I have really got to keep the flight path closer to the terrain.

I am assuming you are talking about the "are you a librarian or not?" bit. If not, just skip the rest and let me know what you ARE talking about.

The original idea I had when suggesting you find this book was based on the fact that for you, a librarian, finding a book should be pretty easy. The first thing that jumped into my mind was a takeoff on a line from Harry Potter: "Have you gone mad?" Ron bellowed, "are you a witch or not?" which was intended to point out the painfully obvious to Hermione, who was flailing around in a panic trying to figure out how to find a match and make a fire when she was perfectly capable of producing fire out of thin air.

That this line dropped into my head reflects the fact that around our house right now, my kids have been deeply immersed in All Things Potter, and my kids use variations on this line when I am trying to do something in a difficult way that someone of my skills should be able to easily do, i.e. "are you a rocket scientist, or not?"

I had forgotten the first part of the line, "Have you gone mad?", was too lazy to fish out the book, and substituted my all-purpose "cripes."

Looking back at it, it probably didn't work that well in either case.

Meanwhile, as usual, my numbers, math, research and documentation--I could be getting paid for this!--apparently went right through everyone's head like a hummingbird buzzing down the center of the Holland Tunnel. I have yet to get a single real response to it.

I'd thrown in something about "not even getting a pork chop in return," but then I'd probably have to explain that too.

"...If you have to explain a joke, THERE IS NO JOKE!"



- The Joker