I NEED A JOB

I have decided I need to go back to work full time so I can slow down and work less. This retirement thing is wearing me out. Since getting back from the Around the World trip, I've been gone every week on business to Chicago, New York or DC.

I came to this conclusion when I noticed that based on the trips coming up, I will have already flown over 50,000 miles on Delta by the end of April and none of the Round the World trip is included in that. I never flew that much when I was running a company. What is wrong here?

But this weeks trip was worth it. Here is the reason why.



That's right-I got to spend one night when I was in DC with Grover, Cris and the boys. I forgot my camera so the photo above was taken a couple of weeks ago but I still liked putting it there. It was so much fun to see them.

I was in DC for an AHIP meeting-it was the second to last meeting I will conduct as Chairman and it was a great meeting. I got to present some awards at a dinner to Congressman Ryan of Wisconsin and Congressman Pomeroy of North Dakota. At the meeting I met Congressman John Boehner of Ohio and Congressman Rahm Emanuael of Illinois, two of the highest ranking members of Congress in their respective party. Both made good presentations to our Board, albeit from very different political perspectives.

I also went and met four Senators at their offices the next day and also met the new Commissioner of Social Security at his office, Mike Astrue, a really good guy. So it was a busy week on the Hill and I enjoyed it.

But the highlight was the visit in Arlington with my family and of course I had so much fun with this guy, who announced as soon as I walked in the door that he was now "three and three qwatuhs" (think Boston accent) years old.



I may write about the "Jose and his Penis" story that Landon and I were laughing so hard about when he was supposed to be going to bed that Cris asked me what in the world had been going on in his bedroom. I think I will do that on my next posting.

But going back to the theme of this Post, there may be other reasons I should go back to work. I have three examples that all occurred this weekend.

Friday I had talked to Dave McDonough who told me he was flying to Florida for the weekend to play golf. A few hours later, our phone rang and I saw it was from Trustmark on the caller ID. I didn't recognize the number (this is a key part to this story) so I thought for sure it was Dave calling me perhaps as he passed through the Atlanta airport.

It was a clear and beautiful day in Atlanta-81 degrees and not a cloud in the sky-but for some reason, as I answered the phone and heard nothing but an echoing noise I first decided Dave had been hit by lightning as he was calling me and that is why I couldn't hear him.

I have an active imagination as others in my family often point out.

Then I realized how silly that was and concluded (this was all in abuot 3 seconds) that he had been run over by one of those electric carts in the airport that take elderly people to their gates. I concluded that because I could hear something-sort of a rustling like noise-on the phone.

It disconnected, I looked at the caller ID again and wrote down the number and dialed it to see if Dave was okay. Right when I dialed it, I heard my cell phone ring, an unusual occurrence since I don't give that number to anyone. It was in my right pocket so I thought "Wow-Dave must really want to talk to me as he is now calling me on my cell". So, holding the home phone on my left ear I answered the cell phone with the right ear, expecting to hear Dave, but instead I heard my own voice.

I was totally confused. I am going "Hello, Dave?" in one phone and I can hear my voice in the other phone.

That is when I realized that the cell phone in my pocket, as I was walking around, had dialed our home phone and this had nothing to do with Dave. I had called myself and because I don't know my cell phone number, it looked familiar but I thought it was Dave. I was talkign to myself. Cathy was shaking her head.

Advance up two hours. I am getting ready to cook on my Big Green Egg barbecue. It is this big ceramic pot and if it gets real hot, you have to open the lid very slowly and let the heat escape because if you open it fast, it will flare up on you.

I had brought the temperature to 700 degrees with the intent on getting the coals nice and hot and then was goign to reduce it to about 300 for cooking. I was getting ready to put the grill itself on the fire to heat it up and forgot it was at 700 degrees and so I just popped the lid up.

Yes, the hair on both my arms was singed off, my left eyebrow was singed, I burnt a whole bunch of the hair on the front of my head off and I burned my forehead. Cathy was getting a little nauseus from the smell of all the burned hair as she smeared Aloe Vera on my forehead. I then had to go up and take a shower, wash my hair 3 times and then take a hair brush and brush the singed hair out of my head and arms.

