February 2, 2012:

Her friend, the affected grad student, told her condescendingly after an evening being patronized by a whole circle of condescending grad students, "I never get sick. I have a positive self image."

To which she replied, beautifully and truthfully, "I'm around babies all day long. Babies have germs."

For Christmas I bought her books on chess, poker, and WWII, all subjects in which she'd expressed interest.