By Tom Mueller BAKU, Azerbaijan – I breathed a sigh of relief as I sat down near my departure gate at the Baku airport, happy to be heading home after almost two weeks on the road. It had been a good trip, a productive trip, providing crisis response and media training for the communications and leadership teams
I floated quietly in the warm ocean waters, a wake board on my feet, a giant kite hovering some 50 feet above me, a tether binding me to the kite. All I have to do is dive the kite and let it pull me up onto the wake board. I know I can do this.
By Tom Mueller Business continuity planning has always been an important part of crisis planning, albeit not a very sexy one. The time and energy invested in BC planning was mostly about setting up alternative office space, work stations, phone lines – all tying back to the company’s main operating systems and network. It was
By Tom Mueller It seems that every town has at least one place where young couples go to get away from family and daily pressures so they can just enjoy each other’s company. In many communities, it’s a back road, park or other public area. I’ve experienced this first-hand in America, and witnessed it in
By Tom Mueller Remember that old Chinese proverb about a man with one watch knowing what time it is; a man with two watches never does? Traveling across multiple time zones sometimes makes me feel I’m living that proverb – especially since I stopped wearing a wristwatch in favor of modern electronics – Fitbits, iphones and
I didn’t really know, until I started shooting regularly and in competitive formats, that competition shooting is a lot like golf. Meaning, of course, that it can be highly frustrating as well as highly satisfying on any given day. The motivational theory of periodic reinforcement comes in to play in both sports, drawing people back
I never really thought of China as a funny place, but it seems my trips here serve as plucky comedic relief for the travel gods. The adventure I describe below – just the first leg on a 21-day trip – lasted 32 hours and included a plane, a train, multiple automobiles, a honeymooning couple, some helpful
As I sit in the chair, the 45-year-old stylist snipping away at my hair, I am digging deep for the right words in Spanish to express my next thought. My stylist is from central Mexico, married, with four kids and she works at this shop to support her family. She’s been a US citizen for
This is the kind of place that could make you fall in love with the Mediterranean – the famous Capri Island. Never heard of Capri? Well, neither had I until we went there – about an hour boat ride from Naples, Italy. We went early – on an 8:35 a.m. jet-boat ferry – and ran smack
I’ve always been a bigger motorcycle kind of guy, favoring large bikes for my rides in the US and elsewhere. But I have to admit, there is some fun to be had riding a little Vespa scooter through the winding roads of Tuscany. This is one of those touristy excursions one can book while visiting
