Happy Holloween

Oh the Joy.....

TECHNOLOGY ROCKS!!!!

We just bought a wireless router last night. I am sitting on the couch watching the Perdue and Penn State game with my husband and blogging with my laptop at the sametime! It is the best. Good thing I am a pro at multi tasking.

Anyway, if you have a laptop that has wireless capabilities I HIGHLY reccomend you get a wireless router so you can have access to the internet at ALL TIMES.

I love being a child of the technology AGE. How did we ever get by without all this stuff?

Thelma & Louise Style

SO with all the fun at Danielle's wedding, taking pics in sepia tone - I found it comical that I found this picture going through my hope chest.

My mom and I took this picture when I was 17 (1995). We went to visit my aunt in Reno, NV and in the Reno Hilton, they have this place where you can shop and do fun stuff like this. My family has a few different pictures like this of My mom, Grandma and Aunt.

I remember my mom begging me to do this picture. I was totally embarassed to put this outfit on, it was bright yellow, and the hat was red, but it didn't matter because the colors were not going to show up anyway. Hopefully my mom doesn't get mad because I posted this. I think she will remember it and laugh her but off.

If you ever have the opportunity to do this, you should because it is kinda cool when you find it like I did - 10 years down the road.

Must.....have.....air!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been really busy for us. Matt has been working from 6:00 am - 10:00 pm (sometimes 5:00 am - 11:00 pm) on the Business Plan/Strategic Plan for his plant. He has been working his tail off. I am so proud of his determination. Although it does wear on us, to not to be able to spend time with each other. So is the life of a successful CPA.

It's my busy season too, and although I get home at 6:30, I have so much going on during the day that I can't even think straight when I get home. After I get home, I try to clean up whatever messes we have made (which for two people we can make some pretty big messes) and then play with the Dogs. All while trying to hold out for my husband so that we can eat dinner together, and everynight - we pretty much eat alone. So is the life of working in governmental and education audit groups at a CPA firm.

Tiring as it may be, we seem to thrive when things are like this.

ALTHOUGH - We really need a vacation. We have not been on vacation since our honeymoon and that was 4 years ago. I don't know how we can go much longer without taking a relaxing break.

Anyway - I must get back to plugging away. Sorry for not making as many comments as usual. I miss everyones blogs. I hope everyone is doing well.

Geoff Fieger

So you want to be Attorney General of MI Mr Feiger? It isn't too surprising. Your last run at Governor didn't work out to well. The people of MI know you are only tacking a stab at Attorney General because you want to follow in the footsteps of Jennifer Granholm. So be it, but I don't think you should bad mouth Mike Cox for tackling druglords, gangs and pedophiles. Contrary to what you think, THE TOP 2 Issues concerning this state are not "WHITE COLLAR CRIME AND CRIMES AGAINST THE ENVIRONMENT" I do consider these things important, but I would rather my friends and family be safe by putting the violent criminals behind bars.

P.S. I beg to differ with your statement that "People of Michigan should vote for you, knowing that you will get things done because the ATTORNEY GENERAL position would mean a drastic pay cut for you and you have nothing to lose" that is an ignorant statement! First of all, you own your own law firm, with many lawyers working for you. While you may not be getting personally paid for representation, we all know damn well you are still getting a pretty penny from the people who work for you. Stop underestimating the intelligence of Michigan citizens, it is INSULTING.


And one more thing, Tell your best friend Gretta, to put a sock in it. I am tired of hearing about Natalie and Aruba.

Welcome to a Global Economy UAW

Most of you are probably aware that Delphi filed Chapter 11 reorg. Matt used to be a staff member of the Delphi Business Leadership Group. He left last October to take the Controller position at Federal Mogul, Greenville, MI. Federal Mogul has just finished with what Delphi is about to begin - the journey of reorganization.

(In case you need a familiar product to associate Delphi with, think XM Satelite Radio.)

What people need to realize, specificaly unions, is that they can't continue to demand ridiculous wages (holidays, leave time, etc.) for the manufacturing of non specialized parts that can be made overseas. There is a bubble when it comes to labor salaries, and when people have been paid 25-50$ an hour for a job that can be done overseas for 8$ an hour there is a problem, and the salary bubble will burst. Again, it sucks that jobs are going overseas, but businesses do what keeps them in business. It is a GLOBAL ECONOMY. Stop trying to deny it. Accept it and move on.

Yes, this is going to hurt the employees and it sucks, but why didn't they think about losing their wages and jobs while trying to negotiate the union contracts. It sucks to have to take a pay cut, but wouldn't you rather take a pay cut and have a job, than to not have one at all? I sure as hell would. But we are talking about people who pay 700$ a month for Cadillac Escalades and other high dollar cars because they are GM employees and they get a discount. All they care about is how much bling they can get. As in any case, it is not the job of an employer (or the government for that matter) to have to pay for living expenses of employees who were not smart enough to save for a "rainy day." It sucks but that is the way it is.

