2 Months

Wow, almost 2 whole months since I last updated this. Sorry about that. I my defense, my computer had a virus for about a month from March to April. So I couldn't really get on the internet. But its all fixed now so I'll try to get this up and running again. I'll try to get you updated on what has gone on in the last 2 months in a couple of paragraphs. We'll see how I do.

Well, March 15 was my birthday. So I went out with a couple of my coworkers and proceeded to completely embarrass myself. Its cool though, I'm over it. Make fun all you want, I've put it behind me ;)

I went up to visit Grandma in Myrtle Beach the next weekend. That was really fun. We went to a couple of shows and a brass quintet concert. It really made me miss my bands. You can't really dabble in french horn in a hotel room though, so I'm out of luck. Plus I'm sure my instrument is in a horrible state of disrepair by this point. It would probably cost a bunch of money to get the valves working again :(

The weekend after that we moved down South of Tampa. I can't remember if there was anything of particular note to say about that two weeks. I went to the beach one day and got the worst sunburn of my life. Parts of my are still a bit red from it. It was in the middle of the work week too, so I had to carry my backpack around for days with a terrible sunburn on my shoulders and back and everyone was making fun of me. (I work with a bunch of jerks if you can't tell) Later that weekend I went parasailing with Kazi. It was cool but boring at the same time. It was cool to be up there, but there was really nothing to do while you were up there, so it was kinda boring. I did see a hammerhead shark though, so that was cool. Then we ate at a restaurant right on the beach a couple of times. That was cool because you were sitting outside just looking at the ocean.

To start the next session of work we had to leave our hotel on a Monday morning at 6am. We all drove our individual cars out to the site in order to dig about 4 shovel tests in a field. Then we all went out for breakfast at IHOP. Then we headed on to our new hotel in Port Richey, which is a bit north of Tampa.

During that session I went home for the Varsity Band Concert in Madison. It was awesome! I got to see almost all of my college friends who I hadn't seen in about 6 months at that point. I also got to see my high school friends because they came down on Friday night and we hit up the town. Then Jen came up from Chicago with some of her friends so it was a really fun night. Then on Saturday my parents came down and I went to the concert with my mom. It was awesome as usual and less sad this year not to be in it. Sunday I went out to lunch with my parents and then hung out with college friends for the rest of the day. We went to the Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner. It was amazingly awesome. We had strawberry Lube-N-Ade and wings with lube sauce. Amazingly corny :P Then Monday I had to come back to Florida.

I only worked for 1 day and then it was our weekend off. My friend Carrie came up from the coast guard base that she is stationed at and we went to Busch Gardens on Thursday. It was really fun. We rode most of the roller coasters and then I excavated some Egyptian artifacts. On Sunday I went out with Kazi and we went jetskiing on the Gulf. It was amazing!!! So much fun! I still can't get over it. It was like getting to ride a motorcycle, but with less chance of getting hurt because if you fall off you just land in the water. I would love to go again before I leave Florida, so we'll see. Then later that night we went and played some mini golf. I have to hunt down those pics, but it wasn't my best night. I lost my ball in a pond on the first hole and had to go back to the office to get a new one. Then it kept getting stuck other places that put me in ridiculous positions for mean people to take photos of me.

And I think that takes us up to this week. So I will try to get the picture links on here and get this weeks update on here tomorrow. Good night!

Civil War

Today after work we went to the Civil War. They've had a reenactment the last 2 days in Crystal River. We wanted to go yesterday, but we ended up working too late and it was already over. But today we got done early so we went over there. It was kinda neat and kinda dull. I think its another one of those things that its more fun to contemplate than to actually do, like the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Plus today the South won. They surrounded the North from 3 sides and took over their cannons. So its back to slavery for us, I guess...

Yesterday we ended up in the field right next to where they were reenacting and heard the cannons being fired during the morning. I guess they were doing some sort of cannon demonstration while we were in the area. We couldn't really see anything but smoke, but it was weird to be so close and not really know what was going on.

