The Miniature Earth

I remember when I first saw this movie. It was just a slideshow back then, but nevertheless it was impressing. A whole plennary was watching it in deep silence as if it was the most interesting story they have ever heard. Well it is a great story... The fact that it's real and important makes it so great. I am still impressed each time i hear this story. And I always say... "I'll try to appreciate more often what I have and try to help the others more".
Only if we wouldn't forget forget about the other problems of the world each time we get overwhelmed by day-to-day worries and problems at work or home...
Just take 4 minutes of your time and watch this movie...

Communication platforms

If you are or were part of AIESEC you definately know something about AIESEC.net... I guess the most common thing about it is that it's unstable and very limited. Well that's not that bad, as it sure helps the people in the organization share files, ideas, opinions, in search for the same old positive impact.
Now, my dear friend Matt has developed a brand new platform for the AIESEC network. It's called, very suggestive, AIESEC Platforms and it is supposed to facilitate the communication among AIESECers worldwide. It is obviously free, so I consider you should take a look and join up with the others, for a better, more efficient and much more fun communication among us. ;)
Congrats Matt and good luck with it!

Three things in life...

I found this in an email draft that I've saved a while ago, without actually understanding what those lines say. Today, as I came across it again, I found them really interesting. Even though they might come out of a spam or mass message, I will share them with you as I think it's good for us to remember from time to time what's really important to us... I hope you'll like them as much as I did.

Three things in life once gone never come back... 1. Words 2. Opportunity 3. Time
Three things in life we can never be sure of... 1. Dreams 2. Success 3. Fortune
Three things in life that make you a great person... 1. Hard work 2. Sincerity 3. Success
Three things in life are most valuable... 1. Love 2. Self respect 3. Friends
Three things in life must never be lost... 1. Peace 2. Hope 3. Honesty
Three things in life that will destroy a person... 1. Greed 2. Pride 3. Anger

Chill or warm with USB

I found a really really crazy item online today. You're not gonna belive this! There are people that really think about those 24/7 sitting in front of the computer people. Really. Now they have the chance to warm up their drink as well as chill out their soda, all with just a USB plug-in. I can't believe this, really. Go to the fridge? Me? Whyyyy?! I can just plug-in my usb chiller and I'll get my Pepsi ready in no time... This, my friends, is the peak of USB tech. :) Now that's something that I'd want for Christmas :)) Did you hear me, Santa???

Fredo and Pid' Jin

Two evil pigeons. One world to destroy!
Awesome comics. I got on this link today while surfing the web. At first I just found it funny. After browsing a bit through the archive I realized it is hilarious. I laughed a lot at those two pigeons. Really cool stuff. I totally recommend their feed.

The Europe that I've seen...

I always loved traveling. I enjoy so much meeting new people, getting to know new cultures, visiting new places. Each one of those leaves a print on my soul and puts a new sheet of paper in my "awesome experiences" folder... Obviously not all the travels are 100% exciting... Sometimes we face problems we were not expecting and/or live experiences we have never thought we would.
Even so, I always love traveling. It always makes me feel empowered and refreshed. This is why I do it. Now I'm planning a trip to Switzerland for an AIESEC Conference. I'm applying as facilitator (trainer) and I totally hope that I'll be accepted and that all things will smoothly :) I'll let you know about this later.
Now, let me share with you something else. While reading Janina's blog today, I came across this article about the part of the world she has seen so far. And there was this picture of the world showing in a reddish color the part she has visited. I followed a link and I got one for myself also. So here it is...

Well not that much of it... 21 countries... 9% of the World. Well not that much compared to the World... a lot compared to Europe. I have never set foot outside Europe, but I definitely want to change that next year when I'll go in a traineeship.
Meanwhile, wish me luck with the conference, and get your own map like this here.

Fun weekend... Part 2

We had also another reason for celebration last weekend. We gathered in our beloved Juice bar to celebrate Flaviu's 25th birthday. At first we were supposed to go to Pestis, as usual on his birthday, but things turned different this year. Even so, we had a good time there. Sadly, Relu had to work most of the night and couldn't be with us from the beginning. He came though a bit later, and even if was tired, he was a great company as always. I had a great time and I want to thank for this matter to Flaviu and to all the others present there. Also I want to wish Flaviu, once again, a Happy Birthday and many accomplishments in the years to come. :)

That night I had also a wish coming true as I had the chance to get around the bar a little bit. I always wanted to be for a few minutes, or hours, on the other side of the bar, just to see how things are from that perspective. Well on last Friday I had this chance. Gyuri, the bartender, let me for a little while handle the glasses and bottles. Damn, that was fun! :) I realized this way that though it's fun, I wouldn't work for me to do this a whole night. :P

Fun weekend...

Last weekend was quite full for me. It kinda started on Thursday, when Oradea, my hometown was celebrating its day. Yes, on the 12th of October 1944, Oradea has been set free from the soviet forces and since then it is on this date when we celebrate the day of the city. Obviously there was a big celebration, with lots of concerts, beer, "mici", and crowed places. The traffic in the city center was closed in order to make space for the thousands of people coming to celebrate.

