Rafael - Living live a day at a time

Hey guys, here's a short video of several pictures from the our first days in Dubai, it's the first time I try the animoto application and I have been pleasantly surprised, so I will be making some more later on once I prepare more recent pictures, for the time being enjoy it!



Aquí los dejo con un pequeño video de varias fotos de nuestros primeros días en Dubai, es el primer video que hago con animoto y en realidad me ha gustado mucho la aplicación; así que haré unos más luego de que revise y prepare unas fotos más actuales. Por los momentos disfrutenlo

Labels: Photography

Ayer, 4 de Noviembre, mi familia y yo tuvimos la oportunidad de deleitar nuestros oídos al sonido del ensamble Ruta 9 en el DUCTAC. El grupo estaba compuesto de Cheche Requena en el clarinete, Gonzalo Teppa en el bajo, Miguel Siso en el cuatro y Klever Camero miembro de en Cayapa en los teclados.

Fue una iniciativa excelente de la embajada de Venezuela en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos el haber traído a este grupo de músicos excepcionales para que dieran un concierto gratuito para el disfrute de la comunidad de Dubai.

Disfruté muchísimo el poder escuchar canciones tradicionales como Señor Job, A mundo Barquisimeto; y el espectáculo que dieron y su interacción con el público nos dejó agradecidos a haber podido participar en este pedacito de Venezuela en Dubai. Les recomiendo vean los links de los músicos arriba, y los dejo aquí abajo con 2 videos de Miguel Siso, ganador del festival La Siembra del cuatro, y quien yo considero el mejor cuatrista que he tenido la oportunidad de escuchar en vivo, así que disfrútenlo.





Yesterday November 4th, my family and I had the opportunity to enjoy a concert given by the "ensamble Ruta 9" in the DUCTAC here in Dubai. The group was made by Cheche Requena in the clarinet, Gonzalo Teppa in the bass, Miguel Siso in the "cuatro" (venezuelan traditional instrument, similar to a guitar but with 4 strings) and Klever Camero in the keyboards.

It was an excellent iniative created by the Venezuelan Embassy in the UAE to bring this group of exceptionally talented musicians to give a free concert to the enjoyment of the Dubai community.

I enjoyed very much being able to listen to traditional songs like "Señor Job", "A mundo Barquisimeto" and the show and interaction with the public made us appreciate being able to participate in this little part of Venezuela in Dubai. I recommend that you check the links to the musicians webpages given above, and to give you a sense of what I experienced I posted above 2 videos of Miguel Siso, winner of the Festival "La Siembra del cuatro", and who I consider is the best cuatro player I have had the opportunity to hear live, so enjoy it.

Labels: Español, Musica, Venezuela

It has been quite a while since my last post, and friends have been asking for an update and picture, so to keep things short and simple: we moved to Dubai back in March 2009, and so far we have had a very interesting and challenging times here in the Gulf (more on that later on). For the time being I will leave you with a panoramic photo of the tallest building in the world, the famous Burj Dubai; which nowadays is higher than 780 meters and has over 160 floors (final height has not been confirmed yet as it is still under construction).

This is a view from the Palace Hotel and the picture was made by stitching together 3 horizontal photos taken, there's no way to get it all in only 1 picture (without a really wide lens)


For those of you that cannot access flickr (as it is banned in the UAE for example) you can also see the pic at http://tweetphoto.com/rcc1azi1

Labels: Photography

It has been quite some time since my last posting, so therefore I decided to give a new look and feel to the blog and start using it more often.
With all the social networking tools I am using nowadays: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr (which sadly is blocked in the UAE), plus communication tools (skype, messenger, and the blog it's not easy to keep everything updated, and I know I would still need to updates some friends via email, SMS or others. Nevertheless I am working out a strategy on updating everything faster and easier. If you have any suggestions on this let me know, I am all ears.
Also if you have any feedback on the new template send it through. I was getting frustrated as I cannot use most of the free available templates online, widgets or other goodies (because the blog is not hosted by blogspot), but I managed to find this "Classic" blogger template which I liked, although it still needs tweaking to get it just right.

I am sure that there will be thousands of images going around from yesterday's historical day, but here are some that I have found to be very interesting:

• Geoeye satellite took an aerial picture of it and it is definitely worth a look. Follow the link and you can even download the high resolution from it
• Cnet has a couple of zoomed images from the original. It's make me wonder as these are pictures taken 423 miles up in the sky by a satellite traveling at 17,000 miles per hour
• The New York Times as a zoomable photo showing the president addressing the crowd. Just hover over the crowd and you will get some help identifying the attendees.
• CNN has 360-degree panorama with the stand before the ceremony
• CNN-Microsoft put together a commemorative 3D portrait of the presidential inauguration using Microsoft's Photosynth Technology and it should be a really interesting view (I have not seen it yet as I cannot install it at work), via PCWorld
• Reuters has put together an Audio Slideshow with the Best of the inauguration and Obama's speech

Enjoy them and share any other good and interesting ones you find.

Labels: News, Politics

I have been blessed to be able to celebrate my 30th birthday today, surrounded by family and with lots of messages from friends all over the world.
In reality I cannot complaint too much, I just turned 30, I have a beautiful wife and daughter, I have hundreds (if not thousands) of friends all over the world, I have traveled to places I could not imagine, I have lived in 6 countries (and soon that will change to 7), I have seen some magnificent things and tasted many flavours and aromas that still remind me of those places visited.
My first 30 years have come and gone very fast, but I can say that I have enjoyed the passing of those years to its maximum.

30 are gone, but there are many more to come with their own flavors, challenges and successes, so let them come, I can say that now I feel ready for them!!

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He recibido hoy la bendición de poder celebrar mi cumpleaños número 30 rodeado de familia y con muchísimos mensajes de mis amigos de todas partes del mundo.
En realidad no me puedo quejar mucho, acabo de cumplir 30, tengo una bella esposa e hija, tengo cientos (si no miles) de amigos esparcidos por todo el mundo, he viajado a lugares que no podía imaginar, he vivido en 6 países (lo cual cambiará dentro de poco a 7), he visto algunas cosas maravillosas y he probado muchísimos sabores y aromas que todavía avivan los recuerdos de esos lugares visitados.
Mis primeros 30 años pasaron muy rápido, pero puedo decir que disfruté su pasada al máximo.

30 se fueron ya, pero todavía faltan muchísimos más por venir, los cuales estarán llenos de sus propios sabores, retos y logros; así que déjenlos venir que ahora me siento preparado para ellos.

Labels: Español