San Francisco Giants 2012 World Series Champions!!

Sweep tonight for the Giants in the 2012 World Series. I just got back from Detroit and there are a lot of unhappy Tiger fans at Home Office. We won the first two games while I was at the Manager's meeting and the Detroit fans were completely shocked that the giants were able to get to their ace, Verlander and Panda (Pablo Sandoval) hit three home runs in game one to set the pace for the series. It was more than fun to watch the strong pitching and timely hitting of the Giants. We've already heard how the Tiger's went cold at the wrong time after knocking out the Yankees in four games, but that theory overlooks the dominant pitching performances by the Giants. Well, we've won it twice in the last three years and done it on the strength of our pitching. randy saw it first hand two years ago and the Tiger fans saw it again during this Series. There was a San Francisco fan that tried to get into Comerica Park in Detroit tonight with a broom and the stadium officials told him to lose the broom or leave the stadium. if he was smart, he would have brought a whisk broom in his pocket. I think, given the thug nature of Detroit, that those stadium officials may have saved his life.

The Manager's Meeting was great again this year and my office received a lot of recognition at the Awards Dinner on Friday night. Peter won a Director's Award for being in the top 30 of all Producers in the company. We have 270 producers and Brokers, so that is a prestigious award. Matt and Pete both won awards for being in the top 25 of all producers in new business. We have won awards the last three years for Office of the Year, but with the increase in wind rates in the South (Houston, New Orleans, etc) and Coastal Areas (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida), it is hard to compete from a premium perspective. I have finished out of the money for the last three years in the Manager of the Year award and have lost out to the Houston manager two of the last three years. This year I was very pleased to have my name read for Manager of the year in my division. Well, I was happy until they announced later that Tony had been promoted to a Vice President position. That is my next goal and I will be working hard to reach that summit.

There were a couple of funny instances during the meetings this year. I was standing next to one of our professional underwriters when the opening speech by our CEO was starting. The lobby at home office is a large open space in the middle of the three story building and the people on the second and third floor can look down on the proceedings. All of a sudden there was a loud "whack" and the guy next to me ducked. A water bottle had glanced off his neck and back and was spinning on the floor. i asked him what happened and he said that someone had "smoked" him with a water bottle from upstairs. It turns out that our Environmental Director from Denver had set her water bottle on the ledge of the second story and someone had knocked it off. The CEO was unaware of the water bottle falling from upstairs and the speech went on as planned. If the bottle had hit him in the face or head or fallen directly onto the floor and burst open, it would have been a different outcome.

The second event was on Friday when my office watched the speech from the Henry by our CEO. He tends to read his speeches and they finally talked him into spending $400 for a teleprompter system. during the video of the speech, the office could see the plastic panels that are used in the teleprompter and helps the speaker keep his head up and more engaged with his audience. Bonnie in my office saw the opaque panels and blurted out "Oh my God, he has bullet proof glass surrounding him!"  Uh no, the managers are not all "packing" at the meeting.

I got home about 9:30 on Saturday night and went right into the spa. I really missed the heat and soaking relaxation of the spa while I was gone. I have trouble adjusting to the time change and spend the first few nights tossing and turning. As soon as I do adjust, I'm back to California. I went to bed about 10 PM (1 AM Eastern time) and got up at 7:30 this morning.

I had the Past President's event at the club today and really wanted to play in it, so asked for the first tee time with Neil and off we went. My driver continues to cause me fits and I have little confidence in it. I even teed off with my 3 iron on the first hole and used it on shorter par fours all day. I managed my way around the golf course after going bogey-double bogey on the first two holes and shot a 40+40=80 on the day for a net 70. It would have been even better, but I had a triple bogey 7 on the back nine, backed up by two birdies. My game is not great right now, but obviously I can manage it  to keep my scores low. Well, at least at my home course. Carmel was a little rougher.

Jennifer was in a car accident on Tuesday and I found out about it right before I boarded my plane for Detroit. Jennifer and I had not been in contact because of the issues with Darla, but I called her. She had to go to a 24 hour Emergency because of pain in her neck and shoulders. She smashed into a Hummer that had stopped abruptly in front of her because of an accident. Jennifer could not stoop fast enough and slammed into the Hummer. It totaled her truck, which we had bought her and just spent $1000 to fix when we were there in August. Her Mom flew out to Vegas to be with her and to help her get a new car. She helped her arrange financing for a Hyundai Sonata that has 49,000 miles on it. I don't know the details of the financing, down payment, etc, but we were not able or willing to help out this time around as our $3,000 went up in smoke in the accident. Jennifer did end up calling and talking to Darla and they hashed out their issues. Darla and I are still working on some things with regard to Jennifer's relationship with us and how it sometimes splits us when issues come up. Luckily, Jennifer was on her way to work and did not have Samantha with her when this all went down. I have included some pictures of her new wheels above.

Well, that is it for tonight. It is late as I watched the Giants game before starting the blog tonight. I hope you are all well and living your lives to the fullest. Ciao.

 

Off to the Manager's meeting in Detroit this week. The whole town will be buzzing because of the Detroit Tiger's presence in the World Series. We will have dinner Wednesday night at the Detroit Athletic Club downtown and it will be the first night of the World series. I'm hoping that game will be played in San Francisco as the Giants are still alive playing in the sixth game of the NLCS as I write this and they are ahead 1-0 in the game. They need to win tonight and tomorrow night to move on to the World Series. Oh, wait, they now lead 4-0. Wow.

 

You see the picture of our friends from our Life Group at church, Vance and Terra Lee. We haven't been in the life group for about 5 years, but try to keep up with all of the people that were in our group. Vance and Terra Lee generally go to Sunday Service and we go to Saturday night, so rarely see them. They were at service last night and we caught up with them and invited them to dinner with us. We had a Groupon for a Pizza restaurant not far from church and had a great visit, getting caught up on each other's lives. Vance is a former Pastor from Oregon who now works for an Audi dealership in 'Sacramento. They both teach a Marriage Enrichment class at church and they invited us to join them for the next series in January.

 

Our weather has finally caught up with the calendar and a storm front will move in tomorrow and bring us our first measurable rain since early Summer. There is a Winter storm warning up in the Sierra and we are expecting about an inch of rain out of this system. I spent a portion of the day cleaning out the rain gutters and clearing some of the leaves off of the roof. I had gutter guards installed when I had the new roof put on two years ago, but dirt and debris still gets into the gutters and the downspouts will clog up on the first rain of the year. I also bought and installed new windshield wipers for Darla's Explorer and also fixed the trim on the drivers seat that had worked it's way loose. I had finally mowed the lawn yesterday two weeks after having the lawn aerated and overseeded for the Fall. The new grass had sprung up and was about 3 inches in spots. I set the mower height at 2 1/2 inches and cut the lawn and trimmed it. Today I trimmed a few of the bushes and then put down another application of fertilizer in preparation for the rain that is coming.

