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Careless parking #05 - Woodbine edition
2008-02-18 06:07:00
Me and Santi went to Toronto last Saturday, and had lunch at Woodbine Centre Mall in Etobicoke (Toronto) after the game. Here are a couple of pictures we took right before we went in. There were many more we could have taken, but we just picked this two!     Santi y yo fuimos a Toronto el sábado pasado, y almorzamos en el mall Woodbine Centre en Etobicoke (Toronto) después del partido. Aquí hay un par de fotos que sacamos justo antes de entrar. Había muchas más que podríamos haber sacado, pero elegimos estas dos! Technorati Tags: Careless parking
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Weekly Winners #02 - Feb/10 to Feb/16
2008-02-17 06:24:00
I started the week with great news: the story about me winning the Canadian Blog Award was picked up by "Clarín", the biggest Argentine newspaper. The result: over 250 visits that day (and the following).I still get mad at people who don't know how to park...All the stories I had written about my Dad gave me a great excuse to post a picture of him. And everybody seemed to like it!Valentine's Day gave me a chance to talk about the woman I love... and she liked it! :-)Speaking of lovely people, look at the most beautiful assistant!Technorati Tags: weekly winnersLearn more about *Weekly Winners * here. Get the Code!

My co-worker
2008-02-17 04:34:00
Gaby was busy on Wednesday (she had to go to a funeral), so I had to take care of Florencia. Normally, I would have stayed at home, but I couldn't that day; I had lots of stuff to do, and most couldn't be done remotely. So I took Florencia to work with me!Notice that Pinky Pie (the pony) and Emma (the platypus) also came to work with her...Let me tell you, she was perfect. We got there a little before 8:30 AM and Florencia promptly sat at the computer. She played Webkinz while I attended a teleconference right next to her; when it was my turn to use the computer, she sat right beside me and drew pictures. People would come over to see her, because they could not believe how well behaved she was.We took turns in front of the laptop all morning, until it was time for us to have lunch. We then went over to Ming's and bought some Chinese food, which we loved. After lunch, Florencia helped me fix the computer, and that took some time.Man, fixing this bug is taking me a lot of time...M...
More About: Worker

Physics
2008-02-17 02:01:00
It happened today at around 3:30 PM. I was on my way back home from the Library (where I had left the kids), when I saw two petite ladies pushing a car that was stuck in the snow and ice.I stopped, of course, and went to help. Told the lady who was driving to get inside (she had one foot out) and the other two ladies to push from the back, while I was pushing from the side. There was a lot of ice, so I couldn't get a good grip; I was slipping every time I tried to push.I told the lady to put it in reverse and move just an inch back. Then I just leaned against the car as hard as I could and told her to hit the gas pedal. She stepped on it.Picture taken from MrsGrapevine.comPoor little car never had a chance. It almost went to the other side of the street. The ladies thanked me profusely; who knows how long had they been there."No problem", I said. "It's just physics; when you have a 300lb guy leaning against a car, it's bound to move...".Sucedió hoy a eso de las 3:30 PM. Estaba y...
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She's done it again
2008-02-15 19:25:00
Gaby was on TV today, along with our friend Isabel. They appeared on the "Daytime" show on Rogers TV; Gaby prepared some delicacies while the hosts interviewed Isabel. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe she was going to prepare something that had avocado and shrimp (I like the second part!).I'm not in town, so I will have to wait until I get back home to watch it... The show repeats at 4PM, 11PM and 2AM. I bet she was great! Gaby estuvo otra vez en TV hoy, junto con nuestra amiga Isabel. Aparecieron en el show llamado "Daytime" que dan por la cadena Rogers TV; Gaby preparó algunos platillos mientras los conductores entrevistaban a Isabel. No estoy 100% seguro, pero creo que iba a preparar algo que tenía paltas (avocados) y camarones (la segunda parte me gusta!).No estoy en Waterloo hoy, así que voy a tener que esperar hasta volver a casa para mirar el programa... Lo repiten a las 4PM, 11PM y 2AM. Seguro que ella estuvo genial!Technorati Tags: cooking, Waterloo Region

