You could...

Here's a little somethin' somethin' about Mr. Sophanne.



The Man can talk. Give him a cause, give him a passion, give him a spark, give him a blank stare and he can get the verbal on.

I'm not saying it always makes sense, is interesting, or is relevant, but when silence strikes he can save the day.

Last Friday I was dreading the ride home from work (about a half an hour in which I spend most of the time perseverating in my head about the various incidents of the day focusing primarily on the unpleasant ones.) I phoned him and shared my distress. He said (without a moments pause)

I'm looking at these four oranges that you brought and left here on the table and they remind me of you. It might be gray outside but they are brightly colored and add sunshine to my life just like you.

I said kthanx bye. On a side note, when I shared this story with the secretary (who was waiting to see if he could come up with anything), she thought I said INCHES instead of ORANGES which certainly made me laugh the whole way home.

(yeah, baby I gotchtyer four inches)

At lunch today he was going on about his latest passion- a community action group to get high-speed rail using existing railbed from Pittsburgh to Columbus via the West Virginia Northern Panhandle. (POWV)

When he starts practicing his speeches about it in my general direction, my eyes (having heard everything he's saying at least three times prior) start to glaze over. Today when he finished his latest oratory I said, You could talk paint off of a wall.... but in a good way.

This thankfully turned the conversation tide to the possibilities of that phrase-

You could talk an egg out of a chicken.
You could talk wool off a sheep.
You could talk the peanut out of the butter.
You could talk the chrome off a Harley
You could talk the knick knack out of the paddywhack.
You could feel free to add your own!