The fall of '56 I began my studies at CCNY (College of the City of New York). I felt so grown up; I bought a jacket with leather patches on the elbows and we were allowed to smoke in class. My original goal was to get a BS in chemistry but my sister's boyfriend who was a senior at that time convinced me to go for a BChE because, he said, the money was in engineering. He got his bachelors in civil engineering and a few years later he became a pastor. Engineering requires more math and I was not up to it. After 3 semesters my guidance counselor advised me to switch to night school or change my degree objective. I was tired of being unable to afford taking my girlfriend out and I quit and got a job. I was hired by the United Fruit Company (Chiquita Bananas) as a lab technician. They advised me to go back to school and get my degree so that I could advance in their organization. I didn't want to go back to school; it felt good having money in my pocket. I bought my first car in 1957; a 1953 Pontiac convertible. My girlfriend at that time was Agnes Speed but everyone called her Nancy. I was shocked to learn that her brother James was dating my ex-girlfriend Kathy and none of us had any prior knowledge of each other. While working at UFC I learned how to make nitroglycerine and made a device which I threw into the Hudson River (UFC's lab was on Pier 7 on the Hudson.) It went off like a depth charge and the Coast Guard came to investigate but it never came back to me. Late summer of 1958 Nancy and I got engaged and that fall James and I enlisted in the Army. Back then they used a 'service' number instead of the present practice of using your social security number. James was ahead of me in line when the numbers were issued and his was 12571255. I immediately grabbed the guy behind me put him in front of me and he was issued 12571256; I got 12571257. His name was Genaro Sirico, sometimes call 'Junior' when he was a bodyguard for Alice Cooper but later became Tony when he played Uncle Paulie on "The Sopranos". After basic training and advanced training I was a qualified auto mechanic and was sent to France. James went to Fort Collins, Colorado. While in France Nancy wrote that she would occasionally allow some guy to take her to a movie or whatever, so I started taking a young French lady who worked in my office, out for the evening for a drink or two. Her name was Lillian Henry; we were friends but never lovers. In August of '59 I came home on leave and after altering my birth date on my drivers license (changing 1939 to 1938; a male needed to be 21 to marry without parental consent) we got married. On my return to France, after announcing my new marital status, Lillian refused to go out with me any more. Good for her - she had scruples.