Have you ever tried brushing the hair on your arms?

It was after this that Cathy, in all candor I am sure, asked me: "Grover, how did you ever run a company?"

So I may have to go back to work to rebuild her confidence in me that I can still run a company-I just can't do the daily activities of living.

Finally, the next night she had the hiccups. I was following her around and jumping out at her about every two minutes to scare her so they would go aways. She was ignoring me.

We went upstairs to go to bed and she still had the hiccups. She went in the bathroom so I had the bright idea I would go hide in my closet and when she came out and went to the sink I would jump out, scare the daylights out of her and be her hero for curing her hiccups.

I waited and heard her come out. Unfortunately, she decided to walk to her closet (across from mine) instead of to the sink and I was so tensed up getting ready to scare her that when she suddenly appeared outside of my closet door she scared me so bad I started screaming uncontrollably. The hair on my right arm was standing straight up I was so frightenend (I didn't have any hair on my left arm after the burn incident).

I was hyperventilating I was so scared. She looked at me and very calmly said "What in the world is the matter with you?", hiccuped again and walked in her closet.

I will close with one other story. I read this article (below) in the paper and wondered if perhaps this guy ought to write Dear Abby or someone and get some tips on how to romance a woman he is interested in. I am not sure his technique will get him very far with the woman he is after.

What was he thinking? Did he believe she would eat the candy hearts and not notice the accompanying head?

Alleged dog killer was spurned suitor

ST. PAUL, Minn., March 23 (UPI) -- The grandmother of a St. Paul, Minn., teenage girl whose dog was beheaded said the perpetrator was a rejected suitor of the girl.

Shirley Brown said the man who was arrested on suspicion of killing the dog and sending its severed head to Brown's granddaughter had made romantic overtures toward the girl but was rejected, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported Friday.


"I thought it was a sign that he loved her and she hurt him because she didn't want to be his friend anymore," Brown said. "He knew that killing her dog was the thing that would hurt her worst of all, it would tear her heart out."


Brown said there were candy hearts packaged with the dog's head.


The suspect was arrested Thursday and held on suspicion of making terroristic threats. An investigator said the suspect may face animal cruelty charges.


The man was previously convicted in 2001 of fifth-degree assault and in 2005 of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, causing substantial bodily harm.

"YIKES, A SNAKE!!! AND OTHER FUN THINGS THIS WEEK"



Most of you read my Post from about ten days ago from when I took Landon to see the snakes at the Museum. Well, obviously taking after his Dad he decided to make me a snake (the photo above) at school this week and mail it to me. He even made it curled up into the striking position.

Actually, I thought it was pretty neat.

First, congratulations to Alayne who made it into Nursing School. Hooray, Alayne! She starts in August. Based on our experience from when she has been at our house, she will be one of the hardest working, cleaningest nurses in the hospital. We are happy for you Alayne.

My Mom has been awfully sick the last ten days but the antibiotics have kicked in and she really sounded herself last night. We are all happy Mom!

Despite the fact I spent my week feeling guilty about not being home on Cathy's special birthday, I had a pretty good week. I had a wonderful dinner with John and Belinda (their treat which made it even better) on Monday night at Gibson's in Chicago and the two days at the Actuarial Association Board meeting were good. Because I am one of the only people on the Board that is not an actuary (or even close for that matter), they are always interesting meetings to me. On Tuesday afternoon I was flying from Chicago to New York for a USHealth Group Board dinner at Le Cirque.

God has a way of bringing justice. I was going to be at a dinner at Le Cirque, one of the top restaurants in New York City while Cathy was in Atlanta on her birthday. God said "No problem-I can fix this injustice" and the next thing I knew, I was spending two and a half hours sitting at the back of a full Continental Airline plane on the tarmac at O’Hare, with the engines turned off to save fuel on the hottest day in Chicago history for March 13th. Then another two hours flying to New York only to find that the driver was confused and was at the wrong terminal so I waited another hour outside for him.

