In talking about The Scorpion King during a meeting today, I learned that one of my engineering buddies is actually of Assyrian descent, studied Akkadian a bit, and worked on the Assyrian Dictionary Project. He knows who Erica Reiner is. !!!
I finally brought the noise-cancelling headphones in to work and it's amazing what a difference it makes. I'm in my own little world, now, and I don't have to listen to the constant conversations all around my head...