Friday's Feast #09 - The real one!
2008-02-15 17:21:00
Note: The Friday's Feast website is still back up!Appetizer - Name one thing that is unique about you.I have an extremely good musical ear, I'm able to accompany songs that I have never heard of before as somebody else sings. The same applies to my singing; I find second or third voices instantly.Soup - Fill in the blank: My favorite _______ is ______ but I like ______ too. My favorite band is Kiss but I like music too. :-)))Salad - What type of wood do you have for your home’s furnishings?Oh, this one is good! We brought most of our furniture from Argentina, and they're made of algarrobo, a tree with an extremely hard (and beautiful) wood. We bought those pieces of furniture at least 15 years ago (including the girls' bunkbed, our dining room table, six chairs and two big cupboards) and they still look as good (and as strong) as back then.Main Course - Who do you talk to most often on the phone?My wife, for sure, closely followed by my son Santi, who calls me all the time and...
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Friday's Feast #08
2008-02-15 07:02:00
Note: The Friday's Feast website is still down, so I came up with another personal -and not too creative- version of Friday's Feast for this week...Appetizer - The world is coming to an end. There's no way out. You only have time to say one thing to one person you know. What would you say, and to whom? I would say "I love you" to my wife. Soup - Name something you're absolutely crazy about. My kids. All four of them. OK, I said 'something', not 'someone'.If we're going for 'things', then I'd say soccer. I'm a huge fan and I'm really looking forward to this summer, where I will coach my son Juan's team, attend the games of both Carolina's and Florencia's teams, travel with Santi's team all across Ontario, and also with the rep team I'm an assistant coach of! I will have soccer six evenings a week for four months! And I love it! Salad - What's that nickname you don't want anybody to know about? C'mon! I have been given many nicknames, but none of them were ...

My funny Valentine
2008-02-14 20:01:00
It's Valentine 's Day today, and I finally got to celebrate it properly.I don't usually have the car, so it was impossible for me to go anywhere to buy Gaby a present this week. The same happens to me for other days, like our anniversary, her birthday or Mother's Day. I get great gifts, yet Gaby has to settle for whatever last minute thing I found for her. It's not fair.So I got up at 1:30 AM and went to Wal-Mart (it's open 24/7 in here). There, I bought a small gift for her, a heart-shaped box of Milka chocolates and the most important part: a big teddy bear holding a big heart.I bought another box of chocolates for my mother in law, who is still visiting us. Knowing that it was very likely I was going to get in trouble if I didn't, I bought four smaller chocolate boxes for you know who...Me and Gaby met in 1987, and have been together since September 30th, 1990. Yes, I remember the date we started dating. We dated for a very short time, though, as we got married on April 24t...
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After the avalanche
2008-02-13 06:14:00
(for my Wordless Wednesday post, please go here) Well, the first day after the "Clarín" post is over and I feel compelled to make a balance. My blog received 267 visitors yesterday (my previous record was 244) which looked at 1,004 pages (previous record was 695). Most of them, of course, came from Argentina; or maybe I should say that most of them came through the post in "Clarín". Yellow shows number of visits, red shows page views I have to be honest, I was expecting more visitors. I might -just might- beat that record today or next Wednesday, as my WW posts attract lots of viewers. The number of pages opened by those visitors, though, was almost 50% more than the previous record, so I guess that one will stay. What really puzzled me was the number of comments I received from new visitors. Three. And of those, only two came from the newspaper, as the other one is somebody I know. I don't know why this happened, but it did surprise me. Maybe the story wasn't as int...
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WW#09 - First steps
2008-02-13 06:04:00
My father, me and my brother Guillermo (February 1968) wordless wednesday
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Another award!
2008-02-13 03:22:00
"Poor Man's Nicole Richie", from Morning Sniffles, has presented me an award. The "Arte y Pico" award comes all the way from (my) neighbouring Uruguay, and in the words of its creator, Eseya:"This prize has arisen from the daily visits that I dedicate to many blogs which nourish me and enrich the spirit and the creativity. In them I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, happiness, but more importantly, ART, lots of art. With this award, I want celebrate all those bloggers that share this space with me and make it richer it every day".In the original Spanish version, it says that the award was aimed at female bloggers. I really hope that this detail was missing from the English translation before they thought of me! :-)I'm picking five (female) recipients for this award, which I will detail below.What a month I'm having! Award s from my blogbuddies, awards from Canadian Bloggers, a post on today's edition of Clarin... and I just found out I came in second in the "Poyita",...

