26. March 2008




Wear sunscreen....and other good advice!

Distracted from what I was doing, I stumbled upon this excellent and inspiring clip. Truly one clip we should all watch every single day, first thing in the morning... I mean that. We go about our daily lives not realizing how we are wasting our youth; that precious substance of which we have less of, every day that goes by.... that and other magnificent advice.

From the Wikipedia article: "Wear Sunscreen or Sunscreen Speech are the common names of an essay actually called "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997.

The most popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single released in 1999, credited to Baz Luhrmann." This version with subititles in Spanish.

Listen carefully and enjoy!


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags: ,

14. February 2008




Controlling spending...

Peanut Butter SandwhichI was thinking about ways of cutting unnecesary spending last night and thought that I tend to waste a few dollars on so many things that doesn't seem so much at the time, but when it is all added up....well, it adds up.

A cup of coffee in the morning, a snack bar in between, sometimes a pastry at midmorning, then lunch and maybe another coffee in the afternoon.  A couple of dollars at the time X a few times a day X twenty workdays = a lot of $$$. Think about it, even if it is just lunch at $8 per day for a to go salad or sandwhich is ($8 x 20days) $160 per month!

A clever dude has some really good information on how to spend only $6.99 for an entire month on lunch; even if not followed exactly the same, his approach is very good and can be altered to fit your needs and definitively to keep your spending lower than it currently is.

Read more: An illustrated frugal lunch by A Clever Dude. 


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags: ,

24. September 2007




Learn a new language II.

Passport I just posted about this yesterday but found a new site that has a concept I think is worth mentioning.

I have just registered and have yet to play with it some more but it seems it has quite a bit of content. There are hours of free courseware for several languages as well, but mainly it focuses on allowing you to social network with people who speak the native language that you are trying to learn and vice versa.

read more: http://www.livemocha.com


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

22. September 2007




Learn a new language..

language I think I have posted about learning a new language before and it not easy to find an application or software that is easy to use and free. Well, I came across this web based language application that, so far, is free and easy to use....really.

They have several languages and it starts out really easy, assuming you have absolutely no experience whatsoever.

read more:  http://www.trymango.com/


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

30. August 2007




What Are You So Depressed About?

Depressed girl I know a few people very close and very dear to me who suffer from depression and it is so difficult to communicate and understand what exactly it is that they are going through.

From time to time, I can feel a little down myself, without a specific reason to explain my careless mood. However, for people who are depressed more than ocassionaly and often require medication, it has simply become part of their lifes...so much that it seems that mood simply takes control. I don't undertand how someone can not be in control of themself...and I have learned not to try to understand either...I don't think I would be able to understand anyways, even it were to happen to me.

Here is a very brief article that attempts to explain in a few paragraphs how people feel when they are depressed, why it happens and how you should react.

Read more:  http://psychcentral.com/

Update: site seems to be down...here is Google's cache version. 


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

25. August 2007




Coffee types illustrated

A cup of coffee is just a cup of coffee, like anywhere else, right? I will have to disagree with that statement... I don't know whether  it is just the differences in culture, but the coffee selection in Europe is just not that extensive as it is here in the US.  I live in Seattle, where there is literally a Starbucks on every corner and one can simply not avoid the sometimes ridiculuous combinations that people come up with when ordering a cup of coffee.

If you were ever wondering what all these italian names for different types of coffee really mean when put tugether in a cup, here is a handy illustration that simplifies the mixtures and their exotic european names.

Read more: http://www.lokeshdhakar.com/... 


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

14. August 2007




The Advice Every Teacher Should Give Their Students

blackboard I read this brief post and was brought back in time when I actually would have thought certain things about the relevance of the class material in front of me with real life. How can this possibly be useful for any career or for life in general? This is just another hypothesis or algorithm exercise that has absolutely no purpose other than that it is needed to pass this course.

I wish I had received the following answer and hopefully I would have paid more attention to all the following "useless" exercises....

Read more: http://www.marcandangel.com/


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

12. August 2007




5 Minutes to learn anything.

Time So, you have  a few minutes left to just surf the web... maybe check reddit.com and you know you'll get stuck there for way longer than that.

Why not take the time and learn something the easy way by just watching a 5 minute video on the subject?

"5min is a place to find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge.

The idea behind 5min is very simple: any solution can be visually explained in no more than 5 minutes." 

Read more: http://www.5min.com/


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

25. July 2007




Disagree without offending

disagree Whether you acquire this valuable skill or it is natural in you, it is one that one simply must have to be able to interact, socialize and simply succeed in your relationships with anyone you know or encounter in the future.

Everyone is unique and so are their thaughts. The true art lies in being able to listen properly, communicate accordingly and whether you get your point across or not, whether you convince the other person or not, maintain the relationship intact or stronger than it was, even if no mutaul agreement was reached.

