Also, my first year of 2-3 years of  post-doc was over and I had to start to look around in search of a new job...

1997 started very nicely. We had a huge New Year's Eve party at our apartment.

In January we applied for USA permanent residency as that was the only way for us to stay in the States for some more time (my student visa expired). Eventually, we received the residency but it took almos a whole year instead of usual 3-4 months! Apparently, INS lost my application and we had to start the process all over again somewhere in September.

Our old friend and almost a family member, Natasha Gracheva marries Dmitry Lunegov to everybodies surprize. She moves from Moscow to Phoenix in February.

February. Rafal Dunin-Borkowski appears (a new post-doc of D.J. Smith).

May 1997. Alla gets misdiagnosed for some illness and as a result almost dies after an emergency surgery... Fortunately, she has completely recovered in about a month or so.

June-July 1997. We're going for a trip across the States to visit our friends in Raleigh, North Carolina.

August 9-16. I went to MSA meeting in Cleveland, Ohio.

October. A friend of my mother's, Irina Glushneva, comes for a short visit.

October. Max Otten of Philips Electron Optics sends me an e-mail asking if anyone at CSSS is interested in a position of TEM Application Specialis at PEO, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. I told him that I myself might be intersted.

November. Rolling Stones concert at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe.

December. Philips Electron Optics invites me to come for an interview in Eindhoven in the beginning of 1998.

Before that I went for an interview with Exxon Research Lab, New Jersey. The interview went OK but they didn't make me an offer.

This is about it for 1997. The second part of it wasn't too bad but the situation with our USA residency was driving me nuts.... Coincedently, our application was approved on the last day of 1997!

Go to the next chapter, which concludes my AZ Memoirs: 1998