Once again, while rushing through new entries on AD again, I came upon your interview and when I saw Andrea Koppel, I immediately suspected something and it wasn't until halfway through the interview that I learned that the connection was that she was Ted's daughter.

She resonated with me several ways. I watched almost every Nightline until Ted retired and still listen intently whenever I see him appear on TV occasionally. She said a great mentor and her father. I haven't been able to get opportunities over coffee since becoming paralyzed. Being paralyzed even with great ability generally results in rejection. On several levels I had to prove myself and usually took at least three months before I became valuable where I worked.

I had to take jobs that my superiors and mentors found for me. Coincidentally, my job search after a master's degree in industrial engineering from Stanford resulted in doing mundane quality control, was with Serendipity Associates, with a contract to design the console for the Boeing SST. I took a week in Manhattan to my cousin from Wisconsin's marriage to an NYC girl buyer for Macy's, and when I got back to the Bay Area, the job had evaporated.

My journey took me back into higher education where I became an associate professor only to be let go after two years and treated like an adjunct. A friend called me to administrative job in Houston. After sending my resume to nearly a thousand job opportunities without a single interview in the Atlanta area to return, I gave up and stuck with the same job for 30 years.

It is only in retirement what I have been free to write to my interests with abandon and make my way quite well in spite of increasing paralysis and aging.

Ron