January 2004, I experienced what some folks would know as a serious wake up call in my life. One of those times we all get to go through, once in a lifetime, where we need to pull back, think about things that *really* matter to us, make the right decisions, re-engage back and move forwards. Yes, I know, one of those wake up calls…

Back then I was heavily involved for a while already with social software, although mostly behind the firewall. Yet, I knew that it may have well been *my* moment to prove the business value of social networking within the corporate world. I decided to approach both my local resource management team, as well as my, at the time, project manager and ask them whether they would allow me to work remotely from another country, in this case, Spain, my home country.

And while I do realise that perhaps not many companies out there are ready for such somewhat difficult decision to make, specially from a business perspective, the answer I got back was a loud and clear "Yes, Luis, as long as your perform the way you have all along". To which I said, "Of course, no problem! I can do that!"

From there onwards, a couple of weeks later, I moved back to Spain, to Gran Canaria, to be more precise, where I have been living, and working remotely, ever since. And this is where social computing kicks in, because right then I realised that if I wanted to make it work in my new situation I needed to be out there: visible; easy to reach and connect with; always willing to help and share my knowledge with those who needed it (And with those who may need it at a later time, too!) in an open and public way; willing to share my expertise, experience and know-how across the board with those who I know, and those who I may not know yet; willing to feed those resources with knowledge and expertise that otherwise would have remained in my own head, or my computer, for that matter, and therefore with very little access for others to enjoy.

Thus, as you can imagine, I increased even more my already heavy presence in the social software spaces, both inside AND outside the firewall, and that only meant that more information and knowledge from myself became available to others and, hopefully, some of that knowledge was helpful to them as well. That good old "Knowledge is power" suddenly transformed itself into "Knowledge shared *is* power" and lo and behold five years later, still going strong.

Yes, that’s right, today, March 17th, 2009, San Patrick’s Day, marks the 5th year I have been relying on social software to keep me employed with what I consider still my dream job at such large corporate environment as IBM’s, where both of my managers are thousands of kilometers away from me, yet, through the daily usage of social networking tools I know they are just an interaction or two away from me (In most cases even just a single tweet!)

I can imagine plenty of folks out there would be questioning whether I would have been able to make the same move without social software and work in such extreme virtual environment without it and relying on more traditional collaboration and knowledge sharing tools. To which I could probably confirm that I wouldn’t have been able to. Five years afterwards, I am 100% sure of it!

So what is the ROI of this, my personal, story?, you may be wondering, right? Well, perhaps that engaging with social software, embracing a new model of collaborating and sharing my knowledge (Much more open, transparent and public than ever before, ever since I decided to live "A World Without Email") with other fellow knowledge workers has allowed me to prove the point that you can work wherever you want, whenever you need, and with whoever you would want to reach across, depending always on the context, by making extensive use of social software and forgetting about measuring people just by their sheer presence versus their overall performance and results obtained. That is what social software has done not only for me, but also for the company I work for…

5 years on and still going strong! That is, to me, the real ROI for Social Software, both inside and outside of the enterprise world. But how about you? What’s your personal ROI story?

I would love to hear your thoughts plenty more over here or elsewhere. But, for now, time to go and celebrate San Patrick’s Day at my favourite Lebanese restaurant downtown (Beirut), and then, of course, off to the pub!

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, email, Productivity, Re-purposing Email, No-Email, Challenge Your Inbox, Progress Reports, Thinking Outside the Inbox, Information Overload, Return On Investment, ROI, Gran Canaria, Spain, Virtual Collaboration, Virtual Teams, Responsibility, Ownership, Involvement, Commitment, San Patrick’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Beirut, Lebanese Food, Work Life Balance, WLB, Balance, Priorities, Life, Work

To start with I have been on holidays (Still am till the beginning of the New Year!) and although I have been having a good rest and almost in disconnected mode from everything, I have been rather busy having to handle all of the paperwork of the country transfer from IBM Netherlands to IBM Spain and, believe me, it hasn’t been an easy task, specially since one of the weeks I have been away already has been rather hectic. Through e-mail!! Who would have thought about that, eh? But not to worry, I will be sharing some further insights on that shortly, as part of the weekly progress reports, which I am running a couple of weeks behind, I know. But we will eventually get there, I am sure.

I have also been rather busy catching up with folks offline, specially during this time of the year where everyone seems to pause for a little while and have a chance to enjoy some peace and quiet, reflect on the year about to finish and treasure what each and everyone of us has or what we may have been involved with lately. What in Twitter I have been calling beers&friends, if you know what I mean.

But if there is a single reason why I have gone a bit dormant over here and why I think it is still going to be like that for another couple of days, is because, as some of you may already know, I am already working on what will be happening in 2009 for me, as far as Thinking Outside the Inbox is concerned. I am putting together a new theme, a new master presentation deck, a new pitch, something really cool that will be happening to one of my blogs (http://elsua.net) and which will impact the other two I am currently maintaining and that has been keeping me far too busy to blog about it overall. At least, for now.

I hope that very soon I will be able to unleash some really interesting piece of news happening with http://elsua.net and that will be the kick-off for 2009 for everything related to elsua. Thus stay tuned for plenty more to come up very shortly!

For now though I just couldn’t help coming over here for a few minutes and share with you folks some those special wishes we all have been exchanging all over the place and which I am sure are getting you into the spirit of the special times we are going through. Yes, indeed, it is Christmas!!! Yay! (But you already knew that!)

That’s why I just want to wish you all a Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, with plenty of good Health and Prosperity for 2009!!! And also want to take this opportunity to give you a special thanks! for sticking around and for dropping by every now and then over here in this blog and for sharing plenty more insights that I would have ever hoped for and help contribute into some of the conversations we have been having all along. Without them, I am sure things would have been completely different. So here I am, taking a couple of minutes to thank you all for those contributions and hope that we can keep the dialogue going throughout 2009!

Till then, all the very best for you and your loved ones in this special time of the year and here is to a wonderful 2009!!!

Tags: Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Christmas, Merry Christmas, Spain, Las Palmas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Playa Las Canteras, Flickr, Pictures, Life, Work, elsua, Thinking Outside the Inbox, 2009, 2008, IBM, Christmas Tree, Holidays, Sun, Fun, Special Times

Yes, indeed, I am going to take a short break, from the moment I get to post this entry and till November 17th when I would be back again to work! One full week of doing nothing else than enjoy the lovely sunshine, get a very much needed rest (Specially for my heavily overused wrists!), enjoy the lovely food & friendly people around me and catch up with some very much needed work / life balance! And then back on to my favourite activity: face to face social networking! Not bad, eh? Yes, I know! Not bad at all! heh

Leo Babauta, over at the fine Zen Habits, put together just recently a wonderful blog post on the topic of striking a good balance between life and work under the title "How To Find That Elusive Balance Between Work and Life". Plenty of really good and helpful tips shared over there and worth while reading the article. For sure.

For me, it is now my own turn to find and enjoy that balance for the next few days and here you have got a couple of snapshots of how I am planning to let life win this everlasting battle of work vs. life:

Thus, if you don’t see me in the various social networking spaces where I usually hang out, you know exactly where I will be, at least, for the next few days. Because, just like Leo finished that blog post on striking a good life / work balance:

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." – Albert Einstein

Have a good everyone and see you all soon!

