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Saturday, August 02, 2008

T-shirts in Europe!

The good news is:
If you´re in Europe and fancy a gUd LaiF t-shirt, but don´t wish to pay the international shipping costs from the cafepress store, you can now check out the store at Spreadshirt!

Same designs, quicker and cheaper to your European door ;-)

Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Rest in Peace, Randy Pausch

The Carnegie Mellon professor whose vitality and approach to life -in spite of suffering from pancreatic cancer- has inspired many (I count myself among those) passed away today.

His ideas about achieving your childhood dreams have been a wake up call. They´ll remain with us, along with his memory.
Thank you Randy.
-------
Here´s the link to Professor Pausch´s Last Lecture on Carnegie Mellon, on December 2007, watched over 3 million times on YouTube.
Here´s the link to an interview on ABC news.
Here´s the link to his book, which he dictated to a friend while riding his bike.
Even Business Week featured an article with the business lessons from Randy Pausch´s last lecture.

Some of his quotes:
¨Never lose the childlike wonder. It´s just too important. It´s what drives us.¨
¨The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

Rest in Peace, Randy Pausch.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Thought of the Day - Paradox

Thought of the Day from another Thought of the Day post, by metacool´s Diego Rodríguez.
The quote is originally from John Mackey. The key part, to me is this:

¨Yet, happiness is a by-product of pursuing those other goals and I think that analogy applies to business as well. The paradox of profits is that, like happiness, they are best achieved by not aiming directly for them.¨
In other words, not confusing goals (great products, customer satisfaction...) with outcome (profits). If profits are your goal, everything else becomes your means to an end. What´s the problem with that? You stop doing things because you´re passionate about them, but because they´ll ¨bring you money¨. Way to go...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I finally did it (II)

The second piece of my evil plan is up and running ;-)
Say hello to little www.gudlaif.com.

gUd NaiT.

Monday, June 23, 2008

I finally did it

I allowed myself to make it happen.
Years ago this idea of ¨t-shirts that start conversations to inspire people¨ hit me. And hasn´t left.
Then this blog came along. Like I said on the third? post:

Why do I blog? What do I blog about?
I think blogging is a great way to enter this ¨global conversation¨ the web is becoming. I write about life in general, and then try to make a contribution. How?

A few years ago I thought:
- Conversations are the best way to share thoughts, feelings, etc.
- We all deserve a good life, but often don´t know how to live it.
- T-shirts are a powerful way to start conversations.

Why not put together the three: life, t-shirts and the desire to live a gud laif? I established my mantra: be gud. live laif.
...
And so the idea was born. Every once in a while I make t-shirts with thoughts on them. Thoughts about life in general, generally those that I believe contribute to living a better life. Then those t-shirts become conversations when worn by someone.
That was November, 2006. After months of dealing with the ¨you know whats¨ involved in the creative process, finally the t-shirts are a reality. And the nice part is they´re (becoming) available to the world (little by little) over at:
www.cafepress.com/gudlaif

Expect to see more t-shirts coming soon.
Then what? Who knows. But like they say: it´s the things we didn´t do that we truly regret.

Fell free to check them out and let me know your thoughts, here in the comments section or by e-mail: gudlaif@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

Bonus:
Feeling you want to do something really interesting and don´t know how to start? Feeling insecure about what people might/will/could say or think?
Read this post by Seth Godin.
Then read Hugh MacLeod´s ¨How to be creative¨.
Then thank them, not me.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Blogging is like Sex (III)

So...
Back by popular demand (no, motu proprio really) is the Trilogy ¨Blogging is like Sex¨ with its third (and final?) episode. Who would´ve thought you could find 19 similarities between both. Heh.

Wait!

If you haven´t done so yet, read the
first
and
second
chapters first for the full experience ;-)

Then enjoy the third:

Blogging is like Sex (III):

14. ¨He´s worried his post is not long enough for her...¨
15. You shouldn´t pay for someone to blog...you.
16. It´s not nice to accept money to blog for other people, either.
17. If I were you, I´d worry if you only post every six months.
18. I´d worry even more if you don´t get any comments about your [infrequent] posts.
19. There really is no good blogging without LOVE.

