Tired of the News

I'm really getting tired of watching CNN at the fitness center. Why can't they have the TV on the channel that shows Jeopardy! or the Simpsons or something? CNN and all those other news programs and stations (can't just judge CNN) run the "news" into the ground. I am so done listening about what is going on in Iraq or Iran, the Mexican-US border, and where Anna Nicole is going to be buried. Maybe being too knowledgeable about what is going on in the world is not good for me. I start to overanalyze it all and develop strong opinions based on information that has been filtered through the media. Are my developed opinions really worth keeping or do they just cause me unwanted internal and external conflict? See what this does to me? Yuck. Spring weather should get here as soon as possible so I can start running and biking outside again where there is no CNN.

Sick Again!

Exactly one month ago, I was ill for a week. I got over it and I thought I had paid my cold season dues. Jeremy got very sick starting Saturday night. I tried really hard to be healthy by eating well, getting enough sleep and washing my hands, but it didn't work. I woke up feeling quite under the weather this morning. I was going to rush to town to get some Airborne. Then, while watching a segment on the Today show this morning I learned that this one reporter found Airborne has no conclusive studies behind it and it has way too much "harmful" Vitamin A. Ahhhh ... what to do? All these opinions, studies and lack-of-studies out there with such different objectives and sometimes contradictory information! Well, I think I will stay home for now and eat oranges, consume liquids and rest. When I have to go in later today for some school business maybe I will drive by the pharmacy and make my cold remedy decision then.

How do you spell Puxatawny?

Alright, so it's February. It actually feels like winter here in KS this year. There is snow on the ground (snow snow and not ice snow) and it's cold. I find I use my snow boots a lot more here than I ever did in SoDak. Up north, when it snows or the weatherman even hints at snow, every business and the transportation department of every city and county takes precautionary de-icing methods. Then once it snows, the trucks and plows come out - even if it's 3 am - and do their thing. By the time I need to walk outside to do something the roads, sidewalks and parking lots are cleared. That is not the case in Kansas. Eventually it gets cleared away, but the snow can remain in parking lots and on sidewalks for a few days. They probably just don't have the manpower (as a conscientious anthropologist I should say humanpower) or the budget to get it done right away, but in the end I think more accidents are caused by poorly maintained roads and parking lots.

Another thing I noticed about when it snows in Kansas is that people get excited. This is not a bad thing, but it can cause traffic problems. They want to leave their homes and drive around in their usually unnecessary SUVs and trucks or their snow fearing Ford Festivas. I think I see way more traffic on the highway that runs by our house when it snows than any other time I drive it. The Kansans' "snow excitment" rubbed off on us so one of the days it snowed Javers and I put the new flashy red truck into 4 wheel drive and took it into town to run some errands. Jeremy ended up stopping to push/pull two different cars out of the snow.

I like the snow, though. It makes everything brighter. Some psychology organization should do a study on seasonal depression and see if people affected by it get happier when there is snow on the ground.

What else is going on? Not much. Same ol' same ol'. Last year at this time I had just moved to another state AND moved in with Jeremy AND started a graduate program so I was freaking out. This year I am far less exciting. I'm okay with that.

Oh Malibu

I got my student loan money a week ago and I went on a spending spree. My VISA bill from over Christmas, tuition and books were some of the most costly expenses. I also decided to pay off the rest of my car in one fell swoop since I only had a few months of payments left. Yesterday, I received in the mail the loan papers the bank had and a copy of the title they were holding. Wow, it felt so final and so exciting. Now all I want to do is get a new car. However, while I am still living off student loans and my lover I should probably just keep the Malibu, which, in all honesty, has been surprisingly reliable.

Holy shit, I'm going to miss the Golden Globes tonight! Whatever will I do!?

I have been on bit of a blog hiatus - the excitement of posting temporarily gone with my health. I'm not sure if it was a cold or some other kind of infection, but I have been doing a lot of sitting around and eating hot soup, oatmeal, clementines and cough drops. Today, I think I feel better, which is a good thing because classes start tomorrow.

I was working on my thesis proposal last week until I got sick on Thursday so I will have to finish that in the next couple weeks in order to apply for some grant money. The preliminary reading I am doing to write the proposal has been very interesting and enlightening. It is really getting me excited about going to Belize this summer.

