#275 Back on the Blog

Greg, my good friend in Peoria, complained to me today that there have been no new blog entries for a month and that the last entry was still showing the disgusting food array in Beijing. It must be particularly unpleasant for him, being a vegetarian.

The month of December has been quite busy for me as I am sure it is for everyone else. Since I last wrote, we have had some major events at work and also I have taken a trip to Florida to visit my parents in Miami Beach.

In November, we started series production of Motor Graders at Caterpillar Suzhou. This is the moment we have all been working towards since 2006 when the project was first submitted for approval. Our ramp-up is slow, but we will start making one motor grader per day this months and continue to ramp-up the production rate through next year. In mid-2010, our production line in Xuzhou will close down and Suzhou will be responsible to build all MG production demand for Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The first photo above is production unit #1 and the second shows the first seven motor graders on the assembly line. It is a proud moment for Caterpillar China.

During the first week of December, I used my Caterpillar home leave benefit to take a solo trip to Miami Beach to visit my snowbird parents at their co-op apartment at the beach. You can see Mom and Dad (a.k.a Ellie & Tav) enjoying a glass of wine on my first night.

Miami Beach is a fantastic place. The weather was great, the beach is beautiful, and the town is so lively and interesting. I was there for four days and five nights and spent most of the time visiting, going to the beach, walking around town, and doing some shopping for Kathleen. Mom warned me not to expect special meals, then proceded to cook a delicious feast every night. My parents are doing well and seem happy to escape the winter in New York.

Above you can also see the scene on Ocean Drive, Tav posing at the new South Pointe Park promenade, and my bocce partners for the week - Tav, Enrico, and Francisco.