Sam's Thoughts » work

Can a lasting peace ever truly be achieved…

Sam — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:09:09 +0000

…between the birds and the pigs? Will we ever be able to return to work?

Probably not!

Driving the Tesla Roadster

Sam — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:52:42 +0000

Last week I finally got my chance to get behind the wheel of the amazing Tesla Roadster. The Roadster is an all electric sports car with some amazing performance. I was lucky enough to be the only online auto writer to get invited to drive the car in it’s near production spec. Check out the whole story at ABG. I also have an alternative telling of the story at my day job at GreenFuelsForecast. Let me know which version you prefer. I love my job!

My new digs

Sam — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 02:03:15 +0000

So I started the new job this week and it’s great. I love being part of a small team and the location is great. Among other things I’m writing on DieselForecast and HydrogenForecast. I’m actually looking forward to work everyday which is a great feeling.

Racoon for lunch

Sam — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 01:08:14 +0000

On the way home today from my last day at the old job, as I was passing the Hyundai Tech Center I noticed a red-tailed hawk having lunch so I pulled into the driveway and grabbed my camera. I approached raptor slowly, snapping pics as I went. Eventually, the hawk decided I was close enough and headed off for the nearby trees.

More clarity

Sam — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 01:03:14 +0000

It’s come to my attention that my previous post on opportunity left some readers confused as to what I was talking about. So let me make this perfectly clear. I got a new job and today was my last day at the old place. After 16 years the time has come to move on. Not being one to torch bridges, I’ll just say that I worked with a lot of great people over my years at Kelsey-Hayes and it’s subsequent corporate incarnations. As for the company itself, well enough has been said about that.

On Monday I begin my tenure at ICON Creative Technologies and I’m looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship. I’m shifting from engineering to being a full-time automotive journalist, a role in which I hope to inform and educate readers on the latest automotive technologies and advancements. And I’ll be doing it from an office in downtown Ann Arbor!

Opportunity knocks…

Sam — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:05:50 +0000

There’s a tap on the door, the phone rings, a message in your in-box, you bump into someone you haven’t seen for a while. Who knows how it will happen, it just does. For whatever reason sometimes you don’t feel like getting out your comfy chair, other times you respond. Sometimes you’re looking for it, other times it looks for you. In the fall of 1991, I called about a job that I wasn’t sure I really wanted, sixteen years later I’m still there, but not for much longer. In the fall of 1993 I responded to a message and ended up meeting the love of my life.

Over the years I’ve gotten many, many calls from recruiters and none ever felt right. When the company that I worked for decided to unilaterally cut the pay and benefits of many of their best people while at the same time continually increasing the compensation of those at the top, I began to express my thoughts here on this forum. This place became my soap-box, a place to just spout off on whatever I felt like, the good, the bad, the obscene. This little corner that I carved out for myself allowed me to find another part of myself, to use the knowledge I had gathered over the years and to find my voice.

As it happens it also allowed others who otherwise wouldn’t to hear that same voice. Some liked what they heard, others carried on about their lives. After the incident that prompted my set up corner here, another opportunity arose that I meant to pursue, but my response to the message somehow fell through the cracks. A few months later it thankfully popped up again in a slightly different form and I went after it with a vengeance. It worked and my name began to appear on another nascent site related to cars. I began to make some contacts and not long after that opportunity presented itself yet again. My colleague Alex was busy and I was on vacation from the day job. A quick day trip to New York and back introduced me to a remarkable new car and a lot of very interesting people. That quickly ballooned as I talked to those people on a regular basis.

During one of those events I encountered a pair of gentlemen who would soon reappear. In the fall of 2007, barely a year after I stumbled into automotive journalism, the message appeared in my in-box. I called back. We talked and eventually the deal was struck. A new phase of my life and career would begin. I wish to express my gratitude to the clumsy, ham-handed HR department without whose bumbling, this may not have happened. Thanks to Sebastian and John for plugging in the amplifier that allowed my voice to spread to a wider audience. I look forward to continuing to work with you guys for a long time to come. To John, Rob and Scott for giving me a chance to make a left turn against the prevailing traffic. And most of all to Jules, Sofia and Max for supporting me so much as I make this momentous non-trivial change. Sometimes when opportunity knocks you need to respond in the affirmative.

Politics and writing

Sam — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:50:57 +0000

Lately, I haven’t written much about politics at least in part because I have not been paying as close attention to politics as I had previously.Â The past six years have been particularly painful for me from a political perspective, and I just needed a mental health break from it.Â After the November elections it became pretty clear, that the democrats were not going to aggressively pursue impeachment, which means that we were looking at two more years of the village idiot in charge.

