A piece of peace

..a long time since the last post.. I can say "I haven't had time to post" or "I didn't feel like it" which are partially true, but I rather like not to waste my time looking for a reason.. :)

Many things had place in my life lately.. good and bad ones, but I feel the balance of them all is highly possitive!! so it makes me think and feel that all the bad moments where there just to learn more about this life, enjoying every moment, which led me right here, right now..

I cannot tell everything that I lived this past few months, 'cause they were so many things.. so I'll mention just some of 'em..

A great guest I had some weeks ago left Spain to continue her trip in France. Now she is in Thailand, enjoying life as she always does! Yes, I'm talking about Libby, whom I share many great moments with!!. I hope to have time next year to see her again.. she became in one of those people I would always want to spend my time with.. talking, learning, sharing experiences and perpectives and also having fun!!

More guests! (I really like that, I'm considering managing a hostel in the future..). A few weeks ago my friend Luciano came to Europe to give some tech talks, so I could enjoy some time with him here in Madrid and we made a very nice trip to Morocco! Here is the resulting photo album!. What can I say? I liked Morocco very very much!, we met great people there, we lived a bit of their culture and had a lot of fun thinking we were making a great deal while we were being "robbed" shopping!! ;)

I started learning german again!I want back the level I had once! Luckily I have a great exchange teacher, who helps me with those things I cannot learn from a book.. :P and I'm also discovering how good Spanish teacher can I be! ;)

Right now I'm trying to change some little things of my life (as usual, otherwise would be boring), but in this case, I'm living the process not as the path to reach a goal, but instead, as an enjoyable journey..! I'm mostly happy with my life how it is right now!! So that's a great time for a change, when I can take decisions with a clear mind, from a comfortable position..


Readings:
I started reading Cryptonomicon (Neal Spephenson), I'm reading now the 2nd book of the trilogy, I think it is a must-read novel for every geek.. ;)

I finished reading the book The Art of Loving (Erich Fromm) which I got for just 1€ in a used books shop while I was looking for another book.., and I think that is one (if not the) best book I've read so far. Maybe because of my position in life, my questions, my feelings.. Anyways, I highly recommend it. Everyone should read it to understand at least those concepts of love needed for this world to be better..

Loosing a diamond..

..while too busy collecting stones..

Refocusing on getting back the lost time as I did my entire life, I feel I forgot a bit about the important things. Discovering oneself is one of the most difficult tasks a person has to face. To help myself in that process, I got two very popular books that I'm very anxious to start reading: The Art of Loving (Erich Fromm) and Your Erroneous Zones (Wayne Dyer)..


Taking advantage of this half tranquil sunday, I've organized and uploaded some pictures. I really enjoyed to live those moments, I hope the pictures show at least some of what I felt then!

In order of appearance..

The splendour and glamour of some young souls having fun in Madrid..

This tuesday gathering in the same date I was born (different year, of course)..

And a very nice trip to the city of Porto (Portugal) with my friend Libby, whom I spent a great time with! (the pictures say it all)..

MAD in MAD

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!""

by Jack Kerouac

I am my aims

What does a goal mean in life? As I think I commented already in another post, a goal for me is a checkpoint very useful to meassure how much we grew in some topic.

So now, (maybe bc is after my b-day) I think it is a good moment to check my list of goals I had for this year..

* Stability [done!]

I'm leaving in Madrid since about 6 months ago (March 17). Here I'm working at IBM and living on my own in a very peaceful and comfortable place. I also made some new friends whom I spend many good moments with! :) This doesn't mean that I will be stable for a long time.. I just reached a point of certain stability by this time..

* Visit a country I've never been to [done!]

I'm just back from Porto, the 2nd bigest city of Portugal. I was there for 3 nights, which I think is the perfect amount of time for that city. It was very good to know a different european country and its similarities and differences with the rest.. Now I want to start planning my next trip!! :D

* Read > 6 non-tech books [done!]

Well, I can check this one as done.. I was reading some very interesting non-tech books which gave me different perspectives in many areas.. which books? mmhm.. let me think..

"The science, its method and its philosophy" by Mario Bunge
"Eve's_Diary and other tales" by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka: Mark Twain)
"The Sickness Unto Death" by Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
"The Zahir" by Paolo Cohelo
"Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche
"El perro del hortelano" by Lope de Vega
"Fuenteovejuna" by Lope de Vega
and I'm reading now "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare, which is very complicated for me, so I will take my time to finish it.. ;)

* English certificate (maybe FC) [discarded!]

