The Mind of Kat

"We want rights. The flour-merchant, the house-builder, and the postman charge us no less on account of our sex; but when we endeavor to earn money to pay all these, then, indeed, we find the difference."  ~ Lucy Stone in her "Disappointment is the Lot of Women" speech of 1855

http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/fail-owned-kid-book-fail.jpg

me: i feel like a cat...there is this guy with a flashlight and he keeps lookigng at the ceiling tiles with it, so i'll see this light swinging out of the corner of my eye
get the light kristen! get it!
Sent at 1:31 PM on Wednesday

matthew: there it is again......what is that????

"Fond as we are of our loved ones, there comes at times during their absence an unexplained peace." - Anne Shaw


My unexplained peace comes to an end today (hopefully) and I'm more than thrilled for it.  Matt was supposed to come home from Arkansas on Saturday but then was told last minute that he had to stay thru Monday.  So...today should be the day he comes home.  Yay!

Recent developments at work have made me realize that I have some very good forces working for me.  We were informed yesterday that, due to all the chaos of GM and the fact that GM isn't working the entire month of January, there can only be one person working in purchasing at a time for the rest of the month.  Melissa and I both have to take six days of vacation.  However, this translates to me taking one extra day of vacation than I was planning on for our cruise.  The kicker is, when we were all originally planning this cruise, we considered going in February.  If this had been the case, I would have had to take six days of vacation this month and then that week the in February.  Our cruise couldn't have landed anymore perfect.

So for the rest of the week I'm on duty.  I don't know how it's going to be going 2 and a half weeks without seeing Melissa but we will survive!

So here I am at the post office waiting patiently behind 10 other people so I can overnight an invoice. I am also waiting for an email so I can send it off, get our account off hold and get 3 totes of an order we need by tomorrow. Its been a hectic work morning to say the least.

I know everyone is tired of hearing about the bailout but I continue to be appauled as how many don't realize how much this is going to kill the economy if the big three go down.  Here is a news story about how Toyota and other Japanese companies are terrified about the loss of the big three and explains just how bad things could be:

::snip::

One major problem is that Japanese carmakers in the U.S. share many of the same parts suppliers. If a Detroit automaker were to collapse, suppliers would likely follow, setting off a chain reaction that could would wreak havoc for Japanese production in the U.S., a vital market.

More broadly, the U.S. crisis could lead to huge job losses and further weaken consumer spending, especially for big-ticket items like automobiles. Together, the three big American automakers employ 239,000 workers in the United States. Counting other businesses that depend on the automakers, economists estimate that 2.5 million jobs would be lost if all three companies went out of business.

"Whether it is the impact on consumer confidence or the impact on the suppliers that we all share, having one or more of the major automakers in severe distress has consequences for the entire industry," said Simon Sproule, corporate vice president of global communications at Nissan Motor Co., Japan's third-biggest carmaker.

A possible advantage from a collapse of the U.S. auto industry could come only many years later — perhaps in a decade — when Japanese manufacturers would compete against weaker rivals in the U.S., especially if they further exploit their lead in green technology with hybrids or electric vehicles, said Koji Endo, auto analyst with Credit Suisse in Tokyo.

::snip::

 

In November, when American auto sales plunged 37 percent to their worst level in more than 26 years, Toyota's sales sank 34 percent, Nissan's were down 42 percent and Honda Motor Co.'s fell 32 percent.

Vehicle sales in Japan and Europe are also waning, and even demand in developing economies in China, India and Latin America is weakening.

"This is a global crisis affecting the entire auto industry: No one is immune," said Nissan's Sproule. "And it is in everyone's interest to see a healthy auto industry that is able to manage through this crisis."

::snip::

 

But these days, Toyota is no longer viewed as foreign, and consumers understand that Toyota employs American workers and purchases from American suppliers, he said.

"We are a member of the American auto industry," Homma said. "Without (a bailout), chaos is sure to come."



Full story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28241203/

I just heard four gun shots go off...may gun part of hunting season begin!