Acknowledgments

I'd like to think that putting a book together is a simple task of transferring knowledge I have to paper, but it is anything but that, and it is never a one-person effort. I knew it would be a load of work, but I didn't have a proper perspective on just how much until I was in the thick of it, especially at night and on the weekends around a day job. When you wonder who dreams up those little sayings like "When you're knee deep in alligators, it is difficult to remember that the original objective was to drain the swamp," I think it's a safe bet to guess it was a writer, publisher, or perhaps both.

Was it really this much time and effort? Yes. Was it worth it? I would still have to say yes. I remember being the person on the other side of the book, studying for my exams and saying, "Gee, did the author mean this or that?" or "How come they glossed over this, I thought there was a need for much more material," and so on. This writing opportunity has given me the chance to get all those questions answered first hand, with much more clarity in understanding than any conversations over a Sam Adams with a writer or publisher could have ever hoped to offer. I mean, what is a more vivid memory from when you were a kid ”when your Mom told you to not touch the stove because it was hot or after you got burned by touching it?

That said, I owe a debt of gratitude to Dawn Rader, Lisa Lord, Susan Brown Zahn, Richard Coile, Will Willis, and countless others I never had the chance to say "thank you" to for providing me with the additional required knowledge and wisdom needed to complete this task.

Last and certainly not least, I really do need to say an extra special "thank you" to my wife, Renia, who offered me her tempered, no- nonsense support to this project; she complained very little about the time it took away from the two of us and reminded me when it was just too late to work on it anymore and told me to go to bed.

Thank you, everyone.