NIN has made the impossible

This is me... without words...

Social Networking and Me

I finally succumbed to it: I am now socially networked. People can find me and sing "Happy Days" because of it.

I'm uploaded and it feels somewhat comfortable.

I decided that this blog will be the center of my networked self... my soul, if you will. So, I did some redecorating, with some help from Blogger/Blogspot new templates, hope you like it. If everything goes well, maybe the list of readers will go up from three to, I don't know, five? six? One can only be so lucky, hehe. And if it does, I want the place to look nice. The blue background with gray letters theme was getting too uptight and it actually hurted my eyes when reading it for long periods of time; considering the length of some of my posts, it would've had to be dealt with at some point anyway.

Next, I checked in the obvious places for a start: Hi5 and MySpace. I already have profiles in both of them (see my links section on the sidebar), so there a source of inspiration and a source of copying and pasting for the other profiles I was about to open.

I also decided to put a link to my C.V. here. I already had it since around September 2006 up on my personal pages area that the University of Manchester gave me to play around with. I figured putting my C.V. up there seemed logical and so does linking it here: big change.

Then came the two big ones: Facebook and Twitter.

I still don't know what Facebook is. I know it has something to do with social networking, but its potential makes it much more than that. The possibility of uploading photos and pointing out who is actually in them was quite an interesting and elegant use of the MAP tag that I thought was going to be lost to deprecation. Naturally I found a couple of friends that I hadn't spoken to in ages, and I think I basically used everything I could from the site.

Unfortunately my mobile is based in the UK so no messaging from or to Facebook is going to be possible for now, and the emails for confirming my University's email took almost 8 hours to get to my inbox, making the process a little boring. I did my badge and put it up in here; I know, it's quite small, without a lot of information. The thing is that I didn't find a lot of options which I felt comfortable posting in a website and putting out there for our friends the phishers. If anybody should want to look further into me, I suggest that you go into Facebook for more info. I think I have pretty much anything you want to know about me in there (even this blog is being fed in there), and at the same time I feel protected. The badge does have my most recent photo uploads which I find nice to the eye, and, if you click on the photo, it will take to the original upload (after you log in, of course).

I did another badge with more information, but in a dynamic image (more difficult to phish off from); both of these options are given by Facebook itself, by the way. I might add it to my email or forum signatures, although I'm not quite convinced of using it yet. The fact that this little image is going to contact the Facebook servers everytime somebody reads one of my emails or forum posts doesn't really scream efficiency for the reader.

Another thing that I found, at first, interesting was that I could post a status message (sleeping, reading, at school, etc.), but I have to log in to Facebook to change it which is kind of a drag when you want to change it several times a day.

Enter Twitter... it's basically that feature but with much more ways to update it: from the webpage, messaging to an IM bot, or, the one that blew my mind, by texting to an specific number here in the UK. And it's free, which is always nice. If you click on the 'status' on the "More About Me" section, it will bring you to my Twitter section that'll show you all the differents status that I've posted. Basically, if there's a stalker out there, I'm doing the stalking for them: hey, remember, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, hehe, (I have to see that movie!)...

Happy days indeed.

14/02

Be wary, be wary, be wary
that on the glimpse of an eye,
the 14th of February,
yours truly, myself, and I
will write the obituary
of who speak "Happy Valentine!".

Plan on loving and caring?
Are you willing to love and die
for those with you're sharing
smiles, chocolates and sighs?

Smiles, chocolates and sighs...
Are you really that blind?

Yes, to love is merry,
but just this once? I query.

All other days to comply,
no espectacle to carry.
Why now? Are you that shy
you need candy berries
to speak of yearn and cry?
How vaine, "How weary!".
You child with no pride.

Had enough of this wry?
Why?
You, this gift, don't like,
but empty hearts you invite?

From this you I'm saving,
of false love and caring.
Give on the first of February
or March or January,
and the gift I'm sharing
will be sweeter than cherries.

Wait for the flock to find
a void way to sell diary
and you'll have to bind
with dirty milk from Larry.

Gift from the heart and mind,
when it feels like the time,
and even just a note of "Hi!"
will value more than shine...

Vancouver

Karla, a cousin of mine, sponsored by my parents, took the opportunity to study english in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Because she still isn't that confident with her english, and the whole flight process in the U.S.A. can be quite daunting, I helped her out to get her to Canada... and yes, I also took the opportunity to vacation a little bit from my vacations/work in Juarez.

To tell the tale of the whole flight delight, delays, broken planes, etc. wouldn't be much fun, and will undermine the whole purpose of the trip: to wish Karla well. I will, anyway, point you to my PicasaWeb Album "Vancouver" with around 100 pictures of my stay.

Beautiful city, by the way: when we got there it had just snowed, so, although it was cold as hell, there were tiny spots of white all over the city's downtown, decorating it elegantly. I met with another cousin of mine, Jesus or Chuyito (Karla's brother), to sightsee for three days. We walked like crazy, my feet still hurt, but it was well worth it.

I only missed two little things from the whole experience: the Capilano Suspension Bridge was closed for repairs and ... no Apple Store! I forgot that the only Apple Stores in Canada are located in Toronto.

All and all: very nice, I hope I can come back one day and get to know more of the city.

Karla: I wish you the best for the next six months =)

Snow... all over again

It's snowing... it's been a long while since I haven't seen snow in Juarez (I'm over here on vacations). I thought I forgot how it looked like, but at the first sign of it, I knew it was the beginning of snow.

If I remember correctly, the last time I saw snow was around the Christmas parties or New Year's before I moved to Queretaro: 2001? Wow, six years just flew by.

I miss everybody here, but haven't got the opportunity or will to come out of bed. I'm a little bit sick, so that works as a good excuse to not do anything. I get why I'm using it to not work: it's the holidays, I'm genuinely tired to do anything, and, well, I'm a lazy ass, so there. But, to not see them, I don't know, I guess I don't want to get in there again, maybe just Hugo would be nice, but if I see him, I'm probably going to see her, which would be nice too, but I know it would just suck when we we're over it. I'm still feeling that, god damn it, and I can't help it, I've really tried to ignore it, but it just keeps coming back. I wonder if this is how my love life's going to be from now on: in love with memories, in love with her back then...

It's weird, though. I'm concient of it, doesn't that require a little maturity? I thought I've already grown up, apparently not. I'm still seventeen, but without her. I guess this is how it would've felt... I guess I should be grateful for that... I guess that, yes, this is my love life from now on.

My cousin, Jonathan, is planning to get married this time next year. I'm probably the only one in both of my parent's families who's not involved with someone right now. Maybe, I hope, this' a blessing in disguise: because of my life right now, I don't think a relationship would actually fit in there. Not because I'm too busy (God knows that I can find the time), but because of my plans: probably the same reason why I didn't pursue anything in Queretaro after her (God, I can't even pronounce her name!).

It is working, though. The move to England, I mean. I feel stressed out, of course, when haven't felt that? But because of other issues. It still not as clear as I would like it to be. It still scares me as hell of what I'm going to do about the scholarship money, and, if I get it, what to do after my studies there. But, they are new fears, new bacteria to take the place of the old, much more devastating one. Replacing work for love... and I'm starting to have friends over there, few, but interesting (like always). And Hugo is still there like he always has been...

Damn... Julia is a tough act to follow... (and believe me, this last sentence took a lot out of me).