Survived my first committee-meeting as chair. I even have the minutes typed up and will drop them (and all the giant stack of okayed course requests) at the appropriate office on my way home.

dayum (as they say 'round here) am I glad to be done with that.

And here's a glimpse into what happens when academic biologists operate on too little sleep for too long:

One of my colleagues was telling me about some guy who has kind of unusual* ideas about human evolution (he thinks all Europeans came from Neandertals, for example). My colleague (S.) went to a talk this person delivered and he said that the person had a sticker on his computer that said "Ich bin ein Neandertaler." He mentioned the old story about Kennedy saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" which supposedly literally means "I am a jelly donut."

(Vegans and vegetarians, avert your eyes NOW)

He then remarked "I wonder what kind of donut a Neandertaler would be?"

I kind of shook my head, then he said "Meat would have to be involved." And I said "No, blood - no, wait, it would be a meat donut filled with blood."

We then laughed about that for five minutes, leading the colleague who is in the office between us (a geneticist) to wonder aloud if his office could be moved.

(*my original word was "whackjob" but I think perhaps that's a bit rude in this context.)

And NOW, I am done for the day. I do not have to go back out for meetings, fun or otherwise. I have no email messages waiting for me and no messages on the phone (in my office, at least). I am going to go home, take a shower, put on comfortable clothes, turn on some music, and KNIT.