So I missed the dinner, the man upstairs did His job and brought justice to me, and I ate a roast beef sandwich from a corner deli at 1030 pm when I finally arrived in New York and Cathy had a nice meal at La Grotta with Carol Egger. I think things were supposed to be that way.

As hard as it is for me to face, I think Cathy had a good birthday without me. When I returned, our counter was lined with cards from many friends and she had as many flowers as a florist. And she deserved all of them.











On Wednesday we had our Board meeting of USHealth Group at Credit Suisse headquarters on Madison Avenue. After that I took a taxi up to see Harvey's new office and spent the afternoon and evening with him and some good guys that he has known a long time. They run a Private Equity firm named Riverside and the two Co-Ceo's were both really good guys that I immediately took a liking to and I often don't do that with New York money guys. It was a great afternoon and Harvey, generous as always, bought me dinner at Fresco and then I caught a 9pm flight home and was back admiring Cathy's flowers by midnight.

This weekend we are going to attempt to trade in what was our car ten years ago, then was Andrea's car and is now ours again for a new car for Cathy. Never a fun experience for me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHY !!

Today is a milestone day for Cathy. We won't say what milestone, but on March 13, 19XX in the village of Yankton, South Dakota a wonderful baby was born. I am sure as she entered the world she looked around to take it all in, was wondering what everything in this new world was, likely was not fussing since she still doesn't, and was probably wondering where she could get her tiny baby hands on three things-a book to read, a crossword puzzle to do and a broom to tidy up the delivery room.

As proof that I have lived a blessed life, 19 years, one month and 17 days after this event in Yankton, she walked down the aisle with me at St. Mary's Church in Kingman, Arizona.

I could write volumes about her life since she has spent much of it with me. But I think I will instead just tell one story-it is about today and her understanding and support speaks louder than the words I write.

This is a big birthday as all milestone birthdays are. It is a time to celebrate with friends and family, including your husband. At her request our family is going to have a party for her when and where she wants, which is in Jackson Hole in September when she can be surrounded by our grandkids. But that is a long ways off and most people (including her) would want to be celebrating today. She understands that the kids are scattered literally across the globe but of course she has me living in Atlanta with her so at least I will be with her. Or so most people would conclude.

So where am I today? At a Board meeting in Chicago that started yesterday and ends today. So am I flying back to Atlanta to be with her tonight? No, I am flying to New York for a dinner with another Board I am on and their meeting tomorrow. I arrive back in Atlanta at 1130 tomorrow night.

How does she feel about this? She would rather I be with her of course, but she understands I have no choice and is totally supportive. That is who Cathy is and why she is such a wonderful person. She is the most unselfish person I know. Fortunately, our friend Sandy Brosch will be taking her to lunch today and our friend Carol Egger is taking her to dinner tonight.

How do I feel about this? Like crap, of course. Who wouldn't?

So, last Saturday after a great day of doing things together I made her a birthday dinner. I made a maché salad tossed with grapefruit olive oil and balsamic and sitting on top of it some warmed Tomino cheese with herbs and pine nuts. I made a fresh parsley pesto spread on crackers to have with the salad.

Then we had Cannelloni stuffed with Ricotta Cheese, Rosemary Ham and Fresh Sweet Peas, roasted red beets and even though it doesn't go with Cannelloni, because she likes the way I make them I made some fingerling sweet potatoes baked with honey, brown sugar and baby marshmallows melted on top.

For dessert she had her own Vahlrona Gateau, the most amazingly rich cake imaginable. We split it with some fresh raspberries on the side and even though it was only an individual portion, it was so rich that the two of us could only eat half of it.

When I brought the cake I told her there were no candles on it as I had something special for her in the form of candles. Here is a photo of her with her candles as she gets ready to eat her Gateau. The yellow flower on the plate with her cake is a fresh pansy I picked from our flower box:



Yes, those are candles on her glasses. I still can't believe she let me take that photo. That is not characteristic of her, especially because I told her I was going to put in on my Blog. she likely believed I wouldn't dare do that.

