No, I have not gone mad, as some may have guessed from the title, snatched from an actual sign in the labs at my new place of employment; nor have I simply gone, as some may have guessed from my long silence. Between the relocation of the family brood of computers to our new house and my relocation to my new job, I only just now checked my e-mail for the first time since Monday - and of course blogging, however dear an activity, falls second to the lifesblood that is e-mail.

The house is, as indicated, quite smuggifying. Currently it is furnished in the “two chairs and a lot of boxes style,” which is a bold decor unsuited to human habitation - we shan’t actually move in until this weekend, when our furniture can be feasibly introduced into its new habitat. Until then, we content ourselves with hooking up computers huddled together on the floor, and stocking the built-in bookshelves with books.

My new job, which I experienced for the first time today, promises to be quite good. As I had rather hoped, it seems that my previous job, with several bosses making huge demands, no pre-existing systems, and approximately 2 reams of paper passing through my hands everyday, always to be recalled three months later by an impatient superior, was an ordeal by fire. If things progress as I expect, my current job consists of three bosses making reasonable demands, sometimes leaving me alone, and four times a year piling on the work. This is well within my scope, and, indeed, exactly what I had hoped. The campus is beautiful - deer graze there! - and the people are friendly and helpful. Change, I currently believe, is good.