Jeff & Joe for Thanksgiving Weekend

Once again it seems everyone swapped kids for the Thanksgiving weekend!

Julian went to Chicago with Kevin & Jamie, stayed at Joanne's and had dinner at Stacia & George's. Amber went to Joel's family in Ohio. Alexis was with Jon's family in New York. We were lucky enough to have Jeff and Joe spend the weekend with us! Ronee and Bob had us all over for Thanksgiving dinner.

This time Joe was able to spend more than one day and we took the brothers hiking at Torrey Pines State Reserve, pigged out at Ruby's on the Pier in Oceanside, hit the San Diego Zoo for a few hours, watched the surfing at The WaveHouse in Mission Beach, toured the MidWay aircraft carrier, had dinner at the Old Town Mexican Cafe. They'll be back!

_______________________________________________________

GM Fact or Fiction?

What horrible times for the USA! And the automotive industry. Should they be helped? I just don't know! I do think it is "funny" that the Democrats who are always trying to sway people to believe that the Republicans "only help big corporations" are the ones wanting to give your money to General Motors!

What I really wonder is why the news has refused for so long to publicize all the great cars and trucks and good things GM has done over the last decade.

For instance, most people know that Lexus (a beautiful car indeed) has been rated #1 in long term quality for several years now. But, how many of you know that GM's Buick has been TIED with Lexus for 5 years? Nope, didn't think you did!

I was glad to get an early retirement from General Motors Engineering 3 years ago I will say. The stress on the engineers, project managers, purchasing, marketing, and all the many many salary employees was incredible. They are beaten down for costs and pounded for quality improvements at the same time. They are designing in Detroit, Australia, Germany, Korea, China, Sweden, Mexico and many engineering centers around the world. Working with all of them was a wonderful experience. A decade and more of intense work and improved quality. Their successes were so beautiful to see! But then: PLOP! Everything fell apart. No one knows how good the vehicles are because they won't even take a look anymore. How sad. How does that get changed? It's probably too late.

It is good to see Toyota has had a 70% drop in profits during this economic downturn. But they have been part owned, and subsidized by their government all along! The Japanese thank all of you who purchased their vehicles, even those built in the USA. You have helped build fine schools and roads for their country! With our global economy we still must remember where the profits go!

Take a look at this: GM Facts and Fiction

Should the USA government help? Would it force the type of re-organization that is necessary? I don't know.

_______________________________________________________

Help Needed: Christmas Stockings for the Troops!

As many of you know, I have an adopt-a-soldier project going on for over 5 years now: "Aunt Nancy USA". I could use some extra help this year for Christmas goodies! It may be the economy or the election, or who knows, but usually I get hundreds of volunteers (last year over a thousand!) -- this year, very few.

My goal of 500 Christmas stockings for the wounded troops is moving slowly.

Shipping of packages should be by Thanksgiving, so that early deadline makes it tough. If you are interested, please visit my Aunt Nancy Blog: http://auntnancyusa.blogspot.com/

_______________________________________________________