Tags: Holidays, Vacation, Gran Canaria, Beach, Sun, Mountains, Hiking, Fun, Balance, Work Life Balance, Rest, Life, Work, Leo Babauta, Zen Habits, Maspalomas Dunes, Maspalomas, Dunes, Landscapes, Sunsets, Spain, Photos, Albert Einstein, Wisdom

But this time around I am going to be mentioning something else that I thought was really really cool and that I was rather excited about. As you well know, on this weekly series of blog posts about Gran Canaria I have developed the tendency to share both some pictures and short video clips of various places that have impressed me all along from this island and way at the beginning I was actually making use of DailyMotion to store those videos, well, it looks like things are going to change from here onwards.

No, I am not talking about stopping with the sharing of those videos. On the contrary, I am going to keep it going stronger than ever. For sure. What I am really going to start doing is making good use of the wonderful new feature that the fine folks of Flickr have put together. Yes, video!!!  How awesome is that? Right next to the good bunch of pictures I have been sharing all along I will now be able to add Flickr videos as well and share them as part of the same flow. Love it!

Yes, yes, I know that most people have been indicating how sharing videos in Flickr is a little bit limiting, since you can only upload videos which are 90 seconds long, but I tell you what, that’s just more than enough for me! In fact, most of the video clips I am planning on sharing will be that length anyway, so it makes perfect sense to place them together next to the pictures, don’t you think? And for those video clips longer that 90 seconds? -You may be asking, right? Well, I will continue to make use of DailyMotion, of course!

So let’s get the ball rolling then! Earlier on today I went ahead and shared a couple of short video clips in Flickr in almost no time, with a very user friendly interface and along the same lines of flow you get with sharing pictures and they are both part from a single series I created from one special place in my heart that gives me shivers every time I get to go there.

The name of the place is called Meloneras and is just on the very south of the island of Gran Canaria. It is one of those emergent touristy spots in the area where you will be able to find some of the finest hotels from the south of the island. Definitely, a good place to stay. For sure. However, what it also has is one of those stunning everlasting boulevards that would allow you to take long long walks along the coast enjoying quite some marvelous sunsets, both in winter and summer time! The most spectacular ones are the ones happening during the winter time when the sun sets across the Atlantic ocean. Just brilliant!

The funny thing is that I happen to live about 7 to 10 minute drive from there, so I get to go every now and then with the dog and spend one hour or one hour an a half unwinding from everything else and enjoying just one of those special places that only when you get there you realise the kind of beauty you are contemplating. I tell you, very few things can get better than that! And if not judge for yourself with these two videos I shared earlier on:

What did I say? It kind of makes you think you would want to be there, right? Well, that is just how I felt myself earlier on today a couple of times while I was struggling with a couple of tools. Perhaps next time I should just leave it and enjoy another one of those unforgettable sunsets @ Meloneras!

Want to join me?

Tags: Gran Canaria, Meloneras, Costa Meloneras, Sunsets, Daily Motion, Flickr, Flickr Video, Life, Life Work Balance, LWB, Tourism, Boulevard, Unwinding, Walks

Here is a quick description of what you will find there:

"[...] a volcanic crater – 1000 m (3300 ft) in diameter and 200 m (660 ft) deep – with a 569 m (1,867 ft) high peak, the Pico de Bandama, to which you can drive up. This peak has an observation platform, from where – despite its relatively low height – you can enjoy breathtaking views of the entire north and east coast and towards the mountainous centre in the west. With a clear sky you might even get to see the neighbouring island Fuerteventura in the northeast."

If you would want to read some more about it, you can certainly go ahead and check out Centre Tour – Caldera de Bandama, which provides a quick, short description of what makes that place special. And once you are done with it, here are the couple of videos I have shared earlier on today where you can see how every now and then I get to go there, just to chill out and admire the work of nature. Like I said, stunning!!

Gran Canaria – Caldera de Bandama – Part I:

Gran Canaria – Caldera de Bandama – Part II:

(And worth while a visit if you are around… No doubt!)

Tags: Gran Canaria, Nokia, N95, Caldera de Bandama, Bandama, Volcanos, Landscapes, Hiking, Life, Balance

As you can imagine, my brain has got very few brain cells working properly after such an intensive day of meetings and the usual catchup afterwards (Thank goodness for e-mails not being one of the things to catch up with! heh), so I decided to create this entry with some light blogging to pick up the subject I initiated nearly a week ago, and which I mentioned I would eventually get to share with you every now and then. Yes, I am talking about the weekly blog post on Gran Canaria, the place where I have lived for the last four years, the place that keeps captivating me day in day out. No exceptions!

If last week I created a blog post where I shared some footage from a couple of recent video clips I recorded with my super fine Nokia N95 (Glad to know as well I am not the only one who thinks it is a really good experience!), here I am at it again, sharing the third video I recorded while nearly the very top of Roque Bentaiga, but this time around from the other side of the enclave. With quite a view, I can assure you!

If there would be one single word that I could make use of to describe such amazingly beautiful spot it would be humbling. And very much so! It’s just like time disappears, it is just you, up there, in the mountains, with hardly anybody around, facing the rock, your inner thoughts, your fears, your hopes, yourself and nature. Yes, I know, it probably cannot get better than that!

It is in days like today that I wish I had taken the day off and head over there to spend the day and disconnect from everything! It would have helped quite a bit get a new perspective on most things and I know that when coming back that sensation of peace and quiet is something that would make you feel fully re-energised and ready to go back at it! That kind of experience is Roque Bentaiga, folks. One of my favourite places in Gran Canaria to meditate, to forget about the world, to stop, breathe, relax, breathe again, and go back at it!

And you know, the best part of it all is that it is incredibly easy to reach out and access with very good roads all the way before you reach the bottom and start climbing up to the top. Yes, one of those special landmarks that even the lazy ones in all of us with our sedentary lives cannot deny going for …

So, yes, light blogging today, folks, but after watching the video (Yes, I still need to get the hangout of operating with the video camera! Not to worry, it will get better overtime!), you would understand why I put together this entry to help me escape the day that is just about to finish …

And with that, and without much further ado, here is the weekly video:

Roque Bentaiga – Part III

As you may well remember, this past Monday, 17th of March, St. Patrick’s Day, I was actually celebrating the fact that I have now been living and working remotely from one of the places I fell in love many many years ago and which I knew at some point I would be coming back. Yes, last Monday was my fourth anniversary of having moved to Gran Canaria! I guess that time flies when you are having fun, right?

Anyway, plenty of folks who have gotten to know me over the years, both in real life and virtually through the various social networks we share in common, have been wondering why I am just so crazy about this island. After all it is just plenty of sunshine and beaches all over the place, eh? Well, not exactly, there is just so much more!, that people don’t know about that, after being four years over here, I thought it would be a good time to change that perception a bit.

Yes, I know, what I am just about to announce over here in this blog may not have much to do, probably nothing, with the regular blogging activities I have been carrying out over here on topics like Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Communities, Social Computing or Enterprise 2.0 over the last few months. But I thought that after four years of having contemplated the idea, I guess it is just about time to announce that from now onwards, and, on a more or less regular basis, I am planning to share over here the odd blog post with various different references to some of the most emblematic natural spots that Gran Canaria has got to offer.

That way, you would have the opportunity to find out for yourselves why I have fallen in love with this island for its variety, amongst many many other things; after all, you don’t name such a tiny island a mini-continent for nothing, right? If you would remember, that is, if you have been a long time reader from this blog you would know how for a good number of weeks this new initiative I am trying to re-introduce again was an integral part of this blog and after a little while I stopped it for a few months. Well, now it is the time to bring it back. As a way to celebrate the four years I have been living over here and also as a way to show you what keeps me going and enjoying every minute of it.

