Movie: Serenity Because there's nothing quite like a good sci-fi film... except for a great sci-fi film; this is one of the best.

Slap In The Face

So Ford is going to revive the Taurus namesake, slapping it on the slow selling and generic and pitifully under-designed Five Hundred. The fact that they closed the Atlanta assembly plant, whose workers poured their hearts and souls into building the best quality vehicles in the Ford Production system, is bad enough. It was perhaps a necessary measure to save a poorly managed and under-marketed company, and we have accepted that. But to name one of the worst mistakes Ford has thought up for a passenger vehicle with the nameplate that Atlanta workers gave blood, sweat, and tears for, to label a car that is being built by a plant that brought quality numbers down consistently when they were building the Taurus, and to do it for the sole purpose of boosting sales is nothing short of sacrilege.
I support Ford in many of their decisions. They support my family, and have done so for two generations. I believe that Ford products are among the best in the world. I have never owned a vehicle that wasn't a Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, or Mazda. But I have to have a say about this ultimate insult to a group of workers who built the top selling passenger car Ford had, a car that was largely ignored by those in charge even though people were still trying to buy them even when they were off the open market. In doing this, I hope Ford realizes that they are spitting in the face of 2000 laid off former employees and retirees. I hope they can sleep knowing that.

1 Down, 21 To Go

I am officially finished with my first class at Brown Mackie. I did very well, making a 97 on my final exam, and I will know my final grade hopefully by Monday. I'm pretty certain it will be an A. I feel that I am settling in well, getting used to being a full time student as well as a full time worker, husband, and father. It's a full plate to be sure, and there's nothing easy about it, but it will be worth it to have that degree in my hand, a first step to a future beyond the assembly line.
I actually learned a lot from the class I was taking, how to be a better student and plan my time efficiently. That my college cares enough about their students to try to mentally prepare them to succeed in school speaks volumes. And that the teacher cared so much about her students and the curriculum, and taught in such a way that I was truly intrigued and wanted to learn and use the material spoke even louder. If the rest of my experience is this much fun, the next two years will fly by.