Una PREZIntación personal / A personal PREZIntation

I found this interesting application for doing presentations, people say that it is a really much more improved version of PowerPoint or similar software, but I believe that this comparison is not fair enough given that this PREZI tool is really outstanding.

Even the purpose is the same as PowerPoint, Keynotes and similar applications (software for making presentations) comparing Prezi to the previous ones is like trying to compare Photoshop with Paint, both are applications for editing images, but we already know that the capabilities of one are quite more advanced than the other one.

And for you to see what I'm talking about, here is the first presentation I've made with PREZI which took me just a couple of hours of learning-how-to-use, image-editing (using GIMP) and work on the application itself, I think it looks quite cool, what do you think?

P.S.1: Just click in the "Play" button and keep clicking that same button (or the right and left arrows in your keyboard) to go through the presentation.

P.S.2.: After cicking the "Play" button the first time, you can mouse-over where it says "More" and make the presentation to show in "Fullscreen"

Síguete a ti mismo, sino te perderás

(Follow yourself, or you will get lost)





Click here for English


¡Hey AIESEC!

Reciban todos un gran saludo desde la República Checa de parte de este Alumni de AIESEC Venezuela

Me han pedido que cuente rápido que cosas he hecho en AIESEC y como AIESEC ha cambiado mi vida.

Pues, todo comienza cuando me uní al comité local de la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, eso fue en Marzo del 2003.

8 meses más tarde fui elegido Vicepresidente de Intercambios de AIESEC Venezuela lo cual me brindó la oportunidad de trabajar más de cerca con AIESEC en el resto del mundo, en especial en conferencias internacionales como en el Congreso Internacional de AIESEC en Hannover, Alemania en 2004. ¡Fue una experiencia realmente impresionante!

Culminé mi período en Venezuela y luego fui a formar parte del equipo de soporte del comité nacional de AIESEC en Colombia en el área de Ventas y Desarrollo Corporativo. Estando allá me dí cuenta como AIESEC trabaja de formas diferentes en distintas partes del mundo, pero como de todas formas todos luchamos por la misma causa...

...El desarrollo del potencial y el liderazgo en los jóvenes

Regresé a Venezuela, y luego de ver que había mandado y recibido tantos jóvenes de todos y a todos lados, decidí que me tocaba a mi vivir esa experiencia, y así fue como terminé trabajando en Estonia para Skype.

Durante ese tiempo tuve la oportunidad de viajar y mostrarle al mundo más sobre Venezuela y nosotros los Venezolanos y a todos lados donde iba, ahí estaba AIESEC (ver fotoblog)


Luego de casi 2 años de estar en Skype, se me presentó la oportunidad de ir a Malasia para trabajar en MindValley, que para quienes no lo saben, es una empresa de Internet Marketing que es 80% AIESECa... vale la pena que le echen un vistazo...

Hoy día me encuentro en República Checa trabajando en un proyecto con el cual he soñado ya desde hace mucho tiempo pero del cual no puedo dar muchos detalles todavía... pero pueden seguirme los pasos en Twitter


Y por qué en República Checa...?

Bueno, resulta que AIESEC no sólo me ha brindado la oportunidad de crecer personal y profesionalmente, sino que además gracias a AIESEC he conocido a quien es hoy mi amada esposa Zlata Botero Vaskova... (mira mis 2 post anteriores)

Nos conocimos por primera vez en Finlandia en una conferencia de AIESEC donde yo era Chair, y nos re-encontramos casi un año después en Estonia en un Global Village organizado por AIESEC Tallinn...


Como lo notarán, yo soy un fanático de AIESEC, y la verdad luego de ver todo lo que he podido vivir gracias a AIESEC, como no podría serlo...?


Es mi historia una historia exitosa?... Esa decisión "It's up to you!"...

Por mi lado puedo decir que hasta ahora he vivido con intensidad cada momento y sé que apenas esto es el principio...

Para cerrar, les dejo esta cita de Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, la cual mi querida esposa me recuerda a menudo:

"Nada debe ser más apreciado, que el valor de cada día"

Les deseo que tengan una vida muy feliz...


Carlos





ENGLISH


Hey AIESEC!