Fortunately, my other writing tasks have been giving me an increasing amount of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.Â That’s something sadly lacking from the day gig as my real income has steadily declined in the past five years while at the same time, the CEO was making more and more.Â So without really consciosly thinking about it, I have withdrawn somewhat from politics for a while.Â I’m staying involved in school stuff with the school board podcast, and the tech committee, things that I can actually make a difference with.Â Bigger stuff is so aggravating that I just need to turn away for awhile to keep from exploding or losing hope.Â In the same way, I’ve been meeting people who read my ramblings on ABG and feel like I might just be having a little bit of impact in the area of alternative fuels and transportation.Â So I guess want to focus on the areas where I can have some positive impact. Â It’s a lot easier to feel motivated when I can see some results of my efforts.

To busy to write here lately

Sam — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 01:03:33 +0000

I haven’t posted much here lately because I’ve been pretty busy writing over on AutoBlogGreen and now also AutoBlog. Last week I covered the Detroit Auto Show and we got some unbelievable traffic. There were seven of us writing up all the stories from all over the show, and posting hundreds of photos. It was interesting getting such a close up look at how car makers deal with the media. GM really took a shine to the blogosphere this year, even inviting about twenty bloggers from various web sites to attend the show on their dime. They did encourage everyone to provide full disclosure that GM was paying for the trips, and given that most wouldn’t have the financial resources to cover something like this on their own, I can see why they would accept the offer. Fortunately, WeblogsInc (parent company of AutoBlog and ABG) covers our expenses and we have a policy of not accepting any paid junkets.

All in all the money and time that GM spent on bloggers this year was peanuts compared to what they and all the other companies spent on their displays in Cobo Hall, their hospitality areas and the parties they held all over town. There were over 6600 registered media at the show and all were welcome at the Firehouse after the show hours. The Firehouse is a bar across the street from Cobo, where for several years Chrysler has been hosting a party for media with free food and drinks served up by the likes of Dieter Zetsche and Emmitt Smith.

I got to meet and talk to a lot of interesting people and it was clear that in spite of all the problems of the domestic auto industry, there is still a hell of a lot of talent and enthusiasm, especially at GM. I’ve never been know as a fan of GM, but they really seem to be on the upswing right now. The production cars they unveiled here, the Chevy Malibu and Cadillac CTS are truly impressive, and the Volt concept is something truly special. When this car goes into production, it will be hugely important.

Ford showed some interesting cars but they don’t seem to be committed to actually building them. They still seem to be kind overwhelmed by the financial problems they’re having. Hopefully within the next few months Alan Mullaly will give the company some real direction and put the emphasis on creating great products. Chrysler, has some interesting stuff technically, but they seem to have lost their way lately with their styling. I think that next year will actually have some more interesting introductions from Chrysler.

Overall, it was a really good time and I’m glad I had the chance to do it. I did a lot of writing and photography and I have great hope for the future. From an environmental standpoint, there are some great developments coming. If you’re interested in reading more of the stuff I wrote at the show, just click on the AutoBlogGreen link on the sidebar.

I feel so appreciated!

Sam — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:15:44 +0000

Yesterday when I got home from work I found an large envelope in the mail from my employer. I open it up and found a really nice black cardboard frame containing a certificate. The certificate has a large color representation of my employer’s logo in the center and reads “Company Name Here” Congratulates you on 15 years of service. The only words I left out are the company name. Did you notice anything that wasn’t there? My name. After 15 years they couldn’t even print a piece of paper that actually acknowledged who it was that put in those 15 years. The company name was prominently featured but my was nowhere to be found. Typical. I love working for a huge corporation.

Facts you’re not supposed to look to closely at

Sam — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:59:27 +0000

I just got an e-mail at work from some new wellness (what a stupid word by the way) committee about some new walking program they are organizing. In the message they include a couple of facts:

â€¢ According to a Harvard University Study, you will gain about two hours of life expectancy for each hour of regular exercise, even if you don’t start until middle age.

â€¢ Brisk walking for as little as 30 minutes a day can bring heart-health benefits and reduce your risk for stroke by lowering bad cholesterol (LDL) levels and high blood pressure

If you add up the numbers you will find that in order to gain 1 year of life expectancy (8760 hours), if you exercise for 1 hour a day it would take 12 years (4380 days) to gain that 1 year. Now don’t get me wrong I am a proponent of regular exercise. It feels good, and will generally make you healthier. But people should really be more careful when they either read or use such statistics. If you go with the 30 minutes a day it will 24 years to gain that 1 year of life expectancy.