Careless Parking #04
2008-02-12 14:21:00
I'm back with this series, after a brief recess.What? You thought I had run out of pictures? NEVER!Here are two pictures taken from the parking lot at my work.Volví con esta serie, luego de un breve receso.Es que acaso pensaban que no tenía más fotos? NUNCA!Aquí tienen dos tomadas en el parking lot de mi trabajo. Nice! Even nicer! Technorati Tags: careless parking
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Fame!
2008-02-12 06:01:00
I just received a huge surprise. Vanina, who is in charge of the weblog section of the "Clarín" newspaper (the biggest circulation in Argentina), has wrote a post about me and my award!This has to be the work of Guillermo Ziegler, who promptly told her about it. I also know -but had forgotten to mention here originally- that Mike from "Pehuajeando pa'l mundo" had also contacted different newspapers. Then I found out that Xel-Ha had also contacted Vanina! My deepest thanks to all of them.My first reaction was to think "This is way too much" but then I reconsidered; as I said to Vanina, maybe my story can make people realize that moving to another country is not as easy as it may seem. As I always say (especially on Guillermo's blog), don't expect the Prime Minister to be waiting for you at the airport, with your job offer, the key to your car and the deed to your new house... not everybody will go through a first year like we did, but this is not easy.I now have to get ready for ...
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Age is relative
2008-02-11 17:08:00
I'm 41, so you might say I'm a 'middle aged' man (as opposed as 'a man from the Middle Ages' like my kids say). I'm neither an old fart, nor a kid anymore, which is probably what bothers me these days.The kids don't help a lot. I remember one time I was pretending to be mad at Carolina and we had the following dialogue:Me: -You're grounded; even more, you're grounded until your 21. Even more, when you get married, I will let your husband know that you're grounded.Caro: -(Rolling her eyes) But Dad, you will be long dead by the time I get married...That would be 10 years from now! I'd be 51!That being said, I was listening to a soccer game from Necochea yesterday afternoon. Specifically, a game between my beloved Estación Quequén and our 'nemesis' Rivadavia, brought to my house through the hard work of Marcelo, Santiago and the people from FM Imagen. As I was listening to the words of the legendary Juan Alberto Poteca, I was surprised when I heard the name of one of t...

My darkest secret
2008-02-11 07:00:00
(This post was inspired by my answer to one of the questions of my last "Friday's Feast") I was five or six years old when this happened, and I hadn't told such terrible secret until today. I remember that I was still living in the house on 70 street, close to the school (the "Colegio Alemán", where I did Grades 1, 4 and 5).I must confess: I had an old newspaper hidden behind the fireplace. Inside, there was an article about a Dutch teacher who had died climbing the Aconcagua mountain in Mendoza (also Argentina). It was something 'normal' considering the circumstances, but I was absolutely terrified by it, because she was frozen when they found her, and I don't know why I kept imagining a mummified and even disfigured corpse.Picture taken from www.rogerwendell.comThe day I read that article in the "Ecos Diarios" for the first time, I made a ball with the newspaper and threw it inside the fireplace. A few days later, I took it out and straightened it. After that, I would come b...
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Manic Monday #04
2008-02-11 06:06:00
What is the most romantic movie that you've ever seen? That would definitely be "Always", with Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman (directed by Steven Spielberg). Only movie that has ever brought tears to my eyes. I loved the movie, especially since it features one of my favourite tunes of all times, "Smoke gets in your eyes". Distant second, "Ghost" with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.If you could be the lover of any person alive other than your current lover, who would you pick?I can honestly say "nobody but my wife", but just in the spirit of the meme I will go with one of the actresses I find very attractive; so my answer will be Jennifer Aniston. She's crazy for me as well, you know, but I have told her I'm happily married; that I was very sorry, but she couldn't even compete. The Brad Pitt/Vince Vaugh thing is just a big cover up designed by her press agent...What scents remind you of a loved one?The smell of jasmine reminds me of my wife, same as the smell of "...
More About: Monday , Manic Monday , Manic

