All the millions of words I wrote in my quarter century as a journalist were as evanescent as Baby’s Breath, with the shelf life of fish. Still, it is disappointing to me that half of them have ceased to exist, never to return (thank you United Business Media and Scripps-Howard). The rest are merely expensive and difficult to find. But I am grateful for the wonderful experiences:

• * Meeting Helen Thomas at the White House. Shaking Ronald Reagan’s hand (OK, not so thrilling).
• * Spending 20 minutes in a group interview with candidate Jimmy Carter (more thrilling).
• * Having Bill Gates tell me three times in a half hour that I had just said the stupidest thing he’d ever heard.
• * Driving a prototype Boston Green Line Streetcar down the Riverside line at 3 a.m. at full throttle, then being reminded of the meaning of the “Dead Man’s Switch.”
• * Getting to interview almost all the important people involved in the birth of the Internet, during the first bubble in 1999.
• * Writing lyrics and producing songs (well OK, I’ve only been paid $6 in three years, but music has a long tail).