Smoking workers

Sam — Wed, 24 May 2006 18:19:22 +0000

Over the years my workplace has become more and more hostile to smokers. Smokers are definitely in the minority around here but there are nonetheless a fair number of them around here. Seven or eight years ago there used to be one break room in the building where people could smoke while drinking their coffee. Then during one of the sessions of musical chairs that occurs periodically around here, they decreed that there would be no more smoking in any of the buildings here. After that you could regularly find groups of smokers congregating outside the doors to the building, several times a day. This occurred year round, rain or shine. Then last fall during enrollment for benefits this year, it was announced that effective January 1, 2006 anyone using tobacco products would have to pay an additional $475 a year for health insurance. Then this spring it was announced, that effective May 1, there would be no smoking allowed anywhere on company property. So now you can witness smokers trekking across the parking lot to stand over behind the Big Lots store or the Sports Authority. So far the weather has mostly been OK but that sure won’t be fun come January. I generally don’t have much sympathy for smokers, but it really is pretty pathetic to see people huddled in the rain and cold just to get a hit of nicotine.

Labor shortage?

Sam — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:29:48 +0000

Yesterday in the AA News business section Mike Ramsey wrote a really ridiculous article about an impending shortage of skilled labor in this country.

“There’s a lot of baby boomers in the population and the first ones turned 60 not too long ago, and by 2010 a lot of them will be leaving the work force in droves,” said Sean McAlinden, chief economist for the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research. “Quite frankly, by 2010, presuming we still have any auto plants at all, they will all be hiring.”

The problem with that statement is that presumption of having any auto plants in 2010. Here is a copy of the letter I sent to the News this morning.

As I read Mike Ramsey’s article about a looming labor shortage, the only thing I could think was “What planet is this guy living on?” Has Mr. Ramsey actually tried to find a job in Michigan recently. There is not a shortage a labor here now or in the near future. What there is, is a shortage of skilled laborers willing or able to work for Wal-Mart wages. There are thousands of skilled workers who are being laid off by automakers and suppliers now and in the next few years. Skilled (and unskilled) laborers from Delphi have been asked to take a 60% pay cut. Even people who are not losing their jobs are seeing there wages stagnate or worse. According to census data median household income fell 3.8% from 1999-2004 while prices continued to climb and even productivity increased over that same period. Of course this wage stagnation has not been applied to executives whose compensation has continued to climb. As manufacturing jobs continue to get shipped to low cost labor markets, the only way people can get jobs here is to accept lower wages. Soon there will be no market in the United States for all the cheap products because no one here will be employed. As I was graduating with my engineering degree 15 years ago, there was a lot of talk of a shortage of 750,000 engineers by now. Well that never materialized either. If anything is a surplus of engineers now.

As the workforce ages there will also still be plenty of people available to work. Without decent paying jobs we won’t have a younger workforce paying into social security and with pension plans going belly up, the people who expected to retire will have to stay in the workforce. And since only people who already have plenty of money seem to be benefiting from the tax cuts of recent years, the vast majority of us will just have to keep working or at least trying to. Also the tax policies of the republican legislature and the previous republican governor have done nothing but eviscerate revenue for the state and local governments so they can’t do anything to help either.
Next time Mr. Ramsey might want to talk to someone besides the corporate managers who are obsessed with off-shoring every job they can before writing such a ridiculous article.

Wal-mart employees still underpaid

Sam — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 02:09:21 +0000

I was reading news on Newsvine today and I saw this link to an editorial in The Nation. The newsvine headline read Op-Ed: $13,700 An Hour. The editorial discusses stagnant pay among most working Americans and the pay of corporate executives and the headline refers specifically to the CEO of ExxonMobil who earned $13,700/hour in 2005. The CEO of Haliburton earned $8,300/hour, and as usual a Wal-mart employee brings up the rear. The CEO of Wal-Mart earned a paltry $3,500/hour. Even the CEO of my employer made over $3800/hour last year. According to census data median household income fell 3.8% from 1999 to 2004. I can confirm this, because my own real income has fallen steadily for the last 5 years. My raises have been less than half the official inflation rate, and that doesn’t even fully factor in the real cost increases in energy and health care. A full-time employee making the minimum wage only makes $10,500/year. No executive is worth that kind of money no matter how much profit a company makes. For executives to earn 80-100 times or more what the average employee is making is absolutely obscene. The salaries and bonuses paid to corporate executives in the United States is completely out of control. Costco for example pays their CEO 12 times the average of all employees. They also pay their employees 40% more than Sam’s Club and 90% of their employees have health care coverage. Costco also has five times less turnover than Wal-mart and in spite of all this Costco is very profitable with over $1 billion profit in their last fiscal year. You don’t have to over pay your executives to make good profits.

