My very 1st time (part 1) blogging

Life is a chain of events. I guess my first one was to be born. And Castro Verde was my cradle. Barely skin and bones, no one was giving me more than a week or two to survive, but guess what where I am now, 43 years later writing about it!

I had an ordinary childhood. My parents were poor, working in the fields of a big farm, and money was short. Funds were so limited that most of the time, I avoided playing too hard to preserve the little clothing I owned.

Over the years, I managed to grow up into a healthy young man, attending school for as long as it was financially feasible with the addition of a new family member, whereby shifting my focus to the labor force. The Algarve was clearly the answer, and throughout the majority of the year, I was a receptionist in Albufeira, until an opportunity arose to live in Mainz, Germany. Curious and able to travel, I jumped at the offer and headed north.

Two years later, I returned to my mother country, with both joy and sadness, because at the time, it was still mandatory to serve in the Army. Hence, I had to spend the next 16 months learning how to “defend” my country! Soldier by day, and an IT student by night in one of the 1st IT classes in Beja, graduating has “top of the class” at the age of 21.

After leaving the army, I worked in a fertilizer reseller warehouse for a few months as a clerk, but later changed to Accounting and IT Management. I switched hats for the next 18 years – a long time in today’s world of short-term careers. Yet, as you can imagine, the day in, and day out, routine of accounting is tedious and arduous. Incomes, expenses, taxes, red tape and tons of paperwork, only led to more hard work and overtime. Meanwhile, I met Carrie, who was already chatting about the Internet and the desire to create a website. Alluding to the possibility of my coming on board at Cortes de Cima, I told her that I would have a go and was on the other side of the terminal for 10 of those 18 years, typing, translating and editing what is now the 3rd version of the cortesdecima.pt

After 10 years of a virtual relationship, I finally came to the Cortes de Cima winery in September of 2006, assuming several responsibilities – continuing the challenge of remaining forever flexible and open minded.