I would also like to say to those people who are complaining about the "retention bonuses" -THIS IS BUSINESS FOLKS. These people are highly educated and extremely talented, not to mention have a boat load of experience in the industry. When most people hear that their company is filing bankruptcy they jump ship as fast as they can. The problem for Delphi is that there are other businesses in the auto industry (i.e. Federal Mogul) who could steal this talent. To prevent this, they offer retention bonuses. I don't fault them. Besides, the executives are just as nervous as the men & women in the plants. However, executives don't have union representation lobbying for their jobs.

The argument could be made " if they are talented why can't they fix the company?" Well, Delphi was a spin off of GM, it was a new company with old GM liability. Just think if you started your own business with millions of debt, and labor & pensions costs that outweighed any money you made? It is impossible to dig your way out of debt. It isn't the fault of the executives. If your expenses (costs) out-weigh your income you are going to fail.

While this seems like it is bad for the economy, in the long run it will be better. Delphi will emerge from bankruptcy stronger and will continue to provide jobs. If Delphi doesn't do this now, eventually it would be worse. Imagine if Delphi had to shut down all operations - EVERYSINGLE JOB LOST. It would be far more devastating. DELPHI is the MAJOR Supplier to GM. IF Delphi shut its doors GM would be screwed - not to mention all the people who work at GM. Then there is all the the little suppliers and tool & die shops that would have to close because their business would then be lost.

Below are the 39 entities that were included in the filing.
1. Delphi Corporation (Parent) (Delaware)
2. ASEC Manufacturing General Partnership (Delaware)
3. ASEC Sales General Partnership (Delaware)
4. Aspire, Inc. (Michigan)
5. Delco Electronics Overseas Corporation (Delaware)
6. Delphi Automotive Systems (Holding), Inc. (Delaware)
7. Delphi Automotive Systems Global (Holding), Inc. (Delaware)
8. Delphi Automotive Systems Human Resources LLC (Delaware)
9. Delphi Automotive Systems International, Inc. (Delaware)
10. Delphi Automotive Systems Korea, Inc. (Delaware)
11. Delphi Automotive Systems LLC (Delaware)
12. Delphi Automotive Systems Overseas Corporation (Delaware)
13. Delphi Automotive Systems Risk Management Corp. (Delaware)
14. Delphi Automotive Systems Services LLC (Delaware)
15. Delphi Automotive Systems Tennessee, Inc. (Delaware)
16. Delphi Automotive Systems Thailand, Inc. (Delaware)
17. Delphi China LLC (Delaware)18. Delphi Connection Systems (California)
19. Delphi Diesel Systems Corp. (Delaware)
20. Delphi Electronics (Holding) LLC (Delaware)
21. Delphi Foreign Sales Corporation (Virgin Islands)
22. Delphi Integrated Service Solutions, Inc. (Michigan)
23. Delphi International Holdings Corp. (Delaware)
24. Delphi International Services, Inc. (Delaware)
25. Delphi Liquidation Holding Company (Delaware)
26. Delphi LLC (Delaware)
27. Delphi Mechatronic Systems, Inc. (Delaware)
28. Delphi Medical Systems Colorado Corporation (Colorado)
29. Delphi Medical Systems Corporation (Delaware)
30. Delphi Medical Systems Texas Corporation (Delaware)
31. Delphi NY Holdings Corporation (New York)
32. Delphi Services Holding Corporation (Delaware)
33. Delphi Technologies, Inc. (Delaware)34. DREAL, Inc. (Delaware)
35. Environmental Catalysts, LLC (Delaware)
36. Exhaust Systems Corporation (Delaware)
37. Packard Hughes Interconnect Company (Delaware)
38. Specialty Electronics, Inc. (South Carolina)
39. Specialty Electronics International Ltd. (Virgin Islands)

THE DOG - Siberian Huskies

I love my dogs, I thought that these pics where so cute, I had to post them here. Fritz looked just like this when he was a pup. If you want to see THE DOG pics of your favorite pup go to :

Patrick - Born Again Redneck!

So, some of you may have noticed the link under my "policitally inclined" section to the right. Patrick is someone I have come to know from blogging. He is truly a fascinating fellow, originaly from South Africa. He is very articulate and I absolutely adore his writing. I put the link there in hopes that the people who read this blog, will stumble upon his blog and get to know him a little bit. But after visiting his blog today, I have to call your attention to something he has written that is very profound. Maybe everyone can learn something from him. This is a portion of an essay he has written and I think it is tremendous.

