Reinventing Adriana

Social Media Revolution 2011

2011-06-08T20:08:00.000-04:00

And the world keeps spinning, and borders keep disappearing. It amazes me how fast and how far we've come during the last 5-10 years.

QR Codes - Do's and Don'ts

2011-06-07T15:34:00.001-04:00

I remember back in early 2000's, I was living in Peru talking to a Japanese girl who was complaining loudly about the lack of smartphone penetration in our industries and how there were no QR codes to be seen - she spoke of it as if she held the answer to all human problems in the palm of her hand.

And maybe she did.

While attending university I kept hearing of QR code expansion into North America and how it would revolutionize how offline-to-online interactions happened, but it wasn't until 2010-2011 that I have seen a real effort by companies trying to achieve what industrialized countries in Asia have had for years. And even so, many companies are failing at it.

I've seen companies produce QR codes for the sake of having them (very much like their Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages). And so here's a small list of Do's and Don'ts of QR Codes for marketing and promotion purposes that will hopefully aid in understanding these small, odd-looking black and white squares.

DO's

QR codes should provide exclusive and direct access to information. You gotta remember - it's an extra step consumers are taking to take interest in your brand, you cannot just link your QR code to your website and expect them to do the rest.

QR codes are excellent for sweepstakes, exclusive downloads, coupon offers, incentivize Facebook "likes", contests (like the treasure hunt set up by Lady Gaga & Starbucks recently).

As an example, this Japanese girl told us restaurants in Tokyo were taking advantage of your GPS location and during lunch time you would receive a sms message indicating there was a special lunch deal and all you would need to do once there was scan the QR code find out of it was going to be half price Red Dragon Rolls or Udon soup (along with probably a ton of advertising and brand awareness info) - and this was way BACK in early 2000s.

Remember - your code has to be visible! and clear! and not the size of a spec of dust because you ran out of advertising space on your flyer. I've come to places where the QR code is at the back of the Program, in the lower right corner, with no indication as to what it is and where it takes you. Almost as if saying "my boss told me to add a QR code just so his boss would shut up about it and here it is, that is all" <-- this also falls under DON'Ts

DON'Ts

Remember people are doing this on their phones - either a BlackBerry, Iphone or Android phone. So do not link your QR code to a non-mobile website or a site heavy of Flash (you lost half your audience right there and then)

Make sure you indicate where/what the QR code does for you! "Scan to WIN", "Exclusive offer".

If your demographic isn't all that "smartphoned" yet, make sure you indicate how to use the QR code, where to download a scanner, how to scan.

Your QR code may look beautiful once you have it on screen, but make sure you test it with different scanners and different phones prior to launching it everywhere!

JWT: 100 Things to Watch in 2011

2011-01-13T12:56:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation about the 100 Things to Watch in 2011. Very interesting intake on trends surrounding the industry.

JWT: 100 Things to Watch in 2011

View more presentations from JWTIntelligence.

Bashing your employer on Facebook is now legally protected as freedom of speech #fail

2010-11-10T15:04:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine recently had a sour experience at her workplace and was tempted to start a Facebook group to trash said employer. As the good, concerned friend that I am, I suggested her to just vent off over a cup of coffee and avoid getting fired over it. However, after reading Mashable's article on For Employees, Facebook Counts as Free Speech I realize maybe I was wrong?!

Social Media is the microphone every individual gets to express his/her mind. It has been a gate-less environment where everything goes and every one is invited to participate. We have quickly gotten used to too much freedom and now we definitely take it for granted. But to what cost?

Let's go back in time to maybe 10-15 years ago... there is no widely-available Internet and people actually TALK to each other face to face when they need to communicate something (I know, prehistoric times!). Let's say an employee is treated unfairly and he decides to get together with friends after work and they all take turns bashing their boss using some very colourful words. On a nearby table, the boss is having his meal and overhears the entire conversation. What would've been the result then? What would've happened to the worker? Fired or maybe she would have had the decency to quit out of respect.

Fast-forward to today, a similar situation takes place but the conversation takes place on a threat on Facebook. The employee gets fired over it but this time she takes it up higher and takes legal action claiming it's in violation of labor laws that protect employees' right to talk about things like wages and working conditions. The law sides with said employee and it becomes a precedent for future cases.

We have reached a point where too much freedom is getting in the way of proper social/professional conduct. Fine, she has the right to say what she wants if it's outside of the office but bashing your boss on such a public place is just plain stupid. What, she thought he wouldn't find out? Even if she didn't get fired, she definitely took herself off future promotion lists.

I particularly loved one of the comments on the article, it went like this:

"Stupidity is a protected right. One is free to act as stupid as one wishes in the guise of free speech. Bashing one's employer on Facebook is protected stupidity. Any employee that fails to take a moment to think through the consequences of their actions, is bound to act stupid in other ways, too. The employer should have no trouble finding a reasonable and legal means of terminating any employee that lacks the self-control to wait a moment and consider the consequences of their actions before clicking on the submit button. And more often than not, poorly thought-out social networking postings end up making the poster look stupid." - DavidMcKnight

So, boys and girls, the lesson for today is - common sense also (and especially) applies online.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION! BB Torch and Socialnomics

2010-11-09T00:17:00.001-05:00

SO! My last post was on September 7th (yes yes procrastinating took over for a bit) BUT I am glad to mention that I am currently taking an ROA Certificate at Seneca College for Computer Layout and Design. My course tonight was DREAMWEAVER and I friggin' LOVE this program! I remember trying to teach myself HTML coding a while back and suffering through it. Now everything is ~~down right simple~~ not EXTREMELY hard!
And so, armed with my new knowledge of website building I will attempt to fix this blog - it will take a while, but it SHALL BE DONE.

I have also been reading Erik Qualman's Socialnomics and I gotta say, the book is an excellent example of just HOW FAST and how FURIOUS (no pun intended) Social Media is taking over the way we receive information. The book was written in 2009 and published in 2010, already most of his examples are ~~in the process of being~~ outdated. I am not done with the book yet but I shall write a nice review soon-times. I hadn't had the pleasure of reading anything from Mr. Qualman before, but now I'll make sure I keep an eye on his career. I twitted about Socialnomics it and Erik Qualman himself tweeted back, so now I know he's just one tweet away!

In other news... I've been the proud owner of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 for about a month now - it is too late for a review, but I will say that the Social Feed it provides is sweet, i used it for a couple of weeks and I was really enjoying it until I received my account confirmation for Social Scope. I love having everything in one app now! The torch's touch screen is incredibly responsive and the OS 6 is much faster than my previous Bold 9700 (even though it is getting it ~~leaked ou~~t soon). I have found; however, a couple of glitches and I'm crossing fingers that a future upgrade will fix them.

it takes a couple of seconds for a BBM chat window to open up
Using the lock up button on top can be quite frustrating if the device takes its time to respond - but it only happens 1 every 8 or so attempts.
When you open up an sms convo, it will drop you half way instead of at the last post

Other than those issues, the phone will definitely satisfy previous BlackBerry users.

Other users...maybe not so much, but I don't care what they say... they are missing out!

Social Media Revolution 2

2010-09-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

Another mind-blowing video on how social media is molding our future.

Once again, the Internet makes everything else obsolete

2010-08-28T14:00:00.001-04:00

BlackBerry Bold 9700 with no UMA??

2010-08-27T01:36:00.004-04:00

So I recently updated from a BlackBerry Curve 8900 to a Bold 9700. I was excited when the Rogers rep told me it supported UMA and I could make calls over Wifi without eating my daytime minutes.

So I went to Mobile Network Options and I wasn't able to find the Connection Preference menu. After a lot of google-ing and forum researching, I found out that "apparently" Rogers didn't have their software upgraded on their 3G network to allow the UMA <---> 3G handoff to happen properly.

All the posted solutions indicated I was going to have to either do so through a 2G network or to do so via engineering screens. I am not a techie so I was not about to try option 2.
Someone else posted; however, that if I was able to upgrade to the *unofficial* OS 5.0.0.862 I would be able to fix the missing UMA menu.
And so I went from 5.0.0.743 to the new .862 OS and so far I have experienced an increase in memory, faster app response and faster browsing! AND I can now change my UMA settings to Wifi Preferred :D I can definitely say I am a happy camper. Thank you Crackberry.com for once again solving my BB headaches!

This is how I installed it:

Download the OS to your PC
Double click on the file and it should begin to install
Once it is done, go to My Computer/(C:)/Program Files/Common Files/Research in Motion/AppLoader
Delete a file called Vendor.xml
Connect your BlackBerry through USB to your PC (back up your files first!)
Back on the AppLoader folder, click on Loader
Let it install and follow instructions from there. Enjoy!

