The first Monday, I couldn't believe it had been 5 years since I had last practiced! Not when I feel so good, so liberated after each training, so confident and seeing life with better eyes...  I definitely must continue to do this from now on, regardless of anything else - since it's the only sport I practice (besides training my fingers on the buttons 12-14 hours a day :P ). Aikido is not like other martial arts. The concept of attack here is only used so that you can learn to defend yourself against one. There's no ill will, no wish to destroy the one next to you for trying to do you harm, no poorly conceived sense of justice through revenge. There's just energy to be taken, given, offered, shaped and returned. Of course, you can still crush your opponent, break every bone in his body, tare him apart limb by limb and bone by bone - but why would you want that when there's a better way? For the most attacks it's enough to just prove to Uke that you're stronger than he is and if you do it right there's no need to go any further. If that doesn't work, well - at least you tried, now you can take more drastic steps ;) My old Aikido teacher used to say to us that you can brea

A smile... A push in the right direction... A warm hug... A sincere advice... A wild idea put into practice... Trying every day to make a small difference... Getting your friends to give a damn... So many other ways to change yourself and the people around you. I was watching in the past few days a short movie from Seth Godin , called This is broken . And it got me thinking: so many things around us are wrong, for so many reasons, that we somehow became immune. Not caring is another thing that's broken. And day by day, we hope and pray it'll be better (and Seth's idea to point out things that are broken in the world is a great one) but we don't do enough to try and fix these things. As Steven Seagal said in a trip to Bucharest, " It's not enough to just talk the talk. You have to walk the walk! ". And, to complete this with another famous and very true phrase, " a small step for man, a giant step for mankind! ". So, don't wait around for others to change you and the world you live in. It's your responsibility , it's your privilege , it's your right . Make every moment, every gesture, every action count for something, and then add them together to create something huge an

Sambata, 21 noiembrie 2009, am avut onoarea si privilegiul de-a fi luat parte la conferinta NovemberWeb, ajunsa deja la cea de-a 8-a editie in Iasi. Multumesc pe aceasta cale lui Adi Mironescu pentru invitatia adresata, si pentru implicarea in organizarea acestui eveniment. Desi nu am avut posibilitatea sa raman pana la sfarsit, am prins patru prezentari de exceptie, tinute de persoane consacrate din online-ului romanesc. Primul pe lista vorbitorilor a fost Sabin Buraga , doctor in informatica si profesor-asociat al Facultatii de Informatica din cadrul Universitatii "Al. I. Cuza" Iasi. Prezentarea sa a avut tema "Semantic Social Web" si s-a referit mai ales la marcarea datelor in cadrul paginilor web nu doar pentru a fi redate intr-o anumita forma, ci si pentru a fi interpretate semantic de anumiti algoritmi. Pornind de la aceasta idee, discutia a continuat pe directia microformatelor si a standardelor implementate sau in curs de implementare, precum si prezentarea foarte pe scurt a limbajului SPARQL care poate fi utilizat pentru interogarea colectiilor de date marcate RDF sau in alte formate. Slide-urile prezentarii le puteti parcurge la adresa

One month, yesterday. One month ago, I was arriving in Vienna at the invitation of one of my colleagues from AIESEC, to help the people here with creating some websites and updating their communications platform. Funny, but even after so many years of experience and working in countless projects with countless specifications, using countless programming languages and techniques... well, I still don't feel like an expert in my area, though people here often look at me in this way and praise my knowledge. I know that there are people out there better than me, but if I'm that person that they trusted to get the job don, I surely don't say no to something like this. So... I said yes: yes, I will help with the website, yes I will find solutions to some of your problems, and yes I will come and visit Vienna because I'm curious about living in a new city. I said it to myself and when I was convinced, I said to them. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this. At first, the city seems normal, ordinary, quaint. Then little things start to hit you, one by one, hour by hour and day by day as time passes. And they keep on hitting you: so many bikers here that you'd have better chances of bei

I've come up with a basic principle through which you can create signature that include images, for all of your GMail and mail.aiesec.netaccounts: Log in to GMail or mail.aiesec.net and go to Settings - Labs Enable two options from there what will help you in achieving your goal (and then save the settings): Inserting images - this is a plugin that allows you to add images to your GMail messages Canned Responses - this plugin allows you to save pre-formatted messages; it works much like the Drafts folder, except you can re-use the canned responses saved here any time you want to. Create your signature as if you were writing a normal message. Insert the AIESEC logo, the LGP, the NGP and/or any other image you like into the message Under the subject field of your message, you will now find a link with a drop-down arrow next to it, dubbed Canned Responses. Click on it, select from there New canned response... and save your brand new signature with a suggestive name (say, AIESEC Signature, or signature with pictures etc). Very important: after completing these steps, go to Settings - General and disable your existing signature (simply sele

