One of our best clients was an agency called Scali, McCabe, Sloves out of New York and they had the Apple account in the early days and they were working with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. This was a very exciting and demanding account and everyone had to learn quickly and on the run. I remember even the then Media Director of the agency took apart a Macintosh computer and put it back together again so she totally understood the product.

Naturally, there was a team on this fact moving account from account executives, account supervisors, account directors to the creative team and creative director. The creative team was made up of a writer and an art director and this art director was an original member of the agencies start up team. The writer came from an obscure agency in Montreal but was hired immediately on his enormous talent and capacity for original thought.

The writer and the art director had their differences and things deteriorated between them. When the creative director had to make a decision between his longtime partner and the new kid he said to me:
“the art director works on Apple – the writer IS Apple”. It was a painful decision but turned out to be the right one and the relationship between the agency and Apple grew and flourished.

Scali, McCabe, Sloves also went through the hiring of John Scully and the subsequent firing of Steve Jobs which he spoke about in his address in 2005 to Stanford University’s graduating class. This was a disastrous time for all but all parties did finally bounce back.

Naturally, when it was time for me to get a computer in my office it was a Macintosh and is was signed by Steven Jobs. I remember how excited I was when I first was able to write and print a letter and even more excited when we got a program for our accounting.

Our new computer soon became the center of our business and we fought to use it with other members of the staff. Just think everyone now has their own ipad and I also loved the Apple ibook.

The Apple Store revolutionized the way people bought computers, and then iphone, ipods, and ipads and now the new iphone 4S. It was easy and efficient. I think that is what people like about Apple products. They are user friendly and teach you how to use these products in the blink of an eye.

My friends at Scali, McCabe, Sloves spoke of Steve Jobs in hushed tones always as they knew they were in the presence of greatness and I am very appreciative that many Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak stories were shared with me.

This morning Twitter actually froze with all the tributes to Steve Jobs. He will be missed as the greatest innovator and marketer in history. His message to you is to do something you love and you will be successful. Understand you will die and ask yourself every day: “If this was your last day on earth – is this the way you would want to spend it?” If not, then make a change.

It was also our friend, Neitzsche, who once said: “The highest form of creativity is being able to evaluate one’s life and make change”. Steve Jobs had then the highest form of creativity and the world is much better place because he walked the earth from 1955- 2011. He will be missed.

Yoly’s offers: Haircuts, Styling, Tints, Highlights, Lowlights, Permanents, Facials, Massages, Manicure, Pedicures and Waxing.

Yoly was trained in the US and travels at least once a year to Chicago to hone and update her skills. She has 7 very well trained people working for her. Yoly has several well deserved awards on her wall.

I have been going to Yoly’s for the 17 years I have been here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala for many reasons. First, I like Yoly very much. She is a wonderfully warm, kind and caring person. I am proud to call her a friend, and our children went to school together. Yoly is honest and provides a professionalism which is very much appreciated by all of her loyal clients.

I have tried other places but always come back to Yoly’s where I am well looked after, comfortable,
and I feel appreciated as a client.

Yoly is centrally located and offers very competitive prices. For example here are a few of her prices:

A Haircut is $100.00 – $150.00 pesos.
High and Lowlights are $350.00 – $500.00 pesos. With regards to color – Yoly will either custom mix it to your specifications or you can bring your own.
Manicure $70.00 pesos and French Manicure $80.00 pesos. (Gels and Acrylics are a little more expensive.)
Pedicure $90.00 pesos.
Facials and Massages are both $200.00 pesos each.

Yoly is fluent in English and her staff all speak some English and are taking English lessons at the salon twice a week.

Yoly also sells many salon brands of hair products and a very good line of make-up. There is also a selection of wigs available.

Yoly’s is open 6 days a week from 9:00 am.

I, like most women, am very fussy about my hair and I am always delighted with the results of the cuts, and lowlights I receive with Yoly.

Men are also welcome.

I was one of the lucky ones and my mother-in-law, Pat Collins, is an amazing woman who I love dearly. I have been with her son for almost 33 years and she has never failed to be there for me in whatever way I needed her to be.

Pat welcomed me into the family with open arms even though she was hoping “that woman” (me) did not keep her son away from the ancestral home for Christmas. We got to know each other and the love grew as she understand how much I loved her son and was in it for the long term.

Pat has three daughters-in-law and she has been through a lot with all of us and our individual ideas of having babies and subsequently rearing them. Pat had a daughter and four sons so she was not without some experience in these areas.

Pat patiently listened to our ideas and never told us what to do she showed us by example and all 7 of her grandchildren love her dearly. They may not remember her dangling car keys in front of them or giving them a teaspoon of homemade Tia Maria when they were fussy but we sure do.

We would all go to the “farm” frequently because Pat was there to help us with our young ones and to make us all feel that we were the only people in the world that mattered. This is a gift and one of her many gifts.