Did the dinner make up for me not being there today? Of course not. Was it fun? You bet. Do I still feel like crap? You bet.

Happy Birthday Cath-You have no idea how much I wish I was there with you today on this special day. See you tomorrow night.

THE SNAKES



After arriving back home late last Monday night from the long trip, I had to turn around and fly to Chicago (weather sucked) for 3 days for the Trustmark Board Meeting. When I got back late Friday night, Cris, Landon and Wes were here in Atlanta visiting from DC. This was great.

So I had the weekend to play with the boys before they flew home last evening. We had a blast as you can see from the photo above-the boys had covered me with their stuffed animals in their room and were both sitting on me and Landon was trying to tickle me.

No one who knows me well will believe the next thing I am going to tell you about their visit. You see, I am not afraid of snakes-I am petrified of them. Once when our cat Amy had trapped a snake in our yard many years ago Cathy yelled at me to come out and said "Amy has a garden snake trapped. What should we do?" I answered in total honesty from what I was feeling when I screamed "Call a realtor. We are selling the house."

Fortunately, although he was quite sick with the flu or something, our son Grover was home so he had to come down and kill it. He was going to put it in the garbage can but I have heard that worms can be cut in half and come back to life so I was worried that snakes could also as they are both long, slender and slimy.

So I had him put the pieces of the snake in one of those plastic bags for lawn clippings, tie it on top about 11 times and then told him to get in the car. I made him hold the bag outside of his window in case the snake was suddenly reincarnated (maybe that means when something happens again in the car-like come back to life) and we drove down to our subdivisions tennis court and left the bag in the trash can there.

That is the background on how I feel about snakes. There are many more stories worse than that one.

So, this weekend I took Landon to the Fernbank Museum for a Doctor Seuss birthday celebration. We were going into an auditorium to watch a skit on Yerkle the Turkel or something like that when Landon decided he didn't want to see this which meant we had an hour to kill before the next activity.

There was only one thing to do but I believe there are not many grandparents that are brave enough-wait, it is not about bravery-I should say that love their grandson enough to do what I did next. I took him to the other thing that was there to do. I took him into the reptile and lizard exhibition because he is a little strange like his Dad and likes things like that. We saw dozens of lizards and over 25 snakes. I stopped counting when I got to 25. I was nervous as a cat in a tree.

I remember one that is nicknamed the Two Step snake. It is called that (I think it is a Viper) because they say that after it bites you, no one can take more than two steps before you are being reincarnated.

I haven't slept without nightmares the last two nights since we went. Aside from looking at the snakes though, we had a great time together. We even went into the little restaurant and both got their Kids Meal of a hot dog, chips, cookie and milk.

I continue to be very proud of myself for being able to look at those snakes (the longest one was 15 some feet-they said this type averages 23 feet) so that Landon could see them. I would have been unable to do it with anyone other than Landon or Wes. Here is how their website describes it.

Fernbank Museum: Lizards & Snakes Alive (Now Showing- August 12, 2007): Explore the unique and beautiful diversity of lizards and snakes in the engaging new exhibition Lizards & Snakes: Alive! Come face to face with more than 60 live specimens showcased in re-created habitats, complete with ponds, tree limbs, rock ledges, and live plants. Featured animals include everything from a four-inch tropical girdled lizard to a fifteen-foot Burmese python, and represent 27 species from around the world. The exhibit showcases these animal's remarkable adaptations, including projectile tongues, deadly venom, amazing camouflage, and sometimes surprising modes of locomotion. Interactive stations give visitors the opportunity to listen to squamate sounds, get a close-up look at live geckos, test their knowledge, explore the inner workings of a rattlesnake on the hunt, and watch a video of lizard and snake locomotion in our Squamate Theater.

AAAGGGGHHHH!!!

They flew home last night and when I came back from the airport I looked over at the fireplace and saw that Landon had placed his paper sack from his Kids Meal on the fireplace tools. Cathy started to take it off but I asked her to leave it there for a few days as a reminder of how much fun I had that day with Landon and the whole weekend with both of the boys.