Latin Fusion TV BLOG

Hello Street Talk Readers. I hope you are doing well and getting ready for summer; especially the students!

How did you spend your Memorial Day? Did you support any of the activities that took place in and around our community? Did you give thanks to the troops you saw? What about pay homage for all those that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our Freedom?

I participated in the Paseo del Rio’s Armed Forces River Parade and the Brothers of Fallen Heroes Memorial Day Ceremony at the Alamo.

On Memorial Day, we celebrate the lives of those men and women who died while serving our country. They, and all military personnel, put their lives in the front line for our Freedom today. We should always recognize and remember those who serve, and have served, our country.

It was an honor to be one of the invited Guest Speakers in front of the Alamo. I was there with other dignitaries and special guests. It was our way of saying “Thank You” to our Military.

The day started with a caravan of about75 cars and motorcycles that begun at the BOFH Headquarters and ended at the Alamo.

As the caravan made its way through the Southside of San Antonio, I noticed so many people running outside their homes to wave and say “Thank You” to our Military. There were cars pulling over to salute and I noticed many of them were Veterans themselves.  It touched my heart as they yelled out “Thank You” and “God Bless You!”

As we arrived in front of the Alamo the Ceremonies began with the Color Guard presented by The Boy Scouts.  The National Anthem was sung by one of our Active Duty Heroes, and BOFH Queen.  As usual it brings tears to my eyes along with the lump in my throat.

Isabelle Sanchez, San Antonio’s newest youth sensation sang “Hero,” and dedicated it to ALL of our military heroes. If you haven’t heard her sing – she has a golden voice. I could see people wiping tears from their face.

There was a lady there, looking at the Texas Wall Monument of our MIA’s and Fallen Heroes, who turned to me and softly said: “My son served eighteen months in Iraq, yet was killed in a motor cycle accident.” How sad the tragedy. He is still a hero in my eyes.

On another note, God brings us together to remember that we should help each other and our neighbors. This support is very important to me. I ask that you look deep into your heart and ask yourself if you support the community like you should.

I know we all get caught up in our busy schedules, but the tragedies in Oklahoma and West, Texas could happen to us at any time.

I am always grateful for what God blesses me with, and I thank him for the great people He puts in my path.  I see the great things you do for our community without expecting anything in return.

I send a Special Thank You to the Zimmerle Family, Javier Covarrubias and the artists who gave their time for the relief concert and food/clothing drive to help.  It was the best Sunday I spent out in a while and I was glad to attend. It was a Great Day!

We gathered boxes of clothing and delivered them to the Cadillac Bar and Restaurant. I pray that they will be of good use to many of the families. We don’t do this for the thanks, but knowing we help brightens my day.

So the next time you hear of an event like this, stop what you are doing and see if you can help. It may not be a huge concert, but it is a humble event that comes from the Heart!

And remember, today it was someone else, but tomorrow it could be you or your family in need!

Finally, I have decided I will be run for Riverwalk Queen for 2014. Like the Rey Feo, the one who raises the most money wins the Crown. This year we will have lots of fundraisers, parties and fun times.

We will start setting up the donation page on the Latin Fusion Tv website. Every dollar counts so we will need your help. I hope I can count on your support!

Finally, I want to say: God Bless America, God Bless Our Troops and Happy Father’s Day to all the dads! Spend time with your children and children – spend time with your fathers!

Make every day a great day; have a great summer and remember to “Walk by Faith and Not by Sight!” Brandy Lopez

And I bet you asked: “Now why don’t he write?”

We apologize for not writing more as we have been busy – but that is no excuse; especially since so many of you take the time to read our humble little post and even take the time to comment. Thanks for that!

But now, I will get straight to the point – In my quest to be a more effective communicator or just to be more healthy in my dealings with others – I need to talk about R & R.

Or, as I like to call it: Rehearsals and Rehashing!

R& R affects yours and my ability to communicate effectively.

When we do a little R & R, we waste time in our head, period…

But first a little back story:    The mall we had partnered with (so we thought),  has terminated our arrangement. The place is San Antonio, TX and the the Mall is Wonderland of the Americas.  Management and staff refer the mall in the following: “There is always something going on!”

Much to our chagrin and surprise – they were not kidding.  It was just not as positive as we had hoped.

They say it was nothing that we did as a group and cite incompatibility as a reason to part ways.  I think and say different, but I will not draft my opinion here.  What I will do is share the unnecessary need and desire for R & R.

R & R, if not Rest and Relaxation, is a waste of time and energy. Let me explain:

Rehearsing is what you do when you carry on a conversation (in your head) with someone before it happens or with someone that is not even present.  You practice telling them this or that, or should I say: you are going to tell them this and that and usually is a rather assertive tone going on in your head.  Problem is, when the conversation actually takes place – it does not always go as it was rehearsed and they do not respond the way you acted it out in your head – then you are stuck! And it almost always plays out different than what you initially planned or rehearsed.

Rehashing is when you go through a conversation, after it is done, over and over wishing you would have said this or that.  Goes something like this: I should have told them this, I should have said that!

Some say that hindsight is 20/20; others second guess the end result – problem is it still requires wasted energy.  Problem is, again, the conversation is over and it does not reflect on what was actually said, just what should have been said.

