If you schedule a 2 1/2 hour meeting with a very long agenda….  make sure that that’s the LAST meeting you have to schedule for a while.  Don’t cover point #1 in your agenda, and then note that we’ll need to have ongoing meetings to discuss the others.  I, uh, suddenly have dentist appointments every week JUST at the time when your regular meeting would be held. To help me feel less guilty, perhaps I’ll abstain from Novocaine…  it would still be less painful.