Men at work?

Every once in a while, I come across a word that utterly tickles my fancy in a way that no combination of syllable should. The mere mention of said word will make me smile, as if its existence means that there is something a little bit right in the word.

In the past, words like defenestration, spork, and obsequious have held such honours. And now another word is gaining the same prestige. Please allow me to introduce my new word of the past 1.64 months:

Degradomics.

The word has something to do with a breaking down process used in proteomics (the science of protein engineering that roughly parallels the work done on the genome project, but for proteins). I think that it could also be a word coined to refer to the economics of the environment.

If nothing else, my job as a finance assistant is definitely expanding my science-specific vocabulary.

Speaking of things being broken apart, it's amazing how quickly construction can actually get done during the summer. On my way to work this morning, there was a perfectly good sidewalk on the west side of 114 street, just north of University Avenue. On my drive home, the sidewalk had been replaced with a gaping hole and barricades.

Unfortunately, it seems a lot easier to tear things apart than put things together. I get the feeling that after today's amazing display of men actually working, the southbound university area traffic will now be subjected to very little work being accomplished and a lot of men standing around holding signs declaring themselves to be at work while they laugh at the cars being constricted to one lane.