“The intelligent person learns from his own experience
The wise learns from that of the others
The fool never learns.”

There's a lot to learn in this:

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

45 Lessons Life Has Taught Me:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's ok to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10.When it comes to chocolate, resisstance is futile.
11.Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12.It's ok to let your children see you cry
13.Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14.If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15.Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16.Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17.Get rid of everything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18.Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19.It's never to late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20.When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21.Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22.Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23.Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24.The most important sex organ is the brain
25.No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26.Frame every so-called disaster with these words "in five years, will this matter?"
27.Always choose life.
28.Forgive everyone everything
29.What other people think of you is none of your business.
30.Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31.However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32.Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33.Believe in miracles.
34.God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35.Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36.Growing old beats the alternative--dying young.
37.Your children get only one childhood.
38.All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39.Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40.If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41.Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42.The best is yet to come.
43.No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44.Yield.
45.Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

WHERE, OH WHERE? :-)

Masters in Electric Power Engineering at:

KTH Royal Institute of Technology - Stockholm, Sweden?

Or maybe DTU - Denmark Institute of Technology - Copenhagen, Denmark?

Or, how about Aalborg University - Aalborg, Denmark?

Or Aalto University - Helsinki, Finland?

Or stay in Chicago, USA, and develop a potentially fantastic EMPANADA business?

Or go on a trip all around South America!!?

Or back to Buenos Aires, Argentina?

Or maybe to Patagonia, Argentina?

EXCITING OPTIONS :)

Thank You

This post is not to brag about myself but because I am at the very end of a long phase in my life that demanded huge amounts of effort, determination, abnegation, with lots of worries, uncertainty, and lots of life lessons.

Only my parents, God, and myself, know what I went through in order to be able to study and afford the extremely expensive tuition in the US.

Sometimes I do think that I could have studied for free in Argentina... was it even worth it? Absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind that all the effort during these years of sacrifice are paying off, and will continue paying off for the rest of my life.

Today, 1 1/2 years after graduating, I finally paid off my IIT debt and they gave me the diplomas. Feel good :). I still have my debt with my dad and a friend, which I will pay off in the next few months.

Thank you to all those that helped me. Thank you Mom. Thank you Dad. Thank you Sherril. Thank you Soenke. Thank you God. These little pieces of paper wouldn't have been possible without you.

La Abuela Forever

Nora Luci Echave de Adamowski 12/10/1933 - 11/18/2010

There are so many good memories that i wouldn't know where to start... so i'll just go ahead and mention her legacy to us, and to me specifically. I have never known a person with a stronger will, persistence, conviction, with such a strong character but at the same time so humbled by life and her experiences to the point that she could humbly and persistently knock the door of every neighbour in full cities, hours and hours walking under the sun or in bitter cold, but when someone would open the door to her, no matter who that person was, my grandma would unvariably talk about her faith and her knowledge about having healthy diets and lifestyles, offering them to buy her literature and her self-made breaded soy milanesas.

It was she who inspired us at a really young age (maybe 10?) to start producing 'budines' of different flavors (similar to a cake with the shape of a loaf of bread) and start selling them in the neighborhood, and we will owe her, and to our parents, our lives for passing us that entrepreneurial spirit.

I remember how several times at a moment of injustice (maybe a policeman was asking for a bribe) or at a very long queue in a bank, she would start getting excited and talking loudly and suddenly pretend she was passing out so that we would pass that awkward moment with a certain person or she would skip the queue and get attended immediately :) or before I was born, after my grandfather had been living in Peru for several years away from her and my mom, she went to the Congress to talk to a Senator and somehow got a visa approval for my Polish grandfather to return to Argentina...

For different circumstances, mostly for being so young when they passed away, I was not able to record the history of my grandparents, to ask them about their life and listen to their life lessons. I regret that. But I will certainly pass along my life experiences and lessons to my grandchildren.

Cancer is a terribly aggressive disease, she fought it bravely, with immense optimism and acceptation that her time could be near, but not for that giving up one second of her life with motivation and fighting it to the very end. I will never forget how after a month of not eating anything and subsisting with only sporadic fruit juices, the same day she passed away but earlier in the morning she shouted to me in the phone with the last bits of strength she had 'te quiero muchoooooo'. It sounded dreadful, desperate, and I could see the immense effort she was making to pronounce those words, but I also got one last bit of her immense love she had for us. Yo tambien te quiero abuela. Nunca te voy a olvidar.

You were a firm believer in God and I hope, wherever you are, that you have reached that place you've so many times longed for and 'preached' about: Heaven. And that you have the peace and rewards that you well deserve and achieved on Earth.

Un beso gigante y siempre te voy a querer,

- Eric

Murray Head - Say it ain't so, Joe

Nov. 28, 2010.
Today is a great day :)

I listened to this song about 10 years ago in Argentina. it has been in my head since then, never forgetting about it, never knowing its name and not being able to find it. until today. Kevin found it. and i'm very happy :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

VERY HAPPY :) :) :)

p.s. i'll post it as if it happened in October to keep the 1 post / month custom :P i've been kind of disenchanted about writing in a blog lately, but i'll get back to it. promise :-)

Eu não tenho tempo!!

‎"Los buenos y los malos resultados de nuestros dichos y obras se van
distribuyendo, se supone que de forma bastante equilibrada y uniforme,
por todos los días del futuro, incluyendo aquellos, infinitos, en los
que ya no estaremos aquí para poder comprobarlo, para congratularnos o
para pedir perdón, hay quien dice que eso es la inmortalidad de la que
tanto se habla"

Instantes

Si pudiera vivir nuevamente mi vida,
en la próxima trataría de cometer más errores.
No intentaría ser tan perfecto, me relajaría más.
Sería más tonto de lo que he sido,
de hecho tomaría muy pocas cosas con seriedad.
Sería menos higiénico.
Correría más riesgos,
haría más viajes,
contemplaría más atardeceres,
subiría más montañas, nadaría más ríos.
Iría a más lugares adonde nunca he ido,
comería más helados y menos habas,
tendría más problemas reales y menos imaginarios.

Yo fui una de esas personas que vivió sensata
y prolíficamente cada minuto de su vida;
claro que tuve momentos de alegría.
Pero si pudiera volver atrás trataría
de tener solamente buenos momentos.

Por si no lo saben, de eso está hecha la vida,
sólo de momentos; no te pierdas el ahora.

Yo era uno de esos que nunca
iban a ninguna parte sin un termómetro,
una bolsa de agua caliente,
un paraguas y un paracaídas;
si pudiera volver a vivir, viajaría más liviano.

Si pudiera volver a vivir
comenzaría a andar descalzo a principios
de la primavera
y seguiría descalzo hasta concluir el otoño.
Daría más vueltas en calesita,
contemplaría más amaneceres,
y jugaría con más niños,
si tuviera otra vez vida por delante.

Pero ya ven, tengo 85 años...
y sé que me estoy muriendo.

Jorge Luis Borges