I met Steve Senger under hilarious circumstances. I substituted for the calculus class Steve Senger was taking as a first year undergraduate student at the University of Missouri. I walked in, wrote the letter "e" on the board, and asked the class what it is. Steve raised his hand and started telling me that it 2.7182... I interrupted Steve and told him that all it is is the fifth letter in the alphabet. I could see Steve mumbling "asshole" under his breath. This was a beginning of a friendship that lasted ever since! Steve was an engineering major throughout most of his undergraduate years and only towards the end I was able to convince him to apply to the Missouri graduate program in mathematics where he became my PH.D. student.

Since then Steve and I have written numerous papers, visited each other frequently and shared joys and sorrows of life. Steve helped to shape my views on work-life balance that has influenced me considerably over the past two decades.