I'd better hurry or I'll miss the boat (pardon the pun)

Do you have prejudices, at least subliminally, against certain countries?  I remember my dad would not buy a German or Japanese car, saying "I fought those bastards in WWII, and I'm NOT going to drive one of their cars today!"  His reaction was obviously a generational thing as my generation loves both German and Japanese cars.  I've had Audi's and Honda's and Mazda's and loved them all.

It's hard to imagine that one of the worlds absolute finest luxury SUV's...

...and most iconic sports car marques are both owned by an Indian company, Tata Motors (even though they are designed, engineered, and built in the UK).

My generation seems to have a problem with Vietnam and China.  I cringe when I pick up a coat, for example, and see the tag that says it was made in Vietnam.  And now I subliminally rule out Volvo as it is owned by a Chinese company, even though they are still Swedish in origin.  As we all know (?), most Chinese companies have their strings pulled by the Chinese government, the Chinese COMMUNIST government.  Ewwwww!

A few years ago I was given a private tour of the Boeing complex in Renton, Washington.  We were on the back loading dock where my guide asked, "See anything unusual about those shipping crates" (each the size of a small house)?  Turns out they were made of bamboo plywood, because they contained the empennage for a 737 (in this case the horizontal tail assembly) which was made in China...COMMUNIST China.  Aren't these the same folks that gave us kids toys made pretty by lead paint?  Ouch!  

Today I read the Chinese company, Haier, is buying the appliance division of General Electric for $5.9B.  It's hard enough trying to understand the customer service rep in India.  I shudder to think...

Now more than ever, it looks like the old saying "you can't judge a book by its cover" holds true. The terms "old"  "mature" and "change" sometimes are hard to reconcile.  *sigh*

S



 

And life goes on

If you stop and think about it, it's amazing how yesterday people were ducking for cover as tornados skipped all around the area, yet today the sun still rose, people dressed for work and ventured out, babies will be born, and the grass will still need mowing.  Nothing stops time.  Kinda puts in perspective how things really work.  Those who think they control their own destiny are just kidding themselves. 


Regarding those tornados....kudos to the authorities all across the area for their excellent early warning systems.  Despite the widespread damage there were no deaths and surprisingly few injuries.

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Remember how last week I was berating IKEA for the problems I was having with one of their TV stands?  Here's how things finally worked out:  The parts packet was missing two vital parts, and one piece was not pre-drilled as the instructions promised it would be.  I took the defective piece back to IKEA where a customer service rep cheerfully replaced it with a new one.  She also went over to a wall of parts bins, went straight to the right one, and reached in and grabbed my two missing pieces. I asked her if this was a common occurrence and she just smiled and nodded.


I eventually assembled everything, but found it to be disappointing in fit.  The gaps between doors and drawers are inconsistent and the possible adjustments have been maxed out.  Being black hides the poor fit....I'm just glad I didn't buy this piece in white.  While the IKEA box prominently mentioned SWEDEN, down in the corner in tiny print it said "made in China".  No big surprise, and it explains a lot.  Frankly I'll think twice about buying anything else from IKEA that needs assembly.  Dishes, cutlery, rugs, no problem....but nothing needing assembly.  


Also, regarding my rant about my outrageous TXU Energy bill....I had a comment from "Lauren", a TXU rep who monitors social media comments regarding her employer.  I contacted her and they are reviewing things and promise to get back within 5 days with their findings.  I'm confident they'll find a simple error somewhere, but if they try to tell me otherwise, it's time for letters to state regulators, calls to the media, and *.  I'll keep you posted.


Hope you have a nice day.  :)


S

Vietnam 1, USA 0

When I shop now I pay close attention to where things are made, looking for an alternative to "Made in China".  Over the weekend I looked for a new vest, but found a grand total of 0 made in America.  The one I eventually bought was made in Vietnam.  At least it wasn't "Made in China", but really, is there any difference?

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I read a very interesting article over the weekend about why the USA has such a hard time competing in the new global economy.  The story began with President Obama asking Steve Jobs (this conversation was in February, 2011) what it would take to get Apple to bring their production back to America?  Jobs replied, "Sir, those jobs aren't coming back."  Then it goes on to describe in layman's terms why.  (It describes one electronics assembly factory, Foxconn City in Shenzhen, China, where 230,000 employees work 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, many living on-site in company dormitories.  If they get a new client they can hire 3,000 new employees overnight and begin work immediately.)  It was a real eye opener.  It's a long, but worthwhile read.  You can read it here if you're interested.

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Over the weekend Mr. & Ms. "W" moved in to the new home we just finished building for them.  Their big crisis was that the movers stole Ms. W's purse.  Besides the obvious money and credit cards inside, her purse also contained ALL the keys to their new home.  They had a locksmith come out and re-key all the locks, paying him the emergency / weekend price of $800.  I'm thinking it should have cost a fraction of that, but the guy pulled up out front and saw their $1.3M house and had an instant price increase.  (I think they got robbed twice this weekend!)  Then to rub salt into the wound, when the cops got there, they found the original keys!  The crooks tossed 'em.  

Looks like I'm playing Suzy Homemaker today.  I need to make an appearance at work, but I should still be home by early afternoon.  To give K a break I'm going to wash clothes and clean out the refrig. I can't imagine doing that full-time, like my mom and most mom's of the 1950's did.  I'm afraid my brain would atrophy.  

Gotta go.  Fabric softener awaits.  ;)

S