Well, with my new department, I had very high hopes. I came in with a new group of people and, for a variety of reasons, I thought these guys would be a lot better. For one thing, this project is a lot better to work on -- no selling aspects to it, which attracts better people.

I found myself sitting idly with the new people, working on an e-mail. One loud conversation struck me, and I heard:

"Yeah, this guy was sent to jail for three months for incest. Ridiculous!"

I thought to myself, yeah, that is ridiculous! Sure, I think incest is pretty gross, but as long as you're taking precautions, why should you be stopped if you're consenting adults? Isn't three months in jail pretty excessive for (non-rape, non-pedophilic) sex? It's nice to have another progressive person around here; so many people are enthused with President Bush because he "prays to God", or whatever. Oh, how I felt good to think that maybe some of this new group wouldn't say things like "Democrats made it illegal to pray in school!", because I have to shove my fist in my mouth to avoid saying what I really think.

Then, I heard her finish her statement:

"I can't believe it. It should have been life."