 

I leave for Detroit on Tuesday and Matt will go with me this year. I had Anthony along last year and that didn't work out so great for me. If Matt leaves, I will no longer allow employees to go to Home Office. In truth Matt is locked in pretty good with us. He is my Director of Branch Operations and a member of the Accelerated Management Program with the company. He is enrolled at UC Davis in their MBA program and we are paying his way. I keep close to him and he is happy with his position in the organization and can do the math. Pete and I are both in our 50's and Matt is 29. He is the future of our branch. We have a 10 AM flight to Denver and then change planes for the trip to Detroit. I will be home Saturday night.

 

I got out with Darren, Boyd and Neil this weekend and we played the Timber Creek Country Club in Roseville. My driver is still giving me issues, but I was able to use the 3 iron I bought with the Rifle X shafts on the shorter holes and managed a 42+42=84 in spite of getting into some tough spots with my driver. I can hit the 3 iron about 225 yards off the tee and can find the middle, so if the hole is 375 yards or less, I'll use the 3 iron to tee off. I will play in the Past President's event on Sunday next week when I get home. I sent off the handicap information to Neil today for the event and also sent him a report of the course handicaps for each player in case he adds anyone during the week.

 

Darla had Alicia and Lucas over today as Don is off to Las Vegas for some medical convention this week and flew out this morning. She wanted to get out of the house and visited with Darla while I watched the Dallas game this morning and worked outside. They stated until it was time for his nap and then she drove him home.

 

I haven't heard much from Jennifer lately. I had asked her to reach out to Darla and talk to her about some things that came up while we were in Las Vegas. She ended up sending her a text, but has yet to call like I asked. I don't plan to call her until she follows through on this.

 

Well, I am writing this looking at the NFL game and the NLCS game (5-0 Giants in the 5th). There isn't much news after our trip last weekend. I will check in with you after the trip this week. i hope you are all well. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from Vito's in Pacific Grove

Our annual trip to the Monterey Bay area

 

We are back from a glorious weekend in Carmel, Pacific Grove, Monterey and the Carmel Valley area. The weather was perfect, the friends were an absolute joy, the food was tremendous, even our hotel was something both Darla and I really enjoyed. The golf on the other hand was historically bad for me. Darla and I stayed at a little Inn (Sunset Inn) on Asilomar in Pacific Grove that features 6 tri-plexes, all recently remodeled with fireplaces, 40 inch flat screen TVs, wood floors, Italian tile bathrooms and large overstuffed beds. The rooms were not large, but came with a refrigerator and a nice big closet, a window seat to store your belongings and a freshly remodeled look with earth tone colors. We loved it.

 

I played golf with an agent at his club in Rancho Murieta on Friday morning while Darla went to court for her job. I played relatively well there, shooting an 83. Little did I know what the weekend held in store for me. I bought lunch for the guys and then drove by the office to pick up an Australian bush hat that I had ordered for my head. i have to keep the sun off my ears or I will end up like Evander Holyfield after Mike Tyson finished gnawing on him..or Dad.  The hat is wide brimmed and made to be able to roll up and it springs back to it's regular shape. The hat was $55 on line and I am loathe to roll it up, but nice to know I could if I wanted to.

 

I picked Darla up at 2:30 and we were off to Pacific Grove. The drive over was uneventful, but I pulled over in Santa Nella and had Darla drive the rest of the way. With my Achilles heel injury being on my right foot, it gets painful after long periods sitting in the car with my foot on the gas pedal. We got into Pacific Grove a little before 6:00 PM and then made plans to meet the gang for dinner in Monterey on Alvarado Street. We met, Neil and Lilly, Rick and Jan, and Tim and Sue for dinner. Darla and I shared a salad and each had a bowl of clam chowder for dinner.

 

Saturday, we were up early and off to breakfast at Toasties in Pacific Grove. Toasties is one of the best breakfast restaurants in the Monterey Bay area and the owner almost gagged when we told her 12, but she was able to accommodate us. Boyd and his wife, Jo, met us for breakfast before we headed into the 17 mile Drive and Poppy Hills. Poppy will close in April for 16 months while they renovate the course, changing several of the holes' layouts and putting in a new irrigation system. The course is 25 years old and the management figures that the system has reached it's useful life. They want to lessen some of the severe doglegs to allow the course to unfold more naturally and they will redesign all greens as well as the clubhouse, restaurant and restrooms. 5 of the holes will be completely changed and all of the holes will have the mounds in the fairways removed and additional waste areas added to the course. I look forward to seeing the changes in 2015. This will be our last shot at poppy until 2015. I did go out with a bang, shooting my highest score in 20 years with a 51+53=104. I even took a 10 on the par 5 9th that I birdied last year. I did have a closest to the pin on number 17, so all was not lost.

 

Saturday night, we all gathered at Vito's Restaurante in Pacific Grove. Darryl will remember it as we ate there with the gang last year and the boys came up to visit as well. Vito and his ex-wife, Sara, run the restaurant and Sara says Vito is a much better business partner than a husband. I read between the lines on that and gather that he is quite good in the kitchen, but not so much in the bedroom. Vito is about 60 and a body builder. No offense to my Godson, Chris, but I think the steroids have given Vito a tiny peppino. Vito came out and serenaded us with "Volare" and "That's Amore" and we had a great time. There were about 20 of us there Saturday night. Believe it or not, Darla forgot her camera this trip and I am waiting to get pictures from Neil sent to me of the dinner. I did take a few pictures of the two courses on my cell phone (Carmel Valley Ranch and Poppy) which I've included above. Bob Pando came out to play this year and stayed over Saturday night and had dinner with us, which was great. He took a picture of Darla and I with Vito and Sara and completely cut off Darla and my heads. Bob's daughter is a photographer and she didn't apparently learn the craft from Bob. Vicki was in Southern California with the grand kids.

 

Sunday, Darla and I picked up Boyd at the Lighthouse Lodge next door at 7:30 and we headed off to Carmel Valley to have breakfast with the other golfers at the Black Bear Diner. It is one of our favorite diners and we always eat at the one in Vegas. Alas, the Black Bear in Carmel Valley closed and reopened in Monterey. We had ten people joining us for breakfast and the joint was closed!. We quickly scrambled and found a great little breakfast place on Carmel Valley Road called the Wagon Wheel. We met Bob, Rick, Jan and Tim there and ate before our 9:30 tee time.