What a deal

Sam — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:59:48 +0000

So this morning I look at the auto pages of the local papers and it is all about huge layoffs of engineers at General Motors, anywhere from at few hundred to a couple of thousand at the Warren, MI Tech Center. So what pops in my e-mail this afternoon? A message from a head-hunter who saw my resume on monster.com about a job opportunity at GM. Needless to say, since I have a family to support and and mortgage to pay, I decided to humbly decline the offer. Too bad because in another time and place it might have been an interesting opportunity.

Now that’s inspiring!

Sam — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 14:33:55 +0000

I just spotted this on a sign posted outside a cubicle at my office

Due to the current financial constraints, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice.

That about sums up the situation around here.

Car parts can be profitable

Sam — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 14:14:03 +0000

A Detroit Free Press story yesterday proves that auto parts can be profitably manufactured in Michigan. More importantly this is being done while workers are being paid good wages. The interesting thing here is that this is a privately held company. It seems that if the management of a company doesn’t have to worry about showing analysts constant growth every three months, they can invest some money in the company and people and actually grow more and make money. Instead of taking all the money out of the company they put some of it back in. Three cheers for Chuck O’Brien and Ring Screw works!!! We need more people like him to help revive the Michigan and US economies.

Interviewing

Sam — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

I had to interview someone today for an open position we have in our group. Given the events of the past week (see my previous posts on salary harmonization) I had a hard time even trying to get someone to come to work here. The candidate did at least seem more capable than the last four people we brought in. I was also very tempted to give the HR person a piece of my mind when she brought the interviewee over, but I decided it was best to hold my tongue at this point. Her time will come.

What a mess

Sam — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

I previously posted about the the salary harmonization plan put together by our human resources department. Well this thing has turned into a complete clusterfuck. First they told us that we would all be slotted into ne salary grades based on what we do. Everyone in a grade would have the same compensation plan. In theory this is fine, but they have completely messed it up. Those of us at my level who have been here for many years previously were eligible for a 20% bonus. A couple of years ago they decided to eliminate the bonus for new hires. To compensate and provide some equity they were hired in at a 16% higher base salary. Since their annual merit raises were based on the same percentage of a higher base rate there was relative pay parity overall under the old plan. Well under the new plan every gets a bonus, but it is only 5% at my pay grade. As a result I and others who have been here for more than 3 years get a 15% CUT IN PAY. Meanwhile new hires get a 5% increase. So now someone who has only been here a couple of years is suddenly making upwards of 20% more than someone who has been here longer. The HR reps told us that they had no plans to adjust base salaries for veteren employees to compensate for this. This is total BULLSHIT!

Department heads were supposed to hand out individual sheets to everyone with their new salary grades yesterday. Well yesterday afternoon we found out that they had been told not distribute them. It turns out that engineering directors had not been informed of HR’s plans and were not happy when they found out what was going on. HR apparently did all of this on their own without telling any other management what they were planning. So now we have to sit and wait. What a farce.

Screwed bigtime

Sam — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

Well today our HR department unvieled part of the results of their salary harmonization project. Over the years through mergers and buyouts different parts of the company have ended up with different compensation plans from old companies. They wanted to get everyone on the same plan. For the past 10 years I have been eligible for a bonus of 20% of my base salary based on company performance. This company has general done very well, better than most others in the same business. A couple of years ago they decided that new hires would no longer be eligible for a bonus but they got a higher base salary as a result. This led to reasonable equity in overall pay. Now everyone will be eligible for a bonus with the amount depending on your salary grade. They also have all new salary grade levels that everyone will be slotted into. As a result, recent hires may end up with significantly higher base salary and bonus compared to people who have been around longer who will get a siginificant cut in bonus and no adjustment to base salary. Depending on what grade they put me at, I am looking at overall paycut of 10-15% after 14 years with this company while newer hires get a pay increase because base pay wont change but they will add the bonus. I don’t even know what grade level I am going to be at.

This is HARMONIZATION!! Fuck corporate america!!