Amphigouri: varnished nonsense

Amphigouri is my web-journaly sort of space, resurrected in the winter of ‘07, where I’ll likely yammer (or more likely not; my track record speaks to long silences) about random personal stuff, link to interesting-to-me bits on the internets, and occasionally talk about work-related things (like code, databases, and various other non-personals).

From my first post in 2002, where I blather on about the name of this space:

After browsing many [thesaurus] entries related to the word muddle, I found this one: amphigouri: with apparent meaning, which on further attention proves to be meaningless. (def’n via dictionary.com) Hmmm. I like.
Along with this was listed a quote attributed to Winston Churchill: to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound. No sound here, but I do like the idea of “varnished nonsense.” It’s all suitably self-deprecating, which is exactly what I wanted - I’m under no illusions as to the nature of this journal, and I want to make it perfectly clear to potential readers what can be expected. Plus, the words just sound cool together.

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Bits About the Author, in no particular order:

* I was born in 1970, a Christmas Eve baby.
— No, it doesn’t suck. Yes, I got birthday gifts, too.

* I frequently commune with my Inner Child.

* I’m nearly 6′1″ tall.
— Yes, I play basketball.
— (played; started in 4th or 5th grade, through hs and college, then pick-up games through work)
— My last game of hoops was in July 1997, with a bunch of guys from work, the day before I moved to Virginia.
— Since then, I’ve been waging the Weight War (and losing).

* I’m a natural blonde.
— In the last couple of years, I’ve had the natural blonde unnaturally “enhanced” (yay, highlights!)
— Yes, these unruly curls are natural, too.
— (’cept when I spend 40-60 minutes with a round brush and hairdryer)

* I am currentlywas previously employed as an “Information Architect.”
— Don’t worry, I don’t know what this means, exactly, either.
— (my job description doesn’t exactly mesh with what the authors of Information Architecture and the World Wide Web describe; I generally do some internal web development and some Unix system administration for a division within a semiconductor company)

* I’m Born in Maine, Living in Exile
— (exile currently defined as MA; previously defined as NC, and prior to that, VA)
— and as of summer06, we’re back in Maine, hopefully for good!

* I married the Love of my Life August 31, 2002.
— (and there was much rejoicing)

* We cohabitate with four cats.
— Yes, that’s four cats.
— No, we are not Crazy Cat People (yet).

* The last time I took the Myers-Briggs Personality test (May 2000), I was on the cusp between ISFJ and ISTJ.
— Depending on which parts of the definitions you read, this explains a lot.
— (or is merely entertaining. “…home and work environments are usually neat, orderly…” ?!? *snort* )

* I started an MSLIS degree (that’s Library & Info Science) in June 2003 at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (their “mostly distance” program), hopefully to be completed before the end of 2006, which I completed in the summer of 2006 (In case you don’t already know, you should read up on Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian.). Just prior to handing in my final paper, I received the job offer as an Information Systems Analyst (read: database, web-type, and scripty person) in the IT department at my alma mater, which moved us back to Maine.