This is the first picture ever to be posted on this 'BlogWare' blog using Flickr.

By the way, I just found out how to configure my blog to do this so it is kind of a test; if it goes alright, here is how I did it in three steps:

(Configuration)

1. When Flickr asked me to describe my type of blog, I described it as a 'BloggerAPI enabled blog';

2. When Flickr asked me to specify my API endpoint, I entered ' http://www.blogware.com/xmlrpc.cgi '

3. I had to enter my username and password as normal - all lower case, for some reason.

Credits for the picture belong to Chiri from The Chiri Chronicles and Mr. C.


Quick update: The title for my blog entry did not come up alright. Until I figure this out, I will set my blog to save as draft all posts to be published from Flickr, so that I can go back to my 'BlogWare' dashboard and fix it from there.

Yesterday, shortly after my first video post ever, I decided to visit
The Adventures of Sydney & Her Accordion, a blog published by the fellow blogger Sydney.

Considering Sydney's background as an ethnomusicologist and her strong interest in Merengue Típico, I was very hopeful to find a picture of someone playing the tambora in a conventional position. I even guessed that maybe Sydney had something on Pablitodrum (very roughly translated as "lil'Pablo the drummer") from yesterday's video.

Friends, I couldn't be happier today, since I found not one, but two great pictures of tamboreros! Even if I'd still need Sydney to confirm this information, it seems to me that if you visit her post entitled Food and percussion, the first picture there shows a nice shot of Pablitodrum (aka Pablito); if you scroll down you will meet Sydney herself holding the tambora with style.

Visit Sydney's blog, ask her there to share with us more about Pablito, her tambora and local cooking lessons, her trip to the Dominican Republic and the study of Merengue Típico.

I learned about Sydney thanks to The Chiri Chronicles (forever obrigado, Chiri!).

Update: Sydney confirmed he is known as Pablito Drum. Pablito is very talented and currently undergoing scholarship studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
Errata: I think I found Sydney's blog via a Technorati query. (@11:19 p.m.)

The last two days I have been browsing around for pictures of my homeland, the Dominican Republic.

Thanks to The Chiri Chronicles, I ran across another blogger who I have chosen as subject of the day here at Humane Caribbean. I am talking about Jon Anderson, a photographer and writer originally from New York but currently living in the Dominican Republic, who does wonders with light and words.

I have clicked my way to his weblog (in Spanish) and the homepage for Dark Horse Images, where he hosts some of his photography and writings; there, make sure you visit Caña Brava, which I find to be a highly compelling work . . .  Just visit, as none of my words can tell you better about it than what he has done there.

Jon Anderson's portfolio is available online via a digital rights management agency.

Before I let any more time slip by between my fingers, I want to say thank you to three bloggers for unknowingly becoming an inspiration to me, an otherwise technologically –and perhaps socially- challenged mortal. That said, thanks be to the authors of Ernie the Attorney, Bracuta and This is not my Country.

I wish I could remember the exact date and time in blogosphere history when I first ran into their writings, pictures and other muses. But I can’t.

Perhaps it would be flattering if I could tell each one of them –separately- that I have read their blog every single day passed since the first day I got there. But I haven’t.

Still, I would like to show a token of my gratitude right here and now, together with a few of the reasons why I keep coming back to their blogs.

Ernie, thanks to you I got to know what was that blogging thing. I knew nada about it before I ran into your blog.

Even today, when I am struggling with little to no regular traffic on my blogging endeavors, when I decided to learn what a trackback was, I searched your blog for some plain language I could understand and found it. Did I already mention that I am technologically challenged?

I find your blog to be well written and humanely close with some great pictures.

Last, please know that I had been reading your entries for many months before Katrina hit New Orleans and was deeply concerned for your safety and your people. Wish you well.

Bracuta, through your posts –and rants- you have showed me that your blog is your own place where to say the things you want to say; most certainly an extension of your mind and persona.

I try to enjoy diversity to the fullest, even if sometimes I do not get away with overcoming my not so fake shyness. . .

Yes, regardless if I disagree with you on some topics –baseball, music, activities of choice and some politics included— I keep coming back to your blog because you show me the Dominican Republic from a different angle, which might be otherwise ignored by me.

Just to show you how far back we go in our blogger-reader relationship, I still remember when you were asking for a Gmail invite. It was hilarious.

Hey, and guess what? Ernie is your colleague; like yourself, he is also a lawyer – And please, do not hit me with a heavy brick if it was already obvious.

That said, Bracuta, I find your blog to be highly personal, straightforward –sometimes even blunt- and transparent.

DeviousDiva, you are my most recent addition on this process of perpetually learning to enjoy diversity through blogging. Through This is not my country you have showed me that even if so geographically separate we do share some common interests and worries in some very serious stuff, like the denial of official birth registrations for children . . .

Yet, you have recently showed me -yesterday- that blogging is not only about the serious stuff and that sometimes you can get away -you may even need to get away- from it all to follow your instincts and laugh it off, even if you resume your serious blogging right the next day.

To all of you, thanks. I am vouching for a renewal of my blogging activities and look forward to delivering a daily entry; also, I have found new tools to make things easier for me to revise and publish.

I know you will be quite busy and therefore do not expect you to read this post, albeit it would be a nice surprise to learn otherwise. Most importantly, I hope that someday, when I finally get some readers to this blog, they learn about yours and the inspirational force that you have driven across the blogosphere for many like me.

This is a test post to finish the "claim your blog" procedure following Technorati (tm)'s instructions

Technorati Profile