To chair or not to chair...

Lunch time...

Incoming phonecall from Switzerland... Not even at lunchtime these dudes are letting me chill out... But... Someone from AIESEC...

"EuroCo's Chair bailed out... It starts next Tuesday... Vivek suggested you... Can you make it???"
(Thanks Vivek!! Bastard...)

AAARRGGGHHHH!!!! Back to the dillema!!

Conceptual dillema - Do I exchange 4 days that I will be working from Portugal (including sister's b-day...) for 5 days of Nostalgia-trip??
Practical dillema - Do I sacrifice 3 holidays (most valuable currency of a working man...) to AIESEC... again? Will my pending work take 3 days off in this tough month???
Usual dillema - Will I back of for the 100th time in my promise of retiring from these dips in the 80s generation???
Getting old dillema - Can I still get a kick out of it?!?!?!

Well... Nothing like a good night of sleep to provide clarity and a good decision making process!

Any thoughts?

Carpe Diem! (in Portugal or in Germany???)

PS1 - pros - 100 delegates from across Europe, German OC => no practical work for Chair, no clue about agenda or meeting objectives :)
PS2 - cons - sister b-day, chill out days in Portugal, quality time with family & old friends;

Madrid day by day...

Another week passing through this grey Fall... Some visions about my new routines to give you an idea of life around here...
... Work from 9 to 8ish...
this is the main reason why I am here, and therefore the center of my attention. Still, all good as I am learning a lot and the environment is quite cool!!
... Sports... 2 soccer matches per week ...
And trying to show up regularly in the company gymn, and avoid my typical stockholder approach to gyms!!
... travelling... this trip to Frankfurt last Wednesday...
Either going around Madrid on tourism or work travelling. This week Frankfurt. Stayed at Joe&Anja's place. Arrived at 11PM, we had a snack and Weiss beers at the local pub. Crashed at their place and left Frankfurt in the next evening... Small moments and chats that give a lot of meaning to life!
... Walking & public transportation...
After 2 years of being a car dependant, I am back to a more healthy lifestyle, at least during the day!
... Shopping in the El Corte Ingles and Cl. Fuencarral...
... Wednesdays "outsourcing!" Chez CK (Cruz/Knoblich)
An important part of the week is preparing for Wednesday, when a very important visitor shows up on Wednesdays... Our friend the cleaner! So, it is always a regenerating moment for my clothing and for the house in general!
... Eating tapas... I am quite a fan now of these spanish delicacies :)
... Week nights are sometimes too "in-house", but weekends are sacred!
Since the beginning of October, partying a minimum of 2 nights per week has been an "un-imposed" rule... Tribunal, Ponzano, Alonso Martinez, La Latina, Sol, Salamanca, Barnabéu, even Arguelles... Bisou, Bogu, Paxa, P. Gaviria, Jazzanova... Many more to check but mapping of Madrid's night life is on the good way!
... Meeting portuguese (over 14000 here, which for pt standards is a lot!)...
This has been happening more than maybe I even want... The usual "convict" questions:
- Hey, how long are you in?
- 3 months... what about you?
- 1 year... yeah! the country is really bad bla bla bla...

Time to move ahead on this integration and work on the cultural front! Cruz Tours needs to prepare for the more culturally demanding customers, so that there are fewer excuses ;)

Carpe diem!

"My personal worldmap" (part I)

Would like to share a couple of extracts from the book "Planisfério pessoal" written by Gonçalo Cadilhe. This dude went to one of the main newspapers in Portugal and said something like:
- Hey! I am going around the world and I promise not to sit my ass in an airplane while doing it. Will you pay me for weekly articles sent from wherever I am?

And guess what? The newspaper said... "Sounds cool!". So, 3 or 4 years later this book is out with the "best" of his chronicles. Here's a couple of thoughts from this "former manager" turned Willy Fog, without the 80 days deadline... the extract below is while climbing Chacaltaya in Peru (free translation).

"I start climbing slowly, against very strong wind that slows me, because of it's force and of hipothermia. Only 200 meters climb to reach 5400m (...).
(...) I think about that race of humans that is motivated for the most absurd stimulous: not to see anything higher. (...) because "quality of life" is not the SUV for the morning traffic jam 5 days per week, and also saving on what you eat to invest on what you show. "Quality of life" are not the 4 surnames and 3 names (...), or the 1 room apartment entrenched in some periferic architectural horror. (...) "Quality of life" is not the music pounding in our heads Saturday night, the superficial chat with the whisky glass on our hands, the book that is not read, the decision continuously postponed.

Quality of life is having a dream and living for it, doing like Joao Garcia (famous portuguese climber), who is portuguese but from an old race that dilutes itself shopping in a supermarket on a Sunday afternoon.(...)"

Bla bla bla many of you are thinking I know... but... I always wonder... What if one (again) chooses the path less walked? Have we ever really tried it?

Carpe diem! (take this literally...)

(near Segóvia, in the hills north of Madrid)

There was an "american study" that...

