So, anyone who wants to see where I'm actually excavating, etc. can check out the article about Abydos on Tour Egypt's site - it's a handy overview. We'll be working at South Abydos on the Ahmose complex. As the article shows, the site has a long history, both in the ancient world and for archaeological research since the late 19th/early 20th century, including work by one of my favorite characters in the history of archaeology Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie.
I'm not really comfortable providing specifics here - anyone who is curious can email me.

I got my absentee ballot today. And pretty much I have to say that my fingers hurt from punching out the necessary chads with what I will call "the little pokey thingie" and that the styrofoam backing they provided for such purpose was squeaky and therefore annoying. Yay. Civic duty. And they didn't even have the decency to provide return postage. At least I didn't have to stand in line in the freezing-ass cold for hours.
I was hoping that my flight schedule (I leave the evening of 1 Nov) would allow me the excuse to find a payphone at Heathrow and call Tom at 4 in the morning his time after the election screaming "who won?! who won dammit?!" I don't know why I find this scenario so amusing, but I do - looking for a newspaper would be way too easy. Alas, that probably won't be necessary. I guess if I'm really bored in Cairo in between the bouts of Tut's Revenge that will inevitably strike me approximately 30 minutes after arrival I could call the embassy and do the same thing, but I'm thinking that may not be wise.
Yippee, just a few weeks to go! (Ferret dance)