Graduate School Ohio University

 Shortly after Omar was born we made preparation to move to Athens, Ohio for me to attend graduate school. I rented a Uhaul trailer and attached it to my camaro. On one summer day the three of us started driving from Chicago to Ohio. Omar must be months old only. I made arrangements to live in an apartment building complex but on the second floor. We don't have much money perhaps just enough to pay for one semester of schooling. Fortunately (perhaps the chemical engineering department knows it) I was given a scholarship and they reimburse my tuition. Nicki found a job at the State Mental hospital near Athens which allow us to have money during my schooling. We exchange baby sitting from a couple in the same apartment complex. I remember going to the grocery and I have a plastic calculator. We buy Omar's need first e.g. diapers, baby food, etc. and then we buy for Nicki and I. When the running total reaches $20 we quit, pay for the items we have in the cart and go home. There were just a few graduate students with me there. There is Richard, Johnson, Demopoulus (Greek fellow), a chinese student a year advance with us, a mechanical student on doctorate program and me, a total of five. We had a qualifying exam and I did good that they awarded me money. That is in addition to a monthly stipend of $300 the department gave me. Poor Demopoulus did not qualify and they make him quit the program. Professors were Dr. Richard Mayer, who later become head of the Graduate School at Ohio U., Dr. Nicholas Dinos became professor emeritus and Dr. Holtzmeier my adviser on my master's degree thesis. They made me an assistant lab instructor which justifies my $300 a month stipend. Months passed by and after a year or so I am ready to graduate. My master's degree thesis was entitled Air Dispersion Model. I am not sure if my adviser read it thoroughly. The department offered me a doctorate program in chemical engineering but I declined. I need to get a job. And at that time jobs for engineers are hard to find. Many chemistry doctorate students switched to medicine because of this. Good for them. They can earn more being a doctor than a chemist.

 I put myself on hard studying spending hours on end at a small table by our bedroom. Meanwhile Nicki not only works but also took care of Omar 100%. Omar grew fast with abdundant of hair inherited from me and his grandmother Nelly. I have to pay attention where I park my camaro. One day it was missing. I called the police department. Oh you mean the read camaro with black roof? Oh oh. They towed it because I have about 200 parking tickets! I have to walk to the bank to withdraw the money and get my car back. We have a Filipino couple as neighbors. He is a doctorate student in physics. His sister who works for a bank was one day apprehended by immigration officers and deported to the Philippines. Poor girl. Today the USA allowed milliions of illegal immigrants cross the border and this young girl who is working at a bank was forced to leave the country. What a shame. I don't know what happen to our physicists neighbor but I am sure he did good back in the Philippines. We also have a couple friend who are doctors. They work at the State Mental hospital. And there is also one doctor who accompanied me to one of my trips to Chicago. I don't remember any of their names.

Towards the end of my schooling Nicki and Omar moved back to Chicago. I guess he got tired living in Ohio. Omar had a baby sitter from Turkey who also had a baby. One day I saw Omar. His hair is all flattened from pomade. The babysitter looking at Omar's hair which is fluppy and straight applied a thick layer of pomade to control it. It smell funny, the pomade. I declined the offer of a doctorate program and started my trek back to Chicago. I found an apartment at Winthrop where we moved for a short time. After I got a job at IGT (Institute of Gas Technology) we moved to La Grange, a town west of Chicago.