So whenever the odd blog post on this subject would come up, I will be sharing rather a bunch of photos, probably from my Flickr stream, and / or some video footage with short clips of no longer than 2 minutes, 3 tops!, that I would be recording with my Nokia N95 and uploading it into my DailyMotion account from various different places that have captivated my heart all along and which over the course of the last few years have made me understand and comprehend some of the most impressive beauty of this island of Gran Canaria. Yes, I know, so much more than just sun & beaches!

And to get things started, here are a couple of short video clips I shoot a couple of months back, on a splendid sunny and warm day, where I decided to go to the countryside and up into the mountains to check out some of the stunning scenery you can ever imagine. The name of this place from the video clips is Roque Bentaiga, one of the most emblematic, beautiful and stunning natural spots from the entire island and one that as you come closer to it you can sense how magical the place is on its own! Just as I get to write this down I get goose bumps all over the place from thinking that a few weeks back I was nearly at the very top! And here is why:

Thus I hope you enjoy this new section, here in my blog, I am planning on updating every now and then sharing with you all some of the reasons why I may have been living over here for over four years, but I still love every minute of it and as time goes by, and I get a chance to share some more pictures and video clips, I am hoping to be sharing some of the charms that this island of Gran Canaria has got to offer!

Are you ready?

(No, not to worry, I am not abandoning the creation of blog posts on the major themes from this blog that you folks have been familiar with all along. I am just sharing with you all some of the reasons of why I am where I am and enjoying it a great deal!, so that, hey, you never know, whenever you may be coming this way you know some of the cool places you could check out! Consider me as your virtual touring guide from this precious mini-continent island!)

Tags: Gran Canaria, Roque Bentaiga, Bentaiga, Landscapes, Mountains, Sunshine, St. Patrick’s Day, Travelling, Photography, Video, Flickr, DailyMotion, Nokia N95, N95, Mini-Continent, Beaches, Sun, Life, Life Work Balance

It is funny! Earlier on this morning, I had the intention of sharing with you folks something new I was going to re-introduce into this blog, as a way to celebrate these four years I have been living over here fully engaging with social software both inside and outside of the corporate firewall, and lo and behold, there I was having to postpone it for a few more hours, as I got alerted about something that I thought would be worth while sharing as well as part of such important celebration as today’s.

Yesterday late afternoon, I got contacted, through Skype, by Jerry Bowles, Co-founder and CEO from the Social Media Today collective, and he kindly asked me whether I would want to do an IM interview with him detailing some more about my role within IBM as a social computing evangelist as well as sharing some further thoughts on the impact that social software is having not only within IBM, but also with its various employees, like myself. Of course, I just couldn’t resist such an interesting offer and the result of it is SMT Blogger of the Week – Luis Suarez, The Blogger in Paradise.

In that particular article you would be able to read our Skype IM conversation on what kind of impact social networking has been having with myself and my various interactions with other knowledge workers, including my own boss, Gina Poole, who still keeps actively engaged with the internal blogosphere. Quite an interesting read, which clearly indicates how things are shifting within the corporate world, where employees may not longer be stranded in a fixed office in a traditional work location. On the contrary, with today’s pervasiveness of social computing along with the high penetration levels of broadband Internet connectivity, knowledge workers may be having the unique opportunity to decide where they would like to be working as their most motivating space to deliver on the job day in day out for an extended period of time!

Now, I am sure that everyone would understand that there are various different circumstances on how various knowledge workers get to interact with other colleagues, customers or business partners, but it is also very accurate to think that the traditional restrictions we once had about having to work from a fixed office work location may no longer be relevant in today’s distributed world. Such is the impact that social software is having amongst our current workforce where over 42% of the total population is now mobile; and I am surely glad to be one of those very very lucky guys who has got his dream job within such a large enterprise. And in Paradise.

Many people keep asking me what is the main business value from social software, and all along I have been saying something that certainly resonates with plenty of other folks out there as well. I am sure. In my own case, the main business value I am getting through social computing is the fact that the last three jobs I have had, have actually been given to me because of my corporate blogging activities, amongst several other tasks related to social networking. So, for those folks out there who may be thinking that that there isn’t value in social software, they ma need to think about it, because throughout my own experiences you can see that the impact can be tremendous, to say the least!!

What a great way to celebrate four years of coming to the place where I feel like home. Always have. Always will. And get to work on what I am really passionate about at the same time: Social Computing, Community Building and Knowledge Sharing! The picture shared below is just one of the thousands and thousands of reasons why I fell in love with the island four years ago and still am, just like in the first day …

Roque Bentaiga

Tags: St. Patrick’s Day, Saint Patrick, Patrick, Gran Canaria, Paradise, Jerry Bowles, Social Media Today, SMT, IBM, Blogging, Metablogging, Blogs, Gina Poole, Corporate Blogging, Corporate Blogs, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Innovation, Workplace, Virtual Teams, Online Communities, Skype, Mobile Workforce, Mobility, Flexibility, Work Life Balance, WLB, Working At Home, WAH, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Management, KM, Gran Canaria, Roque Bentaiga, Bentaiga, Mountains

As you can imagine, I had a fantastic week over there and I am surely looking forward to coming back, specially to meet up again some of the great folks I got introduced to during the course of the week. Even though they may all well be a little bit crazy! Yes, you are reading it right. Crazy!!! And if not judge for yourself…

Folks, meet Daniel Saeuberli, Collaboration, Messaging & Portals at IBM Switzerland, and Urs Schollenberger, Manager of Lotus Sales & PLM Switzerland! Two of the hosts I had while I was there for the entire week and who went further and beyond their call of duty to make my stay incredibly comfortable having every single thing sorted out for me and nothing to worry about! Just two wonderful people, to be honest! If you ever get a chance to bump into either of them, go and stop them and talk with them. You will learn a thing or two, I am sure! I did!

One of the many things I learnt was how Daniel is, like someone I know would say, a little bit crazy! Yes, folks, meet Daniel in his spare time. Here is his Facebook profile to give you a hint on what he enjoys the most. It is not playing cards, believe me! Yes, that is right, Daniel is into skydiving, but not the usual skydiving that we are all used to and everything with people jumping off with their parachutes.

Daniel takes it to the extreme and, my goodness, does that word get a new meaning when he is around!! Check this out. Have a look into this video clip placed in YouTube of just a little bit under 7 minutes, where you can see him in action:

WOW! You may be thinking, right? Well, yes, so was I!! Daniel is the one doing all the shooting with the video camera while heading down at an incredible speed, in the middle of the mountains, with plenty of snow and rather cold, I can imagine, and still having a superb time! I still remember the conversation we had last week where he explained how it all got started for him. Purely fascinating!! (And I would fall short in describing how it felt back then!)

Not to worry, I am not going to jumping any time soon, although he tried to convinced me over a drink or two, but just watching over the video you can see what kind of passion drives Daniel and his team to do what he gets to do on a rather regular basis. I think it is just remarkable that out of his already pretty busy and tight schedule he still gets to do stuff like that!!

And they are looking for sponsors for their extreme skydives!! Can you imagine? Having your product or logo flying around in such a stunning scenery going at an incredible speed and recording it all while going down? Ha! Talking about viral marketing, folks!! Nothing compared to that, I am sure.

I tell you, it was a real pleasure meeting both Daniel and Urs, and a whole bunch of other folks while in there. But it was some serious fun as well get to know what these folks get to do, and I mean not just the business person, but the complete person. With their craziness and fascination for skydiving, errr, I mean extreme skydiving!!

Oh, and guess what? Some of his good friends, who are also doing lots of skydiving, actually hang around in a place, which is just about 10 minutes from where I live! In fact, I actually get to see them every single Sunday whenever I go to the beach! Small world, eh? heh Amazing!!