 

I played marginally better on Sunday, but was still struggling with my driver, hitting my first shot out of bounds and my second tee shot into a grove of trees before finishing with a 7 on the par 4. I shot 45 on the front and 48 on the back for a 93, but had to finish birdie -par to manage that feat. It was a difficult weekend on the golf course and I think I need a break. Oh, I'm not going to take one, but I probably need one.

 

Darla and I left Carmel Valley about 4:30 and stopped for gas in Marina on the way out of town. As I pulled out of the gas station and on to the freeway, I hit the clear trip button on the dash board as I have to track my mileage because the gas gauge is screwy. When I cleared the trip, the entire dashboard went out. The speedometer, lights, RPM and oil, temperature and gas gauges all went dark. We were in fairly heavy traffic and I decided to wait until we got to the 156-Highway 101 split to pull off. We found a little shopping center and I parked outside the Auto Zone parts store to check to see if a fuse had blown. I opened the fuse box in the engine compartment, getting my hands black as I went and found that the fuse was intact. I inspected it, put it back in, started up the car and all of the gauges were working again. We decided to have dinner at a little Chinese food restaurant and I was able to get cleaned up.

 

We got home at 9 PM after enduring about a 30 minute slowdown on I-5 between Stockton and Sacramento because of a car accident. It was cleared to the side of the road by the time we passed it, but the rubberneckers were still holding things to a crawl. It picked right up once we got past .I had hoped to get the scores in prior to the 9 PM deadline for the GHIN handicapping system, but I missed that deadline. The indexes (handicaps) now change on the 1st and the 15th of each month.

 

Well, that was our weekend. I will try to get some of Neil and Lilly's pictures added once they are sent along to us. I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for a good week. Be well and be nice to each other. Ciao.

 

Back from a day up in Lake Tahoe and the Resort at Squaw Creek. It was a tremendous day weather-wise with temperatures in the mid sixties after an overnight low in the 20's and a slight frost on the greens and fairways. The course doesn't take tee times until 10 AM because of the frost concerns, so we got off right on time with our 11:00 AM tee time. I met Neil, Tim and Pamas at the Park n Ride in Roseville at 8:00 AM and we packed up my 300 and we were on the road and up to the resort by 9:30. We had breakfast up at the resort and then hit some balls and putted before teeing off. The front nine is narrow and hilly and I struggled over the first seven holes before finishing the front nine par-birdie for a 49. The back nine is a bit more open and although still pretty up and down, I managed a 41 for a 90. This is my second straight round of bad front nine and good backside as I shot a 51+40=91 on Tuesday in our Day on the Oaks tournament. We had a great time today. Tim struggled to over 100 and Neil shot a 95, but Pamas shot a 79 and had four birdies during his round. The guy can play golf.

The Tuesday tournament started off a little weird as the Pro in the shop took a shot at me when I was checking in and asked me if I was skipping work to play. I told him that I was going in after the round. He told me in a loud voice that it must suck to have to go into an office every day and that he just pinches himself when he wakes up knowing that he gets to go to the golf course every day. I was pretty taken aback as the other guys in the shop all laughed.The sarcastic side of me took over and I blurted out, "When I get my paycheck every two weeks I pinch myself when I realize that I 'm not paid like a Municipal golf pro." The laughter was deafening as I walked out of the shop.

We finally got our spa fixed on Thursday and we have been in it every night since. Darla was in Lodi last night and today for a big street fair and we both got home about 6 PM today and spent twenty minutes catching up while we soaked in the spa. My Achilles heel was pretty sore after the round and that was complicated by the 90 minute drive home with my right foot on and off the gas pedal as we drove home in the Holiday traffic.

Oh, yeah, tomorrow is Columbus Day, when state and federal workers all take the day off. also funny, the powers that be in Washington want to rename the day Indigenous Persons day. I just call it regular people have to work day also known as Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Day, Cesar Chavez Day, et al.

I had a rough week at work and had to let one of my employees go after five years. It was a messy situation and it took a lot out of me. Suffice it to say the employees that remain are on the same page as I am and we will continue to grow the office and be successful. We finished the month up 16% over the year before and beat our budget handily. I hosted a barbecue lunch on Friday featuring brisket, roast turkey, mac n cheese, beans, salad and fresh baked rolls. It was outstanding and we are off to another good month in October.

I am off to Monterey and Pacific Grove on Friday and won't be back until later Sunday night and the blog will be late. I'll try to get to this on Monday of next week. I know this is short, but so is the news that is fit to share, so I'll wrap this up. Be well and have a good week. Ciao.

Indian Summer in Sacramento

The temperature actually hit 100 degrees today on September 30th. It is supposed to hit 101 degrees tomorrow and then start a slow cool down that will see us down into the mid eighties by next weekend. I washed the car about a 1/2 hour ago and I'm still sweating. You can tell it is Indian Summer when you look at the leaves beginning to turn brown and fall from the grove across the street in the park. I watched the Ryder Cup meltdown by the Americans and NFL football today from my seat on the couch. Darla spent about an hour on the pool reading the latest Nicolaus Spark's novel. I was out on the pool yesterday afternoon after the golf and woke up in the shade that now hits the pool by about 4:00 PM.

I played golf yesterday with Darren, Boyd and Neil, having a good front nine (41) and a terrible back nine (45) and Darren and I lost $15 to Neil and Boyd. Boyd shot a 75 and Neil shot 88. Darren, my partner struggled to a 92 and we went down in flames. We did play the Power Hour special at 7:14 AM for $35 with a cart and range balls. Luckily I was flush after taking over $100 from my friends playing poker Friday night. There were only five of us and I won $110 and Steve won $150. The other three each lost precipitously. I had lost the last two or three games, so I didn't feel bad taking their money.

Darla and I went to dinner last night at Benihana with Neil and Lilly and we finally got to see their pictures from their Canada trip and visit with Dad and Shirley. Neil invited me to play Squaw Creek golf course next Sunday, so we will make the 90 minute trek up to Squaw Valley and the golf course. They close on the 15th of October for the season and Neil was given a free foursome that has to be used this year. I usually like to watch football on the weekends, but Dallas is off on a BYE week next week and I always like to try new venues.It should be beautiful.

Darren also told me that he won a $1400 golf package that includes foursomes at five of the top courses in Northern California as well as some golf equipment. he has invited us to join him at courses in Portola, the Capay Valley, Redding, Almanor and Graeagle. I look forward to those trips and we will take care of the travel and all of Darren's expenses on those trips.

In two weeks, we will take our annual trip to Monterey and will stay in Pacific Grove for two nights. The golf club is playing Poppy Hills (they will close for a full season next year as they upgrade and redesign a few of the holes on the course and put in a new sprinkler system) on Saturday and Carmel Valley Ranch Country Club. I'm planning to get there early on Friday and play 18 holes at Pacific Grove Golf Links as well. Darla always looks forward to this trip as she gets together with the wives and has lunch and goes shopping. We are staying at the Sunset Inn this year which is across the street from the Asilomar Conference grounds and near the hotel we stayed at with Darryl last year.

