Tell them Albert Einstein and Copernicus were wrong

This past weekend was a pretty busy one for me. I didn't get a signal on my cell phone where I was, let alone have internet access, hence the lack of posts. My advisor hosted a workshop for the National Science Foundation, and we were coerced into doing things like running shuttles to and from the airport with the 'reward' being that we would get to listen in on the proceedings (I use the term loosely because when I explained that to one of the attendees, he told me that we needed to organize a grad student union).

The workshop itself was a brainstorming session of sorts. Twenty-six top researchers from around the world came together to try and define the future direction of our field. Needless to say, there was a lot of brainpower in the room. Oddly enough, this time I didn't feel as much of a mental midget as I did at the meetings I went to last year. That's not to say that I was anywhere near the level these guys are at, but maybe I'm making progress. Or maybe I'm just lying to you to make myself feel better.

One of the organizers of the workshop is a single mother. The only reason I'm bringing this up is because she arranged to bring her son and his babysitter along with her to the meeting. I talked to one of the attendees that knows her quite well and he said that the kid is probably the most well traveled seven year old on the planet (just to solidify that claim, she's taking him to Madagascar next summer - lucky kid!).

Anyway, after everything was done on the first day of the workshop, a group of us were sitting around talking in the hotel lobby. The babysitter was sitting across the room reading a book. She happened to be rather attractive, so I kept sneaking glances in her direction.

One of my friends noticed.

Her: I see you looking at that girl. Why don't you go talk to her?
Me: Because I'm just not going to.
Her: You should.
Me: She's reading a book and wants to be left alone.
Her: Look, she's not even reading her book, she's been on the same page for ten minutes. She's just looking around waiting for you to come over.
Me: Would you shut up?

A minute or so later:

Her: You should go talk to her.
Me: I thought I told you to shut up.
Her: Why won't you?
Me: Hi, my name's [Minnow], we obviously haven't met. Besides, I'm trying to be professional here.
Her: Well, if you're not going to talk to her then I will.
Me: Go for it.

At that point, a world renowned British scientist who had been listening to us turned around to see who we were talking about.

World Renowned British Scientist: Oh, you're talking about the babysitter. That's easy. Go for it!