In other news, Javers finally replaced the Taurus. He got a flashy red, but not unecessarily large and obnoxious, Ford F-150. It will actually be nice to have something that can haul bigger items so we don't have to borrow Chris' truck every time we need to go to the hardware store or get some furniture. Last week we actually ran into another friend, Brent, at Home Depot who offered to haul our dog house wood in exchange for some free beer and pizza. The poor Taurus had a slough of problems and it was really time to stop putting money into it. Jeremy told me he was going to trade it in at the dealership, but when he went to clean it out he got all sentimental and couldn't part with it. I think it will end up with someone from his family back in SoDak. Hmmm ... that kind of gift reminds of the problematic Taurus my parents gave me for my college graduation. We all know how quickly that relationship ended (with the Taurus, not my parents).

Tonight, Javers, Chris, Chris' friend and myself are going to our first WSU men's basketball game. Because they were so good last year going to a game is pretty popular now. When I picked up the tickets last week the guy at the counter said we should get there two hours before the game starts or it might be hard to find four seats together that are not way up by the ceiling.

The Last Day My Post Will Be Dated 2006

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! Or, here's the best greeting spelled out in lights I saw this year: Happy Holidays Jesus!! Nope, not Happy Birthday Jesus or just Happy Holidays, but Happy Holidays Jesus. It's the sacred/profane combo meal. Great.

Time to go shopping to get stuff for Belize. It just snowed here in SoDak. last night so thinking about the rainforest might warm me up a bit.

Good Day

I think today is going to be a good day. I just found out Lauren, a friend from my Geo-Marine job in FL last summer, just got rehired by them for a Kansas-Oklahoma pipeline project and will probably be in or near Wichita at some point. How exciting. I hope I'm not in Belize when she comes through.

I am also going to be entertaining people for the first time in the new home. Emily, Jeanette and Erin are coming for lunch on Friday. I think I might make butternut squash soup again and a chicken rice soup. Last time I made butternut squash bisque was a week ago. I only had an hour to do it because I wanted to go to an archaeology society meeting. I thought, "this should be enough time." Well it got down to ten minutes before I needed to leave for the meeting and the soup was just done cooking. I hurriedly poured the boiling hot soup into the blender and pushed "puree." The hot soup made the rubbery blender lid very pliable and it was not sealing well. That combined with the pressure from all the steam pushed the lid off while I was pureeing. The soup did not fly ALL over the room, but some of it got on the counter and my sleeve. Normally, I would have stopped and waited for the soup to cool, but I wanted to eat it before I had to leave so I just kept trying to puree it. Well, the lid flew off a couple more times just adding to the mess. I finally got all the soup pureed and the mess cleaned up, but I didn't have time to eat it or change my shirt. While I was at the meeting, I put my hand on my head and found I had butternut bisque in my hair. Mmm ... snack for later. Now I have learned my lesson and I want to try this again so I can get it right.

The other exciting thing about today is that I am meeting Jeremy for lunch at this hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant in Colwich. Jeremy raves about this place all the time. Okay, Colwich is really small and it is hard to believe they have a Chinese restaurant, especially a good one. We tried to go together two other times, but it was closed both times. Hopefully it will be open today. General Tso, get yo chicken ready, here I come.

I Made the News ... but you have to look pretty hard

I have one exam left and then I am done for the semester. I still have some things to take care of for my job, but the stress of school will be in remission for a month after my test tonight. Yippy skippy. Perhaps I will take tomorrow off and just sit around all day watching tv.

As part of my job, I am a member of the Wichita Historic Preservation Board. We meet once a month and most of the time we just approve or deny things like electric signs in historic districts, renovations for historic buildings, and nominations to the National Register of Historic "Things" (i.e. buildings, monuments, places, districts etc.). Well, lately the meetings have gotten a lot more heated on account of the new arena and the county's proposed demolition of buildings in the arena's footprint. There were news reporters at the last meeting and I found myslef on tv. You can see it at www.kwch.com. The clip is called "Historic Buildings" and it aired Dec. 11. I am wearing a blue/green/yellow/pink striped sweater. I tried linking directly to the clip, but it kept linking to the film clip trouble shooting page instead. Apparently I'm not knowledgeable enough to link the clip and I don't have time to figure it out right now considering I really need to study for my exam tonight.

Amateur Meterologist?

Apparently Jennifer Scriven (another anthro. student) is an amateur meterologist. That is what she told me. Is there some sort of association or organization for these people? Anyway, she just came running into my office to tell me that there is going to be an ice storm tomorrow afternoon and Thursday. She went into details about layers of the atmosphere and suggested I stock up on groceries because it could be a whole day before I get to a store. I hope I can go 24 hours without a trip to the grocery store. What if I run out of sqaush!!!!

But seriously, Jennifer if you ever read this, I'm glad you have passion for the weather. You never know, your warning might have just saved my life or at least made planning my week easier. Thanks.

