1) “Somehow this feels like constituent services for a political office.” - one of my volunteers, after I helped her interact with a classmate who needed information. Yup, that's my job.
2) "In the Senate you will find two parties . . . Each of these parties will now try to get you on their side. One the one, you will find honest people, if of limited intelligence. On the other, I think more long-range plans are harbored . . . The Senate has been established for the carrying out of laws prescribed to it. But it has often issued laws itself, granted ranks, honors, money and lands, in one word . . . almost everything. Having once exceeded its limits, the Senate now finds it difficult to adapt itself to the new order within which it should confine itself." - Catherine the Great, quoted in her biography by Robert K. Massie
3) Dialogue at Doyle's tonight:
Random patron (gesturing to the back room, where a large group is having a meeting): "And they go through two kegs!"
Me: "That's all?"
Random patron: laughs.