Now, I am not responsible for any damagers you might cause to your BlackBerry, you are updating to an unofficial OS at your own risk. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or contact me through twitter @atayraco.

ALSO, this solution apparently only works for Rogers branded phones working on Rogers Wireless.

Happy UMA-ing!

and SPAIN wins the worldcup!

2010-07-12T17:27:00.001-04:00

I have to admit, I've been slacking lately. I owe you guys a post or two! My only excuse? the World Cup. I've been religiously following every game, every penalty kick, every yellow card to the very end. Yesterday I made my way down to Bathurst & College St (Toronto) to watch the final match between SPAIN and NEDERLANDS. As a citizen of an ex colonial country (Peru), I was ~~forced into~~ rooting for Spain.

Me and a couple of friends made it down to Plaza Flamingo to find it packed. So we moved our party to El Rancho just across the street. We were surrounded by red & yellow flags and a never ending choir of "Oleee Ole Ole Oleee" - I loved every second of it!

Then the game starts...and it all goes quiet. Someone stands up to go to the washroom and blocks the big screen tv...the crowd's screams scares the guy to death and he quickly sits back down. Spain had SO many opportunities to score but it seemed as if they prolonged the agony just to entertain their fans. Finally Andres Iniesta scores the wining goal. I cannot describe the feeling inside that crowded pub once that ball made it into the net. You could feel how much Spain (and its fans) wanted this to happen!

A love World Cup celebrations, but I've never seen the passion I saw yesterday. A victory is always sweet, but it's even sweeter when you haven't tasted it before. Congratulations Spain, it was a game very well played.

¡Que viva España!

Google and Twitter honour World Cup 2010

2010-06-11T00:42:00.000-04:00

The World Cup starts tomorrow! (today depending on where you are) and I cannot be any more excited! Not only for the amazing futbol (or soccer) we are about to experience but also for how we will experience it. The way we communicate has evolved SO MUCH since the last cup in 2006, now we got more access to information and more ways to share it! Imagine the possibilities! People in Africa twittering about the game they are watching and pictures coming and going all over the world!

Anyway, I'm getting off topic here. I wanted to share with you guys how even big giants like Google and Twitter have caught the soccer fever. So what Google did was it changed it's page counter to a very exciting Goooooal!

Twitter, on the other side, decided to pay homage by a more subtle change. They added World-Cup to their definition box - soccer ball and all. Not to mention that #worldcup and #wc2010 have been amongst the trendier topics lately. And if you really wanna keep an eye on what's going on with the World Cup then I recommend this link http://twitter.com/worldcup/worldcup for all your soccer needs :)

That is it for now. Let the best team win. I'm going to bed so I can catch the 8am inauguration ceremony tomorrow!

Never underestimate the end-user!

2010-05-31T02:00:00.002-04:00

This is an actual letter from an Austin woman sent to American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph. It's PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.

Dear Mr. Thatcher,
I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants.
Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from 'the curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call 'an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.' Isn't the human body amazing?
As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customer's monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the viole nt urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy!
The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.'
Are you f------ kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness, is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.
For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?
Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that's a promise I will keep.
Always. . .
Wendi Aarons
Austin , T X

Axis of Awesome - 4 Four Chord Song (with song titles)

2010-05-31T01:19:00.000-04:00

Let's get some terms straight w/regards to this Oil Spill ...

2010-05-29T23:48:00.002-04:00

YouTube Turns Five!

2010-05-17T14:37:00.000-04:00

In technology years, that's like...20.

UbyKotex - Reality Check Commercial

2010-05-13T11:19:00.000-04:00

Hahahahahahahahahahhaa....

Now that I'm done laughing, as a marketer.... i LOVE this commercial. Talk about bending the rules, thinking outside the box, being funny YET memorable, establishing brand image right off the bat! Everything done to perfection.

I had heard of this brand when it first launched and saw a bunch of adds on campus, but it wasn't until this commercial came out that I actually paid attention to the product. Even the colours are different - no more soft pinks and blues...the packaging is black and adds very bright eye-popping colours. They are obviously trying to break the cycle of weirdness and awkwardness around women's periods. Heck, I wouldn't mind having a couple of those tampons in my purse for everyone to see (ok, maybe not everyone).

Well done Kotex, very well done. Now let's wait and see if your actual product lives up to the image you've so carefully created.

Ellen apologized for iPhone parody video

2010-05-06T21:18:00.001-04:00

A couple of days ago, I went on Facebook and posted the Ellen DeGeneres iPhone parody video which I - as a non iPhone user- found hilarious. It was all light comedy and laughs. A day later; however, I found out through Mashable.com that Ellen had to apologize for said video because (and I quote) "they thought [she] made the iPhone look hard to use" ...

Let's put aside the fact that Ellen's video was, in my opinion, accurate (those touchscreen keys are extremely sensitive!). One of Ellen's viewers writes "This was so accurate. Ellen is my age and I can no more use that stupid i-phone than I can fly. Thank you for showing the truth. Apple can go to hell in an iBasket" Posted by L J Ruffner.

Now, Mashable brought up an interesting point: "Apple’s reaction and DeGeneres’s subsequent apology bring up some interesting questions about freedom of speech and the media. (...) Should a comedian apologize for parody?"

I'm on Ellen's side here. Like I said before, it was all light-hearted comedy. Apple's empire is (effectively) acting like a bully intimidating anyone who dares raise their voice against their products. They are well on their way to becoming an arrogant corporate titan.

So how does this end? Ellen loses credibility, Apple looks paranoid and insecure. I guess this wasn't a funny joke after all.

CHEAP, FAST, EASY TO MAKE ALFREDO SAUCE PASTA!

2010-05-03T15:43:00.007-04:00

Today I present to you my family's version of Alfredo Sauce Pasta. While it is not the traditional creamy pasta every Italian family serves, I still remember my mom making this for us on busy weekdays and me always going for second servings hehe.
Having said that, this recipe is ideal for those days with few items on the fridge, a huge appetite, and only 15 minutes to prepare a meal.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 kg pasta (I'm using Spaghetti)
1 cup of evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 or 4 hotdogs or sliced ham (I only had hotdogs in the fridge today)
Sal, Pepper
Basil Leaves
2 spoons of butter
1/4 cup of all-purpose flour (optional)

PREPARATION:

** Light up a scented candle to prevent the smell from adhering to your clothes**

Step 1 - Boil the pasta according to package instructions with a teaspoon of oil and salt

Step 2 - While the pasta boils, cut the hotdogs (or ham) into little squared pieces

Step 3 - Preheat a frying pan with a spoonfull of olive oil and fry the hotdogs for 3 min aprox.

Step 4 - When the hotdogs are ready, put them aside. Check the pasta, it should be done by now. Drain the pasta and run it through cold water so it won't stick

Step 5 - Using the same pan where you boiled the pasta, pour a cup of evaporated milk on medium heat.

Step 6 - Now add the half a cup of grated parmesan cheese while stirring the milk. Add salt and pepper, butter, and basil leaves.

Step 7 - If you like your pasta sauce a little on the thick side, add 1/4 cup of all purpose flour and mix constantly to prevent the flour from sticking

Step 8 - Add the fried hotdogs and mix, keeping the heat on medium-low. Let it boil and quickly remove from heat.

Step 9 - After you have drained the pasta, add it to the pan and mix with the sauce.

Step 10 - You're done! Serve while hot! Decorate with either mint leaves or - in my case - romaine lettuce haha.

*** ENJOY! ***

TOTAL ECLIPSE FROM THE HEART - LITERAL VERSION

2010-05-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

This will make your night! I was on the floor in tears :D

Enjoy!

My new Peruvian Silver Jewelry!

2010-04-16T22:34:00.004-04:00

My brother just came back from Peru and before he left I gave him US$200 to find me as much 950 Silver jewelry as he could pay for. He bought me this amazing Nazca-lines inspired necklace and earings, two beautiful bracelets and my grandma bought me a necklace with "huairuros" inside.

To think that Tiffany's would probably charge me US$400 for one of these pieces and only because it has it's brand on it! oh how my country's natural resources go terribly unnoticed!

These look SO good now that my skin is tanned! Thank you Cuba!

Food Inc.

2010-04-12T16:40:00.000-04:00

So first things first - CLICK HERE NOW to watch the Food Inc. documentary. A great film where filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on America's very unregulated food industry. It will make you think twice before skipping home-made dinner for a cheaper fast food choice.