Greetings from Czech Republic from this Venezuelan AIESEC Alumni.

I was asked to tell in short my AIESEC experience and how AIESEC has changed my life so far.

Everything started when I joined the local committee of AIESEC UCAB (at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello), that was back in March 2003.

8 months later, I was elected as the national vice president of Exchange for AIESEC in Venezuela which gave me the opportunity of working and sharing closely with more AIESECers all around the world, specially during conferences like the International Congress of AIESEC 2004 held in Hannover, Germany. It was a truly amazing experience!

I finished my term in Venezuela and then became part of the National Support Team of AIESEC in Colombia in the department of Sales and Corporate Development. Being there I found out how AIESEC works in different ways other parts of the world, but how we all strive for the same cause...

...The development of the potential and leadership of young people

I went back to Venezuela, and after considering that I have sent and received people from and to all around the world... I thought it was my turn to liev such experience, and that is how I ended up working in Estonia for Skype.

During this time, I had the opportunity to travel and show to the world more about Venezuela and the Venezuelans, and wherever I went AIESEC was there. (See fotoblog)


After almost 2 years in Estonia, a new opportunity came to my life to work for the Malaysian company MindValley, which in case you didn't know, it is very successfull Internet Marketing company with 80% of AIESECers in it... If you are looking for an portunity to grow and learn, you better check it out.

Today I'm now in Czech Republic working in a project I've been dreaming about for a while already. I can't give you details about it at the moment, but to keep updated you may follow me in Twitter



And why in Czech Republic you may be asking...?

Well, the thing is that AIESEC not only gave me the opportunity to grow internally and professionaly, but also thanks to AIESEC I got to meet who is now my lovely wife Zlata Botero Vaskova... (check out 2 previous posts)

We met for the first time in Finland during an AIESEC conference where I was the Chairman, and we re-met almost a year after in Estonia during a Global Village organized by AIESEC Tallinn...


As you may notice, I'm a big fan of AIESEC, and after seen all what I have lived thanks to AIESEC, how couldn't I... ?


Is my story a successful story?... that "It's up to you!" to decide...

On my side I can tell you that I have lived with passion every moment and I know that this is just the beginning...

To close, I would like to leave you with this quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which my wife lovely keeps reminding me:

"Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day"

Wish you to have a truly happy life...



Carlos

The Story of a Belly called Edie...

This post is with less words, and one video with pictures...





Welcome Edie to this wonderful world!


- Your Dad.

One-way ticket to parenthood please...

Yes, that is correct... Parenthood is a one-way ticket...

I make this analogy based in how I was felling today... just to let you know, today Sunday 22nd of February, is the day when Zlata is going to the hospital and spend the night there before our son Eduardo Josef is born tomorrow Monday 23rd of February 2009.

So, in the morning we woke up, I prepared breakfast, we made sure we had everything we need ready, the bag with the clothes, etc...

At this moment, I just said to Zlata... "You know my love... I have now a similar filling to another feeling I had before already 4 times..."

In case you didn't know, Eduardo Josef is my very first child, so it was very curious for Zlata that I said that I have had a similar feeling already 4 times before!

Then, I explained...

"Yes, I'm having feelings right now very similar to the days I was just about to fly to a new country to move there for a longer period than 6 months..."

So, I had similar feelings the same day I was going to travel to Madison, Wisconsin when I was 19, and also I felt similar when I went to Cali, Colombia when I was 25, and when I went to Estonia a year after that, and to Malaysia more recently.

I've been in many other places also traveling for vacations, but these 4 destinations were in particular very special since I was not going for a short period, and in all of those 4 occasions I was not sure what was going to be my next destination, nor if I was ever going back to anywhere...

You might be thinking that such a situation might have made me feel unhappy or scared or nervous... but if you know me well, then you know that I was totally the opposite!

I was always very happy, even calm... but definitely looking forward to the new adventure!

Going back to the conversation I had with Zlata, I explained her then that at that particular moment I was feeling in the same way I felt 4 times in the day I was going to travel.

The curious thing is that the feeling is... like if I'm not going anywhere!

Yes... those 4 times, exactly at the day of the travel, even being at te airport just before boarding... I was feeling nothing special... It was for me just like the day before... just that I was carrying 2 big suitcases, one carry-on and my backpack...

