Word of the Day: Tocsin

tocsin \TOCK-sin\, noun:
1. An alarm bell, or the ringing of a bell for the purpose of alarm.
2. A warning.

Consider this your one-day warning. Tomorrow I will probably post my last entry until Nov. 2 when I return from Israel. But, never fear, Michelle will be here to entertain while I'm gone. Here is an excerpt from an email she sent me today (printed with her permission) so you can get a feel for her style before Sunday when she takes the reigns.

Me: Maybe next week you'll actually have the workload of a normal person. Mine and yours. You'll hate me when I return cuz you'll lose half your work.

Michelle: You are probably right, or most likely, because this generally is what happens when one of us leaves, the world will fall apart and suddenly i'll have too much to do. then i'll complain about how busy i am. and people will be like "you complain when you're bored. you complain when you're busy. when do you not complain?" then i'll be happy to have you back, but coincidentally the day you return there will be nothing to do and we will return to our normal boringness. which I will complain about.

There's a hummer in our office. I think I may have discussed this before, along with the whistler and the girl with the annoying laugh, but the hummer definitely takes the gold for being the most bizarre of the characters in this office. She's not a lackadaisical hummer. She's what I think to be an anxious hummer. She tends to speedwalk through the office frantic-humming to no real tune. It's more like a noisy vibration coming from a high-powered outboard motor. Michelle says "i should not be able to hear her humming over my ipod music."

Michelle, Timoni and I are going to a Halloween party of epic proportions this weekend. It's called Steveoween. This is because the party falls halfway between Steve's birthday and Halloween. Who is Steve? Well, that remains a mystery. Michelle was invited by a friend of a friend of Steve's and T and I decided to tag along. Duh, it's an opportunity to dress up and to mingle with the 93 people who responded "yes" to the evite. We are all three going as bridesmaids. I'm sure absurd photos of this event will be posted as soon as I return.

Details are likely to follow from Michelle, but the b-day plans are for dinner at Fuddruckers (it's my fav) at 8 in Dupont and then Dragonfly afterwards. If anyone is randomly reading this post and lives in the DC area and has nothing to do on Saturday, Nov. 5, there will be 12-15 hot single girls at Dragonfly. Stop by!