Now make an effort to stop buying from the big brands and more from local farmers or Organic brands.

Thanks Angie for a great link.

Loving the sun!

2010-04-10T15:44:00.001-04:00

This is a quick post just to say I friggin' love sunny days! We had flurries yesterday and it was disgustingly cold. Now we got sun and my dog is lazily chillin' on top of our strawberry garden haha. Oh who cares. We're having fun!

"Sal solcito, calientame un poquito, por hoy y por mañana, por toda la semana!"
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

one of my favourite things....

2010-04-01T20:57:00.001-04:00

So here I am, working as a bartender for a persian funeral reception. As with any funeral, there is a somber atmosphere and everyone speaks in whispers, as if afraid the deceased might hear them.

Turns out it is a man who died, a beloved father of two who was unfortunate enough to get diagnosed with cancer too early in life. The daughter goes up and gives a heart-touching speech, the kid plays his dad's favourite piece on the piano. The flowers and food are all delicately placed on the table I'm looking after.

There is something about funerals...something that sucks the happiness out of you (dementors come to mind...) I don't know the man who died, yet I am touched by everyone's sadness. I have to leave room and while I'm walking through this hallway I see a whiteboard with a couple of markers on it. I grab the black one and start drawing, not knowing what the final product will look like. When I'm done, I take a step back and there it is. I just drew my representation of the universal symbol of happiness and childhood memories - I just drew a Mickey Mouse face, go figure.

This has got me thinking...my funeral better be all laughs and good memories. I won't have the sad tears and gloomy faces. I will have Mickey Mouse.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Will Cuba help me "unplug" ? Traveling tips

2010-03-18T00:20:00.001-04:00

So I'm leaving for Cuba on Friday...that is 2 days from now! and i cannot be more excited! I'm going with a couple of friends and we are staying at an all-inclusive hotel in Varadero and doing a tour of La Habana while we are at it.

I cannot stress enough how useful has the Internet been in planning my trip. Besides google-ing reviews, blogs, forums of previous travelers experiences, I also made some twitter friends who were nice enough to tell me first hand what they liked or disliked of their trip to Cuba. I made very useful notes on where the tourist and local attractions are and how much they cost, the best spots for a coffee and where to catch that romantic sunset.

I was amazed at the amount of detail I was able to get from one night of searching! I mean, I was scared that because it was Cuba ~~and uncle Fidel likes keeping it on the down-low~~ I wasn't going to get more than a minimalistic map. To my surprise, I found out that Google has a very helpful interactive map of the city with pointers to the best restaurants and museums (see below!)

Ver Guía Turística de La Habana en un mapa más grande

So now that I have what I need I am getting nervous. I haven't "unplugged" in over 5 years. It's always been my BlackBerry, my wifi, my constant updating of an online persona through several profiles, my Google-ing... and for a little over a week it will be nothing. Scary, scary stuff I tell you. Ever since I came to Canada 6 years ago I haven't thought of a "simpler" lifestyle, with less technology, more social interaction (the real kind tho) even though that's exactly what Canadian society needs sometimes, because less is more.

I was brought up in a less is more environment. Let's see if I can get used to it again ;)

Lady GaGa at her best

2010-03-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

I am totally going to steal what my friend had to say about GaGa's new video, only because i find it extremely accurate.

"Her new video is a Tarantino-tribute/ripoff + endless product placement ad + teen boy playtime material + grrl power farce. Totally cynical, fame-obsessed New Material Girl, uses body as canvas, pushes all the buttons of a conservative society while embodying its selfish, money-grabbing attitudes. Turn em on, make em mad, cash the cheque. Haha... joke's on everyone." - Braz King

Thanks Braz, I couldn't have said it better myself.

A picture speaks louder than a thousand words

2010-03-01T23:12:00.001-05:00

Did you know...

Health Care costs per person in:
Canada - $2,998
Japan - $2,249
United States - $5,711

or how about...

MRI machines per million population in:
Japan - 40.1
United States - 26.6
UK - 5.4

If these numbers shock you...how about clicking here and getting a more visual (and shocking) breakdown of Health Care Costs Around the World - graciously provided by VE - VisualEconomics.

Over 600 people thought that the site Read Write Web was actually the Facebook login site

2010-02-22T12:58:00.001-05:00

Watch the video. Done? Ok.

What did we learn from this? It confirmed (once again) that good SEO will bring higher hits on your website and thus increase your ROI.

The fact that internet users are not always smart cookies...well that's a different coloured horse all together. Here, read some of the comments these users left on Read Write Web - try not to laugh :)

Oh Internet, please forgive them for they have still so much to learn from thee....

Odd Marketing Decisions

2010-02-18T15:30:00.001-05:00

So it is the 21st Century, and the Internet and it's limitless opportunities rule the way we market a product or service. Marketers know that in order to make a new product/service succeed (regardless of the industry!) you have to consider to some degree internet trends, social media, viral marketing, guerilla marketing, and/or at least make sure someone can Google you. Right?

Right??

Right.

Then why is it that most companies are still "iffy" about implementing any of this? I am asking because I have been volunteering for a new Town-owned facility and I feel that; even though they are doing a great job at promoting their stuff offline, they are lacking an online brand presence. I am the youngest member of the Marketing Committee that was formed to help the Marketing Director with promotional tasks and whenever I would want to implement new channels of communication I would receive the same answers: "the Town will not let us" or "it won't reach our audience".

And even though they do have Twitter, a website, and a Facebook page, it feels like they have them for the sake of having them, and not using them to directly communicate and interact with consumers. Even if the main demographic is a little older, you already covered your bases with traditional print and tv media, why not experiment a little with your online options? Baby boomers are still working and are more in-tune with technology than ever before, so why not?

For any of those people involved who happen to read this: do some marketing research, see where your public is at, identify their individual needs and how to better satisfy them BY ALL MEANS POSSIBLE.

Anyway, that's it for ranting... back to job hunting! (hey that rhymes!)

WE ARE THE WORLD 2010

2010-02-13T17:51:00.002-05:00

THE REMAKE

What is that Bieber kid doing there?? he should've been replaced by Shaheen Jafargholi . Loved the remix with Lil Wayne, Kayne West, and TPain! Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson and Josh Groban were ah-mazing to say the least.

I love it when creativity takes over and a decent remake of a classic is presented to the world in such a time of need. Great job everyone. Let's make it go viral, let's make it happen.

New Template, Life, and my two cents on the iPad

2010-01-28T14:54:00.003-05:00

Woohoo, I got bored of the old one so I decided to find myself something calmer, more coffee-fueled, more me. I saw this template and loved it. *Sigh* if only I could design my own... Maybe i should enroll myself in some webdesign course somewhere... hmmmm.

So I appologize if for a moment there you don't know where you are or where things are hidding. I'll be adding all my old gadgets soon enough. Right now I gotta cook some lentils with fried beef and rice before me and my brother starve to death.

Aaaanyway....

What's going on around me:
Outside my window - a small snowstorm is picking up
Now playing - "Can you feel the love tonight? - Elton John"
What I'm reading - Jane Austen quotes (thus why the change in the "About my Blog" section)
What I'm wearing - my cooking clothes: old jeans and a garfield hoodie

And so everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is talking about the iPad and I guess I should put in my two cents....It's funny how reviews are either saying how bad it is and how many things it's missing or how awesome and gap-filling it intends to be. I honestly have no idea. Apple fans will RUN to buy this oversized ipod touch but i believe it will take a while before these innovators influence any followers. I think it's just not that cool. Oh well, you know that Apple will pour their advertising dollars on making this new item replace any ebook reader out there. As a marketer, I am VERY excited to see how their advertising campaign will evolve according to customers' response. We shall wait and see...

That's it for now. I'm thinking about playing my guitar again...who knows maybe i'll even record something.

Adios!

The struggles of a recent graduate...

2010-01-27T16:07:00.008-05:00

And so I am finally done with York University. What to do now?
a) find ANY job to start paying a huge OSAP amount thanks to increasing tuition
b) forget about OSAP and travel the world
c) forget about a or b and volunteer for a non-for profit org
d) forget about a,b, or c and start my own Marketing & Advertising Company for Small businesses and conquer the world put my grain of sand to fix our planet through ethical marketing practices.

Obviously I haven't the slightest clue as to what to do next. I updated my resume, updated my linkedin, I'm updating my blog (finally!), and i'm volunteering at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts Marketing and Networking committee. I have my goals written down in S.M.A.R.T. form but all major changes require a first step and that's the step I haven't taken yet.
Society requires you to adapt, conform, adjust your life to the mold and that seems to be the problem for me. I was never a follower, always a leader and i am not ready to give that up!