Tags: Zürich, Switzerland, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Communities, Social Capital, Daniel Saeuberli, IBM Switzerland, IBM CH, Urs Schollenberger, Facebook, YouTube, Skydiving, Extreme Skydiving, Speedflying, Extreme Sports

Yes, that is going to be my wish for the New Year we are about to get started with. Lots of prosperity and good health, specially for the latter, because, without it, there isn’t anything we can do. Sometimes we take for granted the little things, those that keep us going day in day out. Health is one of them. We always take it for granted and yet we couldn’t survive without it. So instead of wishing all sorts of cool things to happen all over the place and to all those folks out there I’ve been in touch with, I am just going to keep things simple. Stay healthy, be healthy, and the rest will just come along nicely!

That is right! As simple as it would get. Lots of good health for the New Year and hope that everyone gets to fulfil whatever their dreams may well be. Mine is going to be to try to stay healthy, too, so that I can enjoy being in touch with those I love and care for, those who have given me another incredible year without asking for anything in return. Those who care enough to be themselves and allow me to be part of their lives. And, of course, wishing to stay healthy so that I can keep enjoying this wonderful place I live in.

Here you have got some pictures I took yesterday from one of my favourite places in Gran Canaria: Roque Bentaiga. If you have taken a look in the past to the ones I have shared already in my Flickr account, this particular series is a special one, since I got to visit the monolith and climb it as far as it is possible. Quite an incredible experience, I tell you! Here you have got some pictures and hope to share some more later on. And, yes, the place is as mystical as you could have ever imagined!! And quite humbling, too!

¡¡¡Feliz Año 2008!!!

Tags: Feliz Año, Happy New Year, 2008, Happy 2008, Prosperity, Health, Wishes, Dreams, Gran Canaria, Roque Bentaiga, Mystical, Humbling, Flickr, Photography, Photos, Nokia, Nokia N95

Yes, that is right. It is another meme where the rules seem to be pretty straight forward:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.

2. List EIGHT random facts about yourself.

3. Tag EIGHT people at the end of your post and list their names.

4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

And although Martin’s meme post seems to be slightly different I thought about combining both of them since the overall outcome seems to be pretty similar. So here we go with the meme post and here you have eight random facts about myself that you may not have heard / read elsewhere:

1. I was born and raised in a very small village in León, which is where I have spent a good chunk of my life. Another good chunk is spread around The Netherlands (Where I lived 7 years) and, finally, Gran Canaria, where I have been living for nearly four years now.

2. I first got exposed to the world of computers in high school (Yes, I was one of the folks who owned an Amstrad CPC 464!) and back then my marks on computer lessons were really bad, which gave me the impression I would never, ever, work with computers. Fast forward to today … Already 10 years in the IT world and still going strong!

3. After I graduated from University, I spent one year working in Thale, Germany, where I got to experience one of the most severe winters in my life thus far with up to -30C. for several days!! But I must say I loved the overall experience quite a bit!!

4. First time I came to Gran Canaria was in 1996 (For a very short period of time) and back then I knew I would be coming back at some point. It took me only 8 years to make that happen

5. I actually got my job at IBM while I was spending a two week holiday in The Netherlands in 1997. Probably the longest two weeks I’ve ever known!! (Already heading for my 11th year in the company!)

6. While working for IBM, I spent another year of my life in Dublin, Ireland, where there is very little I would need to explain, if you ever have been there. Yes, I know, I need to get back there for a short visit and catch up some time soon!

7. I was first exposed to Knowledge Management by the end of 1999 and during that time I already sensed it was going to be the field / discipline I would be developing my skills & expertise over the course of the years. Two years later I was working, full time, in a Knowledge Management team. Till today. (And, yes, still going strong, in case you are wondering…)

8. And, finally, I initially got started with my blogging experience back in 2003, as a way to prove to myself how I could work smarter, not necessarily harder, relying on the community and my social networks to get the job done versus having to do the job myself re-inventing the wheel over and over again. Four years later, and just a couple of days after the 10th year anniversary of the word "Weblog", I still feel the same way. Blogs, and plenty of the various different social networks where I hang out, still make me work smarter. Much smarter! Not harder.

And that would be it. Next on this blog post is to actually tag another 8 people who would be willing, hopefully, to take the challenge and share with us 8 factoids about themselves that we may not have heard elsewhere. So here is my list of folks I would love to hear some more from on this particular topic. In random order: Jasmin Tragas (a.k.a. Jazzydee), Thomas van der Wal (a.k.a. wanderwal), David Stephenson (a.k.a. DavidStephenson), Susan Scrupski (a.k.a. ITSinsider), Dennis McDonald (a.k.a. ddmcd), Stuart Henshall (a.k.a. stuarthenshall), Andy Piper (a.k.a. andypiper) and Jon Husband (a.k.a. jonhusband).

I am sure that I could have included a whole bunch of the folks I get to interact with on a daily basis, so feel tagged as well if you would want to chime in a well. Why not, right?

Either way, I am sure that with this particular blog post you actually got to find out about stuff on me that you probably haven’t seen / read elsewhere. Hope you have found it just as entertaining as it was for me to put it up going through that trip down the memory lane.

Now time to go ahead and digest some of the wonderful discussions going on Next Generation Knowledge Sharing & Learning Online Conference Event – In Spring 2008? and see where it would take us all… Fancy joining us on that wild ride, too?

Tags: Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Blogging, Metablogging, Blogs, Meme, Things, Martin Koser, Reasonable Robinson, Tagging, Leon, Spain, Gran Canaria, Amstrad CPC 464, Thale, Germany, IBM, The Netherlands, Dublin, Ireland, Blogiversary, Weblog Anniversary, Work Smarter, Jasmin Tragas, Wonderwebby, Thomas van der Wal, David Stephenson, Susan Scrupski, ITSinsider, Dennis McDonald, Stuart Henshall, Andy Piper, Jon Husband, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0

You may probably think, after reading that paragraph, that I may not be really concerned about the environment, right? Well, that is not the case by all means, specially living in such fragile place as I have been living for the last three and a half years. It has always been in my mind. I have always been watching different T.V. programmes on the subject to help educate myself on how I could help, or take different tests like the Ecological Footprint Quiz (Where I scored 4.3 where the average for Spain 4.7, mainly because of the different flights I have taken this year, which makes me wonder quite a bit, too! Perhaps I should stop travelling as much as I have been doing this year altogether) that would show how much on track I am. Not good enough, I know, but still trying really hard to improve my footprint by the day, it is a continuous learning process, because after all it’s the least we could all do, don’t you think?

So, while I have been thinking what I could blog about on the subject for Blog Action Day!, I mean, trying to establish the relationship between the environment and Knowledge Management along with Social Computing, it just hit me big time! And here I am. Putting together a few thoughts on how I think both KM and Social Computing could help out bring forward the conversation on how to preserve what’s been given to us so that we can pass it on to later generations in best of conditions.

They say that both KM and Social Computing are all about having an impact. An impact in the way you share knowledge, you collaborate, you connect and innovate with others. An impact that, if anything, has always been notorious for taking action, your *own* action, into wanting to change things and make things happen the right way.

Thus, in a day like Blog Action Day! I have finally decided to take action myself and comment on something that I have always found hard to believe and that has bugged me for quite some time now, but yet it’s happening day in day out. I am not sure what is going to happen next, but, at least, that is my way to show I care and how this article will be the kickoff of something that I hope will be happening soon.

