enoch-moses

Reflecting on my high school education, I recognize certain classes have had a significant impact on me from a personal and professional standpoint.  One of the classes I didn't enjoy much while taking it has made a considerable impact on me as a leader.  Nope.  It wasn't biology, physics, English, geography, or any other standard high school.  It was a course called History of Oklahoma. Yup!  In the early 1990s, the state of Oklahoma required students to take and pass a class about Oklahoma history to earn their high school diplomas.  I spent my ninth and tenth grades in Oklahoma and then completed my eleventh and twelfth grades in Kansas.   In the Spring of 1991, I took History of Oklahoma, which was taught by Mr. Jones.  Mr. Jones was a US Air Force pilot who flew sorties during the Vietnam War.  A couple of times, he had slide shows with pics of him and his buddies in the military.  Mr. Jones' classroom was also quite memorable ...

After reading the article, Presidential experts rank Biden 14th among presidents in survey, Trump comes in las t  by Siock (2024), I was curious about the details of the survey.  According to the Official Results of the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey (Rottinghaus & Vaughn, 2024), the top ten US Presidents are: Abraham Lincoln  Franklin Delano Roosevelt George Washington  Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Jefferson Harry Truman Barack Obama Dwight David Eisenhower Lyndon Baines Johnson John Fitzgerald Kennedy Donald Trump is listed as the worst president. Overall, I disagree with the list because I don't envision Theodore Roosevelt, Obama, or Kennedy being the top ten presidents. Lincoln, FDR, Washington, Truman, Eisenhower, LBJ, Monroe , and Jackson scored higher in my book because they led the US during war times.  What did Obama do? The jury is still out there for his achievements. I'm not sure why Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize during the...

In the mid-80s,  my parents, my brother and I visited Srinagar in Kashmir, India. We stayed in a bed-and-breakfast houseboat on the Dal Lake.  I remember beauty, meeting merchants who sold saffron and wild honey .  The other remarkable thing is that the local police had beards, which were not seen in the rest of India.  I also saw locals carry their Kangers.  Kangers are woven baskets that have hot embers that are carried by folks under a Kashmiri robe called a Pheran . My trip to Kashmir was a unique experience because it was my first trip to a Muslim-dominant India where the customs were different from the majority of secure India.  It reminded me of Old Delhi, which is predominantly of Muslim Indians. While I was in Srinagar, there was a sense of uneasiness due to the political turmoil.  I am not sure if my family and I had a bias that Kashmir is trouble and we need to be extra cautious.  The local Kashmiri folks were great.  As a cricket...

On Saturday July 16th, 2011, I gave a eulogy for my grandmother.  Here is the text of the eulogy: Today I am honored and humbled to talk about my grandmother.  She was a constant presence in my life. From the time I lived with her and her family (while my parents worked in the Middle East) to the time she spent some time with my wife Michelle and me. I could count her for sound advice, an understanding heart and wisdom of ages.  Her walk with the Lord was admirable and the fear of the Lord visible. Couple of days before she passed away, I spent some time with her and I saw a side of her which I hadn't seen before.  She was a fighter and a person how never gave up. It makes sense now this fighting spirit helped her raise her children into god fearing individuals, parents and grandparents.  As my uncle stated a few days ago, imagine if she wasn't a fighter where would the kids be. Where would I be? I close now by saying this: I realize I will see her again...

Rather than go to the Lord's Supper, today I stayed home today since my daughter Tabitha has been sick with a cough and a high fever. I realized that with four small kids that I don't have time to socialize with my friends nor do activities with my wife. With four kids, my life revolves around work, commuting (4-5 hours a day) and spending time with my family. It's been good to get a break during the Christmas and just relax. We are planning to go South Carolina for a church conference next week. As far as work is concerned, I am open to job close by my house. If that doesn't pan, I am considering getting a job at the UN and work in Europe (Austria, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, UK and others) or South America (Mexico, Brazil) for a few years and expose my family to the international life. I was blessed when I was kid to have seen different cultures and lifestyles and those experiences have helped me in my life. According to some of my co-workers, FAA has to take y...

Well, here is a blog post after two months. Yesterday I went to Mike Anderson's groom shower (a Christian bachelor party with lots of foods and great fellowship) at BD Mongolian Grill at Bethesda, MD. It was great! I see a young dental student ready to take the big plunge with his beloved fiancee Anna "So to be Anderson" Hartley. He was sitting with other men who are married. I wondered what they were thinking: Were they remembering their big days or what life is all about after we, the married men, were married. Hey Mike, if you are reading this, you will be joining our club soon and you will be a joyful man. You may not happy all the time nor sad all time but you will appreciate what marriage is all about. Congrats Bro.! Michelle and I are excited for you and Anna and we will joining you on your big day! Is Mark and Angie's ex-pet dog coming to the wedding? :)

Last night my daughter Tabitha insisted that I take her to a basketball game played by the faculty members of New Market Elementary School. In other words, Tabitha wanted to see Ms. Warner, her Kindergarten Teacher, play some ball. So today I got home at 5:43am and took Tabitha and Seth to the basketball game. I had to pay $3 for tickets and then we watched the game. The game was lively and I have to say that the teachers are extremely competitive. There was shoving, pushing, teachers fighting over a ball, etc., etc. In the end, it was a good game. My daughter wasn't watching the game but she was screaming, "Let's go New Market" and "You can do it Ms. Warner". Meanwhile Seth was awfully quite and the only question is asked me is, "Why are there basketball nets in the roof?" I had to explain to him that the other baskets rolled down when there wasn't an actual game being played. After I answered him, I realized that he is our little sc...

For the last five months or so, I have been hampered by this persistent cough which doesn't seem to go away. I have been on inhalers, cough syrups, antibotics, steroids and nothing seems to be working really well. Only time and prayers should heal it. One thing does seem to do its job is sucking on cloves. Yup! Good ole' organic cloves. My daughter Patricia starts to gag when I show the cloves on my tongue. She thinks the cloves are dead bugs. Aren't I mean? :)

I have to say that the position of the US President has been a huge fascination of mine from the last six and half years. I am a history buff and am a fan of social history. I don't care much for how a war was executed or which policies helped a country or two. I am a fan of social history and have been for most of my life. What I care about is how people through the rivers of time thought and perceived life around them. When you study this, you realize that the people may dress different, think different or even speak different but the common things that tie altogether through the splitting forces of time is how people individually react to stresses, joys and tragedies in life. US Presidents go through a heightened state of reactions since their decisions impact millions of people around them. My fascination started when I read the biography of John Adams by David McCullough. The book showed a human who was trying to do his best to lead a country but no one was happy with h...

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...

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.