Thanks to the editorial help of two wonderful friends, I finally got my paper proposal down to 250 semi-intelligent words. As any of you who read regularly have probably noticed, I�m not always good at short. For those who don�t do this kind of thing, the beauty of writing a proposal for a paper is that you don�t actually have to write the paper unless someone tells you they want you to hear you give it. There is an art to sounding specific and interesting while concealing the absence of research you don�t want to do unless you have to. I�m a little rusty in this skill, as I haven�t done much of this since before I took the 5 year hiatus from grad school. Plus I�m working on very little sleep � AJ�s going through some kind of insomniac phase. Last night I put him to bed an hour later than usual at 8:30 and was thrilled when he fell right to sleep. At 9:30 I hear him yelling, �MOOOOOMMYYYYY,� in a downright cheerful manner. This is very unusual, as generally when he wakes up before morning, he�s miserable. I opened the door to his room to check on him and he bounced out of bed asking, �Is it time to get up now?� My boy can�t stand to miss a minute of the world these days.

I, on the other hand, am now valuing what little sleep I get above even my mortal soul. A friend and Classics scholar, who is also a new parent, passed on a quote that pretty much sums it up for me:

Do but consider what an excellent thing sleep is: it is so inestimable a jewel that, if a tyrant would give his crown for an hour's slumber, it cannot be bought: of so beautiful a shape is it, that though a man lie with an Empress, his heart cannot beat quiet till he leaves her embracements to be at rest with the other: yea, so greatly indebted are we to this kinsman of death, that we owe the better tributary, half of our life to him: and there is good cause why we should do so: for sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together. Who complains of want? of wounds? of cares? of great men's oppressions? of captivity? whilst he sleepeth? Beggars in their beds take as much pleasure as kings: can we therefore surfeit on this delicate Ambrosia? Can we drink too much of that whereof to taste too little tumbles us into a churchyard, and to use it but indifferently throws us into Bedlam? No, no, look upon Endymion, the moon's minion, who slept three score and fifteen years, and was not a hair the worse for it. -- Thomas Dekker

On a completely unrelated note, I�m hoping one of you might be able to help me with something. As I was cruising through a small town out here in the boondocks, I noticed that the marquee on the Chinese restaurant � one of the lemon chicken/chow mein/tropical drinks variety � had changed. It now reads, �Chinese food: It�s a Gee Thang.� Aside from a vague reference to Martha Stewart�s catchphrase, I can find no meaning in this statement and an internet search has not helped me at all. Anyone? Bueller? Surreal signs are a dime a dozen out here, but they usually include some reference to taxidermy or bait. This is a new one to me.

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