“A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who’s really creative in your company.”
Eight years ago, Amabile took her research to a daring new level. Working with a team of PhDs, graduate students, and managers from various companies, she collected nearly 12,000 daily journal entries from 238 people working on creative projects in seven companies in the consumer products, high-tech, and chemical industries.
An interesting article and one I think is worth reading.
My car has it’s biennial NCT test today. I’ve checked the oil and water levels and they’re ok. The tire pressure is fine. My only concern is the headlights alignment. Last time the car nearly failed on that. Let’s hope it doesn’t fail this time around!
Wish me luck 
Update: Unfortunately the car failed to pass the test. Some of the reasons were downright ridiculous.
1. The registration plates failed because they are required to have both the European logo and the county the car was registered in. Cars older than 1991 can have neither or both, but not only one. My rear plate has only one! Seriously, this test is supposed to make sure the car is safe to drive. How does only having one of the two pieces of information above make the car any less safe? It doesn’t!
2. The indicator light on the front drivers side has a small hole in it. The light still works perfectly because there is a second layer of protection from mist, water and dirt. The reason it needs to be changed is apparently because a child could hurt themselves if they stuck their finger in the hole. Oh come on! There are 100′s of other places on the car where a child could hurt themselves.
Anyway, I’ve got most of the replacment parts needed. Now all I got to do is put them on the car. Shouldn’t take too long or cost too much…. I hope
While having a drink one of the nights, I started playing online poker courtesy of ParadisePoker.com. A dangerous combination! I was playing for fake money and was doing very well so I decided to up the ante and play for real money.
After purchasing $10 worth of chips away I went to make my fortune. I started off really well and ended up at approx $140. That’s where the greed kicked in. I started to end up staying in most of the rounds in the hopes of getting a good hand and win a tidy pot.
I didn’t have such luck.
Before I knew it my chips had dropped to about $20 
I don’t plan on letting my greed get the better of me in the future, that’s for sure. I’m going to continue to play for real money, but have set myself a guideline. Any time I reach $100 (if I ever do again), I will bank $75 of it and start again with the remaining $25.
Maybe I should bank $90 and start with $10 or is that being greedy?
After reading a great thread over at Sitepoint Forums I’ve since got a new outlook on life.
I would certainly regard myself as a perfectionist, so this thread helped me realise that trying to achieve perfection can be a fruitless journey.
If you too are a perfectionist, I recommend having a read of the thread.
My mum and sister went into the city centre yesterday with plans to do some shopping and get their hair done. What they didn’t expect was to have to deal with a burglary!
Having parked in a multi-story car park, you’d think that the security would be enough to deter would-be thieves from committing a crime. But no…. not these thieves.
When my mum and sister arrived back to the car, they were welcomed by the sight of an empty space where the stereo used to be. The locking system on both the driver and passenger doors had been picked (don’t ask me how!) and the front loading cd player was gone.
When my sister went to the security hut to report the problem, two of the three culprits had been caught. The Guards (Police) were called but it turned out that the one that got away was the one that had the goods. Apparently, the theives were only kids… no more than about twelve years old.
The stereo was designed to allow the face to clip off, so you can bring it with you or hide it elsewhere in the car, but my sister forgot to take advantage of this feature. I hate to say I told you so, but I previously mentioned it to my sister on many occasions to clip the face off.
I feel bad for her, because I’m planning to get a new cd player myself