Weekly Winners #01 - Feb/03 to Feb/09
2008-02-10 07:09:00
I finally found something to post about on Sundays!!!Por fin encontré sobre qué postear los domingos!!!We cooked with Juan......and we did quite a good job!Florencia played and played......while my stress ball couldn't stand the pressureIt looks like I won't be flipping burgers any time soon... snif!This was -by far- the biggest thing that has happened to this blog so far.Want to check why I won this award?Here's the series in HTML and PDF (English - Spanish) format!Technorati Tags: weekly winnersLearn more about *Weekly Winners * here.Get the Code!

More snow
2008-02-10 05:44:00
You want snow? We have lots in here, come get some. It practically snowed non-stop since Tuesday, and it is still snowing.We had our record snowfall for a day on Wednesday, with 26.5 cm, but that was on top of a previous snowfall. And all this after the kids had a snow day the previous Friday. Get the idea?I've been taking some pictures (which I will share below), but I have to tell you how lucky I am: I had to drive to Toronto today. At 7:30 AM. On a Saturday. For work. Yay.It was awful; I could barely see, and every time a truck passed beside me, it will throw a blanket of water and ice that would blind me for a very scary second. Eventually, we still made it to the hospital where I was going (Santi was with me).I worked there until 1:00 PM and then left to Santi's game. And after having watched Santi's team today, we both agreed that the drive to Toronto hadn't been that bad after all. Especially if you compare it with the way Santi's team played.That was scary!Quieren nieve...
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Class
2008-02-09 17:39:00
After I won the Canada Blog Award on Wednesday, I visited my fellow nominees and congratulated them as well, like everybody should. Some replied very kindly, like Angella from Dutch Blitz (beautiful blog, by the way).But nobody classier than Sue and Matthew from One old Green Bus (another very interesting blog). Look at this:Una vez que gané el Canada Blog Award el miércoles, visité a mis colegas de nominación y los felicité también, como corresponde. Algunos respondieron muy atentamente, como Angella de Dutch Blitz (hermoso blog, dicho sea de paso).Pero nadie con más clase que Sue and Matthew de One old Green Bus (otro blog muy interesante). Miren esto:That's a little too much, don't you think?You should consider checking all 4 finalists. Each one of them has something interesting to see. I'm still surprised I won, especially after having looked at the competitors!* Dutch Blitz* One old green Bus* Uncorrected Proofs* Canadian CynicTechnorati Tags: Canadian Blog Awards
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Lack of foresight
2008-02-09 06:10:00
I wasn't sure about whether I should talk about this or not, because after all, it affected people we know (or at least my wife and her mom know). But the story has made it to the local media now, so I better discuss this issue, especially considering that some people who read my blog are thinking about (or in the process of) coming to Canada.   This family, that Gaby knows through the KW Spanish Cultural Society (to which she belongs), received the visit of their sister who came from Chile. This lovely lady (Gaby and her mom told me she was very funny) arrived in Kitchener last August, but didn't purchase any travel insurance, something that many people coming from our region do, regrettably.   Unfortunately, she suffered a stroke last week and had to be hospitalized; even worse, she passed away yesterday. Now her family has to deal with a huge bill from the local hospital, because the treatment she received averaged $2,500 per day. We're talking about no less than $20...
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WW#04 - Crying
2008-01-09 06:06:00
My daughter Carolina (3) in the carSan Martín de los Andes, Argentina - May 2000wordless wednesday
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The day my father left
2008-01-08 06:55:00
I was about six years old, and I still lived at the house on 70th Street. I was in Grade 1 at the German School (its real name was "Humboldt Institute") and I was doing quite well.Evidently, things between my Mom and my Dad weren't going well, but I was completely unaware of it; even more, I don't even remember having seen them fight, so either the fights weren't big or they wouldn't fight in front of us (or I have erased them from my head). Life was normal to me; I was living in my own world, taking care of my homework and creating all the havoc I could, both at home and at school.One evening, I found my Dad and my brother Guillermo talking in the living room. Dad was sitting in the recliner, and had my brother sitting on his lap. They were talking, and the tone of the conversation didn't look promising. Even more, I thought Guillermo was crying. Intrigued (and being as nosey as I was), I wanted to know more about it: chances were my brother had gotten himself in trouble, so I...
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Children's Festival
2008-01-07 14:44:00
The Children's Festival kicked off yesterday in Necochea, my hometown. This is the 47º edition, and it started with a parade featuring 21 floats, some bands, theatre groups, buskers and other performers. Members of the Municipal School of Arts (Source: Ecos Diarios)There will be many events throughout the week, not only in Necochea, but also in the neighbouring towns; the kids will have a lot of options to choose from, most of them at a very accessible price, and some even free. Even the movie theatres will be showing some kids movies in the afternoon. The festival will end with another parade, this time in Quequén (Necochea's twin city, on the other side of the Quequén River). Members of a play called "Shipwreck in Paradise" (source: Ecos Diarios)I remember taking part of many of those parades along with my brother and cousins, always because of my grandmother Haydée, who was heavily involved with one of the groups who would build a float every year. It was a lot of fun, alth...

