Boston Strong

My oldest son lives just outside Boston. He is a running enthusiast, among other interests. A few years ago he ran The Boston and I was there to watch him, cheer him on, and congratulate him at the finish line. Unless you've witnessed it first-hand, it is difficult to imagine what Patriots Day and the running of The Boston Marathon means to those involved. It is truly one of the most important days of their year.

This past Monday afternoon, although I knew he wasn't running, I knew that his many friends participating may have led him to the race route to watch them, cheer them on, and even be at the finish line. Since they had no school that day, my grandsons could have very likely been with him. When I heard the unfathomable news of the bombing, a few very tense minutes passed before he replied to my text message of "you OK?" to say that all was fine and he was not anywhere near Boylston Street and that horrific scene. Thank God.

A transplanted Michigander, greater Boston has been his home for almost 20 years now. A sports nut, he has related how Bostonians, now including he and his family, are absolutely crazy about their local professional sports teams. Last night at the Bruins hockey game, those fans really showed their love of their city and their unwillingness to be taken down by cowards out to make a statement. This excellent article, and it's embedded video of the fans singing the National Anthem as one, wonderfully highlights the strength and the resolve of those fans, along with their love of America.

This video of the pre-game activities, serves to remind each of us that although they are enduring the grief of their losses, their spirits are rock-solid as they resolve to get through this tough time together...Boston Strong.

Buy American?

My oldest son—who has been wonderfully employed by Toyota for nearly 20 years now—just shared an interesting chart, depicting the American-Made Index put together each year by Cars.com. How things have changed from "those Jap imports" cries of days gone by to companies producing vehicles that employ tens of thousands of American workers across this country. NOTE: Four of the top five vehicles shown below are Honda and Toyota products!

So the next time you see that "Buy American" bumper sticker, realize that buying American can be very difficult to define in our very globally-intertwined world.

See the full article HERE.


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The Cars.com American-Made Index

By Kelsey Mays, Cars.com

What Are the Top American-Made Cars?
Cars.com's American-Made Index rates vehicles built and bought in the U.S. Factors include sales, where the car's parts come from and whether the car is assembled in the U.S. We disqualify models with a domestic parts content rating below 75 percent, models built exclusively outside the U.S. or models soon to be discontinued without a U.S.-built successor.
Rank	Make/Model	U.S. Assembly Location	Last Rank
1.	Toyota Camry	Georgetown, Ky.; Lafayette, Ind.	1
2.	Ford F-150	Dearborn, Mich.; Claycomo, Mo.	—
3.	Honda Accord	Marysville, Ohio	2
4.	Toyota Sienna	Princeton, Ind.	6
5.	Honda Pilot	Lincoln, Ala.	—
6.	Chevrolet Traverse	Lansing, Mich.	8
7.	Toyota Tundra	San Antonio	9
8.	Jeep Liberty	Toledo, Ohio	—
9.	GMC Acadia	Lansing, Mich.	10
10.	Buick Enclave	Lansing, Mich.	—
Excludes hybrid variants. The Camry excludes the related Venza; the Accord excludes the related Crosstour. Sources: Automaker data, Automotive News, dealership data, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Hair

Being a child of the 60s generation when hair, hair and more hair was the way to go, at first it was hard to handle when mine began vacating my head in great numbers. Nice heads of hair seem to be prevalent in we Griffith men, as you can see by looking at these photos of my two sons from days gone by:

Glenn, around age 8

Greg at age 5 or so

Well, just so you two know, the Old Man also had a fine head o' hair at one point in his life, many years ago. As evidence, I give you this photo of me on Huntington Beach, California, just 45 years ago:

More hair, less belly!

So my point is simply this:  Glenn...Greg...watch out, your day may be coming!!!