an e-mail from a former student sent yesterday:

Alex, you may not remember me but I am a former student of yours from the spring semester of 2005 at the University of Delaware. I was the fellow with the XXXX XXXXXX blog; perhaps that will ring a bell.

Anyway, I was recently asked how I got interested in internet marketing and my answer reminded me of you and your class. Your class single handedly sparked my interest and, ultimately, my career in search engine marketing and optimization. So, thank you for launching my career. I hope you are still teaching and spreading all of that digital marketing knowledge and wisdom of yours. It certainly had a lasting effect on me.