I shall target managers/companies/agencies I would like to work for and start from there. Or maybe I should staple a sign on my back that says "will work for OSAP money" hahaha...*sigh* *sad face*

Another example of how Social Networking is helping Haiti

2010-01-14T14:33:00.003-05:00

Facebook and Twitter providing peace of mind to family of survivors in Haiti. Twits, video are pouring over the social networking sites shedding light on the real situation in the Island.

Fundraising has also taken a new approach and now you can use text messaging to effortlessly donate $10 to the American Red Cross. Just text the word "Haiti" to phone number 90999 and the $10 will be added to your phone bill.

Winter's finally here

2010-01-03T14:31:00.000-05:00

So hello Mr. Winter,

Nice to finally see you! A little late I suppose but better late than never. I wanna take this opportunity to thank you for the 10cm of snow we got overnight. Me and mother loved freezing our hands while trying to shovel it off while you kept pouring more snow on our driveway. And then the driving to the grocery store was amazing! I mean, who doesn't love bad drivers + snowstorm? People were so funny sliding and cutting your way...

I also want to thank you for putting people in a panic and making them buy every single piece of chicken breast and bread at NoFrills - going through all of this just to come back empty handed was quite the experience and a boost-up to our mood.

Keep up the good work, don't forget about pedestrians and parking lots - they love near-death experiences!

Love,

Adriana Munoz Tayraco
York University Honours Marketing - Bachelor of Administrative Studies, 2009

Check my Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Portfolio - visit
www.unhub.com/atayraco

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

JibJab's 2009 Year in Review

2009-12-28T13:36:00.005-05:00

JIB JAB's 2009 YEAR IN REVIEW

JibJab's latest installment is finally here! Check out what went on (and went down) during 2009. I love how these guys don't miss a thing!

Get ready for some laughs :)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Happy Holidays and an excellent 2010 to come!

2009-12-23T18:25:00.006-05:00

And so the year is almost over. And so my time at York University is done. 2009 has been a very interesting year overall. I think the video I'm posting below pretty much summarizes just how interesting it has been. And what a better way to do so than to present it Google Wave -style!

I am now busy with treating my grandma like a queen for the last couple of days she has with us before she goes back to Peru. I will surely miss her cooking!

For all those Hispanics reading this, don't you love it when all your house smells like a mix of sautéed onions + garlic + olive oil + salt + pepper + cumin ? or when Grandma cooks to the point where the whole first level of your house is submerged in a thick layer of smoke and the fire alarm turns on and the whole family runs to open doors and windows and fan out the smoke? I do! Food tastes better that way!

Anyway, I have more free time now. I shall update this blog soon-times :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! Be safe! No drinking and driving and most importantly... give a little love to those in need.

Felices Fiestas y un Prospero Año 2010

Amazing Sand Art with a positive message.

2009-12-08T19:43:00.001-05:00

I've been insanely busy with my last semester at York University. Sorry if I haven't been updating as constantly as I should.

Winter break is coming! yay! I'll work on my online life after I'm finished de-stressing my real one haha.

Enjoy the video.

XKCD - My Profanity Usage By cause

2009-11-16T01:08:00.001-05:00

Funny...this chart is pretty accurate.

BOOTMGR IS COMPRESSED SOLUTION

2009-11-13T23:04:00.004-05:00

So this is the latest problem I encountered while playing with Windows 7.

I have two partitions on my HP Pavillion, one with Vista (sucks) and one with 7 (love) and I was trying to legitimize my 7 copy when this whole nightmare happened.

After installing a loader on it and restarting, it gave me the "Bootmgr is compressed Press Ctl + Atl + Del to restart" message. Of course, after restarting it would get stuck again.

THANK GOODNESS I had the Windows 7.iso burnt on a dvd!!!

Here's what to do:

Boot from the Windows 7.iso and click on Repair my Computer.
Then select the OS installation (in this case, I selected Windows Vista since I had both) and click on "Load Drivers".
Then when the window pops open just right-click on the compressed drive (in my case I had both C and E compressed) and de-select the "Compress this Drive" option - make sure you apply to subfolders and files.
Then restart and voilà! things should be back to normal.

Leave a comment if you have any questions.

As usual, don't forget to subscribe! I don't spam I promise :)

Woman Falls Onto Subway Tracks

2009-11-11T00:13:00.003-05:00

Amazing, drunk woman falls onto the tracks of the subway and is miraculously saved when the train is able to stop inches before running the woman over.

What's even crazier, how she managed to 'land' with all body parts in between the tracks! She could've easily lost a hand!

The Youtube Application that should exist

2009-11-10T23:20:00.001-05:00

Stuff Canadians/Americans do...

2009-11-04T00:17:00.003-05:00

I have noticed over the years that North Americans (Canadians and Americans equally) tend to quote TV shows or Movies waaaay too much. This happens with shows like South Park, Family Guy, The Simpsons (to a lesser degree) any movie by Tarantino, Friends, Will & Grace, The Office, and any movie with Samuel L. Jackson.

Is it just me? Or have you noticed it too?? My boyfriend does it ALL the time. What amazes me is that they can quote word-by-word complete scenes and even episodes! And they will always laugh at these quotes like it's the first time they hear them (when they probably saw the episode/movie a thousand times before).

Then there's those times when they will interrupt a very interesting conversation with "oh that reminds me, d'you remember when Stewie said/did...." and then the quoting (and re-enactment) begins... NOT COOL. Some of us where actually paying attention to the conversation before you jumped right in!

I think it's a cultural thing. I don't remember us hispanics (back home) quoting soap operas on a daily basis... then again our quotes would involve suspenseful confessions of amnesia, fake pregnancies, your mom not being your real mom, tons of slapping and re-enactment of sex scenes...

Lol come to think about it...maybe we should start quoting ;-)

Fey - Provocame (Games that You Play)

2009-11-02T03:44:00.004-05:00

I am LOVING this video! So sexual and expressive! And the lyrics are just...uh! ...so empowering! Fey is definitely BACK!

Esta será la última vez

Que me veras llorar por él

Me he decidido y contigo estaré

Serás testigo y cómplice

Veras lo que es capaz de hacer

Llena de rabia una mujer

Provócame quiero serle infiel

Jugaré como él a olvidar su nombre

Aprenderé para no volver

A caer en las redes de ningún hombre

The song is about a woman who has been cheated on and now she wants to do the same thing and is singing to this guy asking him to "provoke" her cuz she wants to be unfaithful too.

I know some of you don't speak Spanish so click here for the English version "Games that You Play"

Halloween!!

2009-11-02T03:36:00.007-05:00

Small post, Halloween was AWESOME! Me and the bf were swing dancers from the 50's.

<----I think the red polka-dot dress I wore was not that tacky at all! lol I'm kind of growing fond of it <3

Here's a picture of a night to remember -->

WATCHING U2 @ YOUTUBE!

2009-10-26T00:26:00.004-04:00

Go to Youtube.com/u2 to watch them live NOW. Follow #u2webcast on Twitter!

I'm not even a hardcore fan and I'm loving it! The social interconnectivity experiment they are pulling off is just phenomenal. Quite a Viral effort. Props to that!

Twitter part of mandatory courseload for Journalists

2009-10-25T19:46:00.004-04:00

I was browsing through Mashable.com newstories on Twitter when I found this article about Australia's Griffit University where Journalism students are now required to take a course on Twitter in order to graduate.

I have mixed feelings about this.

When the announcement was made, confusion took over with some students not even knowing what Twitter was and why they needed it. Truth be told, my generation - the so called "Millenials" - have been stereotyped as technology junkies with complex online social lives and an incurable (and enjoyable) addiction to the Internet. While this stays true for some - me included - not everyone falls under this category! Most of my friends are still skeptical about the powers of Twitter and the closest they've ever come to being social addicts was when they were really addicted to Facebook and were refreshing their News Feed every few seconds.

Maybe the course should not be made mandatory, it should be left as optional but recommended.

Having said that, I do see Journalism and Twitter growing closer and closer together over the next few months (you can't say years here, technology changes too fast for that sort of prediction!).

Anyway, that's just my opinion. Sometimes I feel like we are trying to push this Twitter thing too hard and too fast.