Thanksgiving

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was eventful, but relaxing. We took Emma, our new dog, home because Jeremy wanted to take her hunting and show her off to his family. I'm not even going to lie, I was annoyed that we had to take the smelly puppy in the car with us and I might have said some mean things to her and Javers about it. I usually think it's silly when people take their pets on road trips. But it ended up working out fine. The ride made her sleepy so she just laid around almost the whole time. I fed her too many treats toward the end of the ride on the way up and five minutes before we got to Reed and Sue's she barfed. Then she ate the barf. Yum. Actually, it was kind of nice because we didn't really need to clean it up.

It was good to see some of those folks I don't run into very often. This is going to sound cliche, but Polly's son, Sam, is getting so big. He was running around pounding on things and throwing puzzle pieces on the ground. I thought it was cute, but I got to leave after a couple hours. I'm sure I would be slightly less amused if I lived with him 24/7. I have a recent picture of him on my fridge. If you visit me you can check it out.

While I was eating and chatting with relatives and friends over the week and weekend I realized I should put some pictures of the house on the ol' blog. When the semester and stress wanes I'm going to do that.

qwerty

Last week, I was at the Plains Anthropology Conference in Topeka. Most of the sessions I went to were really interesting and I got to hook up with some archaeologists from SoDak. so that was exciting. I also presented a paper at the conference about an archaeological site in the Texas Panhandle with an extraordinary amount of skeletal material all in one 6m x 6m room including a mysterious pile of ten skulls near the hearth. Sounds like something from an Indiana Jones movie, eh? While the biological anthro. students analyzed the skeletal material, Ingrid and I presented on the archaeological background of the site. One of the guys we cited extensively, Christopher Lintz, was in the audience. Afterword, I was introduced to him and he told me of some other sources we could investigate that might aid our research. It was really neat to meet Lintz.

Last night I went to an Alice in Chains concert here in Wichita. Good times and no one in my party lost clothing, got mauled, beat up or arrested and that's always nice.

You probably heard - Thanksgiving is coming up next week. I am so ready for a break. (Ha, I'm always ready for a break.) I am so ready for turkey and pumpkin pie too. Speaking of pumpkin pie, make sure y'all head to your local DQ for a delicious pumpkin pie Blizzard.

p.s. Thanks John and Sara for the pear salt shaker and pepper grinder. It is my first pepper grinder and it makes me feel like I have really stepped up in the world of cooking now that I have one. I'm currently trying to convince Jeremy we need to take a short vacation to Tampa this winter.

Protein Packed

Jeremy woke up before me yesterday morning and offered to make me breakfast. It was such a nice gesture, but I had to laugh becuase I was trying to sleep and he kept waking me up to ask questions like "do you want coffee?" and "do you want eggs?" and "how do you want your eggs done?" Then he woke me up one final time to tell me my plate was on the kitchen counter wrapped in aluminum foil. When I finally got up and pulled off the aluminum foil I saw that he had made me two eggs over-easy and a huge pork chop. It was like supper for breakfast. Ha, I think I got my supply of protein for the day in that meal. It was really good, though. The man knows how to work a coffee pot and use an iron skillet.

My Life as a List

I have lapsed in my postings. Ah, such is the life of someone who is too busy to have a life. I don't even take time to feed the cat that came with the new property, but he/she is not friendly at all. I figure I'll start feeding it when I can get something out of the relationship too. Now, I know that is not how one works with animals, but I frankly, I don't give a damn.

So, what's new? (I'm resorting to list format to save time)

-The temperature has remained relatively normal in my office so that's pretty exciting.
-Jeremy's brother and two of his friends spent two weeks with us shingling the roof and putting in tile flooring in the kitchen and a bathroom. It looks good. Y'all should come out and visit us and look at it. Remember, I have a really plush towel you can use when you shower.
-I spoke to a group of 8th graders and their parents about archaeology. It was a tough crowd because I had to be interesting to youngsters and older adults. After my presentation the kids showed me what they were working on in the archaeology unit at school. It was really cool, they made up "cultures" then constructed "sites" in Rubbermaid tubs and had to excavate and interpret what they dug up. What a great idea.
-Jeremy bought a dog. Emma is a red lab approx. 13 weeks old. She is pheasant hunting with him today, but I doubt she is being very helpful. When I was gone last week he said he sometimes accidentally called the dog "Amber." Uh, that's freaky.
-I went to a museum conference in Hays, KS last week for a couple days. It was very informative - I wish I could have gone to these conferences when I actually worked at a museum.
-This coming week I have another conference. This one is the Plains Anthropological Conference in Topeka, KS. I am actually presenting a paper which will be a good experience and look wonderful on my resume but preparing for it is kicking my ass. I can't wait until I get paid to do this kind of stuff. I hope I get paid to do this someday!
-Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm pretty pumped for a break. Hopefully, I can get all my work done ahead of schedule (don't laugh!) so I can actually appreciate a break from work and school.
-Speaking of lists, I really need to go grocery shopping. We don't have much selection of food at home right now. I found a can of Cream of Mushroom condensed soup in a cupboard and made some for supper last night. Yuck, that stuff is better in caseroles than by itself. I decided to have cereal instead. Maybe I'll have popcorn and canned black beans for lunch.

