Sometimes only in looking back you can see an event that was pivotal in your development. It was 1962 and John Glenn had just orbited the earth three times. My dad's brother paid his yearly visit to Detroit around the time of my tenth birthday and he brought me a present. It was a crystal radio in the shape of Glenn's capsule.

I remember eagerly hooking up the ground to the radiator and sitting on the bottom steps to the second floor. The joy I had in bringing signals out of the air. I kept a notebook on all the different stations and their call letters.

That led pretty directly to getting my amateur radio license four years later. A dozen years later I bought a HP programmable calculator and taught it how to do tasks at the business I then managed. Storage was a magnetic strip you fed into the machine.

Still later at another business I took my new business computer and taught myself to learn Lotus 123. That led in a straight line to dBase II and quickly a host of other languages. Another ten years it led to a new career as an entrepreneur leading to present day.

Most people if they look back there was a spark that led to a lifetime interest in something whether it be a hobby or a career. I told both my nieces before they headed off to university to take advantage of your time to try different things, if only a single time. I have a friend who tried scuba diving and that led to him owning his own diving shop. A buddy joined the bicycle club and met his wife.