enoch-moses

As you may be following that the American auto industry ( GM , Ford and Chrysler ) is asking the US Government to bail them out with a $33 to $15 billion (not million but billion) loan. The Legislative body and the Executive body are currently scrutinizing the three companies and their bad practices. Today the President Elect Barack Obama stated that the CEO of GM should step down and Chrysler should be merged. I don't have an MBA or have any high level business acumen but I do read the papers and see that the big three pay around $70/hr on average to auto worker since the auto workers are part of an auto labor union. I also saw recently that GM cancelled their multi-million dollar endorsement deal with Tiger Woods . I don't know that an endorsement deal with an uber-good athlete is not a good marketing strategy. What I do know is a decent understanding of NFL football ? The brain power behind Ford is also managing the Detroit Lions who still haven't won a gam

Today I went to Best Buy and splurged my birthday gift cards. I bought: A Skull Candy DJ Headphones. I was tired of the ones you put in your ear since they kept popping out. A red Speck Laptop case for my MacBook Pro A pink Speck Laptop case for Michelle's MacBook So everyone who contributed to my birthday "splurge fund". Thanks!

Last week, the US President Elect Barack Obama selected Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff when Mr. Obama becomes the next US president. After looking at several pictures on Google, I realized that Mr. Rahm Emanuel looks like Iron Man. No, not the character...but the guy who plays Iron Man in a movie. Yeah, that guy. He is Robert Downey Jr. Does he look Mr. Rahm Emanuel? If so then Mr. Rahm Emanuel is the new Iron Man for the new Sheriff in town. Robert Downey Jr. Rahm Emanuel

Couple of days ago, I voted in this year's Presidential election. I debated and prayed for a long time for who to vote. Eventually I did vote. During the election years, there is a lot of debate on the news networks, talk shows, dinner tables and while drinking coffee. Typical questions come up like: electing presidents who align with our moral and political views and therefore pick judges who are like-minded like us. will the new president raise taxes or decrease taxes will the new president support same-sex marriage and other viles things There are heated discussions and in the end the nation comes together and moves on till the next presidential election. As Christians, we tend to favor candidates who lean to the right and tend to have Christian values however we don't always get our way. Anyway the purpose of this blog is not to discuss our political inclinations but this blog should help you reflect on what Christ really wants us to do. I have been reading the book c

October 4th, 2008, the wonderful Jean-Baptiste family offered to watch our kids as Michelle and I decided to go on a date. Our last one happened last month (time of my last blog entry). We drove to Bethesda, Maryland and walked in the downtown area. We walked a few blocks before we decided we could both use a good meal. How about Japanese! They make good cars. Right?! Anyway we went to Doraku . The ambiance was pleasant since we were the only ones in the restaurant. We ordered Calamari Tempura with a spicy sauce while I had a Coca Cola Classic (coke) and Michelle had a Ginger Ale. The spicy sauce was lame and the tempura killed the calamari flavor. The coke was the best part. Michelle ordered breaded chicken steak and mashed potatoes and I ordered Philly and Fire Cracker sushi rolls. They were okay. I have had better ones in the Shady Grove area of Rockville, Maryland. In the end, the food was sub-par but the company was great! We then wen to White Flint mall and I bou

As some of you know for the last week, Michelle, the kids and I have been in Seattle, Washington visiting our parents. It was my dad's Sixtieth birthday. We, the Moses family (the DC branch) decided to surprise him and everyone related to me who lives in Seattle, Washington. It wasn't a very eventful trip since we didn't go out and do much. I worked forty hours on my side job. My dad had a case of pneumonia and the "bug" eventually spread to everyone in the house like the black plague. I had a mild case of the cold while my son Seth had a slight fever and he has been "hacking" up a storm. On Wednesday, Michelle and I went on a date. We went for dinner to a local chain Mexican restaurant called Los Cabos. I had Fish Tacos platter with rice and beans while Michelle had a big platter with grilled steak, shrimp, rice, beans and tortilla bread. After dinner, Michelle and I went to a movie theater to watch a movie. In the following days, we also visit

