Spam is a reversible promotional tool that behaves as it is totally legit…
I have been spammarized in the last couple of weeks with comments from people that only want to add their links to my page and spread their positioning on their searches!

Stop spamming! Stop Now!!!

El hombre se agacha y se amarra el cordón de un zapato, en ese momento el hombre es el, su rodilla y su zapato. La rodilla en el medio entre el hombre y su cordón desobediente. El hombre regresa a su posición de hombre, erecto y definitivo, siempre hombre.

Era su momento; 10 minutos de descanso, 2 horas de espera. Los 30 minutos de una hora, el segundo de cortesía. 15 minutos de fama, 15 minuto de cenizas. 2 horas mas tarde, 4 horas tarde, todo el día tarde. Calentarlo por 2 minutos y medio, dejarlo enfriar un ratico.Un momento de plenitud absoluta en cinco minutos. Una pregunta sin respuestas 30 segundos. Adelantar una hora, vivir luego. Atrasar una hora, dormir mas. Un baño de 20 minutos, 45 minutos en clase, dos horas antes de volar y no en ese orden. Cada 5 segundos pestañear. Un cafe, 4 minutos. 5 horas de parto, no el hombre pariendo, pero pariendo al hombre. Otro segundo de cortesía, mas bien 3 minutos. Un minuto mas o un minuto menos…
24 horas después, 48 horas después, toda una vida después. Una copa de vino, media hora. Un suspiro, un hasta luego, el beso de despedida, 3 minutos.

Un momento, le volvió a decir la mujer.

Cada puerta tiene su historia, su cerrojo y su llave. Algunas tienen problemas de dieta y engordan un poco tan pronto cae el primer aguacero de verano. Otras son tan dramáticas que lloran y gritan como si cada empujón fuera una tortura.

Me gustan las puertas que se abren hacia el viento como alas y se quedan de brazos abiertos esperando y luego se cierran en forma de abrazo. Estas puertas tiernas y paternales, parecen ventanas y siempre llevan consigo una magia romántica que sin duda explica porque las llaman puertas francesas. Otras de mis favoritas son las puertas que se contorsionan y se hacen a un lado, se quedan cercas mientras con sus persianas reveladoras parecieran abanicos. No me gustan las puertas que se cierran solas, que no necesitan de llaves ni de permisos, son puertas autosuficientes e irreverentes. Otras que son de mis preferidas son las puertas dentro de las puertas, pequeñitas que se quedan revoloteando como mariposas de jardín, luego que el gato sale a dar su paseo matutino.

También hay puertas automáticas, sofisticadas, violentas y poco respetuosas. Puertas como bocas verticales de metal que no tienen paciencia ni cordura y si no estas atento se te cierran en la cara o son capaces de morderte un brazo.

De todas las puertas, la de mi antigua casa es mi preferida, una puerta que se abre hacia adentro, puerta valiente y galante, fuerte y dispuesta. Una puerta que en vez de ojillo, tenia como una casa de metal y una rejilla, donde la primera comunicación empezaba por el intercambio de miradas entre el visitante y el dueño. Me gustaba el doble cerrojo de la puerta, en forma de torniquete que se introducía dentro de las cornisas y hacia un sonido que solo la combinación de madera y metal pueden hacer. Mi puerta preferida con su cicatriz perenne fue revestida de hierro. Rejas hechas a mano, con materiales reciclables. La puerta de la que fuera mi casa, es la puerta del centro, la primera que veías al llegar al tercer piso, alta y de madera fina, se acercaba al techo de puntal alto y tenia una luz de bombillo largo sobre su cabeza, como un ángel de madera barnizado de un chocolate oscuro casi negro. La puerta que aun esta en el mismo lugar no se quedo sola, sino que se aferro a los marcos y su vestidura de metal, siempre pendiente de vernos llegar a todos tocando el timbre de la derecha….dándole un suave empujoncito a su ya centenaria madera.

Mi querida puerta, se que me estas esperando, como buena novia paciente, cuando su amor se fue muy lejos, no desesperes, ya me queda poco.

