How many of you have read Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?" I ask because what's coming up is (somewhat tangentially) related to Adams.

Douglas Adams, and people, this story is not apocryphal, was once lying in a hedge somewhere in England, just a little drunk. Up until this stage, I suppose my readership is in a spirit of complete understanding and kinsmanship. Brothers in arms, if you will.

So he's lying there, our man, staring up at the sky, thinking of nothing in particular, and probably wishing that he'd picked up a couple of beer cans for company, when he suddenly has an epiphany. In Gokhalespeak, that translates into "Douglas Adams had a 'Bhaisaab, fancy dress!!!' moment."

He thought to himself, what if aliens destroyed the earth beause they had to build a hyperglalactic highway? And that's how the entire book was born. People who've read the book and didn't know this are going to go "Oh... like that!". People who haven't read the book are going to want to go buy it.

Well, the point of that little tale was to give you an idea of what a fantastic man our Douglas Adams was. One of us, so to speak. Maybe with a tad more willingness to put in that little bit extra to back up his outrageous schemes. A little less enthusiasm for drudgery, and he'd have been a Gokhaleite for sure.

So, anyways, Douglas Adams, large, jovial, sharp as a knife, inquisitive, curious, genuinely funny, and all in all, the kind of man that you and I would have loved to have known, and maybe shared a beer with.

He came up with the following:
"I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they go by."

I can see him sitting in a large recliner, a bowl of potato chips by his side, a small bowl of an extremely calorie ridden dip for company, and a large cold beer to round off things. A seraphic smile on his face, and he dishing out that quote.

"I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they go by."

The point of all this?
Seven days to go, and I don't want to work on my thesis.