After working seventy one hours last week, I decided to take the day off. I was simply exhausted!!! I took a afternoon nap with my 18 month daughter Patricia snuggled into me. After a quick meal of left overs, my wife Michelle, kids and myself decided to go for a walk. Rather than go for a walk in a State Park or in a Mall, we hit the nouveau downtown streets of Frederick, Maryland . I liked it! Frederick is a historic little town with alot of brick buildings. We walked by various stores and restaurants and it was neat. I wouldn't mind going there again rather than walking around a pond in a place called Rio in Gaithersburg Maryland . It was neat. I also noticed that Yakabod, Inc was in the downtown district. I had applied to Yakabod sometime last year but then decided to withdraw from it for personal reasons. Anyway they do a good job of marketing their company. After researching thier company, it looks like they sell their product which is a Knowledge Network Tool fo

Okay, Okay, Carol , here is my blog entry in couple of months. Usually I don't have time or I don't have anything insightful to say. I could rant about the american economic (as I type this, gas prices are up by a .1 cents or a gallon of milk has jumped up twenty cents) or the american political situation (guys, please pick your vice president candidates) but then again there are better things to talk about. Here are some of the them: God has blessed us with another child! That is four kids and two crazy parents. I need to start looking for a bigger van. I am learning new things at work. I not doing any Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) implementation but I am addressing pure Information Technology (IT) architecture. As I write this, I know what I wrote about ("As - Is" Architecture), I know what I need to write about ("To Be" Architecture) and I know what I am about to write about (Transition from "As-Is" Architecture to "To Be&quo

This morning when I was pouring myself a bowl of granola , I noticed there was a box of Barbie cereal on the counter. I then put my bowl of granola and began investigating this "pink" box of cereal. I then saw that Kellogg's made this cereal and the cereal had marshmallows. How low can Kellogg's go to get my precious dollars? I then realized that my wife probably gave in to my daughter Tabitha's demands regarding this cereal. What happened to kids wanting cereal since it had neat toys or a celebrity plastered on the front of the box? I guess I am getting old. I am waiting in a year or two to see my pantry covered with Batman Flakes, Spiderman flakes, Barbie cereal, My Little Pony cereal, and on and on. If this happens then I should go find myself some Redskins Flakes which has burundy and gold rice crispies with Football shaped marshmallows. If Corporate America keeps up with this trend then I wouldn't be surprised in a few years to find G-Fla

After a lot of prodding from my wife Michelle , I ended up going to the Podiatrist to have my calluses on my left foot looked at. It's embarrassing to get your feet looked at. I am glad that I heeded to my wife's advice. Michelle is so wise! Anyway I went to Progressive Podiatrist in Urbana, MD last Thursday May 15th, 2008. She said I had calluses on top of Plantar Warts and her recommendation is that I have to have them removed. Being a typical guy, I wanted to get it over with and so I opted for the surgery. First a cold spray, followed by a needle of burning and then numbing Novocaine and finally using the scalp to slice the sole of my left foot. If you didn't know then the procedure is quite painful. I have been hobbling for a few days. The recommended procedure of soaking the foot in warm water with Epsom salts is the not most pleasant procedures. The salt simply burns in the wounds and walking on the foot doesn't help either. Anyway I was reminded ab

I saw a National Geographic Channel advertisement for the Battle of the Kruger YouTube video. I checked out the video tonight and it is truly a wild video. We as humans take many things for granted. We go to the grocery store to buy our steaks, potatoes, rice, and other tasty foods. We don't hunt for our food and we don't get ganged up by the hunted. Thank the Lord for His Grace. If you haven't seen it then you should check it out. It's quite wild.

I have to say that I was very proud my wife Michelle today. She put up a stand in our front yard and tried to sell drinks, candy and snacks to the folks who came to our little town's festival day. New Market, Maryland had a Spring Stroll today. Our wonderful neighbors set up a Moon Bounce in your front yard for the big occasion. Last night my wife went shopping and bought bunch of snacks and drinks for today's big business day. Unfortunately the whole event was a Milk Dud . Not many people came to the Stroll and my wife didn't sell much candy. She was quite disappointed. During this whole process and even after her disappointing day, I was very proud of her. I was proud that she actually took the risk of setting up a stand and trying to sell the snacks. She took the biggest step in being an entrepreneur. She actually tried out a business idea. Most people don't even try it. She didn't do well not because she wasn't good at it but rather the town e

