Big S, little a, little n, big D, little e, big E with a star.

Edan Dekel is the coolest person I know.

And he is soon leaving the bay area to start a professorship at Williams' College in Massachusetts.

I am so glad that I got to spend the afternoon with him today. We spent about 4.5 hours just talking in a restaurant in Larkspur, slowly annoying the hell out of our waitress for simply being there so long.

This is what happens when you get together two people who are exceptionally gifted at running their mouths.

I am also so amazed that Edan always treats me like a friend and intellectual equal--especially today. He told me when I saw him last summer that I could hang out with him anytime, and I didn't have to crash his summer classes to do so. And I was really touched at that. Today, he told me that he was glad his other lunch plans cancelled because he really didn't want to see them, anyway. I got their coveted Thursday afternoon timeslot, and I am very lucky to have received it. He said he was glad he didn't have to rush our conversation.

Conclusions we came to over the course of our discussion:
1. David Hyde Pierce is the Tony Randall of our era.
2. Steve Martin is genius.
3. LA Story is one of the best movies ever written.
4. Seth McFarlane may be the most seminal man of the "Aughts."
5. Junior High is designed to make girls feel bad about themselves.
6. People who say that high school was the best time of their lives clearly never went to college.
7. I would look really good in one of those epilepsy helmets that Natalie Portman wears in Garden State.

God, I'm going to miss Edan.