I am Working on Mars

Remember how yesterday it was so cold in my office. Well, I complained and boy did it get fixed. Yesterday afternoon the room temperature started climbing. By 9 pm it was 82 degrees in here and I even had my door open. When I came in this morning it was 87 degrees. Why these extremes!? The maintenance guy came again today and I think he fixed it. The temperature has been slowly dropping. This building is crazy. You can't even open any of the windows. I think it might be bullet proof.

Hot Chicken Curry in a Cold Office

The title of this post pretty much says it. Right now I'm eating my hot chicken curry (mmm...) lunch in my really cold office. It was 58 degrees in this room when I got here this morning. My nose started running so I hung out in the library instead. I came back for lunch and the temp. is up to 65 degress. Supposedly there is a work order out so someone should be coming to fix the problem, whatever it is.

This whole thing reminds me of when I worked at the Pettigrew Home & Museum last winter. The heating budget had already been exhausted the winter/spring before so in order to save money the temperature had to be kept around 65 degreees. That doesn't sound too bad, but when most of my time was spent sitting at a desk, not moving around, I got really cold. I used an electric blanket and wore gloves. Brrrrr....

No TV!

So I have been living in the new house since last Friday. There are boxes all over (empty and full) and some cleaning that still needs to be done. We don't have TV or Internet yet. I didn't think I watched that much TV, but it feels really lonely and quiet without it. It's like I'm Amish. No, not really because I'm using electricity in all kinds of other ways and I did rent some movies because the DVD player is hooked up. The radio also works so I guess I'm not really Amish at all. Ha, nice try Amber.

I feel really displaced too. It takes me a long time to get used to and be completely comfortable in new places. Just when the Maize Ct. apartment was illiciting that "homey" feeling I get up leave it. You know what I'm talking about, when you get home after a long day and have that sigh of relief when you walk in the door of your home? Yeah, I don't have that at the new digs now, but I'm sure I will get there.

I Had a Hunkerin' for a Donut

Mmmm ... I just had a delicious raspberry filled donut for breakfast. I figured I needed some heavy and sugary brain food because I'm about to start writing a paper. But before I go wash off my sticky fingers I thought I'd do a little blog postin'.

We are closing on the new house tomorrow at 3:30 pm and we have to be out of the apartment by this Monday so it is going to be a crazy couple of days. Apparently, someone is waiting to move into our apartment so Jeremy opted to move out early to save $400 on rent (how nice of him NOT to consult with me). I have a paper due today and a test on Monday, plus Reed and Sue are coming this weekend for Fall Fest activites at Bethel. I told Javers I probably cannot help move at this point. I really do hate moving, but I still feel guilty I won't be able to help. He got some football player friends to help load and unload the moving truck on Friday so at least Jeremy's not moving furniture all by himself.

Kellie, I wanted to tell you I saw a Race for the Cure (fundraising event for breast cancer research) in Wichita. It happened this weekend and I signed up for the 5K. I actually ended up getting third place in my age category (25-30) out of 45 or so people. That's pretty cool - I didn't realize I was so speedy. Plus they had a bunch of booths there giving away free things like bananas, lotion, scarves, Starbuck's coffee, etc. It was like the fair!

A Friday Afternoon Excursion

India asked me to go with her to get her tongue pierced. She wanted someone there to make sure she didn't back out of it. It was interesting to watch, but I decided not something I would like to do to my own tongue. She kept trying to talk on the way home, but it was all muffled and I had trouble understanding. Ha.

But the most exciting thing happened while I was at the piercing shop. I was looking at a Simpsons calendar they had with odds and ends written on almost every day - kind of reminded me of the mod calendar. Anway, I noticed that today is the Tri-State Band Festival in Luverne, MN. "Dawn is from Luverne!" I exclaimed aloud in the shop. So are you planning to go, Dawn? If I was still in Sioux Falls I would totally go.