Careless Parking #01
2008-01-07 07:27:00
This has always been one of my pet peeves: people who park in illegal spaces 'to save time' when there's lots of room in the parking lot just 5 meters away. I have always wished I could write tickets, so I can make them pay for their stupidity, carelessness and laziness. But I can't.So I go for the second best thing, which is putting them on display! I took this idea from the website "You park like an a*hole", which displays pictures sent by people from all over the world, showing these morons who couldn't care less about the others.Here's my first pic, taken at my favourite spot, the Price Chopper Supermarket on the corner of University Avenue and Bridge St, in Waterloo.Poor guy was in a hurry, as you can tell.Oh, never mind the parking lot was almost empty...Feel free to send me pictures or even better, start your own "Careless Parking " series. Then we'll create a group!

Three Kings
2008-01-07 01:06:00
We celebrated "Three Kings Day" today; in Spain and most Latin American countries, this is a very important day, and pretty much marks the end of the Christmas season.In Spain, Argentina and Uruguay (and maybe other places) children -and adults- leave their shoes ready for the Kings' presents before going to bed on the eve of January 6th. The kids write their letters asking for their presents, and leave them on top of their shoes. We even leave water and grass for the camels! Then we would get up early on the 6th, and come near the Christmas tree to open our presents.Back in Argentina, we would have lunch all together and then we share the Rosca de Reyes. This Rosca is a pastry made with orange blossom water and butter, decorated with candied fruit. We couldn't make the Rosca here, but we still celebrated as if we still were back there.(Some info taken from Wikipedia) Hoy celebramos "El día de Reyes"; en España y la mayoría de los países de Latinoamérica, éste es un día muy...

