we gave nohrnberg his chair! it was not much of a presentation, to tell the truth, in fact, because of circumstances, was somewhat anticlimactic. but he liked the chair, which is the important thing! all the way from the parking garage to bryan hall i was laughing especially gaily after i'd taped the ivy on and spread it over the back of the chair, and bob described his feelings as a mixture of embarrassment and excitement, somewhat like the time we took nohrnberg to lunch. i thought to myself that in life it's important to have friends who are willing to do conspiratorial crazy dharmaish things with you. when we arrived at his office, however, his door was shut and daniel heins (more on daniel later) was inside, also, waiting outside was someone writing her dissertation with nohrnberg, who had driven in from washington. she obviously has priority, and her meeting would take at least an hour. as we stood in the corridor waiting i got more and more edgy. then nohrnberg opened his door and suddenly the corridor was full of people and there wasn't really a way to make a presentation or to have private time with him. also, he began talking to everyone in the corridor at once, while bob and i awkwardly looked at each other. finally, we managed to get a word in and said, we brought you a chair. the implication of "chair" was not lost on him, which i felt somewhat embarrassed about. we had meant to give him a chair anyway, that the disappointment of the distinguished teaching professorship gave the "chair" a double meaning was incidental. we had not wanted him to think we were consoling him. but the chair found instant favour, it was handsome, and the draped ivy was whimsical. nohrnberg called it "art deco", and personally set it down beside his door, and he sat in it too! this pleased bob and i very much. now the chair was inaugurated; this was even better than formal speeches or daubings of holy water with the biggest aspergill available. (after nohrnberg had gone back into his office with elizabeth, bob and i each sat down on the chair for the sake of it) to our surprise, daniel heins stopped us and offered to pay for a third of the chair, but we explained that it didn't cost that much (chair plus ivy came to $50) and that we had presented the chair as coming only from the two of us, so it wouldn't be fair to take his money afterwards. come on, he persisted, let me be in on it! daniel is another nohrnberg devotee and a second year grad student, and looks forward to sitting in the chair for many years more. what can you say to someone that enthusiastic? bob told him how much the chair cost, and he gave us each the appropriate amount. a chair adventure well undertaken and satisfying!