Taos, NM

Last week was eventful for me. After the house purchasing went down on Monday, I rode with my museum class instructor to Taos, New Mexico for the 2006 Mountain-Plains Museum Conference. I had a wonderful time.

Previously, I had only been through the four-corners area of New Mexico so it was nice to see some more of the state (northeast and north central). It was much more mountainous and less desert-like than I thought it would be - very beautiful. I kept saying "wow, this is so pretty" on the way to Taos, I hope I didn't annoy Jerry. He goes to the Santa Fe Taos area at least once a year so it was all old hat for him.

The information at the conference was great. I love all that exchange of knowledge, it really gets one excited about the museum field. Going to the conference gave me two other opportunities. I got to see an old coworker, April Woodside, and her husband, Matt. We went out for drinks one night and it was nice to catch up with them. At the end of the week Sarah drove up to Taos and we spent Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon together. I had such a blast with you, Sarah. I am glad you made it back alive considering all the night driving you probably ended up doing.

Sarah drove me to Trinidad, CO so I could pick up an Amtrak train back to Newton, KS. Waiting for the train was an experience because the station was unstaffed and the lounge area door locked so I had to wait outside in the gravel parking lot right next to a permanently closed Pizza Hut and some other abandoned buildings. But the weather was nice and I had an anthropological theory tome to read. Closer to the train arrival time I heard some keys jingling around the corner. I looked over and this lady was unlocking the lounge. She said some crazy guy keeps hanging around the station locking the door. She gave me a description and 50 cents for the pay phone and told me to call her if I saw him. She would bring the cops. Obviously, that scared me. I couldn't believe I was just waiting outside for the train with this creepy guy hanging around. Good thing the train came 5 minutes later.

When I got to Newton, I completely missed Jeremy (and he missed me) waiting for me at the station. I walked three or four blocks to Nick's house, ate part of a terrible hot dog in his fridge (I gave the rest to the dog), and was just getting into bed when Javers walks into the room. For the second time that night I got a little freaked out, but it was nice that he came so I could go home. I also want to mention that I believe the bite of hot dog I had gave me food poisoning. My stmoach and intestines were not at their best Sunday. Nick, DON'T EAT THE HOT DOGS and I hope that minature Collie didn't get sick, too.

The End of an Era

Our house hunting has come to an end. Jeremy bought an acrage about six miles north of Wichita. It's really exciting, but I don't exactly feel mature enough for this whole home owner thing. I am not looking foward to actually moving so for anyone around Wichita in the next month you are more than welcome to help us. Don't feel bad if you do not want to help. Honestly, I hate moving and probably would never help you move.

Last week when I was in Taos, NM for a museum conference I made an important purchase for the house - art. Woah, big step. I bought two micaceous clay pots, which I believe will beautifully compliment all the wood paneling in our 1955 ranch-style farmhouse.

Squirrely

I think the squirrels on the WSU campus have become way too acculturated. One little bugger actually ran toward me on my walk from the parking lot to Neff Hall. Maybe it had rabies or something.

Hey, anyone associated with my time in Keystone, remember Squirrel? Ha.

Deep Fat Fried Fat

I did go to the State Fair Sunday, but no Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ern, I did not see your parents, but I'm sure they were rockin' out. We weren't at the fair long so all we did was search for the best junk food, look at a few exhibits, and view the large butter sculpture of a girl riding a horse getting stung by bees. As far as the food goes, I thought the fried green tomatoes were the best. A young girl was taking a bite out of a deep fat fried Snickers bar as I was waiting for my fried pickles. I wonder what that tasted like.

On Saturday and Sunday Jeremy and I drove around looking at houses. We visited around twelve on Saturday. By Sunday we had narrowed the list down to four and a realtor took us inside those. We found one we kind of like, but this is a hard decision. Nothing really jumped out at us as a "dream" property. Oh, except the one that was $350,000. Yeah, that was nice, but definitely out of the budget.

House Hunting

I think Jeremy and I might go look at some houses this afternoon. It is very weird to think I might be at that point in my life when I go house hunting. We have some different opinions about what makes a house "nice" so this could get interesting. Wish us luck.

Whoa, What Happened?

I decided to change my blog template for now. Mix it up a little. It's orange and reminds of fall and pumpkin pies. Yummy.

Weekend Excitement

I am pumped it's Friday. This weekend begins the Kansas State Fair and I'm hoping to eat a corn dog and maybe some deep fat fried Oreo's. Amidst all the country music concerts is Lynyrd Skynyrd this Sunday night. I should say what is left of Lynyrd Skynyrd. I'm not sure there are any original band members - probably just original groupies. Javers and I might attend.