Yesterday April 26th, 2008, I decided to take my family to downtown Washington, DC and visit the Native American Museum and the Natural History Museum . We, as a family, went to these museums a few weeks ago however Tabitha, my four and a half year old, didn't get to see the Hope Diamond in the Natural History Museum and we didn't see the whole Native American Museum. Anyway yesterday, we decided to go to the museums. Well by the end of the trip, we were all exhausted from walking in the eighty degree weather and I was kinda frustrated since the trip didn't go as I had planned. The kids were being kids and I thought I could educate them on Native American history. In the end, the kids wanted to run around and I didn't enjoy our museum excursions. Maybe I wanted my kids to grow up too fast. Now looking back at it, I realize that it was a typical day consisted of parenting our children and leaving Michelle and I, the parents, exhausted and sometimes frustrated.

Well I did it and it wasn't easy. For viewers like myself who envy the judges on the cooking contests, I have to say it ain't easy being a judge. As many of you know, I judged two Chili contests. The first one was the Chili Verde contest a.k.a and Green Chili contest. We, the judges, had to judge fifteen bowls of green chili and it was very hard. You had to judge the chili for taste, color, texture of the chili and the texture of the white meat. Some of the green chilis were a no brainer. They just didn't belong there. The other ones almost tasted the same or did they taste the same. It was like giving your taste buds a workout. Overall it was a good experience and I had my favorite chili in the green chili contest. Eventhough green chili was NOT green, it had corn, white meat, beaucoup spices; I thought it was the best chili of the competition. The red chili contest, which happened couple of hours later, was not easy either but in the end I was happy that I had lo

I witnessed a precious moment today. Tabitha says, "Hey Papa, Did you know I have two papas. One is in Maryland and the other is in heaven". This moment made my day...actually it made my week.

Tonight I went to an orientation meeting for Chili Cookoff Judges. Yes, my wonderful wife Michelle signed me up for this role in a regional Chili Cookoff. The meeting had around twelve judges who will judge the competition. A couple who have been competing in Chili cookoffs for the last thirteen years. They also brought a batch of chili they made for the meeting. Let me tell...It was simply Yum!!! The spices were just right, the meat was exploding with flavor and it is probably the best chili I have ever eaten (until the competition). The competition is part of the International Chili Society (ICS) and there are a group of people who take this competition very seriously and they travel from competition to competition. Anyway this competition is going to have three cookoffs: Salsa (wide open rules where you can buy canned salsa and enter the competition) Green Chili (Green chili, white meat, vegetables, etc., etc) Red Chili (The tradition chili which looks from red to reddish b

Okay. Not exactly. I wanted to tell everyone about Friendfeed.com. It's a neat little site I found a few months ago. Like any web 2.0 reader, Friendfeed can read RSS feeds however it's biggest function which I enjoy is the ability to display thumb sized pictures from picture sites like Flickr.com . My wife Michelle for the last few months has been posting pictures on Flickr.com. Friendfeed.com also offers the capability of organizing feeds into categories called "imaginary friends". The idea is that most if not all feeds should originate from your friends. Therefore Friendfeed offers this capability. It is cool since your "imaginary friends" don't need to be members of Friendfeed. The thing I DON'T like about friendfeed.com. are: - unlike Gmail,which categories by email thread, Friendfeed's alerts simply run down in uncategorized way. Come on people, help me categorize my feeds! - Lack of Security control, Strangers can easily subscribe

This morning I had this conversation: Enoch: Would you like to go to McDonald's for Breakfast? Tabitha: No! I want to go for lunch. Enoch: Why not breakfast? Tabitha: Because I want a toy and McDonald's gives out toys during lunch time. Enoch: (Thinking it was cute but also wondering what our society has come to)

Last night I spent some time watching the heavyweight boxing title fight. Boy! Was it boring. Wladimir Klitschko was simply using his size 6 feet 7 inches to jab his opponent Sultan Ibragimov who is a mere 6 feet. When I watch boxing, I like to see how fighters adjust to each other and how courageous the fighters are. The Sultan was merely outsized however I did see that he had more heart to at least make the fight competitive. Glass chin Wlad was nothing more than an overgrown bully who didn't show any skill but rather dominated his opponent with his size. The heavy weight division is currently composed of boxers who are simply...medicore. It was a waste of my time. I still think Samuel Peter has the most promise. Till next time...zzzz!

