It was exactly 30 years ago today that I got my PhD at the University of Oregon. It was a bright and very warm day; the ceremony was outdoors, and I got a little sunburned in the face. The commencement speaker was Sen. Mark Hatfield, and a Japanese-American woman was honored because she had returned to U of O and finally completed her college degree forty years after her education was interrupted when she was relocated with other Japanese-Americans to an internment camp in WWII. My PhD advisor Ken Ross arrived just in time to put the hood over my shoulders. I remain tremendously grateful for his mentoring and friendship, and for my experience at the university as a graduate student.