There back!!!

GM and Chrysler have emerged, out of the legal closet as it were.
Chrysler has started off on the more or less correct path, they have decided to keep the Viper, as far as i am concerned that is a good move someone has to compete with the Corvette. I tried to buy a Viper once, a few days after i bought my Discovery I stopped by the dealer. I should have known I would have problems when the salesman who looked down his nose at me had more oil on his head than in the crank case. He reluctantly showed me the Viper, and, OH, OH he let me sit in it. Then the bone head asked me if I could afford one, what's with that?
I replied, and I quote; Look outside bone head, I just bought that Land Rover, and I think maybe I will go and find a more enlightened dealer.
The point of all this?
Lets hope that the Chrysler dealer network, or what is left of it, doesn't judge people, and actually provides service.
On the GM front, also known as government motors, I wonder if everyone in the US gets a business card?
GM claims they have a new culture? That they are going to have to prove.
GM had a culture that dictated that all the Directors were more or less untouchable, free reign, they could not do anything wrong. I was told this by a GM retiree at the SEMA show.
I hope when they proove to be total bozos that at very least GM upper management takes ownership and admits the mistakes.
Of course I have a story to illustrate this.
A few years back one of these 'untouchable' directors was a speaker at a SEMA breakfast.
During the meet and great after the breakfast, I spoke to said director, and we got to talking about a project I was working on. I explained I had a 55 Chevy pick-up that I was building into a hot rod, but with a difference, I was, was is the key word here, going to power it with a diesel.
He offered to get me a diesel motor, no problem he claimed, just drop me an e-mail after the show and he will set it up. Cool.
So I get home, send him an e-mail, and he tells me that he will get the wheels rolling.
About a month passes and I hear nothing from him, than another month. Considering I have a fair amount of design work to make this project work I send him another e-mail. A simple inquiry as to what is up. In return I get a very curse, almost nasty, piss off e-mail.
Wow, that was a massive turn around. Being the curious type, I responded and asked what happened? Why the change from loving the idea of the build to legalese, go away totally unfriendly.
Next I get a call from some security clown from GM, telling me never to contact said Director again, or there would be circumstances. Well, well, wasn't that nice, this Director goes from very friendly, offering to help with a project to send out the dogs attitude.
This is an interesting cultural indicator.
GM so called Directors, just don't seem to understand the power of word of mouth. Before the internet, a person would tell another person, who would tell five, who would each tell five, etc.
Now we have this thing called the internet. Apparently some people don't understand the concept. One posting can be seen by thousands, and they never really go away, things posted years ago still exist out there.
Again, the point?
This culture of untouchables is one of the major reasons for the demise of GM, lets hope they fix that flaw.
Needless to say I am no fan of GM, never really have been, I like the lines of the 50's era vehicles, however I am never going to buy a NEW GM vehicle.
They may be back, but they are still closing plants, 20,000 workers are now unemployed due to plant closings since GM came out of the bankruptcy closet. Yah right new culture. Sounds more like same old, same old. Go Chrysler! Go Ford!

wet enough?

More rain, just what we needed. My frigged lawn looks like a pasture, the grass is so long. The only time the sun seems to come out is mid-week during the time I am stuck in my cubicle. I refuse to take time off to cut the lawn, that is just not right.
So we start with Global warming, and that get traction until someone noticed all the weather stations they were basing the hoop-la on were all in or very near major cities. No kidding cities are hotter than the country side. So as not to look completely silly the name changes to 'weather change'.
What has this to do with my over grown lawn? Nothing at all, I just got a bit off on a tangent.
Just going to be one of those years when it is a bit wet during the summer.
I remember the last time this happened, I had just purchased my first mountain bike. Heavy steel frame, tough as a tank and almost as heavy. i had a ton of fun with it, rain or shine, the guy two door down and I went out and did a 15 mile loop almost every day. Two crazy "A" type personalities racing through the trails, and the wet times were even more fun.
Too bad some one built a four lane highway right down the middle of the trail network.
Some riding might help he quit smoking.

Today is one of those days when the sun is expected to come out, maybe I should buy a goat and call it BBQ?

