bonedigger_k

Okay, yes.  I admit that I'm absolutely awful about keeping up with LJ.  I've been spending my time on FB.  Apparently LJ is jealous and will no longer show me what my friends have been doing.  Perhaps I need a more recent post.  Well, here it is.  Are you happy now LJ?  Can I rub your virtual feet?  Okay now.  Let's see if that's better.

By the way, all of you fabulous friends of mine see me on FB all the time, so sorry for being quiet here, but I don't think you've been virtually missing much.  (Don't tell LJ though.  Apparently it's a jealous jealous little application).

Hello friends,

My husband points out that I have been back from Peru for a month now, and have yet to update my Livejournal.  So sorry to leave y'all in the dust.  I'm back in school and trying to put together a thesis proposal.  My Peruvian samples are stuck in the bureaucratic mire of the National Institute of Culture in Lima, and will hopefully be approved in January or so.  There's no real certainty about anything.  I did my best, and now I just have to wait and see.  This is hard for me.

I do have a backup plan for my thesis - a study of the dietary patterns of the Ohlone groups that lived around the SF Bay.  I'm doing the background research this semester, just in case. 

I don't deal terribly well with uncertainty, so I'm pinging off the walls a bit while I wait and see what happens (and I'm spending far too much time on Facebook).  I'm starting to whittle at my research again though, so that should at least move me in the right direction.  Also, I'm spending time apprenticing in the lab, so that when I do get samples, I'll have a clue what to do with them. 

The lab work is pretty funny.  The first step to preparing samples for isotope analysis is to mechanically clean them - with a Dremel.  These samples are human bone from archaeological sites.  I had a student come to the door the other day, attracted by the sound of power tools.  He was enrolled in shop classes across the way, and thought I might be doing something interesting in the lab....  The look on his face when I explained what I was doing was priceless! 

My hubby and I have worked back into the rhythm of weekends together and lots of phone calls in between.  It works, but we're counting the weeks until I'm done with this school business and we can live under the same roof all the time.  That is my motivation to get this thesis done.  (Must focus!)

So, those are some updates.  I'll try to be on Livejournal more in the future!

k

Hi there,

I haven't been posting lately, and this time I have about 3 minutes until I have to log off, so I'll just say this...  I'm in Peru.  I have another blog for when I travel, which is http://kareninperu2.blogspot.com.  Check out my stuff there for the next couple of weeks. 

I have a bit under three more weeks until I come home.  I'm looking forward to that!  But, things here are going well and I'm keeping very very busy.

Hugs to all my friends out in cyber land.

k

So, school's out and I have less than three weeks before I head off to Bolivia and Peru to do my best to appear to be an archaeologist, or rather, a bioarchaeologist, with a clue.  I'm trying to plan my travel route, put together my gear, figure out my research methodology, and not leave anything out since I can't very well just stop by again in October to pick up whatever I forgot.  Also, I'm guessing there aren't many laboratory supply stores in Moquegua, Peru - I could be wrong...  Sigh.  I have this problem with holding myself to really high standards, and inside I'm freaking out a bit because I really don't know what I'm doing.  I want someone to be telling me what to do and how to go about it (flashback to life in a cubicle - yeah, that's right, I've brought this upon myself).  

Meanwhile, I'm trying to soak up precious time with my honey before I go galavanting off to the wilds of South America for 5 1/2 weeks.  He's wonderful and I love him so.  I may just see if I can find a big duffle bag to pack him in and bring him along!  If only...  Maybe next time.

Oh, and for anyone who follows Peruvian news (yeah, that's you), Moquegua is not the most peaceful of places at the moment.  It would seem that miners are protesting and taking policemen hostage.  Lovely!  Hopefully all that will calm down in the next month or so.  At least I'm not a policeman!  If they were protesting against bioarchaeologists, now that would be a problem.

Last week was interesting - there were these giant grass fires near Paradise (that's a town), which is between where I live and Chico.  Thankfully the fires didn't threaten our house at all, but I did find myself stuck in Chico on Thursday night when all roads back were closed and/or burning.  There's some drama for you.  I've never seen so many firetrucks.  It's contained now, thank goodness.  And, I have many wonderful friends who offered me shelter, food, a bed to sleep in, and laundry services (much needed after a day in forensic archaeology class, digging in the 100 degree heat!).  It really touched my heart to have so many folks reach out to make sure I was okay and that I was taken care of.  <hugs!>

So yes, one of these years I'm going to remember what summer vacation is like.  I tell myself this - it's probably not true.  Where's my off switch???  Must find it someday.  And when I do, I'll adopt a kitten.  A little boy brought one to my door today saying that it had been abandoned and really needed a home.  Oh my gosh, if there was any living way that I could have done it, I would have taken her in.  But, I'm leaving the frickin country, the hubby lives in a place where he can't have cats, and it's just not the time.  Yep, someday, I'll slow down and adopt a kitten and live with my husband.  Doesn't that sound sweet?