For Valentine's Day, I bought a bag of chocolates for each kid and a large box of chocolates for my wonderful wife Michelle. Chocolate has a special place of endearment in the Moses household. You will always find some chocolate or something that contains chocolates. You name it and we have it like chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup for Seth's sudden cravings for chocolate milk, chocolate chip mint ice cream for Ms. Tabitha, chocolate cookies, and on and on. I bought all of these chocolates at a Lindt store which is at the Rio in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Everyone in the family including myself and Patricia were enjoying the creamy chocolates for dessert after we had our Valentine's Day dinner. The dinner consisted of french fries, chicken strips and nuggets, a double cheeseburger and a McChicken. Yup That's right! We had McDonald's for dinner. I still haven't opened my bar of chocolate which is a Chili flavored dark chocolate. I will probably dig into

For the last week and a half, I have been driving to Shady Grove metro station and then taking the red line metro to Metro Center and switch over to the blue line metro. I take the blue line metro to L'Enfant Plaza Metro. This trip takes me around 90 minutes. Other than being away from my family for 3 hours and getting up at 5 am, I have been enjoying my commute. The metro trip is a blast since I sit in the seat and ride the Metro. I have don't have to worry about getting stuck in traffic, or make rude hasty judgments who is good driver and who is not. I have also started to enjoy my job. I do a lot of technical stuff like doing analysis on the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) or write Java code or XML. It's been good. I don't have to worry about deadlines. The thing I realized is that you have to be motived with your work or will hate it. This is important when you work as an employee with the US Government since US Government officials are assigned hi

This morning the Moses family went to Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. I wanted my son Seth to see dinosaur bones and my daughter Tabitha to see the Hope Diamond . While we enjoyed the whole day, I was amazed how Smithsonian, a US Government Institution, pushes the concept of evolution. There was an Evolution Theatre and various kiosks which were showing plant, horse and other evolutionary ideas to young minds. I don't believe that evolution is a scientific fact but it merely a scientific theory which has alot of holes. While I was going through the exhibit, I was amazed how God created so many types of animals. Animals that are large, small. Animals that fly, walk on land and swim. In the end, I was glad my children saw the animal bones and that they were young enough NOT to understand the evolutionary propaganda which you (if you are work in the US) and I pay for through our tax dollars. There is something wrong with that pic

As many of you know, I started my new job three weeks ago. At my previous job, I use to get at 8:30am and leave my house at 9:30am. I would start working from 10:30am to 8pm. At my new job, I get at 5 or 5:30am and I start working from 7:45am to 4:00pm. As you can see I am morphing (not my choice) from a late night animal to an early bird. Chirp, Chirp...wait it's too early. Where is my Starbucks ?

I am currently in Oklahoma and life here is quite different. Some of things that are different in Oklahoma: People are "super" nice. Traffic is sparse Gas is cheap Housing is cheap Handful of high rise building in the downtown area Sales taxes is around 8% University of Oklahoma fans are everywhere *yuck* If we are to move here in a few months then I could see why Lord wants us to move here. Saints here having been praying for people who can speak Spanish since the church is in a Latin neighborhood and they want to do outreach in the community. I don't speak the language but Michelle can. I have been praying that she uses it before she forgets it. The meeting also needs young families. The couple I am staying with are great. They have opened up their home and they truly have the gift of hospitality. I pray my wife and I can open up our home for other saints when they are in need of a roof over their heads. Anyway that's all for now.

