Peeling Potatoes!

I was hanging out with a friend tonight, when she told me she had to peel potatoes for potato salad. I offered to help and she said, "I have to cook them first." 

Now, I kind of gave her my "confused cocker spaniel look" where I tilt my head to one side and raise my eyebrows. Thankfully, she elaborated.  She asked me if I'd ever heard this joke:

A woman is preparing a pork loin and she slices off either end, puts it in her pan, and puts it in the oven.  Her husband asks why, and she replies, "I don't know; that's just the way my mother always did it."  So, she calls up her mother, and asks her why she always cut the ends off the roast.  Her mother replies, "I don't know, that's just the way gran always did it."  So the woman calls up her gran and asks why she always cut the ends off the roast.  

Her gran replies, "Because my pan was too small."

I have always peeled and diced my potatoes raw, then cooked them.  Cooking the potatoes, then cooling them off in cold water, then peeling and dicing them, is WAY easier.  I couldn't comprehend why I hadn't thought of this, but it was just the way my mother always did it.