $109 a night in Monterey. Hopefully the weather will rain itself out and it will be nice by next weekend. Stay well, keep your eyes on heaven and your feet firmly on the ground. Ciao.
I played golf again on Saturday and actually had a pretty good round. I played golf with Dave Armijo, my old partner who left the club two years ago because of continuing back pain and his new status as a grandparent. He and his wife were traveling to the Bay Area every weekend to see the grandchild and golf became no more than an afterthought in that scenario. Dave and I caught up on old times and I forgot to concentrate on my game and shot 44 on the front side. I woke up on the back and went even par through seven holes before finishing bogey-bogey for a 44+38=82 score. Dave struggled and shot 90, but it was his first game of 2006. I will take next Monday off and will play with Boyd and Dave at Diamond Oaks. Dave and I teed off a half hour before the RGC tournament which runs last weekend and next. I'm going to Monterey next weekend with the family to celebrate my last year of youth as I turn 49 on Sunday.
Darla went to Marin on Friday to visit her friend, Joni, and I had poker Friday night and golf on Saturday. Mix in church on Sunday and it was a perfect weekend. Darla was home midday on Saturday and we relaxed and watched movies on Saturday and Sunday night (Pride and Predjudice and Walk the Line). I would have liked both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix to have won Oscars for Walk the Line, but at least Reese won. She was excellent as June Carter and I highly recommend the movie.
The rain squall has slowed and it is one of those strange weather patterns, where the storm sits over the city, but the edges of the storm are visible with blue sky and sun showing through. It is but an optical illusion as the forecast is for rain all week long. I have to drive to Modesto tomorrow to interview a candidate for an assistant underwriter position and do a 90-day review on the assistant in the office now. The new position will be in Sacramento and that person will technically work for Modesto, but be housed locally. The ladies in the office there have a candidate who lives in Stockton, but is willing to move to Rancho Cordova for the job.
Work continues to flourish. I'll be in Scottsdale, Arizona in two weeks for an underwriting conference with one of our carriers. We will also have a Burns and Wilcox conference in Dallas, Texas in June. The conference is just for underwriters and not Managers and I'm still somewhere in between. Our Branch Manager conference will be in Detroit in October and I've let it be known that I will NOT return to that conference as anything but a Branch Manager. I will likely send three representative from our office to the conference in Dallas.
The pastor had a good story this weekend on how three preachers each handled their take of the weekly offering. The first preacher said that he takes the offering into the field behind his church and draws a three-foot diameter circle in the grass. He then throws the money in the air and whatever lands in the circle he keeps and whatever land outside the circle goes to God. The second preacher said that he does it similarly, but whatever lands in the circle is for God and he keeps whatever lands outside the circle. The third preacher said that he does it differently. He throws the money in the air and whatever God wants, he grabs and whatever lands back on earth the preacher keeps.
We will be off to Monterey next week and the blog will be late. I'll either do it on Tuesday or late Monday afternoon. I look forward to a weekend away with the family. We found a great deal on hotel rooms and will stay in a two-bedroom hotel for $109 a night in Monterey. Hopefully the weather will rain itself out and it will be nice by next weekend. Stay well, keep your eyes on heaven and your feet firmly on the ground. Ciao.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Houston, I have a daughter
Yes. The unthinkable occurred yesterday, I received a call and found out that I have a long lost daughter. She left in January for Korea and we'd lost contact with her for a few months, but communications have been re-established and all is well. Jennifer has been very busy in Korea and the initial assessment that she would be back in the USA in March has given way to the realization that the job is bigger than originally thought, several new contracts have been added and it looks like May for her return at this point. There is good news and that is that she had her ninety day review. They've not only decided to retain her services, but agreed to place her in the new San Francisco office. So, she doesn't have to move to Warner Robbins, Georgia. As Jennifer put it: "I can travel the world and still return to Cali between assignments." She is doing really well in her job and is respected for her knowledge and her skill. It is a great thing for her confidence and for her well being to be respected and appreciated. Jennifer had some problems on this trip and one of them was not being able to get her contractor ID. For whatever reason, the wheels of bureaucracy turned way too slow and she had to be signed in and out of the base by her supervisor every day. On top of that, she didn't have her retired military ID and couldn't even shop at the PX. She had to have one of the guys in her company buy her things, including tampons. Poor thing. Her boss acknowledged the difficulties, apologized and offered her the position in SF. Nice. One of the guys in her group lives in Vegas and was jealous that she got SF as he is based out of New York City.
It was a beautiful Saturday this week, followed by the start of a five day storm that promises to bring us up to five inches of rain. I went to bed on Saturday night with a slight sunburn and woke up in Vancouver Sunday morning. What happened? The storm hit hard last night, but let up a little this morning and the commute was cake. There was a slight rain and it amazed me to see how many people were huddled at bus stops along my route without a hat or an umbrella. What gives with people? They'll show up at work looking like a drowned rat. I suppose the fact that they are taking the bus alone might indicate the level of sophistication present. Before I get slammed by the masses. I know that senior citizens use the transit system for transportation after their driving years are over, but they are not in line at the bus stop at six thirty in the morning unless they've completely given in to dementia.
I was in Redding on Thursday and Friday and had 65 voice mail messages waiting for me. My assistant, Connie, handled my desk on Thursday, but was herself out of the office on Friday. I am basically digging out right now, but it was a great marketing trip and well worth my time and effort to see the people in Shasta County.
Saturday was a great day for golf and although I only shot 42+42=84, I was on the green on number seven, a par five, in two and left my eagle putt on the right lip for a tap in birdie. Some things transcend score and that was a moment in time. The hole is 485 yards. I will not play in the next tournament as Darla and I will travel over my birthday. We had thought about going up to Reno, but we have the boys that weekend and I am considering a trip to Monterey/Carmel. Dad and Shirley, why don't you drive up and join us? The next tournament is a three-day, two man scramble, shamble and best ball. Fun, but not real golf and I won't miss it. My next tournament will be the Master's tournament in April followed by the two- man, four ball qualifier in late April. Boyd and I will again try our hand at winning there. They will take the two lowest two-ball teams and they will combine to play four-ball in the regional qualifier in June. We're getting closer and I hope to break through in one of these tournaments soon.
Boyd is a great guy. He is Mormon and went to school at BYU. We've had several religious discussions and I think he is open to hearing about Jesus. The Mormon church is so cult-like in it's beliefs. They believe that Jesus was a prophet, but that Joseph Smith was the messiah. It is a backward religion and has a foundation of "earning your way to heaven". Of course as a Christian, there is no earning heaven, Jesus died for our sins and he is the only way to heaven.
Boyd told me a story this week of his son's mission to Guatemala. Boyd and his wife flew down to Guatemala to pick up their son following his year-long mission. As they were driving their rented car back to the airport, they were ambushed by a group of banditos. The bandits had the crossed gunbelts with bullets. Boyd said that they were actually waiting to rob a bus that crossed the path every day and had workers from the local winery as well as the owner of the winery on it. The bandits were stupid and stopped Boyd and his family so they could block the road with their rental car. They searched Boyd three times and missed his wallet in his back pocket each time. They did take money from his wife's purse. She had about $200 in American money and Boyd's son convinced the bandits that US money was worthless in Guatemala. They gave the money back to them. In truth US funds are worth much more than Guatemalan money. They also locked the car when they got out and the bandits couldn't figure out how to work the keys to get in to the car. Boyd says that it is funny now, but it was life or death at the time. They did rob the bus and left on foot, leaving them with the car keys. Boyd was able to get his family back in the car and drive to the police station. The police told them that they were lucky, that many of the local bandits killed their hostages to eliminate witnesses.
