Joke: Like a Newborn Baby

Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turns to the other and says: ‘Slim, I’m 83 years old now and I’m just full of aches and pains. I know you’re about my age. How do you feel?’

—Slim says, ‘I feel just like a newborn baby.’

—‘Really!? Like a newborn baby!?’

—‘Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants.’

Yep, I’m only 62 and I’m already feeling the aches and pains.  Good Day!

Source:  Bits & Pieces

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Trails of an Education: Universidad de Panamá

After graduating from ULACIT, I stayed there as a part time professor for five years.  I was then 50 years old, and my chances of being hired elsewhere were almost non existent.  It was then that I decided to re-engineer myself and turn into a full time  professor.  For that I needed to study Education at the University of Panama.

In 2003 I enrolled at the Faculty of Education Sciences (Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación) in an effort to obtain a degree in Middle Education with emphasis in  Business Administration.  It was an eighteen-months project which I finished with no problems.  I was fired up and studying was my life.  The expression “book worm” applied to my case perfectly.

The University of Panama is a state institution of superior, independent education.  It was founded on October 7, 1935, with a student body of 175 in the fields of Education, Commerce, Natural Sciences, Pharmacy, Pre-Engineering and Law. As of 2008, it maintained a student body of 74,059 students distributed in 228 buildings across the country.

From 2003 to 2004 I was part of those 74,059 students with a passion for Education.  That was before I discovered the extreme difficulty of teaching to high school students.  My two experiences were very discouraging, mainly because of disciplinary problems.  The difference between college education and high school education is huge.

To prepare this post, I went to my former Alma Mater and took several pictures of the Education Faculty inside and outside.  It’s a beautiful building with an exquisite architecture style.   It was pleasant to see how well the building looked, both outside and inside.

This is the way the Faculty of Education Sciences looked on the morning of June 28, 2009 at approximately 08:30 a.m. (-5 GMT).  Here we go.

Picture of diploma obtained at the University of Panama as Professor of Middle Education with a Specialty in Business Administration. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

Photograph of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Panama. I studied Education here for eighteen months. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

An artistic version of the Faculty of Education Sciences Building emphasizing the pattern of the exterior. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

A view of the attractive architecture style of the building. Those endless boxes captivated me. I felt the same way with the Epcot Ball in Disneyworld. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

In black and white, the pattern of the exterior structure looks even better. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

I was so in love with the building I got naughty playing with its image. Thanks God for Digital Photography. I hope you won't mind. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

A last photograph of this beautiful building highlighting the endless boxes vanishing into infinity. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

Now you know how the building where I spend eighteen months of my life.  Tomorrow I’ll show you how the building looked from the inside.  As I mentioned earlier, the installation is very well kept.  Somebody there has an inclination for plants and  a helluva good taste.  Good Day.

Photograph of the Day: Lonely Boat

(Credit: Ian Bramham)

Joke: Change of Wills

An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100 percent.

After one month, the elderly gentleman went back to the doctor and the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.”

The gentleman replied, “Oh no doctor, I haven’t told my family yet.  I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!”

Source:  Bits & Pieces

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Photograph of the Day: A Splash of Red

(Credit: Pixdaus.com)

Faces of ULACIT

While I was visiting my former Alma Mater, Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología (ULACIT) Saturday early morning, about 6:30 a.m., I noticed several students were already there.  Some were having breakfast, while others were busy studying for an exam.

I asked for their authorization to take them a few shots and they accepted immediately and politely posed for the camera.  Below are the faces of some students at my ex-Alma Mater.  Here we go.

These two girls were very excited about several problems of computer science that would be addressed by their professor later on during the day. It was Japanese Kanji for me. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

This kid was busy finishing his homework before the bell rang for his next class. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

I think it was a real long homework, because this kid wrote, wrote and wrote some more. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

These students were putting something inside their stomachs before starting their academic activities of the day. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

Looks like this student found something inside her "tortilla". (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

And now you know how Panamanian students look like.  Just like any student anywhere in the world.  Good Day.

Trails of an Education – ULACIT

After graduating from IPA, I want to San José, Costa Rica to continue my education at a college level.  My father enrolled me at the Universidad de Costa Rica located in San Pedro Montes de Oca.  The reason for choosing this university, is that the University of Panama was on strike and there were indications it would remain closed for a long time.

I was not prepared to study that hard so I dropped out after a year and went to work for a banana exporting company.  I started as an Accountant and ended up as General Manager after three years.  They were after my English-speaking skills and my understanding of the banana industry which I acquired while living in Changuinola, Bocas del Toro where my father worked as a Commissary Inspector for the United Fruit Company.

I stayed in Costa Rica for almost ten years.  It was an incredible experience.  At age 25, I was making $2,000 a month plus a company car allowance.  I know this amount doesn’t sound like much today, but at  the time it was big money.  I lived like a king!  I earned $2,000 and I spent $2,000—didn’t save a copper.   When you’re young, you feel like Superman and fear nothing.  I learned this is not so as I aged later in life.

At my father’s insistence, I returned to Panama and went to work for Texaco as an invoicing  clerk making $430.00 a month.  Quite a difference in status.  I started to learn that saving money is a wise thing to do.  I worked for Texaco for about twelve years and escalated to Marine Sales Supervisor earning $1,500 a month plus a nice company car.  I got married and planted my roots at El Bosque where I now live.

At age 50 I decided to go back to school again.  My choice was Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología (ULACIT).  After three years, I received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.  For three years I studied like a monk, in an effort to catch up for all those years I procrastinated.