Bloggers United: Winners announced!
2008-01-06 07:12:00
Remember I took part of the BlogCatalog's campaign called "Bloggers Unit e in acts of kindness" back on December 17th? Well, the winners were announced on January 2nd, and guess what! I'm one of the winners!I shared the eight prize with nine other bloggers, and our prize consists in getting advertised on USA Today! I don't know when this is happening, but my traffic will be a pretty good indicator...Here's the list of winners, from the BlogCatalog mini-site:First Place — BlogWorld Conference Attendance, Full Page Ad in Blogger & Podcaster, iPod Touch Listening..Learning..LivingSecond Place — 1/2 Page Ad in Blogger & Podcaster Mental Stimulation Mental StimulationThird Place — 1/2 Page Ad in Blogger & Podcaster Keep It Simple SolutionsFourth Through Seventh Place (No Order) — 1/4 Page Ad In Blogger & Podcaster Life Prints Original me Tees Sushi for lunch My DenEighth Through Seventeenth Place (No Order) — USA Today Advertisement Ruthie's Reason Local B...
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On-line soccer greatness
2008-01-05 21:07:00
I met Mike online. He lives in Pehuajó, Argentina, a city made famous by the song "Manuelita" by María Elena Walsh (you will even see a concrete statue of Manuelita just outside the city).Mike is an active member of the Argentina-Deportes Yahoo! group, to which I belong since 2001. In 1998, he created the 'Online pollita' (with excuses to those from Spain, I know it's a bad word), a game in which we send our predictions for the Argentine soccer league matches (and sometimes some from Pehuajó) , including scores, number of red cards and penalty kicks. Every season, more than 50 people from all around the world (mostly Argentines) enjoy playing this simple yet highly addicting game; there are rivalries, winners teasing those who came in second, lots of bragging, people asking for a reward when they score 0 points (like I did more than once), etc.But the most important thing, we have LOTS of fun. Mike is not only the owner, but also the 'major tyrant', as he defines himself. Th...
More About: Soccer , On-line , Line , On Line

Another award!
2008-01-05 13:13:00
Mariposa is from Philippines and has a blog called "Mariposa's Tales". She was very kind to give me an award, with the following words dedicated to me and my blog:Gabriel from Waterloo - I love reading your bilingual site...I get to practice my Spanish... ;)Thank you very much, Mariposa! I enjoy reading your blog as well. It's very well done.(Her post here) Mariposa es de Filipinas y tiene un blog llamado "Mariposa's Tales". Ella fue muy amable en darme un premio, con las siguientes palabras dedicadas a mí y mi blog:Gabriel from Waterloo - Me encanta leer su site bilingüe...Me permite practicar mi español... ;)Muchas gracias, Mariposa! Yo también disfruto leer tu blog. Está muy bien hecho.(Su post aquí)
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I'm OK
2008-01-04 23:51:00
I had written a post earlier, but lost the connection, and the post with it... so here I go again.Surgery took only about an hour, and I woke up immediately. To my relief, I didn't behave like a 4 years old or did anything stupid like trying to pull my IV while gaining consciousness, because that was worrying me (I know many do things like this).I'm fine now, though it's very hard to breathe, because my nose is all packed up. I choke on my blood (there's a lot coming from my nose to the back of my throat) and have lots of difficulties swallowing. To make things even more painful, I just sneezed! Twice! Yipee.I'm expected to go back home at 6AM tomorrow. The first thing I'm going to do is to stop at a A&W and grab a big ass egg & sausage sandwich, pardon my language. I had demanded that a plain double cheeseburger should be by my side when I woke up, but it wasn't there. They must have gone out to get it.In the meantime, thanks for your prayers and message. They mean the world...

Nose
2008-01-04 11:27:00
(Please scroll down for my Friday's Feast post) By the time you read this, I will be at the hospital getting ready for my surgery. I'm not scared at all, but there's some concern about the things that could go wrong during any surgical procedure. I'm only 40 (well, only 41) and I have four little kids. Imagine if something happened to me right now... to make things even worse, it's the anniversary of my car accident! (and it's number 13!!)But nothing bad should happen. As I said before, it's a very simple procedure and the only reason why I'm staying overnight is my sleep apnea. Hopefully, I will be playing with my kids again on Saturday afternoon.In the meantime, wish me luck! Para cuando lean esto, yo ya voy a estar en el hospital, preparándome para mi cirugía. No tengo miedo, sólo la preocupación acerca de las cosas que pueden salir mal en cualquier operación. Tengo sólo 40 años (bueno, casi 41) y tengo cuatro hijos pequeños. Imaginen si me pasara algo en este mom...
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