PIXAR INTRO PARODY

2009-10-20T00:02:00.002-04:00

What happens after the adorable lamp jumps on top of the i? Click to find out.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

How to Fix the "Missing BBM Icon" after 5.0 upgrade problem

2009-10-17T16:36:00.005-04:00

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I was bbm-less for a long period of time thanks to a stupid 'bug' in the bbm 5.0 upgrade. To summarize what happened, i upgraded to 5.0 via wifi and after rebooting the device as I was asked, my bbm icon went missing and I didn't have a backup of the previous version. Of course, Rogers didn't know why it happened and every single forum I read about the problem indicated solutions that weren't working for me.

So here's how I got it fixed.

I asked Rogers to re-install my OS system (cuz as smart as I may feel about BlackBerries, i don't wanna mess with my OS) and after they did that I had them reinstall my previous 4.6 bbm (cuz like I said, I didn't have a backup and there were no OTAs for it!) and after that was said and done I went to BlackBerrytune.com and found these files I could use to install my 5.0 over DM. You go to Apt. Loader and Browse these files and install them onto your BB. In the article, the guy says to delete 5.0 and install his version and doing it several times. What I did was to install his files ON TOP of my 4.6 version using DM and after rebooting and doing one battery pull-out I had my 5.0 installed and working ;-) AFTER ALMOST 2 WEEKS BBM-LESS!

Hope this can help anyone suffering from a similar problem!

Ok now I can go and play around with my new bbm 5.0 woot! QR code reader baby!

Oh one more thing, check this Pixar Intro Parody video - Hi....llarious!

DEAR "NOT COMPUTER PEOPLE"

2009-10-17T16:24:00.005-04:00

BlackBerry Messenger upgrade to 5.0 sucks!

2009-10-11T13:13:00.006-04:00

Yep, I said it. 5.0 sucks.

Being a blackberry addict, I was waiting for the legal version of bbm 5.0 to upgrade.

So here I am, going to the blackberry messenger website and waiting my long minutes (cuz I'm cheap, I don't have a data plan - i use wifi) for the thing to download, then it asks me if I want to replace the 4.7 version with the new and improved 5.0. I say yes of course! click, wait, click again. Please restart your device for the changes to take effect. Restart. Wait. Wait some more. Yay we're back in business...but wait a second, where is my bbm icon?? Nope, not in hidden folders, but it shows 5.0 in applications installed, so wtf?

There was no blackberry messenger icon to be found. Dun dun duuunnn...

I did my fair share of googling the problem, uninstalling and reinstalling, doing a battery pullout, NOTHING. I checked forums that told me I wasn't the only one with the problem (yay for community suffering!) and finally I decided to talk to a Rogers technician - online - cuz I refuse to call them and have them say "himynameiswhatever,thanksforcallingrogerswireless,howmayihelpyoutoday??" like they are in fast-forward mode. Anyway, the online technician said I will have to reformat my handheld device and go back to the 4.7 version - why? he doesn't know. Thank you Rogers for the wealth of knowledge you impart on us minions.

I hate technology sometimes....well it's more of a love-hate relationship....it will be hate until I am able to bbm again....hate you Rogers/RIM ...for now.

**UPDATE***

Seen how I've been getting a high response on this note, I have to update you guys because I did solve this problem and blogged about it. Fast forward to my post on how to fix the missing bbm problem by clicking here.

Bangitout.com - Random Thoughts of People Our Age

2009-10-11T10:58:00.003-04:00

You gotta read this. It's just hilarious! If you are 20-30 something, you'll probably laugh at 90% of this stuff.

Bangitout.com - Random Thoughts of People Our Age

For example:

5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

9.There is a great need for sarcasm font.

17. Was learning cursive really necessary?

18. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

20. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying

33. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

There's more where that came from, you gotta read it for yourself ;-)

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Peruvian Traditions

2009-10-05T23:59:00.003-04:00

I am feeling very patriotic tonight. For those of you who have no idea what Negroide is, or better yet have no clue where Peru is located (South America btw) go check out this video and see what our people are all about. This dance is called "Festejo", which literally translates to Celebration.

"Afro-Peruvian music was first created by African slaves in Peru during the Colonial Period and beyond. The rhythms include Festejo, Lando, Socabon, Pregon, Zamacueca, and Alcatraz. Many of those were played with a mixture of Spanish and Indian instruments and used the Spanish coplas as lyrics." - Wikipedia.com

The popular name of this particular dance is Alcatraz, sensually-themed and highly entertaining. Both male and female dancers have a piece of cloth hanging from their behinds and the purpose is to dance with candles trying to put the cloth on fire. Fast and light-stepped hip movements are needed while males try and seduce the girl and viceversa.

This scenario happens rather playfully with lyrics such as "I bet you 5 Reales that you won't burn my 'alcatraz'" and of course that was slang for butt. Watch the intensity of the movements, the hips and legs moving to the rhythms of the Cajon and the Caja. You can feel the Afro-Peruvian flavour and the richness of this mixture. I would LOVE to dance like this, maybe one day I'll put my daughter in Peruvian dance classes.

Updates

2009-10-01T11:34:00.003-04:00

So I am trying to add more 'interesting' widgets to my sidebar, problem is... I'm running out of sidebar!! Man oh man ...

In recent news, I am playing the MarkStrat game at school and we are currently 2nd place! There's a lot of math involved but thank God we have some bright brains in my group. Speaking of God, for my Brand Management class we have decided to better brand manage GOD as a product. Yep. God. The almighty thing up there in the skies, although in all fairness we have decided to tackle this one as more of a spiritual entity that way we won't get in trouble with other religions. We'll see how this one works out.

And in local news, it is officially FALL. When did summer start? there was NO summer! all we've had were rains and less than average temperatures. Mother Nature, you failed.

Anyway, I have an interesting link for you Twitter freaks... Lunch's Twitter List helps find who to follow. So if you already got bored of following your mom and Ashton Kutcher, maybe you'll use this apt and find me :) (pssst! it's www.twitter.com/atayraco)

See ya next time!

Microsoft New Courier Tablet - WOW

2009-09-30T00:29:00.004-04:00

WOW Microsoft is really fighting hard with this new Tablet tentatively called Courier. After watching this video, I'm sold...I definitely want one! It works as an infinite Scrapbook/journal that can be uploaded and shared with others.

It hasn't been released yet, and I expect more leaked videos to show us more about the specs on this monster. For now, we just have to wait and see what the damage will be in our pockets.

Hope you all enjoy the vid! Go here for a review on the New Courier Tablet.

The Falls!

2009-09-27T15:25:00.001-04:00

Ok here's a picture of Niagara Falls in Canada :) if you're around the area you must go! And try to make it friday during the summer so you'll catch the fireworks!

Adriana Munoz Tayraco
York University Honours Marketing - Bachelor of Administrative Studies, 2009

Visit my blog at:
http://reinventingadriana.blogspot.com/
Add me on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/atayraco
Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/atayraco

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Funniest epitaph @ Rippley's

2009-09-27T15:23:00.003-04:00

So I've been waiting almost 2 hrs for a bus to take me from Niagara Falls to Toronto and I'm looking at the pictures I took of the trip. The one I'm posting here is def one of my favourite ones. I took it at the Rippley's believe it not Museum and was part of a bunch of Funny Epitaphs Rippley collected. As soon as I read it I thought of my friend Enrique who is a hard core Atheist so I had to MMS it to him. I loved it cuz it fully broke the idea of the what's "beyond death" and made it funny. You die, you are buried and the next is up to you :)

Anyway, I've had one of the most amazing weekends in a very long time! I spent 3 days at the Falls with the bf and I have to say it's been the best anniversary gift I've ever had :) We went mini golfing (I beat him at that), arcade playing (I beat him at racing, hockey, frog jumping, and almost beat him at jurassic park lol), and we took the Maid of the Mist boat to the falls and got soaked! I'll be posting pics on Facebook.

Our hotel had a pool, sauna, hot bath and jacuzzy and man oh man did we like that! When I have a house I am definitely buying a jacuzzi, that's all I'm saying ;)

Alright, it's time I go take that damn bus to Toronto.

Chao.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

LMFAO at this one

2009-09-13T18:31:00.003-04:00

Thanks to my wonderful boyfriend for enlightening me with the minesweeper - The Movie trailer!

And for all those addicts, I wanna hear you...

"Why are you here?"

"Because I'm bored"

"Don't you ever forget that..."

DUN DUN DUNNNNN!

DJ Blueline!

2009-09-05T12:51:00.004-04:00

As mentioned before, here's a link to DJ Blueline - Blue Bass on youtube. Go check it out ;-) It'll make you wanna daaaance!