 

I'm so close to done with this semester.  I have my two big monster-projects completed and just one little paper left to go.  But my head is all swimmy and full and dreamy and I can't seem to think any more.  

I'm out of it enough that I decided to spend my evening at the movies seeing - not the predictable Indiana Jones (that's reserved for my archy friends tomorrow night!), but "Made of Honor" - a truly mediocre chick flick / romantic comedy whose main theme was that foreign people are weird.   Disfunctional, emotionally challenged, mysogenistic Americans are far preferable (particularly if they look like Patrick Demsey).   Perfect!  Actually, considering the fog that is my brain, a mindless romantic comedy romp and a dinner of popcorn was just about exactly what I needed.  That and sleep.  I think I'll get me some of that sweet nectar too.

G'night!

Okay, I hate to leave 'the big suck' just hanging there on the wind...  Life is still crazy busy, but I'm plugging along.  Slowly the lists are getting shorter.  I will survive (cue Gloria Gaynor).  

I went on a quick, overnight backpacking trip on Saturday with some Chico friends and a garden gnome (!).  It was exactly what I needed to calm the f*** down a bit.  Now I'm churning through my projects.  Two more weeks.  Wow.

Anyway, hope y'all are hanging in there too! 

 

Okay, I knew going in that grad school would be a time suck.  Hard work.  Payin' your dues.  All that stuff.  And not to get all anthropological on everyone, but geez, does it also have to be such a rite of passage?  I mean, is it completely unreasonable to have manageable projects due on a manageable schedule???  (One that includes things like sleep and exercise and delicious food and some level of interaction with other humans?)  Is it absolutely necessary to pile expectations so high that students are in constant states of delerium, stress, and perceived inadequacy???  

I'm hearing the voice in my ear saying "you know, you do this to yourself".  Yes, yes, I know.  But I'm not the only one reeling, I know that too.

Two and a half more weeks.  Yep, that's what they tell me.  I'm going to just keep working every waking moment and at some point, someone will shake me and tell me it's over.  

Word is out that there's a new little fella in the world!  Congratulations to the beautiful and fabulous Mama, the exuberant Papa and the precious little man.  Love, love love to you!

 Back to home #1 again.  The car is unloaded, the fridge is re-stocked, the assignments are printed out, and once again I am wiped out from my busy day.  It was great to have downtime this weekend.  I'm sure I couldn't afford it, but I really needed to watch five consecutive episodes of "Top Chef" on Saturday.  That show is totally addictive!  

I had a couple of meetings about my thesis topic today.  It's looking really good.  Of course, now I have to write up a proposal and round up some funding.  Anyone want to make a donation to a nice girl who just wants to grind up some Peruvian mummy hair and throw it through a mass spectrometer???  Anyone???

I'm here in home #2.  The hubby is working most of the weekend, but it's awfully nice just to be in the same proximity.  After my two weeks of travelling, and last week of school, it's a treat just to have dinner together and squeeze in a few hours around the edges of the day to enjoy each other's company. 

I'm still dizzy with obligations and deadlines and research, but my honey makes it all very survivable.  I think I'll keep him.  :)

 

After two (or three) conferences inside of three weeks, I'm home again.  Now I get to wrap my head around all of the end-of-semester projects, my thesis proposal, my grant applications, registration for next year, and ongoing life in home #1 while my hubby is in home #2.  Calgon take me away!

I have a thesis topic in the works which has be all excited (and was inspired by a serendipitous seat assignment on the plane to conference #1).  It looks like I may get to work with a Peruvian collection after all.  Yippee!  Now I just need to nail down the details.  More on all that later perhaps...

For now, I'm off and running to school.

So I'm back from the Society for American Anthropology Conference - crazy busy times, those.  I met some really great people, saw lots of interesting presentations, and now I'm completely brain dead.  

Except that I don't get to stop moving, no no no.  I have two books to read and report on in the next two days, then next Monday I'm on a plane to Columbus, Ohio of all places, for the Paleopathology Association meeting, immediately followed by the American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting.  It's too much good stuff and I'm going to be completely schitzophrenic by the time it's done.  Gack!  On top of that, I'm trying to figure out how to live while bouncing back and forth between home #1 (near school) and home #2 (with my husband, who's now living elsewhere for his job).  Did I mention that I'm feeling a bit schitzo lately (I should really learn how to spell that word, but y'all will forgive me if it's wrong).  

Anyway, welcome to Livejoural to me.  Have a nice day.  I'm off to read now.  (joy!)

I can't say that I'll be posting a lot here, but I had to respond to dudemomdude, so I'm signed up now.  Besides, this is a lovely way to procrastinate from studying that I ought to be doing!!!