La primera vez que le preste atención al tipo de al lado fue cuando vi sus pies con medias café y un logo de una marca que no reconocí, pero no fue el logo el que me llamo la atención, sino el hecho que muchos hombres no pueden poner sus pies en el respaldar del asiento delantero en la clase económica. De ahí empece a sacar mis propias conclusiones sobre su altura, no era un tipo alto, mas bien bajito, tampoco seria muy gordo y aparentemente estaba de viaje por negocios porque andaba con su chaqueta y su Blackberry. De ahí comenzaron esas acciones sospechosas o incomodas que en estos tiempos nos ponen un poco intraquilos y nos hacen comenzar a dudar de cualquiera por muy común y corriente que parezca. El tipo comenzó a rascarse el brazo izquierdo, luego el derecho y la espalda. Un rato después no dejaba de pasarse las manos por la cabeza y el rostro, ese común acto de nerviosismo. Pensé entonces que el tipo le tendría fobia a volar y ya cuando estaba a punto de sentirme mal por el, vi como en contra de las regulaciones dejo su Blackberry prendido mientras lo acariciaba regularmente desde el bolsillo interno de su chaqueta. Esto si no era muy peculiar pero además la forma en que lo sujetaba como si estuviera esperando que algo ocurriera para apagarlo o como si estuviera chequeando algo constantemente. Luego saco del mismo bolsillo tres tarjetas, una de una compañía que pude leer desde la derecha que se llamaba blippsie, la segunda tarjeta tenía la foto de una mujer rubia, aunque la foto estaba en blanco y negro, creo que el nombre que pude leer fue Sallie. Esta fue la primera vez que observo las tarjetas, no dejo de mirarlas repetidamente durante el todo el vuelo. Tampoco paraba de rascarse y convulsivamente tocarse la cara y pasarse las manos por la cabeza. Ya entonces me empeze a poner muy nerviosa. El tipo no apago nunca su teléfono y de vez en cuando lo chequeaba, a pesar de que en el aire no había señal, yo misma prendi el mio para confirmarlo. De repente comenzó a ojear una revista de skymall pasando las páginas rápidamente, ya no lo estaba mirando pero escuchaba el sonido de cada pagina al pasar. De repente paro y arranco dos ojas de la revista y las doblo violentamente, luego las metió en el mismo bolsillo donde tenía una bolígrafo negro, tampoco seria una sola vez que sacara las mismas páginas para relearlas y en una de esas tomar notas.

Nunca aprendi los nombres de las calles de la habana vieja, nunca aprendi los numeros de los autobuses (guaguas), ni cuales eran sus paradas correspondientes, nunca trate de hacer la cola del pan, ni fui a hacer la larga fila (cola) para ir a las playas del este cuando llegaba el verano. Jamas fui a un concierto de salsa, ni tampoco me reporte por la plaza de la revolucion, pero si fui a tirarle flores a camilo en el malecon. No fui a la escuela al campo, ni me pase semanas en Tarara. Y por obvia razones no fui a la universidad de la habana, ni al pre Jose Marti. Pero si hice el primer examen para entrar en la Lenin antes de irme de Cuba.

No tengo recuerdos de un toque de santos, menos mal. Tampoco tuve fotos de 15, en vestidos de época con sombrilla de lazos para el sol, como en los Zapaticos de rosa. No aprendí a nadar, ni a montar bicicleta, estaba muy ocupada leyendo mientras las olas del mar se comían la arena en boca ciega.

Fui totalmente incapaz de aprender a bailar y aunque algunos ritmos étnicos inspiran mis caderas, mis pies fueron siempre muy inútiles para aprender los pasos de cualquier baile caribeño.

Siempre me gusto estar sin pertenecer, quizas para no sentirme culpable, para no sentirme complice, para que doliera menos la verdad de mi pais. La realidad que se vivía en las cuarterias de los edificios coloniales de la Habana vieja, todas las noches soñando que luego de los primeros aguaceros de la temporada se desplomarían y los escombros o la fachada perenne, quedaría solo para illustrar cualquier libro de fotografía cubana.(tomada por extranjeros)

Preferí omitir el desmayo luego de subir los 84 escalones para llegar a mi casa y terminar brindandole a las visitas un vaso de agua con azucar prieta. No perder la vista en mitad de la clase de historia de Cuba y sentir que el mundo se habia quedado negro.

Todo por el hambre.

No haber querido estar cuando el acto de repudio en mi casa comenzó cantando el himno nacional y termino llevándose a mi hermano y mi papá detenidos, junto al resto de los disidentes. La cicatriz mas grande la sufrió la puerta de mi casa la cual rajaron para tratar de entrar…

Pero si estuve y alli se quedaron mis recortes del semanario “Opina”, mi diario de niña, todos mis primeros cuentos y dos de mis mas largas historias de ciencia ficción. Se quedo la ultima bolsa de maní para hacer turrones con los moldes de metal de mi abuelo. Dejamos algunos de los aviones de construcción de mi Papa, gavetas llenas de reliquias, libros con polillas por todas partes.

