Perfect Moments

February 16, 2013 by Raul Colon

In 2006 I read Chasing Daylight:How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life (affiliate link) a book by Eugene O’Kelley who I met while I worked for KPMG when he was a CEO before he passed away. Different to any other book this one clearly changed my purpose and focus of life.

The most resonant lesson to 26-year-old like me (at that moment) was how unplanned events turn into perfect moments that will not return and you must make the best of them. Since then with a few reminders from my friend Moises I make sure I pay close attention to when I think I have had a perfect moment.

More than one perfect moment

Yesterday was an awesome day since I had many small perfect moments that I could probably translate in what for me is a perfect day.

Happy Clients

I started the day getting compliments from a project we initiated a year ago and finished last summer. We helped that specific client with improving their online presence from making a full website assessment to creating guidelines on how they could improve their communication.

@rj_c @chrisbrogan thanks Raul and Chris – great working with you 🙂
— helastel (@Helastel) May 17, 2012

We where very lucky to be hired by such motivated individuals because we got them started and running and yesterday I received this quote in my email from one of their project managers.

Exciting stuff though, we seem to be getting more interesting and bigger clients all the time – rebrand and restructure paid off.

The fact that they are getting bigger and more importantly interesting clients just filled me with happiness. I can’t thank them enough for trusting us and taking the ball and running with them. It’s not often you get such great feedback from a client.

Instagram Post that made me smile

An online friend Obed A. Roldán-Castro made me smile by sharing a picture of his iPhone with a background of one the pictures I shared online.

Technology in the Combat Theater

I got to chat with my best friend Alex Burgos via text who is currently serving in Afghanistan. In his previous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan I heard from him only a few times in a year. Technology allows me to exchange texts and check up on him like if he was back in Fort Bragg.

I also get to see how my Rock Star soldier of a friend and ex army buddy Carlos Gonzalez Sanchez keeps himself motivated while being far away from his family serving in Afghanistan also for many months. His positive attitude while he is serving serves as inspiration for me to get off my ass and work harder than usual to reach my goals.

Understanding My Technology Tools Better

I learned a few tricks and things that will be very useful in building future complex WordPress websites. I enjoy so much understanding how one line of code transfers to a browser and how precise you have to be to be able to make that happen sometimes. Just a few characters will throw you off and make you lose significant time if you are not careful enough.

100+ Kisses and a Sexy Mom

I got to kiss my daughter at least 50 times (that is when I stopped counting). I was able to see my other half Lucilla Feliciano look extremely sexy and hot while wearing clothes from our friend Eudeliz Santiago’s Boutique Blusa.

Great Neighbors and Friends

I went to have dinner with the most amazing neighbors who in less than 7 months make me feel they are like family. It was a celebration of Amaury becoming a grandfather and us being able to have great friends like Liz, Cirene, Resat , and those that where not their physically.

I ended my night walking my Labrador Juanga on the Beach with a friend I always give a hard time but I love so much Melvin Rodriguez, The best news is the only time he reached for his phone was to turn the Flashlight app so I could clean juanga’s poop (that is a true friend).

Pay close attention

They’re where many interesting moments during the day and a few where perfect unplanned moments.

The most important thing is that I took the time to enjoy it.

How many perfect moments we let waste because we are too connected and we can’t disconnect.

We consume too much and yet we want more.

It was a perfect day because I understood that we only had so much time in the day and we made the best of it.

Make sure you do your best to make each day as perfect as possible. Celebrate when it goes well and make sure to focus on your next when you feel it did not.

Breathe, Relax, Enjoy Every Second, and Smile.

Thanks Liz Strauss for Being Inspiring

January 6, 2013 by Raul Colon

For quite some time I have been reading and following Liz Straus on twitter and other platforms. Although I have never met Liz in person I consider her an inspiring woman who always brings joy by sharing her experiences online via her many talents.

I first heard of Liz Strauss through Jacqueline Carly and what attracted my attention to Liz where the daily sunrise pictures she shared of the Chicago harbor.

Good morning from the harborhood !! #chicago #sunrise #lizharbor5
A post shared by Liz Strauss (@lizstrauss) on Dec 13, 2012 at 4:55am PST

Good morning from the harborhood !!#chicago #sunrise #lizharbor5 ~ Liz Straus

In my case I have been in and out of Chicago airport and driven through Chicago multiple times but never made the time to stop for a day in the windy city. Liz Strauss has been able to make Chicago harbor one of my favorite views of the morning and a place I want to visit.

Like my friend Diane Brogan mentioned in her blog post, Liz captivates us in a way where in every image and message she shares in the mornings get transported to that beautiful sunrise.

