As a child I always wondered: Why are some clouds puffy and others wispy? Why do wispy clouds usually precede rain? Why do puffy clouds mostly occur in spring and summer? Why is it usually windier during the day than at night? When my Aunt Virginia and my grandmother gave the Junior Weather Bureau gift to me as an 8-year-old, and my dad Arnold and my Uncle Jim crafted me a beautiful barometer for it, that set the wheels in motion for me to strive to learn all that I could about what made the weather tick. And so it inspired me to mail in my coins to the U.S. Government Printing Office to buy as many booklets that I could afford to learn about meteorology. I went on to study atmospheric physics and to a career at Bell Laboratories where I was able to focus some of my research and development work on meteorology problems as needs arose. Now I am living my lifelong dream of pursuing meteorological research fulltime.