Many international bands and singers were present to entertain the public. I was really surprised to see artists like Sash or Alphaville coming to Oradea for these days. The atmosphere was quite fun. :)

The bands were not the only VIPs in town, of course. Traian Basescu, the president of Romania was here too. I don't know for sure why. Maybe to visit his old friend, Filip, our mayor on this special occasion. Maybe to solve some other important business... Who knows? Anyway, it was a great event for the people in Oradea. Here the majority loves Basescu and the party he represents. I found it really funny to see that there was so much security around him. I was expecting 5-10 guys... Well there were at least 30 to 35 designated bodyguards plus the police. It was quite fun to observe their movements and the way they were looking around to search for dangers.

Another cool thing that happened that night was about this 20 meters long skewer that was made for this celebration. It was something totally new for Oradea. I think it's quite funny. Lately I keep reading in the papers about different towns and villages around Romania celebrating their anniversaries. And why is that? Because they are all trying to beat some food record or to prepare some spectacular food. I don't say it's bad at all. I just wonder... Are we, the Romanians such a food lover people?

Din tag in tag: Oradea

Thank you Codruta for passing the "ball" to me. I couldn't miss this opportunity to have my own edition of "din tag in tag" (from tag to tag) where I could express in a free way my opinions about my beloved hometown, Oradea.

So here we go!
3 places I like in Oradea:
- Up to Ciuperca (the view of the city is awesome)
- Water lilies park in Felix (very relaxing place)
- The Fortress of Oradea and the park within

3 places I don't like here:
- Lotus Market (or Mall) - it's like everyone is trying to impress by walk, clothes and attitude. It sucks!
- Republicii street - looks really bad with the new pavement and all the dirt
- anywhere where fancy, snobbish people have high density

3 places where I like to go with my friends:
- Juice cafe
- Joy club
- Chanson (I don't like it that much, but my friends do :P)

3 things an occidental could hardly understand about this city
- the never ending "under construction" streets and buildings
- the very insistent beggars and gypsies
- the fact that amazingly beautiful buildings with historical importance, have become property and/or are maintained by some idiots that don't care about them...

The most "fancy" neighborhood:
- I'd say it's "Beverly Hills" and "Europa"...

The ugliest neighborhoods:
- definitely Iosia... and Velenta! Yuck!

I'm now passing the tag to:
Pixi (Singapore), Zeno (Sibiu), Georgiana (Constanta), Janina (Craiova)

Technorati Tag: din tag in tag

"Romanians don't know how to appreciate what they've got"

That's a long title, huh? It's about my latest revelation... I was talking to my dear friend from Constanta/Bucharest, Georgi and at a certain point she said "I don't like Romanian guys (I reached this conclusion recently) because Romanians don't know how to appreciate what they've got". That shocked me... I realized, once again that it is true. I remember that research made by New Economics Foundation called "Happy Planet Index". It seams that money and wealth isn't the source of happiness. Anyway, the point is that Romanians have a continous need of complaning and victimizing themselves. I guess this is due to the fact that during comunism you didn't really have to work hard to live. You just needed to exist. Now things have changed and many people live in poverty and have really big issues. The common Romanian would say "the government is guilty!", "the others are guilty!", "there's nothing I can do about it!". Well that's bullshit! WE are guilty! We are the ones supposed to make a difference. We are supposed to improve the way our country works and the way we live. We should stop complaining and stop expecting the others to save our lives and souls. We should start doing something in order to make a difference.

Obviously, I'm not expecting everyone to say, think or do so. We, sometimes, are too damn confortable and lazy. I do hope though, that there will be some, including me, who'll manage to make that change, that difference. I do hope that with trust, faith, hard work and compromises we'll be happier.

On the other hand I know EU is not gonna bring us happiness. It's not gonna make it easier for us. But for sure it will raise the awareness that only by acting things can change.
In the end I want to say that I love my country, I love my people, I know that we're capable of a better state, a better situation, and I hope that many other young people like myself will manage to make it work!

Damn PayPall and Flickr!

I really want a Flickr.com account. I think it's a great way to share photos with friends and also have a "safe deposit". Sadly they totally suck in terms of services for "free members". You only get to upload like 20MB per month, which let's face it, is not even close to enough. Therefore I have decided to go "Pro". That's about 25$/year. Fair enough I'd say. So I click on upgrade... "Pay through credit card"... OK. "Select your country"... DUDE! Where the f$@% is Romania in the list? There's no Romania in the list? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy? That totally pissed me off. What do you mean I can't pay?
This is really discriminating. Why can all Europe pay, but us and some other Eastern Europe countries. Not fair at all. Why the others can just click, write down the numbers, and pay and I have to find other, much more difficult ways?
Luckily I found this post which explains how a Romanian can get a Pro account... I wonder if it will work. Will let you know. ;)

The US Schools are failing to educate...

I came across an article on Reader's Digest about the situation in America's schools. They are pulling an alarm signal regarding the education system there. Well that's just one of the emerging crisis of the American people... They also have huge issues with infrastructure, energy, leadership, immigration, etc... But education is the future... If they fail in this, I really don't know what's gonna save their asses... oh, maybe immigration :)

So here are some numbers on how they do:

997 - the average number of hours a U.S. child spends in class per year.