Well, work awaits. I have my door shut and my team keeps poking their head in the door to say good morning. I had best get on to my day. I hope you all have a good week. God bless and be well. Ciao.
It was a beautiful Saturday this week, followed by the start of a five day storm that promises to bring us up to five inches of rain. I went to bed on Saturday night with a slight sunburn and woke up in Vancouver Sunday morning. What happened? The storm hit hard last night, but let up a little this morning and the commute was cake. There was a slight rain and it amazed me to see how many people were huddled at bus stops along my route without a hat or an umbrella. What gives with people? They'll show up at work looking like a drowned rat. I suppose the fact that they are taking the bus alone might indicate the level of sophistication present. Before I get slammed by the masses. I know that senior citizens use the transit system for transportation after their driving years are over, but they are not in line at the bus stop at six thirty in the morning unless they've completely given in to dementia.
I was in Redding on Thursday and Friday and had 65 voice mail messages waiting for me. My assistant, Connie, handled my desk on Thursday, but was herself out of the office on Friday. I am basically digging out right now, but it was a great marketing trip and well worth my time and effort to see the people in Shasta County.
Saturday was a great day for golf and although I only shot 42+42=84, I was on the green on number seven, a par five, in two and left my eagle putt on the right lip for a tap in birdie. Some things transcend score and that was a moment in time. The hole is 485 yards. I will not play in the next tournament as Darla and I will travel over my birthday. We had thought about going up to Reno, but we have the boys that weekend and I am considering a trip to Monterey/Carmel. Dad and Shirley, why don't you drive up and join us? The next tournament is a three-day, two man scramble, shamble and best ball. Fun, but not real golf and I won't miss it. My next tournament will be the Master's tournament in April followed by the two- man, four ball qualifier in late April. Boyd and I will again try our hand at winning there. They will take the two lowest two-ball teams and they will combine to play four-ball in the regional qualifier in June. We're getting closer and I hope to break through in one of these tournaments soon.
Boyd is a great guy. He is Mormon and went to school at BYU. We've had several religious discussions and I think he is open to hearing about Jesus. The Mormon church is so cult-like in it's beliefs. They believe that Jesus was a prophet, but that Joseph Smith was the messiah. It is a backward religion and has a foundation of "earning your way to heaven". Of course as a Christian, there is no earning heaven, Jesus died for our sins and he is the only way to heaven.
Boyd told me a story this week of his son's mission to Guatemala. Boyd and his wife flew down to Guatemala to pick up their son following his year-long mission. As they were driving their rented car back to the airport, they were ambushed by a group of banditos. The bandits had the crossed gunbelts with bullets. Boyd said that they were actually waiting to rob a bus that crossed the path every day and had workers from the local winery as well as the owner of the winery on it. The bandits were stupid and stopped Boyd and his family so they could block the road with their rental car. They searched Boyd three times and missed his wallet in his back pocket each time. They did take money from his wife's purse. She had about $200 in American money and Boyd's son convinced the bandits that US money was worthless in Guatemala. They gave the money back to them. In truth US funds are worth much more than Guatemalan money. They also locked the car when they got out and the bandits couldn't figure out how to work the keys to get in to the car. Boyd says that it is funny now, but it was life or death at the time. They did rob the bus and left on foot, leaving them with the car keys. Boyd was able to get his family back in the car and drive to the police station. The police told them that they were lucky, that many of the local bandits killed their hostages to eliminate witnesses.
Well, work awaits. I have my door shut and my team keeps poking their head in the door to say good morning. I had best get on to my day. I hope you all have a good week. God bless and be well. Ciao.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Presidents Day 2006
It is another holiday in 2006 that finds me at work and being productive while the balance of Sacramento sleeps in and enjoys their day off from work. Today dawned with a bright blue sky and not a cloud in evidence, but it is COLD. A front from Canada rolled in last Thursday and continues to hold sway on our weather. We awoke to frost on the lawn and rooftops and steam is now rising from what is left of the frost now that the sun has come out to burn off the silvery pest. It will be a tremendous day, though a high of only 59 degrees after an overnight low of 33.
The weather that pushed in over the weekend threatened my golf game, but despite a few drops of rain on Saturday I was able to play the two day tournament with little distress. I did wear a golf shirt over a long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of Reebok sweat pants both days. It was the two-day zone qualifier for a chance to advance to Spyglass Hill in Carmel/Pebble Beach. Boyd and I played well, but a tournament like this requires luck as well as skill and we had several putts that lipped out and stopped on the edge of the cup, that if they had dropped would have propelled us to the win. As it is, we finished 4th out of 18 teams with a 64+63=127. The winners had 59+61=120 and 59+65=124. I shot very consistent golf with 37+44=81 and 39+42=81. If I had played better on the back nine we might have had a chance. Boyd shot 78 on Saturday and 73 yesterday, so we both brought our A games. It just wasn't to be. We had one team that shot 57 on Saturday and they are both mediocre golfers. They have been known to have some problems with basic math and the Board decided to place them with one of our tougher "rules" teams on Sunday and they struggled to a 77, perhaps the biggest two day swing in scoring in memory. We also lost one of our members on Saturday night. He played in the tournament on Saturday and died at home of a massive heart attack after dinner. Skip Orr was 62 and his wife called to tell us how much the golf group meant to her husband. The golf group will dedicate a plaque and tree in his honor somewhere on the course. Skip was a former President of the Roseville Golf Club.
Darla and I will have our new bedroom furniture delivered this week on Wednesday. I put our old furniture on Craig's List, a local E-Bay of sorts, although you specify a price and the buyers can look at the goods online and contact you. I had no clue that this process existed, much less that it was so popular. I had about ten calls and twenty e-mails within minutes of posting the ad. We are selling our old dresser and armoire, as well as a futon that was in the study. Our old bed is being moved into the study, which will become a guest bedroom and we had to move out the futon which was frankly too big for that room with the desk in it anyway. One couple called Darla and insisted that they come to see the futon on Thursday night. I work late and dragged home at six-thirty to find out that we had these people coming. We had the futon listed at $150 on Craig's List. The couple showed up in a Ford Taurus and had a sob story about their mother who was coming home to live with them after being in a rest home for six months following a stroke. They came and looked at the futon and laid it flat and measured how far it sat from the wall. They hemmed and hawed and finally offered us $100. Darla said no, but that we'd take $125. The guy said that they'd spent so much getting the mom home that he could only afford $100. Darla finally gave in and decided to show some Christian charity. I helped them take the futon apart and literally cram it into their Taurus. He laid the back seats flat and we placed the slats into the trunk and then had to fold up the mattress like a taco and push and pull and slam the door shut. They thanked us and drove off with their treasure like the Beverly Hillbillies. The next morning I went back onto Craig's List to check our ads and saw a new ad for our futon being sold by the couple who bought it and they were asking $150. Those sons of ... Who knows if there was a sick Mom or it was just a scam, but shame on them and shame on us. I'm now jaded. If your Mom is sick and you need some cheap furniture, go see the Salvation Army and tell them your sob story, I'm not buying it. We have someone coming tonight to buy the dresser and armoire for $150. I probably priced them too low, but who knew?