We all know that one way to improve your footprint on the environment is to apply and live by the word recycle. Yes, recycle as much as you can! But what happens when you live in a small town of say 10,000 people, or less, like I do, and you find out there isn’t a single container you could make use of to recycle paper, plastic or metal? Yes, that is right. I live in a place that seems to be not very environmentally friendly since, except for glass, everything goes into the same bucket. That doesn’t seem to be right, does it?

That is why, thanks to Blog Action Day! and to prove the power of Social Computing and KM, I am going to start taking action myself and spread the message around. Recycling is essential for us all, not just for big cities. It’s our responsibility to recycle all we can, so that we can continue to educate ourselves in how to preserve what has been given to us. It is our responsibility to act now! (Regardless of where you are).

They say that the biggest impact of KM and Social Computing is when applied locally and I truly believe that (And for a number of years now). Thus with the excuse of today’s blog post I am actually going to take some action of my own, and continue to blog every now and then on how the little town I live in makes some more substantial progress into encouraging us all recycle more properly by providing us the means of doing so. Because, otherwise what is the point of everyone else recycling except us? What is the point of spreading the word around on things that are just not right, if we don’t react and fix them right away?!?! How difficult could it be to provide us with the right means to do some serious recycling of everything we make use of? Is it really that complicated? I doubt it.

Stay tuned for some progress as we move along. Feel free to link to this blog post to enhance that impact we can all have in our daily lives. Does your small town recycle enough? Does your local town hall worry too much about the waste we are all generating? If not, what are you willing to do to make it happen? I am not sure about you, but today I just got a new mission started. Want to join me? Start local and have that impact you always wanted to have: respect the environment!

Tags: Blog Action Day!, James Governor, Monkchips, T.V., Cuatro, Ecological Footprint Quizz, Ecological Footprint, Travelling, Recycle, Recycling, El Tablero de Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain, Social Computing, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Social Software, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Collaboration, Innovation, Technology, Impact, Environment, Local, Earth Day

Continuing further with the weekly series on What It Once Was here I am again at it. This week sharing with you folks some pictures from one place in Gran Canaria that I have always found very very special. Not just because it is the largest reservoir dam there is in the island of Gran Canaria, with a capacity of 40.288.625 cubic meter (m³) of water, but also because some of its surroundings are just spectacular. Truly spectacular!

It may take a while before the area would recover from the fires, but it would certainly be one place that I will keep coming back and see how little by little it would recover. It is going to be a slow process, I know, but precious gems like this one do leave a mark and always make you come back. Yes, indeed, I am talking about Presa de Soria or Soria’s Dam. One of those magical places that will show you nature at its best in a magnificent and breath-taking surrounding.

I have taken lots and lots of long walks over there over the course of time, and time and time again I keep having that strong feeling I need to come back again. Yes, I know, one of those special places. Thus here I go sharing some more pictures I took not long ago, and before the recent fires created havoc all around the area, so that you get a chance to admire such incredible place while it slowly comes back into shape.

It kind of makes you wonder what people were thinking about when provoking those fires. After seeing some of these pictures, and the whole lot more I have shared over at my Flickr account, I still cannot find the words. Seriously. Still can’t … And here is why:

And while we are still recovering from some of the fatal consequences from the recent fires developed in Gran Canaria, that wiped out in a matter of days thousands and thousands of years of nature doing what she knows best, here we go again. Canarias7, as usual, is doing a superb job in keeping us updated by reporting some news from earlier on this evening on a new fire that got started around 8.30pm local time in Ingenio, Gran Canaria, around the area of Pasadilla, close to Guayadeque (Guayadeque being one of the most emblematic and charismatic spaces from the entire island!) and which by the time I am writing this down it looks like the fire is under control and has not been progressing for several hours already.

However, it has not been extinguished just yet as the firefighters are still doing their magic in helping keep it under control. A couple of bloggers, Miguel, from Canarias Bruta, Reena and Esther, from Atarecos, have already been commenting on the situation, but it looks like not much more has been mentioned thus far. Something that could be taken as good news, in the sense that the fire may not be as serious as the one that took place a couple of weeks back.

The number of hectares potentially affected has not been mentioned just yet, as they are probably still evaluating the reach of the fire and ensuring it is extinguished as soon as possible, but you can already have a look into this thread of opinions from people all over the island sharing their thoughts about what is happening. Link is in Spanish, I know, but you would be able to see some of what is going on with 9 pages of commentary and growing!

I just hope that we may have learned something from our previous grievous experience(s) and, like it is mentioned in this particular editorial, we need to ensure everyone gets the message that it is the task of us all (Administrations, firefighters, special units, etc. and us, the common people) to take care of what was given to us without asking for anything in return. And the least we could all do is just that, take care of it to be able to pass it on generation after generation:

“Ahora, solo cabe esperar que las administraciones tomen buena nota de la sabiduría popular para restablecer el orden ambiental y social en la isla, porque ellos, los campesinos y los habitantes de la reserva de la biosfera saben mejor que nadie cómo preparar la tierra para el futuro.“

Like I said it back then, my dearest paradise is burning again and it hurts. It truly hurts…

(Picture courtesy from Canarias7)

A couple of the folks that I get to read on a regular basis have been commenting in the last couple of days on a news item, originally from PCWorld, titled LA Fire Department all ‘aTwitter’ over Web 2.0, where throughout the article itself you would be able to read further how the L.A. Fire Department is starting to make use of social software tools like Twitter in order to be able to handle whatever emergencies and crises in a much more efficient and effective way by spreading information around much faster than through traditional tools. Quite an interesting read, to say the least, and a real business case for Twitter, nevertheless.

This particular topic is something that I have been thinking about myself quite a bit lately, specially after the recent fires in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, amongst other Canary Islands, and which I feel that Rob Paterson has put together quite nicely over at the FASTForward Blog in Social Media Adoption – Maybe a Crisis Will Help? Mike Gotta has made also an excellent point about how much we may be underestimating social software tools when handling crises of whatever the magnitude, just because most people may be using some of those tools for fun.

For a number of years we have given lots of importance to Knowledge Management in the business world, and lately that same focus seems to have gone into social computing as way to validate it for us all, but how about if, instead of just focusing on the corporate world, we would have KM and social software focusing on what really matters: the day to day stuff that can affect your own life (And that of your loved ones) and the environment for many years to come.

Yes, that is right. This is something that I have already talked about in the past. Just because you cannot justify the business usage of various social software tools it does not mean they are not useful to knowledge workers out there in general. On the contrary. That is exactly what the LAFD has proved with their adoption of different social software tools. Just like Mike Gotta mentioned, it is not about justifying the use of Twitter, or also of blogs, YouTube video channels, Flickr, podcasts, etc. etc. It is just a matter of making use of these tools to live and work smarter and not necessarily harder.

I mean, can you imagine if the local fire department, and the local government, here in Gran Canaria, would have set up a blog, or a podcast, or a Flickr account or even a Twitter channel a couple of years back and started educating the population in general on what could happen on a catastrophe of such proportions at this one and at the same time educate us all in what we could do to help, I bet that the end result of the disaster would have been completely different.

In fact, not only would the impact of the crisis would have been minimal, but there would have been from day one a very strong sense of belonging to the community from all parties involved that would have helped avoid having to go through such tough times as part of that prevention and education that would have taken place from way before.

This is one of the main reasons why in the past I have always been a very big fan of KM weblogs like those from Dave Pollard (How to Save the World) and David Stephenson (The Homeland Security 2.0 Blog) and why over the last few days I feel that it may be a good time now to explore how social software could help a group of people heal their wounds and those of their motherland, the land where they were born and raised, and help prevent future disasters like this one and, if not, at least, prepare us all to make the most out of it and help keep the damage to a minimum.