I think we all felt at least once that feeling of conformity every time anyone starts a sentence with “There was an american study that…” There is nothing you can say or do that can disturb the divine truth coming after this sentence! Yep, that is science in action, the experimental process and all that stuff! However, there are some studies and experiments that make me wish I could be a guinea pig (nha ha ha ha!!). Check this out!

Going through some old emails & navigating through other blogs I came across this “american study” and could not resist share it! Yep, having some free time to do some reading and try different approaches to these topics : ))

Here’s a quick translation for all non-portuguese speakers:
. Libido – international word!! But anyway, just to be sure, this means something like mood for hanky panky, to drown the goose, pour couchez avec x, “rambóia”, for sex!, etc!
. Forte & Fraca – Strong and weak mood for…
. Masculina & Feminina – easy translation from the graph!

Good news, this is a british study, so it discussion is definitely allowed! Looking at it, I think it is a great generalisation to the reality of this fact of life! Some quick stats:
. Perfect match - 14 year old kid with a 38 year old COSMO woman!
. Most compatible age – 38 years old! (there is still hope…)
. Grey area – the success factor for XXX movies!
. Gender that enjoys life the fullest – need I mention it?

… and I could stay here all night long!

Next step will be to share some of the theories I have been creating in the past few years! And girls… Do not even try to discredit this SCIENTIFICALLY BASED thesis ;)

Carpe diem!

Dillemas...

The last few days have been quite cool! First, a surprise weekend for my house mate (yes it sounds a bit bad), prepared by his grilfriend (our unofficial house mate as well... better now??) in an ultra cool recovered village house, north of Madrid... a bunch of friends showed up and we had a great time!

Then, the last 2 days were spent in Barcelona, working in facilities there by the seeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaa..... Although it was a work trip, had time to check on a couple of friends Monday night, following religiously my "if-I-am-ever-in-your-neighbourhood-lets-go-for-a-beer" motto. But alas, being close to the sea reminded me of how I miss it sometimes, and my family, and friends, etc etc.

Chatting with my father last time I was "home", he told me among other interesting comments, that I live a "strange life"... Compared with some of you guys, I think it is quite normal though, as I am "just" 600 Km from home!! Still, on a traditional portuguese perspective, this already qualifies as strange. Fortunately and naturally, times are changing, however, sometimes I wonder how much have I changed after all these years meeting people from all over the world.

Basically, on one hand, life here will be fun, with new friends, a cool city, a more mountain-like setting (snow nearby!!), the environment that can be a start for a long period away from "home", as half of me really wants to go through... These thoughts were crossing my mind after a year in R'dam, when deciding to accept or not a DHL traineeship in Malaysia, etc... Still, destiny brought me here!

However, the other half of me is still the attached-dude, that really misses nephews and nieces, family, friends, the seeeeaaaaa, that wants to settle down and go after one's greatest goal.... Yep, sailing through this 2 extremes will be an interesting dillema to deal with in the next couple of years! (my new nephew on the right!!)

Need an afternoon in my refuge to put some thoughts to paper... (Avencas beach below!)

Carpe diem!

Being twenty something...

DJ Wamuyu sent this to me a while ago (wassup coolest kenyan?!?!?!). Sometimes these random emails actually have decent content! To all you twenty'ers out there, some food for thought ;)

"They call it the quarter-life Crisis.
It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now. You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even closeto what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and you find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to knowbetter. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to makea decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender! What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US!!!!!"

"Through experience we learn to grow, in growing we learn to give, in giving we learn to love and in loving we learn the real essence of life."

Interesting times to go through... Definitely interesting times...

Carpe diem!

Books and tunes...

Music...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a concert by "Anthony and the Johnsons". I left with the feeling of having been through a very special moment. The dude's voice, the instruments (piano, violin, chellow, accordeon, guitar, light percussion, bass...) all in a very accoustic groove, the mood of his songs, the room (Coliseu Lisboa), all contributed for a feeling of being transported to another dimension...

Although his music might come through as sad and slightly depressive, if you dig a little deeper, you see it as very suitable to soothen your spirits, to relax and get you in a reflective mood. That is what happened to me, in an ideal time, just before returning to my new home in Madrid, where I will be staying most likely until Christmas... Check his music! Definitely worth it!

Books... "High Fidelity", by N. Hornby,

Second time reading it and having as much as or even more fun than the first time! I would consider as one of my Top 5 recepies from bouncing from a glass-half-empty to a glass-half-full perspective! And the movie definitely follows suite! Some teasers...

"Foreplay - the ideal couple os a Cosmo woman and a 14 year old kid..."
"I regarded just about any song in which somebody had lost somebody as spookily relevant!"
"He (dad) never had to worry about delivering goods, because he never knew there were goods to be delivered!!"
"She thinks she started out some new stage in her life. She hasn't. I am not going to let her!"
" There are men who call. There are men who don't call!"

This is a mere sip of a fun book on romance, love, the glitches in this matrix and finally, compatibility!