I haven't given an update on Jason Ramos for awhile. Jason is Jenn's friend who is in the hospital with throat cancer. Jason turns 26 this week and will celebrate his birthday in the hospital. His cancer is under control, but the size of the tumor damaged his vocal cords and he has a hole in his throat that needs to be closed with surgery. They are now expecting that he will be in the hospital for another four to six months.. Please continue to pray for this courageous young man and for his parents, who lost his twin to a suicide last year and have watched Jason suffer so much over the last few months.
I will be up in Redding late this week for a marketing visit to my Redding agents. Work continues to thrive. We made a nice profit in January and February is going along nicely as well. I'm having a very good month in spite of having lost a couple of large renewals this month. I'm leading the office in both premium and net income this month, which is what the powers that be want. I am in conflict with home office right now on a new contract that they wanted us to sign. We sign a bonus contract that pays us based on our production. The contract has read in the past that we could not take any of the business that we put on the books for a period of one year after we left. I had no problem with that wording. Unfortunately, they changed the wording this year to include not contacting any of our agents for one year after we leave. I disagree with that wording and feel that it is "restraint of trade". I have agreed to sign the old contract or simply line out the wording that I disagree with. I have put the ball in their court and have yet to hear where it will finally settle.
Well, that is the news that's fit to share with all of you. Work awaits. I am sending the troops home early today as most of our agent and almost all of our companies are closed today. Put the LORD at the front of your day and the living will be easy. Ciao.
The weather that pushed in over the weekend threatened my golf game, but despite a few drops of rain on Saturday I was able to play the two day tournament with little distress. I did wear a golf shirt over a long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of Reebok sweat pants both days. It was the two-day zone qualifier for a chance to advance to Spyglass Hill in Carmel/Pebble Beach. Boyd and I played well, but a tournament like this requires luck as well as skill and we had several putts that lipped out and stopped on the edge of the cup, that if they had dropped would have propelled us to the win. As it is, we finished 4th out of 18 teams with a 64+63=127. The winners had 59+61=120 and 59+65=124. I shot very consistent golf with 37+44=81 and 39+42=81. If I had played better on the back nine we might have had a chance. Boyd shot 78 on Saturday and 73 yesterday, so we both brought our A games. It just wasn't to be. We had one team that shot 57 on Saturday and they are both mediocre golfers. They have been known to have some problems with basic math and the Board decided to place them with one of our tougher "rules" teams on Sunday and they struggled to a 77, perhaps the biggest two day swing in scoring in memory. We also lost one of our members on Saturday night. He played in the tournament on Saturday and died at home of a massive heart attack after dinner. Skip Orr was 62 and his wife called to tell us how much the golf group meant to her husband. The golf group will dedicate a plaque and tree in his honor somewhere on the course. Skip was a former President of the Roseville Golf Club.
Darla and I will have our new bedroom furniture delivered this week on Wednesday. I put our old furniture on Craig's List, a local E-Bay of sorts, although you specify a price and the buyers can look at the goods online and contact you. I had no clue that this process existed, much less that it was so popular. I had about ten calls and twenty e-mails within minutes of posting the ad. We are selling our old dresser and armoire, as well as a futon that was in the study. Our old bed is being moved into the study, which will become a guest bedroom and we had to move out the futon which was frankly too big for that room with the desk in it anyway. One couple called Darla and insisted that they come to see the futon on Thursday night. I work late and dragged home at six-thirty to find out that we had these people coming. We had the futon listed at $150 on Craig's List. The couple showed up in a Ford Taurus and had a sob story about their mother who was coming home to live with them after being in a rest home for six months following a stroke. They came and looked at the futon and laid it flat and measured how far it sat from the wall. They hemmed and hawed and finally offered us $100. Darla said no, but that we'd take $125. The guy said that they'd spent so much getting the mom home that he could only afford $100. Darla finally gave in and decided to show some Christian charity. I helped them take the futon apart and literally cram it into their Taurus. He laid the back seats flat and we placed the slats into the trunk and then had to fold up the mattress like a taco and push and pull and slam the door shut. They thanked us and drove off with their treasure like the Beverly Hillbillies. The next morning I went back onto Craig's List to check our ads and saw a new ad for our futon being sold by the couple who bought it and they were asking $150. Those sons of ... Who knows if there was a sick Mom or it was just a scam, but shame on them and shame on us. I'm now jaded. If your Mom is sick and you need some cheap furniture, go see the Salvation Army and tell them your sob story, I'm not buying it. We have someone coming tonight to buy the dresser and armoire for $150. I probably priced them too low, but who knew?
I haven't given an update on Jason Ramos for awhile. Jason is Jenn's friend who is in the hospital with throat cancer. Jason turns 26 this week and will celebrate his birthday in the hospital. His cancer is under control, but the size of the tumor damaged his vocal cords and he has a hole in his throat that needs to be closed with surgery. They are now expecting that he will be in the hospital for another four to six months.. Please continue to pray for this courageous young man and for his parents, who lost his twin to a suicide last year and have watched Jason suffer so much over the last few months.
I will be up in Redding late this week for a marketing visit to my Redding agents. Work continues to thrive. We made a nice profit in January and February is going along nicely as well. I'm having a very good month in spite of having lost a couple of large renewals this month. I'm leading the office in both premium and net income this month, which is what the powers that be want. I am in conflict with home office right now on a new contract that they wanted us to sign. We sign a bonus contract that pays us based on our production. The contract has read in the past that we could not take any of the business that we put on the books for a period of one year after we left. I had no problem with that wording. Unfortunately, they changed the wording this year to include not contacting any of our agents for one year after we leave. I disagree with that wording and feel that it is "restraint of trade". I have agreed to sign the old contract or simply line out the wording that I disagree with. I have put the ball in their court and have yet to hear where it will finally settle.
Well, that is the news that's fit to share with all of you. Work awaits. I am sending the troops home early today as most of our agent and almost all of our companies are closed today. Put the LORD at the front of your day and the living will be easy. Ciao.
Monday, February 13, 2006
75 degrees and Sunny
Life is good in Northern California and I feel little empathy for my co-workers who are slogging to work today in a fierce blizzard in Detroit, Michigan. Frankly, they choose to live in the rust belt and I choose to live in California. The weekend was spectacular and I got my first sunburn of the year. I played golf on Saturday in shorts and although I applied sunscreen liberally, I'm a white boy and my winter white skin attracted the sun like honey attracts bears. I spent yesterday outside trimming bushes and plants and applying fertilizer and crabgrass preventer to the lawn. It truly was a spectacular weekend without even a hint of clouds or a puff of wind and it was the type of weekend that makes one very happy to be a Californian. The weather should hold for the first part of this week and then turn to clouds and rain by Thursday. Hopefully, the weekend will be dry as I have a two day qualifier tournament for Spyglass Hill in Carmel/ Pebble Beach.
Boyd and I played Saturday as a tune-up for our partnership next weekend. We will play two days of two-man best ball for a chance to represent our club in the NCGA 2-man best ball championships played at Spyglass Hill in April. Our practice round was played in ideal conditions and we can both say that we got the bad round out of our systems. I shot 45+42=87 and had a sole birdie to go with the rest of the mess of my round. Boyd shot an 80 and we shot a combined 69. We played in the tournament last year and shot 66+66=132 and the winners had 123. We need to be sharp and play good golf to win. Next week is a new week, so we'll see how we do. I will get out and practice this week a couple of times.
