Some major events and highlights from 1997 include:

• The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China
• The discovery of the potentially habitable exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, the first confirmed exoplanet around a Sun-like star
• The film "Titanic" was released, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time at the time
• The release of the video game "Final Fantasy VII"
• The death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris, France
• The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, was adopted
• The sentencing of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to 40 years in prison
• Steve Jobs returned to Apple as the interim CEO, launching a period of innovation and financial success for the company
• The trial and conviction of British nanny Louise Woodward in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen
• The creation of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

I remember a time back in 1997, when I got laid off from a very ungrateful company. My friend Steve had a lawn mowing business for rich people in Palm Beach. Once of his employees was going on vacation so he offered me the opportunity to work under the table. Well, you know my people, I took the job. There I was a highly educated professional (Network Administrator) mowing lawns for rich people.

 

This is a true story.

 

I had the option to work on Saturday (after a grueling 5 day week). Believe me I was totally out of shape, and I didn’t want to go, but I needed the money, so I went.

 

Steve did landscape work on Saturday and he hired a deaf person to help out. Steve was good that way. That is how I met my good friend.

 

I remember him because he had a small Trailor he lived in outside of a topless bar. Not his choice but he had no other opportunities available to him. I, with some help from my friends, found him a great place to live in a very nice Trailor Park. He had no money to move and the person renting his space at the club was a real a-hole. Well, I gave him the money to move, and I never wanted him to repay me. One of my true blessings in my life.

 

I only mention it now because I feel the story had to be told, but getting back to the original intent of this long story, I did what I had to do to survive, and I am proud of the work that I did for my friend Steve K

 

The moral of the story is, no matter how highly You think of yourself, sometime to have to mow the lawn of Rich People and just suck it up. You have no entitlement in life, and you do what you must to survive. It was a great life experience for me. Thank you Steve for the opportunity of learning how to be humble and giving back to people who can never repay you.

 

The Rest Of The Story

 

I was already working for IT. I got laid off from Pratt & Whitney after 13 years of service the year before and worked for a company down in Miami for a year before going getting hired into Siemens.

 

1997 was the year from hell for me. Everyone has one and this was mine.

 

I was laid off 1 week before I had my first year in depriving me of my 2 weeks’ vacation. I totally set up from scratch the Networking for that company and everything ran so smoothly that they thought they didn't need me anymore. I heard later that they spent twice as much for contractors coming in and fixing things that got broke and got half the service.

 

The problem with doing your job too well is that they think they don't need you. It was a very low point in my life but in the end God took care of me and gave me something better without missing a payment on my house and other obligations. He does work in mysterious ways . I have no regrets looking back and life offers you many experiences, you just have to appreciate them!