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Today’s Trivia Tidbit: the etymology of the word “trivia” (at Wikipedia)

It’s been four weeks since the wedding, and I’m finally getting the answers to the trivia questions (PDF) posted. Few cared then, and still fewer care now, but Em and I worked pretty hard to come up with these, and at least one person (Hi, CVM!) worked her ass off to answer them, so here they are at long last. I actually printed up a huge batch of these at Kinko’s, and we brought them all the way to Toronto, but in all the excitement of the wedding night we completely forgot to set them out.

In case you do care, and in case you’ve long since lost and forgotten the questions, I’ve also got the wedding program (PDF) for you right here. The on-screen layout’s a bit odd, because it’s meant to be printed and folded, but the content’s all there, including all of the trivia questions. If you missed the game the first time around, feel free to play the home version. Since we’re done handing out prizes, you may cheat to your heart’s content.

Woot!  Thanks to Gray, there are pictures on flickr of my little surfer (surfr?) girl - not to mention the rest of the girls - catching some beginner waves in Bolinas last Sunday.  According to Emylene:  “just so you know how to spot me, i’m the only girl w/ the pink surfboard — specifically, i’m in photos 10 and 15 standing up (see, i *am* surfing!), and in photo 22 w/ the rest of the girls!”  So there.  Photo 10 (aka “010_10.JPG”) is my favorite - I’m so proud of my baby!!

I’m tired - it’s almost time for bed.  Em’s even more tired, because she went SURFING today, in beautiful Bolinas.  I went for moral support, but didn’t try to surf.  My poor widdle wife is now very, VERY pooped - but she GOT UP.  Three times, no less!  I’m so proud…

In other crazy news, I’d be posting more tonight, except that it’s time for bed.  And while nearly all of the wedding work is a thing of the past, I was amazed when I realized that the man burns in just 41 days…  I’m leaving tomorrow night for Seattle (back on Friday), but I hope to be able to post tomorrow, and/or from Seattle.

Thanks to a wonderful-and-generous wedding present from Leslie, Clint, and Brody (thanks, you guys!), Emylene and I are the proud sponsors (adopted parents?) of an adorable otter named Lelly.
Isn’t she CUTE?!? She’s being cared for by the International Otter Survival Fund - you can read all about her on page five of issue number 44 of the IOSF newsletter (PDF). If you’re moved by the work they’re doing, feel free to show them the money.

It gets even better - it turns out that the IOSF has a live webcam, which means that you can watch Lelly and her friend Tweed play (or at least sleep) in their pen! I just checked it a few minutes ago and saw Lelly (or maybe it was Tweed) smile up at the camera!! Okay, it looked like she (or he) was smiling up at the camera. Close enough. Either way, the cute is just right off the charts.

Still, we did have a No Gifts policy, and this disobedience will not go unpunished. Speaking of which, I’m probably doing a Bad Thing myself by blogging one of the awesome wedding gifts we received (Which part of “No Gifts, Please” is ambiguous to you people? It’s the comma, isn’t it?), and NOT blogging all of the others. I think we still have the Emily Post book of etiquette in the other room, and maybe I’ll go look that up… [Seriously. We borrowed the book from Norma and Brendan for our wedding. They'd bought it for their own wedding. It is a silly thing, but a neutral-and-respected third party is always your friend where etiquette is concerned.] On the other hand, the next few posts will probably also be wedding-related (this will taper off soon, I promise), and it’s obvious that I haven’t got much else to write about, so I guess I could blog all the others - or would that be even worse? Tell you what: if you’re reading this, and you’re hugely offended, leave a comment to that effect. I promise that I will then blog the really awesome wedding gift that you gave us. Or even one that someone else gave us - your call. It just so happens that this particular awesome wedding gift was gazing out at me (well, from my monitor) with its adorable eyes in its fuzzy little face, and I just couldn’t help myself. And yes, I am obviously a big, creamy creampuff from Outer Creampuffistan.

I have other things to blog, but they can wait.  This can’t:  Stop-Motion Human Space Invaders

The post title should actually be “Allergic Reaction”, but that’s not the title of a great song (okay, their only hit) by Count Five.  I went out for an allergy test this afternoon, and after 2.5 hours and about 100 needle-sticks, found out that I’m allergic to almost every damned (airborne) allergen that they test you for.  Trees, grasses, weeds, cats, dogs, dust mites, some molds - the list of things I’m *not* allergic to is a lot more manageable.  I had a wicked seasonal-allergy attack back in May, that prompted me to score some black-market Flonase and set up an appointment with an allergy specialist.  He revealed to me that I have a very deviated septum, and then scheduled me for the tests they just ran on me.  So now I’ve got a follow-up visit scheduled, to discuss what to do about the septum, and the allergies.  Joy.  Oh, and the poor woman sticking my right arm also managed to stick her own finger at one point, which means I have to drop by a lab tomorrow or Friday for an HIV test.  I know I’m negative, but I can’t expect them to take my word for it - it’s standard procedure if a technician gets a needle stick.  It just means that I’ll lose at least another hour waiting at the lab…

At least I don’t have any major food allergies - none severe enough so that I know of them, anyhow.  And at least I’m not allergic to Emylene.

We did it - we got married in front of a gazillion people.  Well, maybe some small fraction of a gazillion, but it’s the quality of the people that counts.  The weather was almost perfect, the venue was amazing, the food (I’m told) was super-yummy, and a great time was had by all - even the somewhat frazzled groom, and un-frazzlable (?) bride.  I’ll have more to say about it later, but it was an amazing experience.  [How's that for verbosity?]

Now that married is out of the way, Em and I are both buried under our respective workloads.  I thought that having (most of) the wedding-related to-do list items gone would mean lots more free time for both of us this month, but the fates would NOT have it.  By some not-that-unlikely coincidence, we’re both totally swamped at work right now.  I’d been back from Toronto less than 48 hours when a project manager asked me to fly up to Seattle that same (Thursday) night, to work at Boeing all day on Friday and Saturday.  Yes, Saturday.  At least yesterday was, for me, a mostly-work-free Sunday.  But now it’s back to the grind, with a vengeance.  And Em is just as busy.  Yikes.

I’ve got two remote desktop windows going right now, plus an Instant Message chat session with a colleague, plus about ten e-mails that I still have to reply to, so I’ll cut it off here for now.  Just know that there are some photos of the wedding (and the Toronto trip in general) in the gallery already, and that if you have any photos of your own to contribute, PLEASE let me know as soon as you can.  We’re eager to get as many pics as possible into the gallery while the momentum is still with us. 

D’oh - one more thing.  Congratulations are due to Judy, Jay, and Jessica!!  Welcome to big-sisterhood, Jessica, and welcome to the world, baby Justin!!!