I left Chile in July of 1966, with my friend Juan Carlos Cordero (ex-air force cadet), with the idea of going through the world to find out what I wanted to do with my life after leaving the Air Force due to Sinusitis... Juan Carlos was also searching... Once here, we lived with another chilean friend, Osvaldo Barrios, in his apartment. The adventures were many.

Life hasn't been easy here in the "Land of Opportunity" but it has been interesting and rewarding. At times it has been happy, and many times it has been very sad and dissappointing. If it wasn't for my military life, discipline and control, I wouldn't have tolerated some of it.

Here in the US is where I became interested in computers. At first, since my english wasn't up to par, I worked as a laborer in a Velour Mill. If you understand Chilean culture you would know how hard this would be for a young man, from a good family, fairly well off, and who had been pampered all his life. I learned very quickly that I had to learn the language well in order to get out of that place. Six months later I had accomplished that and went to work for a bank... MUCH BETTER... at least I came home clean everyday. At the same time I was attending a university in Trenton, New Jersey, where I graduated second in my class in the area of Business Management & Computer Programming Technology. Lucky for me, IBM went to our school to recruit, and they offered me a job in their Components Division at Fishkill, New York. So, that is where I went... I wanted to get a couple of years of experience at IBM and then return to Chile to make my fortune... Unfortunately, the political situation of Chile changed dramatically in 1970 and by the time things got better, I had a career going and a wife, which made it very difficult if not impossible. I had to stay here.

After many years at IBM East Fishkill, where I was a computer programmer, I got transferred to Greensboro, North Carolina, as a Systems Engineer, where I spent the next 15 years as a specialist on various machines and Manufacturing Systems. My last IBM position was as an Advisory Marketing Representative in Boca Raton, Florida, where I was a member of a national support area for Marketing. My last assignment was to go and teach a class in Belgium... NICE... IBM is a great company to work for and totally dedicated to quality in everything they produce, hardware, software, and business and/or technical professionals.

In 1992, when things got hard for IBM, an Early Retirement Program was offered and luckily I qualified for it and decided to take it. It was a dangerous move since the prospects of employment during those years was pretty bad... anyway, it turned out to be the right decision.