A happy update to the last post: I am most definitely thinking about science now. Although a number of the people in my new lab are actually out of town this week, it takes only one officemate to keep me on my mental toes. (I hadn't realized before that my brain had toes, but vertebrate zoology is not my strong suit.) It really does seem to be the kind of place that's larger than the sum of its already formidable parts. A bit intimidating at first, maybe, but just what I need right now.

Rick and I also actually went out and bought curtains for the apartment. To give you an idea of how significant this is: We lived in our house in Kalamazoo for 13 years, and never replaced any of the decor left behind by the previous owners. We fixed things that broke, of course, and washed things that got dirty, but never really actually decorated the place. Of course, I can't really claim that we're decorating this one -- just hanging fairly inexpensive and simple trappings of home here and there.

I also have to admit that I'm really happy to be living with only about a third of my stuff, a situation that may last until April or so. There are a few pieces of cookware and the like that I wouldn't have minded bringing along, instead of, say, the videotape collection, which got loaded onto the truck even though the TV is waiting for the second wave. We spent most of last night assembling a new desk, which is actually the first one I've ever bought that is suitable for an entomologist with a laptop rather than a computer geek with with a big tower complex. This means that Rick will inherit my old geek-friendly desk, and the huge Slab O' Fake Rock that used to house Rick's previous computer will be sold to someone who can actually find a use for it, assuming that this person lives in Brobdingnag and houses his desktop computer in the chassis of a 1970s vintage mainframe.

I miss my house in Kalamazoo, which is giving me serious emotional pause from time to time, but in some other ways, this situation amounts to 'Pede Heaven, at least for now. No TV, a phone service with everything included and that can send all my incoming calls to voicemail, a fast wireless connection -- and someone else shovels the walk. I suspect that when the TV arrives in the spring, we'll find an alternative to cable (thanks for the suggestions, Greg!) which will allow us to pay for only the few things we actually watch.

Oh, and the phone handset that's going to live on my desk in the basement office (the 'Pede Pit) is programmed to play The Flight of the Bumblebee when it rings. Given that the other handsets are programmed otherwise, we should experience an interesting cacophony whenever we receive calls. The Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band would be proud.