Puzzle

I like to work with puzzles in a very particular way...

Mi mañana

Hoy comencé mi mañana muy conectado con mi abuelo Francisco.

Empecé por levantarme temprano, y luego de cambiar a Sebastian y dejarlo comiendo, sali a caminar. Desde hace varios días he probado caminar en la mañana - me ayuda a despertar el cuerpo, relajar la mente y organizar mis ideas para el dia. También me da un chance de conectarme un poco con la naturaleza pues camino por el parque y el mini-bosque que tenemos cerca. El frio otoñal me recordó las frescas mañanas en las que amaba ir a caminar con mi abuelo. Pero sobretodo, disfruté una vez mas esa sensación de estar activo y disfrutando de la vida mientras los demás aun duermen. Creo que a el le gustaba tener esa ventaja sobre los demás - o quizás simplemente no aguantaba quedarse durmiendo mientras afuera le esperaba un mundo tan increíble por disfrutar.

Al llegar a la casa, mientras Dani y Sebas dormían, me desayuné una grapefruit con miel. Tenía muchísimo tiempo sin comer esa fruta, y tan pronto la corté por la mitad me transporté al pasado, a la Quinta Leonor, donde con frecuencia se empezaba el día comiendo grapefruit. Los cortes tan particulares, la miel, el cuchillo especial, el juguito al final. Fue toda una experiencia sensorial que me conectó de nuevo con mi pasado.

Mi abuelo me enseñó muchísimas cosas, de forma directa o con su ejemplo, y de eso podría escribir bien largo. Pero hoy recuerdo en particular que me enseñó a disfrutar la vida que tenemos. Le fascinaba reír con la familia y los amigos, consentir a sus nietos, tener una vida activa y conectarse con la naturaleza.

Hoy continuaré mi día muy conectado con mi abuelo Francisco.

Ah, y ordenare online mi cuchillo especial para grapefruit :)

The power of NO

I have always had huge difficulty saying NO - specially to possibilities I really like.

However, I'm at a point in my life where I have to choose between many opportunities I really really like. I guess it's a good problem to have.

After thinking hardly for days and days, I have just sent two emails saying NO to opportunities I would have liked to say yes. But I only have so many hours in the day, and so much energy in me.

When you truly believe life is full of opportunities, saying NO can be sort of liberating. It allows you to focus on what you have right now, until you can make space in your life for the next project/goal/person.

The joy of writing

It's been a while since I've enjoyed a minimalistic multimedia experience like this.

Ommwriter makes me feel like I am writing the most important piece of text of my whole life, by removing everything else from the background and surrounding me with simple but inspiring sound effects.

It makes me want to start my day with a few minutes of writing, just for the fun of it.

I don't want to say more. If you have a Mac, please go and give it a try. I promise you will not regret it.

Oh, and of course, I'm creating this post in Ommwriter (:

--
the minimalist wannabe

I get tired sometimes

of having to feed this body so very often.

I had lunch only five hours ago and I'm already hungry?

Think of how much energy and effort is spent to feed you - growing
food, packaging, transporting, selling, choosing, buying, storing,
cooling, preparing, cooking, serving, cleaning.

Think of all the side effects of our constant need for food -
pollution, waste, poor food choices for convenience, and many more.

Sure, I love eating, but imagine how much more special each meal would
be if we ate once a day, or even once a week.

Perhaps our bodies could learn from our distant relatives - snakes.
Eat a meal roughly your own weight, take a nap for half a day, and
you're good to go for a week.

--
Alex the crawler

Stare and Smile

What do you write when you have too much to write about?

What do say to an old friend you happen to stumble upon in between tasks?

Words can only describe so much.

Perhaps, then, you keep your words for later.


And just stare.

And just smile.




This is me staring.



This is me smiling.

To Gift or not To Gift?

Recently, I started making more efforts to accumulate as little stuff as possible, to own only what I really need or want (inspired by this and this). I strongly feel stuff is much less important that we've been led to believe, and I love the sense of freedom that comes from not having to place, store and worry about stuff. Space is freedom.