In other news, me and the family are gonna go check out this Peruvian - Chinese restaurant (Chifa) that apparently offers Pollo a la Brasa! I'll keep you posted through my Twitter and later on I'll do a final review here on the blog.

Also! I forgot to mention (although it is obvious) I changed the template on my blog. Yeah, I figured the yellow was hard to swallow for some. Anyway, I installed some cool widgets now. I have a counter which tells me how many of you actually visit the site lol and I'm happy with the response! Now leave some comments so I know who you are! Having said that, there's a pretty neat chat box on the side - use it. Aaaand there's also the calendar/weather station/animation thingy that let's you know about the crazy weather in Toronto. How do you like it?

Anyway, gotta get ready for that Chifa, so here's a summary of what's going on in my life:

Bf wants to buy the Beattles Rockband
School starts in less than a week and I havent even bought my textbooks
I baked oatmeal and raising cookies yesterday! yum!
I cut my hair again, back to it's original shape
Went to my first Physiotherapy session and now I'm short $80 ...
Been playing Prof. Layton and the curious village lately, man it's hard!

Gotta go now, hasta luego gente!

More grandma goodness!

2009-09-03T13:35:00.009-04:00

This is what I ate today. What you can appreciate in the picture is a typical peruvian dish called "Papa Rellena" which loosely translates into Mashed Potatoes with ground beef filling and rice. The filling not only has ground beef seasoned with sauteed onions, garlic, salt and pepper, but also raisins, boiled egg and olives. To the left you can see a spinach salad which you then dip into the soy sauce and lemon dressing. And my freshly made fruit juice no pulp hehe.

The reason why this meal is being so delicately explained in my blog is because I haven't had this dish in over 5 years since I left Peru. If grandma wasn't here I would've probably gone for another 5 years without trying it! And then to top it all she made a Chinese jell-o with a caramelized sauce. I LOVE THE WOMAN!

Anyway, now that I have my patriotic vein pumping hard, I wanna share a 360 degrees view of the Sacred City of Machu Pichu by clicking here.

In other news, school is about to start *ugh* but at least it's only one more semester before graduation time baby! If anyone knows about a marketing or creative advertising firm looking for raw talent, I'm right here ;-)

Ok one last bit of information, if you like trance and techno...stay tuned cuz on my next entry I will introduce a very good friend of mine who has some amazing tracks to share. Go google him now, his name is DJ Blueline.

Hasta la vista bloggers!

Thoughtfull insights of the day

2009-09-02T13:31:00.006-04:00

Today I woke up feeling renewed. I'm meeting up with two friends from York later on tonight and we'll be discussing a possible joint venture together so cross your fingers!

Grandma was cooking when I went downstairs. If she wasn't visiting I would NEVER wake up to the smell of awesome food in the kitchen! So that's amazing in itself. She's made me a fresh fruit juice with no pulp ;-) and it is a sunny day outside and my strawberry plant just gave me two last fruits for the summer. What else can I ask for?

I also helped cook today, I made a pasta with a milky-eggy-parmessany sauce on top. Pre-tty Good I must say.

It is days like these that put life in perspective. I mean, the little things y'know? You need to stop and pay attention to the detail with which grandma carefully prepared the juice - making sure no pulp stayed behind. There's detail in how long the onions have to be in the fire before you add the eggs. The fact that my strawberry plant was done giving me fruit for two weeks and now suddenly has grown two more. Life is full of surprises - sometimes you just don't see them.

Ok I'm done with the cheesy quotes. Go get back to your life.

The knock knock joke...

2009-09-01T22:42:00.005-04:00

So my mother learned her first knock knock joke the other day. This is how it went.

My sister mentioned a knock knock joke and she did it to my mom. Mom had never heard of a knock knock joke and thus did not know the structure, nor did she get the joke. So my sister spends the next 30 or so minutes trying to explain to her the joke without killing the fun in it. Then Shane (my bf) decided to pay me a visit and mom thought it was the right time to put her newly acquired knock knock abilities to the test.

Mom ( in a thick Spanish accent) : Shane, I am going to tell you joke
Shane: ok Mrs. Munoz, what is it?
Mom: Knock knock
Shane: Who's there?
Mom: Interrupting Cow *giggle*
Shane: *sigh* Interrupting Cow who?
Mom: .... *looking at sister* ... do I say it now??
(Sister: OMG mom you're killing it! )
Mom: ok ok I do it again. Knock knock
Shane: Who's there?
Mom: Interrupting Cow
Shane: Interrupting Cow wh--
Mom: Mu
Shane: uh...you're supposed to prolong it Mrs. Munoz...like, Mooooo
Mom: oh oh...ok....*giggle* Mooooooo, good?
Shane: *sigh* yes, good Mrs. Munoz

Oh Shane you have the patience of a saint, thank you. He thought my mother had gone mad. Now my mother has learned another joke and wants to redeem herself. We'll see how that one goes.

And this is another chapter in the process of "Canadianizing" my mother. Hope you enjoyed it.

Police round up llamas in Toronto - Weird News - Canoe.ca

2009-08-27T17:14:00.002-04:00

YES! Llamas (originally form Peru) were found just chillin' in Toronto.
Someone should've added a "visit Peru" sign to them...tsk tsk tsk marketing opportunity missed lol.
Police round up llamas in Toronto - Weird News - Canoe.ca

Shared via AddThis

NOSTALGIA HARDCORE!!!

2009-08-09T23:43:00.001-04:00

I used to play this game back in elementary school! probably on obsolete DOS IBM computers, does anyone else remember it??
awesome good times...

Starting P90X, my grandma, Cirque Du soleil & Sungha

2009-07-30T12:27:00.003-04:00

So everyone has seen that infomercial about the 90 days of exercises that are supposed to get you ripped and hot and all that...well as much as I like to disregard those ads as pure lies and exaggerations, I got the P90X program to try it out. A friend of mine said he had done it and last time I saw him he was indeed skinnier and more confident than before (that's you Roland!).

I *just* started the thing. I did chest & back, plyometrics (my legs are KILLING ME) and today I did Yoga...but this ain't your mama's yoga oh no no! this is the mother of all yoga stretches I've ever seen! ugh they want you to bend and twist in poses no yet recognized by Cirque Du Soleil (which incidentally I'm going to see this Sunday! :D)!!! But so far I feel my muscles burning and I hope that I can complete at least one month without injury. All I have to say so far is that the Tony guy in the videos is one sadistic f*ck. Yes, I said it. bleep me.

So back to Cirque du Soleil, I bought tickets to go see Alegria! it's in Hamilton but I will catch my Go Bus and find my way there before 5pm this Sunday. I will let you guys know how it was, I am SO excited I feel like a twelve year old girl screaming for the Jonas Brothers (ugh I hate those idiots btw).

In other news...my grandma is coming to Canada this Tuesday! CANNOT WAIT! AHhhhhhhHHhhh! hahaha I love my old lady :) She's the best! And she makes THE best food you can taste. I asked for her 50 yr old cooking book so I can photocopy it muahaha <3

Well now I leave you with some good music, if you like acoustic guitar and you love Joan Osborne's "One of Us" then click here to go see the amazing Sungha Jung put his soul into it! *highly recommended!*

Wanna be Canadian, please!

2009-07-17T17:03:00.002-04:00

Gotta love Canada...why? here are a few reasons you should love it too!!

Just listen to the lyrics....

2009-07-17T12:04:00.002-04:00

Ok now I want you to close your eyes, empty your mind from the trash the media feeds you, forget about your biases and prejudices, forget about race, sexuality, religion, and just listen to the lyrics...

Woman who gave birth at 66 dies at 69...

2009-07-16T14:59:00.002-04:00

So a woman angered the world when she gave birth to twins at age 66, her defense? She said that her mother had lived to be 101 so she had good chances of reaching that age and thus would be around to raise the kids. What she didn't expect was to the diagnosed with cancer a couple of months after giving birth. She passed away at 69 leaving the two children with no one to care for them.
What a selfish decision of hers to bring to lives into this world without a plan B in case - just in case - she didn't reach her 101 mark.
well that is just another example of how crazy this world is...in other news, I read somewhere that scientists were able to create sperm out of stem cells??!??! ugh I'm getting headaches...

Woman who gave birth at 66 dies - Weird News - Canoe.ca

Oh my Gawd Dumbledore died! Says the old lady...

