Having problems finding the people you know?

Spock.com wants to be the leading people search application on the web. Lets wish them good luck. It is not always easy to find people in the likes of Google. Try it! If you can not find yourself and claim a pre-existing profile, you can create one yourself. Help your friends find you.

Wonderful Vacation in Japan

I am having such a good time in Japan that did not really have much time left to make an entry on this blog. Finally here is one for the record. After arriving in Tokyo we immediately started enjoying the best Japan has to offer in food, drinks, views and of course the "Onsens", Japanese for a hot spring bath house. After a few days we went to Kanazawa by Shinkansen, half the way, and then by regular train, a total of four hours trip from the east to the west coast of Japan. By now I had take a couple hundred snapshots, which by the way, I will gladly share with my friends with the patience to go over a slide show of few hundred pictures. Had a chance to visit once more the wonderful sites in Kanazawa such as the Kenroku-en garden , the Kanazawa Castle and the Geisha's Quarters
Veja varias fotos aqui. ... To be continued...

A New Addition to My Web Resources

I've found PANDORA.COM while browsing the web looking for a radio station. PANDORA is definitively a "Web 2.0" product. I was hooked instantly. What a great idea! I've setup several stations but I am working on "tunning" the station I've named "RonCruz's SOB", you know... SOB as in "Sounds Of Brazil". Check it out, click on one of my stations links in this blog's main page.

Happy Chinese New year

2007 is the Year of the Pig (boar), it starts February 18.
Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year (2007)

Feliz Ano Novo – Muita Felicidade, Saúde e Sucesso em 2007.
Happy New Year – We wish you a Happy, Healthy and Successful 2007.

Hyperpolysyllabicsesquipedalian

Had a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious time since you are not floccinaucinihilipilification of being a hyperpolysyllabicsesquipedalian.
Now, beat that!!!

New Ie7 Plays Catch-up and Does Not Quite Make it

The new and long awaited version of the Internet Explorer (IE7) is now available for downloading. I have downloaded, tried it and here are my initial thoughts. Well, it does not quite make it, not enough for me to stop using my Firefox browser. Not to get too technical, here are few examples. First is the implementation of the "favicon.ico". Ie7 has improved the support of this handy web page icon.... but it comes up short. If the format is not exactly it expects in the exact location it will not display the favicon.ico for the page in the browser tab or in the bookmarks. Firefox does already support multiple formats and locations of the favicon.ico file. Minor point for some but why didn't Microsoft get this right is beyond me. The other is the way Firefox is much more intelligent and forgiving of html formatting issues. I run into several problems with this blog page where it would display as I had intended (by my modifications of the template) on the Firefox browser and very unpredictable results when using the Ie6. It does not matter if Ie is 100% compliant with the html specifications, what matters is that Firefox has enough smarts to help the users by forgiving certaing missing tags and still display as intended. Lastly, Firefox still feels a little faster and more intuitive than Ie7. Oh yes, one last point, Firefox 2.0 now checks your spelling as you input. Incorrect words are red underlined in real-time. Firefox is in the lead as far as I am concerned.

Beaultiful Autumn

It is Fall. The temperature and the leaves are falling; the clock fell back, even the gasoline prices and politicians approval ratings are falling. But the Fall colors make up for the gloomier changes of this season, the shorter days and the colder mornings that we could do without. Now the goblins are out looking for their costumes for the time honored celebration of Halloween. Our house decoration is out, there is even a hand-painted pumpkin at our door steps. We are ready! Come goblins... come! Come get your candy but be ready to be scared as well. The anticipation and preparation for Halloween is as much fun as the ghostly night itself.



We have real pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns; green spider webs with all kinds of little creatures caught in it, skeletons are everywhere, some with red blinking eyes when they laugh. It is a horrible sight indeed.

[Portuguese] É Outono. A temperatura e as folhas estão caindo; até os preços da gasolina e as aprovações dos políticos estão caindo. Mas as cores do Outono compensam pelas mudanças mais tristes desta estação, dos dias mais curtos e das manhãs mais frias que nós poderíamos fazer sem.
Agora os fantasminhas estão procurando para fora seus trajes para o celebrar o Halloween. Nossa decoração da casa está para fora, lá esta uma abóbora pintada a mão na nossa porta. Nós estamos prontos! Vêm os fantasmas… vindos! Vêm comer seus doces e balas mas estajam prontos para ficar com medo também. A antecipação e a preparação para Halloween é tanto divertido quanto a noite fantasmica.
Nós temos abóboras reais, jaque-o-lanternas; teias de aranha verdes com todos os tipos das criaturas pequenas travadas nela, esqueletos estão em toda parte, alguns com os olhos vermelhos piscando quando riem. É uma vista realmente horrivel.

The Teratani's are in town

Here they are, the grandparents are visiting us from Japan. We will be taking them around to see the sights. During the next two weeks we will take them to the MOMA, The Intrepid, the Museum of Natural History, NYC's downtown financial district, a little Century 21 shopping, Foxwood (Casino), Mystic Seaport and the highlight will be a Yankees game.

Aqui estão, os avós do Japão estão nos visitando. Nós estaremos levando eles para ver os lugares turisticos.

It is progress

There are signs we may see a reverse of certain trends of the recent past. Where quantity trumps quality; where more information is available but not communication; where politics and rudeness trumps morality and civility; Where more is written and planned and less is accomplished; Where more is available but less time to use or enjoy; Less time for reflection and more time spent in conferencing and re-planning;
There has been much technology progress in the last 30 years, I long for using all this progress to improve the communications and civility amongst friends, adversary, business acquaintances and co-workers. There are some signs this may be happening. Believe or not, businesses are discovering the benefits of improving the lives of workers and customers. If for no other reason they know, happier workers and clients equals more productivity, quality and profit. Let’s welcome their new focus even if the motive is just the bottom line. It is a beginning.