So, what's a “Pogi?” Long ago and far away I was a handsome young lad ... really! Pogi is the Tagalog (Filipino) word for “handsome”. My wife was born and raised in the Philippines and has been calling me that for the past 39 years, so it kind of stuck to me. Now, her family and most of our friends also call me "Pogi." My wife is a retired educator, she received her Doctoral degree from University of Wisconsin at Madison and was on her way back home when we met in San Diego. Needless to say, she had some extra baggage when she did make it home. Now, ordained by God we are married and one in the image of God. We are both retired from East Carolina University (ECU), Lolita from the Department of Continuing & Professional Education, and I from Manager of the North Carolina University System Research & Education Network (NCREN).
I was born in Chicago (old - Cook County Hospital) and raised in Oaklawn Illinois until 6th grade when my family moved to New Lenox Illinois. It was from New Lenox that I graduated from Lincoln-Way High School in 1969 (Now its called Lincoln-Way - Central, I think). Then, at the age of 18, I caught the wind in my sails and enlisted in the Navy. The US Navy taught me how little a person needs, not how much. Never before nor since have I experienced such beauty and fear at the same time. There were times when I thought I would never see the sun rise again, and times I felt equal to Ulysses. The skills I acquired in the Navy allowed me to get a great civilian job that took me throughout Europe. Then, at a time when I was ready to give up on hope, along came a fair wind in the form of a word and a push from a friend. A fresh evaluation of the situation came with a new dream. That dream gave me strength to cast off the bowlines and get underway again headed to my next destination in life - marriage. With the help of my wife, I completed a BS degree in Computer Network Engineering, BS in BS (on-line) in Network Security and MS in Business Information Systems. In our early years of marriage, we traveled extensively. Together we saw most of Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand. Later on our 25th wedding anniversary my wife and I found ourselves in the Holy Land, at the Cana Wedding Church where Jesus turned water into wine. And at Fatima on our 30th where my wife and I were honored to participate in their International Rosary.
Presently my wife and I reside in Winterville, North Carolina (I'm still a Cubs fan), steeped in American and Nautical history, with beautiful mountains, the highest on the East Coast; beautiful rolling plains of the Piedmont area; and the most beautiful and dangerous coastline anywhere in the world.
As a child I dreamed simple dreams. A large box was a fort where I held off the Indians, Germans, and Japanese; it was a pirate ship, battleship, aircraft carrier, airplane and race car. A small box was a magic hat filled with rabbits, a treasure chest, Wells-Fargo strong box, or the engine of that race car. A look into the heavens was a trip to the moon in a rocket ship.
As a working adult I had forgotten that the computer and Internet technology we use every day (and became my career), was once two tin cans and a string that I played with as a child. In this fast-paced, ever changing world it’s easy to get so caught up in technology that we forget to take time to just dream, imagine and think about what is important (I know, I’ve been there). As a child, it was imagination that gave substance to those two cans and string. Now, although I have joked about sitting on the front porch drinking beer all day, I see retirement as a time of investigation, exploration, research and discovery in my life. I can’t change the past, but I can still influence the future.
#PogiAmericano #aboutPogiAmericano