I think the last time I went to the KS State Fair was with Jeanette, Sarah, and Rachael when we lived in 9C. Good times. The last time I went to the SD State Fair was with Rob. I love this story so you might have already heard it. He wanted to see the Martina McBride / Gretchen Wilson concert and didn't want to go by himself. I consented conditionally - we had to go early to walk around, get free junk, and hit the rides. That was good times too, but it rained while McBride was singing and the electrical equipment started to smell like it was burning so they cut the concert short. We were drenched and the line for the men's restroom was too long so Rob just pissed himself right there in front of the stage. He said he was all wet anyway so it didn't matter. Um, okay. At least we drove back in his car. Oh Rob, bless your soul. I hope you are doing alright.

Last weekend was Labor Day. I thought it would be un-American not to spend time outside grilling and eating. Javers, Chris (Jeremy's friend who moved down here this summer to work at ICM) and I went to Sedgwick County Park. When we got to the park it was very crowded. We drove around for a few minutes and then spotted a recently vacated grill and picnic table combo. Javers jumped out to save the spot while I turned the car around to park. Ever since I bought that tiny charcoal grill from Sarah last spring, Jeremy has developed a keen interest in grilling. We made way too much food, thoroughly stuffed ourselves and then tried to throw a Frisbee around without getting sick. Someone from our group remarked we looked like we were in the Special Olympics.

Something From Me, Something From Sarah

Things are pretty standard here. My disposition this semester is much better so far. I'm working on my time management skills (i.e. posting on blog when I should be reading anthropological/archaeological theoretical tomes) so I am hoping to not get as stressed out as last semester. Quiting my job with mentally and behaviorally troubled children might be helping me too. It is also beneficial to be familiar with most of my professors and their expectations this time around.

Javers and I just added a washing machine and dryer to the apartment. Freedom from quarter hording and lugging around my laundry basket and soap is relieving. The washer even has a "handwash" setting so I don't have to wash my wool sweaters and silk long underwear by hand anymore. I think Javers might be even more exicted than me. Evey night he's home he washes something. Last night's load was one blanket and one pair of my socks. Wonderful.

Now, I just wanted to share part of an email I got from Sarah Shorthill today. Those of you she sent it to have probably already read it, but I thought anyone connected with Freeman and Schmeckfest in any way would be interested. Reed, I had no idea you were a TV star.

... watching a program on PBS called "America's Heartland." I don't know if anyone else's PBS affiliate carries this, but it's a neat little show. There was a story about Basque sheepherders who imigrated to Arizona and California but REALLY maintained their Basque culture (right down to the language), followed by a segment about growing lettuce. It was surprisingly interesting. Gave some history and whatnot. Not thrilling, you understand, but ok. The final piece, however, was filmed in a small SD town and told all about the heritage behind...

SCHMECKFEST!!! I saw the water tower that said "Freeman" on it, and I yelled out "SCHMECKFEST!! IT'S ON TV!" Luke hollers back (from the bathroom) "what?" thinking that I'm just having a crisis with a large spider or something. It took a couple more "schmeckfest" yells from me to get him into the living room, and we watched a great 10 minutes about the event. Some Ortman family was featured at first, is there a Linda Ortman who has two kids? Anyway, she showed how to make fruit pockets, LeRoy Graber showed how to weave baskets, they did a spiel on the dinner, and then who should they feature but Reed Schrag espousing the finer details of making sausage. Including this little nugget of wisdom: "You can't call it Freeman sausage unless it's made in Freeman". The year they filmed this was the year they did "Guys and Dolls". I really think I saw Nicker in the chorus of guys rolling dice. Ber, can you corroborate this? Tim Waltner was the featured interview of the piece, and I don't know him, but it was a lot of fun scanning the shots of the dinner and people milling around the museum to see if I recognized anyone there. My favorite moment: the dude in the kitchen showing how they make fried potatos, saying "It's just potatos, salt, and lard" and looking at the camera like "duh, dumbass."

Checking Out the New Office

Actually, it began last Thursday, but I didn't have any classes until today. Right now I'm hanging out in my new office (the City Archaeologist office) blogging from the computer in here. It's going to be really nice to have my own space here at school so I don't have to hang out in the library and carry around all my shit with me all the time. For example, I am thinking about going to Blimpie's to get a sandwich for lunch. Now I can leave my book bag, umbrella and a very full bookstore shopping bag in the office and just take my wallet over there. Okay, most of you are probably thinking, that's really not a big deal, but carrying all that shit around last year annoyed me so I am going to get excited about it while I can.

