Midwinter Beatdown

OK, I give up, "Uncle!!" This last week has finally broken my spirit. Old man winter, you win. Now please go away! I have once more reached the point where I am sick of snow, in any quantity. It does not matter if it is 1" that just needs a quick scrape with the shovel, or 8" that requires firing up the snowblower. I've endured both this week (the "small" accumulations several times) and I'm just tired of it.


I am also tired of the winter driving. Go out in the morning, clear the sidewalk and driveway, clean off the car and scrape the windows has become a mantra for me as I prepare go to sleep every night. Who needs sheep to count when one has innumerable snowflakes to consider? Then it's "slip sliding away" to work, keeping a close watch ahead to the car in front and a dubious watch in the mirror as the car behind closes on you to a ridiculously unsafe distance. Repeat twice daily, or as needed.


And don't even talk to me about longer vehicular excursions. 3 times this winter I have travelled to northern Ohio to see friends. 3 times I have returned in weather conditions considered "less than ideal." The last time (yes, this week) involved snow on the roads, ice on the windows, whiteouts and 3+ hours of "white knuckle" driving in a stretch that normally (that is, the other 3 seasons of the year) takes 2 hours (or less in the Mini .)


There is a saying: "Michigan seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Winter, Winter." Hopefully we are well into 3rd Winter, because I am done. In another 4 weeks I hope to have the Mini on the road and winter behind me. We shall see....

That's What We Do*

This line is, of course, from the Chrysler Super Bowl ad featuring Eminem and the new Chrysler 200. But it is also about more than that. It is about grit and determination. It is about enduring and overcoming adversity. It is about having pride, not only in yourself, but also in what you do and where you came from. It is about Detroit, but it is also about many other cities in the "rust belt" that have been counted down and out by the pundits on the 2 coasts.

For a long time it has been fashionable to discount places like Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Gary as relics of a bygone era of heavy industry, of sweat and steel. Instead we heard the accolades for Silicon Valley or the Research Triangle or whatever the media showcased as the "next era", the model for into what or where the country needed to evolve in order to stay competitive with the rest of the world. "Made in America" became a codeword for overpriced, underdesigned and uncompetitive.

Well no more. It took decades of decline and inaction to spur a new attutude among American companies, especially in the automotive industry. While we have not yet, and may not ever again, become the undisputed leaders in manufacturing, America is showing a revitalization of innovation and design. There are, for example, more hybrid vehicles on the market with American nameplates than foreign. There are US firms designing and selling full electric vehicles that rival anything else on the market.

It is not only innovative design, but also quality that has made a comeback. The much maligned American worker has shown that, given the opportunity, he or she can build a good product at a competitive price. Why else would companies like BMW assemble vehicles in South Carolina that are then exported around the world? There is a pride in workmanship that has returned after a too long an acceptance of "good enough." We now remember the pride and perserverance that built an industrial colossus, the greatest producer of goods in the world.

Once again we need to show the world that we are not "down for the count" but on our way back up. We can and will if we work hard enough, long enough and strong enough. Why? Because that's what we do.

(*Correction notice - The original post misquoted the commercial as "it's what we do.")