If you didn't now...

I just wanted to let all the ppl know that I am being laid off indefinitely as of January 5th 2009 from General Motors. I worked at the Lansing Grand River assembly plant where we built the Cadillac SRX, STS and the car-of-the-year by Motor Trend and Car and Driver Magazine CTS. It has been a privileged to work there at a modern lean production plant that is trying very hard to stay competitive in this tough economic times. The people are first class and care about our work and I will miss them. I wish everyone best of luck and God speed in your new life.

Sharing your information online

This is an opinion article. I would like to say that right up front so that this is not confused with most of the articles that are factual based.

Sharing information about yourself online can be bad and good. If you do a search for me by name or call name, Coffeemann, you will find out a lot about me. The fact of the matter is that you don’t have to put anything online for there to be content on you. The information is there whether you like it or not. A simple search about you can turn up results like where you live, how much you paid for your house, your tax information, where you went to school and where you work. I have heard that complete identities can be bought online for as little as $14. This study had bought the private information to the Speaker of the House in Washington D.C.

One note of caution I would not voluntarily put my Social Security info or your banking info. I would not put my routine down, say like when you are home or at work. I would not say when I was going away on a vacation or be out of town. Once you put information online it will always be online. Even if you take the information down it still is online through sites and services that save that for all infamy. Something else to consider with that in mind is what you say about your employer or other people. This could hurt you later if you apply for another job or if your current boss wants to promote you, only to find out you are talking trash about your boss/employer online.

Wow that is a lot to NOT say, so what can you say then? I don't really care if people know that I don't have any interest in sports. Another good example is I don't mind saying where I went on vacation when I get back. I think it is okay to discuss day to day events like to say that my family went to a birthday party this past weekend. The biggest thing to understand is your information is out there online whether you put anything there or not. By choosing to put content about yourself online you can help control what people see when they do a search for you. You don’t have to so much worry about what they are going to see, you know because you put it there. It is important to search yourself online from time to time to see what others are going to find out about you. I do and because I use the nickname of "coffeemann" on every site for my name there is a plethora of content that I have created.

The only reason not to is fear. I refuse to live in fear in anything that I do. You only fear what you don’t understand so that is the purpose of this site and this article, to help you understand. You can error on the side of caution but you should know that you can truly find out almost anything about a certain individual online if you want to. I hadn't seen my older brother in 17 years and low and behold one day he called me. He found all he needed to find to contact me. So the next time you think it's all bad, remember that it was good to hear him and eventually see him again because of this amazing thing called the internet.

Cooper's Birthday Party

We had a great weekend! We went to Cooper Patterson's birthday party on Saturday. It was awesome. The whole theme of the party was pirates; they had pirate plates, napkins, banners, and an awesome pirate ship cake that looked like a time intensive thing to make. There was a pin the X on the treasure map that was fun as we spun the kids around and around and sent them on a dizzy effort to place it somewhere near the treasure spot on the map. The funniest thing was when my oldest son Logan lifted his eye covering to see where it was and then we spun Chris, the Dad, on his knees and had him try to place his mark. Too bad it he put it on the monitor on the desk next to the map on the wall!

There were a lot of family members there; it was great to see such a good turn out. We know the Patterson's from going through a class, Growing Kids God's Way and they are a member of our Church, CLCC.

I had a good time picking out Coopers present, a LEGO Star Wars Imperial Scout. The hard part was trying to keep the cost down, if you have bought LEGO's you know that they are inherently expensive. But I was good and only spent $11.

The photo's can be seen on Flickr.

GM is making some more changes

The soft economy has affected just about everything we do and have now a days. GM, where I work, is no different. If anything I would say that it has hit GM hardware than most. Last quarter the paper said GM had a loss of 15.5 Billion dollars. Well we have effectively reduced our build rate and personnel down 20%. We use to build 340 cars at the Cadillac plant, a.k.a. LGR, in a 10 hour shift. We are now building about 150 cars now in a 10 hour shift. I know that is more then 20%, but we are looking at building 270 after the re-rate is finished. We simply don’t need the cars right now. All the new-hires from 2008 will be let go in the middle of November from the best guess I have heard. We are also going to have 3 weeks off for Christmas.

