ISSUE - DATE - TIME

DETAILS

MY WIFE & KIDS

February 7, 2008

Honey Mommy - When I met you, I wasn't looking for you - and you weren't looking for me either. In fact, I wasn't looking for anyone PERIOD - But after meeting you, the  most special thing about life has become not "each other happening to each other" and the genuine love that we share for all of our kids, but also the fact that with the help of the almighty, we learn with every step together and we allow everything to fall into place, realizing that we didn't bring each other to each other, but simply were privileged enough to have found each other through God's grace.

You and these kids mean the world to me, and I can't imagine life without all of us. Well, the term "US" is to be continued since as of this year, there will be a new addition to our wonderful family, and there's nothing I need more than to raise ALL OF OUR CHILDREN (present and future) together.

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL <and I am crying tears of joy> because I LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE ME and BECAUSE YOU ARE SIMPLY THE LOVE OF MY LIFE  :)

WE ARE OUR PARENTS

November 26, 2005

Recently, I spent a bit of time with my wonderful father. And not long ago, I did have the privilege of spending time with my very special mother and I realized that more than ever before, as I get older, I get more and more like my parents... But in my case, it's not a bad thing, considering that compared to most people in today's world, my parents are literally saints. The more time I spend with them the more I realize that my sense of integrity, trust, honesty, perseverance and self-discipline came as  no accident, and boy do I feel lucky to be a product of their love... :)

Dad, thanks for spending time with me and the little ones, this past week, because you realize that you wouldn't be able to spend time with me for my Birthday... You are undoubtedly the most honest, righteous, and special man that I have ever known and I love you and Mom more than life itself!!!

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT 

Master Of Science, Computer Engineering

 8/16/2005 - 11:40PM

Getting my Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering was a great  accomplishment for me since I had to work Full Time (typically 84 hours or so a week) while I attended College Full Time, and in the end, had to prove to my professors that grades are simply a reflection of how much time one has to master the material on the syllabus and typically are only representative of what's covered in class. I was able to excel in the end even while taking 5+ engineering courses per semester while attending school Full Time. This accomplishment and my love for knowledge induced me to  believe that I could indeed get my Master's degree in Computer Engineering. It was a major decision considering that I had always opted to spend as less time as possible in front of "the machine" prior to that, and didn't particularly have a computer-centric background. Nevertheless, I enjoyed contemplating the idea of mastering certain key computer principles, whether software or architecture in nature. At first it was very demanding and felt like a daunting and impossible task. In fact,  it took me weeks, if not months to have an idea of what was going on in my first computer engineering course in the program (Assembly or Computer System Design), but as always, I was relentless, and eventually with persistence and determination, I was able to ACE my first computer engineering course.  This allowed me to gain confidence and realize that there's a thin line between failure and success. But there were more challenges in store for me when I tried to take too many courses while working Full Time and quite often I felt that I was wasting my time on theoretical stuff, when I could have been focusing on business as an entrepreneur. I'm so glad I had my dear friend ASR and my advisor to encourage me when I felt like giving up, and remind me that I am a winner. I treasure triumphing over the challenges that some of these demanding courses presented, because by overcoming them, I'm a much stronger person. In short, I also learned that we can do everything in life but NOT alone. Most of the courses were extremely demanding especially for a married man with children who also had to work Full time, but in the end, only my persistence, determination and the encouragement  and support of my best friend ASR, and advisor Dr. G. were omnipotent :) I'm proud to me a computer engineer in a world where computers seem to control everything, and I'll never regret my choice to become an engineer because as far as I'm concerned nothing else in this world makes one feel so in charge and omnipotent.