We had a small experimental plane crash yesterday in Roseville. The pilot was out doing barrel rolls and stunts way too close to his neighborhood. In fact, his wife was filming the stunts from their front yard when his plane lost control and he crashed into a two story home about three blocks from his house. The plane burst into flames destroying the house and badly damaging an adjacent home. The pilot and his passenger were killed on impact. The family that owned the home was out of town, but their 18 year old son, who graduated with David from Woodcreek High School, was in town and is unaccounted for. The upper story of the home was destroyed on impact and the plane came to rest in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The FAA was to get a crane out to the crash site today to remove the plane and make the house safe for searchers to get into the home and look for the teenager. Hopefully, he was out of the house as the crash occurred at about 11:30 in the morning, when I was driving home from church.
We had a video taped message from Pastor Rick at church yesterday. He is in the middle of a three month sabbatical and the tape showed Rick and his family on the beach and enjoying their time together. He has grown our church in 12 years from a small neighborhood church of 120 people to a 3,300 member mega church and he is tired. We look forward to seeing him back preaching next month.
David finally got his stereo installed this weekend and he's thrilled. Several of our Christian CDs were missing on the weekend and they were in his car. It is Lincoln's birthday today, which is not a federal holiday, and David is off to his job. Darla is off because she gets EVERY holiday off. Daniel is off from school today because teachers are lazy and Darla and Dan will likely go and visit her grandfather who is in his 80's and lives in a retirement center in Ripon, California. He sold his house last year and finally decided to move into the retirement village where he spent a great deal of his time visiting friends and helping out with the church service and special meals, etc. He and his wife, Liz, live in an apartment on the grounds and still have their car. Liz suffers from dementia and Andy is getting older and it is hard for them to care for each other now. We are all happy that they have moved into the home as it gives them a social outlet, but also gives them access to health care and assisted living.
My assistant called to tell me that she has a nail in her tire. Her husband is in Fresno on a job this week and she didn't know what to do. I put her in touch with Pete Morrison, one of my underwriters who lives in her area. Hopefully, Pete will be able to get her over to a Big O tires and get her tire fixed. It was an interesting call and she was looking for guidance more than just calling to tell me she'd be late.
Daniel has finished his driver's education and will be taking his license exam this week. His grandmother is buying him a car worth up to $4,000 and Dan is busy hunting for a new car. We helped David and Jennifer with their first cars and put it on Steve to help Daniel. Lucky for Daniel his grandmother stepped to the plate or Dan would have been stuck with one of the junkers that Steve has at his house. He has a 65 Ford pickup, a broken down 1980's Jeep Cherokee, a 1970's Ford El Camino, as well as his 2004 Chevy Tahoe. None of the other vehicles are road ready and Daniel would have been stuck if not for Grandma. I wanted Steve to buy the car as I want our insurance to be secondary. We already pay close to $4,700 for insurance on three cars. Darla and I used to pay $1,100 for our two cars and then we added David. I couldn't afford to add Daniel, much less buy him a car. Geico, our insurer, will let us add Daniel to our policy for only $100 a month if he has primary insurance with his father.
I haven't heard from Dad and Shirley. I know they were going to be in Texas for a month, but don't know if they have flown home yet or not. I may try to call over to Darryl's tonight. I thought about it too late last night.
I did hear from Jennifer and got her address in Korea. She can actually pick her mail up a the Army Post Office. Her address for now is:
Jennifer Lyon
Das Net Corp
Box 12074
APO, AP 96278
She expects to be in Korea through March and into April as her contract has been extended on the current job. She is enjoying herself and has been into the cities of Korea a few times. I wonder if she has had the experience of eating live octopus. It is a deadly delicacy in Korea and one that I could do without.
Well, that is it for this week. Remember to explore your world around you. God made this world for us to enjoy and to proclaim His love. Ciao.
Boyd and I played Saturday as a tune-up for our partnership next weekend. We will play two days of two-man best ball for a chance to represent our club in the NCGA 2-man best ball championships played at Spyglass Hill in April. Our practice round was played in ideal conditions and we can both say that we got the bad round out of our systems. I shot 45+42=87 and had a sole birdie to go with the rest of the mess of my round. Boyd shot an 80 and we shot a combined 69. We played in the tournament last year and shot 66+66=132 and the winners had 123. We need to be sharp and play good golf to win. Next week is a new week, so we'll see how we do. I will get out and practice this week a couple of times.
We had a small experimental plane crash yesterday in Roseville. The pilot was out doing barrel rolls and stunts way too close to his neighborhood. In fact, his wife was filming the stunts from their front yard when his plane lost control and he crashed into a two story home about three blocks from his house. The plane burst into flames destroying the house and badly damaging an adjacent home. The pilot and his passenger were killed on impact. The family that owned the home was out of town, but their 18 year old son, who graduated with David from Woodcreek High School, was in town and is unaccounted for. The upper story of the home was destroyed on impact and the plane came to rest in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The FAA was to get a crane out to the crash site today to remove the plane and make the house safe for searchers to get into the home and look for the teenager. Hopefully, he was out of the house as the crash occurred at about 11:30 in the morning, when I was driving home from church.
We had a video taped message from Pastor Rick at church yesterday. He is in the middle of a three month sabbatical and the tape showed Rick and his family on the beach and enjoying their time together. He has grown our church in 12 years from a small neighborhood church of 120 people to a 3,300 member mega church and he is tired. We look forward to seeing him back preaching next month.
David finally got his stereo installed this weekend and he's thrilled. Several of our Christian CDs were missing on the weekend and they were in his car. It is Lincoln's birthday today, which is not a federal holiday, and David is off to his job. Darla is off because she gets EVERY holiday off. Daniel is off from school today because teachers are lazy and Darla and Dan will likely go and visit her grandfather who is in his 80's and lives in a retirement center in Ripon, California. He sold his house last year and finally decided to move into the retirement village where he spent a great deal of his time visiting friends and helping out with the church service and special meals, etc. He and his wife, Liz, live in an apartment on the grounds and still have their car. Liz suffers from dementia and Andy is getting older and it is hard for them to care for each other now. We are all happy that they have moved into the home as it gives them a social outlet, but also gives them access to health care and assisted living.
My assistant called to tell me that she has a nail in her tire. Her husband is in Fresno on a job this week and she didn't know what to do. I put her in touch with Pete Morrison, one of my underwriters who lives in her area. Hopefully, Pete will be able to get her over to a Big O tires and get her tire fixed. It was an interesting call and she was looking for guidance more than just calling to tell me she'd be late.
Daniel has finished his driver's education and will be taking his license exam this week. His grandmother is buying him a car worth up to $4,000 and Dan is busy hunting for a new car. We helped David and Jennifer with their first cars and put it on Steve to help Daniel. Lucky for Daniel his grandmother stepped to the plate or Dan would have been stuck with one of the junkers that Steve has at his house. He has a 65 Ford pickup, a broken down 1980's Jeep Cherokee, a 1970's Ford El Camino, as well as his 2004 Chevy Tahoe. None of the other vehicles are road ready and Daniel would have been stuck if not for Grandma. I wanted Steve to buy the car as I want our insurance to be secondary. We already pay close to $4,700 for insurance on three cars. Darla and I used to pay $1,100 for our two cars and then we added David. I couldn't afford to add Daniel, much less buy him a car. Geico, our insurer, will let us add Daniel to our policy for only $100 a month if he has primary insurance with his father.
I haven't heard from Dad and Shirley. I know they were going to be in Texas for a month, but don't know if they have flown home yet or not. I may try to call over to Darryl's tonight. I thought about it too late last night.