The rumor going around right now is that LGR will be going to one shift the first of the year. Nothing official has been said. The other rumor going around is That GM is going to acquire Chrysler. They say that they are going to terminate all but the Jeep and the Caravan. This acquisition is for their money, 12 million in liquid assets and also for the fact that they have 2 electric cars. GM has 1 electric car and that would mean GM would now have 3, a leader in the marketplace in this aspect. One opinion is that if they let go of the other vehicles that it would eliminate some of the competition. This is all hearsay and conjecture at this point, but we will know soon enough.

Some people ask if I am worried about my job getting cut, and as it looks right now, things look pretty good. If I were laid off I have to go time for time. That means I have to be laid off for as long as I have worked for GM, which happens to be 6 years now.

The SRX and STS are rumored to be cut for our line in 2009 or 2010 from what I understand, but we are picking up 2 more cars, the CTS Coupe (2 door) and the CTS Wagon. The only other car that we build is the CTS and the CTS-V (corvette engine).

Time will tell all

Welcome back to the 21st Century

Hey it is good to be back online. I haven't been on for a while now. Long story but we have fixed the problems we were having to get it back up and running. Also wanted to say that I have joined up with Facebook and Twitter to be like all the other cool kids. you can join up with me there if you so desire. These are some neat tools for us to stay connected to one another. If you haven't tried either one than I would recommend you give it a whirl you might find out what all the hub hub is all about. But then again it might just be hype. Either way you wont know until you try.




Here is the Family on the July 4th earlier this year.

We got to see some good friends...

I took the day off from work today and we met up with some friends that we haven't seen in a while. Chris and Erin McGowin brought themselves and their kids  Micah, Matthew and Noele over to our home. We have known Chris and Erin for about 17 years now! Man that is a long time don't I feel old now thinking about it! It was a real pleasure having them over and we don't talk to them enough. I hope that we can get together with them more often.

Giving Netflix another shot

 

ok I don't  know if you guys have tried Netflix but it is pretty cool. You rent movies online and they are mailed to you. That is the basic jist of how it works. But now there is a new feature that will let you watch movies instantly! This is pretty sweet, but the selection is less then desirable for the most part.

Another cool feature is as you rate movies they start to get better at recommending which movies you might like. I am actually more intrigued by the algorithm then this service, but this feature is pretty sweet none the less.

As of right now we are planning on canceling it when the 2 week trail is up regardless.

The descision to go public

I recently made the decision to go public with the Slocombe Family Blog. I had thought about it for a while and decided that there is no reason that people should see who we are. The only reason I could come up with is fear. Not that my decision should be yours, but if you don't know us feel free to read about us. The fact of the matter is we are Christians and hope that others can see that. We hop[e that when you see us, maybe you will see Christ. Not that we could be Him, but that His light would shine through us.

Another reason I wanted to make it public was the fact if you use an RSS Reader, like Google reader or Omea Reader(the one I use), then you will now be able to read it by subscribing to our blog. SO why use a RSS reader? If you read more than one or two blogs it is a fast way to get your info.

Messing around a little bit

So I have at least 50k images, ...somewhere. If you dont know me by now then you should know I have had 4 terabytes of storage for years now. I think I have more, but I'm not counting anymore.

So I want to share SOME of these and I thought I would start. I read the Dufrin's blog and one of my favorite thing they do is upload pix almost every time they post.
Recently My pants came to visit, which was very nice, and this was a shot of the boys. The key thing in this photo is to notice the onesie Isaiah is wearing. Before Grandma and Grandpa came Logan had a hard time saying thier names, but after they came he has no problem saying it now. Most of the time it's an explosion of enthusiasm. :)

Another cool thing that we did while Grandpa and Grandma were here was record their voices reading children's books. I have a nice set up audiowise from having a podcast. I will load one up here somehow later.

New Template

Well I logged on today and I noticed the other template I had crashed. I get this kind of problem as I work on computers, ppl (people) will ask me, "Why/How did this happen?" and the simple answer is,"I don't know, but I know how to fix it."

