May 6th

Today started out early... 6:00 A.M. wake up time, and I consider myself lucky, as my in-mates will have to awake ever earlier in an attempt to beat me off my high horse. I live only minutes away, while some of them have to drive over an hour. Morning meetings revealed the following: we don’t yet belong to The System. We have access to nothing but our desktop, screen saver settings, and web-based company e-mail. But, fear not, access is pending?

In lighter news, Chrysler today announced a promotion involving freezing gas prices at $2.99 for future customers. But we all know that to freeze gas requires temperatures approaching absolute zero, so I conclude that Hell hath officially frozen over. The “New Deal” lasts for three years beginning on the purchase date of your new car. Upon learning of the promotion, I spent at least 50 minutes checking out the employee discounts on vehicles and lusting after the Jeep Liberty. Apparently, if I sign away my soul for 72 months, I can get a monthly payment of $350. Maybe it is because I have little to no liquid cash, but that just does not sound appealing.

Erica, my closest (by location) in-mate and I got in around 45 minutes with Salvador today, talking about the MDP system and how it applies to the setting of daily standards and how we can use the system to get “actual” numbers and gauge how each plant is performing. Erica has been studying the RUMBA system all day, and I dabbled with it myself this morning. I had an enlightening conversation with my suite-mate John Castiglione (“Cast-ig-lee-oh!-knee”) about the new, cheap, and sub-par ASF system, which is bound to take the company by storm sometime in this decade (it was apparently scheduled to “roll out” in late January, but it is May 6^th and there is no sign of it.) As such, I will wait and get some instruction from Salvador about what exactly Erica and I need to learn before I dedicate my precious time to the antiquated RUMBA system.

I got my picture ID today, and some sexy “deep sea” blue graphics were applied to the plastic surrounding my picture, casting me even further into a foamy sea of uselessness. Then again, I’m 33% sure I am technically a union member, and being useless is a prerequisite for that, right?

‘Bout half an hour left for the day, and that means 30 more minutes of cruising through the Chrysler website looking for free Pistons tickets…