Chapter 7: Summer Before Graduate School

My summer started almost the next day. Actually I graduated on a Sunday and my first day on the job was the following Tuesday. I still had to find a place to live. Besides my job with the local police department I would be attending graduate school at a total commuter state college in a nearby city. While the school was relatively new it had a good reputation for its graduate programs. The main reason I decided to go there was it was cheaper then just about anywhere else. My family underwrote most of my undergraduate schooling and I didn’t want to saddle them with my further education. The only negative was there were no dorms. Apartment rentals were expensive and in short supply. The alternative was to find an apartment not too distant from the campus and commute. So until I found something I would live part of the summer in the fraternity house with the brothers who were going to summer school.

My days with the police department were split between physically installing the computer systems and installing the software. I had made up a dummy inventory to enter to make sure all the information was accessible and in a format that was acceptable to higher ups Everyone seemed to like the different reports I could generate from the database.

So went my summer break. I got up, went to work, came back to the frat house, ate, watched TV, went to bed. Repeat. And on the weekends I pretty spent my time alone. The brothers who spent their summer in the frat house pretty much partied the whole time. Some nights they kept me up til 2AM with their drinking and carousing. More of an incentive to find an apartment.

It wasn’t until three weeks before the term would start at my new school that I found an apartment. It was a mile away from my old college and 16 miles from where I would be attending graduate school. A 30 minute drive to the new campus. In my estimation it was a win win. If I wanted I could go to my old school for an occasional party and a Saturday afternoon football game. What I liked the most it was quiet, affordable and clean. It was a quad apartment building built in the 1930s with 2 apartments up and two down. And it s best feature it also included a covered garage area. Here I think I could study and not worry about being distracted by any partying students.

That summer I took up running to keep in shape. After all I did not want to lose my toned up body that I worked so hard at achieving. That summer it was extremely hot and humid so I ran shirtless most of the time. I did get a kick out of the women who stared at me a I was running by. The worst offenders were the ones pushing their infants in strollers. They openly drooled. It did my ego a lot of good. Now if only I could find a girl friend who had the looks of my last one and didn’t do crazy.