Got another? Leave a comment with it!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Get off the ladder!

They call it the Corporate ladder. And they say you should climb it. That´s the goal.

I say the Corporate ladder is a state of mind. The wrong one to be in. I say it´s confusing goals with outcomes.*

Why?

When ¨moving up the corporate ladder¨ becomes your career´s goal, you do stuff that´ll take you up the ladder. Never mind sacrificing your passion for the sake of moving up the ladder you´re in.

Get off the [corporate] ladder!

I feel like making a series of t-shirts with these ideas in them. What do you think?

* For great examples of confusing goals with outcome, in the realm of trust, visit Charles Green´s blog.

Who would have thought?

A while ago I wrote this post about the similarities between blogging and sex.
Then I wrote a second post.

Lately, I´ve been getting a lot of visits from random countries, mostly Eastern Europe. I did my research, and...

As it turns out, if you google ¨sex laif ¨, the third hit is the first episode. Heh.

The third episode is almost ready. Now, for integrity´s sake, I need to make a t-shirt... Humor is another way of changing the world, no? ;-)

Stay tuned.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Public Service Announcement for Spam victims

Do you live in Puerto Rico? Have you been getting lots of spam  sms messages (unsolicited, irrelevant to you, stuff that just interrupts and annoys you) on your phone for a while now? Signed by ellow.mobi?


Call them and tell them you don´t want their unsolicited e-mails. I did and, contrary to my expectations (I thought this was an AT&T thing that I´d have to stand if I wanted sms service), it stopped. They did say they got the information from my carrier (shame on you AT&T...Yes, I know that must be somewhere in our Terms of Agreement. Shame on you still).
I´ll spare you the visit to their website. Their phone is (787) 707-0750. And  they do spam phones other than AT&T´s.

Happy end of spamming season.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Old San Juan


This is a street in Old San Juan.
The light was great for pictures that day. Photo taken with my iPhone.
But the coolest thing was the visit I placed Ben & Jerry´s after that ;-)
By the way, the owner of that B&J´s in Old San Juan is Michelle Campi, yep, that Michelle Campi.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Confusions, chapter N+1

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Why?

Why did you get up Today?
Tough answer?
Just wondering...

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Confusions, chapter N

Monday, April 14, 2008

Expect everything...


Here´s to ¨you´re everything I ever expected...¨ Cheers.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

How much heart is there in a song?

Feel it yourself.

This page contained an embedded video. Click here to view it.


Via the crazy Famous Mortimer.

Friday, April 11, 2008

What goes first?

Monday, April 07, 2008

No matter how many times...

In short: Shel Israel is a renowned blogger, book writer and consultant, advising companies on how to adopt social media and ¨embrace the conversation¨, even when it´s hostile to you . Loren Feldman is a smart provocateur.

The story by Mike Arrington is here.

Bottom line: When faced with harsh criticism from Feldman, Israel did exactly the opposite he proclaims and makes a living out of.

That doesn´t make him a bad person. The hardest thing to do in life is to ALIGN your actions with your beliefs/predicaments, or ¨live your personal brand¨ if you want to put it that way. The problem is that, in that very hardest moment, you have to kill your ego. That´s the lesson we learn day in, day out.

No matter how many times we hear it, we agree on ¨the what¨. But ¨how?

Monday, March 31, 2008

Chances are...

Facebook now has 64 million registered users. That means 1 out of 100 people on Earth are registered.
Think about it...

With so many options available to us in every aspect of life, it is critical now more than ever to align your daily actions with your long term goals. And it is now easier than ever to find people with interests and beliefs aligned with yours.

One click away, not six degrees anymore.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Blogging is like Sex (II)

Back by popular demand:
[Click here for the first episode of ¨Blogging is like sex¨. Thanks.]

8. Don´t ever think that post you wrote drunk at 5 AM impressed anyone...
9. Thou shall not covet your neighbor´s blog.
10. ¨I´ve seen his blog. Nothing to be impressed about...¨
11. They say you should blog to please yourself first.
12. Yes, it´s a myth: No one can post 10 times a day.
13. Having a blog does not mean you´re going to post everyday.

