Painting Souls and Angels

Cristóbal Almanza | SoulPainter

It’s All About Location

Cristóbal Almanza

Location

Working so much for the web, it’s really important for me to stay informed and understand the latest technologies and services. Geo-Aware services like Gowalla and Foursquare are the newest trends in social media. Social media has historically grown faster than any other media before it. I believe that it is our human nature that seeks communion, but I will write more about that later in a future entry.

Location based services are following this same trend of rapid growth. What is different about these services is that they have a more limited audience because it only works on devices that have GPS services on them. Still, it’s growing. Now what we are looking into is how to get people used to using it and still use it to generate brand trust and profit. I think small business especially has the great potential to use it for growth and customer loyalty. Now the challenge is how we can educate them about the opportunities. Stay tuned.

Design and Tech Personal
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The History of My People

Cristóbal Almanza

Do I look Illegal

The recent move by the governor of Arizona has many people angry with a new law that could encourage racial profiling. It’s no surprise that Latinos are upset. The majority of us here were born American or are legally living in the US. I am sometimes surprised when I realize how unaware some people are of the different factors in these different situations. When I still lived in Colorado, someone once asked a friend when their family crossed the river. I was appalled that someone would ask that.

My father came over in the 1950’s when President Eisenhower started the braceros program. It was an open invitation to come to the United States temporarily. Once he finished a few years of the program and returned to Mexico, he was able to file for a visa to return to work outside of the program. After a few attempts, he was granted the paper work to be able to legally live in the US. for long enough to gain residency. My mother and oldest sister came over after he had already set up everything legally.

I am very proud to be born here in the United States, and I am also very proud of the Mexican heritage from my family’s history. While I was blessed with a wonderful life, there are many who were brought here by their parents or spouse. There are many complexities that are often lumped together in generalized statements toward illegal immigrants. The problem comes when people begin to treat them with less respect because of assumptions they have about their history.

The law should be respected so that stealing is not condoned and the system is not manipulated. It is the job of non-profits and religious organizations to help fund those in need, rather than tax payers. We  must seek an effective immigration reform that protects our safety but never dehumanizes those that are involved. We pray that our leaders may be guided in their decisions.

I thought that American Papist also wrote a relevant article from a different perspective.

Latino Personal
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Social Hunger

Cristóbal Almanza

These days, my schedule is very busy. In between my career, freelancing, volunteering at my parish, spending time with my wife,  we both still try and find time for a life. Regardless of the hectic nature of our lifestyle, we both feel a strong need to prioritize time to be social with friends. We are very social beings, and I believe being around others we like is what makes us happy.

This is a good explanation as to why it is that social media is so important and powerful. It only exists to try and satisfy out social hunger. Now that we have the power to communicate, we feel like we should always be connected to those we care about. Messages and phone calls were not enough, we craved for the intimate details in between those times to fill the gap of missing details of our loved ones lives. I think that in many ways, this is a good thing. I love being able to run into old friends that I haven’t seen in a while, but it feels like we’ve never missed a beat.

Social media is still relatively young. I look forward to seeing how our lives will change and be facilitated by new technologies and social media. I hope that it will help to better the world and improve lives, relationships, friendships, and communities. We can use it to promote all that is good. We must always remember that we are communicating with other souls, rather than just shouting out isolated ideas. We are all in this together.

Design and Tech Life Personal
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Message with Purpose

Cristóbal Almanza

I have spent the last month building and redesigning this blog. That, along with my career, freelance work, volunteer work, and my personal life, has left me with a lack of concentration for this blog. I believe that concentration is an vital element to its, especially since this is only the beginning of my blog.

All messages must have a purpose. If there is not a purpose, then there is no need to transmit them.

I have spent this time coming up with a strategy for the my message. I think giving myself this time to focus will really help. In our world and society today, we surround ourselves with so much noise and clutter. We’re surrounded by so many mediums of noise, that we often forget to listen. I have discovered that in my personal life, that growing complacent with the noise only makes it worse. We have to allow ourselves moments to clear it and listen. Clarity is invaluable.

I will now start blogging twice a week. For now, the days will vary, but it will eventually become consistent.

Life Personal
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Digital Version of Wired

Digital Version of Wired

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Eve of SXSW Interactive

Cristóbal Almanza

SXSW Interactive

I’m super excited. I just got an email from SXSW letting me know that I could go pick up my badge this afternoon. I taken the time to try and plan my first SXSW experience as carefully as possible. I will be attending not only to personally experience, learn, and develop my skills and networks, but I will also be working. We will be covering different angles of our experiences at the festival through video, photos, and writing about the experience for our websites. This will definitely be my first time sharing and writing for such an audience, but I’ll gladly take the opportunity.

You can check out my full schedule here. I am not finished, and will be editing it as I go. There are many times that I have purposely overbooked myself for times. There’s a lot of panels and events to check out, but I’m not experienced enough to navigate the different venues quickly enough. So we’ll see what I’ll make.

I will have never tried so many new things in a short amount of time. Good times.

I will be tweeting throughout the next few days of the festival, and I will also be trying out Gowalla and Foursquare.

Design and Tech Life Personal
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Site launch for WilCoYA

Cristóbal Almanza

WilCoYA

My month of February was consumed with a lot of work in different ministries at St William’s in Round Rock, and a new Young Adult ministry. We millennials are good at finding others with similar interest, and most important, at creating our own group whenever we see a gap for our specific needs. In January of this year, we had our first real gathering as an organization, and I was very pleased to see that it was a success. There is a strong hunger among the young adults of this community to find support and community with others like us. I feel that this group could grow to be really strong and benefit all of us that join. I helped create a new platform for us to share and learn at our new blog. Check it out.

Life Ministry Personal
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A New Start

Cristóbal Almanza

blog

After a few years of not blogging, I have decided to return. It was around the time that I created the SoulPainter identity that I stopped blogging, now it has come for the brand to include more personality. There will be times that I may offend some people, but it is not my intention. I only know how to be myself, and that is all I will be. As always, I will be in pursuit of Truth in our lives. I will seek 2 love in all that I do.

Life Personal
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