My profile of University of New Orleans paleontologist Kraig Derstler ran at Scientific American last week. Professor Derstler is one of those lucky folks who loved something as a kid (digging up and studying fossils) and is actually doing it, professionally, as an adult. He switched from echinoderms to dinosaurs along the way — actually financing his original research by bringing along paying lay people on his digs (like Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence) — but the stuff of the work is the same. I always say that the secret to career bliss is to find something you love so much you’d do it for free and then get someone to pay you to do it. Derstler did that. There will be other stories of such people in the upcoming 168 Hours (I’m still looking for more people to profile for the book — people who use their time to get the lives they want! I particularly need more men for balance. Please let me know if you’d be a good source: lvanderkam at yahoo dot com).