ad 1) Jazzed? Erm? Sorry? What's that word?
Anyway if I understand you right ... projects last. Sometimes months. I don't think you can remain jazzed all the time for so long. If you can, I'd like to know what do you take ;-)

ad 2) Yeah, this is a nice one. Let him/her boast about something and see what it is. Of course the problem is how much are they exagerating and how much of the project was their work.