Never is it healthy because the conversation is over and resentments build between the non-existent parties.  Basically, you had your chance at the meeting – do not waste energy constantly trying to change an outcome that has been decided.

Do you Understand?

I will cite an example: Recently, we had a meeting with the operations and marketing managers of the mall.  This was our “Exit” meeting.  They were there to tell us that we would have absolutely no more dealings with the mall.

Such is life in relationships – some work, some don’t and some need a bit of working together to make it healthy.

I had planned not to say much because I did not have much to say.  This was our exit.  What use would it do to gripe or share how unhealthy our relationship was – IT WOULD NOT CHANGE THE OUTCOME!

During the meeting, I was constantly being asked if about my demeanor in the meeting – I was stoic and distant. Not angry, upset, nor immature – just aloof.  I had nothing to say – anything I would have added to the meeting would have been fruitless. Nothing would have come from it – I repeat – IT WOULD NOT CHANGE THE OUTCOME!.

Usually, I would have thought about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it many times over.  But because I knew where we stood with the mall and I knew how I felt about the principles – I made a conscious effort to stop thinking about what I was going to say, or wanted to say in the meeting…

Trust me – I have some reservations and thoughts about how it all went down, even from the beginning.  We have all encountered something like this, haven’t we?

Anyway, below is a list to save yourself from Rehearsals and Rehashes:

1. Remember the message not what you want to tell them or how you want to say it;
2. Create an agenda;
3. Remove the emotion from your agenda;
4. Make a conscious effort to catch yourself when you are playing it out in your head;
5. Prepare yourself for any deviations – that way, you won’t get caught off guard;
6. When the meeting is over – let it stay that way – it is over;
7. Try to stay healthy in your mind and in your dealings, regardless of the outcome;
8. Do not go over it again and again – otherwise, you are just allowing them to rent space in your head;
9. Stay away from resentment – this is the most unhealthy aspect of rehashing; and
10. Make a conscious effort to catch yourself when you are rehashing in your head.

Look, this is easier said than done, especially if you are not a strong meeting person.  In a nutshell:

Save rehearsals for the plays and skits – the real world requires knowing what idea/strategy/plan or message you want to convey.  This takes tough planning and execution where agendas will help you be a better meeting person and less apt to get sideswiped with any change in direction.

When it is all said and done, remember that there is very little you can do or say – so accomplish as much as you can during the meeting.  This way you don’t feel slighted or feel like you have been cheated.

With that said, I hope this helps….

Take care, God Bless and Cool Runnings, Mon! – Michael

You have heard it and maybe even said it: Blah, Blah Blah…this saying is very akin to yada, yada, yada.  But what do they mean and what does it have to with anything?

Monotony, rudimentary and mundane are all words that come to mind.  And the reason I write about these is to explain the process necessary to maintain a successful blog.  So here goes:

1. Writing is not mundane – it is a craft – and like any craft must be practiced;
2. It is important to be diligent – we have up to 10,000 comments and have to go through each and every one of them and determine if they are real or fake;
3. It is important follow through – I am constantly on the lookout for things to write about and we have more than 85 posts;
4. Don’t give up – it took us 14 months before the blog has taken off like it has;
5. Be consistent – write at least once a week;
6. Use lists and tags – apparently they work;
7. Have fun – writing is not a chore;
8. Share that which is useful – I could write about anything but I choose to write about things that are useful to the human condition;
9. Go through all the comments – we use the good, the bad and the ugly;
10. Clean up the comments – some people comment and add websites that are not appropriate to our site.

We write about spiritual things, marketing ideas, personal experience and relevant topics.  I do not write too much about current events because I am not the news.  I could but I choose not to.

I have learned that this site does not work good with OPERA and the rss feed is at the bottom of each post.  You can share what we write and please pass this forward.  I don’t know what link backs, track backs or pingbacks are – but if they are good – please do so.  Do not plagiarize.

We can be reached at latinfusiontv@gmail.com.  I would love to communicate with you. We can be reached.

We Face book, we tweet, we have a blip.tv site  (http://latinfusiontv.blip.tv/) and we welcome serious suggestions.  We have a group page on Facebook as well as individual pages.  We have a website with videos and photos – check us out – www.latinfusiontv.com.  I will check out a website if you ask me to. It is monotonous, and rather mundane but it must be done to be successful.

You can advertise on our site but you must contact us to do so.  We have more than 5000 unique visitors a month with more than 200,000 hits a month.  I know that many of you put up url’s to your sites but we have been kind enough not to erase them.  We do not use SEO nor will we.

We have tried to reach those of you who ask us to but you will need to put in a good email address in the comments.  We will check to see if your comment has spam and we will clean it up for the rest of our audience.

I enjoy what you all have to offer – especially the funny comments that are repetitive and nonsensical – but you will never see them because I go through them all and erase the ones that do not add to the blog or to the comments.

I have thought about cheeseburgers and sausages and the media has changed and it affects the global structure as a whole.  Zune is better and the ipod is great.  I know that I am not responsible and you can point fingers – but please do not expect that I will put porn url’s on our site and we will be diligent to keep it clean for you.

We think up the topics ourselves and we are passionate about what we do. With that being said – yada, yada, yada and Blah, Blah, Blog away!

Take care, God Bless and Cool Runnings mon – Michael Arellano