We closed out our month on Friday and finished September up 16% on the bottom line and about 7% on the top line. I now have 23 employees working for me and apparently we are making good use of the extra staff as the extra cost of their employment hasn't affected our bottom line. It is what Alan said to me when he visited the new office. His comment was I got you a top notch office, now you have to go out and recruit high grade employees and fill it up. I am really pleased with the last group of hires I have made and can see that those college graduates have really lifted the office to the next level. It is a much more professional group of employees. The younger folks are plugged into a social networking group with other young professionals put on by the Roseville Chamber of Commerce. they get together once a month for cocktails and appetizers at a local restaurant. they also have one learning event each month. In fact the chamber had a brown bag event this past Tuesday and I attended. The topic was "How to talk to your employees and how to coach them to greater success". It was interesting, but I met a partner at the largest architectural firm in Roseville and put David in touch with the firm. He is still looking for work.

My heel seems to be slowly getting better. It's still sore in the morning, but my doctor told me it would be like arthritis, in that it will be sore until I can walk it off in the morning. I still spend all day at work in my walking boot.

Darla finally got a call from our spa service and they were able to find a part for our spa and it will be in by mid week. We are both really looking forward to getting back into the spa, once the weather cools down. It is already much cooler at night and we actually haven't had our air conditioning on for the last month. It is nice to open the windows once the sun goes down. We run the whole house fan for about ten minutes and pull the cool air into the house and the warm air is forced out. You can stand in the foyer by the open front door and feel the breeze as the air is pulled through the house.

Well, that is the news that is fit to print this week. I hope all of you are in good spirits and ready to vote Obama out of office in November. Please. Wait, half of my audience are freaking Canadians. Jeesh. Ciao.

Is it Golf or is it Risking your Health?

 

The question is am I risking further injury to my heel by continuing to play golf? I suppose I'm not helping it to heal, but I have had it wrapped each day that I play and I wear the boot when I am at work or out in public. I don't have the boot on now, but I have been sitting on the couch all day watching football and napping. I am not kidding myself that I'm not slowing down the healing process, but honestly I can heal the ankle once the rainy season gets here.

 

The pictures above are of the home of the pre-invitational party that I attended on Tuesday night. The home is owned by one of the members at Serrano Country Club and is nothing short of fabulous. The home includes a four hole putting green, a 69 yard chipping green, a garden chess set with three foot tall chess pieces, a bocci court, a tennis court, a shuffleboard court, a pool house with three stories and includes a full kitchen, screening room, a second floor exercise room and a third floor outdoor patio with a fireplace in the center with 360 degree views of the country club and grounds.There is also an Olympic sized pool and a 12 person hot tub. The cherry on the sundae is a 3/4 mile two lane go kart track that was officially built as a running trail as the building department denied his request to build a go kart track. The owner is about 62 and has been retired for about 14 years since selling his successful dental lab business that he built up using talent from the Philippines to craft dentures. He became well known on the west coast for his perfect fit dentures and eventually sold out his business for 29 million dollars. He has since taken on a couple of more businesses, but still has plenty of time for golf. He had a putting contest and we put in $20 when we checked in and I was able to win 4th place and take home $100.

 

Gary and I struggled in the Invitational for the second time and decided that we will not play in it again. The big problem for both of us is the 6 and a half hour rounds of golf. I am a "tempo" golfer and play my best golf in about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours. The 30 minute wait on tee boxes just ruins my momentum and destroys my continuity. I shot 85, 88 and 84 over three days and Gary and I finished 9th out of 12 teams in our flight. Gary shot 89, 92 and 90 and is a 9 handicap the same as me. Our club has a slow play rule and we enforce it by using time clocks and holding our golfers to 4 hours and 40 minutes OR you must finish within 15 minutes of the group in front of you. If you don't, you are penalized 2 strokes per player. At SCC, the owners are GOD and the pro and his staff have no control over the owner members, who can hire and fire him at will. IF I had played in the Invitational as a prelude to joining the club, I wouldn't. I told Gary to tell them that I was considering joining the club, but when the rounds were so ridiculously long, I backed out. By the way, don't ask me to explain the picture of Gary with the coyote. I just took the picture and who am I to judge him? It was taken on one of the holes where there were five groups backed up on a par three.

 

Work is going well and I'm off to the Manager's meeting next month in Detroit. Matt will join me this year as he is one of the Management Program participants and they have all been invited to the meeting this year. He asked if he had to sit in on the Sacramento review with Alan this year. He won't. Matt called me on Friday as I was playing in the Invitational. One of the employees had accidentally pushed the button on our coffeemaker twice and it overflowed and kept running. The shut off valve for the water is under the counter behind the built in dishwasher (well designed, eh?). They ended up calling the property manager and they came up, pulled the dishwasher and turned off the water. The coffee service came out and reset the coffee maker and the water was turned back on after the overflow was extracted and cleaned up. At that point, the property manager couldn't get the plug for the dishwasher plugged back in and the message for me was that the plug was too short. Really? It's all plugged in, they unplug it, pull it and then the plug is too short when they go to put it back together? I told them to have the TIB contractor come back out if they couldn't get it fixed and magically, they were able to get it to work. That HAD to happen while I was out.

 

We are still waiting for the part for our hot tub and Darla, who was off Friday, went over to the spa service and raised some noise. They promised to get on their suppliers this week and we'll see. As soon as the weather cools, I will be ready for the spa, so they better get on it.

 

I agreed to one more year on the golf club board as the handicapper. Neil was asked to be Tournament Director again next year and he agreed on the condition that I continue on as the handicapper.We were asked to serve by the Vice President. This was all a bit premature, but the Vice President of the club was elected President on Thursday night for next year and we are now on the hook for this again. I enjoy working with Neil and vice versa.

 

Darla was gone for two nights Monday and Tuesday in Pasadena for her job with Alta. She was able to have dinner with Daniel's girlfriend, Becky on Monday night. She was home by 7:30 on Wednesday night and I got home shortly after as I had to go sign in over at Serrano for the Invitational. I received $175 credit with Titleist as a tee prize and bought two shirts, a pair of shorts, a dozen Pro V1s, a golf glove and a pair of socks for my money.

 

Darla and I did go over to the Country Club on Saturday night for the final dinner and awards and we only stayed about an hour. We don't know many people at the club and Gary didn't show for dinner. The women were over dressed and the men were over served and we had a drink, enjoyed dinner and got out of there. I don't think we are country club people. Neither of us are particularly self important and don't really fit in with the crowd.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I hope you are all well. I'm back to the boot this week and hope to have this cured by mid October. be well. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the road to recovery

Just a couple of pictures of Pete and Vicki from our Sports bar trip last week and a new armoire Darla bought for the kitchen to hold our toaster and toaster oven as well as other kitchen related gadgets and linens.