That is exactly what the LAFD has done thus far and I seriously hope that more and more folks would chime in these efforts. Because, after all, why should you worry about the corporate world and its adoption of social software when there are much more important things to safeguard, like your home, your family, the environment where you live (And work), in short,  the things your treasure the most.

Would you be up for the challenge? Would you start focusing where we would need to focus on while encouraging the adoption of social software? What is your local government doing on the subject? Are we all prepared to prevent the next disaster? Would you know how to react and help out? Perhaps too many questions out there. Perhaps we should start getting some answers for them…

As I have mentioned in the first weblog post of the series, every week I am planning on creating an entry over here under the heading What It Once Was … to share with you folks some of the different pictures that I have taken over the course of the years from some of the different areas affected by the recent fires here in Gran Canaria, as a way to help remember what it once was and what will be again over the next few months / years. It may be a slow process, it will take plenty of healing, but I am pretty sure that we would eventually get there.

Over the last few days, I have been getting lots of positive feedback comments on this series of posts, specially from folks who keep reading of my weblog(s) and who live in the island, as a way to help  us remember the immense beauty that most of these places used to have and which I am sure will blossom again very soon! So while I understand that this series may not have much to do with the main theme from this weblog, at least, for the time being, I hope you can understand how I am planning to continue with it as a way to help me release some of the pain that we have all gone through, specially for those of us who feel those burnt areas had a special place in our hearts.

One of those places is the area known as Ayagaures, specially the upper part of the area, where you would be able to find a couple of dams and some stunning views! In the past, I have been sharing a couple of weblog posts to detail some of that beauty, but over the weekend I have been uploading some more pictures into my Flickr account from the last time I was there. To me, it is one of those special places from the South of the island, where in less than 15 to 20 minutes you are in the countryside enjoying lots of green, the mountains, the dams, a wide range of different birds stopping by here and there. Ideal for long and extensive walks. And if not judge for yourselves. Here you have got a couple of the pictures I have shared just yesterday:

I am surely going to miss this place for those eternal and peaceful walks, while it starts its slow and lengthy recovery, but one thing for sure is that I am planning to come back, perhaps this very same winter with the first drops of rain, and check how nature has started its healing process, hoping that everyone out there would have become by now much more conscious of the serious damage that just a single match can create in a matter of hours!

Oh, and if you would want to find out some more about the catastrophe that this has been for us all, check out the following YouTube video that Manu Moreno has put together (Perfect combination of tunes and pictures to reflect how most of us feel at the moment) and which I am sure will make people think of the fatal consequences of provoked fires.

Don’t forget as well to check out his photo and video Web site over at GranCanariaFotos, where you would be able to find lots of other pictures and videos about the fires at the same time that you would get to see some other stunning pictures of the island itself with all of its beauty.

Speechless! Yes, that is right, that is the only word that comes to mind at the moment… Thanks, Manu!

As the fires from Gran Canaria and Tenerife continue towards making really good progress and be completely extinguished, still with some minor, completely isolated and under control patches here and there, I thought I would go ahead over here and start something that I have been thinking quite a lot about during the course of the weekend and most of last week as well. During the last few days, there have been a number of folks sharing their thoughts and opinions on the outcome of the fires. And a lot has been said about it whether the catastrophe could have been avoided or not, but instead of just following that thread I am going to take another approach to it all. At least, for the time being. Perhaps at a later time I would share as well my two cents and what I have learned myself from this tragic experience.

However, this new approach is going to be a lot closer to me than whatever I could have ever anticipated. While doing a recap of the recent events, over the course of the weekend, talking to some friends on the outcome of the fires, I realised that quite a few of the emblematic places from the South of the island of Gran Canaria have suffered tremendously from the fires. I get to visit those different places quite often and have got tons of pictures from what they used to look like, but not what they look like today with the devastation.

So what a better way to pay tribute to those special places from Gran Canaria that got burnt than to create a weblog post every now and then over here, and share a bunch of pictures that I have been taking before last week’s disastrous set of events and which I will be uploading into my Flickr account as well as time goes by. I think it would be really nice to share with you why those different places are special, at least, to me, and why I am really looking forward to when things would go back to normal, like a whole bunch of us have been sharing thus far, and see those stunning places come back to an re-energising life, the same one they have always had.

So to get things started here is the first of a serious of weblog posts that I am going to tag as "What It Once Was …", where I will be sharing with you a couple of comments about the particular space and then share some pictures of what they used to look like and, I am hoping, that when the right time comes, I will be able to share with you all the dramatic change, for the better, I am sure, that they would go through over the next few weeks, months, years, etc.

Without much further ado, the first place I will be talking to you about is one of the most emblematic tourist attractions from the island: Palmitos Park. Half zoo, half theme park that used to host an incredible amount of flora and fauna and which, unfortunately, has been so severely affected that it would be about a year before it would open up to the public again. Most of the animals survived the fires, but the different buildings and the flora have been very badly damaged. So this is one of the wonderful places I will be looking forward to when they re-open again. I am sure it would be much better, much bigger, much more impressive and just basically focusing on what matters, the flora and the fauna of not only the island of Gran Canaria, but from all over the world!

Here are the promised pictures…

You can find more pictures from the series related to Palmitos Park and What It Once Was… at the following URL, or look also at a previous weblog post that I have shared some time ago.

So, will you join me when they re-open the place to check out most of the beauty that has been left behind? … And so much more? I surely hope so…

One year goes by lightning fast. I just can’t wait for it!

This week is probably one of those weeks that I feel most of us could have done without. The disaster of the fires of both Gran Canaria and Tenerife has been one of those that leaves with you a deep sense of sorrow and a mark that will remain there for a long while. I am sure that from here onwards things will improve a great deal, the countryside will recover all of its own beauty, burnt houses would get re-built, people would go back to their usual routines, etc. etc. Yet, I feel that things would never be the same.

While I have been trying to share with you some of what we are going through in the last few days with the fires I just couldn’t help thinking about the superb weblog post that Rob Paterson put together a couple of days ago on Blogging and Crisis – The Fire in the Canary Islands. In it, Rob comes to the conclusion that blogging could surely well be a good medium to get the message across in a crisis and get everyone informed and up to date with the latest developments, as well as identifying how technology could serve for a better purpose than just all of that techie stuff we are used to: Getting people together helping them manage those specific critical moments in a much more efficient and effective way by making use of social computing.

While I agree with him 100% on his argument, I am starting to think that I would want to take things further into the next level, at least, as far as Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Communities and Social Computing are concerned.

Over the last few hours, now that the fires are on the verge of being totally extinguished, there have been a number of different discussions, mainly taking place locally, on whether this catastrophe could have been avoided, at least, to some extent. There have been some concerns about some degree of lack of coordination between the different groups involved and the local population, and while those discussions keep going on, I just couldn’t help thinking about a weblog post I created a while ago where I commented on some Knowledge Management Rules by Dave Snowden.

“[…] if you ask someone, or a body for specific knowledge in the context of a real need it will never be refused. If you ask them to give you your knowledge on the basis that you may need it in the future, then you will never receive it” (Emphasis mine)

That is just so accurate! I bet that if we would all have applied some of those different KM rules from the very beginning, things would have been completely different. As a starter, different groups would have found out about themselves and what they know, and how that relates to other groups and their knowledge. Secondly, they would have had a chance to collaborate and communicate from way before, giving them an opportunity to learn the strengths and weaknesses from all groups, which would help tackle crises like this one much more effectively. People from the various groups would get to trust each other much more, because of the information and knowledge they have shared all along, next to all of that social capital they would have built,, around that very same subject: the extinction of fires on a massive scale. And the list goes on and on and on.