2009-07-11T13:16:00.001-04:00

So I'm on the bus and this old lady (in her late 70's probably) is reading harry potter... and apparently it's her first time reading the complete series cuz we're just passing keele st. when she lets out a loud "No!" And her face goes from concern to pure disbelief... Me being the curious person I am I ask her "what's wrong? What did Harry do now?" Of course she turned around and looked at me with this wtf face but then softened it up to explain that Dumbledore had just been killed by Snape. I have to emphasise that this is an old lady with a puppy face expression and showing true concern for the characters in the book. What am I to do in this sort of situation? Console her? Ignore her? Lol. Anyway, we spent the rest of the ride discussing how evil Snape was, poor Malfoy's fortune (of course without giving away any spoilers) and what a "brave young boy that Harry fellow is, how proud his parents would feel if they were alive" (in her own words).
I have to say, I never imagined old people enjoying such a young classic as Harry Potter but after discussing him with this nice lady I will not judge another old book by its cover.
Yet another interesting story to share, I love viva buses hahaha :)

Have a great summer everyone!
Adriana Munoz Tayraco
York University Honours Marketing - Bachelor of Administrative Studies, 2009

Visit my blog at:
http://reinventingadriana.blogspot.com/
Add me on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/atayraco
Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/atayraco

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Great icons die...

2009-06-27T00:04:00.002-04:00

I'll make this one a short one (i have school early tomorrow) but I need to write something regarding these sad times we are living.
We all know by know, Michael Jackson dead at 50. We see every tv station, radio station, magazine, blog...they are all talking about the greatness and the genius that MJ was and how despite his "wacko-ness" he will still be remembered as the King of Pop. And yes, he is all that. I AM saddened by his early departure...but I'm really feeling sorry for the lack of media coverage that the beautiful Farrah Fawcett is receiving! Did you even noticed she died? Uh???
I see front page news: BIG ASS picture of Michael Jackson and his life achievements...on the corner of the paper a little picture of Farrah mentioning her passing. I even heard it on the late news! this guy was like "we were preparing our tribute to Farrah Fawcett when we received the news of MJ's critical condition and had to run and cover that" so pretty much they dropped what they were doing with Farrah and went on to write about MJ.
Now I don't want MJ fans attacking me...I LOVE MJ but I really think Farrah should've received a little more than a "oh yeah she died too" nod. She was the golden girl with the fantabulous hair!
Anyway, both will be missed. Both will be forever remembered.

.::R.I.P Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett::.

MARKS ARE UP!!!

2009-06-09T01:36:00.000-04:00

Damn Right!

on the subway...

2009-06-06T18:01:00.003-04:00

I love subway rides, they're always full of these interesting characters whose life I follow for 30min before getting off. Take these two italian girls, for example. One of them looks like your typical "I love gino beats and woodbridge" fake blonde, the other actually resembles lady GaGa A LOT. I mean, damn they could be twins. They talk about boys and past dates and what an assh*le the last one was. Then there's the asian girl standing in front of me. She has done her eye makeup so that it "enlarges her eyes" and now it looks as if she's got three lids. *weird*

To my right there's your typical redhead with cute reading glasses lost between the lines of a romance book. She doesn't even notice her phone ringing, that book must be real good.

Then there's the cutie with the guitar sitting two seats away across from me. He has caught me looking at him and he blushes. Awww how cute :) wonder if we can jam it up someday haha. And now I approach my stop. Till next time strangers. I shall miss you.

Adriana Munoz Tayraco

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

More art from me!

2009-05-19T21:10:00.002-04:00

So my friend asked me if I could draw something for her brother's theatrical production in New York and since it's been a while since I drew anything I decided to go for it.

Again, I don't have a scanner and I'm only using my BlackBerry's camera so please forgive me for the bad quality photo, I'll upload again once I find a scanner :)

Hope to hear what you think!

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Individual project done!

2009-05-07T22:48:00.004-04:00

So the project behind the creation of this blog is done and I recently got my marks back. I gotta say I'm very pleased with the results and I wanna thank those who commented on my posts and my "followers" here and on twitter :)

There's one thing that bothered me though, apparently I talked about an article referring to Jews at one point?! Lol I seriously cannot remember ever mentioning that but if I did and if the article wasn't the best of tastes then I sincerely apologise for it! I have nothing against Jews or any other religion or ethnicity.

In recent news, both my presentations went incredibly well and I wanna thank my amazing team for a great semester.

Party time much? You bet ;-)

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

LOGO TIME!

2009-05-05T02:06:00.002-04:00

Here's my logo! yay! and it's up on the site! now i need to figure out how to make it bigger up there...hmmm html codes here we go...

What if it was my Nacho?

2009-05-04T18:58:00.005-04:00

I recently read about a little chihuahua who was blown-away 25 miles from his owner's house. My heart stopped. What if it was my little Nacho? I thought. There have been some pretty wild storms lately and I always joke that the wind is so strong it could blow Nacho away - but I was never sure it could!
Anyway, now that we're talking about him, here's a picture of Nacho <3
Anyway, this is my post for the day. I have tons of assignments to hand in and a bunch of finals to write next week. This will be fun.
F*ck you York Strike!

Lovely morning in Mexico City...

2009-05-01T13:35:00.006-04:00

My mother just sent me this picture. I loved how cartoons can make two events so terrible look so funny. Continuing with the Swine flu news, a blame-game has started with Mexican officials blaming WHO (world health org) for not responding fast enough to their warning of the dangers of swine flu, Hong Kong just confirmed the first case of the flu in Asia, and confirmed cases in the US are more than 100 with one death at least...

I don't know about you but every time someone sneezes in the bus I secretly shiver and uncomfortably move to the side...

What is Globalization???

2009-05-01T01:37:00.003-04:00

Shared by my Consumer Behaviour Prof, source unknown:

Question : What is globalization?

Answer : Princess Diana's death

Question : How come?

Answer :

An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whiskey, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines!

And this is sent to you by a Canadian, using Bill Gates' technology which he got from the Japanese.

And you are probably reading this on one of the IBM clones that use Philippine-made chips, and Korean made monitors, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by lorries driven by Indians, hijacked by Indonesians and finally sold to you by a Chinese!

That's Globalization!!!

The big 5-0

2009-04-28T00:55:00.005-04:00

I found this picture online while looking for ideas for my aunt's big 50 celebration. It's hard not to stop and just think at what fame does to people. How would Michael Jackson look like if he hadn't become the King of Pop? Would Madonna have dated a Brazilian supermodel half her age? What would Prince be doing now instead of promoting LOtUSFLOW3R ?

Hmm...I wonder....Anyhow, here's the picture, it's from last years. Enjoy and comment.

I wonder what I would look like in 30 years if I became famous...

Short Update + link

2009-04-27T15:16:00.004-04:00

So it was my birthday yesterday (happy bday to me!) but I celebrated it the day before. I had SO much fun! Thank you to all of you who came and made my day so special! I mean, only true friends respond to a last minute invite and leave their house in the middle of a storm! *hugs*

Leaving that note aside, I also did my taxes yesterday. First time I made them mahh-self ;-) but only God knows if I made them right *sigh* At least I saved myself $30, take that H&R block! lol I'm such a loser ^_^

Now let's talk about Susan Boyle. Yep, the overnight sensation from Britain's got talent. But do not worry, I will not write a review on her performance or how amazing she is and how far she might go. I'm gonna talk about her makeover. Have you seen Susan after April 24th? click here and be amazed. She's coloured her hair, done her eyebrows and now wears designer's clothes! man oh man does she look good. But do we like this? Some believe her head is in the clouds already and she's starting to lose that ingenuity we all fell in love with. Others support the makeover but warn not to go too far (so no lipo then?) I think personally she looks great! but there's a saying in my country that goes something like "Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda" losely translates to Even if the monkey dresses in silk, it's still a monkey after all. Now I am NOT calling her a monkey so do not start mocking me. I'm stressing the fact that appearances will only do her so much good. It's who's inside that better not change!

Duh! Apple...Duh!

2009-04-24T00:31:00.005-04:00

Who in their right mind would let this application go for sale? See Apple? This is what you get for trying to play gatekeeper of the App Store.

I came across this article and after reading about the Baby Shaker application, I had to find it on YouTube. How ignorant of them to think that such an idiotic application would not be objected! Their PR personnel must be having great fun answering to all the hate mail they received from the Shaken Baby Syndrome Foundation.

So they you won't take South Park applications but will give Shaking Babies the green light? Tsk tsk Apple, tsk tsk tsk.

This is what we spanish-speaking people knew but you failed to grasp...

