Archive for Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

Content Marketing Adventures in Mexico: Stuck on My Own Roof

IMG_0428I’ve got a Mardi Gras parade dancing down my street right now, in my sleepy little village of Ajijic, near Guadalajara in Mexico. It happens three or four times a year, always because of religious fiestas: the whole village dresses in costumes on floats with music blaring as loud as possible.

It’s so loud it’s hard to think. I couldn’t finish my content marketing project for a client, so to get a good view, I went up on my roof to watch. It seemed like a great idea at the time.

And it was great… until I wanted to come down. I realized that dropping over one roof top ledge to another is easy enough. Not so when you’ve got to go back up and over the ledge and it’s just out of reach. Read More→

The Real Truth About Mexico

At the time of publishing my last post about the dangers of living in Mexico, the drug wars and gun laws, I had no idea if such thoughts interest my readers. I’m experimenting with personal stories as part of content marketing strategies for professionals using blogs and online content.

Violence touches the lives of many everywhere. When current events strike close to home, you may feel, as I do, the need to speak up. Yet, life goes on, and for the most part our experience south of the border has been delightful for many reasons.

Some American’s aren’t aware of Mexico’s strengths so I thought I’d report them here. Here’s an update, as reported on Wikipedia: Read More→

Living Dangerously in Mexico

I got an email from a colleague back in the US who asked me if it weren’t dangerous to drive in Mexico outside the city?

First of all, I hate driving in any city and find that most dangerous of all. Secondly, I live in a village called Ajijic. Every day when I go out my door, I have to avoid cars, motorcycles, buses, horses and a few chickens. But traffic is rarely dangerous unless you’re not paying attention.

My friend responded to me, “Huh?”

My friend obviously wasn’t referring to danger from traffic but to the violence from “DTO’s,” which is how the U.S. Consulate refers to “drug trafficking organizations.” Lately, there have been a few incidents even out here in Paradise, on Lake Chapala.

  • A police official gunned down
  • A hand grenade lobbed into a police chief’s house
  • 9 arrests of DTO members

I guess there are problems everywhere that there are drug users, drug vendors, and people with guns (most of which are manufactured and bought in the US along with ammunition legally sold).

It’s estimated by official sources that 60,000 to 70,000 American guns have crossed into Mexico.

My response to him: Is it dangerous to go to a supermarket in Arizona?

Each country has their bad guys, their weapons and plenty of ammunition.

Which country has the higher murder rates? Don’t know. Maybe someone could look it up? Read More→

Happy Holidays from Patsi & Rob

It wasn’t easy getting the Hubby to put on his Mariachi costume and all, but I finally convinced him with a can of Mexican jumping beans…

If you haven’t subscribed to JibJab, maybe this is a fun time to do so?

All the best for 2011!

Top Ten Musings for Holiday Cheer

Remember those days when we printed out things and kept files? What a waste of paper and ink. Now everything’s findable on the Internet. I’m cleaning out files and found some old lists…

Here is a Top Ten list I kept that gives me chuckles. I share them with you to cheer you up as we enter a Holiday week in many countries throughout the world.

Happy holidays to you and your families…

Top 10 Musings

  1. Don’t take life so seriously – nobody gets out alive anyway.
  2. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
  3. The gene pool could use a little more chlorine.
  4. If at first you don’t succeed, then maybe skydiving isn’t for you.
  5. Borrow money from pessimists… they don’t expect it back.
  6. I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart.
  7. It was all so different before everything changed.
  8. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

Sorry, the other two were just too lame, I’ll spare you.

I’m sending you warm wishes from sunny Ajijic on the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico.

Feliz Navidad!

Working at Home: Desperate House Bloggers

Some days I feel scattered, like maybe I’ve got a bad case of Attention Deficit Disorder. Or, maybe my brain isn’t aging well. Here’s what happened yesterday and how it all worked out.

It’s not that I forget things, although that happens too, but it’s more like I remember too much, all at once, and start doing one thing, realize I haven’t finished the other thing, etc.

If you work at home, and on the computer, you probably have days like these. The door bell kept ringing. Thursdays I have help here in the house to keep it clean and functioning.

Gaby, my housekeeper from Jocotepec,  knows not to bother me when I’m writing on the computer, but she came in because the dryer went out, so we had to call a repairman. As soon as he got here, of course it started working again.

Nevertheless, it needed a revision, so he went to work. Meanwhile the builder arrived to work on some screen doors. And Juan, the gardener, needed pool chemicals. Then the man came to fill the gas tank for the house. The painter came to repair some moldy walls. Read More→

What’s Your Search Story? Patsi Krakoff’s Google Video

Wanna have a little ego-strokin’ fun? Here’s a video creation tool provided by Google and YouTube… try it out, I swear it only took 5 minutes to create.

Recently YouTube debuted a video creation tool called Search Stories. The idea is that every search tells a story. It’s super simple to use and outputs a 35 second video – with sound track – that tells your story via Google search results.

It’s not perfect… I have no idea why there’s a photo of someone else and a pic of the forest in there… but then that’s what makes searches interesting.

Here’s mine…

How to Retire Early in a Downturn and Make Money on the Web

People often ask why we moved to Mexico. The question always seems funny to me, sort of like, “Why do you want to live in Paradise?”

But some people are afraid of Mexico and imagine dire poverty, filth, and drug crime violence. The truth lies closer to the Paradise side of things, and all places have their problems.

Some of you wonder if there’s a way to leave the rat race behind in favor of a more peaceful, creative way to live.

You may have an idea to make money using the Internet, but wonder if that’s realistic. I’m telling this story here and you can make up your own minds about how to do this for yourself. It may be much more possible than you think!

Read More→

Mardi Gras Parade in Ajijic, Mexico

It's not every place you live where you open your front door only to find a parade of marching horses, men dressed as women, and local beauty queens right at your door step. Since the street was blocked and I couldn't get out of my garage, I grabbed my camera and shot a few delightful images to share with you here:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Darwin’s Origin of Species’ 150th Anniversary

Charles_Darwin Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species on November 24, 1859, just 150 years ago. As college zoology major, I'm a big fan. One of my favorite Darwin quotes is this:

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

To celebrate his wisdom, I share with you here some selected quotes…

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.

A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives – of approving of some and disapproving of others.

A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, – a mere heart of stone.

Read More→