Car Salesmen are Crooks

I am a sales guy. I have been a salesman since I was a teenager. The one category that I have never sold is Cars, and there is good reason for that. Car salesmen are scum. Now there are exceptions to every rule. I have a few friends and even a family member or two who have sold cars in the past. Used car salesmen are generally regarded as the pond scum of the sales world. But just to prove that ALL car salesmen (or companies in this case) General Motors has laid down a Duzzy. Maybe you have seen this commercial.



Now normally I would say, "paying off debt. THAT'S GREAT!!!" In fact I did think that when I heard it on a radio ad in the car. Then I read this article. Basically GM is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Paying off their Visa card with the MasterCard. What they have done is taken TARP (the bailout) monies to pay off a $6.7 Billion dollar government loan. Part of the comedy here is that the part of the commercial where they say "Paid IN FULL with INTEREST, 5 years ahead of schedule." This is sort of like me saying "I'm debt free" after paying off a $250 credit card while still carrying a student loan of $25,000. In fact it is a very similar situation as GM received a total of $52 Billion in bailout money.

Now I don't want to get into a political rant here. I just find it interesting that the government entrusted car salesmen with Billions of tax dollars (that they don't have) and expecting to EVER get it back. That's like trusting politicians with Billions of... oh, wait. Crap.

Well hopefully GM gets called on the carpet for the stunt, though with our ever so vigilant congress (this is my sarcastic voice) I doubt it.

Believe Big

Almost two weeks ago one of my favorite events of the year took place. Baseball's opening day for the 2010 season. As most people know (and if you didn't look slightly to the left) I am a big Seattle Mariners fan. I spend a lot of my day perusing the Seattle Times website looking for and absorbing anything from there that I can. Keep in mind I live in Salt Lake City. I spend time in the off season glued to the rumor wires for news of trades and free agent acquisitions (like Cliff Lee this past winter). During the season my geographical location makes my fanaticism a little more tough to deal with. My sweet wife Heather, bless her heart, bears the brunt of this burden. She simply doesn't understand why "a game" can be so important to me. She of course has to also deal with BYU football, of which I am also a huge fan (albeit ever so slightly less than my fanaticism of the M's)

It was recently brought to my attention that I spend WAY TOO MUCH time staring at my iPod Touch. I use this miracle of modern technology to keep up with the outside sporting world. whether its via Twitter (@jr_mckee), Facebook, or the ESPN app. I must admit I do look at it too often. Part of my problem is the awesomeness of Mariners Baseball. I like to know what is happening throughout the evening. Being in SLC I cannot get the game on the radio, and Paying $200 for the full season of TV broadcasts, while totally awesome when I was single, is simply no longer a wise capital expenditure (yeah I know I sound like an economist... deal with it, I have. :) ) So on account of my geographical disability I have resorted to staring at my iPod and in the process really ticked off my favorite person in the world. I am sorry sweetheart. I will do better at weaning myself from my toys.

All that being said, I don't see my Fan-dom dropping in intensity. I just need to be better about how I go about it. The Mariner motto as you can see above is "Believe Big", and that is just what I am doing. I believe that my team is going to be great this year, and I want to be a part of it. but I also know that there are things more important than the Mariner's record and seeing King Felix and his nasty nasty stuff. I love my wife and my family. I hope that they can Believe Big (in me)too.

Its been a long long Time

So looking at my blog today I realized that I have not written since Thanksgiving. Yeah that is WAY TOO LONG. So much has happened since the BYU/Utah game (which we won by the way) so I will have to catch y'all up.

In December we welcomed a new baby to our family. Maxwell George McKee was born December 8th, 2009 at 7lbs 10oz and 21.5 inches long. Max has been dearly loved by all his siblings, and has been a great addition to our family. He is a sweet little boy and apparently looks a whole lot like daddy. Poor Kid. Christmas found our family well and we welcomed some new toys into the family. Heather got me a 2001 Ski-Doo Summit 800 snow mobile. though she has questioned the purchase once or twice when her brother/dad/cousins or other freinds call me and want to hit the mountains for the day. I actually got about 8 days in on my sled this year, while only getting one day in on the slopes.

In January I found myself looking for a new job. The mortgage market was getting increasingly more difficult and the income in each loan was dwindling. I found myself without a job for all of February. This proved to give me some additional time at home to do things like clean the garage which now can be used in its full 4 car glory. I even have a work bench in the back where I can put tools and pretend to be manly.

In March I began a new job with Discovery Energy. We are a Utility bill audit firm and I work as a National Account Executive. I am a sales guy who prospects potential new clients for our audit services. It is a small company and I am working hard to overcome the learning curve and make some big sales. All in all I think it could turn out to be a great opportunity.

The Mariners started play early last week and I am again fully in tune with all of their goings ons. After trading for Cliff Lee (former Cy young winner) I like our chances this year.

I will be posting more frequently now that I have the hard "starting over" post done.