2009-04-21T22:38:00.004-04:00

Finally a simple explanation to why I "don't look Peruvian/Spanish/Hispanic/Latin/fill-stereotypical-term-here. Spanish speaking people do NOT share the same physical characteristics. Take me, for example, I went to get my OHIP card renewed today and the booth guy spent THE whole 10 min I was infront of him trying to guess what country I was from based on what I looked like. He went from Mexico to China passing through Native American (?), Philipino, Korean and he even ventured to guess Hawaiian. I could pass for any of those I guess, but I am not defined by a country OR a race. I was born in Peru, yes, but I got Japanese blood in me. Do I speak japanese? veeeery little, Spanish? fluent. Forget about races, globalization will mix them all.

You gotta see through the skin and find the talent within ;-)

ADVERTISING WILL NEVER DIE

2009-04-20T19:06:00.002-04:00

So I've had a terrible day. Family problems + rainy day + bad left turns that almost killed my driving instructor + LCD on my brand new Blackberry Javelin broke = one sad Adriana.

So after Googling for a good hour or so to find the only place that carries Javelin replacement LCDs (for a whooping $130!) and paying an extra $15 to get my old school LG2000 unlocked (damn you Rogers/Fido locks!) I am now blackberry-less for about a week.

My driving is getting better but left turns and hidden stop signs are no fun. I blame it on the never ending rain we're getting.

So how does this tie in to the tittle? Well while searching for blackberry repair sites and LG unlock codes I was BOMBARDED with tons of ads that went from the typical "win a Blackberry if you shoot four ducks" to very shady "send us your phone to this address (in Kenya) and we'll unlock it for $40 plus shipping". But when you're desperate, you will buy in. I did made a couple of calls and ended up with a really nice guy in Montreal to fix my BB and a very customer service oriented company for my LG codes. This is how we get stuff, we follow the ads, we feed from advertisements and digest only the necessary. I was talking to my friend Niala the other day and this quote came to life "Advertising will never die. Even in the end of the world, you can still advertise salvation"

NEW LOGO

2009-04-16T03:03:00.001-04:00

Click the picture to enlarge :-)

Oy! I made me a Logo!

It's 3am and I should've gone to bed but making this was so much fun!!!
Now all I need is a scanner and some little editing and presto! Soon this will decorate my blog wall :-)

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

YOU GOTTA WATCH THIS!

2009-04-15T18:18:00.002-04:00

This is SOSOSOSOSO cool in so many levels. I gotta thank my friend Lisseth for sharing this with us. I am so jealous because it wasn't me who came up with this idea! WAAAHHH I envy you talented people!
Putting my anger aside, this is the kind of stuff I absolutely LOVE. Random, semi-chaotic, surreal art. LOVE IT.

"It's about messaging. Street View is a great communications tool if you plan for it."

2009-04-14T21:25:00.005-04:00

Have you heard of Google Street View? well you can read about it here It's already in Canada, you know. I'm crossing my fingers so i won't be spotted by one of those street view cars with huge roof-cameras while walking my dog in my PJ's; but wouldn't you know there are some who are dying to become part of the phenomenon.

There are people (very creative people) out there who have taken this as an invitation for art, and I'm loving the idea.

As thestar.com mentions: "In London, they had a Waldo sighting. In Pittsburgh, they inspired a mock sword fight. In Toronto, they may get zombies on to the streets."

People all over the world are setting up a mini play whenever they see these cars roll down their street. A dude dressed as Waldo has been spotted in London, France, Italy, and Spain. Torontonians have zombies, street performers and cyclists ready to become part of online Toronto. These people know how to show the world what this city is all about ;-) imagine logging on to Google view and searching for a street in the downtown core and spotting three zombies chewing on a plastic rat while an improvised play takes place down the street and your grandmother watches from a window...isn't that awesome?!

"It's about messaging. Street View is a great communications tool if you plan for it." I agree.

So if you spot one of those evil cars, twitter me. I'll get my fake beard and bright orange undies.

Is school over-rated?

2009-04-13T23:56:00.005-04:00

Well yes, I mean...no....or perhaps. They say you are paying for an 'education' but my view on things is different. As a 4th year marketing student, I can honestly say I've learned A WHOLE LOT about marketing and the business world. Did I need to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for it? NO. I am sure there are thousands of people out there who know three times more about marketing than I do by only visiting their local library and reading. So why am I part of the university system then? It's the contacts, my friend. I've made some very valuable friendships and I KNOW these wonderful people will go on to become rich and famous. You can tell. They are passionate about what they like, they have that optimistic smile you can't fake. BE FRIENDS WITH THEM! And no, I am not taking advantage of their friendship...I trully care for my friends.

Like, for example, I was on the bus going home the other night and this guy next to me was reading for a course I had already taken. So we started to talk and this guy was FULL of ideas. He already knew he wanted to open up a business and be his own boss. He had already researched on loans for entrepreneurs. At a point it was as if I wasn't even there because this guy was so into it that if I left right then he wouldn't have noticed me. But I loved it. You just feed off that energy. Now I'm pumped and I'm starting to formulate a plan...yes...good....me likes ;-)

2009-04-13T23:40:00.002-04:00

I am a Technology geek...and to me...this is...PURE beauty...*snif* it makes me tear :')

2009-04-13T22:16:00.002-04:00

LOL to this story! To summarize, a woman randomly checking on her house through webcam (hint hint technology can save your life lol) catches 4 robbers in the act! To add up to the coincidence, one of the guys was her neighbour from down the road and when the cops came they ratted out their friends who were robbing another house on the same neighbourhood. You can't make this stuff up!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Look what I found!

2009-04-13T15:29:00.006-04:00

I drew this on my first year at York. Let's just say MacroEconomics class got boring at one point and the back of my notebook got re-decorated as a consequence.

What's awesome about it and I wish I could do here, is that there are tons of mini-cartoons in there but you can't really appreciate it unless you rotate the notebook. Oh well....enjoy!

2009-04-13T14:25:00.004-04:00

This kid is Ahhh-mazing! I've been following him for over a year now and he blows my mind with every song he plays! check him out. His name is Sungha Jung from Korea.

Testing.... 123

2009-04-13T13:53:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to blog from my blackberry while my laptop does some unexpected driver update... Let's see if this works
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

2009-04-13T13:10:00.003-04:00

I showed this video on my Advertising & Communication class, I think it will catch more eyes in here.

Take a look at this vid, it seems as if Russel Peters was right...Indians and Chinese WILL take over the world! I need to learn Mandarin...

In any case, is this really what the future holds?! Be prepared to be shocked.

Recession

2009-04-13T02:47:00.004-04:00

Talk about starting your morning in a negative way...I just spent most of my daytime admiring the deep meanings behind these pictures from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/02/business/economy/economy-user-photos.html?ex=1254888000&en=1f40aa4ae01d9b45&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=BU-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M092-ROS-0409-PH&WT.mc_ev=click#/0/

They are all about how citizens (like you and me) view recession. Some are very artistic and inspirational (check out all the street art in New York), they tell stories of more trips to the grocery store, less restaurant dining, unfinished renovations, small businesses going down...but there is one that stuck a chord with me.

There's a picture of a young couple, living on a rented trailer. The guy was searching for food in other people's garbage to feed his new born son. Both him and the mom are on physical disability. But if you just look at his FACE, to me it perfectly summarizes recession. Look at the mess these people are in and all because of the greed of others! I will not get into politics here because to me it's a lost cause, but I sincerely hope America's new president has the answers...

Nanotechnology...concept or fantasy?

2009-04-13T02:27:00.004-04:00

I found this old 2008 vid while reading reviews for new phones. Now, I know what you are thinking...it will be years before we see anything close to this, but hey...doesn't it get you excited already?

Wohoo! my first post!

2009-04-13T01:18:00.000-04:00

re·in·vent (rn-vnt)

To bring back into existence or use

I am reinventing myself. Hi, my name is Adriana and this is my blog. Why reinvention, you ask? Because I feel it is needed. I'm a marketing major but my passion will always be the arts. I need to get in touch with the things that used to spark my creativity and would force me to grab a pen/pencil/marker and draw on a receipt/my arm/my marketing textbook.

Are you like me? did you shut down your creative side because of more pressing and urgent matters? (such as university or a full time job?) in that case, stick around. If you do I'll promise you won't be bored.

So without further adieu...here are some of the random things you can expect to find in my blog:

my own art (feedback would be nice!)
someone else's random but eye-catching art
I spend most of my time online so expect to see articles, pictures, quotes from all over the place
cool gadgets! I digg technology ;-)
pictures of my dog (i have a cute Chihuahua named Nacho)
youtube links to out-of-this-world entertainment
and more!

...I'll be honest, I'm excited about this blog!