Another reason why I love being in academia:

the pranks.

Several of the students are, shall we say, hacked off at one of the faculty (not yours truly) for scheduling a field trip at a crucial time of the semester (thus making it difficult for them to finish projects and prepare for exams).

So they are going to prank him. I know about this because one of the graduate students, with whom I ate lunch today, is an accomplice.

She swears she is not, but her participation I define as being an accomplice. Or at the very least, an accessory.

(I do watch Law and Order occasionally, but generally not with very intense attention).

The graduate student is going to persuade the faculty member to leave campus - briefly, for coffee or some such ruse - and then the three students involved are going to remove the wheels from his truck, put it up on cinder blocks, and stack the wheels in his office.

(Considering the part of the country in which we live, and considering this person's reputation, this is a most amusing prank. Especially since several of the students are going to stick around to assist with the re-wheeling of his truck).

The graduate student tells me that the students have been practicing on her truck - that they have a "whole little pit-crew thing going."

It should be interesting.

I will say I hope I never rise to the level of being pranked like that. Of course, I don't have the first idea of how to put wheels back on a car (but my colleague who is being pranked does), so that would be a somewhat meaner prank to me than to him.