The smell of death surrounds you

Things have been pretty busy here. I went up to UC Davis for a big retreat/meeting thing, which was unbelievably hot (Davis, I mean). Call me crazy, but I am pretty sure the temperature does something to the way things smell. Right before dusk everything would just be overpowering: flowers, asphalt, sweat, perfume, food...every scent had this sort of dizzyingly sweet quality. It was not unlike the poppy scene in The Wizard of Oz. Now I am moving all my stuff from one room into another. My new room is much nicer, but has about 1/3 as much storage space. I am having to get creative.
Also, I have probably shown and/or told most of you about my new phone and its new ringtone. I find it pretty hilarious now, but we'll see if I still feel this way by the end of my two-year contract.

Got some things to talk about, here beside the rising tide

Everyone say hello to Katherine Moreno-Doss, 2 days, 2.5 hours old, 8.125 pounds, 18.5 inches.

Hearts full of youth, Hearts full of truth

Matt's comment has prompted me to continue to extol the virtues of this drink. Having just now tried the ingredients separately, I am that much more impressed at their synergy. On its own, the rum is not entirely unlike the experience of being bludgeoned over the head with a brandy-soaked stalk of sugar cane, and the falernum might well be the main ingredient in those clove flavored jellybeans that I get at Easter. (Perhaps you know the kind. If not, all you really need to know is that they are ordinary-looking jellybeans that taste like cloves. They are pretty good, if one is expecting them, and pretty startling if one is not.) But together they become something subtle and magical, though very sweet after about 3/4 of the way through a glass.

Anyways, in answer to the aforementioned comment, I will be free to share this drink as soon as I feel I've made adequate headway on this here grading. I'll also bring over some of the Ontologically Puzzling Olives, and we can have Vague Martinis as well.
Backstory for those of you whom I have not harassed with my olives: the question is whether a drink made with onion-stuffed olives is a martini or a gibson. Having consulted with several experts on cocktails and metaphysics, the consensus seems to be that it is a martini. However, the category Martini seems to be vague in other respects as well. For instance, is a very smoky vodka martini really a martini, or is it a species of Rob Roy? These are important questions, people.

(These are not actually important questions, and I will do my best never to bring them up again)

For so long it's not true

Hey there. Sorry for the delay, but things have been crazy. They're almost over, for now at least.

I survived my practice prospectus defense today, insofar as it did not physically cause my death. However, the general sense is that there is a lot more work to be done in certain key areas. So it looks like I have my work cut out for me this summer. I'm almost relieved that I'll be unemployed.
Oh and don't get me started on the housing situation. Hopefully this will work itself out in the next day or so.

Right now, however, I will not be thinking about any of these things. I will be reading, sleeping, taking in fine televised narratives, possibly talking to people, and lazily drinking this "corn 'n oil" drink that I finally decided to try my hand at (I'm never sure where to put the apostrophe. Am I omitting the a, or the d?). And it is pretty dang tasty. It is sweet in a full-bodied molassesy way, but also spicy and clovey and really complex and delicious. Not the sort of thing I can see making regularly, but really nice when one is looking for something to shake up one's palate a bit.