Posted by Raul on July 8, 2011
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It seems Nixon was in the office when I posted for the last time…well…not that long. But it’s been a long time since I posted something that wasn’t on the run, like the previous two to this one.
Lots of things keep going on around here, including a project of taking apart a couple of components to fix some little details in the interior of a car, in which I got “a little” carried away.
Oops!
One thing leads to the next, and one problem shows the brother component also in need of attention, so what started as a small bunch of simple things ended up as a big project without much planning, thus taking more and more time. Five days, I thought it’ll take, and has been how many weeks so far? And still not finished!
And then comes the minivan that is making all sort of noises in the front suspension and steering box; and then the little one, which lost the accelerator cable in the last parts running 
So my apologies for not showing up for a while in posting and commenting in your blogs. I’ve mostly been in “Read and Run” mode due to the little time left by the other activities, but I hope now I can separate time again for a more “proper” blogging.
I must admit it makes me sad not to have the time to write, visit and comment in my friend’s blogs.
See you soon! 
Raul
Posted by Raul on June 8, 2011
For a couple of days now I’ve been receiving emails telling my message couldn’t be delivered; and the message (which I haven’t sent) clearly is spam. I’m not a computer expert by any means, so cannot tell what exactly the problem is, and even less how to stop it and fix it.
For that reason, and adding to it too many activities right now that are taking all my available time, I’ll be closing my emails to prevent being used by someone. I hate spam, and the last thing I want is appear as another spammer flooding your inbox.
If you have received a spam email from raulojeda, please accept my apologies for the inconvenience and rest assured it is not me and this blog trying to do such thing. As soon as time allows, I’ll go into the problem and try to fix it, although most probably I’ll have to leave the task to an expert in the field.
For a moment I thought to Copy and Paste one of the emails here, so if any of my readers could enlighten me on what exactly it is, and maybe how to stop it, it’ll give me the opportunity to work on the problem, but then I decided not to do so since I don’t understand all the technical wording of the email and became afraid of doing such thing could means publishing sensitive information about this blog that could open the door to hackers.
Still, if you have any suggestion, I’m all ears (or eyes).
If time allows I’ll try to keep posting, and the comment section will remain open, but the communication through the Contact form and any other form of communication that implies using Alien Ghost emails will be stopped for a while.
Thank you for your understanding of the matter
Raul
Posted by Raul on May 26, 2011
Lately it has been a struggle for me to come up with the time to write for this blog, and to do it in a positive tone of mind. Many things have been happening around here, together with several physical others breaking down and in need to be fixed, robbing up time originally planned for writing activities. So the thinking, writing and visiting friends around the net activities have suffered from a forced lack of attention.
Double reason to be surprised when a note from Sara at A Sharing Connection arrived with the news of Alien Ghost being selected to receive The Versatile Blogger Award!
By Sara’s explanation, it was a drawing rather than a straight selection, due to the many blogs in Sara’s preferences that meet the requirements. Still, an honor for me since in order to be selected by drawing, this humble blog’s name had to be in the “bag” of names from which to draw from.
Thank you Sara for the distinction, and my apologies for the fried brain cells while reading some of the posts, although your post-challenges have also fried some of mine in the process of trying not to fail to the test
One of the requirements of this award is to mention seven things about one for readers to know more about the writer behind the blog, so in that sense, and trying to go more personal, I decided to share with you my:
1-Social Security Number
2-Driver’s License Number
3-Email address
4-Street address
5-Phone number
6-Checking account number
7-Savings account number
Just kidding!
1- According to my mother’s records, I was born by the tenth’s months of pregnancy; purple and overgrown. The first seven years of life I spent about almost nine months in bed and three on my feet due to fever attacks that gave me hallucinations. There were sequences of ninety injections in three months periods, so I played with the little bottles and crazy thoughts since I was mostly too tired to move. By the age of seven the extraction of the tonsils fixed all the problems (Don’t ask me, I have no clue).
2- When I was about six months old an uncle used to call me “Stuffed Potato”…I don’t know why!
3- Because of my father’s job we used to move a lot when I was growing up, so the twelve years of school I did them in fourteen of them. That’s 1.17 schools per school calendar year! Although I didn’t like to change schools because it was always living as a ghost (it usually took me about six months to befriend someone) I really loved seeing new places and experiencing new weathers and geographies. All in all, a wonderful part of my childhood!