I did hear from Jennifer and got her address in Korea. She can actually pick her mail up a the Army Post Office. Her address for now is:
Jennifer Lyon
Das Net Corp
Box 12074
APO, AP 96278
She expects to be in Korea through March and into April as her contract has been extended on the current job. She is enjoying herself and has been into the cities of Korea a few times. I wonder if she has had the experience of eating live octopus. It is a deadly delicacy in Korea and one that I could do without.
Well, that is it for this week. Remember to explore your world around you. God made this world for us to enjoy and to proclaim His love. Ciao.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Great weekend and a good week ahead
Well, I thought I'd write it and see if it comes true. It was a great weekend, one that included poker, golf and football. Sprinkle that in with some quality family time and it is an ingredient for a great weekend.
Darla's brother, Steve, has gone into full middle life crisis mode and moved he and his wife to Hawaii. He retired from the bread route that he worked for ten years or so and will try to scratch out a living in Hawaii. He's not sure what he'll do, but his wife has a job in the psych profession and he will turn over some rocks and see what he can find. His oldest daughter, Shae, moved with Steve's wife, Kirsten, to the islands and spent three months trying to acclimate herself to the locals, but it just didn't take and she came home over Christmas and will not return. One of the problems is that she is 18 and in her senior year of school. She had to leave all of her friends in Sonora and tried hard to make a go of it in Hawaii, but the schools are pretty laid back and all of the kids have their long term friends and she just couldn't fit in. She came back to the mainland and refused to return. There is a drug culture in Hawaii that is pervasive in the schools and she never felt comfortable. So, Steve has packed up his wife, his dog and cat, a couple of cars and his furniture and is on a flight to Hawaii this morning. He leaves behind his old job, his old friends and his two daughters. I don't get it, but it sure smells of a major midlife crisis. I hope he doesn't wake up in a few months or years with a deep regret that he left his kids behind. Shae is 18 and his other daughter, Taylor, is 15. They live in Willits with their mother and step-father, who runs a mortuary.
The girls, Taylor and Shae, stayed with us this weekend and saw their Dad on Saturday for a final goodbye before his retreat from sanity (is my bias showing?). We had a great time with the girls and they joined us for church on Sunday. David was able to pry his way away from his father and join us for dinner Saturday night and for church and breakfast out on Sunday.
Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day and I was able to do some chores around the house and clean my golf equipment from the mud and sludge of a sloppy Saturday outing. The sky was clear and the sun was almost hot as it pushed the upper sixties yesterday. I pulled out a beach chair and sat on my front driveway idly enjoying a sunny Winter day and drifted off to sleep. I must have slept 45 minutes and woke up with a slight sunburn and mildly refreshed. It was great.
Friday night was poker at my house, the first game of 2006 and the first in about four months. I had ten players and we had to break off into two tables. It was great catching up with the guys and I had my entire foursome for Saturday's tournament at the game. Rain was forecast overnight and sure enough it blew in about 3 A.M. although it was gone by the time I awoke at 7:30 in preparation for my 9:44 tee time. Conditions at the course were wet and wetter and it was a sloppy, muddy round of golf. The balls were plugging in the fairway and roll was simply a theory on this day. I shot 46+42=88 and don't know where I ended up in the tournament as I left early to catch up with Darla, the girls and Darla's parents at our house. I had two birdies in the round and won some skin money, but I'm sure finished out of the money in the tournament. I'm an 11 now and a net of 77 is nothing to get excited about.
Sunday was church and football and nap time in the front yard. This week looks to be sunny and in the low seventies all week. Spring fever will be in full bloom as we slog through the week. I have a new receptionist starting today. The last one was a temp and she never seemed to pick up the nuances of the job. She was such a nice lady and cried when we let her go, but I have 13 people in the office and I need a file clerk/receptionist/claims person/loss run specialist, etc. with some get up and go. I'm hiring temp-to-permanent through an employment agency and it is amazing how few qualified people are available. Unemployment is at less than 5% and some of those don't want to work and the others really ought to be unemployed. The replacement will be here this morning and we will be back to training. I've asked Gail in the office to take over the supervision of the new employee.
Jennifer's friend, Jason, continues to struggle with his cancer and treatment in the hospital. He has been in UC Davis Medical Center for 2 1/2 months and is now expected to remain in the hospital for six more months. He has a hole in his windpipe caused by the cancer and the growth of the tumor. The doctors did a temporary repair, but have to wait for the tumor to shrink to do the permanent repair. Jason has regained some strength, but the biggest concern now is his mental health as he is so ready to get out of the hospital. The cancer has subsided, but he had to stop chemo therapy when the latest crisis occured, so he will have to start up chemo treatments again, shrink the tumor and then get the throat surgery. 25 years old and going through all of this. Pray hard for Jason.
Darla bough herself a new bedroom set this weekend. She has never liked the bedroom set that I brought into the marriage. According to her, it is too large and bulky. We will finally be able to move our old bed into the study and set up a real guest bedroom, so that Dad and Shirley will feel comfortable in coming to visit us in California and not always have to run off to Texas when the rain in Vancouver gets to be too mind numbing for them. We will move the bed and the bookcase into the study and move the desk and computer back into our room. We'll also now have a soft landing for Jennifer when she finds herself in Sacramento/Folsom/Roseville and wants to stay with us.
David did buy the stereo, a Pioneer deck that will allow him to manipulate his MP3 player. Nice, but he hasn't been able to get in to have the deck installed. He still needs to get speakers and a subwoofer for the truck.
That is the news for this week. I hope all are well and looking to the LORD for help with decisions in your lives. Stay well. Ciao.
Darla's brother, Steve, has gone into full middle life crisis mode and moved he and his wife to Hawaii. He retired from the bread route that he worked for ten years or so and will try to scratch out a living in Hawaii. He's not sure what he'll do, but his wife has a job in the psych profession and he will turn over some rocks and see what he can find. His oldest daughter, Shae, moved with Steve's wife, Kirsten, to the islands and spent three months trying to acclimate herself to the locals, but it just didn't take and she came home over Christmas and will not return. One of the problems is that she is 18 and in her senior year of school. She had to leave all of her friends in Sonora and tried hard to make a go of it in Hawaii, but the schools are pretty laid back and all of the kids have their long term friends and she just couldn't fit in. She came back to the mainland and refused to return. There is a drug culture in Hawaii that is pervasive in the schools and she never felt comfortable. So, Steve has packed up his wife, his dog and cat, a couple of cars and his furniture and is on a flight to Hawaii this morning. He leaves behind his old job, his old friends and his two daughters. I don't get it, but it sure smells of a major midlife crisis. I hope he doesn't wake up in a few months or years with a deep regret that he left his kids behind. Shae is 18 and his other daughter, Taylor, is 15. They live in Willits with their mother and step-father, who runs a mortuary.
The girls, Taylor and Shae, stayed with us this weekend and saw their Dad on Saturday for a final goodbye before his retreat from sanity (is my bias showing?). We had a great time with the girls and they joined us for church on Sunday. David was able to pry his way away from his father and join us for dinner Saturday night and for church and breakfast out on Sunday.
Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day and I was able to do some chores around the house and clean my golf equipment from the mud and sludge of a sloppy Saturday outing. The sky was clear and the sun was almost hot as it pushed the upper sixties yesterday. I pulled out a beach chair and sat on my front driveway idly enjoying a sunny Winter day and drifted off to sleep. I must have slept 45 minutes and woke up with a slight sunburn and mildly refreshed. It was great.
