Hi McKell - thanks for your reply and for sticking through my endlessly long post...

I'm comfortable and satisfied with my own achievement and feel no insecurity about that. It just would have been nice to hear it from my dad. But I'm sure that there is a fatherly part of him that's proud of me despite all "failed" attempts to "guide" me in the "right" direction. I suppose that you and I should just go with that theory, right?

Thanks for your support - I appreciate it