Melancholy

I'm not sure if it's been that I've been pretty low key this week, and taking some time for myself, or just decompressing from work, but it's been one of those blah weeks. I haven't been feeling 100% and have been feeling like I'm just not doing enough in life.

Usually, I don't let things going on in the nation/world get me down too much, but I've been fairly down about what's going on with the economy and the lives of others. I wish I could do more to help people. I wish I could buy a new car to help the automobile companies. I wish I could give people jobs. Things haven't necessarily been easy for me, but I have a job.

I think part of it is the book I've been reading also. Why GM Matters by William J. Holstein. It's been kind of an eye opening book, and just reminds me that despite the best laid plans, not everything will always work out the way you want it to. And while you can really want to move forward quickly, it isn't always in the best interest of your organization or company. When changing attitudes, you have to do it at a pace where the organization or company won't fall apart.

With those words of wisdom, I am off to read more about the transformation of GM, and hope that it can work for the sake of the families that rely on these companies for income and their livelihood.

More reading...

So, as I posted earlier this week, I finished The Believers. The other night, mostly due to the resignation of Rick Wagoner from GM, I started Why GM Matters. I know that not everything the media says is true, so I decided to try and learn a little more about why one of the largest companies in the U.S. is getting such an unfair shake, especially after the whole bank bailout.

I'm only about 50 pages into the book, but I'm starting to see a little bit of what Mr. Wagoner inherited - a broken business model. I'm not a business person by any means, but a company that has operated the way GM did for years is not easy to turn around. I'm curious to see what the rest of the book has to say, but I think the book is telling a little more of the story than the media has been.

Reading more about what has happened to this company also makes me angrier about the financial bailout to banks and financial institutions - where was the accountability for them? How come the administration hasn't told their CEO's to step down? How has that money been spent?

A lot of this is just off the top of my head questions, and it may or may not be coherent. But, had to get it out.

Oh, did I mention I might be biased because my dad has worked many years for auto suppliers? So yeah, I feel a sort of loyalty to American car companies.

Who needs air conditioning?

This past Saturday, I was at Kohl's on the west side of Lansing, when I went back to my car and tried to move it. What made this difficult was the fact that I couldn't turn the wheel...no power steering!!! Well, that and the fact that I'm a weakling, but that's neither here nor there.

So, luckily, my friend Mike was around, and he's good with cars. We learned that the serpentine belt broke (boo), and that was a problem. So, trying to figure out what to do, we ended up deciding to take the car to Sears to get it replaced. After attempting to drive it there, and it overheating, we decided to use AAA to get it towed. After finally getting it to Sears, they replaced the belt, told me my AC compressor was bad, and sent me on my merry way.

Since then, I've driven back and forth to Muskegon, and back and forth to work. As I turned on my car last night to go to dinner, it started smoking and the power steering went out again. Sigh. Really? How did this happen, you say?

After getting it towed to the auto repair shop (yup, forget Sears), and then getting dropped off at work, I have learned that the AC compressor is the reason the belt keeps breaking. Somehow, I wish the guy at Sears would have mentioned that part. I feel as though it was a vital piece of information he failed to tell me. So, my poor Ford Taurus will be going without air conditioning the rest of the summer, but that's ok, because it costs way too much to get the AC fixed.

All shall be well tomorrow morning, when I'm scheduled to get my car back. Well, almost all will be well, except my bank account...

The state of our world...

This post is going to touch on a few things that have been irking me about the world we live in. Please bear with me.

I had a routine pap smear back at the end of February. I figured it was all taken care of, as usual, by my health insurance. I consider my health insurance pretty darn good. I received a bill from the hospital which does the labwork, and it was for $120! Somehow, the hospital said that my insurance didn't cover some of the diagnostic tests. So, I got on the phone last week to my health insurer, and found out that the doctor needed to use a different code and resubmit the charges.

OK - not really making sense to me, but ok. So, I call the hospital - I've had lots of problems with them before, so I hate calling there. In talking to them, I find that the tests that my insurance didn't cover were the gonorrhea and chlamydia tests that they do along with the pap smear test. Now, I'm quite certain that those same things were covered last year, so I'm a little confused. I then called the doctor's office and spoke with the billing person there, because the hospital said that I would have to speak with them, since they consider it a "screening". Now, screening is preventative, right?

Sure is. The problem is, my insurance doesn't cover those tests under my preventative! They will only cover STD testing if there's a "medical reason" for them. Now, I have to say that it makes me wonder how those tests are not considered preventative. If my "good" insurance won't cover it, what about people with minimal insurance or none at all? How in the world are people supposed to know if they have STDs without screening?

Strange...and we wonder why 1 in 4 women have an STD.

On Friday, gas went up to $4.18 at the Speedway here in Lansing. I had kind of expected this to happen. We've been hearing from lots of people regarding gas prices (surprised, aren't you?). Well - what a lot of them don't seem to understand is that I pay the same prices for gas as they do. And, I have been making attempts at altering my driving habits. I won't be going to Muskegon as much as before, and I won't be driving as much during the week as I used to.

The increase in gas prices has really made me start to look at how our society depends on our motor vehicles. As I was driving this weekend, granted it was a holiday weekend, I saw tons of SUV's, trucks, motorhomes, boats, etc. It's quite interesting to me, because I really wonder if people will stop depending so much on their cars and trucks. Will they switch to public transit? Will there be more investment in public transit? Will our roads be made safer for other forms of transportation such as bicycles?

I wish I could answer these questions. What I do know is that gas prices aren't going down anytime soon, if at all. I expect them to rise over the summer. I also don't expect anyone to be able to do anything about it. I know that sounds pessimistic, but I hear from people asking their government to do something about the gas prices.

I'd like to remind everyone that we live in a free market society, which means prices will pretty much do whatever they want. Part of that free market society frowns on government getting involved with private business. What the government can do, which won't alleviate prices anytime soon, if at all, is invest in green energy, ethanol, and other things that will begin to lift our dependance on foreign oil.

Which reminds me - Ford, GM, and Chrysler - could you all make some higher gas mileage cars so I can buy a UAW made car on my next purchase? Yes, I do look at the stickers. Yes, I am conscious of gas mileage. And, I want to support American workers.

Whew! I think that's enough from me today! Hope everyone had a great weekend.