Techno Love Proposal

In the summer of 1994, I was working as a research associate at Queens College of the City University of New York, in Professor Robert Bittman's research group. My research topic was the use of glycosylated synthetic lipid ether as cancer cell growth inhibitors. During my research, I had already written an article in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry on the subject, had a patent, and had created a terminology to describe and group these types of compounds: GAELs. I was so proud of it!

Due to my work, I spent countless hours in the laboratory. For our research group, there was a computer that we used primarily to search and read summaries of articles published in an online library by the American Chemical Society. That was progress!

Having a computer in the lab also allowed me to use it to save on my phone bill and "chat" with Christina. Christina would log into her lab computer at SFU and we'd have these snippets of daily delight.

We used a Unix-based program named "talk". We would login to the terminal and wait for the "talk" request to come in. When the program started the screen would split in two and she would type on one side and me on the other. We could both type at the same time but we would use it as a conversation. I would make so many spelling mistakes! There were no squiggly lines under the misspelled word to warn me so I had to type with my heart in my hand! Fortunately for me, I had Christina telling me about my mistakes whenever she could. It was a daunting task for her believe me!

On a summer night, a talk session ended differently and it went like this:

Special recognition for Professor Robert Bittman.

Professor Robert Bittman was a decent person. He was a scientist and an educator and because of that, he earned everyone's respect.

Comments

It's been a Long Time Since I've Seen Her

To our daughters; I learned so much from your mother! She was my lover and my bosom friend. The summer of 1992 was running in earnest and Mom and I were escaping every day to many different places around the mainland. We were having the time of our lives! At the end of the summer, I did not have a penny left but was the happiest man alive! Mom had a white 1989 Chevrolet Cavalier station wagon. Her car smelled like a wet dog, Sam, her dog, was the main passenger before she met me. That car would break down every 100 kilometers or so and would run out of gas as soon as the gas red light went on, and guess who had to push; your Dad! But, we were like peas and carrots and as happy as they came. You always tell me - " Dad, you know strange old words and expressions no one uses these days! " Your mom is responsible for that! I learned what a "Sea Shanty" is in that white Cavalier listening to CBC radio. The station had a show on sai...

Dear Love

Dear Love, Forgive me, it has been a while since I have written to you. It is not for the lack of news; home is buzzing with events typical of growing pains and gaining experience. For me, it is just about missing your hands, warm body, your words; missing planning something to do together. I must admit, you always had the best ideas. Recently I became a Master Chef , but not the kind of chef popular among all ages; oh, no! I cook your dishes, daring, adventurous, and full of flavor! I set the table and see you on your chair , right opposite to mine displaying my favorite smile, approving the dinner. I remember when you made Spaghetti Tomato Bassilic for the first time. You thought that I was not going to like it. Boy, were you in for a surprise! It became my favorite dinner! You made it for me. What a treat! Oh, Christina, you were the wife I always wanted to have! The fact that we found each other mad...

The Daily

The most difficult aspect of losing a spouse is keeping the daily sanity balance. We all experience this in different ways and there is no prescription or magic recipe to make things better all of a sudden. It is not possible. You might hear from friends and family members that one needs to move on, that there is nothing we can do, that life on earth is for the living, and so on. I understand the words but what I feel, based on my own experience is hard, it hurts. We live through all of these, but it is a balancing act. It is especially challenging for parents. We have two daughters, they are 18 and 21 years old. No one is ready to lose their mother at an early age. For them, it continues to be very difficult. I have noticed that they grieve differently. One of them has addressed the loss of her mother head-on while the other embraced the situation stoically by herself. I did not try to change her...

My Family After Tragedy

Search This Blog