Shampoo Banana and other funnies at work this week

During an informal department meeting my boss announced that he was going to "Shampoo Banana" the next day. Puzzled I turned to the Web Goddess for clarification. "You heard right", she assured me, "Shampoo Banana is a nickname for Champagne-Urbana [where University of Illinois is located]. "Oh," I replied, "I thought he was having his pet groomed."

This summer I've been fortunate to have the assistance of a wonderful student worker from India. He's a very polite person. He sends me emails addressed to "Most esteemed Sarah". Kind of has a nice ring to it, don't you agree? When he first started working with me, I explained to him about my hearing loss and the need for him to face me when he speaks. Yesterday, he startled the bejeezus out of me when I looked up suddenly and he was right there asking me a question. I jumped and my chair rolled backwards and my arms flew up in the air. He was terribly embarassed but at the same time amused. I helped him out by laughing with him. It was pretty funny. I reminded him that I can't hear too well. To his credit, the next time he had a question, he stayed back a good distance and called my name first. After all, that's the proper way to approach such an esteemed person as moi.

Yesterday afternoon, I picked up the telephone and heard the following words from my former boss in cataloging, "I think I have the answer to your environmental toxicology problem." I said, "What are you talking about?" She elaborated with a few more details and a dim light turned on in my head. "Is this from an email about an electronic journal I sent you?" I asked. "Yes," she replied. "What was the date on that email?" I asked next. "February," she replied.