Author: Ruben C. Rocafort

Ruben Rocafort grew up in Harlem in New York City in the mid fifties.He was always a dreamer and looked up to his older sibling for inspirations and ideas in how to deal with certain situations. He was the youngest of four and the most spoiled. As kids, we were a little more advanced than the other kids in the neighborhood because we had loving parents that were always there checking on us at all times and getting us out of mischief. All our friends looked up to us for fun ideas and advice. My father worked for a research center in midtown Manhattan where he was in charge of a slew of laboratory research animals. From time to time, some of the more domesticated animals like monkeys and chickens came home with him to spend weekends with us by posing as our pets. At one time we had a chicken that glowed in the dark and another time we had a very smart monkey that went to a picnic in Central Park with us. The monkey almost became part of the family until the bosses found out about it. One day, one of these smart monkeys opened up all the cages on the floor and that cause chaos and destruction. Unfortunately, they were forcibly put down. We were so involved with my dad’s work that on several occasions we lent the whole family to be experimented with. My family tested the Polio and Tuberculosis vaccine and vaccines for tropical diseases with no side effects. This curiosity about science was instilled in all of us through my father’s exposure to research. All of us eventually got involved in the science of engineering and worked at it throughout all of our lives up to present. My two older siblings are retired now. I in turn have seen things in engineering that would boggle ones’ mind and have thought about many futuristic ideas and possibilities. Many of my brainstorms have been incorporated in Mengods.