As they grew up Pat was always there for all of us and knowing you are loved by this incredible women gives you a great sense of safety and peace.

Recently there was a family wedding in Toronto of one of Pat’s sons but Pat was unable to attend as she was in the hospital. Her good friend, Bridget, went to the hospital to visit Pat and they watched the whole wedding on Skype.

Pat, hopefully, will rally yet again as none of us are ready to live in a world without her.

Pat has a kind, loving, nurturing, generous and giving spirit which even extends beyond her family to anyone that she believes needs help and Pat has been looking after other people from the time she was in her teens and brought her younger brother to Canada to avoid the war in England where they were born.

I am happy and so proud to know that this wonderful spirit lives on in my daughter.

She told me yesterday that she loved us all so much and she loved my husband’s (her son’s) face. I said “so do I because he looks exactly like you”. She also told me that when he left yesterday to come home to Ajijic, Lake Chapala, he had left a letter for her which she thought read like a goodbye letter. Pat said she was going to fool us all and there would be another family reunion soon.

I am praying that this is true. We are all so lucky to have this amazing woman in our lives and none of us are ready to let her go.

Mexico is in a unique position to reap many of the benefits of the decline of the US economy. In order to not violate NAFTA and other agreements the U.S.A. cannot use direct protectionism, so it is content to allow the media to play this protectionist role. The U.S. media – over the last year – has portrayed Mexico as being on the brink of economic collapse and civil war. The Mexican people are either beheaded, kidnapped, poor, corrupt, or narco-traffickers. The American news media was particularly aggressive in the weeks leading up to spring break. The main reason for this is money. During that two-week period, over 120,000 young American citizens poured into Mexico and left behind hundreds of millions of dollars.

Let’s look at the reality of the massive drug and corruption problem, kidnappings, murders and money. The U.S. Secretary of State Clinton was clear in her honest assessment of the problem. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent the weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton said. The other large illegal business that is smuggled into the U.S.A. that no one likes to talk about is Human Traffic for prostitution. This “business” is globally now competing with drugs in terms of profits.

It is critical to understand, however that the horrific violence in Mexico is over 95% confined to the three transshipping cities for these two businesses, Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales. The Mexican government is so serious about fighting this, that they have committed over 30,000 soldiers to these borders towns. There was a thoughtful article written by a professor at the University of Juarez. He was reminded of the Prohibition years in the U.S.A. and compared Juarez to Chicago when Al Capone was conducting his reign of terror capped off with The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. During these years, just like Juarez today, 99% of the citizens went about their daily lives and attended classes, went to the movies, restaurants, and parks.

Is there corruption in Mexico? YES !!! Is there an equal amount of corruption related to this business in the U.S.A.? YES !!!. When you have a pair of illegal businesses that generate over $300,000,000,000 in sales you will find massive corruption. Make no mistake about the Mexican Drug Cartel; these “businessmen” are 100 times more sophisticated than the bumbling bootleggers during Prohibition. They form profitable alliances all over the U.S.A. They do cost benefit analysis of their business much better than the US automobile industry. They have found over the years that the cost of bribing U.S. and Mexican Border Guards and the transportation costs of moving marijuana from Sinaloa to California have cut significantly into profits. That is why over the past 5-7 years they have been growing marijuana in State and Federal Parks and BLM land all across America. From a business standpoint, this is a tremendous cost savings on several levels. Let’s look at California as an example as one of the largest consumers. When you have $14.2 billion of Marijuana grown and consumed in one state, there is savings on transportation, less loss of product due to confiscation and an overall reduction cost of bribery with law enforcement and parks service people. Another great savings is the benefit to their employees. The penalties in Mexico for growing range from 5-15 years. The penalties in California, on average are 18 months, and out in 8 months. The same economic principles are now being applied to the methamphetamine factories.

FOX News continues to scare people with its focus on kidnapping. There are kidnappings in Mexico. The concentration of kidnappings has been in Mexico City, among the very rich and the three aforementioned border Cities. With the exception of Mexico City, the number one city for kidnappings among NAFTA countries is Phoenix, Arizona with over 359 in 2008. The Phoenix Police estimate that twice that number of kidnappings goes unreported, because like Mexico 99% of these crimes were directly related to drug and human traffic. Phoenix, unfortunately, is geographically profitable transshipping location. Mexicans, just like 99% of U.S. Citizens during prohibition, go about their daily lives all over the country. They get up, go to school or work and live their lives untouched by the border town violence.

These same protectionist news sources have misled the public as to the real danger from the swine flu in Mexico and temporary devastated the tourism business. As of May 27 2009 there have been 87 deaths in Mexico from the swine flu. During those same five months there have been 36 murdered school children in Chicago. By their logic, if 87 deaths from the swine flu in Mexico warrants canceling flights and cruise ships to Mexico, then close all roads and highways in the USA because of record 43,359 automobile related deaths in the USA in 2008.

