Management Egg-speriment

First things first- Congrats to the team who's egg didn't break!!  I could have sworn ours was going to remain intact.
 These are the steps we followed:


Step 1: We defined our goals and objectives.  We understood that we had a deadline and what the main objective was.
Step 2: My team recognized that we had limited resources.  We used each others ideas as yet another resource to devise a contraption to keep the egg intact.  None of us had any experience in building such a device but everyone had ideas and we all agreed on an aspect before moving on to the next.
Step 3: Although we discussed several alternatives this wasn't something we put a lot of focus on.  Once we agreed on the basic design we brainstormed on additional things that might protect the egg.  The time allotted didn't really allow us to discuss many alternative ideas, it was best to see if we all agreed on a particular design and then discuss how to make the best version of it.
Step 4:  Our group took a very organic approach to step 4.  We didn't assign jobs or roles because we really didn't need to.  As the resources were being handed to our team, one of us was already drafting a design on paper, while another team member was cutting pieces of the tape, before we could worry about obtaining the scissors another team member jumped into action and retrieved them.  We had good chemistry.  There was one point when we had too many hands on the egg but we all realized that and allowed two people to finish that particular part of the device then another set of hands continued the work.
Step 5:  We all agreed on our plan of attack.  We knew how the device should look and which parts of the egg needed the most protection.  With that in mind once we received our resources we were ready to take action.  We made corrections when needed and everybody's input was considered.
When the egg was sent off in our uniquely designed protective apparatus we were all confident things would go as planned.  The egg would land safely and intact.  That was not the case...."Eggy" didn't make it.
I think we worked well as a team and did a great job at managing our resources and time.  Although we were unsuccessful in protecting Eggy we were successful in coming up with a plan, implementing a strategy and following the steps in the planning process.

Cluture Shock

In the summer of 2010 I took a trip to Colombia (South America).  I've been going there once in a while for most of my life so I'm accustomed to what the culture is like down there.  Like anywhere else on the planet you have good, bad and a whole lot of in between.  Just in case you aren't familiar with one of the things that Colombia has to offer besides coffee and Shakira is Cosmetic surgery.  People travel from all over the world to have "work done" in Colombia.  The surgeons have pretty good reputations and the prices are very low in comparison to what you would spend in the U.S or Europe.  There are companies that offer tours which include the usual: food, lodging, sight seeing and oh yeah breast augmentation and a tummy tuck.  Even with all the traveling, eating and hotel stays you can still save thousands depending on the procedure.  With that being said lets continue...so on my quest to a healthier lifestyle I decide to have my tooth fillings removed of the heavy metals and replaced with a composite substance that is way better for you.  Those "silver" fillings are toxic people!  check out Dr Zeines website at www.natdent.com for more info.  -enough with the public service announcement.
While in Colombia I'm chatting with my cousin who was visiting from Spain told me that he just had his daughters braces put in for 1/5 of what they were charging in Spain...so i decide I'll go to that particular dentist.  I walk into the Dental office and instantly I'm surprised at the layout.  The weather in that region hovers around the high 50's to 60's so the office has a lot of open air.  I mean a lot...the front of it basically opens all the way, kind of like a big garage with one huge door.  So I'm thinking this is interesting not like back in the sates where dentists offices are completely enclosed in random office buildings.  Anyway after entering, I'm soon greeted by a pleasant young lady who is extremely cordial.  She greets me with a warm smile, hug and kiss on the cheek.  Now imagine your dentist doing that in NY, you would think they were drunk! I tell her I'm interesting in having the fillings removed and she sits me down and explains everything in detail such as price and duration.  I make my appointment and return the next day.  The next day I walk in after a looooong night of partying.  So once again I'm greeted as if I were family and she sits me down in her chair.  I kept falling asleep as she was trying to work...she did not get upset or even give the slightest hint of being annoyed.  Instead she laughs a little, caresses my head(in a caring way) and says poor baby didn't sleep enough. It felt as if one of my aunts was doing my dental work.  She did not refer to me as sir or Mr. Moyano but with various Latin terms of endearment...similar to the English version of sweety and baby.  I am used to, "sir please open wide, wider, rinse, spit and get out."  When she was done working I filled out some paperwork and she sat down next to me chatted with me, wiped the bits of tooth stuff i failed to wipe off, gave me a kiss on the cheek and I was off.  
These are the main differences between the experience over there and in the U.S.  Over here we have a certain idea of how a professional should behave.  Lost of sirs and thank yous.  Over there its not deemed unprofessional to be warm and to actually touch somebody without fear of a sexual harassment suit.  I advised some other family members to go to that dental office during our trip and they received similar treatment.  Women aren't offended by a man greeting them with a kiss on the cheek and men don't think a woman is throwing herself at him if she refers to him endearingly.  It was nice to see this educated professional woman still be so warm in her work environment.  Yes, it's true i was a paying customer but I pay for services here and have hardly received a thank you.  In my opinion American women find themselves having to de-sexualize themselves as much as possible in order to compete with men.  Femininity might be seen as a handicap or unprofessional.  The culture in Colombia seems to preserve the natural caring that people should have for each other, free of judgment.
So there you have it...want some quality, inexpensive dental work performed by a dentist with a bit of compassion and warmth who calls you sweety - go to Colombia.  If not stay here and open wide, wider, rinse, spit, and get out.

Intro

Welcome to my Blog-osphere,
The air might be a little thin up here but the view is unlike any other. 

A little bit about your host:
I'm a Queens, NY native.  I grew up in Long Island City.  It's almost unrecognizable due to the amount of development going on over there but it's home sweet home.  I won't get into boring details as I'm trying to make this thing somewhat interesting.  Care to know more...just stay tuned.
Few of the things I enjoy: 
Music: I've seen music bring people together under the influence of rhythm that normally wouldn't have anything in common.
Travel: Probably the best form of education 
The Movies: I like all types, from documentaries to comedies ( you know a documentary is good when it makes you say, "oh sh*t I didn't know that")
As far as school goes I'm a Finance major.  I work and go to school at night:  in my opinion you should get a diploma with stars, colors, and printed in 3D because balancing both is crazy.