OKC

This weekend was Pre-Paid Legal's international convention in Oklahoma City. Mom, Dad, and I flew but Alvin DROVE. I don't think he'll do THAT again!

I typically hate arena photos since you can't see anything, but this one turned out okay. This is our founder Mr. Harland Stonecipher on stage for the final address at the end of the weekend.


On Sunday, we slept in and then had "brunch" at Abuelo's Mexican Food. We ate here last year. I'm not a huge fan of eating Mexican out, but this is excellent. Even if it IS in OKC!


The outside of the restaurant.


After lunch, Alvin and I went for a walk by the canal. Gotta love the ability to set the time and run away. This pic turned out the best of the ones I took this way. I didn't bring my new camera since I didn't want to lose it. This is just an EatStayPlay grab camera and isn't great. The photos are okay, but not great by any means.


On our walk behind the hotel, we found this penguin!


His name was Tux.


Okay, you can't really see from the photo...

This tree had roots that stuck up above the ground (and mulch) that looked like knobby knees sticking out of bath water. Very cool to look at. Couldn't get a photo that made it make sense...

Scrabble Game

Anybody who knows me and my family knows that we like to play Scrabble. Of course, we play with "lifelines" (three free look-ups) and always have cookies when we play.

Well, my folks came over for the day. We had dinner and then we played Scrabble. We had 2 FIRST EVERS in this game:

Mom went first. She played a SEVEN letter word to start the game! That means that it was double the points (for going first) and had a 50 point bonus.

Then, I went. I also played all 7 tiles for an EIGHT letter word! I think I've only played all 7 tiles once before. Ever.

In order to get the 50 point bonus, you have to play all 7 tiles, not just have a 7 letter word.

Cool huh!?

New Luncheon Location

We FINALLY found a new location for our luncheon briefing. (Unmentionable restaurant) was demanding a $150 minimum room charge so we have to find a new location PRONTO.

We were at the Gurley Street Grill for two weeks. It's not a great location since it was upstairs and very small. The food was good but not our typical "burgers and fries" type of joint and it was $13 per person instead of $10.

SO, we checked out the Golden Corral. Perfect fit! Far less expensive ($9), no minimum room charge, and we can move the tables however we need to! Yeah!

Big Presentation

This evening (and tomorrow at lunch) I'll be doing a presentation about the Life Events Legal Plan at a client appreciation event. Funny thing, it's not for OUR clients. It's for another Enrolled Agent in the area.

She's very focused on making sure that everybody has a Will and end-of-life planning. So, that's what I'll be focusing on. Hopefully, we'll be able to pull a ton of counters out of it and start March off with a bang. I'd really like to see Dad get to ED in March...

I'm excited about this, but it's the first time that I've ever done a big Power Point presentation all on my own. I figure I can get through it all in about fifteen to twenty minutes. The shorter the better since we can't have dinner until we're all done speaking. I just always remind myself to speak slowly. I also don't want to use the lapel mic, but the hand-held mic. I've never used a clip-on microphone before and certainly don't want to start tonight!

Players Club

Who hoo! I'm already Player's Club 11 for the month. We're really looking to move up in the contest. Very excited. Here's to a GREAT February.

Cheers!

Happy Birthday Grandma Alice

Happy 81st Birthday!

It was Grandma Alice's 81st birthday today. To celebrate we all went to Red Lobster which is one of Grandma's favorites. She even got to ride in my new truck.

We were gone about 3 hours or so. That's the upper limit for her; she gets tired and then REALLY starts repeating herself. She had a really good time. A little old man in the care home gave her that necklace.

Renn Faire

Yeah for the Renn Faire! This is the second year that Alvin has gone with my family and I, but it's the first year he dressed up! I think he looks wonderful in his garb.

After this picture was taken, I actually bought a cloak! I've wanted one for years and THIS year I decided that I already had the finances to buy it. It's wool, a dark grey-purple and is nearly ankle length. AND, Mom bought me a new over skirt in pink! It's fantastic!

We had a great time but I was ready to get home. For one, we'd already spent the weekend in Phoenix at a PPL event. A Super Regional that was fantastic!

BIG Snow in Chino Valley

It started snowing this afternoon. And just KEPT on snowing. And snowing. I actually had to go to Alco after work and buy a snow shovel. I knew when I bought my house that having a north facing driveway would mean ice but, frankly, it doesn't snow in Chino that often.

Or, not enough snow to make much difference.

I actually had to shovel the snow after I pulled in my garage at about 7:00. It was about 6 inches and still falling.


When Lily and I went to bed, it looked like THIS! You can't tell, but it's about 8 inches or so.


You can see how much snow is on the end of the kayak. And yes, Lily does LOVE the snow. I had to bring her in finally. She was wet, ice-caked and shivering.

By this morning, it was 13 inches. They actually canceled school! Dad is coming to get me to take me to the office. I don't get a day off since when there's snow a lot of people come in during the day that would have come in in the evening.



PS: you can see my trees in the backyard!

Players Club

Who hoo! I'm already Player's Club 11 for the month. We're really looking to move up in the contest. Very excited. Here's to a GREAT February.

Cheers!

Bought a new truck

I went today and bought a new truck. It's a 2004 silver Nissan (Frontier?). I'm not trading in my ranger, but I'll sell it in front of MDI.

Dad figures it's for the best since my Ranger has 106,000+ miles on it and is a '96. Just getting old. I'll go tomorrow and pick it up. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them. This was all kinda sudden. Dad had me test drive a brand NEW truck at Tim's but it was like $8K more expensive than the Nissan. I think this is a lot better. We drove it tonight. Seems like a good little truck.


I sure hope it fits in my garage!