Recently I was discussing with a friend if being positive and happy attracts success or if the fact that you reach your goals is what makes you happy. From that conversation I can conclude that everyone has their own theories about it. We ended up discussing work environment, collaboration and getting things done.

My friend states that “if you work hard you’ll be successful and if your successful then you are happy”. I actually think is the other way around. You should make the effort to see “the glass half full”. Be happy that the glass is half full and with that extra happiness boost  you will work hard and fill in the rest of the glass.

Keeping a positive attitude to changes and roadblocks will make you more creative. By just seeing the bright side, people will tend to collaborate with you more and with that you’ll reach your goals faster. This makes the journey to success easier.

I know sometimes is not easy to see the positives but if you train yourself (brain and heart) to do so, things will end up being naturally positive in the future.

Posted by João Rufino under Business & Misc | No Comments »

I have not written in my blog much and today I won´t write about any trends or give any suggestions.

I will follow up on the ‘Dream’ Sign I have on the sealing of my room. See this post for more info on this

Since I was kid, I often could realize I was having a dream and could decide to either let it go or try to influence it.. Sometimes it works.. Sometimes the dream is ruined because I break the concept of the story.

But lately, as soon as I realize that it is a dream, I start questioning it:
- “Why is this person asking a question? If it is just in my dream, I know the question and I know the answer”
-  If I have an Idea that is relevant, I feel the need to wake up and write it down. I never reach the end of the story..

The ability to dream always intrigued me…

Have a nice day and.. good dreams

Posted by João Rufino under Misc | 2 Comments »

2011 is here

and as always I have my new year resolutions like everyone else. Here are a a few:

• Eat healthier (avoid the pizza oven at the office is a great start)
• After my foot and arm injuries I want to play football more often (I play for a Google football team and in a charity league with some friends.. that should cover this one
• Visit home (Portugal) more often. I missed a lot of stuff by being away and with all the crazy travel I did in 2010.
• At work there are great things happening and my wish here is to contribute even more to our success

Last but not least:

It is time for everyone to build up hope for a better future. This is also the time to help people who need the most. Programs like Kiva.org or UNICEF are safe choices if you decide to put some money aside to help others. Offer your time, offer your ideas (if they are good) to a volunteering program in your community.

Posted by João Rufino under Misc | 2 Comments »

Recently I got the new Nexus S, a nice upgrade from the Nexus 1. Sure, I’ll miss the trackball but my main concern was: How do I transfer the hours of dedication to Angry birds and Angry birds Seasons?  I have almost 3 stars in every level and I was considering not upgrading because of this.

Some people told me I needed to root the phone and copy /data/data/com.rovio.angrybirdsseasons/files/ between devices.

That probably works but I didn´t want to spend that much time on this and I wanted to find an easier way to transfer the progress on Angry Birds.

I investigated and found a great solution (easy for the non techies).

• Install an app called Angry birds backup (from YONGSIN for the normal one  and the Angry birds Seasons from Nadav Fima – they are free but you can donate on YONGSIN site)

• Open the app and press the backup button

• Go to the SD card and you’ll see a folder called angry birds backup. Copy it to your computer (or directly to the SD card on the other phone)

• Install angry birds and angry birds backup in the new phone

• copy the Angry birds backup folder from your computer to your new phone

• Important: complete the first level of angry birds before you press the button restore on your angry birds backup app otherwise the tool will tell you that you don’t have Angry birds installed.

Et Voila.. I got my results back and I’m now a happy Nexus S user.

Hope it helps all the people that need to move to a new device and want to keep their Angry Birds progress

Posted by João Rufino under Internet & Misc | 2 Comments »

As some of you highlighted, my blog has not been very active lately. At work, a lot of good things are happening and it has kept me in the ‘clouds’ for a while these last couple of weeks. In the last 30 days I flew many miles. Started from Dublin (my hub city) then:

Spain, Mexico, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Ireland and UK today (if it happens… my flight is delayed 4 hours due to the beautiful snow that is covering the usually wet Dublin )

And until the end of the year: Ireland, Denmark, Ireland, Lisbon, Ukraine

I will address cloud computing in another post because that cloud has kept me in the skies 

PS: (totally unrelated) I love tethering from my Android phone as it is serving as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot to my computer allowing me to write this post and not be totally bored at the airport

Posted by João Rufino under Misc | 1 Comment »