And in truth isn't that the really important thing? I mean I have worked on cars and if I tell Alyssa I crushed the waste gate on the turbo for more horse power she's gonna look at me and say,"OK honey" while she's really thinking,"As long as the car starts when I turn the key who really cares?"

Isaiah is sitting up

It wasn't long ago that Alyssa called me one night at work and said that he is sitting up! How exciting to see your children grow up and do things for the first time!

He can sit up alot better now. He has prolly been doing it for about 4 weeks or so. He is to date almost 5 months old. He really enjoys his older brother Logan. Whenever he gets close his eyes get really big and he starts looking all over for him. Isaiah is a pretty tough kid and takes some of the roughness Logan dishes out without even flinching. Will post more later with pix.

We are currently in Chicago and staying at the Sybaris Hotel.

Gotta run put put golf time!

Robb

Isaiah is the greatest

Well it been forever since I posted, been busy around here.

Isaiah is growing well and the weight issues that we were having with him when he was first born are now long over. He has got to weigh about 14 pounds by now, which if you dont know that is a really great weight! He is a big boy, like his daddy and is doing great! He is a really content boy for the most part. He is quite when he is awake and you can see his little brain just processing things all the time. It is really cool. He has great muscle building going on and can hold his head up quite easily. He turns his head to familiar voices and is ticklish under his neck! He kind of laughs if you get the right spot.

Logan has really taken to having a little brother around. We are really encouraged by his good attitude. He is a very dear brother to him, most of the time and we foresee them becoming best of friends later on when Isaiah can talk.

He eats pretty well during the daytime. We are feeding him about 6-7 ounces about every 4 hours. He sleeps from about 10pm at night til 8:30am. Sometimes later (Alyssa is grateful when he does!)

We got a Wii!

We are so excited on Thursday we got our Wii!

If you don't know what that is it is a game console system made by Nintendo.
We went and immediately picked up Zelda, Link's Crossbow Trainer that has the Zapper as part of the package, and Mario Super Galaxy

We got a great deal on it, bought it used. Wii are loving it.

Isaiah is a slow grower

Well it has been a little while since my last post, we’ve been busy taking care of little Isaiah. He is eating now every three hours during the day and about every 4 hours during the night. As of Friday February 29th, he was back up to his birth weight at 7lbs 12 and a half oz. He is slowly gaining weight and it looks like he is going to be a smaller boy then what Logan was/is. Logan was 16lbs at 5 months. We shall see.

It is still a little rough for Alyssa to get sleep during the week while I am at work. I work 2nd shift 5:30pm to 4:30am. Last week was not so bad, I only had to work 4 days. This week is going to be a bit worse I have to work 5 days. We have her cousin Lisa coming over Tuesday and Thursday night to help and her friend Melissa coming over on Friday night. What makes it rough is Logan has been waking up at 7am lately and it takes Alyssa a good little while to fall back asleep. So if Alyssa feeds the baby at 5am she doesn’t get done until 5:30am or 6am and just about the time she falls asleep Logan wakes her up. I usually get the baby when I come home so she can sleep through this feeding.

Alyssa found out today that she has mastitis and the Dr. gave her some antibiotics to help her with this. The down side is that it may give her a yeast problem, which she is currently battling at this time. Isaiah seems to be doing better about nursing and it is not taking quite an hour to feed him like it was the first week. We are glad for that. He seems to be eating the bottles faster if I warm up the milk so it is warm. If it is cool it takes him about twice as long.

During the weekends I have been doing all the night feedings so Alyssa can sleep. She said that Friday night she got the most sleep since the baby was born.

Wieght Is Going Up!

We are excited to say that after a very long weekend of feeding Isaiah every two to three hours, that his weight is going back up! He was 6lbs 12oz on Thursday and as of yesterday he was 7lbs 10oz. Dr. Luginbill was very happy to see this and said this is more than what is considered normal for babies to gain when they do. I have no doubt in my mind why he gained so much in such a short little amount of time. Praise God.