Friday night was poker at my house, the first game of 2006 and the first in about four months. I had ten players and we had to break off into two tables. It was great catching up with the guys and I had my entire foursome for Saturday's tournament at the game. Rain was forecast overnight and sure enough it blew in about 3 A.M. although it was gone by the time I awoke at 7:30 in preparation for my 9:44 tee time. Conditions at the course were wet and wetter and it was a sloppy, muddy round of golf. The balls were plugging in the fairway and roll was simply a theory on this day. I shot 46+42=88 and don't know where I ended up in the tournament as I left early to catch up with Darla, the girls and Darla's parents at our house. I had two birdies in the round and won some skin money, but I'm sure finished out of the money in the tournament. I'm an 11 now and a net of 77 is nothing to get excited about.
Sunday was church and football and nap time in the front yard. This week looks to be sunny and in the low seventies all week. Spring fever will be in full bloom as we slog through the week. I have a new receptionist starting today. The last one was a temp and she never seemed to pick up the nuances of the job. She was such a nice lady and cried when we let her go, but I have 13 people in the office and I need a file clerk/receptionist/claims person/loss run specialist, etc. with some get up and go. I'm hiring temp-to-permanent through an employment agency and it is amazing how few qualified people are available. Unemployment is at less than 5% and some of those don't want to work and the others really ought to be unemployed. The replacement will be here this morning and we will be back to training. I've asked Gail in the office to take over the supervision of the new employee.
Jennifer's friend, Jason, continues to struggle with his cancer and treatment in the hospital. He has been in UC Davis Medical Center for 2 1/2 months and is now expected to remain in the hospital for six more months. He has a hole in his windpipe caused by the cancer and the growth of the tumor. The doctors did a temporary repair, but have to wait for the tumor to shrink to do the permanent repair. Jason has regained some strength, but the biggest concern now is his mental health as he is so ready to get out of the hospital. The cancer has subsided, but he had to stop chemo therapy when the latest crisis occured, so he will have to start up chemo treatments again, shrink the tumor and then get the throat surgery. 25 years old and going through all of this. Pray hard for Jason.
Darla bough herself a new bedroom set this weekend. She has never liked the bedroom set that I brought into the marriage. According to her, it is too large and bulky. We will finally be able to move our old bed into the study and set up a real guest bedroom, so that Dad and Shirley will feel comfortable in coming to visit us in California and not always have to run off to Texas when the rain in Vancouver gets to be too mind numbing for them. We will move the bed and the bookcase into the study and move the desk and computer back into our room. We'll also now have a soft landing for Jennifer when she finds herself in Sacramento/Folsom/Roseville and wants to stay with us.
David did buy the stereo, a Pioneer deck that will allow him to manipulate his MP3 player. Nice, but he hasn't been able to get in to have the deck installed. He still needs to get speakers and a subwoofer for the truck.
That is the news for this week. I hope all are well and looking to the LORD for help with decisions in your lives. Stay well. Ciao.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Just a Quickie Today
I don't have a lot of time today as I was out last Thursday and Friday and I have to pick up a branch visitor at the airport at nine o'clock. Most of my home office visitors rent a car and drive over to the office, but this visitor is a 23 year-old woman named Katrina, who is the home office marketing advisor for the company. She is the daughter of our Phoenix Branch Manager and cut her teeth setting up the marketing department in Phoenix. She has devised marketing folders and advertising calendars for Phoenix and done a great job. She is taking that experience on the road now as part of the Home Office marketing team and will be coaching each office in the proper protocols of marketing and what to discuss when in front of an agency.
The world did manage to cave in with my absence last week. My Personal lines underwriter had given notice and I allowed her to stay on and get her desk cleaned up prior to leaving. She is moving over to the retail side of the business and will not be a competitor to us, so I saw no harm in that. Her former assistant had been promoted to an underwriter position late last year and Mary had a difficult time with the transition. She was very unhappy and finally found a job with Nationwide. Well, Darla and I went off on our marketing foray in Mendocino county last week and Mary decided to tell some of her agents about her reservations regarding her replacement and Renee found out about it and confronted her. The shit hit the fan as they say and there was a full fledged cat fight in the office. What a mess. Mary ended up walking out and not returning. It was chaos and I obviously can't leave without all hell breaking loose. Perhaps I learned a lesson that when an employee gives a two week notice, that they are essentially terminated at that very moment?
Darla and I had a great time and it was a nice drive around Clearlake and over to the Mendocino county area. One of my agent's has an assistant whose mother is the groundskeeper at Fetzer vineyards in Hopland, California. Fetzer is a commercial vineyard that makes decent wines, although in a production setting. The vineyard has world class gardens and the gardener, Faye, won a gardening award in London last year that had never been won by an American before. We had an appointment to tour the gardens at Fetzer with Kaye on Friday morning at eleven, but it rained. We will take the tour in May when I drive back over for an annual golf tournament in Eureka. I will make a point to schedule and keep the appointment. Darla and I stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Ukiah and it was a brand new hotel located near the airport in Ukiah. The airport is basically a paved stretch of land for small commuter planes to land on.
I did not manage to golf this weekend, although I had a tee time on Saturday. I awoke at 7:30 and was showering when Boyd called. Although it had stopped raining, Boyd looked at the weather channel and there was a huge storm heading our way. We decided to skip the golf lest we get caught out on the course in a severe rainstorm. Well, the rain managed to skirt to the north of us and it was dry all day and I moped around the house, cleaning the pond and repairing a light fixture and buying a new floor lamp with Darla. I was mad that I decided to skip the golf, especially given that Boyd is retired and golfs everyday. For him, it was a day without golf, for me, it was a week without golf. I do have a tournament (the Super Bowl tournament) on Saturday.
It is a full week for me with visitors in at work and poker Friday night at my house. It's Super Bowl weekend and we will just make it a party with poker, golf and football.
David just bought the car stereo for his car yesterday. It is a Pioneer system that allows him to control his MP3 player through the stereo. He still needs to buy a subwoofer and a set of front speakers for the truck. David is unbelievably methodical in buying anything, so getting this was a big deal.
Well, I have to run to the airport. I hope all are well. Stay close to the Lord and he will keep you from harm.
The world did manage to cave in with my absence last week. My Personal lines underwriter had given notice and I allowed her to stay on and get her desk cleaned up prior to leaving. She is moving over to the retail side of the business and will not be a competitor to us, so I saw no harm in that. Her former assistant had been promoted to an underwriter position late last year and Mary had a difficult time with the transition. She was very unhappy and finally found a job with Nationwide. Well, Darla and I went off on our marketing foray in Mendocino county last week and Mary decided to tell some of her agents about her reservations regarding her replacement and Renee found out about it and confronted her. The shit hit the fan as they say and there was a full fledged cat fight in the office. What a mess. Mary ended up walking out and not returning. It was chaos and I obviously can't leave without all hell breaking loose. Perhaps I learned a lesson that when an employee gives a two week notice, that they are essentially terminated at that very moment?
Darla and I had a great time and it was a nice drive around Clearlake and over to the Mendocino county area. One of my agent's has an assistant whose mother is the groundskeeper at Fetzer vineyards in Hopland, California. Fetzer is a commercial vineyard that makes decent wines, although in a production setting. The vineyard has world class gardens and the gardener, Faye, won a gardening award in London last year that had never been won by an American before. We had an appointment to tour the gardens at Fetzer with Kaye on Friday morning at eleven, but it rained. We will take the tour in May when I drive back over for an annual golf tournament in Eureka. I will make a point to schedule and keep the appointment. Darla and I stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Ukiah and it was a brand new hotel located near the airport in Ukiah. The airport is basically a paved stretch of land for small commuter planes to land on.