What is just getting underway is what many are calling the “Largest southern migration to Mexico of people and real estate assets since the Civil War” A significant percentage of the Baby Boomers have been doing the research and are making the life changing decision to move out of the U.S.A. The number one retirement destination in the world is Mexico. There are already over 2,000,000 US and Canadian property owners in Mexico. The most conservative number of American and Canadian Baby Boomers who are on their way to owning property in Mexico for full or part time living in the next 15 years is over 6,000,000. Do the math on 6,000,000 people buying a $300,000 house or condo and you will understand why the U.S. Government is trying to tax this massive shift of money to Mexico through H.R. 3056. The U.S. government calls this “The Tax Collection Responsibility Act of 2007″. Those who will have to pay it are calling this the EXIT TAX.

Mexico: A better economic choice than China

Another large exodus from the U.S.A is high paying skilled jobs. The job shift in automobile sector, both car and parts manufacturing, is already known by most investors. In the last few months as John Deere and Caterpillar have been laying off thousands of workers in the U.S.A., and hiring equal numbers in Mexico. The most recent industry that is making the shift is the aerospace manufacturers. In the city of Zacatecas there is currently a $210 million aerospace facility being built. With the 11 U.S. companies moving there, it is estimated to provide over 200,000 new high paying jobs in the coming years. One of the main factors for the shift in job south to Mexico instead of China is realistic analysis of total production, labor and delivery costs. While the labor costs in China are 40% less on average, the overall transportation costs and inherent risks of a long distance supply chain, and quality control issues, gives Mexico a distinct financial advantage.

Mexico’s real economic future

Mexico has avoided completely the subprime problem that has devastated the U.S. banking industry. The Mexican banks are healthy and profitable. Mexico has a growing and very healthy middle and upper middle class. The very recent introduction of residential financing has Mexico in a unique position of having over 90% of current homeowners owning their house outright. U.S. banks are competing for the Mexican, Canadian and American cross border loan business. It is and will continue to be a very safe and very profitable business. These same banks that were loaning in a reckless manner have learned their lesson and are loaning here the old fashioned way. They require a minimum of a 680 credit score, 30% down payment, and verifiable income that can support the loan. In most areas of Mexico where Baby Boomers are moving to, with the exception of Puerto Penasco (which did not have a national and international base of buyers), there is no real estate bubble.. The higher end markets ($2-20 million) in many of these destinations are going through a modest correction. The Baby Boomers market here is between $200,000 and $600,000. With the continuing demand inside the Bay of Banderas, that price point, in the coming years, will disappear. This is the reason the Mexican government is spending billions of dollars on more infrastructure north along the coast all the way up to Mazatlan.

The other major area where America has become overpriced is in the field of health care. This massive shift of revenues is estimated to add 5-7% to Mexico’s GDP. The name for this “business” is Medical Tourism. The two biggest competitors for Mexico were Thailand and India. Thailand and India’s biggest drawback is geography. Also recent events, Thailand’s inability to keep a government in place and the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai, have helped Mexico capture close to half of this growth industry. In Mexico today there are over 56 world class hospitals being built to keep up with this business.

Mexico is currently sitting on a cash surplus and an almost balanced budget. Most Americans have never heard of Carlos Slim until he loaned the New York Times $250 million. After that it became clear to many investors around the world what Mexicans already knew: that Mexico had been able to avoid the worst of the U.S. economic devastation. Mexico’s resilience is to be admired. When the U.S. Federal Reserve granted a $30 billion loan to each of Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, and Brazil, Mexico reinvested the money in Treasury bonds in an account in New York City.

According to oil traders, Mexico’s Pemex wisely as the price of oil shot to $147 a barrel put in place an investment strategy that hinged on oil trading in the range of $38-$60 a barrel. Since the beginning of 2009 Mexico has been collecting revenues on hedged positions that give them $90-$110 per barrel today. Mexico’s recent and under reported oil discovery in the Palaeo Channels of Chicontepec has placed it third in the world for oil reserves, right behind Canada and Saudi Arabia.

The following is a quote from Rosalind Wilson, President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce on March 19, 2009. “The strength of the Mexican economic system makes the country a favorite destination for Canadian investment”.

OPPORTUNITIES: WHY PUERTO VALLARTA & THE RIVIERA NAYARIT

The answer is simple and old fashioned: SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

The area of Puerto Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit inside the Bay of Banderas is an investor’s dream. This area has the comprehensive infrastructure in place, world class hospitals and dental care, natural investment protection from the Sierra Madre Mountains, endless future water supply, low to nonexistent crime, international airport, and limited supply inside the Bay, first class private bilingual schools and higher than average appreciation potential. Like many areas in Mexico there is large demand for full and part time retirement living and a lot of construction underway to meet this demand. Pre construction of course is where the best bargains are available.

