Conversational death spiral

[sawyl]

Thanks to a combination of enthusiasm and uncharacteristic extroversion caused, most probably, by the fact that we're now as far away from Christmas as we ever really seem to get, I managed to get myself caught up in a conversational death spiral with one of my colleagues that resulted in both of us losing the entire afternoon to a vast and rambling discussion of life, the universe and everything. Fortunately I was able to get enough done in the morning to ensure that the day wasn't a total write-off and, in the course of the discussion, I think I managed to get enough answers to my work related questions that the whole thing wasn't a total waste. But still. Hardly the most productive of days.