I did not manage to golf this weekend, although I had a tee time on Saturday. I awoke at 7:30 and was showering when Boyd called. Although it had stopped raining, Boyd looked at the weather channel and there was a huge storm heading our way. We decided to skip the golf lest we get caught out on the course in a severe rainstorm. Well, the rain managed to skirt to the north of us and it was dry all day and I moped around the house, cleaning the pond and repairing a light fixture and buying a new floor lamp with Darla. I was mad that I decided to skip the golf, especially given that Boyd is retired and golfs everyday. For him, it was a day without golf, for me, it was a week without golf. I do have a tournament (the Super Bowl tournament) on Saturday.
It is a full week for me with visitors in at work and poker Friday night at my house. It's Super Bowl weekend and we will just make it a party with poker, golf and football.
David just bought the car stereo for his car yesterday. It is a Pioneer system that allows him to control his MP3 player through the stereo. He still needs to buy a subwoofer and a set of front speakers for the truck. David is unbelievably methodical in buying anything, so getting this was a big deal.
Well, I have to run to the airport. I hope all are well. Stay close to the Lord and he will keep you from harm.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Monday and the Living is Easy
Back to the grind on a Monday morning. It is another cold, clear and crisp morning that makes you glad to live in Northern California. I know it's 80 degrees in Tampa and LA and Austin, but I like the seasons and although all of the deciduous trees are still barren and only the winter flowers are in evidence, it is still a beautiful time of year. The grass is green and all of the evergreens are so healthy after the rains that we've had. The oak trees are all in their element and stand stately against the blue of an early morning sky in January. Luckily I can observe all of this from the warmth of a heated office building as I look down on the world from my second story lair. It is about 40 degrees outside and the breath of the worker bees is evident as they hustle from their cars to the cocoon of their offices.
I played golf on Saturday in Nicolaus and even had a brief rainstorm on the drive through the delta to the course. It was overcast and cold and the golf carts didn't have windshields and therefore we weren't shielded from the wind. There was a slight breeze, but it was overcast and COLD as we made our way around the course carved out of farmland along the banks of the Feather River in Sutter County. The land is actually lower than the level of the river and protected by levees. When it rains hard as it did last weekend, the lakes and ponds on the course "boil" and overflow their banks onto the golf course. The back nine of the golf course had been under water and closed since the New Year and was just opened for play on Saturday for our tournament. To say that the conditions were a bit sloppy would be an understatement. Most of the field of 60 golfers really struggled with the conditions. Our struggles were further compromised by the placement of the pins on the holes which were at the highest points to allow drainage away from the hole and so that the golfers wouldn't overly trample the low lying areas of the greens. There was not a straight putt on the course. By the way, what do you call a putt that looks straight, but isn't? A "Rock Hudson".
I managed to keep my game on the track (so to speak) and although I had two double-bogeys across the course of my round, I was able to sprinkle in a birdie and alot of pars for an 83. I won my flight with the low gross and also won 4 skins for $28.
As Dad put it, I prattled on last week about losing my wallet. I think it may be an age thing. Darryl turned 50 over the weekend and he lost his cell phone at a customers on Friday. I tried to call him to wish him a Happy Birthday, but couldn't reach him. Darla had her friend, Joni, visit this weekend and they shopped while I golfed on Saturday. I returned home and took the girls to dinner out at Shanghai Fats, the Chinese restaurant out at Thunder Valley casino outside of Roseville. Thunder Valley is an Indian Casino, but managed by the Station Casino group out of Las Vegas. It is a beautifully designed casino and you would think that it was a smaller casino in Vegas, if not for the venue in Lincoln, California not far from the waste recycling facility for Placer County. I managed to lose my car keys as I was playing video poker. They slipped out of my pocket unnoticed by me and I didn't realize it until we were ready to leave about 9:00PM. Darla went to the security booth as I took her keys to get the car. As she was putting in a lost items claim, someone walked up with the keys and had found them on the floor in the Non-Smoking video lounge.
Cheryl had a huge party for Darryl for his 50th birthday. She arranged a golf tournament as well as a surprise party for him Saturday night. I talked to him before my golf match on Saturday and he had found out about the golf tournament because Cheryl had sent invitations from their home computer and one had bounced back. She didn't know he knew and I couldn't very well ask him if he also knew about the party on Saturday night. I'll talk to him this week and find out. Dad and Shirley flew in for the party and to get out of Vancouver. It had rained for 33 straight days by the time they left and Dad was waterlogged and cranky and ready for the sun. I told him he sold his digs in Phoenix too soon. He said that they kick themselves now as it is 80 degrees and beautiful in Arizona in January and he could be working on his tan and golf game instead of bailing water out of the trunk of his Cadillac.
Darla and I are going up to Ukiah on Thursday and Friday. I have to make the trip for work and she decided to join me. It is a bit of a hick town along Highway 101 in Mendocino County. That area is "Big Trees" country and it will be nice to be up among the giant redwoods for a few days. She will have to cool her heels on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning as I do my marketing schtick, but she should be able to relax at the hotel. We are staying at the Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel and she should be able to relax. I will enjoy having her along for the company. I haven't traveled alot since joining Burns and Wilcox, but plan to make more marketing trips this year to develop relationships with some of the outlying agents.
Funny how little things can make a big difference. I installed a halogen light at the inside door of the garage on the wall by the switch to the garage door opener. The builder had installed a light bulb base, about the cheapest light fixture known to man. I had installed a couple of shelves above the new roller cabinet and tool chest and it was blocking some of the light from the 40 watt bulb. I installed a new 150 watt halogen light and directed the light at the ceiling to increase the light in the garage and what a difference. Amazing what $9.99 and a little time will do. I've been slowly upgrading the fixtures in the house and outside and now have all new lights throughout the house. The only thing left is a motion sensor light that I'd like to install by the garage so if we walk at night, a light would come on. It will also help David and Daniel when they get home at night.
David did find and buy a new car. He was able to find a 1995 Chevy Tahoe. It has a stepside, Vortec V8 engine, Flowmaster exhaust and new tires. He bought it for $7,000 out the door..tax, license, etc. They had it listed for $7,999 so he got a good deal. He was supposed to go out this weekend and get a new sound system for the car and a sub woofer. We'll see tonight. He brought it over on Thursday night to show me and said that he'd put $20 of gas in the tank and it only filled it up about 1/4. Yeah, I like my Mustang. $25 fills it.
Well, work awaits, the phone calls have already started with several employees out sick on this Monday morning. Oh, the joys of being the boss. Take care, be well and stay forever at the foot of the cross. Ciao.
I played golf on Saturday in Nicolaus and even had a brief rainstorm on the drive through the delta to the course. It was overcast and cold and the golf carts didn't have windshields and therefore we weren't shielded from the wind. There was a slight breeze, but it was overcast and COLD as we made our way around the course carved out of farmland along the banks of the Feather River in Sutter County. The land is actually lower than the level of the river and protected by levees. When it rains hard as it did last weekend, the lakes and ponds on the course "boil" and overflow their banks onto the golf course. The back nine of the golf course had been under water and closed since the New Year and was just opened for play on Saturday for our tournament. To say that the conditions were a bit sloppy would be an understatement. Most of the field of 60 golfers really struggled with the conditions. Our struggles were further compromised by the placement of the pins on the holes which were at the highest points to allow drainage away from the hole and so that the golfers wouldn't overly trample the low lying areas of the greens. There was not a straight putt on the course. By the way, what do you call a putt that looks straight, but isn't? A "Rock Hudson".
