It wasn’t until the cat dropped the mouse that I realized that either it wasn’t a catnip toy or the cat had been playing with a Pinocchio mouse that had picked a very unfortunate moment [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130415/BLOGS/304159994/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:11:04 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130415/BLOGS/304159994/-1/blogs01 I was flying through the air. Unlike the common experiences of flying, this did not involve an airplane. Rather, I was practicing jujitsu and my partner had just executed a very well-timed throw. As I went over, I suddenly realized that my partner had turned the wrong way and was throwing me off the mat and onto the concrete floor.

Needless to say, the landing was painful. I started to say something to my partner when I suddenly realized that I was still on the mat. While I thought [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130315/BLOGS/303159997/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:10:35 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130315/BLOGS/303159997/-1/blogs01 The amazing thing about train wrecks is that they are obvious in hindsight. However, while they are happening, everyone involved is gripped by some horrid fascination that, if not forcibly interrupted, leads to the inevitable conclusion.

By the end of this particular train wreck, a member of the senior management team had resigned and the CEO had lost the trust of many of his formerly extremely loyal employees.

The newly hired VP of Sales was given responsibility for [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130227/BLOGS/302279992/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:05:57 +0000 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130227/BLOGS/302279992/-1/blogs01 If creativity were simply a matter of having a bunch of people in an office, well, IBM of the 1980s and 1990s would have been the most creative business on the planet. The company employed close to 300,000 people worldwide, all working out of offices. As we all know, IBM went on to invent Windows, the Internet, online search, social networking, and the mobile phone. Oh wait, maybe not.

Creativity is an odd beast. According to the New York Times, Marissa Mayer at Yahoo decided that [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130215/BLOGS/302159987/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:11:58 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130215/BLOGS/302159987/-1/blogs01 During the month of January, my wife and I were attending parent-teacher conferences for one of our children. We walked into the building and went to sign in at the desk. There, my wife pointed out the odd date on the sign in form. Instead of reading, “1/15/13,” as one might expect given that the month was January, it read, “4/15/13.” Given the freezing temperatures outside, one might be forgiven for assuming that this represented some sort of wishful thinking. In fact, though, closer [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130115/BLOGS/301159998/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Tue, 15 Jan 2013 5:05:26 +0000 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130115/BLOGS/301159998/-1/blogs01 It’s a new year. That means two things: one, the world didn’t end in the so-called “Mayan Apocalypse” of 21 December 2012; and two, since the world didn’t end it’s time to figure out some resolutions for the New Year. Perhaps a good one is not worrying about Mayan Apocalypses or Aztec Apocalypses or whatever the next apocryphal apocalypse might happen to be! At least that one has a chance of being kept.

Of course, as we all know the problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130101/BLOGS/301019998/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Tue, 1 Jan 2013 11:10:23 +0000 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130101/BLOGS/301019998/-1/blogs01 “What was the primary means of motivation in those days?”

“Fear.”

– Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, The Two Thousand Year Old Man

For the 2000 year old man, fear may have been a very effective motivator: when he saw a lion, he was motivated to run the other way. That, in a nutshell, is the problem with fear. Fear doesn’t make someone move toward safety; it makes them move away [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20121221/BLOGS/312219991/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Fri, 21 Dec 2012 11:16:10 +0000 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20121221/BLOGS/312219991/-1/blogs01 There have been a lot of questions about where this Mayan apocalypse thing comes from. According to recent research conducted by Mayan scholar Perry Mede, the current legend actually stems from a combination of two Mayan legends.

Although fearless in battle, the Mayans had a deep fear of being kissed by an Alpaca. This is not an unreasonable fear, at least according to those who have been kissed by an Alpaca. Mayans worried a great deal about the “Alpaca lips. [...]]]> http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20121217/BLOGS/312179995/-1/blogs01?rssfeed=true Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:16:04 +0000 steve http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20121217/BLOGS/312179995/-1/blogs01