4- Trying to find a job, together with some inertia left from the first years, I had around 47 different jobs between the ages of 18 and 29. I did many things like: car mechanic; apartment interior repairs; work clothes manufacturing; jewelry artisan (silver casting and rock polishing); radio program recorder; events organizing (theater and music shows); apprentice miner; shoe manufacturing tools fabrication; brochure publication; taxi driver; bus driver; agro machinery mechanic; road repair work; decorative lamps manufacturing; fruits and vegetables seller (farmer market type); among many others.
Apprentice of miner. I'm the one at the right.
5- I hold certifications as Automotive and Diesel Mechanic; Industrial Electric Technician; Airframe and Powerplant Technician and Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanic, but I love writing! (I’m still trying to figure that out!).
6- Memory it’s always been a problem with me (a gift from the fever attacks?); I always struggle to remember how old I am, and after many years of memorizing my age and then having another birthday, I decided to memorize just the year I was born; from then I just make a quick calculation after asking “What year is it?” (I’m not kidding!)
7- When I was 26, and stuck trying to write, I decide to take an opportunity that presented and tried marijuana to see what happens and see if it’ll help me in creative writing. Wow! So many ideas passed through my mind at an ever increasing speed, that I wasn’t able to write them down fast enough. The room started spinning and I had an amazing trip, but completely lost control of my thoughts. I never tried again by the fear of becoming addicted.
So there you have seven things about me
Another of the requirements of this award is to pass it on to someone the recipient consider a Versatile Blogger, and in that aspect there’s no doubt in my mind to name Nacho at Zerebria for the variety in his posts ranging from self improvement, common every day situations we all experience at one time or another, to hard analysis of the human mind and behavior, but all written in a “accessible” way for the common reader, without loosing the professionalism of a psychologist. Congratulations Nacho! I hope you accept, and so we all can also learn more about you.
Raul
Posted by Raul on March 11, 2011
Checking the hard drive of my computer to see what posts I’ve been working on, and to complete some of them for future publishing, I’ve come to realize there are so many waiting to see the daylight. After a quick count, I noticed there are more than one hundred!
There are six folders: Entertainment (2); Fiction (29); Memories (0); Projections (1); Thoughts (62); and Uncategorized (8). -The six categories I have in this blog. The biggest numbers are in Fiction and Thoughts, while the smallest (0) is in the Memories folder, which is of no surprise, considering my terrible memory
Every time an idea comes to mind I write whatever comes out and place the “project” in the appropriate folder, ready to be completed when there’s more time available. Unfortunately, the original idea seems to vanish completely when I try to retake the post to complete it.
Perhaps the worst part is that ideas come to mind in the most “inappropriate” circumstances, like when driving in my delivery shift, when in the shower, etc. In some instances it is of no problem to just grab a piece of paper and write down the name of the post, the general idea, and some quick notes to help the future writing. But when the time comes to actually take the task of completing the posts (a couple of days later), my mind either becomes blank, or I can’t see the reason or logic of the original idea, making worthless the whole point.
I’ve tried (when possible) not to stop writing when the idea comes around, and simply postpone whatever I was doing at the time, but usually there’ll be some research involved, and the time required to complete the whole process force me to still leave the post for future complexion.
The result is more than one hundred posts waiting and nothing ready to publish.
-Does it happen to you?
-What procedure do you use to write those ideas that cannot be completed at once?
-How do you organize your writings in your computer?
Let me know in the comment section.
Raul
Posted by Raul on February 7, 2011
For the past couple of weeks I haven’t been able to dedicate more than one or two hours total to this blog. The reason is the cold temperatures and the snow here in Denver.
I’ve been working in rebuilding an engine; but because of the cold temperatures (sometimes between -15 to -25 Fahrenheit (-26 to -32 Celsius)), everything is frozen and making the whole rebuilding process really slow.
You can see in the pictures how the freezing temperatures affect the metal (engine and tools), and with it, the whole process of taking apart, cleaning, rebuilding and putting together.
Fortunately, and with the help of a kerosene heater, slowly and little by little the engine is starting to take shape again, and hope in a couple of days it’ll be running once more, freeing me enough to have some time to visit your blogs, comment, and write in this one.
I believe in Murphy’s Laws, so most probably as soon as I finish with this engine temperatures will become nice and warm again. Somehow it is nice to think that I can control the weather!
Raul