We heard rumors today that the Kansas crew may be sent back after a month. I don't know it that's for sure, but I don't know what we'd do if we were sent back. There isn't much to do in Kansas. We are super-fast diggers though. I think we did about 3 miles today. And we consistently find nothing because we're digging where they have already run a gas line and built a bunch of power lines. Ah well, it saves us digging even more holes if we don't find anything in the ones we do dig :D

The Rest of the Way

Well, Sunday I headed out of the Nashville area but didn't make it far before seeing a sign for the Jack Daniel's distillary. So of course I decided to go. I didn't realize how far off the road it was though. A quick detour turned into about 3 hours. It was fun though. It would have been better if I hadn't seen a show about how to distill whiskey on tv already, but it was cool to see it in person. We didn't get any samples at the end though :( It was Sunday and its a dry county. I guess they usually let them sell bottles on site, but on Sundays even they can't sell it.

So I got back on the road and drove to just past Atlanta before stopping for the night. The next day I headed down to Falorida. I thought I was pretty close, but it turned out that I was about 150 miles from the border. At the welcome center they give out free orange juice, but I didn't stop for any. The drive was pretty uneventful. Besides the crazy noise my car continues to make. I have to take it somewhere and have it looked at.

So I checked into the hotel and then went further down the road to see what was up. Well, nothing was up. It seems pretty boring here. But there is a brochure for diving with manatees in the room, so I'm going to dive while I'm down here. I'm gonna see if anyone else wants to go, but if not I'll go by myself. No reason to waste all that money on the lessons if I don't get when I get the opportunity :)

Then today we went out to work, but where we were suppose to start they didn't want to let us dig to the depth that we need to. So we called it a morning and will try again tomorrow. Then it rained for awhile while we were at the store buying tennis raquets, but it seems to have stopped now. So I'll probably make people play tennis with me for awhile. Woo, tennis!

Superman!

So I'm making my way down to Falorida (Which is how I'm going to say that from now on because my crazy Australian friend has corrupted my speech). I'm heading to the border of Illinois and Kentucky and I see a sign off the interstate for a giant Superman statue. So I think to myself, "That's pretty much the most hilarious thing of heard all week, but I shouldn't waste my time.......No, I should definitely waste my time." So I pulled off to Metropolis to see giant Superman. It was pretty weird. But amazing. So then I got a delicious milkshake from Hardee's and went to get back on the interstate. But the police had the entry ramp roped off. So then I had to take an alternate route. So I took a small road around and had to cross the Ohio river. On the skinniest, longest bridge in the world. It was pretty much the worst experience of my life. Plus I was worried about the wheel of my car falling off the entire time. I don't know what's up with it, but my car is making a funky noise that hurts my head. So I'll have to have it looked at when I finally get to Falorida. I guess that's it. Tomorrow I shall head for Georgia. Hopefully I find another awesome thing to do on the way there :D

Blizzard

So I was in Oklahoma last week. It was awesome. I'm still sure that its the best state in the union. I wasn't too terribly attacked by vines or barbed wire this time, so there really isn't anything too exciting to report. But we did get done early on Friday so I got to go down to Dallas for the night to visit Kylie.

We went out with her Anthro friends and then went to a party that one of the SMU undergrads was throwing. It was really fun. Especially when a couple of them were playing pokie in chairs and, because one of the chairs was really poorly put together, it collapsed and completely broke and the guy sitting on it fell on the floor. It was one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen.

I left Dallas on Saturday afternoon to head up to northern Kansas. There was a 30% chance up rain up there according to The Weather Channel. About the time I got to Wichita it started to snow and sleet. Pretty soon even semis were going about 40 down the interstate. I then had to take a highway up through the middle of nowhere to get the rest of the way to Fort Riley. I got behind a snow plow and we were only going 20mph, but I figured at least there I knew I wouldn't die because the road was clear. Eventually I had to drive on my own and it was terrifying and made me want to cry, but I made it without crashing. What should have taken 1 hour took 3, but I made it, so I guess I can't be too upset. Except at the weather channel because had I known it was going to be a blizzard I would have left Dallas earlier. Grrr...

