Halloween

I've posted some Halloween costume pictures. They can be found over at my Flickr account. Also, for your viewing pleasure, here is my costume as River from Serenity:

and here is Djinn's costume as John Constantine:

Testing Flock

Like Ghani at Mischief to Data, I've decided to test out a new a web browser, called Flock. This is my first post from within Flock's blogging feature. Let's see what happens.

What I learned today

A friend, while reading a book on the environment for a class, came across the use of the word "pizzle" as regards the use of said "pizzle" by a opossum during "coition." A quick search on the etymology of "pizzle":

pizzle
"penis of a bull used as a flogging instrument," 1523, from L.Ger. pesel or Flem. pezel, dim. of root of Du. pees "sinew," from O.L.G. root *pisa.
(courtesy of Online Etymology Dictionary)

And yes, "coition" means exactly what you think it means.

Western Sahara Project

While browsing on Flickr, I came across some photos for the Western Sahara Project, an archaeological project that aims to fill in the gaps about the prehistory of the Western Sahara in Africa. I thought it was pretty cool that they used Flickr to share photos of their project. I haven't had a chance to do much more than bookmark their website, but the photos in Flickr are pretty awesome.

Why I haven't posted recently

Honestly, things at work have been hectic. And not in a good way. A new department is being created to help "align resources," and my department is now a part of this new department, which no one can really seem to make decisions regarding. There is a director for the new department, who doesn't officially start until January, but who will be making periodic visits before then. Our relationship with her is unclear. Not to mention the fact that several of the people I work with have decided (and I can't blame them, really) that they don't like her. I think this will lead to our department having access to better resources, but hopefully it won't do too much damage to how well we do our jobs. We've got a good thing, and it's in danger of being changed beyond recognition and ruined. What's that they say about things that aren't broken and how to fix them? There is already loud, noisy construction in the back half of our department (after recent renovations to our building finally resulted in a physical space designed just for us).

Sorry to be necessarily vague about all of this, but no reason to get myself in trouble with the new boss (if she is indeed my boss, because it's all very unclear) before she officially starts by blogging negatively and publicly about her and where I work by name. Anyone who knows me will have already heard about some of this, though, and those who haven't can put the pieces together more than likely.

To sum up, the reason I haven't posted lately has been: stress. I have had to stay late at work too often, and am stressed when I get there, stressed when I leave, and so I haven't wanted to do much more than watch TV, eat, and sleep when I get home.

Update on Djinn

Since Djinn is back at his parents' house with the painful dial-up internet connection, I'll make a brief post to fill in the curious about his future plans. A formal job offer came from the company he worked with during his visit in Austin, TX. He will be in back in Austin tomorrow to go apartment hunting, and will be moving there probably in November. What does this mean for you, our (3) readers? It means he'll have a high-speed internet connection from which to post to the blog! I think everyone can be happy about that.

Weekend Wedding

As the title implies, Djinn and I attended the wedding of a friend of mine from home this past weekend. The wedding was beautiful and upon our arrival at the reception, we were greeted by the dulcet tones of first Kenny G, then some Michael Bolton, and eventually, a bit of Celine Dion. This wasn't as bad as it sounds, though--shortly after we discovered that the music wasn't getting any better, we also discovered the open bar. I was trashed by 3:00 pm and hungover by 6:00 pm. It was great.