Se quedaron todos los espejos colgados de la pared y de cada uno de los escaparates abrazados a las puertas sin mas nada que reflejar que si mismos. Mi casa se quedo en silencio con la cicatriz en la puerta y las huellas de nuestras voces escritas literalmente en las paredes. Me despedí de cada uno de sus rincones, de cada loza del piso, de cada espejo y de mi reflejo que ya no es mas.

Luego en la calle me queje por ultima vez de la cuadra, le sonríe sarcásticamente al espía de seguridad de estado que había salido al verme partir y me lleve a mi perra Panda en los brazos hasta el Mercedes del año 59 de Emilio. Me despedí de esta ciudad que nunca quize hacer mía con un ultimo soplo desde las escaleras del avión y deje volando en el aire un pelo negro largo, nativo de mi cabeza, para que mi DNA se multiplicara con las nubes y quizás de esta manera regresar y recuperar algo verdaderamente mío.

Luego de mas de 17 años fuera de Cuba, el regrezo se hace definitivo y nuevamente se que me sentiré extranjera en mi propia tierra y esta vez la esquina de la que fue mi casa, me recordara que si había mas mundo y que nada terminaba al cruzarla, pero si que en ese mismo punto se tropezaron uno a uno mis recuerdos, mientras los veía pasar desde la ventana de un tercer piso.

Awareness.  What is awareness?

There are many concepts and explanations concerning awareness depending on the context, but awareness is a lot more complex than just being conscious of your surroundings. When you are born, the first challenge is to start learning how to cope with your awareness. A baby is fully responsive to the environment as soon as he or she comes out of the mother’s womb; the perception of light, air, water and sounds is completely new and most likely very scary but curious nonetheless.  The baby cries, as a response to the unknown, and with this the baby is rudimentarily signaling the acknowledgement of awareness.

With time, we become adjusted to our surroundings to the point where the environment becomes neutral, almost nonexistent to our senses and desensitized. Common elements like air and breathing become a bodily routine action that we almost have no conscious participation in.  That is just the beginning of the unawareness process.

Why do we become unaware?

The process starts with learning habits and how our mind fine-tunes the new things we learn, while storing the old ones away inside our brain. We can’t stop breathing, eating, talking and many other bodily functions due to our biological necessities, therefore the actions related to them become recurring and thus routine. When something is recurring, our brain learns how to do them automatically and disconnects itself from consciousness, to give urgency to new and more interesting things to learn. This is very standard process for all human beings and self-aware animals. The process of adaption is also a learning process, of course when everything is new our brain automatically sets itself in sponge-mode and stores everything until capacity is full or reached…



Interviews are like blind dates. You have the HR department setting up the date, they might call you to pre-screen you and filter out the true potential candidates from the ones that might be a wild card-and just like that you’ve got a job interview. In the case of blind dates, you have your friend call you and tell you that there might be this potentially interesting candidate and you might want to meet up with him/her on a specific date. They screen you out and filter you the same way before you got the call, believe me, they thought of other people, but you might be that wild card-and just like that you have date.

Like in the date situation, before the job interview you plan on looking your best, think about saying smart, relevant things; not talk too much and listen as much as you can. You are nervous, you have no idea who the person you are going to meet with is like and what their expectations are. So yes, you do say a couple of jokes to break the ice and some of them are not funny. You enter the interview room, and you look around trying to feel as comfortable as possible, at that moment you wish it actually was a blind date because at least there you might have a drink in your hand and the potential to order more. But you are in your job interview and maybe they will offer you water and that’s it.

First round of questions come and it sounds pretty much like this: So, tell me a little bit about yourself? You know they are not asking about you personally, but it still sounds like a personal question. And come on people, this question is tricky, it’s overrated, we all know that it is very hard to summarize your past career in a couple of sentences that make sense. It’s been a crazy ride and there has been a lot of ups and downs and you don’t want to think about the negatives. Need to focus on the positives. So, you answer and of course they want to know more. They want more details, all the dirty secrets. Here goes rule number one, never tell them the dirty stuff, never tell them the bad things, never admit you had issues or problems in your last job. But let’s face it, we’ve all had issues and problems at one point or another.

Like in every good relationship, you should start with the truth…ah, I forgot, it is not a blind date, it is not the start of a good relationship. But even if it was, people want you to lie. They want to know about you….your past, but how well you embellish your past is what they really want to hear.

Back to the Interview. Here you are, enforcing rule number one, making little flowers in the air as you go with some sparkles and some pretty nice ribbons. The interviewer seems to like it, but of course you are never sure, because they have been trained to put on a poker face. You are looking at him/her while he keeps on looking at your resume, trying to find a role that you can explain better because in their company they don’t do things that way. So he/she is awed by your answers and wants to know more details but you know if you go into details, you might spill the little dirty secrets and you might find yourself on the derogatory road. Of course you struggle, babble, and end up exactly there anyways.