Now, to Blimpie's ...

Day O' Pampering

After a summer of hard work in Florida and lots of hiking and carting around a backpack in Yellowstone and the OTO Ranch in Montana, I figured I deserved a little pampering. The whole idea was planted in my head when I walked by a nail salon in Sebring Florida about a month ago. A salon employee looked my way and gave me a nod. I smiled and nodded back. Then I noticed her eyes shoot down to my hands (expected since she is a manicurist). She did a double take and her eyes got big when she noticed how dirt encrusted my fingernails and hands were. I thought "okay, lady, when I get done being dirty this summer I'm going to do something to make my hands pretty." And that's basically what I did today.

While Jeremy was taking his class at the School of Mines, I went to a salon and had a manicure, pedicure, eyebrow wax and an hour massage. It's not something I will probably do very often because it was kind of expensive, but it was fun (minus the waxing) and the massage was super relaxing. Ahhhhh ...

p.s. Jazz, I liked your idea/comment about Baba Wawa and a drug test. I'm not even going to lie, it made me chuckle out loud.

7.27.06 Musings

Well, I'm back in Wichita. It feels nice to be home and now that I've gotten settled in the microfiber living room furniture I'm getting less exited about heading to Yellowstone on Saturday. At least I don't have to drive and maybe I can read one of the new books I got at Haslam's in Tampa, which, by the way, was a uber neat book store John and Sara introduced me to.

I should probably give a shout out to Uncle John and Aunt Sara, who were very hospitable to me while I visited them in Tampa. Sometimes when you visit people it's not always relaxing. I mean, you have a good time, but you never get fully comfortable. I am happy to say that was NOT a problem. John and Sara, I really enjoyed the two weekends we spent together.

Now for a shout out to Kristine (Hi). Last weekend, Kristine and I finally coordinated our days off - I actually didn't have the day off, but that's a long boring story - for a trip to Sanibel Island. (Here's a link for the motel where we stayed.) We had planned to do a lot of outside things like biking, canoeing, shelling, etc. while there so when it was raining Saturday morning I wondered if our plans would be thwarted. Kristine and I made it an adventure anyway. After breakfast we thought the rain had let up (and it had for about ten minutes) so we decided to go for a bike ride through a nature preserve and around the island. It was a warm rain so it didn't really bother us, but then the light rain turned into a major lightning and thunder storm so we booked it to a restaurant to get inside. After ringing out our clothes in a bathroom sink, we had a nice lunch. I ate the best Key Lime pie ever there. Seriously, ever. It had this awesome topping with raisens and dried cherries in some sort of cream cheese or stiff custard. Wow. Later the rain really did let up and we did some shelling on the beach. While on the beach I came down with a case of shell toe and Kristine was striken with foam foot (pictures to follow in some subsequent posting when I get the desire to download them off my camera).

Now, my work in Florida is officially over. Brandi said to give her a call if I ever needed a job again. Who knows if I will, but it's still comforting. As usual, the end was bittersweet. I'm glad to be back, but I certainly made friends I will miss. Who knows, the world of archaeologists is kind of like the world of Mennonites. I just might run into some of these people again on some other project or at a conference.

Speaking of Mennonites, did anyone else realize the Tour de France winner Landis is/was Mennonite? Crazy. Here's an article I read about his family and hometown, if anyone else missed it in the news. Here's another one that was in the Mennonite Weeklyhttp://www.mennoweekly.org/.

Finally, for those following the Aviators (Jeremy's football team) there is some drama and the championship game has been cancelled. He's kind of bummed about it. Here are two links for info in the Wichita Eagle [1] [2].

Right-o. I am almost positive I won't have Internet access in Yellowstone so I hope y'all enjoy the next two weeks of your lives and I will post when I return.

Caught in a Storm

Earlier today I noticed how full my pockets were while I was biking. I stopped at a bike shop to purchase a pouch that I can put stuff in. The guy who helped me wasn't very knowledgeable, but whatever, I got what I needed and headed to the Hammock State Park to ride the trail.

I started to notice the sky was getting cloudy and dark so I headed back early from the park and stopped at a health store to get some multi-vitamins. While I was in the store it started to really pour. There was lightning and roaring thunder. The lady in the store practically forced me to stay in the store and not try to head home. I waited about 40 minutes in and outside the health store and chatted with the clerk. Finally, the rain let up a little, but there was still periodic lightning. The store clerk still didn't want me to go home. She told me she was going to call her son, who works at a nearby bike shop, to see if he could take me back to the Kenilworth Lodge. Ha, ha. So it turns out the kid who sold me the bike pouch was the son of the health store clerk. That's crazy. He said business was slow today so he came to pick me and my bike up.