Then the next day we went out to work at Fort Riley. We got to hear artillery shots going off around us all day. It was weird. We were also working in a mud hole. At one point I was hoping not to lose my shoe as it kept getting stuck in the mud. And I almost fell multiple times, but managed to stay up. Then after we were done one of the guys I work with was trying to get his coveralls off. It was THE funniest thing I'd seen in awhile. He couldn't get them unzipped because there was too much mud. So of course his shoes were covered in mud as well. So he's jumping around trying to get his foot out of the leg of the pants. He finally gets it out and realizes that he's gotten mud all up the inside of the leg of the pants. (Which another girl had told him was going to happen.) So then he was all upset but still had to get his other leg out of the pants. So he's spinning around and flinging his leg around trying to get the pants over his other shoe and flinging mud everywhere. I'm sure you had to be there to appreciate it, but it was hilarious.

Today we got to go to a less muddy field and do shovel tests and a couple of test units. Then we got done early because we finished our work and there wasn't anything that we could start with the end of the session coming up. It was also Dawn's birthday so when we went out for dinner with the whole crew me and Naomi got a cake and some silly presents and brought them for her. Then we went to the bar at the hotel and played Apples to Apples. Lots of people came, so that was fun. I think tomorrow we're going back to Lawrence. Then Sunday I'm heading down to Florida. I don't know where yet, but somewhere down there. Woo!!

Wow, Its been awhile

I have been slacking in my updating of this thing. Anyway, last week we were in WaKeeney, and got it all done, so I shouldn't ever have to go back there! Woo!

Then I spent the weekend in Lawrence. I really wanted to eat at the Pizza Hut buffet, but it is only open during the week. Not on weekends. So I was pissed. We went to Cici's instead, but it wasn't as good :( Then last night it was pouring rain and was supposed to change to snow during the night. So I went to bed hoping it didn't snow too much so that I'd be able to drive today. Then at about 3am I woke up to a dripping sound. I felt around in the dark and felt water dripping from the ceiling onto me! So I was having some sophomore year deja vu but just moved to the other bed. Then later I woke up to dripping again and put the ice bucket under the drip. This morning there was a ton of wet heavy snow on the ground and I was hoping to be able to make it out of the parking lot. But I did and made it down to Oklahoma in one piece.

So now I'm in my favorite state ever for the time being. With a super early wake up call. So that sucks, but oh well. I get my vines and barbed wire back ;)

The Funniest Thing I've Ever Seen

You have to see this.



It is too funny for words. It started on A Daily Show and then they all went to Colbert and finally ended up on Conan all on the same night.

WaKeeney Revised

Well, I'm back in the land of no trees. We drove out yesterday and are now here until we finish. Be that a week or a month or whatever it takes. Today we are having a snow storm so we're already not working. I can't decide it that's a good or a bad thing.

So yesterday on the drive out me and Naomi went to this place called the "Garden of Eden". There was this guy in the 40's I think who made a house out of local rock and then started making huge cement statues to decorate his yard. So there are really tall towers of cement with figures of people and animals all over them. And the guy is in a glass coffin in a building at the back of the house. It wasn't actually open while we were there so we just walked around the outside and took pics of what we could see. But then a man who lives near there came over and was telling us about the place and then he let us into the yard. We didn't get to see the coffin, but we saw more of the statues. There is also a big cement flag really high up that apparently swivels in the wind. Its crazy.

So that was yesterday's excitement. Today we have a snow day and we may be able to work tomorrow and we may not. We shall see.

Lawrence

Well, I left Dallas on Monday for the long drive back to Lawrence :( It was a pretty unspectacular drive except for the last two hours when it got kinda sleety and wet. Then Tuesday morning I had to go to work. I spent a couple of days making the photo log for the pics from Oklahoma. It was pretty boring and almost all of the pics looked the same. Fields with trees. 'Cause Oklahoma is cool like that, having trees and all.