My final academic average was 96.38 percent which earned me the academic distinction of Summa Cum Laude Probatus.  I feel very proud of this distinction.

I immediately enrolled myself for a Master’s degree in Business Administration, but only got halfway through, since I lost my job and couldn’t pay the tuition fees.  This is something on my To Do List which I plan to complete in the near future.  This high level of education is very expensive in Panama.

During my last year at ULACIT, I was offered to teach on a part-time basis which I accepted.  I was a Business Administration professor for five years.  It was really pleasant being able to teach what I had learned in real life, plus what you find in academic textbooks.  I call it pragmatic teaching.

When ULACIT was purchased by the Laureate International Group in 2003, I was suspended from teaching.  It was very disappointing, but it’s a fact of life that good things don’t last forever.  I never taught at a university again.  I tried to teach at a  high school level, but couldn’t adjust myself to students’ indiscipline, so I quit after three troublesome years.  I have not taught since.

Last Saturday morning at just about 6:30 a.m. (-5 GMT), I went to my former Alma Mater and took a few pictures for this post.  This is how the university looked at daybreak.  Here we go.

Photograph of my diploma of Bachelor of Business Administration degree issued by ULACIT on October 22, 1999. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

Picture of a large ULACIT blue sign outside the college premises at daybreak. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

View of the attractive gate at the entrance of ULACIT. Sorry for the electric lines, I just couldn't avoid them in the picture. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

This is the entrance to ULACIT's building. It looked dark early in the morning, yet I met several early birds having breakfast at the cafeteria. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

A solemn white bust of Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) at the entrance of the building surrounded by lush green ferns. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

A panoramic view of ULACIT's cafeteria with several students having their early breakfast. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

Another view of the terrace of the cafeteria with beautiful white ornamentations. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.) (

A convenient "No Smoking" sign inside the cafeteria's terrace. What an excellent idea from the Administration Staff of ULACIT. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

View of one of several ULACIT's parking lots. There were no cars visible at the moment; very unusual. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

Tomorrow I’ll include several pictures of ULACIT’s students.  Some of them were having breakfast and others were studying for an exam.  All of them were very polite and eager to pose for the camera.  Good Day!

Printing the Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Photograph of the printed book of a small percentage of the Wikipedia Encyclopedia made by a student in the U.K.---Rob Matthews. (Credit: Digital Inspiration.com)

I remember when we had knocks at our front door from encyclopedia salesmen selling beautiful sets of books which most parents bought to encourage their children to study.  The most popular one was the Encyclopedia Britannica .  It was considered the crème de la crème.   My father purchased the Encyclopedia Barsa in Spanish for the house.  It served me well during my high school years.

Then the digital revolution came along and took the encyclopedia industry by storm.  Now the Encyclopedia Britannica is struggling to survive.  It has been replaced by the Wikipedia  Encyclopedia which is an open source product.  Even though it has its faults, it’s the best reference source that I can think of.  Most of my searches for information are directed to Wikipedia.  I know some will disagree, but in my case, I have no problems using this excellent source of information.

Recently I read that 22 year-old Rob Matthews,  a graphic design student in the U.K.,  came up with this idea of printing the Wikipedia Encyclopedia.  He has actually converted only 0.01 percent  of the Wikipedia Encyclopedia into a printed book.

This Wikipedia book has some 5,000 pages and it’s a compilation of 400+ featured articles all picked from Wikipedia. And, as you can easily make out from the photograph above, the book is huge—it’s about one foot and seven inches high or just as tall as a 30″ widescreen monitor.

Rob Matthews said: “These articles are deemed the best articles in Wikipedia, and are determined so based on their quality of referencing, accuracy, neutrality, completeness and style.”

It is to be noted that the English edition of the Wikipedia Encyclopedia currently contains around 3 million articles, and if someone were to print the entire Wikipedia Encyclopedia into a book, the size of that book would roughly be equivalent to 952 volumes  of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Yep, this is a large database of information widely used in cyberspace.  I would feel absolutely naked without it.  Do you have any experiences using this reference source of information?  We would be pleased to read your comments.  Good Day.

Source:  Wikipedia turned into book – Telegraph.co.uk

Photograph of the Day: Opening the Gates

(Credit: Pixdaus.com)

Inauguration Day in Panama

Photograph of Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal, 57, new President of Panama.

Today is a historic day for Panama.  A new President is being sworn in today, making it the fifth President elected after the military regime which lasted more than 21 years.

The new President is Ricardo Martinelli, a wealthy businessman, owner of one of the principal supermarket chains in Panama—Super 99.  He oriented his campaign under the slogan “Entran limpios y salen millonarios.” (They come in poor and go out millionaires).  He promised to stop corruption, build a modern mass transportation system, improve the law enforcement agencies and transform the education system.  The Panamanian public voted for those issues including myself.

Martinelli was born in Panama on March 11, 1952. In 1973, he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Fayetteville in Arkansas, the United States. He later earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the INCAE Business School in Costa Rica.

He served as director of the Social Security from 1994 to 1996 in the government of then President Ernesto Perez Balladares. From September 1999 to January 2003, during the presidency of Mireya Moscoso, he served as minister for canal affairs and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal Authority.

Martinelli is currently chairman of the board of Panama’s Super 99 supermarkets chain and chairman of two other companies. He also sits on the boards of at least eight other companies.

He is married to Marta Linares, an insurance agent, and has three children.

On every Panamanian mind, today is the start of a new era based on “Change”.  I’m very positive that better days are ahead for Panama.  We have all the resources to become a First World Nation.  Let it be.  Good Day!