Nah.. not a goal aymore.. I think I've improved my english very much during this year. I can say almost everything I want to say in the way I want to say it, which is my way of meassuring how much I've grown. Now I'm focusing on diferences between cultures more than the language itself.

* Define job position and growth [work in progress..]

This is a hard one.. I wanted to do that here in Spain, but I found a very tough market and the impossibility to grow as much as I would like in my career. Now that I'm more stable I think is the right time to focus on it more, but for now it will remain as not reached.

* Appartment [done!]

I think I wanted to say here that I would like to have an appartment for just myself, cause in Argentina I was living temporarily with my dad and after that, when I came here, I was staying at my aunt's. Well, as I mentioned before, I got this one done.

I will start working on different goals for the next period (maybe rest of 2008 and 2009)..

Lotus

Lately I was a bit more interested in the Lotus flower (aka Nelumbo Nucifera) and its "misteries".. (did I really say that?).. well, all of that began like this..

Once upon a time.. a guy had pretty good elasticity in his legs, thing that with time and a lack of exercise he gradually lost.. but lately he thought it would be awsome to stretch a bit everyday and get back what he once had or even more.. but as usual, to keep up a routine, a goal is needed.. so he choose to set a very tough one: to reach the Lotus position! (which some men and women can easily do and enjoy while they meditate).

A few weeks ago I went with some friends to a very nice tea house and I had a lotus tea and yesterday I had rice with vegetables for lunch and it came with a yummy lotus flower!

Here some extra info abt it..

"According to greek mythology, a scared beautiful goddess ran away to the forest and ended up in a place called Lotus, where she drowned. The young goddess fought during ages and finally could get away in the shape of a beautiful flower, with long petals.. That's why for greeks the lotus flower means the triumph after fighting tirelessly against failure." [source (in spanish)]

Lakshmi (also Mahalakshmi) is the Hindu goddess of wealth, purity, beauty and prosperity.. she is the consort of Vishnu and sometimes she appears with a lotus in her hand (called then Padmā). She is known to be very closely associated with the lotus, and her many epithets are connected to the flower (Padmā/Kamala: lotus dweller, Padmahasta: One who holds a lotus,.. )

Brahma (Hindu god of creation) was self-born (without mother) in the lotus flower which grew from the navel of Vishnu at the beginning of the universe.

The fruits of the Nelumbo Nucifera germinated after being stored for 100-200 years. Some seeds that were found burried in a swamped area in China (with no oxygen) germinated after 340-430 years. People say that some seeds can germinate after 1000 years of being burried, but this is not yet confirmed..

Mild times

It's funny sometimes to see how the long-term goals change/evolve in one's life.. Some of the items of the list we did a while ago we still have them as goals, but some others are just things that were there as a checkpoint to evaluate our growth, but now they are not so important, maybe because we meassure growth in a different way. Some things we wanted so desesperatly, we don't want them anymore.

It is also very nice to see how some of the goals are reached without even put an ounce of effort on them. I think those are usually things that we consider important to survive in our day by day life, like tiny impulses to keep walking.

Lately I feel I need to sit down, check and review all my goals and update my list considering my actual level of thought.. maybe one day soon..


I've just finished reading "The science, its method and its philosophy" by Mario Bunge, an excellent book about epistemology, so a very good place to find some information about the methods involved in the process of doing science and creating ideas with a nice philosophical point of view.

Captured light

I've took new pics from my place that you can see here but as the toilet is not so big, I decided to make this video instead of trying to take a static image.. :)

You can find here more new pics of me, some friends, down town Madrid, Tres Cantos, etc..

Enjoying the acceptance

Lately I felt I'm getting used to Madrid.. I'm meeting nice new people (also in normal situations), gathering with friends, enjoying time by myself, being organized and proactive with my own life and taking advantage of my surrounding..

I'm also very curious about travelling around the globe.. I have many places I want to visit and I know later might be too late.. But I also think I need more than just enthusiasm to plan such a thing.. we'll see..

Oh.. I have a barely new CouchSurfing account ! :)


"Denial is the most predictable of all human responses"

Hurted by the unknown

I honestly thought I was walking step by step, I thought I was being natural, I thought I was giving and taking nothing more than enough, trying to not push and the worst part was when I believed I was more important than I really was.. but I was totally wrong, and that is a wound that sometimes hurts very much and it will for a long long time.. [feelings are mixed up, so it is very hard to recognize them.. maybe disappointment, frustration, anger, sadness or something else]

How can I shut down my mind? I don't want to analyze, otherwise I will end up in another completely different life before I notice..

"Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness..."

pictur.es

Here some pics I've uploaded:

LaMarea & Infiesto
My new Look
Segovia
Paella at Luis's

One step beyond

The past month I've abandoned the so many things I have in my to-do list, and today was the perfect day to start working on them again.. so I got a few things done. And not only that, I enjoyed very much helping my to-do list to evolve, change, get bigger or tinier (impossible to empy)!

I have so much to live yet.. everyone is looking for something and no one has any clue of what do they want.. at some point I'm part of that, but today I felt very thankful for the past (not just the nice happy moments) and hopeful for the future (tomorrow will come full of changes and new experiences)!! those thoughts are not usual in me at all.. maybe I didn't wake up yet of some sort of dream.. maybe I'm starting to learn to let go..

Would it be a sign of the stability I was looking for? One thing I'm learning lately in my life is not to think about the future and try to be prepared for everything, unfortunately we need to build more and more shields while we grow up..

[No one knows what the future will bring]

One thing I have to do is to upload some pics.. I'm living the typical effect of digital cameras: so easy to take so many pictures, but then it requires so much time to organize and select them..

Sorry for my english, I'm kinda sleepy, but I wanted to publish this anyway.. :D

Literary or rhetorical device

I'm back in 3C after 5 days of vacations in Asturias [Sat/Sun in 'La Marea' and the rest in 'Candás'].

When everyone was going away from Madrid to the North of Spain for this long weekend, I was coming back from Asturias to Madrid non-stop..

book-in-(g) knowledge

A while ago I finished reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I think I would respect anyone who have read that book.. this awsome book talks about values in a very direct way (with very indirect words) and the whole book is full of strong words and meanings. I'm very happy I've read it, I liked almost everything of it!
[definetely a must-read! A new perspective guaranteed!]

Right after that I've started reading The Sickness Unto Death (which has a very nicer title in spanish luckily.. I don't know if I would read it with that english title) from Søren Aabye Kierkegaard..The book starts very good, then it goes with a lot of great quoteable phrases but mixed content, and well, I didn't like it much at the end cause it end up focusing too much in christianity and almost nothing in philosophy.. which I kinda expected (since he was the reference of the religion-oriented existencialism), but as I said, it was over my limit..
[A must-check if you are interested in existencialism, if not, just read the back cover..]

Right now, to relax a bit my mind, I'm reading "Eve's_Diary and other tales" from Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka: Mark Twain) which seems to be very funny, so great for the trips to and from work.. :D

Cotton clouds

Today I was enjoying my own place the whole day, so I made myself time to organize and clean a bit the house as well as the info of my laptop which is also important.. :)

Then I was surfing on some of the best waves of the internet like this World's map (very nice looking map of the world with times and shadow of most countries), this website where you can check how parsimonious your moral framework is (I liked the final analysis) or the huge and amazing Wikipedia that we all know, and from where I've learned things like what is the Noosphere (very interesting concept) or the real name of Voltaire (aka François-Marie Arouet)...

While I was updating my Facebook account I thought of a quote I couldn't exactly remember so I was helped by the nice wikiquote to find it.. which also taught me another great quotes of bāpu (aka Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi).

Geek section:
I've changed the script I use to send SMS through skype (send_sms.py) making it ask for a confirmation after showing the # of chunks:

        def print_chunking(self):
                if not self.message: return
                print 'Your SMS has', len(self.message.Chunks), 'chunk(s).',
                answer=raw_input('Should I send it anyway? [y/n]: ')
                if answer != 'Y' and answer != 'y':
                        print "Aborted by user."
                        sys.exit(0)
                else:
                        print "Sending your message.."

home.es

Everyone knows how important it is to have a place for oneself..

.. a place to be yourself, to rest, to read, to sleep, to wake up late, to eat, to jump, to excercise, to scream, to be quiet, to manage your own schedule, to do almost any kind of silence or noise..

A place where you can be yourself, with pros and cons, organized|a mess, clean|dirty, healthy|junk-food-eater, proactive|lazy, happy|angry, tired|energized, talkative|speachless,..

Besides it can be a place to share, to invite people in, to enjoy with friends, a meeting point sometimes and maybe a studio or a temple some other times..

For some geeks that would be your: grep `whoami` /etc/passwd | awk -F: '{print $6}'

In other words, your little world.

Well, since the past few days this has been my humble abode in Tres Cantos (Madrid).