Football was a little more fun last week than this week with Dallas laying an egg against a pretty bland Seattle team. I'm watching the game and relaxing and get a text from my brother in law saying "Go Seahawks!" Who does that? Oh, I guess someone who is a Kansas City Chiefs fan and has no team of note to root for, so knocks every one else's team. I already de-friended him on Facebook, now I guess I'll have to blacklist him from my cell phone.

This week was a real test for my Achilles as I had three golf games. Frankly, my heel was sore on Tuesday after the golf, less so on Thursday after golf and I had no pain after yesterday's round of golf. It was all scramble golf, which is not my favorite, but fun in a business sense. We shot 61 on Tuesday and were out of the money, 62 on Thursday and were out of the money. Both of those were 4 man scrambles. Matt and I played in a 2 man scramble on Saturday and won low gross for the entire 72 man field with a 64. I did take a cart in each of the events which kept the stress off my foot. I showed up Saturday and had my push cart ready to go, but the starter in the pro shop told me that I had to take a cart as Matt had already told them i had a bad foot and we would be riding. Nice to have my Mom out there with me.

I will be playing three days again this week with one of my agents, who has invited me to his Invitational event at his country club in Serrano. The event is a lot of fun with betting, three days of golf, tee prizes galore including golf shoes, sunglasses, shirts, hats and golf balls. It will be fun and all starts with a pre-tournament party on Tuesday night.

Darla was at a Chili cook-off and car show on Saturday. The event charged $75 for the chili chefs or $300 for a vendor, so she decided to cook chili and then have her jewelry available for sale as well. She went out and bought about $75 worth of ingredients and loaded up our camp stove, the tank of propane and her tables, pots, pans and chili ingredients at 6 AM. When she and Missy arrived in Rocklin, they began to set up their little table and camp stove and pretty soon they had shade all around them as the food trucks and mobile restaurants started to set up. Their neighbors had full kitchens with generators and chef costumes and paces to sit and enjoy their chili. Darla was the only chili vendor there with a camp stove and 5 quart pot. The others had multiple burners, 50 quart pots and giant cans of tomatoes and sauces. She said she had never felt so out of place. She quickly packed up her gear and Missy and her were laughing uncontrollably on their way out to breakfast. I guess it was a lesson learned.

Darla leaves for Pasadena tomorrow and a seminar for her work. She will be there until Wednesday. She has tomorrow night free and will meet Daniel's girlfriend, Becky, for dinner tomorrow night.

Darla and I have set up a trip to Hawaii in November for the boys. We promised them a vacation and have it worked out with Dan's work to go November 12-19th. We will be in Kona at the Kona Pacific Condominium resort in Kailua-Kona, HI. It is a 2 bedroom, 3 bath condo a block up from the ocean. We'll be on the fifth floor and have a view of the ocean (see below). We'll also be about a mile from Darla's brother's house and a ten minute walk to Wal Mart and town. Darla's parents will also be in town so it will be a chance for the boys to have a last family vacation with their extended family (other than our annual trip to Almanor, which hopefully they will plan for). We fly from SF on 11/12 and return the following Monday. We had hoped to bring Samantha and Jennifer, but they needed some financial help with bills and her car, so maybe next time.

Jennifer was moving in with her friend in Vegas this week and I hope that goes well for her. I have some reservations about the whole move, but she is 31 years old and makes her own decisions in this life.

Well, that is it for this week. I need to get to a nice tri tip that Darla has waiting for me to grill. I will check in with all of you next weekend. Be well. Ciao.

Taking it Easy, Trying to stay out of a Cast.

It has been a boring weekend without golf. The weather is nice in the low nineties and I've enjoyed relaxing on the pool both yesterday and today. Darla has been in absentia parts of both days, yesterday with an event at a local hospital and today at a home party in Auburn. I went yesterday and met her at 5 PM, so I could help her load her jewelry back into the car. She had two cases and three bags of jewelry and couldn't leave it sitting in the lobby. I drove over and helped her load up. we came home and then went to church. I spent Saturday in my light brace and my foot was sore this morning, so I spent today in the boot and it feels much better. Obviously, with the metal braces built into the boot, the support is much better. I've been really good this week only taking the boot off to drive to and from work and to sleep at night. I've put the light brace on when I'm driving.

This week will be a tougher test as I have golf on Tuesday up in Redding and on Thursday. Both are scrambles and I'll be in a cart, but hopefully I don't undo all of the good that I've done this week.

I took the staff out this week for our budget lunch. We went to Buca Di Beppo and enjoyed two salads, two pasta dishes served family style with bread and drinks. Some of the staff really enjoyed it but I heard some buzz of a few complaints. It still amazes me. It may just be the way I was raised, but when I first started in business, if my boss took us out to lunch I was thrilled. When it was announced I don't recall asking where we were going or what the menu was. The attitude of entitlement never ceases to amaze me. I guess they are all Democrats.

Our hot tub is still on the IR as we are waiting for a diverter valve from the manufacturer to be delivered to the spa repair facility. Darla and I are anxious to get back on our spa schedule as a nice hot soak before bed helps both of us sleep. I talked to the repair place last week and they have no idea when the part will be delivered. Nice.

Darla has been doing a lot of work with her jewelry business lately. They have a sales incentive on that will pay a $15,000 bonus if she hits it. I wouldn't put it past her. She finally had one of her consultants reach a Star Leader level, which increases the consultant's rate of pay and gets Darla closer to another level with the company.That consultant will also join us in Hawaii in January. She continues to do well.

The two parties' conventions are now in the books and the difference between the candidates is crystal clear. It is partly the party lines with the Dems being Big Government and the Republicans ideal of small business as the answer to our problems. BUT...Obama is the embodiment of a government employee who believes that the government should run everything and knows better than the populace. Romney is a man who has run businesses and knows that the well being of a populace is based on their ability to work and take care of their family. It isn't standing in line for a government hand-out that gives a person a sense of accomplishment, unless you have grown up in a family that was on welfare and on the dole. Then you don't know any better. Obama has created an entire generation of people that have been on government assistance for years. He has worked hard to take the work element out of Clinton's Welfare to Work program. It is astonishing that people still want to hear what he plans to do to improve the economy. He's had four years and has failed miserably. It is time for real Hope and real Change. Political Ads have changed from discussing issues to being about attacking your opponent. The one thing that is missing in those ads is TRUTH. It is now all about winning and not campaigning. It is disgraceful.