As part of those efforts, Ive decided to encourage my friends and family to join me in rethinking the concept of Gifts. In my experience, the best gift I could receive is time with someone (a good call, a meal together, etc), so I will try to give these instead of things. Family, friends, if you are reading this, I invite you to do the same for me.

If despite the above invitation, you really want to materialize your intention, allow me to make a couple suggestions that should make your life easier. I encourage you to write a similar list and make it visible to your friends. It should simplify our gifting experience.

Masks
Most of my friends know we collect masks. The thing is, we already have a lot! So, if you find yourself in an exotic corner of the world, and see a very special mask, and have extra space in your bag, go for it. Otherwise, keep reading.

Gift certificates
Even though they may seem impersonal, a gift certificate has two fundamental advantages: a) It allows me to choose something I really need, and b) It's easy to accumulate more than one gift for buying something pricey. I don't expect you to hand me a 900$ lens for my birthday, but I can build up with a few gift certificates to help me get closer.

So, what stores do I really like right now?

• Vistek (I love photography, and could spend a fortune here)
• MEC (I love the outdoors and most of my gear I get from here)
• Canadian Tire (Very Canadian home owner, I know, but I will always need one more thing from here)

Charity Donation
There are millions of people that are more in need than I am. A donation in someone else's name is a great gift to give. I am particularly fond of Free The Children, CODE and Prevent Cancer Now.

Goodbye Luthien

Luthien was a hard worker, toughly built but warm. Very warm. In fact, every so often she would get so hot, you could barely touch her. Overheat is probably the best term for it.

So, every few months I would need to perform open surgery on her. Knock her down, remove all power sources, and open her up all the way to the core. Only then could I remove the filth that accumulated in her deepest self, preventing her from breathing properly. It was a dreadful sight, but someone had to help her.

Every time she would wake up after the procedure, fresh and renewed. You could tell something had changed inside her, as she would be cool to the touch and quick to respond to your every request.

Every time, but this.

This time, she did not wake up at all. She tried, I could tell, but something was broken inside. Something was missing, a dreadfully silent absence that would not allow her to open her eyes ever again.

I considered transplants, band-aids, life support. But I think perhaps it's time. Time to let go.

Her seven years of work, a great achievement among her kind, will remain forever engraved in the hard disk drive she will donate to her successor. All her memories will endure.

Me? It really hurt at the beggining, but now I've made my peace with it. I am moving on. This is only another change, another transformation in the neverending cycle of life and death.

You shall be missed Luthien.

The 30+5 rule

I struggle with staying focused, just like many of you do. I get distracted very easily, fall into a rabbit hole, and by the time I realize, Ive lost an hour or two and achieved pretty much nothing.

I am determined to change this.

Borrowing from a couple inspiring sources, Ive decided to adopt the 30+5 rule. That is, I focus on one task and only one task for 30 minutes, and then take a 5 minute break. During those 30 mins, I avoid all distractions: email, twitter, gtalk, phone. During my five minute break, I do something completely different. I check email, twitter, and most importantly, Ill get up and take a quick walk. Moving brings blood back to my brain and awakes my muscles. It helps me think.

(I'll be right back)

Back. Oh, yes, another thing I can do with those five minutes? write a short post. See if I can revive this blog that's been in limbo for so long.

In four minutes Ill go back to my 30 minutes of focused work. And it will be very productive. You see, I can focus very well during short periods of time, even if what Im doing is not the most fun thing in the world.

For now, the 30+5 rule seems to be working. I get more done during the day and I go home more satisfied with my output, which allows me to relax and separate work from the rest of my life.

I wonder how many people have the same near-ADD problem I do. And how many have no issues staying focused all day long.

How about you? what do you do to stay productive during the day and go home ready to forget about work?

Fotos

Acabo de subir algunas fotos del viaje a Venezuela a mi Picasa, asi que se pueden asomar si tienen curiosidad :)

Namaste.