"Too bad you don't use it."

At a recent social function one of the faithful volunteers discovered I have a PhD, in biophysics, no less. By her look, anyone for miles around could tell she was shocked. After all how could anyone who put a croc button of Mickey Mouse in her sneaker be that educated? (Really, it's not about the mouse.) But I digress.

Her next comment, "Too bad you don't use it," sparked the reply, "Oh but I do, every day that I live and breathe."

An education, information learned whether in a classroom, or a lab, or in life, is for keeps. Short of a biochemical/medical failure it can't be taken away or returned. It's not part of a lending library. True I don't calculate the energetic activation and regulation of the coupling factor in spinach daily -- or even yearly, but I do use, (some would say, "over use") the organizational and planning skills so required to conduct experiments.

A family calendar, or coordinating a community event, requires just as much mental processing as preloading ATP with a radioactive terminal phosphate. One big difference is the calendar, though hot with activity, doesn't require storage in a plexiglass box.