Sunday Report

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I've been really busy with work and Alex has had people over for games a lot so I've been going over there. We played games Friday and Saturday night until about 2 am, so by the time I get home it's already the next day.

I realized Saturday that I needed winter clothes, bad. The temperature here is already like South Carolina would be in late November. Some are saying it will snow in October. So I looked in my closet and saw one jacket, 2 sweaters, and that's it. So I bought 2 sweaters and I need to get gloves, a hat, a scarf, and earmuffs if I'm feeling adventurous.

Today I was going to go to church, but I kept sleeping until 11:00 so I didn't go. I went last night though so I made it to one. After I woke up I went to exercise and then got a shower and got ready. Bill and Mary Kay were going to take me around Lake St. Clair and then to Canada today.

We started in Troy, went by Saturn's old headquarters, and the GM EV1 old headquarters. Then we went to the GM Tech Center in Warren. This is where GM develops all it's cars. It's about 1 square mile, which feel enormous. The one thing I really did like about the campus though was that it was designed and built in the 1950's, so all the architecture looks really cool, almost what would be considered "modern" by today's terms. Lots of glass walls. Also they would paint the sides of the buildings would be a high gloss brick, painted a very vivid color like orange, blue, red, or yellow. It made it look colorful, which I bet is nice in the winter.

There are random cars all over in lots there. I actually spotted a few Saturns with colors that were never production colors. I guess they were test cars. I actually saw a 1991 white SC, the very first model Saturn, in a lot and it was all abandoned with no tag. It was in a lot with other wrecked and damaged GM cars. Bill told me that is where they hold cars that they were sued over. So maybe that Saturn was involved in a lawsuit?

After that we drove down the "Grosse Pointes" which is a series of 4 towns that have million dollar houses over looking Lake St. Clair. It's really pretty to drive through. Then we went to Belle Isle, which is an island between Canada and the US. It's basically a big park. They have picnic tables, playgrounds, piers...that kind of stuff.

We then went to Windsor, Canada. We took the tunnel over, and the bridge on the way back. From what I can tell, there's not much to do there. They have a really nice riverfront (better than Michigan's) that has lots of gardens and sidewalks, so it might be nice to walk around there. It's easy to get in and out of Canada, even though border patrol checks your documents.

So tomorrow night I fly to Atlanta for work, and come back Thursday night. I come back to work Friday, and then go back to Atlanta for the AWA Convention. It's going to be a busy week!

I have pictures for you:
An electric car charger sign at the old GM EV1 Development Center

GM Tech Center Pond

GM Tech Center - New Building

Downtown Detroit (right) and Windsor (left) from Belle Isle

Downtown Detroit viewed from Windsor

Take Me Out to The Ballgame

Tonight Bill and Mary Kay took me to a Detroit Tigers baseball game. I usually hate watching sports, but I had a really good time. I had my CATIA class this morning, from 8:00 to 3:00. It's still very easy, and actually pretty fun now that I'm learning tricks and how to create more things. The class is just laid back and comfortable. Back to the game.

I went to Bill and Mary Kay's house in Troy, about 6 miles south of Auburn Hills after my class. Then we left to go to Detroit. My first time in Detroit. I guess you could go ahead and say every steretype you've heard of Detroit is true. It's bad. I don't think I have every been in a metropolitan area that is so racially segregated. Literally, whe you cross 8 mile road from Oakland County ($$) into Wayne (ie poor) it's like crossing a border. The roads go from clean, manicured in Oakland to homeless in Wayne. The buildings, left standing, are abandoned and some even burned shells. There are people hanging around all over the sidewalk. There are old factories just empty. There are 40 story tall buildings abandoned, with no windows. What's even weirder is that there are empty grass lots all over the city, from what I am told is where building used to be and are now torn down. The city of Detroit tears down 1000 buildings/year. It's really a mess. One of the small towns in Detroit actually went bankrupt and the state had to take over fire and police. It's pretty rough.

The ball game was nice though, Detroit lost but the stadium was brand new and you could see the huge GM Renaissance Center which is actually a neat building. The weather was nice and it was refresshing just to be outside.

Once again Bill and Mary Kay showed me a lot. They said they're always happy to show people around, they're very nice. I'm just happy I live and work in the suburbs! It really is like night and day. It's just so weird to have an area with million dollar homes and 20 miles away, have burned out buildings. It's late now, and I have to get up early so goodnight!