From frequent reader and contributer Roger Lewis:

From some show on Wednesday night

If I wanted to exercise, I never would have become an economist.

(Could just as easily been "become an accountant")

The gaggle at the American Economics Association meetings (and here are the papers, online for the first time, wonderful Web!) somewhat put that to the test. My brother came to visit me at the meetings; he has lifted weights for about 25 years and has the body to prove it. We went to a great restaurant with a few economists, and the difference was striking.

Reminds me of a true story:

I'm riding up the elevator at the Boston ASSA meetings a few years back. In the car with me is a woman who works in the hotel. I ask her if economists are really as dull a bunch as they're made out to be. She responds that she used to be stationed at the NYC branch of the chain when the meetings were held there and that even the hookers had taken the week off.

I wish I had seen more of the meetings, but like Alex Tabarrok I got stuck in a hotel room for two straight days -- then my brother showed up and economics wasn't so damned important. Sounds like I missed a good meeting, given what David Warsh reports.