I'm now on my way to getting a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degree and a JD (Juris Doctor) degree, but had it been not for the mental toughness that I gained by getting both my Bachelor's, and  Master's, these two goals would not have been possible. Thank you CCNY, UCF, and  ASR. One of these days, I'll pay you back my way,the Lorins Way :)

THE MEANING OF LIFE 

 7/27/2005 - 7:45AM

I feel that LIFE should  be about "living"... and "living" is what I call, "the total enjoyment of life within one's own world in a manner that is not harmful to one's body and soul". I would love to write a book on this topic one of these days because I feel that there's a lot I can share from my own ever growing experience. But having said the word "experience", what is it really? Experience is really about how many mistakes we have either made or avoided in our fist attempts to do certain things. Thus, experience is about learning from our mistakes/exposures. Hence, life should  about enjoying the sum of our experiences by learning from them so that we will not only improve the present but also the future for the betterment of all species that we have found on earth and who knows what we might discover elsewhere. Anyhow, as a human being, my focus is on mankind. Accordingly,  at times I may feel like losing faith in the human race when I see people say or do stupid things, but when I remember that most people do have the ability to learn from their experiences at some point or another and  somehow or someday most of us will contribute to the very meaning of life.

Fear vs. Freedom - 7/21/2005 - 8:41AM

A famous American president asserted that "the only thing we have to fear is FEAR itself." These were profound words that catalyzed courage and determination to defeat all types of odds whether tangible or intangible. In today's world where terrorism is happening in various places and ways, it seems that fear prevails in many parts of the world including America. This is the land of the FREE, and I support any measures to preserve Freedom and eliminate fear. After all, with fear happiness is disturbed and as citizens of America we cannot forget the basic rights that we hold so dear, namely  LIFE, LIBERTY and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

New America - 7/6/2005 - 3:06AM

The difference between the new America and the old America lies in the fact that  white men like Jefferson, whose intellectualisms help found this country thus helped create notions of  U.S. good (liberalism/freedom) and evil (e.g. inferiority of minority groups NOT in their memory capacities, but rather in their reasoning schemes compared to whites) which still exist today, used to hold romanticized opinions that superseded others who differed and had a conscience and even acted on it on their own. In the new America, the latter (wiser men) are ready to defy all odds to make America stand for its true ideals, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." These men (Democrats or Independents or Republicans) are the true daily founders of America and I am proud to live in a country where I know that they exist.

As Joe Feagin of Texas A&M University said, "Lots of white men have a good conscience and if they knew the true story of race in this country, they'd want to do something about it."

The World - 6/30/05 - 10:19AM

Today's  world is becoming increasingly chaotic, and focuses seem to be placed on the wrong values and issues despite all of our resources and technological advancements. However, as one of those who appreciate every opportunity that's made available to me,  I must attest that I  know that I live in the most wonderful of times and the greatest country in the world. I wish that  most people would realize the same thing and take advantage of all the resources/opportunities that are available to them to make the world at large a better place - I mean every corner of the world, wherever HUMAN BEINGS of all kinds and all other species exist or co-exist so that we could better complement one another wherever we are in the world.

My Parents - 6/22/05 - 7:05AM

I have never asked my parents for a single penny in my life, yet I feel that they have given me the world. The values that they have instilled in me regarding respect for others (rich or poor), humility, courage, pride and the belief that being great is not an accomplishment but what I have to be as a person allowed me to overcome all types of peer pressure and establish my individuality even at a young age.  I have never lost my respect for them, and love them more than life itself. We all have such a solid relationship and love for each other. Every day that  I realize that I literally have "saints" as my parents makes me also realize that there indeed is a God, and that I'm the happiest and luckiest man in the world... The only way of paying them back is not only by making them  proud but also by being the best father that my children could have ever had :-) 

America - 6/22/05 - 4:55AM

I woke up early today just to get ready for a meeting that is very important to me, and as I contemplated the sum of all the opportunities that have been made available to me in my relatively young years, I realize that I live in the most powerful and free country in the world and in the most wonderful of times in the history of mankind. Although it is in my nature to never take anything for granted, the realization that I live in America is one of the best things that ever happened to me. Unfortunately, it is something that most will go through a lifetime of taking for granted though. I guess it's human nature, one can only truly know what one has until it is no longer available - Pete

Learning - 6/17/05 - 8:57AM

Learning has become such a chore for most people these days... Every day, I wake up and hope that I'll meet someone, somewhere who will enjoy expressing what s/he has learned and how it can potentially be used to improve the lives of all species. Shouldn't that be the glory of living? As my favorite quote (by the late and great Einstein) reads, I wish that we could all  "Live like we are going to die tomorrow and Learn like we are going to live forever." - Pete