Please read it.

"Gay Rights" - by Patrick Joubert Conlon

Most of my regular readers know that I am homosexual but I seldom blog about "gay" stuff mostly because it is not all that important to me. It is actually the least interesting part of who I am and there's much more significant stuff to write about than what I do in private. Also most people find the subject boring or distasteful but, whether we like it or not the "gay rights" agenda has raised it's hydra head.

Recently I discovered that there are quite a few conservative gay blogs. Some call them themselves right-wing Libertarians and others say they are Republicans. Many are patriotic and support the War on Terror. Some are pro-Christian and anti-abortion and believe in old-fashioned morals. When I first started reading them, they were a breath of fresh air to me after being surrounded by the America-hating, anti-Christian, communist gays in San Francisco BUT I soon realised that I part company with most of them because nearly all of them are proponents of "gay rights" and "gay marriage" and I am not.

I read and comment on several of these blogs and have tried to explain why I don't believe in "gay rights" but the leftists start in with their usual collectivist nonsense and skew the whole debate to their paradigm. It is impossible to make oneself clear because the gay commies have created the playing field and have made the rules for the past 20 years. Even the socalled conservative gays have been suckered into thinking like the leftist gays.

One of the "conservative" gay blogs recently wondered if Harriet Miers is "gay-friendly." I commented that I did not care as long as she was anti-abortion. If Miers is anti-abortion, I trust her to be sane on other topics. Some leftie took umbrage that I was only concerned with Miers' stance on abortion. I replied that I was also concerned about her stance on the Second Amendment but that I could not care less about her stance on "gay rights" because there is no such thing as "gay rights." I said that I thought that the arrogant demand for "gay rights" had actually done more harm than good. I bowed out of the debate when someone started using the fallacious comparison between blacks and gays. That exchange triggered off this post.

PLEASE VISIT HIS PAGE HERE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE POST - (taking a page out of Beths books with this format)

Another Quiz.

You are a Believer

You believe in God and your chosen religion. Whether you're Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu.. Your convictions are strong and unwavering. You think your religion is the one true way, for everyone.

What's" Your Religious Philosophy?

Click the above link to take the short quiz.

Happy 4th Anniversary!

October 6, 2001
Our Wedding Day,
The happiest day of my life.

I could not have asked God to give me anyone greater than you.
If I had it to do all over again, I would have only changed one thing. The first song we danced to as a married couple. I would have chosen this song instead. It embodies all that I feel about you. It is beautiful like you and I think of us every time I hear it. It is a song written by Jim Brickman and vocalized by Micheal W. Smith.

Cheers to 4 Years and Many More.

LOVE OF MY LIFE

I am amazed when I look at you,
I see you smiling back at me,
It's like all my dreams come true.
I am afraid if I lost you
I'd fall through the cracks and lose my track,
In this crazy, lonely world.

Sometimes it's so hard to believe,
When my nights can be so long,
And faith gave me the strength,
and kept me holding on.

You are the love of my life,
And I'm so glad you found me,
You are the love of my life,
Baby put your arms around me,
I guess this is how it feels,
When you finally find something real.
My angel in the night, you are my love...
The love of my life.

Now here you are,
With midnight closing in.
You take my hand as our shadows dance,
With moonlight on your skin.
I look in your eyes,
I'm lost inside your kiss.
I think if I'd never met you,
about all the things I'd missed.

Sometimes it's so hard to believe,
When a love can be so strong,
And faith gives me the strength,
and kept me going on.

You are the love of my life,
And I'm so glad you found me,
You are the love of my life,
Baby put your arms around me,
I guess this is how it feels,
When you finally find something real.
My angel in the night, you're my love...
The love of my life.

You are the love of my life,
And I'm so glad you found me,
You are the love of my life,
Baby put your arms around me,
I guess this is how it feels,
When you finally find something real.
My angel in the night, you are my love...
My angel in the night, you are my love...
The love of my. life.

This might be boring - sorry.

So MSU lost. It really sucks. All you winners out there should start praying that I do not start supporting your team because if I do they will lose. It is just the way it is. Whatever team I want to win LOSES. So a bit of advice, DON'T MAKE ME MAD BECAUSE I CAN RUIN THE SEASON FOR ANY SPORT OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAM AT ANY TIME. BEWARE!!!!!

I attempted to play my first round of Golf (in seven years) yesterday. Apparently the game of golf is supposed to be played like Nascaar here in MI. The faster the better. (For those who like to play speed rounds that is probably why you suck.) This will not keep from playing, I will just play with those who want to become good and want to teach me the correct way. My brother was really patient and was trying to help me. He realized that even though I generally know how to swing a club, after seven years, I was gonna need some help with my stance. Thanks to him for the patience. What a good brother!