1023 - the average number of hours a U.S. child spends watching TV.

30% of their students don't graduate from high school.

40% of college freshmen need remedial classes because they are unprepared.

I'd say this is really BAD! Imagine this... Only 70% of the young people finish high school. I wonder how many of those get university studies after that... And even out of those only 60% are able to work afterwards... The rest still need to be educated as they suck totally.

I do agree this is starting to happen in Romania also... People start to fail more and more to graduate from high-school. Which is really bad! And also... the university is not very good. I mean even if you really want to study, most likely you will have to search other education sources as well. I, myself for example, I didn't work that hard to graduate university... and to be honest... I haven't learned that much out of it... On the other hand, I was lucky enough to gain practical experiences and enough interested to study what I was interested in on my own... I do hope that most of my colleagues feel the same... Sadly, I know for sure that some of my friends don't.
So what is there to be done? What can we do for us, for our kids and nevertheless for our future? When I think of it, it really puts me down... It's not that I care that much how America is doing... In fact sometimes I really loathe US and it's policies. What I'm concerned of is the fact that the my country, Romania, has this issue as well. We used to be so great in education. Now, we kinda suck.
The same Reader's Digest comes with some ideas on what we can all do:
As a parent: Set high expectations for your children; pay attention to the quality of the work they're doing and meet with teachers regularly -- especially if you have concerns. Read for your own enjoyment, and read to your kids, regardless of their age.
As a taxpayer: Demand accountability for how school districts spend public money.
As a voter: Support candidates who are committed to educational initiatives that prepare students for life after school.
As a citizen: Keep learning. Enroll in an adult class or workshop. Recognize that -- whether or not you've got children in school -- improving education is critical to the long-term health of the country. Volunteer your time. It's in everybody's interest.

Understanding versus Memorizing...

I remember when I was a little kid, back in the elementary school, I always used to get big grades and be among the favorites in the class/school. Then, as I grew up, my interest for studying diminished more and more. I used to be pasionate about some subjects, while the others I left totally aside. Therefore, I started gathering smaller grades as well. As I grew up to be a young high-school student, the time that I used studying for school got shorter and shorter. Even so, I always managed to pass years and get not-so-bad grades, while others used to fail or get poor grades even so, they might sometimes, study even less than I did.
Well now I realize that my advantage was always the fact that I wasn't trying to memorize anything. Actually I always hated memorizing. I always searched for the logical, understandable, part of subjects. This is why I strongly recommend this to anyone that, like myself, are not really keen on filling up memory space with school garbage.

I was surfing the web today and I came across this really interesting blog, agrees with this in a quite elaborate way. Feel free to read more ;)

Hard labour... not really my thing...

Today I had to move 4 cube meters of planks from the ground level to the 1st floor... If you can't imagine how much is this quantity... well... I'll tell you... A LOT. We've worked like slaves to take those things up. Initially was just me and my father... that would have been killing. Luckily we had the help of two other people. One of them was Relu, who really helped me a lot. Him and I were supposed to lift the planks up and my father and Dan, the other guy, were taking them, pulling them up and then arranging them in a pile...
If you think of it better, it's not that much, but really exhausting especially after a long night out (yesterday), a few hours of sleep, and a hard day at work. And what's worse each one of them was quite heavy and all full of sawdust... So we had to protect our eyes. I've got my swimming gear out and used it. It was so funny really. Besides the fact we looked like dorks, it was also really unconfortable. Even so, there was no other way. Tomorrow I'll go buy some really gear for this type of work, just to be on the safe side in the future. You can see in the picture how we both looked when we were done. I think I had sawdust in any pocket, cloth layer or on any part of my body. Nasty thing. But the good, cold Tuborg after was a delight. It always is. Also the laughs and fun was great. It's always great to spend time with your best friend... no matter what you're doing. So thank you, my friend, for the help and especially for the great moments... I couldn't have done it without you.

Free Hugs...

I really feel like blogging now. I haven't done it lately that much. I do miss it, just that my time is very limited these days... Even so, I still do receive nice links from certain people... This is one of them... Today I got www.freehugs.org. This is an awesome website, really.

Sometimes, a hug is all what we need.Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.
In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.

In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, I AM REALLY CONSIDERING doing something like this too. It would be fun and cool, at the same time. I am serious... One Saturday or Sunday... I'll just go down the busiest street in Oradea and start hugging people... Though this might totally ruin my reputation in this snobbish, judgemental society we live in... Even so... Anyone care to join? Post a comment or send a mail... Again, I am serious about this!

I got my digi camera back...

... but Panasonic still sucks :P Yes, I did. Yesterday I finally got THE call, telling me that my camera is back in town. Well it's not mine actually. It's another one. They realized that they suck so bad that they can't repair it... so they decided to replace it. After such a long time... Well it's still good. Even though it's not even the same color. Yes, they changed that also. Now it's blue... no longer silver. I don't mind about that so much, but still...

Anyway... I am trully happy to have it back. Especially knowing that I only waited for it 53 days. Fair enough, right? I leave you know. I'm going to have some fun with it. ;)