And so far, my feelings are still very similar to those 4 moments, and they are evolving in the same way too...

Here is how it goes:

1) As I described before, at the begining I'm just calm, not feeling any special or different emotions even at the airport, even after checking my bags.

2) Then, I'm in the plane... and then there is a change... I'm still calmed, but now after I left behind all other ties I had to the day before... my mind starts to wonder in short term memories, about things I was living in the past months... then (since usually the trip is for more than 8 hours) I fall asleep....

3) I wake-up... I'm still in the plane, and there is still half way to go... emotions are now different... I'm now trying to imagine how will it be to cross the door outside of the airport, and meet new people and a new enviroment... I just try to get the feeling of been there.

4) I arrive... and I'm in a totally new world, different to any thought before, and I'm very excited and looking forward to explore every corner...




For me, I can apply this same analogy to the experience of becoming father... right now I'm already in the 3rd step...

And tomorrow I will arrive...
...to my only one-way destination to parenthood.

Al mal tiempo, buena cara

(To bad weather, good face)

After reading the title of this post, you might think that I'm having a hard time and I need to cheer up.

Well, fortunately that is very far from the truth :-)

For those who have been asking me, I'm very well and I'm looking forward to be back with Zlata and also for this new great experience that is to become father! (No, no pictures of the belly or the baby yet :-P maybe in the next post).

Then, back to the title of this post, I will have to start sharing what moved me to start writing this post.

One evening I was chating with a new friend who is also a Salsa passionate. She was in fact asking about the Salsa lessons that I give, what type of style and other technicalities about Salsa and my experience teaching.

I then explained her that the Salsa I teach is what I call "Street Salsa"... she asked me "What is that? Is like N.Y. style or L.A. style?" (btw, isn't if funny for you to consider that some people labeled the Salsa N.Y. and L.A style? specially since Salsa was started in the Caribbean, not in the US...)


After showing a "wide smile" emoticon ( :-D ) to her, I just explained that the Salsa I teach is the salsa I learned at home with friends in Venezuela and later in Colombia, so if I had to put a name to it, I would just call it "Street Salsa" because I learned it "en la calle" (in the street).

So for me "Street Salsa" is the salsa you dance to enjoy, to laugh while you dance, to improvise movements according to how you feel the music. So that is what I teach, to feel the music.

At this point she was very curious, specially since she shared with me that she was a little stressed since she had to be ready for some Latin Dances Examination she was going to have. I must confess (and she might be readign to this now and might be curoious about what I'm going to say... hehehe) that when I read that comment in the chat window I just smiled and told to myself:

"Yep, that is exactly the kind of salsa I DON'T teach..."

For me dancing must be fun, must be joyable and should not cause you stress. In fact, many of my students have said that they feel very relieved and relaxed after the lessons, and not because it is easy, because it is not, but because I find that if there is not joy in dancing, then the whole purpose of it is lost.


So, back to the title of the post... from Salsa, suddenly the conversation turned more into what is life about, about goals for life and other philosiphycal stuff... then it started to rain very strongly... few minutes before I just asked her why was she online at 1pm on a saturday (in my case I have a good excuse... called Time difference ;-) I was calling to Venezuela just before).

Then she replied that she had plans to go out, but now with the big rain it was better to stay at home... then I had one of the crazy thoughts I use to have from time to time and told her to try going out and enjoy of being just under the rain...

Of course the reaction was a virtual laugh followed by a:

- "So, to dance in the rain like kids?" to what I answered
- "why not...?"
- "I don't know... why don't you go then?"
- "That is in fact a very good question... brb"


I stood up and started to get ready... I put on my swiming shorts and a simple shirt.

At that same time, one of my flatmates was playing with his new digital camera, taking pictures all around the house and the surroundings, testing the effects of the rain for the pictures and so on...

I then went out, and at the begining I was just walking around, feeling the drops of water following gently on me.

Actually, it seems that if you are not running, the rain doesn't bother you, but just refresh you, and I didn't even felt so wet or anything... I was enjoying the time... and I even decided to try to give some dancing steps on the rain.