Here is an excellent article that highlights some of these points that one should keep in mind in any discussion.

Read more: http://johnplaceonline.com/...


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

21. July 2007




Apparently vinegar can do all this

vinegar Of course everyone has some advice on how to remove a stain from the carpet or how to avoid smelly shoes, but some of these 62 little known uses of vinegar just seem incredible.

Most are certainly worth trying and probably very efficient. However, until I try them out myself or see some solid proof I think I am going to remain somewhat skeptical about some of these solutions offered, especially ones like #54...

I just have the impression that the room won't smell as fresh as it says it will...

Read more: http://odyb.net/...


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

19. July 2007




Exercise: make it a habit!

ExerciseI don't exercise every day but I do wish I was more consistent about exercising regularly. It seems that every morning I decide that, this time, for real, I am going to start exercising every day.  I find myself waking up early and exercising for a few days and then suddenly, one morning I decide to skip a session and it goes downhill from there....until next Monday; then we start all over again.

So, what can we do about it? Here  is a  good article on how to make your exercise session an actual habit, like showering or brushing your teeth. We don't stop and think about either those activities, we just do them....if we could only do that with an exercise routine...

Read more: http://ririanproject.com/...


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

18. July 2007




Avoid losing your motivation

Avoid losing your motivation "Staying motivated is a struggle; our drive is constantly assaulted by negative thoughts and anxiety about the future. Everyone faces doubt and depression.

What separates the highly successful is the ability to keep moving forward."

There are 3 primary reasons we lose motivation.

  1. Lack of confidence - If you don’t believe you can succeed, what’s the point in trying?
  2. Lack of focus - If you don’t know what you want, do you really want anything?
  3. Lack of direction - If you don’t know what to do, how can you be motivated to do it?

Read more:  http://www.pickthebrain.com/...


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags:

18. July 2007




Password hacking tactics

Password hacking tacticsYou just created your online access account for your brokerage account, just like many other online services you have created accounts for...

Which password did you pick? The same as usual...the same you use for all your other accounts? A different one? You have a different password for each site? Then, how do you remember all of them? Maybe you have some software application that remembers them for you.

Whichever our case, more likely than not, we don't spend much time thinking about the strength of our passwords, even though we are constantly reminded about the threats of not doing so...

Well, here is an article by John P. who shares how he would hack your password. Read it and it may make you want to change your passwords to something stronger...


Read more: http://onemansblog.com/...


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags: ,

17. July 2007




The fear of the unknown

first space walk"It is incredible, how many things never get their chance to be done simply because we're afraid to be the first ones to even try. We fear rejection and lack of acceptance, we fear a possible failure, and we generally would rather scrap a great idea than be courageous and adventurous enough to be the first. Well, it doesn't have to be this way." 

Excellent article highlighting many things that we all know are true; things that we know we should be doing, but simply don't out of fear of the unknown. 

I remember me as a kid staring up at the Space Mountain rollercoaster in Disney World and finally deciding I was not riding it, because [fill in any reason]. If only that kid knew how much fun he'd have if he had decided to ride... (that kid got to know 20 years later ho wmuch fun he had misse dout on).

Whether it is to do something that hasn't been done before by anyone, or it is something that we as individuals have never experienced, fear is factor that many of us let take control too easily and too frequently. 

Read more:  http://www.personaldevelopment.ie/...


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags: ,

14. July 2007




How sexy is your voice?

How sexy is your voice? I haven't really given it much though... generally I don't dislike my voice, unless it is recorded.

However, this is an interesting question. that is rarely taken into account. A person's voice tone is just like a facial characteristic. It is an attribute that is subconsciously recorded in the mind and tied to that person. the sound of the voice tells you about the person and the person's state...softspoken, confident, shy, nervous, obnoxious, etc.

Obviously, your voice is also very important when making a first impression. So, in order to enhance the way we come across to others, first time or not, here are some detailed explanations and exercises that anyone can do.

Read more:  Voice and Speech development


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags: ,

12. July 2007




How to eat sushi

How to eat sushi.... Sushi is one of my favourite foods and if it weren't so expensive, I think I could eat it everyday. I had my first sushi about 8 years ago and have since then mastered the art of eating with chop sticks and everything there is to know about the many variety of sushi and sushi rolls.

Only to realize, that I have been completely ignorant about the true etiquette of eating sushi. Sushi is eaten with your hands and not chopsticks! That and much, much more about sushi that you didn't know can be found below.

Read more:  http://www.trevorcorson.com/...

However, if you really want to know the truth about sushi, you will have to watch this undercover video...


by Miguel Moreno

Category: Tips for life | Tags: ,