As I was listening to the Sunday School today from the book of Joshua , I was struck that everyone in the room loves Jesus Christ. In our meeting, we have toddlers like my daughter Patricia, who is almost 1 year old, to Brother Garnes who is in his mid-nineties. We have East Indians, like myself, Palestinians, Americans, like my wife Michelle, West Africans, Chinese, Caribbean folks, a Armenian and a Romanian. We are a mini United Nations (UN). Unlike the UN where nothing significant is accomplished, we as believers fellowship in Christ. We are also united in Christ. I was thinking about Br. Garnes. He has lived through World War I, II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Gulf war. He may not understand today's generation and how they think or how they dress. He may not know what a blog is or what is so special about Facebook.com . I don't know how people thought during World War I, II and the other wars. Yes I can get a feel for it by reading history books. I might k

Tuesday January 22nd, 2008, I am starting my new position with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) as a SOA Technical Lead. I am excited and nervous at the same time. This is first time I will be working for the government where the US government is my employer. I am looking forward to it. The focus of this blog entry is not about the FAA or about my new job. The focus of the blog entry is about my previous employer ManTech Information Systems and Technology (MIST) which is part of ManTech International . So far, MIST has been the best company I have ever worked. Here are my reasons: Upper management cares about its employees If you work hard and complete your work on time, you WILL progress in the company. Benefits are great - health, career, 401k, etc., etc Benefits personnel actually work with you I have also worked for Nor throp Grumman and a small company and by far MIST has been the best. I know alot of people who have returned to MIST since it is such a good compa

Sunday January 13th, 2008, my wife and I finally found some time to watch a time. Time is precious when a couple, like us, has three little kids and I spend 11 hours a day working and commuting to and from work. The preciousness of time was one of the subtle themes in the movie we watched. The movie The Devil Wears Prada is about a new college graduate who gets a job as an assistant for a very demanding fashion magazine editor. The assistant, Anne Hathaway , is a smart Northwestern Univ. grad who wants to be conventional journalist. However, she ends up getting a job as a personal assistant to a fashion magazine editor, Meryl Streep . I didn't know much about the movie however I was open to watching it since Meryl Streep was in it. I have to say the movie far exceeded my expectations. Meryl Streep does a masterful job of giving substance to an antagonistic character. She adds depth and an understanding why her character is the way she is. The movie was memorable and I w

An event took place which is causing me to write this blog entry. I call this Event Driven Blog Entry. The Event Today my PS2 is broken. My wife said that my son probably broke it. It doesn't matter who broke it but now I cannot play "Dance, Dance, Revolution (DDR)", Madden Football, EA Hockey, High Baseball and the list continues on. It is true that lately I haven't had time to play a game; however now even if I do have an opportunity, I cannot play any games or watch any DVDs. Maybe I should take some time to write an ode to my PS2. Unfortunately Michelle and I are packing our stuff and de-cluttering our house. I feel like we are pilgrims in our house. It is a good feeling since this is how we, as believers, should feel like and patiently wait for Christ's return.

As many of you didn't know, I stayed in Enid, Oklahoma for couple of months after I moved to the US from India in 1990. I did my 9th Grade in Stillwater Junior High School , Oklahoma I did my 10th Grade in Stillwater High School , Oklahoma I got my first driver's license in Stillwater, Oklahoma My mother got diagnosed with Breast Cancer in Stillwater, Oklahoma I spent some time with my mother in Tulsa, Oklahoma when she was going through radiation treatment. My mother died in Stillwater, Oklahoma My mother is buried in Stillwater, Oklahoma I enjoyed my time in Oklahoma since it is unique place. It is not like the Washington DC, nor is it like Seattle, Washington but rather it is a place where you get to know your neighbors. In Oklahoma, you see alot folks who married their high school sweet hearts. You see alot folks chewing tobacco and wearing cowboy hats. Oklahoma is a mix between the farmers of the Kansas and the cowboys in Oklahoma. It's a good place. In closing, my

As many of you know that I was at a crossroad for a month now, however after prayer and thinking through things, I turned in my resignation letter to my current employer ManTech Information Systems and Technology (ManTech IS&T) and sent my acceptance letter to my new employer, Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).   FAA was very patient with my decision and they have diligently answered every question I had.  In the end, I could see the Lord's guidance through out the whole ordeal.  When I joined ManTech, I signed up to be a Java programmer (I love programming), however, I only did it for a month before I got pulled off doing XML Data Modeling and Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) work.  All of my work from the day I started at ManTech till now provided me with essential experience for the FAA position which is called SOA Technical Lead  Its mysterious and profound on how the Lord provides.  Anyway please continue to pray for us since we now to sell our house (which needs wor

Everyone have a Happy New Year. and Ouch!