I must say that even it was a little weird at the beginning, at the end I just felt very relaxed and callmed.

The rain stoped, and I went back home, and my flatmate when he saw me he just started t laugh, and bellow you can see why...

First just walking around ad feeling the rain

Dancing in the rain

Dancing in the rain (closer)

Now to finish this post, I just want to take a phrase from Mark Twain that I like very much:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

--Mark Twain

Of course, dancing in the rain is nothing "heroic", but just think something... if you do not even dare to dance in the rain, or to do any other little gesture that can bring you some happiness, just because is "weird" or because you might look crazy... if you are stopped on such a simple thing... what makes you think you won't be stopped in more important things later?


Once again...


"...Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover..."



.

When life bring changes, or when changes bring life

It's being a while since the last time I updated this blog, but lately I've been thinking a lot about the changes in my life in the past 2 years, and the new more changes for the years to come.

Just for you to know, when I started this blog, I decided that I didn't want to make a blog for telling my experiences, but that I wanted to use it mainly to share my thoughts.

This time, I do want to share my thoughts, but I can't avoid to share also the reason of them, which is directly connected to a wonderful event that is happening in my life...

But before getting there, I will go straight to the tittle of this post...


When life bring changes...

The only constant thing in life is change, and that is something you will find out if you haven't yet.

No matter how much you plan your life, there are events that will definitely change your life, some times immediately, some times after a while.

I'm not going to give you a lecture on how to overcome these changes, but I just want to share with you my thoughts about it.

For me, these last 2 years have been a huge shift in my life, thanks to the fortune all for good.

At the beginning of those 2 years, I was still finding myself (and to do that I had to travel some thousand kilometers, you see?!). At that time I had very clear ideas on how my experience would be: I will enjoy the 1.5 years in Estonia, and then I will go back to Venezuela to continue my own business.

Now, life has changed, and I'm in Kuala Lumpur starting a new chapter in my life, full of excitement and full of expectations.

Once again, the plans are being re-adjusted, but that is what has brought this wonderful spark in my life, the fact that life is not defined, and it is ready to be explored...


When changes bring life...

This is the part when I share the big event, and for those who are intuitive enough, would have guessed already what it is about due the tittle of this post.

Among the huge shifts that had happened in my life within these 2 years, the most special one was to find happiness and love in one person, that special person that is the main reason of these words (and the words from the prior post from many months ago too).

Our hearts met, and we are now sharing dreams, goals, moments and future.

And now, this big change in my life has brought a bigger one, which is the change of bringing a new life between us...

At the moment I'm writing these words, has passed 11 weeks since this new life has started to grow... Zlata and I are becoming parents!


The happiness in our hearts can only be compared with the immense love we have for each other and for our new little human "bean" (at this point looks like a little bean :-) )



I'm aware of the shift that this post have had... it started in a philosophical mood, but now it ended up very personal... but guess what... that is part of the wonderful changes that life brought to me!

Because now my life is not only mine... my life now has meaning because of this new family we are starting...

Dedicated to the love of my live... Mi Consentida... Zlata


.

Search for reality...

Time have passed, as the same as places and people I have met.

On every place, there have been those experiences that leave you marks, or footprints. Those things that start to build a little of a new yourself.

And then again comes the question after that... What is reality? or what is real? and I don't mean it in a philosophical matter, but I would say more in an emotional and mental way of perceiving life, of following your dreams (or just keep dreaming itself).

I'm a dreamer, there is no doubt of that... And some times I've been admired by that, and some others I've been warned that it is not "the right way" to live.

And when I find this kind of persons, I just wonder what kind of life they had, what kind of experiences made them just decide that it is dangerous or not wise to follow your dreams. That instead it is better to "sentar cabeza" (from Spanish, "to seat down your head") because dreams can't fit in the "real world".

Right now I'm not going to say that they are right or wrong. I will just say that they had made a decision, as the same way I made a decision.

That is how I see life, it is a path of decisions you take, that leads you to the next experience, and for some, that experience is something they had always identified in their life, and for others there are always new experiences to discover.

In here, the important thing to consider is just that... the fact that you live YOUR life, the life you choose to live, and not the life you are expected to live, the life of others.