Back from Peru with a shot of insight…
Posted on | July 2, 2009 | No Comments |
I’m back from Peru and into the groove of life once again here in Washington DC. The trip was great, as expected, but more than that, it was an adventure outside my comfort zone. It was a shot in the arm and it gave me a hunger for more travel to South America & Central America. I’ve always had a draw towards Africa and have lived in a sort of ‘tunnel’ in my path through life, knowing where I wanted to go but not stopping to see the rest areas on the highway of life.
This trip to Peru was a stop on the highway of my life. I experienced a culture and people who were totally foreign to me and I found them to be refreshing, welcoming, and warm. I felt different when I returned to the U.S. and was somewhat sad to leave Peru, almost as if I left something behind. However, I’m already plotting out my next visit to South America and look forward to more adventure down South in the years ahead. Expect some beautiful pictures of my trip to be online soon. Stay tuned for the link…
New look for JosefScarantino.com
Posted on | June 23, 2009 | No Comments |
It’s a last minute change that I’ve been wanting to make, but if you’re reading this on JosefScarantino.com you will notice there’s a new look. (If you’re reading from RSS, visit my site to see the changes.)
Now, I’m not completely finished with the look and have some minor touch-ups to make, but thought I would communicate that I’m trying to focus more on content than on design. While design has been a huge part of my work, I’m trying to move away from that and into something more substantial (i.e. content). My move to use this design is to take a step towards simplicity and minimalism and away from flashy, long-loading web design. After all, it’s the content that really matters and I’ve spent enough time fidgeting with pixels already. Time to put that to rest.
Once I return from South America, expect those touch-ups to be made to the site with some minor improvements and tweaks. And, of course, more writing!
Feel free to leave comments below. Gracias!
Kiva Pledge Update: Father’s Day Edition
Posted on | June 21, 2009 | No Comments |
[This is part of a series of posts that will extend through the entire year of 2009 twice monthly according to my original post "My pledge to Kiva for 2009". To view all of my Kiva projects, take a moment to check out my Kiva lending page.]
This week’s Kiva Pledge Update is a special “Father’s Day Edition”. I typically keep personal matters out of my blogging and social media life, mostly because I want the focus of my online activity to be on the issues at hand and not my personal life (no matter how interesting or uninteresting it may be). Also, because privacy still carries great importance to me. But I digress… This week I decided to do something different because, to be honest, I saw the two as being inseparable for this special occasion.
As many of you know, I am traveling to Peru, Cuzco and Machu Picchu on Wednesday for vacation. I really am a firm believer in giving back to the places that give something to us. Whether it be inspiration, love, friendship, faith, or a myriad number of values, when we receive something freely I believe we are indebted to give something back. For me, my life is eternally indebted to Africa. Africa is my life. For others, it may be someplace else in the world. My father taught me this philosophy of life through a strong foundation of faith when I was young and it is something I live out in my life the best I can.
The Kiva updates you have been reading every two weeks is a meager display of my belief in this philosophy and the idea of being a living sacrifice for those in the world who are less fortunate. I don’t consider myself a weekend advocate of the poor, but an ardent lifetime believer that we have a duty and obligation to do something, anything, about those less fortunate in this world. I’m one of those who believes we should be losing sleep over the abundance of extreme poverty in this world.
Through Kiva’s awesome micro-lending programs, I give to those in Africa who are in need of small loans. Ever since discovering Kiva I’ve been a huge fan of their work and blessed that I have the opportunity to give though their programs. This week, in honor of my father and in recognition of the beauty of Peru, I am lending to a group of entrepreneurs in the country I’m about to visit. This is my way of giving back to Peru and the beauty I will (soon) be sharing with you in pictures. Dad, thanks for being an inspiration to me on this year’s Father’s Day. This is the best gift you have given me and I hope my life can be an inspiration to others.
Without further ado, here’s this week’s Kiva Pledge Update…
The Wisdom of Travelers
Posted on | June 19, 2009 | No Comments |
I thoroughly enjoy the blog of Erik Hersman, aka White African, and his wonderful Twitter feed. They have both inspired me tremendously and opened my eyes to the generous network of technical people in this world who have dedicated their lives over to making this world a better place. Erik is truly a trooper and his writing leaves you wanting more.
One of Erik’s latest blog posts that I particularly enjoyed was 15 Travel Tips for Africa and the accompanying comments where some excellent travel advice was shared by other tech veterans who are very active internationally.
As I was reading this list, Read more
Information Overload
Posted on | June 15, 2009 | No Comments |
Lately I’ve found myself increasingly distracted by that pesky giant in the closet that keeps tapping my shoulder every time I sit down at my computer. You know it. You’ve seen it before. It comes in the form of too many RSS feeds in your reader, too many blogs to read, too many Twitter conversations to follow, too busy of a Facebook timeline, etc, etc. Yep, I’m talking about information overload.
Living in today’s technology-obsessed world has its perks but information overload is definitely not one of them. It’s a growing problem that many a Luddite have written about. So I’ve resolved to reassess my incoming information channels every so often to measure the worth of what I have flowing into my brain and if my life really depends on it. Read more
Kiva Pledge Update: Featured Project
Posted on | June 7, 2009 | No Comments |
[This is part of a series of posts that will extend through the entire year of 2009 twice monthly according to my original post "My pledge to Kiva for 2009". To view all of my Kiva projects, take a moment to check out my Kiva lending page.]
In this week’s Kiva Pledge Update I am supporting Mora Jenty in Sudan, a businesswoman from Gudele, Sudan who sells bread and charcoal and is requesting a loan to open up a bakery.
Kiva Pledge Update: Featured Project
Posted on | May 24, 2009 | No Comments |
[This is part of a series of posts that will extend through the entire year of 2009 twice monthly according to my original post "My pledge to Kiva for 2009". To view all of my Kiva projects, take a moment to check out my Kiva lending page.]
In this week’s Kiva Pledge Update I am supporting Gowo Jenty in Sudan, a businesswoman who prepares and sells food at her restaurant in Juba, South Sudan.
Kiva Pledge Update: Featured Project
Posted on | May 10, 2009 | No Comments |
[This is part of a series of posts that will extend through the entire year of 2009 twice monthly according to my original post "My pledge to Kiva for 2009". To view all of my Kiva projects, take a moment to check out my Kiva lending page.]
In this week’s Kiva Pledge Update I am supporting Sylvia Mbabazi in Uganda, a businesswoman who deals in stationary and computer services in Kibuli, Uganda.
Kiva Pledge Update: Featured Project
Posted on | April 26, 2009 | No Comments |
[This is part of a series of posts that will extend through the entire year of 2009 twice monthly according to my original post "My pledge to Kiva for 2009". To view all of my Kiva projects, take a moment to check out my Kiva lending page.]
In this week’s Kiva Pledge Update I am supporting Annet Nambi‘s Group in Uganda, which sells vegetables in the outskirts of Kampala. The store is run by Annet Nambi and the 3 members which make up the Annet Nambi Group.
Recess is over!
Posted on | April 25, 2009 | No Comments |
It’s been a nice three-week absence, taking a break from blogging, but now recess is over! I’m gearing up to get some more blogging done. In case you haven’t checked out my Twitter feed, I encourage you to do that. I make short, but to the point, updates on articles and websites I’m interested in that might be useful to you also.
In the meantime, I’m sorting through my massive backlog of Google Reader links and planning on jumping back into writing soon. Expect more to come on this site and others.
Connect With Me