Simple post

mhmm... I have to say something smart! I have to say something intelligent! this is MY blog.. there's no way I post just some silly words!!

well ok, nothing clever today..!! :(

So.. just a couple things I want to share :D

Math jokes: Mathematics Version 2.12

Some pics of Charito !!! (Romi's little cutie :D )

Read-y

First of all, I want to clarify that this is a Fast Post.. as in those places where one can eat quickly junk food (which once in a while could be fine).. well, same rule here, but healthier.. :P

Here is something I want to share with all of you (thanks to German who has shared it with me), it is called "The Last Question" and is an excellent tale from Isaac Asimov.

Right now I'm looking for apartments a bit outside Madrid and it's kind of a hard task, so if anyone knows anything which could help me, I'll be so glad to hear it.. :D

My aunt is going tomo to Argentina for 3 weeks, so I will go right now and spend some time with her.

imag.es

Some pics for the masses!! :)

This weekend was the "Night and day of the museums" so everyone could enjoy all the museums in Madrid for free on Sa.(05/17) from 6-7pm and Su.(05/18) all day long.

So I went for a very nice walk and then to some museums, including the "Museum of Science and Technology" and the very well known Museo del Prado.

Here are some pics from the museums I went to yesterday.

And you can also appreciate the Atocha Station in these pictures.

Enjoy! :D

Forced update

I cannot believe that I didn't have time to update this blog since I came back from Galicia!!

I just have to apologize to the thousands of people who have been waiting to read my words! ;)

Ok, what to say about the trip? just one word: awesome! I've enjoyed all of it! people, places, culture, landscapes, air, silence, walks, nature,...

For me this trip was very special because I went there mainly to know a part of my family that I've never met before, I just heard of them from my mom, grandma, aunt and uncle, but as I never went to Galicia, I haven't had the chance to meet them before.. and I got a very nice surprise knowing them (well, not so much surprising, cause my closer family always told me great things about them), I really came back feeling so great to have people like that im my family (this includes the friends of the family)! :D

Oh! I bought a new camera!! so I'll be less dependent on other people's camera to take pictures whenever I want !! So here they are my first pics of Getafe (my aunt's house neighbourhood). You can also enjoy the ones from Santiago de Compostela (Luis and Mariluz's very nice house).

I still dont' have the pics from the rest of Galicia (from my cousin's camera), I'll try to upload them soon..

I was running some more lately and someone helped me to create a hard training program to get to run 5k in 20 min (now I do it in about 25min). I will be updating the spreadsheet as usual (now in "Recommended Sites" on the right of this page).

Trip: Recursive start

As today and tomorrow are holy days in Madrid, we (me, my aunt and my cousin) decided to make a trip to Galicia for the next 4 days to meet part of my family that I haven't met yet.

Funny (and not so), that we started from Santiago de Compostela. Right now we are having a coffee.

I'll stay in some of my familys homes, today maybe here and the next days in Noia (or Noya) and La Coruña.

Ok, I'll try to keep my trip posted! and if I can, with pictures included! :P

Step by step

Text I wrote yesterday (04/28/2008):

It's very impressive how people can control and guide their energy doing things they enjoy. Right now I can't, but I'll try that fo'shizzle (that's for Bryon).

Lately I just want to be in peace with myself (yes I know, who doesn't), of course I know I wont get it soon, cause I'm always worried abt something and that's hard to revert back, but lately I feel I can easily approach to certain peace or tranquility..

Today it was a good day for that. I came home "early" from work so I went for a run sooner than before, maybe it was that, maybe the sunny day, maybe the 2 su-do-ku's (1 easy, 1 difficult) from the last page of the newspaper that I resolve every day on my way to work or maybe this routine I'm trying to generate.. but I felt like running so I ran more than lately, doing better times and without feeling exausted (as some of the times).. I made this spreadsheet to have a record of my times.. maybe one day soon I'll be running a 10k again..

Paperwork: Tomorrow I'll go to get my spanish birth certificate, after so many inconvenients (actually just a 2 months strike) it seems that the waiting worth it.. I hope I can get tomorrow also my ID.

Today´s update:

After 4,5 hs I got my ID!! I had to re-do the birth certificate cause it was wrong.. what a bureaucracy!!

The deep vacuum of space

Nothing to say, nothing to feel, but many things to think abt..

I'm training more, I'm reading more, I'm trying to eat healthier and I'm trying to be at peace with myself, a state I haven´t reached since a very long time ago.. I think I need something I still cannot find.. time will tell.. I definitly still have to learn a lot from this life..

