Hawkeye

Jake's been going to a lot of science conferences lately. Right now he's in Potsdam, near Berlin. About a week and change ago, he was in Leipzig. While he was in Leipzig, I received a very short e-mail from him, from which I quote the following:

"I just met Alan Alda. Nice guy."

My brain subsequently exploded. Alan Alda.

As in "M*A*S*H".

As in Benjamin Franklin Pierce.

As in Hawkeye.

As in one of the men very high on my "If Only I'd Been Born in a Different Decade ..." list of men who slay me. (Those interested may read about two other men on my list here.)

Oh, now don't get too cocky, Alan Alda.

It's not called my "If Only I'd Been Born in a Different Decade ..." list for nothing. I've seen you lately.

And it's a little upsetting.

Fortunately, Hawkeye wasn't wearing the glasses when Jake saw him. Jake says he looked more like this:

But passed out alone on a couch at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. He was there filming a PBS documentary called "The Human Spark" that will air next year. Jake stood across the lobby and watched him sleep with his mouth hanging open and his lurpy frame struggling to find a comfortable position on the über-modern couch. Jake only had a few minutes between sessions and managed to, from his vantage point, mentally will Alan Alda awake so that he could go sit by him and strike up a conversation. They talked for a few minutes about the documentary, and Jake told him how much he and I love "M*A*S*H". Jake says he was very gracious and seemed geniunely flattered.

To which I replied, "That's just great." And stuck my head in the oven.



JEM

P.S. You owe it to yourself today to read a few of these Hawkeye one-liners. You'll thank me.