Obama decided to tell the convention hall that they are now better off than they were four years ago. About the only people who believe him are union workers, the unemployed and illegal immigrants. IF he is re-elected there will be alot more illegals, union workers and the unemployed. The sad fact is that there are now a whole group of adult Americans that are nothing but a drag on the system. The more we give them the more they want and they refuse to give anything back or work for their handouts. The DNC spent a lot of time crowing about Obama saving GM, but if you look at the facts, he was pandering to the auto unions. IF GM had gone into bankruptcy, they could have dissolved their union and then started paying their workers a living wage and dropped all of the guaranteed pensions. Instead, we paid billions to the car companies and the unions still threaten to strike for more pay and better pensions. I think we just delayed the death of the auto system by ten or twenty years.

It has been a good first week of the NFL, with Dallas beating the Giants in an upset and several other decent upsets, including the Niners upset of the Packers. Darla had a party at the house on Wednesday night and I got thrown out. Luckily, the young folks in the office all planned a night at a sports bar and they let the old man show up as well. I came home about 9 PM and was hoarse. We had a great time.

Well, I don't have much. I'll be back next week with tales of my travels this week. Hopefully my Achilles holds up well this week. Be well and I'll check in on the blog next weekend. Ciao.

I have been warned to stay off my feet

I guess it is more of the same on the pictures, but a couple more to keep our memories fresh. I did bang my Achilles again in Vegas and needed to see my doctor this week. I originally injured my foot playing racquetball with Darla over four months ago and was hoping that the injury would heal itself. I wake up every morning and limp into the bathroom and stay with my right foot essentially frozen until the blood starts flowing and everything un-stiffens. My doctor said it is the same as arthritis where the joints are so fused in the morning that people can't even use their hands. I had banged my heel on the door jamb of the rental car and a fresh round of pain coursed through my body and I decided it was time to get some help. I went to the medical center on Wednesday and she sent me down to x-ray to get a look at the heel. Essentially the Achilles has come loose from my heel and is "floating". She wanted to cast my foot right then, but I had the 18th week of my twilight golf league on Thursday night and then the Labor Day golf event on Sunday. She wasn't impressed with how seriously I was taking the injury and told me that I had three weeks to see some improvement in my heel or she would put me into a cast. The Achilles needs to rest and hopefully it will reattach itself if I can stay off of the foot and not work it loose again. I am wearing the walking boot whenever we are out and I keep my foot up when I am at home.

We were out to church and then dinner on Saturday night and when we went into Mary's Pizza Shack, we sat in a booth next to a woman in a walking boot. I leaned over and said, "I can feel your pain" as I walked past. I excused myself and went to wash my hands and Darla was giggling when I got back. Apparently, the woman had a complete heel replacement 15 years ago and has been in her boot ever since. Leave it to me to insert my walking boot into my mouth when we are in public.

Steve and I did play for first place in the league againts a husband and wife team going for a three-peat in the league. We beat them pretty handily closing them out on the 8th hole with two pars and winning the league. We all went out afterward to pizza and I put my walking boot on and kidded them about losing to a gimp.

Darla and I were supposed to go to a Labor Day barbecue this afternoon, but Darla has events every night this week and wasn't feeling up to being gone tonight. I think if the event had been held over the weekend, we would have been there. The hosts both played in our Labor Day golf event and decided to have it today at their house in Granite Bay.

The Labor day golf tournament was different for me in that I used a power cart in order to stay off my foot and I had the heel bandaged with an Ace supporter. I must have looked like quite the athlete, with a tendinitis brace on my left arm and an ace bandage on my right leg. Age is somewhat humbling, but I recall Darla telling me to play racquetball because I didn't work up enough of a heart rate when I golf. True, but I had never injured myself golfing either, other than the tendinitis, which actually started years ago when I still played softball. I managed a 42+42=84, which wasn't really bad or good and gave me a net 74 with my 10 strokes (I'm at a 9.8 index now).

It will be difficult, but I will lay off golf next weekend and wear the walking boot for the next three weeks and the Ace bandage when I can't. I have two charity golf games next week, one in Redding and the other here in Roseville and I will take carts at both of those. My biggest concern is that one of my agents has invited me to play in the Serrano Invitational again this year. This is the three day event that cost $1800 per team to play and includes shoes, shirts, golf gloves, golf balls, sunglasses, cigars, pens, hats and all the free food and drink you can consume while you play. My agent, Gary's, wife will be out of town during the event, so we will go stag this year. Darla, Kelly and Gary and I were going to attend a pre-event party at a 21,000 square foot home at the country club, but now Darla will be in Pasadena at a work conference on that date. I think it could have been a great event for Darla's Silpada business as those ladies will drop $1000 on jewelry without batting an eye. Oh well.

I need to be serious about healing. If I end up getting a cast, I won't be able to drive as the cast will be on my right foot. Darla doesn't seem all too thrilled about the concept of chauffeuring me around town. I'm sure I can get a ride home from work, but she would have to drive me each morning. I'd like to avoid that as I would have the cast on for a month.

Darla and I spent some time on the pool today reading and relaxing after the golf finished up this afternoon on TV. I was winding down finishing up my chapter in the shade of the umbrella in the far end of the pool when I heard Darla yell and then a splash. A bee had landed on her and stung her thigh and she overreacted, flipping her pool lounge over and dropping her book into the water. She was not too thrilled that I found the entire episode slightly amusing.

Jennifer and Samantha ended up in Southern California this weekend with her mother at Disneyland. Sam had lunch with one of the princesses at Disneyland and Diane and Jennifer ran in the Disneyland half marathon on Sunday. Jennifer has been working every night up to when she left on Saturday morning and she texted me that she had worked 15 hours on Friday and another 16 hours on Tuesday, her birthday. It seems like it is feast or famine in her job.

We finished the month of August up another 12% at work and the additions to staff have all panned out pretty well. I have one issue with one of the new employees and attitude, but seemed to get through to her that a pleasant demeanor with one's work mates is the smartest road to happiness in the work place. Her argument that " I thought I got paid to work, not make friends" didn't go over very well with me. I reminded her of her interview and the focus that I had on TEAM and that any additions to staff would have to mesh well with the team as we had things really rocking. she kind of shrugged and said, "oh, yeah." I told her this was an opportunity to do a U turn and make amends with her coworkers and I saw her doing just that on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully, that continues. I've been very lucky in my recent hires and it is hard to hit a home run every time. I will take the staff out to lunch this Thursday at Buca Di Beppo in Roseville to celebrate another month of being above budget. I suppose a $300 lunch is  cheap price to pay for continued success.

