My month of construction

Today was the opening of the new Ancient Near East exhibit at the museum. I am so relieved it is done! We had a little opening with some speeches, mingling, and hummus (get it, Near East = hummus). The exhibit really came together well and it was exciting to see people actually reading, using, and enjoying this thing I designed.

I feel like I have been doing a lot of construction work in the last month ... and I'm glad it's not my full time job. For the exhibit, staff and volunteers helped me build some walls and some cases. We mudded and sanded sheetrock, painted, and assembled things. At home, Jeremy and I have been remodeling two of our bathrooms. We combined them into one and completely stripped the interiors so while I was constructing walls at work, I was destroying them at home; kind of a weird feeling. We got this 10% off coupon for Lowe's so we decided to buy everything at once for the bathroom so we could get the most use out of the coupon. It was fun to go through the store and pick out everything, but it took many hours. I was so tired and thirsty when it was over.

Adam, Jeremy's brother stayed with us last week to put up the walls, ceiling, and tile the floor and walls. It looks awesome. I can't wait to use it. The new bathroom will totally trump the bathroom in our bedroom, which used to be the best one.

I'll have to post some pictures when I am at home near my camera.

Ever been to Paris?

I need help from anyone who has ever been to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. I need a picture of the Code of Hammurabi that is in that museum. Apparently, I didn't take a picture when I was there ... or maybe you can't. I do not remember. Anyway, if anyone has a photo I would really like. Fast. I would give you credit and you would be in a famous museum exhibit about the Ancient Near East for many years.

I'm supposed to be writing wedding thank-yous right now. Once I get started, I actually like remembering who came to the wedding and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. It's just getting started that is so hard. I am trying to break it up to an hour or so during the evenings. That helps a bit.

I think I will stall just a little more to mention that I was listening to This American Life podcasts yesterday while removing the vegetation layer from some areas of the lawn I want to landscape. One of the episodes featured DeSmet, SD. How exciting is that? A national program featured a small town in SD. The piece was about Laura Ingalls Wilder living there, the contemporary tourist industry of DeSmet, and the writer's big-city perspective on the small Great Plains town that works together to do big things.

Okay, later folks. I better write some thank-yous. Who knows, it might be yours I'm writing next.

The wedding is over! It was a blast. It was so wonderful to see so many people I love and enjoy all together in one spot. And I got to marry my lover. What a nice day. I do have to say, however that the significance of the situation really hit me the last 30 minutes of the night. I am really married now ... and so is Jeremy. You know, when we met with our photographer, Jeremy Waltner, the week before the wedding he told us that we were the only couple he photographed this summer who had both sets of parents still married. That could have been a bit depressing, but I took it as a good sign that we both came from families that stressed the importance of family and commitment.

I have been in limbo the last week regarding my name change. It's been a pain in the ass, really. You think you are done with all this marriage hoopla ... but you're not. I need to get the official marriage certificate copy from the Turner County Register of Deeds before I change my name at the bank and with my credit cards and for other purposes like insurance. I think I need it to change my drivers license and SS card too. This just all seems like way to much work right now. As Kristine predicted, I'm going to have to take a vacation day just to take care of this crap. My boss has been very eager about the name change so he wrote my last paycheck to Amber Javers, which caused a little issue at the bank ... but not too major, I got the check deposited after I pleaded with the teller, showed her our keepsake-acheivement-award-style-marriage-certificate, and signed both Amber C. Schrag and Amber C. Javers. I'm not sure how that makes it any more official and secure, but it worked.

I missed you

I know I have not posted in a while. My life is good right now, just very busy. Planning for a wedding is kind of like a part-time job. I am excited for it to happen, but I want my free time back. The job is going well, but we have had a lot of events the last few weeks and I have been putting a lot more hours in than I prefer. But tomorrow Robert Ballard - deep sea explorer and discoverer of Titanic is coming to speak at the museum. Should be good times.

The new job is going well, almost two weeks into it. I feel a little overwhelmed and under focused so I need to work on developing some "projects" or tangible exhibit goals I can work on.

I'm used to wearing jeans and t-shirts and work clothes to work so I had to go shopping on Saturday for some office job clothes. That was fun. I think it is tax deductible too! Speaking of taxes, Javers is thrilled to marry me so my comparably lower wage can bring him (us) down into a lower tax bracket and we don't have to pay so much every year. It's comforting to know I am such a valuable asset. Don't be fooled, this is a marriage of convenience, not love.

I don't really know what else to write about right now so here is just what's on my mind right now... I went for a bike ride tonight. I saw some more dead birds. This is probably normal to find on the side of a road so I'm not going to worry about it. During my ride, a nasty storm was brewing to my west and moving my way. I could see it in the distance when I was traveling west, but it looked pretty far away. Then I turned around and started heading east with the storm behind me. Thirty minutes later, when I turned around again, the storm had grown and was now spewing lightning. I raced home with the summer travel episode of the Fresh Air podcast as my theme song and inspiration (hardly inspiring, but I did learn that airfares are cheap this summer and we should all check out yapta.com). As I was nearing the four-way stop 0.5 miles from my house a lady in a minivan stuck her hand out the window and beckoned me. She just wanted to warn me that a terrible storm was coming our way. How nice. I think she was going to offer me a ride, but I told I just lived down the road and was headed home.

Big News

I got a new job! Starting on June 3 I will be working for the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita (MWOT). I will be the Curator of Exhibits and Research. I will be taking over the position vacated by someone else, but the job will change a little and I will be my own department.

The MWOT is a relatively new museum started by a collector in 2001. The staff has been trying to professionalize the museum in the last several years and now participating in the American Association of Museums' (AAM) accreditation process. It sounds like a challenging and exciting job. I will miss doing archaeology, but I enjoyed all the museum work I did before I became an archaeologist. In my new job, I could possibly still go on digs as part of my professional development. I am also looking foward to being with Jeremy again and living in one place.

Also big news is Nick graduating from college. Nice work. I'll miss you. I really mean that.