Thanks for your encouraging advice. I have read up on getting a job aboard a merchant marine vessel as a mechanic (or engineer or whatever they call it) as I am quite skilled with engines and other mechanical things. But to do so (on a US flagged ship) you must have a 4 year degree from one of only five or six colleges in the US that offer the program. Of course there are unskilled jobs that don't require a degree but they don't pay much.