I put some items for sale this past week. I had two golf clubs, two golf bags and two golf carts. I put the clubs on eBay and the carts and bags on Craig's list. I had a Cleveland 7 wood that I thought I'd be lucky to sell for $25. I had put it up on Auction with a Buy It Now option of $69 and it sold the first day. I have a lightly used Titleist Vokey 60 degree spin milled wedge for $89 BUY It Now or auction and it went to auction with a 5 bids and a current price of $50 with one day to go. I hope to get $75 for it. I sold one bag Saturday for $25 and the rest of the lot yesterday for $100. So, for a bunch of left over golf equipment, I should hopefully clear $269. Not bad, and I cleaned out the garage.

Well, there are two seasoned rib eyes sitting on the kitchen counter awaiting my barbecue skill, so I will work my way over to the kitchen and out to the gas grill in the backyard for some medium rare deliciousness. Be well and I will check back in next weekend. I'll be bored, so prepare for quite an epistle.

Back from Las Vegas

 

Back from Sin City with great memories and a good visit with Jennifer and Samantha. Jennifer has woken up and smelled the coffee and realizes that she cannot leave Samantha and has to work out her debt issues the old fashioned way, with hard work and perseverance. Our trip was great and the venue at Circus Circus was perfect for Miss Samantha as we got to enjoy the circus acts, midway and games. It is far enough from the busy section of the strip to actually feel like you are at a resort rather than just another notch along Las Vegas Boulevard. the weather was HOT (it is the desert after all), but there was some wind and even overcast on Saturday as a small band of monsoonal moisture moved over the Vegas area.

 

Our trip started out early on Friday morning as we were up at 3:45 for the drive to the airport and our 6 AM flight. Even leaving that early it was almost too late as we got stuck in the luggage line, the shuttle line and then the security line. we finally made it through about 5;45 and were running to catch our plane. We got the absolute back seats in the plane and were surrounded by 30 something revellers who were hooting and hollering at 6 AM. They started drinking Jack Daniels and soon their language devolved into cursing and the guy in front of me kept going into the back kitchen area and stealing bottles of wine. The flight attendants were all busy and he kept getting up and putting the little wine bottles into his hat and bringing them back to this gang. He thought he was quite the Man and at one point, one of his friends leaned over and apologized to Darla and I as we were trying to sleep. The thug leaned over and yelled, "You don't apologize for partying, dude!! Vegas, Vegas, Vegas!" All very immature and a little embarrassing. His wife was turning 30 and he was emotionally turning 14 apparently. 

 

We got into Vegas at 7:30 and Jennifer was just getting off her graveyard shift at work. She laid down to sleep and Darla and I got the rental car and headed to breakfast. We went to he Black Bear Diner and then out to buy groceries for the room (fruit, water, chips and snacks). We then drove back to the strip and parked in the garage and took a nap, waking up drenched in sweat and running the a/c. We finally checked into the hotel at noon and then headed over to see Jennifer and Samantha. Jennifer was having her truck worked on by a friend and would join us for dinner, and we packed up Sam and headed over to the Circus Circus and we went to the pool. Jennifer continued with her car problems and had to cancel dinner with us. They finally got the car running and she went in to work. We went to the pizzeria at Circus Circus with Samantha and then went up to see some circus acts. We ended the night with some ice cream and Sam was all smiles. We told her that she could have ice cream if she ate all of her pizza and she hugged us both.

 

Jennifer came over to the Circus Circus about 1:00PM on Saturday and we spent the afternoon together. We took Samantha out to breakfast and then went shopping for a new dress and shoes for her. We bought her the blue dress with the blue hair band.

 

Saturday afternoon we also met Linda, Jennifer's next door neighbor and her daughter, Ashley. Jennifer is getting out of her apartment and they are moving in together into a three bedroom apartment. Sam and Ashley will share the master bedroom and Linda and Jennifer will each have their own room. Ashley is 13 and loves Samantha. Linda is 52, a former fitness instructor who is now disabled because of back and neck injuries. Linda is willing to watch Samantha for Jennifer and save her over $350 a month in child care. They will also save $175 each on rent and share expenses.

 

Linda and  Ashley came over and we all relaxed by the pool before heading to dinner at the Rock and Rita's cafe in the Circus Circus. That is a picture of Samantha and Jennifer on the commode at the entrance to the restaurant. We went up to see some circus acts after dinner and Jennifer treated Sam to some midway games. Jennifer tried to pop a balloon with a dart and when she couldn't, Sam tried and popped the balloon to win a Shrek stuffed animal! They tried skee ball and those blasted rings that you try to throw onto a Coke bottle that never works. We were leaving and there was a game that had rubber chickens that you had to launch from a catapult into pots turning on a stage. We all tried and failed and then Ashley won Samantha a little stuffed animal that was her favorite. She kept showing us and telling us that "Ashley won this for me!" At one point Jennifer called the guy over and said she was missing one of the chickens, it was three tries for a dollar. It turns out Sam grabbed it and though it was her prize.

 

Jennifer had to go into work again and she was back by about 5:30 Sunday morning. We all got up and headed to breakfast and then to church. Jennifer went to the church on Easter and Linda wants them all to start going on a regular basis. We went back to her apartment afterward where we planned to spend the day relaxing by the pool before going to dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy on the strip. Jennifer got called into work and we had left her truck at the casino garage. I ended up driving her to North Las Vegas where she had to pick up a "sniffer" (a sensor for gasses). I then drove her to her office where she picked up a truck and then headed over to her warehouse to get 2 blowers for use clearing out a vault where communication lines are installed. I headed back to the apartment about three and Jennifer was back by 4:30.  Jennifer thought she would have to work Sunday night, but the job got called off, so she was able to hang with us after dinner.

 

Monday, we were driving to breakfast with Jennifer and Sam following us and Jennifer's car started acting up again. She wanted to take it to a mechanic a friend of her knew, but I told her to take it to Firestone. They found a loose ignition wore and tested the electrical to find a bad fuel pump. I had them replace it with a new one and paid the bill for her. She promised to pay me back, but I will stand in line behind her other creditors. we dropped the car and I took them to lunch at Marie Callendar's. We ate lunch and then had them bring Jennifer a cupcake with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday. We went to the pool for about an hour and then went back to the apartment to watch a movie (Tangled) with Samantha. We then had to head to the airport for our flight back.

 

It was a good trip. Sam is doing well. Jennifer is struggling financially as most single Mom's do, but her work has two new contracts that should keep them busy through the Winter. She has started night school and is back on days at work with weekends off as the fiber side of the shop has a new big contract and that is Jennifer's specialty. We are praying that the relationship with Linda and her daughter will be a good one for Jennifer and Sam and she will be able to dig out of the hole she is in. Jennifer and Sam head to Los Angeles this weekend and w=Jennifer will run with her Mom in a half marathon and Samantha will go to Disneyland for the first time and have lunch at  the castle on Saturday with Tinkerbell (or some other character). It should be fun for her.