The interview rooms in most big companies is like a meeting room. In some cases it is set inside the office of the interviewer. But like in a blind date, sitting at a good bar, a good restaurant or a nice cafe does not make your date better or easier. In any case, the nicer the place the more obliged you are to be sweet and agreeable. In the interview case, the nicer the place, the more you want to work there and the more you want to be liked. So here you are, in the twenty second floor of this office building, with a view to the fountain of a small fake lake. A simple but elegant meeting room, with a white projector at the center of the meeting table and white board at your right. The only thing you feel happy about is that they wont see you if you cross your legs, but other than that, they are judging every move you make.

As the interview goes on, both parties involved are trying to figure out if this is going to work, if this is the perfect fit. If the most anticipated positive outcome will be possible. And nobody knows, nobody knows. You, on one side are wishing for the next call to be: YOU GOT THE JOB. Then on the other side, having to tell the same exact thing and ask the same exact questions to all the 100 interviewed people after you, and you are number 54. The interviewer doesn’t put on a poker face because they are trained to do so, but because they are numb. They don’t smile or laugh at your nervous jokes because they are sad and cold bastards, but because they’ve heard them before and they were not funny the first time.

You go home and they ask you how your interview went and you say: It went well. But you know you have no idea. And you wish it was really a blind date, where you are the one making a decision if you will see this lonely, boring, cheap tipper, egomaniac ever again. But no, this time you are left with an agonizing feeling, that THEY are the ones in charge, THEY will make a decision to call you based on all those answers you gave them when you were being interrogated, scrutinized, and intricately judged. You won’t sit at the meeting room and get to write in the white board ever again, if THEY don’t call you back.

Like in the blind date situation you will never know for sure, why they didn’t call you, like the impertinent egomaniac in your blind date will never know why you did not returned his calls.

During my career advancement hunting period I have witnessed the growth of a new marketing position; Social Media Manager. Yes, no gimmicks, this is exactly what you think it is! And for those who are spending their lives glued to the blue and white facebook page, to the horrible amateurish designs of most of myspace pages and are driving while tweeting, Social Media Manager is your dream career. BUT for how long?

My question is or are : Do the companies hiring a Social Media Manager (SMM) have any idea of what their final expectations are? Do they have a plan to measure ROI, Sales Growth, P&L balance and brand awareness using the conventional methods? Is social media success even something that can be measure by the amount of users, comments, post, “likes”, friends request and “twittering” followers?

What is Social Media? For starters I would  dare to say, it is not a media or a medium. Social media is the ultimate use of web developers resources to convert the internet from a “read only “place to a “read and write” organism. Social media is a community, not a media. A community that is guided by the people, and like all communities were people get together whether virtually or physically it could acquire infinite powers to destroy teenagers lives, spark new relationships, end marriages and overthrown tyrannies. The power that this communities have it is not easy to control without a leader.

Companies need to understand that while it sounds cool to say you have a Facebook page, it is meaningless unless you have a purpose for it that will trigger enough people to be part of your group or community. Are you driving people to this page to sell, promote, invite, give-away services or products? If so, what is the incentive? How are you going to keep this community active if there is not final purpose?. Remember, you are a company, not a person. There is very little gossip we can talk about a company, as a company you wont invite me to your house for your birthday. I wont look at your page to see your newborn child, or your new dog, because you are a corporation. You have no kids and no dogs.  So why should be part of your facebook group?

I beg the companies to understand that this is the job of a PR agency that respects itself as one. Facebook, My Space, Blogs, twitter and any other way of spreading the word it is still part of a PR agency scope of work. Do not hired a Social Media Manager or as I would call it  Virtual Community Leader, just to write press releases, product notes, good and nice things about your company or service into a page for the sake of having one. If you are not a real friend do not pretend to be one.

With all this in mind, please read the following article, I just found at Business Week by Gene Marks.  I might not be able to predict the future with a magic ball, but I can see how things evolve and change, and humans have always been the social animal,  if we are still human I believe we know how to behave in a community and what LEADERS to follow or not!

MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook are all the rage, but for most business owners there are better ways to stay close to customers

We’ve been misled as to the benefits of social networking sites. Many of us are finding that these tools do not live up to the hype, especially for small business. Once we start digging deeper, we’re finding a lot of challenges. Are you thinking of using Facebook, Twitter, or the like in your business?Before you go any further, consider the following myths:

1. Social media sites are free.
Using social media sites isn’t as easy or cheap as many people think. Sure, most let you set up an account for free. And you can integrate other services, such as your blog or Google’s (GOOG) YouTube videos, at no charge. But there’s a significant cost: your time. Because there’s nothing worse than a site that’s not current. And to keep it current, someone’s going to need to spend time. This includes responding to visitors’ questions, posting brilliant thoughts, adding graphics, and monitoring activity—basically trying to generate buzz.

Comedian Gaffigan seems to peruse his sites all the time. Bacon is still yummy days after it’s cooked. But old information—a stagnant site, comments left without response—are death in the social networking community. I recently moderated a small business town hall forum. The company sponsoring the event had two full-time “social media writers”covering the event. They recognize that keeping a presence on these sites takes resources. Unfortunately, many of us don’t have that kind of time—or cash—on hand.

2. Social media sites are a great place to find new customers.
In fact, the major sites aren’t necessarily the best places for a business owner. Some of the most avid users of Facebook and MySpace are pimply adolescents and goth teenagers. Sure, there’s a growing number of fortysomethings—but many are merely nostalgic to check out boyfriends and girlfriends from youth to see how fat and bald they’ve become; whatever they’re doing on Facebook, it’s typically not engaging with a small business brand. Twitter has millions of users, but apparently only four of them actually understand what it does and spend much time updating their tweets. Are these the people who will buy the plastic polymer gaskets your company manufacturers? I don’t think so.

3. You need to be on all the big sites.
Besides spending a lot of time and effort, business owners I know who have succeeded with social networking sites generally focus on just a few of them.I know a few nerdy guys who live on a couple of technology community sites and generate leads from them by consistently responding to questions and helping other users. Just because the media says it’s cool to tweet doesn’t mean it has anything to do with your business. If you’re going to to frequent social community sites, don’t spread yourself too thin. Most of the guys I know who use these things successfully pick their weapon and give it their all.

4. Social networking sites are for marketing.
Baloney. I’ve learned from other smart business owners that social communities are not for marketing. They’re for service. I recently spoke to FreshBooks CEO Mike McDerment, who views these places as ways to get closer to his customers and respond to their needs. “Wherever they are, that’s where I’ll go,” he told me. By providing quick and helpful customer service through these sites, he believes he will foster loyalty and satisfaction, resulting in more sales. In his own way, Gaffigan does the same. Makes sense. So whenever someone tells you that you should explore social networking “marketing,” you should run in the other direction. It’s the service, stupid.

5. Social networking is the future.
Really? Some of these cool and trendy sites aren’t going to be so cool and trendy in the near future. The percentage of Twitter users in a given month who return the following month has languished below 30% for most of the past year, according to Nielsen Wire. And MySpace recently suffered a decline in monthly visitor traffic. Remember GeoCities? Yahoo! (YHOO) is shutting it down. A lot of business owners aren’t thrilled about committing time and resources to a vanishing trend. Maybe social networking is a permanent phenomenon. That doesn’t mean its main players today will be the main players tomorrow.

So should a business owner use social media sites for business? Maybe. Then again, maybe other customer service approaches make more sense. Remember newsletters, phone calls and support, seminars, partnering, and the like? Just because the media have determined that social networking is “in” doesn’t mean your customers are there. Hot Pockets may taste good now, but they’re not going to do much good for you in the long run.

Gene Marks, CPA, is the owner of the Marks Group, which sells customer relationship, service, and financial management tools to small and midsize businesses. Marks is the author of four best-selling small business books and writes the popular “Penny Pincher’s Almanac” syndicated column

1. Clean and sophisticated decoration. Inspirational artwork, nice architectural design, good lighting etc
2. Organization. No messy conference rooms, meeting areas, cafeteria and/or halls.
3. Nice and modern background music! (only for halls and waiting areas, PLEASE)
4. Cubicles with good dividers. If you have to work 40 hours a week inside a cubicle, you need some sort of privacy
5. Offices with glass doors. You don’t need that much privacy when you are at work, just enough to concentrate. ( it scares when the doors are closed and nobody can see whats going on inside. I’m scare to knock.)
6. Stress relieve places! Yes, that’s difficult, but it is possible if your HR department takes it into consideration!
7. Team work incentives! Don’t tell me you like team work and then try to find out who’s idea it was!!!
8. Involvement! Other departments have the right to know whats going on inside (blah department) Please share the information.
9. Company meetings. Make the meetings relevant and interesting. Don’t call a meeting just to discuss status unless it is imperative.