Amintiri rabufnite La cei aproape trei ani de AIESEC pe care-i am în spate, am fost la multe conferinte. Am fost la conferinte locale, la conferinte nationale si, evident, la Iashington. O conferinta internationala creata de noi, de AIESEC, cu scopul de-a facilita interactiunea mai multor culturi într-un mediu captivant, incitant si în egala masura educativ. Anul trecut eram înca "boboc" dupa standardele mele, necopt si netrecut prin evenimente mari, când am fost solicitat sa ajut cu crearea unui site. "Iashington are nevoie de putin ajutor, nu poate strica daca pun si eu osul la bataie", mi-am spus atunci. Am facut o treaba destul de OK, dupa parerea multora – un site usor de administrat, care se încarca rapid, oferea un design atractiv – multumita lui Dapac – si informatie de calitate. Era la început de vara, când cu tot serviciul meu full-time simteam ca nu prea am nimic de facut si nimic de câstigat din lunile care treceau pe lânga mine, astfel ca am decis sa ma ocup în continuare de actualizarea informatiilor si de optimizarea site-ului. Treptat, au aparut task-uri noi pentru care comitetul de organizare nu prea avea la cine sa apeleze: un mai

...cu multumiri si felicitari din partea unui oarecare Webilă pentru Geo, Anda, Bianca, Livia, Dani, Dapac, Ferdi, Maxim, Katy, Nico, Alina, Raluca, Cosmina, Ioana, Tzury si Tibi – organizatori grozavi, oameni extraordinari si prieteni pe viata! Nu stiu de ce am ales sa tac pâna acum. Poate pentru ca dincolo de ceea ce pot exprima prin cuvinte e o întelegere mai înalta a acelor clipe, un sentiment de apartenenta pe care doar cei care au fost în mijlocul evenimentelor îl pot avea. Poate, iarasi, e pentru ca am vrut sa pastrez ceva „doar al meu” din experienta aceea, ceva ce nu credeam ca „ceilalti” vor pricepe pe de-a-ntregul si mai ales nu vor trai pe de-a-ntregul. Poate pentru ca...

AIESEC Iasi organizeaza IASHINGTON 2009 , conferinta internationala ce va avea loc in Iasi, in perioada 20-26 iulie 2009. Proiectul isi propune promovarea valorilor culturale si naturale ale Iasului si ale regiunii Moldovei in randul tinerilor din toate colturile lumii, prin intermediul unei saptamani multiculturale. Conferinta internationala Iashington va reuni urmatoarele evenimente principale: Conferinta propriu-zisa , respectiv sesiunile de traininguri, intre 20 si 25 iulie . Conferinta se va desfasura pe patru teme: LEADERSHIP, LOHAS, ANTREPRENORIAT si COMUNICARE INTERPERSONALA . Sesiunile deschise în care oamenii de la companii, participantii si speakerii dezbat teme de interes comun. Evenimentele culturale Targul Intercultural (Global Village) , in ziua de 26 iulie , cand fiecare participant va avea ocazia sa prezinte particularitatile tarii din care provine. Inscrierile se fac pe pagina www.iashington.org/signup , iar deadline-ul de aplicare este vineri, 10 iulie 2009 . Printre speakerii care si-au confirmat participarea la acest eveniment se numara: Jim

Sorin Talos - Vis de poet

Doina si Ion Aldea Teodorovici - Eminescu

Vasile Mardare - Cabana

Sorin Talos - Balada chiriasului grabit

Vama - Dragostea

Zoia Alecu - Oua de roua

Beatrice Cristea - Ninsoarea de adio

WOW! I mean... WOW! The best time I've had in a long long time :) I will write more within the next few days about the timeline and all the events I've taken part in, as soon as I find the time to write them all down in detail. Meanwhile, here are all the photos taken during our journey and during the festival itself: You can find more info regarding WIF here: http://www.webdesign-festival.com/2008/

Only 70 hours left 'till our arrival in France ...!! So far, it's been a wonderful experience, starting with the fact that we 've actually made it in the finals, continuing with the support of all my friends and colleagues and even my boss's, the mind-blowing conferences I found out I can be a part of, my future first ride in an airplane... It's gonna be veeeeeery interesting, (to say the least)! I'll come back with pictures & more stories as the events develop :) I just hope the number they gave me will be a lucky one ;)