 

Well, it is late on Wednesday night. Darla is due back from a party soon and I worked on the lawn, pool and garden this evening and haven't even eaten dinner. I should have something light before bed. I hope you are all well. We miss you. By the way, did you see that I hit 10,000 visits on the blog? Pretty amazing over the last 10 years. My first blog post was December 16, 2002. Ciao.

VEGAS next week

I will be happy to be in Vegas next week. Jennifer has been having a rough time of it lately. Her hours have been spotty at work and she has had a tough time making her bills. She feels like she just can't catch a break and it's been hard for her to be on her own completely with no one else to help with the bills. She has been enticed with an opportunity to go overseas for several months and make some good money, but conflicted with leaving Samantha behind. She is scared and stressed and needs some time with family to sort things out. I will be there to listen, give advice if it is asked for and just to love her and Sam unconditionally. I feel for her stuck in Vegas with John and his family entrenched in Sin City, a city that has really felt the pinch of unemployment, the housing crash and a slow economy. The failed policies of Barrack Hussein Obama are felt more keenly in a town like Vegas, a city that has little to no economic activity outside gaming and the infrastructure that supports it. She has needed our help to get by recently and is embarrassed and frustrated and wants a quick fix to a problem that has been long in the making. We will sit and talk next weekend.


Hopefully a change is coming in November, but it is hard to be positive as this administration has been one large teat, using our kid's inheritance as a sucker for the unemployed, the welfare recipients and even the big banks that created their own problems. Obama has the lower class, the blacks, the Latinos and the government employees in his hip pocket and it is a long, uphill battle for the Republicans. The answer to our problems is support for small and mid sized businesses that will be the engine that drives employment and prosperity in this company, not taxation of the rich and middle class. That doesn't work and our spending policies are out of control. The current administration is a serious concern for the future of this country as a super power. The one thing keeping us alive right now is the US dollar's use as a trading currency. That is in real jeopardy as China, Saudi Arabia and other countries are refusing to accept dollars as a trading currency instead using the Euro to complete their international transactions. Most oil is now priced in Euros as OPEC has abandoned the US dollar as a trading currency. It's scary and you wonder if the Manchurian candidate Obama is reeling us all into his plan to destroy America. This is all documented in the new movie "2016" that is having a limited showing in cities with a population of thinking Americans. It is getting heavy play in conservative areas like the Midwest and south. The Republican ticket may not be perfect, but the alternative may be the end of America as a super power in world politics.

That is a sunny beginning to a blog entry, eh?  I have serious doubts about the intentions of one Barrack Hussein and see ObamaCare as a huge ticking bomb that will implode in this country and take away all of the democratic and American freedoms that this country represents. Once a government begins to dictate to the people and we lose our free will, we become servants to the government, instead of the government being there to serve us. We have veered way off on the wrong tack and we are drifting toward the rocks. I pray that we can save this country and the future of our kids and grand kids before it is too late. Obama is popular, but so was Hitler and Mussolini.

We had an interesting sermon this morning on the perils of ignoring the teachings of the Bible and doing things our own way. Pastor Rick had an interesting point that Buddhism mirrors the thoughts and viewpoints of Siddhartha, Mormonism follows the thoughts and viewpoint of Joseph Smith and that the Muslim faith follows the teachings and viewpoint of Muhammed. The only religion that has a differing viewpoint is Christianity, it teaches good and evil and warns against having false gods in our lives. CS Lewis wrote: "Anything we make into a god eventually becomes a demon." So true.  All of this ties into what is happening in America today. Moral and religious confusion leads to war and civil war. Civil war leads to loss of life and loss of life leads to loss of personal rights. We are traveling down a slippery slope right now and need to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

I'll climb down off my soap box now. I saw Neil yesterday and we played golf together. We rode together in the same cart and I got the Reader's Digest version of his vacation. they had a total blast up in Vancouver with Dad and Shirley and he couldn't stop raving about them as a couple and as hosts. They got to see Langley and enjoyed the car show in Cloverdale immensely. Neil was retelling the story of driving the 44 Mercury to the car show and how careful he was and then the crush of humanity as they left the show later and how his heart rate spiked as   he drove the several miles back to Surrey. He loved the car show and the time spent with Dad that day. Shirley and Lilly took off and shopped the stores of Cloverdale and the whole gang ate both breakfast and lunch in Cloverdale. Dad and Shirley talked them into staying an extra night and they got to take the SkyTrain into Vancouver and saw the steam clock and other attractions. Neil was tickled pink with the trip. another highlight for them was Mount Rushmore that Neil said was a stirring sight at night when they turn the light on the mountain and play the National Anthem. They enjoyed Yellowstone National Park, but it was really smoky from the forest fires. Neil asked one of the rangers when the smoke would clear and the answer was "not until the first snowfall". Wow.

We have a line of smoke that encircles the valley, but the high level winds have cleared out our skies and it is blue above us, but you can see a ring of smoke to the West and north of us. It is odd.

I did play golf three times this week. Wednesday I played in a scramble event following a Continuing Education event at Timber Creek golf course. The golf started at 1PM and took 5 hours to complete. There wee about 22 teams, but only about 15 actually finished and turned in cards. I played with Gary and Stan and Vicky. I had planned to play with Gary and hook up with two others, but I saw Stan and Vicky when I was registering them and got us all in the same group. We shot a 66 and took second place, which is a $50 gift card. The marketing rep will stop by this week and drop off our winnings. There were only two ladies in the group and Vicky won the closest to the pin for women and one of Pete's agents won the ladies long drive.

Thursday I played in our twilight league. We only have two weeks left and Steve and I are in second place. We are three points behind first, but don't need to move up as the final night will be 1 vs 2 and so on, so we need to stay in second to get a shot at winning the league. I shot 39 on Thursday and Steve shot 42.

Saturday I played power Hour with Neil, Bob and Darren and shot a nice 36+41=77. I thought I had a chance to put a really low round together, but ran out of steam on the back side. I will play in a Tuesday day event this week and twilight league Thursday before boarding the plane Friday morning for Vegas. I decided to play in the Tuesday event when I found out that one of my carriers is coming in that afternoon and wants to have dinner that night. We will go out to the Chinese Food restaurant in the Thunder Valley casino.

I will add the final piece to my work puzzle tomorrow when Kennah starts. She will be an endorsement specialist and eventual assistant to Connie, my newest underwriter. Connie is putting some serious constraints on when and how Kennah will be used as she will be training her and wants to make sure she isn't inundated with work. This will be a real boon to the office as several of the teams are buried in endorsements.

Well, the blog will be on vacation next week, but will return with pictures of Jennifer and Samantha next week. I hope you are all doing well and will add pictures next week. Be well. Ciao.