We were feeding him formula on top of breast milk and his skin around his face started to break out. Dr. Luginbill said this is exema and it was caused by the formula making contact with his face. So we are not going to be giving him any more of that. Thankfully, man he had some stinky diapers!

We are still feeding him on a pretty tight schedule so little sleep for me this weekend. Alyssa is the one who is not getting it now during the 4 day work week I work. I look forward to helping her more on the weekend. If anyone would like to help her it would be much appreciated.

Isaiah's wieght is down

Alyssa went to see our doctor today for a weight check and she found out that Isaiah has continued to lose weight. He is down to 6lbs 12oz now :(

To many of you who don't know he has had a problem nursing off of Momma. We first thought there might be a problem about a week ago when he was 7lbs 5oz. We have been trying to feed him every 3 hours, but this is to no avail. He is a lazy nurser and we normally have to wake him back up with a cold cloth.

Finding out this news today was quite disheartening. Who would have ever thought a son of mine would have had an issue with gaining weight! (I am a big guy if you have never met me)

Sandy Dufrin came over today to help Alyssa with nursing. We did nurse Logan, so it's not like she is clueless. But every now and again we all need help. I think the plan is to feed baby by breast and then a little formula afterwards.

I am currently out and about looking at infant scales. The best one is $46 buck and I am going to have to wait for it. I found one locally for 35, not digital. Will let you know how that all goes.

Seriously, Would you buy this?

Ok I have seen some lame things before, like a new folder for sell on eBay (the one you can right click and create for free) but this takes the cake. Would you buy it?

Getting to know you

It seems almost all babies look alike. But I have to say that they behave quite differently if you watch them closely.

We have been paying close attention to young Isaiah and it seems he does not like to be bounced, he does like however to be held right ear to left breast though. I think this is because he can hear your heart beat. He tends to be a sleepy nurser though, he like to fall asleep halfway through a feeding! This gets old because we have to keep waking him up by taking off his clothes and tickling his feet! cruel I know.

He is eating about every three hours during the day and 4 hours at night. This is so Mommy can get some well deserved sleep. I am doing the first feeding after she goes to bed with a bottle. We are only doing the bottle once a day and it is a slow flow nipple so he doesn't get instant gratification. If that happened he wouldn't want to feed off of Momma.

We have also made it a point to spend one on one time with Logan (our 3yr. old) so he doesn't feel like he is being left out of the love loop. He was our first miracle baby and is very dear to us. Today He helped me put some drywall screws into the drywall project with my cordless screwgun. Yesterday we went to McDonald's and had cheeseburgers and fries! He LOVES fries. Although he didn't eat them all(?)...

Alyssa is healing up just fine and getting around better. I am glad that she was able to have a natural birth and not a C-Section. The recovery on those are longer and more painful.
We had her sister Shari and her two daughters and young son stay with us last night and they did a great job helping us out around the house! They cleaned up this pigsty and we couldn't thank them enough. One of her daughters, Elisabeth, is still here and will be helping out for another day. We both wish she could stay a week.

All said it is fun getting to know this little guy and we are cherishing every moment we have, we remember how fast this time as an infant goes by.

All is well

I am happy to say another day down and everyone is laid down to rest. I am so glad to have a new son! He is some fun, mostly right now if he is awake he wants to eat or have his diaper changed. As is normal, so I will enjoy him at any rate because he has become that which we desired for for so long.

Alyssa is healing up just fine, she is frustrated that I don't let her get up more. It is quite a chore when you take on the asks of another 2 ppl but I figure it is a lot easier than giving birth so I am glad for my role I play in all of this. truly I am the lucky one.

Took Isaiah into the hospital yesterday for a weight check. He is only one more once heavier than he was the day before that(Sunday)! That is 7 lbs. and 3 ozs. Nurse recommends feeding every three hours. This means we have to wake him up because he is a great sleeper and would prolly sleep much longer at any one time if we let him. Bummer :(

He is funny to look at, in the way he looks sooo skinny! His skin is loose on him like baggy skin! I am not worried though I am sure he will fill out soon enough.

I will be putting some more pictures on Coffeemann.com and my Flickr page. Each one will have different images so you have to go to different ones to find more Easter eggs.