In 1968, as an undergraduate, I was first taught how to operate a Philips EM300 TEM that, at the time, was a state-of-the-art 100 keV TEM for materials studies. Last year, I spent time evaluating current state-of-the-art microscopes, f.e., intermediate-voltage, field-emission gun TEMs, from all the major manufacturers. In watching the operators running these latest microscopes, I was struck by the similarity between many of their actions and the same steps that I had learned, so laboriously, 30 years previously.