It is cold here in Lawrence. About 30 degrees or so. But it isn't really snowy or anything. So that's good. Office work is boring. We spent many days glueing small pieces of paper to rocks. We also decided to make a wall mural of post its with stupid facts or statements on them. It was a great, colorful, neon colored time. I will post pics of it at some point.

Last night I saw the movie Layer Cake with Daniel Craig. It was okay, but really confusing. And it was supposed to be an action thriller, but there was very little action. So that was disappointing.

Tomorrow some of us are going to see Cloverfield. Hopefully its good and not too scary. I don't want Naomi to be scarred for life after I convinced her to go. I would feel pretty bad.

So next week I guess we're going out to finish the project that I originally came down here for, digging in WaKeeney. Supposedly we'll be done in 10 days, but I'm betting on the ground being frozen so I don't know how we're even going to dig. So here's hoping it works!

Then I may be going to Florida or Louisiana. Woo swamps and alligators!

Dallas

Well, the Dallas trip isn't over yet, but I'm not doing anything right now so I figured I'd write. We got done with work early on Tuesday so I took off and got down here around 5. I was also told that I can have Monday as a full travel day to get back to Lawrence so I have almost an entire week off of work. So that's pretty awesome.

Wednesday we took Leland to the dog park to play with the other dogs. Mostly he just humps all the boy dogs, but there was a lot of running involved. Then we went to half-price books to get coffee and browse. We found really cool leather bound books there, so of course I bought them even though I don't need any more books. I shouldn't be allowed in book stores.

Yesterday I went to the class that Kylie is TAing for. It was an intro arch lecture, but it was fun. Then we hung out on campus and went and got Mediterranian food. That was really good. Then we went to a medical anthropology lecture about privatized healthcare in Puerto Rico. It was really quite interesting.

After that we went out with a bunch of the arch grad students for drinks and dinner. They are an interesting bunch. Today I'm doing laundry and then we're going to late night at the Dallas Museum of Art. So that should be fun. Wee!

Ha HA!

Well, I have giant cuts and scrapes all over me. I look like I've been fighting with a herd of cats. But really I've just been fighting off barbed wire fences and all kinds of viney, spiney plants. Then I fell down on some gravel and cut and bruised my knee. So my legs look awful. It would be embarrassing if it wasn't so cool. So basically I have the best job ever. We wander through the woods and through pastures and rivers and whatever else looking for archaeological sites. If we find anything we take pics and digs some shovel tests to see if there is anything important there. Its really fun except that we get up and going by 6:45am every day. Which is insane. We go to a safety meeting and then hang out for another half hour while logistics of where we're going that day are figured out. Then we spend about an hour driving to try to find where we are actually going to start. I don't really know how they could have done this shit before GPS.

So basically it comes down to you being totally jealous of my job because it is so awesomely cool.

To Oklahoma

Well, we are headed down to Oklahoma on Monday. We are scheduled down there for one 10 day session. We are suppose to get 36 miles done. I don't really know what it is that we are doing though, so I don't know if that's realistic or not :D I guess we're going to dig holes every 30 meters or so. So we'll see how that goes. We'll be in the way south of Oklahoma, so I'll probably go down to Dallas the 4 day after the session and visit Kylie. I suppose that is all for now. It is suppose to be pretty warm in Oklahoma this week, so I'm pretty psyched for that. 50s and 60s. Woo!

Pics

These are the links to the photo albums that I have up on Facebook. You should be able to see them using these links whether you have an account on there or not. They are from about 3 years I think. But they all have captions and my Bolivia and Peru stuff from this summer and last is there. Enjoy!

Fun Stuff
Kansas!
London
Okay, There Really Are Peru Pictures In This One
Bolivia Peru 2007
Ireland
Murder At The Juice Joint
Bolivia 2006
More Bolivia 2006

Okay, these are fixed now. I had the private link up before instead of the public one. Sorry.