E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

Experimenting with Moblogging – Finally, Proud Owner of an iPad

It has been nearly a month since I came back from Boston, MA, from attending and presenting at the wonderful Enterprise 2.0 Conference event, and here I am readying to start sharing a number of different blog posts with some of the major highlights from the event itself.

This year I have decided to perhaps put together smaller articles focusing on the various keynote and breakout sessions I attended, as well as sharing some further thoughts on other events I decided to check out and scatter them around with other entries from other interesting and relevant stuff I haven bumped into since I came back, so that we would have some variety along the way…

However, for now I would like to take this opportunity to share with you folks what, to me, has been one of the major highlights from my stay in Boston and which has nothing to do with the #e2conf event at all. A highlight I have been enjoying for the last few weeks and still going strong…

Yes, while in Boston, I, finally, had the opportunity to get my hands on an iPad and bring it back home. Yay!! Indeed, I am now the proud owner of a 64GB 3G iPad! and I am having a blast with it!! I just can’t imagine how I could have gone without it before for so long!

Ever since it came out, I knew it was going to be *the* mobile device that would make my life a lot easier, both at work and in my personal life. But I never thought it would change my online digital habits this bad. For the better, of course! I have gone from spending plenty of time sitting in front of my MacBook Pro, to split that up by nearly half with my iPad. And when doing so I just can’t help thinking about a single word coming to mind: Mobility. With a capital "M". And that is a good thing, right? Isn’t that what we always wanted to have? An ability to be constantly mobile, yet fully online, and ready to engage.

I guess in its due time I will be putting together a much more in-depth blog post where I will detail what I find truly fascinating from using such mobile device to allow me to stay connected, do my job and still have plenty of good fun along the way. Not that I am not having lots of fun with my MacBook Pro already; it’s just a different kind of fun, if you know what I mean. This post has been drafted from the rich text editor of my blog and must confess the experience has been pretty good, although I am having an issue with the categories, and therefore finalising the post using Qumana, my default offline blogging client on the Mac. I guess perhaps I may not be putting together such long entries with it from here onwards…

How about if we would introduce though, over here, another experiment?: moblogging. Yes, I am thinking it may well be a good idea to explore, specially for those of you who may be into brevity, because that is the essence of mobile blogging, don’t you think? And if you have been following this blog for a little while, you will notice how bad I am at it. Well, this may change things a little bit. What do you think?

Fear not, however, I am not going to turn this blog into a moblog, just exclusively; there will be plenty of opportunities for me to expand a good number of thoughts into larger entries, mostly when I am back in front of my Mac, but with the iPad it’s now time for me to try a few other things and a couple of experiments; the first one … do plenty more moblogging. The following one(s)? Who knows…

You will find out pretty soon, I am sure! For now, going to keep enjoying this major highlight I bought while in Boston after several, miserably failed, attempts over here in Spain. So far it’s been worth the wait and so much more! Hopefully, I will be able to share a proper overview of it pretty soon! Hang in there, although if you already have one, I bet you already know what it is like, right?

Tags: Boston, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Conference Events, Events, #e2conf, Apple, Apple Store, iPad, Mobility, Blogging, Metablogging, Weblogging, Moblogging, Mobile Blogging, Qumana, Offline Blogging Clients, Technology, Work, Life, Always ON, Connected, Gadgets, Mobile Devices

¡Campeones y Punto!

I am certain you are not going to believe this, but today’s blog post is one of those entries that has been in the making for a long while. Yes, indeed, for nearly 40 years! (Yes, you are reading it right… nearly 40 years!!!). It won’t have anything to do with the topics I usually get to talk about over here in this blog, so you would have to bear with me for a couple of paragraphs, just like it happened back in 2008. It’d be one of those blog posts that will surely help me recover from one of the most intense, exhilarating, nerve-wrecking, mind-blowing, remarkable, unforgettable, incommensurable, touching moments that will remain with me as some of my fondest memories. Ever. Right after Andrés Iniesta scored I cried my heart out, I tell you; I cried like that little boy who was just given the gift of his lifetime and didn’t know what to say nor couldn’t find the right words to say "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!" I cried like I have never done it before. Tears of joy; perhaps, tears of sheer excitement. Tears of pride. Maybe. Either way, they were finally, after all of these years, my own!