I don’t want to make this weblog post longer than necessary, so I would probably be commenting on this at a later time some more, but I can imagine how incredibly different the situation would have been if people from those groups would have had access to blogs, perhaps a wiki, Twitter (Of course!), social bookmarks of meaningful resources, podcasts from different group members, tagging, syndication, etc. etc., yes, the whole lot around social software, in order to help them share what they know with others so that when that knowledge is really needed everyone would know how to react and help coordinate everything in such major crises and most importantly people would trust each other to do the job properly and fully coordinated.

Remember the motto “Think globally, act locally!” that I have talked about in the past? This is probably what Knowledge Management has been about all along, and perhaps the right direction to help tackle crises like the one we have been going through in the last few days.

As the news items about the recent fires in both Gran Canaria and Tenerife are starting to die out, now that they are all under control and it would be just a matter of hours for them to be completely extinguished, I thought I would share something over here that I think it would be a good time to mention, since it is hardly ever covered most of the times.

Most people who know me would probably tell you how fond I actually am about the T.V. series “Heroe”. I love it, I have been religiously watching episode after episode ever since it came out and will probably do the same for season 2. However, after the last few days, I must confess that the word “Heroes” has turned around into a new, and special, meaning for me. And I guess by now you know where I am heading.

Yes, that is right, they hardly ever get the due credit for a well done job where mistakes can be rather costly (For everyone!); they hardly ever get the recognition, respect and admiration they surely deserve from day one from all of us; they hardly ever get the gratitude from those who they save their lives or their most precious belongings and memories, so earlier on this morning I thought that this is the least I could do for a good bunch of folks (Firefighters and members of the UME special unit and all of the different volunteers who have helped in the extinction of the fires!). My heroes:

(Courtesy of Noticias de Navarra)

(Courtesy of El Pais)

(Courtesy of Canarias7)

Thanks ever so much, guys! You probably do not realise much of what you have just done in the last few days, but one thing for sure is that we would always remember what you have saved not just for ourselves, but also for our children! Thanks!

Oh, and talking about a token of gratitude, from here I want to sincerely thank as well the online edition of Canarias7, which has been an inspiration for us all on how crises like this one should be reported to the general public, both in the Canary Islands and the entire world. They have done an incredible amount of work reporting by the minute the different updates on the fires, they have been receiving a bunch of comments from various different folks out there watching through the news anxiously and share with us some of that drama, and they have been sharing some incredible pictures that people have been taking over the course of the last few days and share them as well with us all to give us a sense of what the disaster was like.

A couple of my fellow bloggers (Links in Spanish) seem to agree with my thoughts as well, I am glad that has been perceived that way all over the place, because they surely have been fundamental in keeping the local population informed, and involved, in everything that was going on during those tragic moments. So, from here, my most sincere congratulations to Canarias7, and in particular to Esther Pérez, for the superb piece of work done throughout showing us all that it is possible to be timely, accurate, responsible, and involved in delivering news to whom it matters. Us. So thanks a bunch for that!

As far as the local T.V and whatever other traditional news media sources, I think they need to catch up a lot with Planeta Canarias. Sigh.

This is probably one of the very last weblog posts that I would be creating where I would be massively linking to a number of different stories that keep popping up both from within the traditional media as well as within the Spanish Gofiosfera on the recent tragic events where one third of the entire wooded area from the island of Gran Canaria is now gone after the fires have all been under control. And a similar situation, thank goodness, is starting to emerge in Tenerife.

There was a reason why I was linking to a number of different resources, more than anything else, it was all due to the fact that I wanted to share some of the grief that most of us is going through at the moment. That painful experience of seeing how one good chunk of you is taken away just like that in a matter of hours and without any further questions.

Back at the beginning, when I was first writing the initial blog post from this series I mentioned how it hurt, how painful it surely was to witness that tragedy taking place and myself not been able to do much on the subject. Now a few days have passed by and still feel the same, like something that I was part of was taken away from me very abruptly. For good.

In one of my twitterings earlier on today, I realised that most of the pictures from the collage that I have for my Twitter background are actually from several of the different places that are now completely devastated by the fires. Yet, there they are, as impressive and stunning as ever and with a strong message that at one point in time they will be back! Just like in the good old times, but better. Way better! I am not sure if I would be here still that long, but if I am, you bet that I am going to enjoy the time quite a bit where I will be capturing those precious little moments that will remind me of what it all once was and where we have moved on to: onwards!

Because there is no other way to go. Now more than ever we need to move on, we need to learn from our past mistakes, we need to ensure that events like this one would never happen, at least, at a similar scale, of what we have witnessed since Friday last week. I, for one, would be incredibly excited about when that time would come, because I know it will be coming back again, and at that point I would be as much proud as I used to be (Still am very much so, in case you are wondering!) of one of the places that accepted me back three years ago, with no questions asked, like if it was the prodigal son coming back home. Finally! I never left home. I know now. Perhaps too late. The beginning of a new dawn starts now! Want to join me?…

And here you have got a couple of pictures that different folks have been taking thus far:

Courtesy of Canarias7:

Courtesy of tonyatlantico:

I know that over the last few days I have been sharing a number of different weblog posts that do not have much to do with the main topics that I get to discuss over here, but I hope you can understand what we are all going through over here. Catastrophes of this proportion should not, must not, be forgotten. So, today, nearly six days after the fires started in Gran Canaria, I am very happy to share with you all, just in case you may have missed it, that the fires in Gran Canaria are now officially “under control”, according to several news items.

The one in Tenerife is still being stabilised and the one in La Gomera is now also extinguished. It has not been a pretty sight all along for the last few days, having over 35,000 hectares of woodland (Pine trees, mainly) being wiped out between Gran Canaria and Tenerife (Around 20,000 in Gran Canaria alone, one third of the total woodland area from the island!). Yes, I know, the proportions of the disaster are just tragic, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, the horizon is starting to look closer and closer than ever before. And I am very happy to see that. About time, too!

Yes, we all know that things would never be the same. They just won’t, but life goes on and the sooner we recover, the better. I am sure that in the next few days a whole bunch of conversations, discussions, analysis of the situation and whatever else would be put together (I may be able to share some thoughts on those at a later time), but in this weblog post I just wanted to share with you as well some of the magnitude of the disaster at the same time that I would place a whole bunch of links in here around what the international press and media are saying about the last few days.

You would have to remember that the Canary Islands are a very popular holiday destination with over 12 million visitors per year approx. so it is of no surprise the extensive coverage that the fires have been given all over the place, considering that very soon plenty of those tourists may be heading back here again to spend their vacation, specially during the winter time.

It surely is very nice to know that plenty of people out there are thinking about these tragic events and are wishing us all getting back on track soon, including nature doing what it knows best, so for all of that I would want to give a special thanks! for being there and for the support. It is greatly appreciated, to say the least!

So let’s have a look at the international press coverage of the events:

Irish Times, Innovations Report (Germany), Vakantie.PaginaBlog (Netherlands), Trouw (Netherlands), Fok (Netherlands), Handelsblatt (Germany), derStandard (Austria), Die Zeit (Germany), Aftonbladet (Sweden), Aftonbladet (Sweden), Corriere della Sera (Italy), Alice Notizie (Italy), Corriere della Sera (Italy), Le Monde (France), Le Figaro (France), France24 (France), The Times Online (UK), Faz (Germany), IlMessaggero (Italy), Diario de Noticias (Protugal), Bild (Germany).

