There's this guy I know, who I'll call Bob (since that's his name). Bob is very eager to make good things happen.

Bob: We need to get more computer graphics going on around here! Are you interested in the idea of starting up a local movie studio?

Note that eagerness does not imply competence.

So when Bob attended my master's defense, he immediately saw an opportunity.

Bob: Are you still looking for a job? I think you need to show this stuff to the folks out at White Sands.

fluffy: Hm, I'll consider it.

So he got me an interview at the local army research facility, even though they weren't hiring and had no money.

But [a few of] the people at the research facility were interested, and made an interesting offer:

WSMR scientist [[Eager person who didn't understand the talk but saw a funding opportunity anyway]]: Would you be interested in presenting your work at a conference in September if you're still interested? If you present this work, you might get us some money to hire you with!

[[Bob, happy to have made a difference]]

[[Bored people who didn't understand the talk or why I just wasted an hour of their time]]

I tentatively accepted.

Several months later, out of the blue, Bob forwarded me some email...

fluffy: Oh no... please tell me he didn't do that. ... Oh no, he did.

It seems that without my knowledge, he decided to "help" by following up regarding the conference. But at this point I was no longer interested in it. (I had already even told him that I wasn't interested in this anymore and that I had some interesting leads. I think he was trying to force me to give the army group a try anyway, since he'd spent so much time working there himself.)

fluffy [email]: Bob, I'm not interested in the conference. I have some good job leads in things I actually want to do for a living.

But it was too late, they had already arranged for my travel and scheduled a time slot for me to give my presentation on my visibility research, and now I couldn't back out because they'd somehow "done me a huge favor in arranging this."

Bob [email]: You may not think your work is important [??] but it is! These people went out on a line to get you funding so you could go to this [blah blah blah]

So I fly out to the conference early tomorrow morning, which is why I'm struggling to get my cats to Delphine's house for a few days. (Oh yeah, I got a haircut.)

fluffy: Shooby! Quit playing with the door and get in! Toby! I told you, no driving lessons until you're older! My insurance won't cover you yet!

teacher's handwriting: Great story, but a little hard to swallow. B+ P.S. see me after class