Perfect Sunset III


Another sunset...the third of the series.
The first one I took in Aruba.
The second one in Miami.
This one´s here in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

There´s always something special with sunsets.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

The problem with not understanding

Web 2.0 = human dynamics 101.

That's my opinion. These web 2.0 tools we have today are just enablers for us to interact, in the same way we do offline, on a larger scale and faster pace.

One unexpected feature of these tools is that they drive control freaks crazy. Why? Cause you cannot control the interactions that take place when you use them. Hence, the need for authenticity and transparency, of really focusing on the other side of the interaction, rather than your own.

Authenticity and transparency nurture trust. The problem with not understanding these tools, is that you will never align your behaviors online with those that a connected, hyperlinked world values. At the core, these are non other than, I think, our true nature.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Blogging is like Sex (I)

Blogging is like Sex.

You start doing it out of curiosity. You don´t have to wait until you´re married to blog. Not anymore. Your parents never taught you how to blog.
You´ll always remember your first post. Had you known it is this liberating, you would´ve started years ago.
¨I can´t blog right now. I´ve got a terrible headache.¨
¨No, seriously. I really enjoyed your last post¨.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Global Warming

Looks more like WRONGbal Warming...

En español...

In English...

Oh well.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The problem with Customer Loyalty...

...is that it should be Loyalty to the Customer.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The problem with Human Resources

...is that humans are not resources.

When utilizing a resource, such as fuel, it gets used, burns out and all remainings are waste. It doesn´t benefit from the interaction in any way. Not a good analogy for humans, although all too familiar sometimes.

Humans want realization. The problem with treating humans as resources is that it might be ALIGNED with a company´s needs for something to use and burn out, but certainly not with humans´ wants.

I´ve been thinking about this for weeks. Today I read Seth Godin´s point of view: why not a VP of Talent.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Everything wired to everything else

Wow.

Talk by Vilayanur Ramachandran in 2007´s TED conference.

Friday, February 15, 2008

The problem with selling

Today someone gave us a presentation on his product. Things I remember in no particular order:

1. Seven bullet points in a single slide, all appearing at the same time...as an introduction.
2. Misspellings in several pages.
3. ¨Yes, I´ll answer that but first let me show you this other feature because if not we´ll be here ´til tomorrow morning¨. (yes, he did say that).
4. He spoke for 20 minutes more than we had agreed.

The message I got was:

¨I´m here to tell you about my product. I know you have problems, and I don´t know them yet. If we have time at the end, we´ll discuss your situation; but first, let me tell you all about the features of my product and the things it can do. I hope this will impress you enough to ask me to come again, and then prepare a proposal.¨
You have an option: try to sell features, or offer to solve problems (that those features happen to solve). The problem with the first approach is that people can tell it´s not ALIGNED with their needs.

This guy is the General Manager of the Company.

2K

2,000 visits and counting! Thanks for stopping by, seriously. Attention is a gift, so I appreciate your reading this.

Be gud. Live laif. ;-)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Suspicious Office Humor

3pm, exhausting day @ work, your mind starts spinning...You come up with a suspiciously funny joke:

¨How do they mute a phone in [insert favorite place here]?¨

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Life Template

Here´s to vicarious existence...

Monday, February 11, 2008

Extreme 9 to 5


Come n´ play, come n´ play...

My idea of you...


Will you marry your idea of me!????

Update: Craig Harper says it better. Read his post the morning after posting mine. Talk about coincidence. Worth reading ;-)

Monday, January 28, 2008

Intelligent quotes remain

So it turns out that trying to get something from someone is really not a selfish act. At least not if you want to be successful.

Dale Carnegie wrote ¨How to win friends and influence people¨. A central idea to the book is that there is only one way to make someone do something; and that is by making that person WANT to do it.
So the next question is: how to MAKE someone WANT to do something?
Enter Charles Green, author of ¨The Trusted Advisor¨ blog. ¨In order to get someone to buy from you something she needs, first you need to understand what it is that she wants (in life).¨

Is what you´re asking for ALIGNED with the other person´s values and desires?

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The increase


Here´s to the ladder´s perks.

Heaven is a shopping mall


Here´s to ¨I´m afraid to die, that´s why I have 33 pairs of shoes.¨


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