I would offer a word of caution for investors in Mexico. Do not be seduced by the endless natural beauty that is everywhere, both inland in colonial towns and along thousands of miles of beach. Apply conservative medium and long term investment strategies without emotion. The demand for full and part time living by American and Canadian Baby Boomers is evident throughout the country. The top two choice locations are ocean front, and ocean view. The third overall choice, which is less expensive, is inland in one of the many beautiful colonial towns or small cities.

Mexico, with the world’s 13th largest GDP, is no longer a “Third World Country”, but rather a fast growing, economically secure state, as the most recent five-year history of its financial markets when compared to the U.S.A.’s financial markets suggests.

DOW JONES AVERAGES MAY 2004 10,200 – MAY 2009 8,200 20% LOSS IN 5 YEARS

MEXICAN BOLSA MAY 2004 10,000 – MAY 2009 23,000 130% GAIN IN 5 YEARS

–I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions and a few wires and pins.

–Yo mismo estoy hecho completamente de defectos, cosidos entre sí con buenas intenciones y unos alambres y clavijas.

–
Bob Miller

Robert P. Miller, PhD
535 Westfield Rd, Suite 100
Charlottesville, VA 22901

It is no wonder then that I have a love of British history which has been inherited by our daughter as well as her other grandmother was also born in England.

Yesterday was a wonderful day. It was the Royal Wedding of William Arthur Philip Louis the grandson of Queen Elizabeth to Catherine Elizabeth Middleton a commoner. Will and Kate met at St. Andrew’s in Scotland and after an 8 year courtship he proposed to this beautiful girl November 16th, 2010 on holiday in Kenya.

Most of us started watching the coverage at 3:00 am our time and I finally turned it off around 11:00 pm.

It was so wonderful to be watching something of hope, romance and happiness rather than all the terrible news that is currently flooding our airwaves and cyberspace.

There were many happy moments yesterday not the least of which was the sun actually came out in London (unheard of in April) as the newly married couple left Westminster Abbey where they were married and travelled by a 1902 carriage made for King George II’s coronation to Buckingham Palace.

Fashion was a huge topic as it was a closely guarded secret who would design Kate’s dress. As we saw Kate arrive at the Abbey with her father, Michael Middleton, it was revealed that Sarah Burton now chief designer of Alexander McQueen was the lucky winner. Alexander McQueen now deceased was the designer of the edgy outfits and shoes of Lady Gaga. Kate’s dress was a beautiful modern classic design which suited her style totally and not a word against what she was wearing was uttered. Kate wore a Cartier Halo tiara loaned to her by the Queen. It was even stated that Kate had not put a foot wrong throughout the entire day.

The other big new of the day fashion wise was the hats. There is a new hat called the “fascinator” which looks like it is glued to the wearer’s forehead. Victoria Beckham was the only one in my opinion which made this style look good.

The ceremony itself was traditional and lovely as was the entire procession to and from Westminster Abbey. Nobody does pomp and pageantry like the British and many aspects of the wedding dated back centuries. Two high points were the singing of the much beloved hymn ‘Jerusalem’ and a Motet the couple loved from a composer at St. Andrew’s. The greatest moment, of course, was the singing the of National Anthem ‘God Save the Queen’ with trumpets blaring and for Brits an extremely proud moment bringing tears to many eyes. Kate’s sister, Pipa, was her maid of honor and her brother, James, gave a reading at the ceremony in a clear and well-modulated voice. I cannot even imagine the pride of Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, self-made millionaires, as they watched their daughter wed the future King of England.

The balcony scene at Buckingham Palace was amazing. Kate could be seen to mouth “Oh wow!” when she stepped out and saw the masses of people in the mall waiting to see the happy couple and, of course, the rest of the Royal Family. There were two kisses which delighted the crowds on hand and around the world as the couple truly seem to be in love. The RAF did a fly by at this time as both William and his brother and best man, Harry, are in the armed services. Will is a search and rescue helicopter pilot and Harry has served in Afghanistan.

The global exposure of this amazing event gave people a moment of joy and light in the darkness. There were many references to Princess Diana, William’s mother, during the day and many are comparing Kate to Diana. I loved Diana as much as anyone and felt a light went out in the world when she tragically died in Paris but I do believe that Kate is very much her own woman and has the poise needed for her new role as Princess Catherine Duchess of Cambridge.

As Britain’s and CNN’s Piers Morgan quipped “The Monarchy is Back!” and I could not agree with him more.

I join the world in wishing Will and Kate much happiness and success in their marriage as the lead the Monarchy into modern times. I know Princess Diana would be very happy with her son’s choice of bride.