As you can see from the above links, quite a bit, actually. In the mean time, the blogosphere keeps coming up with more and more updates, some of them with some incredible video footage as well!In this particular link from Canarias7 you would be able to check out some of the different pictures that have been taken over the course of the days that relate to some of the kind of impact this tragic set of events will have on the islands. Just below I have shared a couple of them, courtesy from Canarias7, while I am awaiting for more to come through the Flickr group.

So, the good thing is that fires in Gran Canaria are now officially under control, there would be lots and lots of work that would need to be done, but, at least, we are finally starting to see the light. And that is good news. Now off to the next challenge: bring the entire island to what it once was. A paradise!

(Still is…)

And while the reactions and different news items keep showing up all over the place with folks sharing their thoughts on this tragic set of events, it looks like things are starting to become normalised, to a certain degree, that is, because we cannot say just yet that everything is under control. Not yet. The struggle continues. The fight is there, active, more than ever, to try to put an end to it all. And we are getting there, for sure. Slowly, but steadily. Hopefully, one more day. Just one more day. Tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Best of luck to us all.

Weather conditions have improved quite a bit with temperatures around the 30 degrees Celcius and with hardly any wind, at least, from this side of the island. Definitely, not as windy as in the last couple of days. So there is plenty of hope that everything would be back to normal soon, if we could say that because I doubt things would ever be the same again. Not after watching this catastrophe for over 5 days now.

The first evaluations, editorials, extensive opinions and reviews, reservations, etc. etc. are starting to flourish now, and perhaps I will talk about them some more later on, but I just thought I would leave you for the day with something that I have found incredibly amazing and a life-changing experience, for sure.

Check out the impressive Flickr set of pictures that tonyatlantico has been putting together, where he has been covering what Ayagaures looks like after the fire. A place which is just about 20 minutes by car from where I live. Then also take a look at a couple of pictures I took from the same place some time ago in all its splendour.

All I can say at this moment is that it still hurts… and quite a lot!

(Oh, and don’t forget you can keep up with what the Spanish Gofiosfera is thinking about over at Planeta Canarias)

Hacía ya tiempo que no había creado ningún artículo en español en ninguno de los blogs que llevo manteniendo durante varios meses, y creo que ya va siendo hora de que vuelva a escribir alguno que otro artículo y así poder llegar un poco más a la blogosfera hispana que últimamente la tengo un poco abandonada.

Y me alegro de que me re-encuentre con la blogosfera hispana haciendo referencia a una viñeta que el gran, e insuperable, J.R. Mora (JRMora) compartió no hace muchas horas con motivo de los diferentes desastres ecológicos que se están dando tanto en Tenerife como en Gran Canaria y que expresa muy, pero que muy bien, algunos de los mixed feelings por los que he ido pasando durante los últimos días.

No tiene desperdicio y desgraciadamente no será la última vez. ¿Hasta cuándo?

Aquí tenéis la viñeta en sí:

While the news items keep popping up on what has been named as Gran Canaria’s worst ecological disaster in recent history, we can already start seeing some folks coming out of the places where they have been hiding for a while, looking for those who should be responsible for such tragic set of events. Yes, that is right, while we are starting to witness some of the political games coming from various fronts, all of them blaming someone else, probably like it usually happens in these cases (Blame your neighbour, it’s easier), the fires are still blazing away while we all hope that the high temperatures and the strong winds would give everyone a break to finish off the job.

Over the course of the last few hours, there have been a number of different webloggers commenting further on what is actually happening out there and I just thought I would share a few links in here to give you a sense of some of the mixed feelings that we are all going through these tough times:

— Canarias está ardiendo
— Arde Gran Canaria (5)
— Hace fuego
— El incendio de Canarias en la red
— Incendio en Canarias: el fuego arrasa reservas de la biosfera
— Arde Canarias
— Fuego arrasa 65 por ciento superficie “Palmitos Park” y afecta a 60 por ciente animales y plantas
— Special Canariasbruta coverage
— Mi isla se quema

I have been sharing a few pictures already over here on what is going on at the moment, but I would strongly encourage you to have a look and check this weblog post, Pictures, from Isle of Gran Canaria, to see the kind of impact that this disaster is having.

And, like you would not have expected otherwise, the first video clips from YouTube are starting to emerge. So instead of sharing some more additional pictures I am just going to embed some of the dramatic clips put together thus far:

Finally, here is a detailed description of the events as they are happening and courtesy from Canarias7. And thank goodness, it looks like things are starting to improve a bit as mentioned in Gran Canaria tiene “estabilizados” todos los focos tras 100 horas de incendio, pero desconfía de las cambios de viento. Although, still on guard, of course.

And while several different fires continue to spread around the South-West of the island of Gran Canaria (With one soldier injured at the moment) and while there are more and more news items coming through just as horrifying as the previous ones, things are getting a whole lot worse now with another massive fire spreading around like mad in Tenerife, the other major island from the Canary Islands.

So far here in Gran Canaria 10,000 hectares have burned with 5,200 people evacuated, whereas in Tenerife it is already going for 13,695 hectares and 4,200 people on the move. An unprecedented catastrophe for all of the Canary Islands and Spain, no doubt! From here onwards, here is a positive message going out to everyone affected to let you all know: we will get things back again in shape soon, we have to, we don’t have a choice, we will:

“[...] sólo os puedo decir que no olvidéis ni permitáis que os hagan olvidar.” (Comment in Spanish from a weblog post shared in Mangas Verdes by Dani)

Here are some more pictures from the catastrophe thus far:

Courtesy from Pablo César, a.k.a. pcesarperez / AdAstra

Courtesy from artevirgo (Impressive set of pictures):

Courtesy from Víctor, a.k.a. rvr:

And perhaps one of the most impressive, courtesy from GrJMontero (For a more recent one from both Gran Canaria and Tenerife click here):

PS. There is also a Flickr group: Incendio Gran Canaria – Julio 2007, where we can share the pictures we have taken about the fires. Feel free to add yours as time goes by.

If you would want to follow some more of the tragedy we are going through at the moment, check out the following resources live:

– Canarias7
– La Provincia

And, specially Planeta Canarias, where a whole bunch of us bloggers are sharing our first impressions of this unforgetable dramatic event!

PS. And, of course, I will be twittering some of my experiences about the whole, unprecedented, event. Stay tuned for more updates…

Oh, and for those folks who have shown their interest and further support a quick word to just simply say “Thanks!” for the concerns and for the support. It is greatly appreciated. I am doing fine for the time being, although it is incredibly impressive to see the fire in the horizon from the several mountains that surround the place I live in, down South of the island!

Update – 3:00 am 31st of July: Here are some more links covering the news on how the fires spread around the South-West of the island into what has been flagged already as the worst catastrophe in history (Of the island, that is):

— Wildfires in Gran Canaria
— Spain arrests forest ranger who confessed to setting blaze in Canary Islands
— Algo se quema
— Incendios en Canarias via satélite
— Arde Gran Canaria
— El fuego arrasa Palmitos Park y el hotel aledaño
— Hace fuego
— En llamas
— Palabra del lector
— Have fuego
— Vecinos de Fataga y Tunte se niegan a evacuar sus casas, mientras que el próximo núcleo podría ser El Salobre (El Salobre being the village next to the one where I currently live in, El Tablero)

I know that this weblog post is very much off topic, and you would have to excuse me for it, but if there are ever pictures out there that would be worth while 1,000 words, the following set would be those that would provide you with a intensive sense of drama, if not tragedy. For all of us:

My dearest paradise is burning and it hurts. It truly hurts…