Rare Blue Sky

Shanghai a few days ago from the balcony.

Enquiring minds want to know why my name is so strange. I started this blog because I was laid off from my job for the first time in my life. I was bored and everything in my life was so strange. Also I did not want anyone to know who I was as I wanted to speak freely. I am still somewhat cautious in identifying people and places, it can be a small world and a vicious one. My name stands for the major companies I dealt with, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. It started out as an automotive blog written from my viewpoint. The pictures at the top are significant to me.

The old car is actually owned by the family and was manufactured by a family member. We could have been rich but Henry Ford is rumored to have burned the factory down twice.

The middle picture is a drawing that a guy on the line drew when Cerberus took over Chrysler. You can see the love.

The Phoenix was my hope that I would have a job in the future. We can see how that worked out. I am unemployed in the one place I was hoping not to be.

A friend convinced me join a social network to play free games as I was bored, broke, and slightly batty. This required my having a name. So I made up another one. I did not want anyone to find me on the social network. There are various reasons for this but the most important one is that I am the black sheep of the family. The truth is I always expected to find Jerry Springer on my porch sent by my family for an intervention. They find me lacking in their brand of Christian love and I have no money to share with them. Bless their hearts.

So, MOV, you can call me Nola. New Orleans is my favorite place.

Badger, no I will not be driving in China as it takes years to get a license and more moxie and insurance than I will ever have.

I need a car in the US because I am a pessimist and await the other shoe dropping and going home with no money and no car, and no ability to get one. You need a car to look for a job. Big Daddy works for a suspect company and I can no longer be surprised by anything that happens. The only thing that surprises me is that bullshit, ignorance and stupidity seem to be the norm.

So to lighten this up a bit,

The good:  BD bought me a foam rubber, covered in cloth, thing for the bed. I slept through the night without pain and got out of bed without a lot of pain. I cannot scrunch on the long train rides with my back. When I birthed Punkin Head it was discovered my tail bone points in the wrong direction. Was not great for either one of us.

The bad: Delta, the shit airline I must fly home (if I want to get there in less than 4 days) has now changed the Economy Plus seats on International flights to only Plats and Diamonds without charge. Must get on Flyer Talk about this one. So I have to pay 80 US dollars both ways for a seat that will allow me to walk off the plane without assistance. On a crappy 747 with no personal entertainment other than the cabin crew dissing the pax.

The Ugly: Mr. Rooter seems to be having a problem with refunding my money for the "not to code" chimney liner they installed. This will require me to go to the bar of my choice in Detroit and speak with my council person. And then others. And this just pisses me off. Not going to the bar, love the bar. He has one week to make this right. We spoke with the credit card company and that is the max time for his promises to appear on their system.

News from the outside world

whoa . . . I didn't think I'd have a post today. The boss called and if Plant Loco goes back to work so do I. Go baby go.

Goodby GM, Hello Chaos

So Obama told Rick to take his balls and bats and go home. Okay. Then Obama told everyone the US Government would guarantee warranty. WHAT? Does the government understand how warranty works? Where do they think the parts come from? This is called Service Parts Operations, run by GM, supplied by suppliers, sent to GM dealers, paid for by GM. At what moment does Obama and Timmy think this warranty issue is not going to be a big problem. Chapter 11 means no more parts for any reason until they are paid for. And Service Parts are shelved waiting for a dealer to call, and by the way, under Chapter 11, there are no more dealers.

Crazy Ass shit.

Met my new Quality Manager today (from a town far away), he came to Plant Okey Dokey to assess the damage from his shit shipments, and guess what? He looks like a serial killer. I am not making this up. Someone told me once, why would anyone go there other than to hide. Shiver, Shiver. And a QM from another far away plant just recently was put in prison for a long time for killing his wife.

We seem to attract the best and brightest.

Everyone is depressed over Obama saying he knows how to run the auto industry and Timmy saying that over time we won't care how much money we make. WTF

Sunday Newspapers

This is GrrDog and Big Daddy reading the Sunday papers. Doesn't he look sweet. He just got a bath and a blow dry. I had a great blog write-up that somehow disappeared when trying to attach the pictures. Lost the writing and maybe learned how to post pictures.


This next picture is Big Daddy's helpful hint at posting the picture of Grrdog. This is actually Turtle Soup from the Rib Room at the Omni Royal Orleans in New Orleans. I could post more if anyone is interested. The duck livers at NOLA are fabulous.
The automotive connection, the book on the table "Victorine" by Frances Parkinson Keyes tells of the recession in the rice production in Louisiana and how the formerly well off were forced to drive older cars and could not afford to replace them. However there were many purchases of gold slippers in what I would consider a back woods town. Fancy cars, fancy shoes, blind-pigs, jealousy, and stalking. In the 1920's. WTF

Oh this is fun. My first post and I have not a clue what I am doing. Not much to say about automotive as there is very little automotive business today. Heard Channel 7 news was at Visteon today asking how workers felt about the pay cuts. One would assume a pay cut is better than no job at all. Traffic was light in the Motor City, well what do you expect when most of the people are layed-off and can sleep in. New information to me-you cannot call MARVIN until your third week of lay-off so no reason to get up and call in for your check.

Thinking back on the job and people I will never see again. Plant loco will never be the same, reorg coming if they ever run again. Talent is gone and the people left will be trying to learn new jobs and a new structure on the fly while the line is running. I sure hope someone has a damn good plan. And I pray the arrogant assholes think that maybe they are part of the problem and change their ways before we are all out of job. I am talking about middle management, I am pretty sure the guys at the top know this or do not care either way.

Personal plan is to spend no money in January unless I absolutely have to. Of course I had to get my hair done Saturday. This is in case I get a call for a job while I am laid off, which of course one has to accept if one is honest about having no work. Now I have to justify getting a pedicure next Saturday as in January (or in any job interview not involving pole dancing) one rarely shows ones toes. This will go under mental health improvement and de-stressing as I have been very stressed for last couple of months.

Every day I want to post something funny, funny to me anyway, today one phrase keeps running thru my mind " 6 year old will fuck you up for a Ho-Ho". Comment was made while discussing how the constant changing of start and stop times at Plant loco kept parents from making arrangements for child care and after work activities. Parents cannot know if dinner, doctor appointments, softball or even day-care can be planned in advance on a daily basis. So if Johnny gets picked up early, about the time snacks are ready-watch out. Of course the guy saying this was not the sharpest but he did get the point of the problem, when people are working at the whim of others who do not express any care for the plight of the workers these slights are taken seriously. And next is the expressed position that this is why the UAW is a necessity-which by the way did nothing to help in this situation. WTF