Vapor trails like tire tracks across the sky. #chicago #sunrise #lizharbor5
A post shared by Liz Strauss (@lizstrauss) on Dec 14, 2012 at 4:49am PST

Inspiration

I was inspired by Liz to start sharing my view of the Atlantic from the small island of Puerto Rico.

My direct interactions with Liz have been very minimal (since I always consume her content but rarely write back or interact on it).

Reading Diane’s post was a reminder that sometimes we forget to thank people for inspiring us and giving us more reasons to enjoy our lives. As I read Diane’s post and found the news on Liz battling Cancer I could not wait any longer to thank her for sharing and influencing something I enjoy doing on a daily basis.

Reading Diane’s post also made me visit a specific blog post that demonstrates the talent Liz has as a writer. Please take a few minutes and read over this unique piece The Genius that Is You.

To Liz I wish her the best and I can only think of how in the future we might be able to read that Liz is free of cancer and that I will be seeing those images of the Chicago Harbor for decades to come.

P.S. Diane asked if we could share a morning picture or an image of our morning view and tag Liz Strauss on Twitter, Instagram, or Google+.

Since I have been doing this for quite some time I decided to write this post thanking Liz for the inspiration. Here I share the gallery of some pictures I have taken, edited, and published since the end of summer 2012.

Sharing My Stories

June 10, 2012 by Raul Colon

Telling our story is something we all do in different forms. I recently found out that I was capturing my story in different ways but limiting myself in sharing it.

I created a website and made it into a virtual yearbook for my senior class. This was before having platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Blogger, WordPress and the many other that allow you to easily sign up and share your experiences with the online world. As time goes by, it becomes easier to share your story via pictures, video, and writing.

Sharing the Story Via Digital Photography

Before digital cameras, I remember taking pictures with my Advantix camera.

This was a long process and here are some steps I remember:

Buy film for the camera
Choose my pictures wisely (each roll had a limited amount of pictures)
Drop the pictures to get developed
Pick up the pictures
Scan them (making sure I only touched the edges)
Adjust them
Upload them
Get them in the format I needed and size
Edit them
Publish pictures online

Things got easier when I bought my first Digital Camera; a Sony Mavica (see picture above)! All I needed were floppy disks and a computer with the online connection. Now I have a Ricoh CX2 (Affiliate Link) as my point and shoot camera with an Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card (Affiliate Link) that uploads the pictures for me to my computer, iPhone, iPad, and other online repositories.

I had been using creative commons pictures for my blog posts. Thanks to the advice of Sir Alan Weinkrantz I realized that by using the pictures of others, there wasn’t a full connection to the content I was writing. Since April, I have been using more of my pictures for blog posts. Looking back at my albums, I have been able to find many options to choose from.

Video

Video allows you to capture a story and distribute to many. Video platforms like Youtube enable us to upload video in minutes and grant access to a larger audience.

Writing

When I started to share more of my thoughts online, I wrote for other blogs and then decided to set up my own.

Writing in the form of an exercise like Morning Pages can be meditative and helps you organize your thoughts. Writing also helps me find people with common interests. I also write to share my point of view and to learn from you and others that I react by responding or commenting online.

Many think that writing is something that they can’t do. It can be done quite quickly, and with practice, you can get better.

Like my friend Chris Brogan says, “Time is a Choice” he can help you find the time, but it’s your choice.

Are you sharing your story? How?

Point me to your Blog Please

Do you have a blog if you do, please feel free to share it in the comments area?

Why Stolen Cars & Pictures are nothing to brag about!

January 31, 2011 by Raul Colon

Photo credit by calignosus

How do you make sure you are sharing content legally and most importantly with the consent of the author?

While participating on #Blogchat which I have been participating for a few weeks I read a few tweets related to sharing photos online.

The following tweet really caught my attention not only is it creative but it has a very clear message:

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/ahockley/status/31908186885722113″]

@ahockley point was a ver easy way to explain what many people do by taking a photo without proper authorization to make it appear like it was ok.

When I am searching for a picture for my posts and I don’t use my own I mainly use Flickr’s Creative Commons.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/RickCaffeinated/status/31905488207618048″]

My new online friend @rickcaffeinated which is another encyclopedia of knowledge also recommended wylio.com in his tweet:

I used wylio.com for the previous pic and I have to admit it was very efficient and it expresses well the term of sharing which most people participating in #blogchat effectively did.

A great resource to share, remix, and reuse legally is creativecommons.org

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.

Briefly here is an overview of the Creative Commons

Attribution means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work – and derivative works based upon it – but only if they give you credit.

Noncommercial means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work – and derivative works based upon it – but for noncommercial purposes only.

No Derivative Worksmeans:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

Share Alike means:
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

Where do you get your images for your blog posts?

Are there any other tools you recommend that facilitate the process of choosing an adequate image for your post?

Have you see anyone copying without attribution or adequate permission?