Hi Cathryn,

You just reminded me of something rather interesting. On my first dinner date with my Sonoma State geology college professor as we were standing in the waiting area of a Chinese restaurant he asked me what I had my degree in. I casually said, "I don't have one." He looked up to the ceiling and said, "oh, boy."

We had some very interesting conversation during dinner and as I plopped my rock samples on the table while we were waiting for our dinner, he got the shear joy of identifying them for me.

By the end of the evening, after a jazz festival, he let me know, though I don't have a degree that I was very intelligent and offered me the opportunity to enroll in his classes. Of course I did. Actually I took two of them. But I was one up on him. He knew absolutely nothing about earthquake prediction, so I shared some of what I knew with him.

Today we are good friends and he has retired.

Petra