Oh they are so screwed

Chrysler has just released news of who will be on the Board of Directors.
No a single car guy amongst them, lawyers and investment bankers, the only exception being a CEO of one of the Fiat divisions. Why does no one learn from recent history?
Investment bankers killed Chrysler the last time, and a new bunch get to try again. It's not about the company performance one quarter to the next, it's about building a car that's different and all about the car culture. lawyers? Say no more, ever met one that knew anything about the car culture?
Maybe this bunch and the fools that WILL get appointed at GM will finally acomplish what sky high insurance and a gas embargo could not do back in the early 70's, kill the car culture.
NOT LIKELY, not going to happen, no matter how hard they try to make vanilla, people will always change it into chocolate moose.
Just think how great the North American Auto Industry could be if they actually made something different? Like all the round aero looking look-alike cars actually save any gas due to their shape on the daily commute. Hard to save fuel when you are moving 20 mph when you are moving at all.
Ford got it right with a Mustang that actually looks like a Mustang. Dodge blew it big time the new thing, and I will not abuse the iconic name by calling it that, looks like a pickup from the front and the sides are way too tall. GM, guess what, they missed too, sales have been fair, but again, it just looks wrong.
If you are going to build a retro muscle car, make it look like one, or it's not retro. It is just more vanilla.
maybe I will keep my 55 Chevy Pickup, it at least looks different than all the other bla comutomobiles out there.

Why lay off marketing/research?

So why is it whenever a group feels the economic pinch the first to go is the marketing or Research group? Akin to blinding yourself and for good measure drinking Draino to kill the vocal cords.
The other approach is to turn these functions to an outside company. WRONG! Outside companies have no idea about your culture, no stake in doing their very best, and those left managing the company have no clue if the feed-back is even close to correct. All control is lost with and outside contractor, worse yet if no one is hired.
Research is cut when times get tough, how on earth do you find out what people are really thinking, what the trends actually are? Heaven forbid if if you are an association and your members depend on that research. Why not just shoot yourself now and avoid a long slow decent into irrelevance.
Can you imagine, when a company gets a call by a research firm claiming to represent your association and they want to know about how you are doing? Yah, right, sure they are going to give up information, more likely to hang up or worse, thinking to protect their company give up misleading information.
The company has no stake in retrieving accurate information beyond their contract pay, the company contracting has no idea if the information is accurate.
Soon an association who receives bad information, or inaccurate information starts to loose members to other associations. Good by old established group, hello numerous new groups, and everyone looses until they all get back together.
Nothing good can come of these moves, marketing and research are the most important part of any company/association. A cost center, well yah, but the eyes and voice, I sure hope you can trust your hired eyes and voice.

mid-week holidays

So it's like this, I can't physically do more than three days in a cubicle, I work Tuesday to Thursday, sleep all day Friday. Cubicles are killers, designed to surpress creativity I swear.
So I go to work on Tuesday , Wednesday is Canada Day, a national holiday, and I have to go back today. Why does this feel like it is just not right? Staffing is going to be almost non-existent so nothing at all is going to get done. Mid-week days off just don't work.
On the up side it will only feel like a Monday until noon, then it's going to feel like a Friday.
Depression does very interesting things to the brain chemistry...

Really hard for some reason to think of something to write about, maybe I need more coffee.
that's the ticket, more coffee.

On the getting my Defender back on the road side of things, I am almost finished making the new battery boxes, Folded up the aluminum yesterday, and with any luck I will get them installed tomorrow.

OK here is a strange one I just heard on the radio.
A guy from New York is on an plane, he quietly takes off all his clothes and sits back down.
he refuses to get dressed, and refuses to cover himself with a blanket.
So the plane is diverted to the closest airport, Gander I think they said, and they arrest him.
Charged with interfering with the flight crew.

have a great day everyone, I am going to get more coffee.

Not quite as bad as we thought, GOOD NEWS

Great news about this years SEMA show.
Many of those who are displaying their goods this year have opted for a larger booth.
Show Management reported that of the nearly 1,400 companies that participated in the priority booth selection process this month, 12 percent secured more space.
See some people realize the fantastic opportunity that is the SEMA show, and also the state of the aftermarket is good.
To quote Peter MacGillivray, SEMA vice president of events and communications;
“Given the state of the economy, we are extremely pleased with the value our industry has placed on the Show”
Also of note; SEMA management has introduced several programs and incentives to make exhibiting at the SEMA Show more cost-effective and result in higher returns.
Exhibitors can take advantage of the extended payment plan, and guaranteed leads program just to name a couple.
Members have to keep in mind WE ARE SEMA, to make this show work, and to be successful take advantage of every opportunity our association management has made available.

Check out the show site at; www.semashow.com.

title?

Ok so I couldn't think of a good title...
Happy Canuckada day everyone.
Typical summer day here in Ottawa, warm and very humid, probably rain just in time for the fireworks tonight. Hope not.

have a safe and happy day everyone