I feel like in a limbo of mixed thoughts, I'm afraid to think of a future or past beyond a couple months. I know I just have to live this present, which in some point represents stability. But I'm really not sure of how long will this last..

There are some "new" pictures in my web album from one of my last days in Argentina:
       At Ana's house

Reading: I finished The Zahir and started (I'm in the first 1/3 of the way right now) Thus spoke Zaratustra which makes me think a lot abt some things beyond this world.

Thoughts all over the place

Yes I know, a long time since the last post.. and as usual, I'm sorry again. For sure this is a very difficult post, cause it's the first one since I came to Spain.

[Past]    Expectations

I came here looking for a change in my life, maybe some knowledge, maybe a better future, maybe an answer for any of my questions.. I feel I didn't find any of them yet and I really don't know if I will at some point.. I just hope so..

[Present]    Imagination <> Reality

Once again life showed me that thinking abt some possibility in the future is completely different than living that moment.

I've started to work at a company I'm sure you've all heard of, but unfortunately the contract has been made through a consulting company which is not my ideal but taking in consideration that is my first job here I accepted it.

I'm considering the idea of me being bipolar (I can't stop thinking how many conflicts this word has created) cause I'm so happy at one moment and so sad the next.. I sometimes feel full and surrounded by peace and friends, but one second later I feel so lonely and that I'll be like that all this life.


Reading: Some days ago I bought "The Zahir". I've read half of it and I think it's very good cause these kind of books (very easy to read) help me to get into the habit of reading again.

Journey

I have a flight ticket with my name which has one line where you can read this:

        Mon, Mar 17      To: MADRID, SPAIN (MAD)

It's funny how sometimes a rainy day can help you realizing how big is the abyss between saying something and doing it.


Perfection

Sometimes I'm so happy with my life that my mind cannot accept any imperfection, it just aims for ideals.., off course life makes me think in a more "real" way..

I'm guilty of persuing perfection sometimes, yes.. maybe because I like to believe in nietzsche's Übermensch.. even when I didn't read "Also sprach Zarathustra" yet..

but, what is perfection? I think it's one of the most unreachable and subjective things..

Evolution teachs there's a very long way to human perfection, so for me is unreachable, at least in this life..

Which tool is perfect? No one can doubt that depends on the work to do.. so that's the subjective part.

This reminds me a nice story a professor told me once.. I hope you enjoy it like me!

Could we reach the perfection of the Enlightenment living a normal life?, I hope so.. :)

Stillness

As some of you already know, I spent two great weeks in Orlando (FL), which is, by the way, the city where Lenssa lives.. :)

What did show up in your mind when I said "Orlando"? For sure it was a talking mouse behind a frozen man.. well, let me tell you that luckily I haven't seen any animal-humanoid or similar during my trip.. I was more focused on spending a very peaceful worry-free time there, and for sure I did!!

Here you can see some of the nice pictures from Orlando and Saint Augustin:

The house
Saint Augustine
Cleaning the roof
Ethiopian dinner

I'm now back in BA getting ready for another trip in a couple weeks..

Acceptance

Somehow I always thought to accept things was my worst nightmare. I don't just want to live and accept, I wanna be able to brake the destiny and change the future as long as -I feel like it-. But unfortunately, that happens just in fantasy.. everyone knows people would have to accept many things in the real life.

I think I share with many people how hard is to accept we don't control all the factors implied in a decision.. and it's even worse when that decision is about to change our lives.

I consider myself a very opened person, who accepts many things and tries to interact with others enjoying how they are or will be more than how they were in the past, which makes me proud of myself because that's what I like in another people too.

Here I want to share with you these words that I found very appropiated.. for another topic, because doesn't talk about acceptance.. ;) but no doubt they are worthy to read:

"It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive , to seek, to find, and not to yield."

                                Fragment of Tennyson's 'Ulysses' poem.

Metamorphosis - Stage #3

Renaissance:

Here I am in the first post of the year..

Last days of 2007 are gone, and, as I posted before, I went to BCN and had a wonderful time with many friends and great people I met there!!

Here you can see some pictures from the trip:

Architecture
Beach
Montjuic

Right now I'm in Buenos Aires figuring out what to do within the next months and of course enjoying my friends and people around me.

Geek section:
I use skype very often in my Linux/Debian machine, but that version doesn't have the SMS option, altought the API does allow it, so I've tried some python tools made by a Skype developer and the SMS script seems to work fine.
Here is the blog of this guy explaining how to install them.