Yes, Spain won the World Cup 2010 Final against The Netherlands (0-1) held in South Africa just a couple of days ago! July 11th, to be more precise, would be one of those days difficult to forget. In fact, I’m still recovering myself from the emotional roller-coaster suffered not only during the course of the match itself (What a Final!), but also the couple of days that followed afterwards. Ha! And all of that due to witnessing the glory of one of those sports I don’t even watch regularly anymore. But when you have a whole country about to experience a standstill followed by a massive meltdown, it’s kind of difficult to neglect, or ignore, getting involved and savour the adrenaline rush, along with the excitement and buzz shared by everyone! And not even taking into account those vuvuzelas!

That’s right! Most of us, Spaniards, have been waiting for something like this for an entire lifetime; most of us, specially those from my generation, grew up witnessing how time and time again the Spanish football team, for whatever the reason, couldn’t make it to the final stages of major football tournaments. The Europe Cup Championship from 2008 was probably one of the exceptions. And deep down we all began to understand how it wasn’t going to be the first and last time. Quite the opposite!

They did it again! These guys, once more, have demonstrated how playing as part of a single team does make a difference. No individual stardom, no ego fights wanting to cause trouble, nor a lack of harmony could destroy the spirit that built that team into a successful one many years ago. They have demonstrated the kind of leadership (Specially through their coach) groups bring about; the hard work, the commitment, the involvement, the camaraderie, the sacrifice for the other, the extreme effort to make things right, the looking after one another, the being proud of representing a country knowing that this time was the time and still put up with all of that responsibility to bring the World Cup home for the first time in their, and our, history!

Yes, this is a special generation of amazingly talented football players (With their now famous tiki-taka style); it’s a special generation that made us all experience one of those unforgettable days (And nights!!) we can remember. They are World Champions!! We are World Champions!! They surely managed to fight for what was their right to bring back home a dream we all wanted to fight for and they eventually made it come true, an undeniable reality we would want to live with for many many moons to come, and I guess I’m starting to fall short finding the right words to try to explain what Sunday evening has meant for over 45 million people from one country who has been pursuing such dream for decades and, finally, I suppose patience, perseverance and resilience pay off eventually to make it happen. We trusted this was the generation that could make it happen. And they didn’t fail us; quite the opposite; they made us all feel proud throughout the entire journey breaking a whole bunch of mind-boggling achievements and records rather difficult to top!

Because from that date and for the next four years Spain, my home mother country, is the 2010 World Cup Champion! And that’s something we’re all going to celebrate not just for one or two days, but for the entire 4 years, till Brazil 2014!!

These guys, this team, has managed to win for us all more than just one Cup and, as such, I’m one of those folks who is savouring and enjoying one of those beautiful and wonderful moments, difficult to forget for the next few years! It took us a long log while to get over here, so guess it’s time for us to slow down, enjoy the moment, savour the victory … and get ready for the next one!

¡¡Campeones y Punto!!

Thanks ever so much for making us all feel special; it’s going to be hard to forget you all… and somehow it feels like this may not be the first and last one… You made us all proud!

(Now that I got that out of my chest and I am fully recovered from the emotional hangover, regular blogging will resume once more, but this time around, with one of the biggest smiles. Ever. And always!)

Tags: World Cup, #worldcup, South Africa, Championship, Football, Soccer, Final, Spain, Netherlands, Campeones, History, Celebrations, FIFA, UEFA, Tiki-taka, Europe Cup Final, 2010, 2008, España, Orgullo, Pride, Leadership, Dream, Dream Come True, Special Moments, Things That Matter, The Smallest Things, Life