Here's the update.

We now have almost all of our furniture (just missing some shelving). The TV is arriving Saturday. I am going to be in Park over Labor Day weekend and for some portion of the following week, though I'm not yet certain how large a portion that will be. I will be defending my thesis design before my committee at the end of September. This time I plan to start acquiring sacrificial livestock ahead of time, just in case.

On an unrelated and sad note, it appears that The Raving Atheist is increasing his raving whilst losing his godlessness for all the wrong reasons. I knew that TRA was anti-choice back when I originally added him to my blog roll on the side bar, but I've had anti-choice friends before and I figured it was a small price to pay for his dismantlings of the God Squad columns. However, over the last year he has become increasingly obsessed with the Myth of the Magic Sperm, whereby sperm confers personhood at the instant of fertilization and a complete human individual exists from that moment. Of course this myth collapses for anybody with a rudamentary understanding of human reproduction (identical twins, anyone?), but it can be propped up very nicely if one plugs in a bit of Christian doctrine...and that appears to be what TRA is working up to.

The Raving Atheist Conversion Watch has been followed by Amanda at Pandagon, PZ Myers, and Zuzu over at Feministe. It's rather interesting to see this process of conversion unfolding, because it further underscores the importance of the process of becoming and remaining godless. Rejecting one set of superstitions while clinging to another is not really going to accomplish anything.