I managed to keep my game on the track (so to speak) and although I had two double-bogeys across the course of my round, I was able to sprinkle in a birdie and alot of pars for an 83. I won my flight with the low gross and also won 4 skins for $28.
As Dad put it, I prattled on last week about losing my wallet. I think it may be an age thing. Darryl turned 50 over the weekend and he lost his cell phone at a customers on Friday. I tried to call him to wish him a Happy Birthday, but couldn't reach him. Darla had her friend, Joni, visit this weekend and they shopped while I golfed on Saturday. I returned home and took the girls to dinner out at Shanghai Fats, the Chinese restaurant out at Thunder Valley casino outside of Roseville. Thunder Valley is an Indian Casino, but managed by the Station Casino group out of Las Vegas. It is a beautifully designed casino and you would think that it was a smaller casino in Vegas, if not for the venue in Lincoln, California not far from the waste recycling facility for Placer County. I managed to lose my car keys as I was playing video poker. They slipped out of my pocket unnoticed by me and I didn't realize it until we were ready to leave about 9:00PM. Darla went to the security booth as I took her keys to get the car. As she was putting in a lost items claim, someone walked up with the keys and had found them on the floor in the Non-Smoking video lounge.
Cheryl had a huge party for Darryl for his 50th birthday. She arranged a golf tournament as well as a surprise party for him Saturday night. I talked to him before my golf match on Saturday and he had found out about the golf tournament because Cheryl had sent invitations from their home computer and one had bounced back. She didn't know he knew and I couldn't very well ask him if he also knew about the party on Saturday night. I'll talk to him this week and find out. Dad and Shirley flew in for the party and to get out of Vancouver. It had rained for 33 straight days by the time they left and Dad was waterlogged and cranky and ready for the sun. I told him he sold his digs in Phoenix too soon. He said that they kick themselves now as it is 80 degrees and beautiful in Arizona in January and he could be working on his tan and golf game instead of bailing water out of the trunk of his Cadillac.
Darla and I are going up to Ukiah on Thursday and Friday. I have to make the trip for work and she decided to join me. It is a bit of a hick town along Highway 101 in Mendocino County. That area is "Big Trees" country and it will be nice to be up among the giant redwoods for a few days. She will have to cool her heels on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning as I do my marketing schtick, but she should be able to relax at the hotel. We are staying at the Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel and she should be able to relax. I will enjoy having her along for the company. I haven't traveled alot since joining Burns and Wilcox, but plan to make more marketing trips this year to develop relationships with some of the outlying agents.
Funny how little things can make a big difference. I installed a halogen light at the inside door of the garage on the wall by the switch to the garage door opener. The builder had installed a light bulb base, about the cheapest light fixture known to man. I had installed a couple of shelves above the new roller cabinet and tool chest and it was blocking some of the light from the 40 watt bulb. I installed a new 150 watt halogen light and directed the light at the ceiling to increase the light in the garage and what a difference. Amazing what $9.99 and a little time will do. I've been slowly upgrading the fixtures in the house and outside and now have all new lights throughout the house. The only thing left is a motion sensor light that I'd like to install by the garage so if we walk at night, a light would come on. It will also help David and Daniel when they get home at night.
David did find and buy a new car. He was able to find a 1995 Chevy Tahoe. It has a stepside, Vortec V8 engine, Flowmaster exhaust and new tires. He bought it for $7,000 out the door..tax, license, etc. They had it listed for $7,999 so he got a good deal. He was supposed to go out this weekend and get a new sound system for the car and a sub woofer. We'll see tonight. He brought it over on Thursday night to show me and said that he'd put $20 of gas in the tank and it only filled it up about 1/4. Yeah, I like my Mustang. $25 fills it.
Well, work awaits, the phone calls have already started with several employees out sick on this Monday morning. Oh, the joys of being the boss. Take care, be well and stay forever at the foot of the cross. Ciao.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Please pray for Jay
I find Jason's ordeal in the hospital to be almost unbelievable. He has been in UC Davis Medical Center since November 14th and can't seem to get out of the place. This is his third stint in ICU and his original hospital stay was to be three to four days. He is 25 and a fighter, but sometimes prayer can overcome what free will cannot. Jason is a good friend of Jennifer's and a former boyfriend. We visited him in the hospital over Christmas when Jennifer was home. Here is the update from Jay's best friend, Arthur:
Hey Jenny,
Hey, I hope your trip is going good and you made it over there safely. I just wanted to give you an update on Jay & his condition. Unfortunately he is STILL in the Hospital and his condition has taken a turn for the worst since you went and saw him. On 01-02-06 the doctors told him he had a hole in his air way and that is the reason he hasn't been able to swallow. Apparently when the kemo was killing the tumor in his throat, it also put a hole in his “wind pipe” (for lack of a better word). So on 01-03-06 they went in a put a stint in his throat in order to help him swallow and start to get rid of the infection in his lungs. Well over the weekend of the 01-07-06/01-08-06, the stint slipped out of place. So on 01-09-06 they went in and did a MAJOR surgery in order to hopefully solve the problem. So he is back in ICU and well I’m not going to lie to you, this is the worst I have seen him since he has been in the hospital. So that is the story in a nut shell. Please do me a favor and forward this e-mail to your dad and advise him and his church group to keep praying for Jay, he could use ALL of prayers he can get right now. Of course if you have any questions or I can better explain anything, just drop me a line and I will do so. Please realize, I have been working & going to the hospital pretty much everyday & don’t always get a chance to check my e-mail, (Which is the major reason I haven’t written you sooner to tell you about Jay) so bear with me if I don’t get back to you right away. Also, I know its impossible, but try not to worry Jay is a fighter I have no fear he will get through this, just keep praying for him as we all are. So that is the latest, I will keep you updated as his condition gets better. Be safe & I will talk to ya soon.
A. Williams
Hey Jenny,
Hey, I hope your trip is going good and you made it over there safely. I just wanted to give you an update on Jay & his condition. Unfortunately he is STILL in the Hospital and his condition has taken a turn for the worst since you went and saw him. On 01-02-06 the doctors told him he had a hole in his air way and that is the reason he hasn't been able to swallow. Apparently when the kemo was killing the tumor in his throat, it also put a hole in his “wind pipe” (for lack of a better word). So on 01-03-06 they went in a put a stint in his throat in order to help him swallow and start to get rid of the infection in his lungs. Well over the weekend of the 01-07-06/01-08-06, the stint slipped out of place. So on 01-09-06 they went in and did a MAJOR surgery in order to hopefully solve the problem. So he is back in ICU and well I’m not going to lie to you, this is the worst I have seen him since he has been in the hospital. So that is the story in a nut shell. Please do me a favor and forward this e-mail to your dad and advise him and his church group to keep praying for Jay, he could use ALL of prayers he can get right now. Of course if you have any questions or I can better explain anything, just drop me a line and I will do so. Please realize, I have been working & going to the hospital pretty much everyday & don’t always get a chance to check my e-mail, (Which is the major reason I haven’t written you sooner to tell you about Jay) so bear with me if I don’t get back to you right away. Also, I know its impossible, but try not to worry Jay is a fighter I have no fear he will get through this, just keep praying for him as we all are. So that is the latest, I will keep you updated as his condition gets better. Be safe & I will talk to ya soon.
A. Williams
