Some time ago, I mentioned to someone that at least one of the professors at the local university campus had, prior to becoming a professor and teaching people about a field in which I work, held jobs in that field quite similar to my own. She responded by enthusiastically encouraging me to become a professor too. Honestly, though, I don't see it happening, for a few reasons. Firstly, I can count all my college credits without running out of fingers. Secondly, I am not known for my rigorous pursuit of academic excellence. And finally, professors in this university system tend to be at the top of the field. A quick read of the graduate faculty shows that we are blessed with quite a few graduates of places like Berkeley, CalTech, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Cambridge, and so on. There are only two people on the graduate faculty lacking PhD's - a librarian and a computer person. The odds of me getting a PhD at all are slim, and the odds of me getting one from a schoo