We had a nice little chat on the way to the motel. He told me he didn't really like selling things in the store and his specialty was fixing bikes. Basically, he was apologizing for not helping me much with the pouch. I told him I didn't like selling things either so I understood. He also told me his mom is always volunteering him to do stuff, but he doesn't mind. Last time his mom volunteered him to do something it was pumping gas for an elderly lady at a gas station. It was wonderful to run into such a nice family today.

My Lover is a Superstar

There's an article in the Wichita Eagle about Jeremy. Some of it is a bit cheesy ("cheesy mega" as Polly would say), but it's still really neat. I have not seen the actual article in print where, apparently, there is a picture of Javers in a lab coat holding a biology book and a football helmet or something (tee hee). Now y'all can say you know someone famous, even if it's only for fifteen minutes.

More Photos from FL

Paul, Dave, Lauren, some random golfer who claimed to know a bowler who went to Wichita State University, Dustin.

Quinn chopping up some garlic for a cookout.

Lauren at Vero Beach. Notice her right hand is blurry because she was moving it very quickly to cover her face. Yeah, Lauren, I finally got a decent picture.

This lizard was hanging out below a table at the motel pool. These lizards are all over the place down here. In fact, this is the kind of lizard that jumped out of the toilet paper dispenser onto my hand.

Quinn, me and Dustin with 40s. Mmmmm, nothing says lovin' like 40 ounces of $1.49 malt liquor.

Dustin trying to cover up after getting sunburned at Vero Beach.

Lizard Encounter

I was in the bathroom of a motel in Vero Beach on Saturday. When I reached for the toilet paper a lizard came shooting out of the dispenser and onto my hand and arm and then the floor. I wasn't expecting that to happen so it kind of freaked me out.

myspace.com

Okay already, I got a myspace account. You can view my profile at www.myspace.com/ambercschrag. I don't know how much I will keep up with it, but at least India, Brian and Brent can stop bugging me about having an account.

Florida Photos

Here are some photos I have taken here in FL:

Kat opening up a card on her birthday.

Lauren and Dustin (my coworkers) at the pig roast party in Athens, Georgia.

My room at the Kenilworth Lodge.




The roasted pig in GA.




Dave and Mike (coworkers) at Kat's birthday party.

The Weekend

On Saturday four of my coworkers and I attempted to witness the Discovery Shuttle Launch at Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately, the launch was cancelled about ten minutes before it was scheduled to happen. We then drove (very very very slowly due to all the traffic) to Cocoa Beach to get a motel room so we could at least enjoy the beach the next day, but they were all sold out. So we just went home. Oh well, the whole day was certainly an adventure.

On Sunday we went to Vero Beach. The ocean water was nice and warm, but it drizzled off and one during the day so it wasn't very fun to lie or walk around the beach. After we were done swimming we ate at a restaurant right on the beach. I have been trying to eat different kinds of fish while down here in Florida. Yesterday I had a Mahi Mahi sandwich. It was yummy yummy. I have also crossed Swordfish and Grouper off my list.

About a week ago a was in the elevator at the motel and I smelled old fried food. I looked around and found an onion ring in the corner. I'm not sure why, but that really cracked me up. Somebody lost a smelly onion ring in the elevator.

I Finally Found Something

So Athens, Georgia was a good time last weekend. The roasted pig was delicious and so was the Georgia peach pie. I met someone who took and anthropology class with my second cousin. That was crazy. It was also cool to meet some of the archaeologists at the Museum of Natural History in New York where two of my coworkers interned. Now when they talk about those people I can picture them in my head.

Last weekend was Ath Fest (or Athfest?) in Athens so they had a bunch of live music at night. A couple of us from the party wandered over there shortly after midnight. I was talking to a guy about how I thought the bands we were listening to were pretty good. He said Athens had a good music scene and was really pumped that I, an outsider, was showing interest. He said he would burn me some CDs of local bands and send them to me. He was drunk at the time, however, so I'm not sure if he'll remember to do it.

Today it was back to digging shovel tests. At the end of the day I found my first artifact this summer. It was a flake 40 - 50 cm below the surface. For anyone who doesn't know, a flake is a piece of rock that gets chipped off while making stone tools. Sometimes flakes are even used as tools. At first I was bummed because my find means we have to dig six extra holes around the positive shovel test pit (a.k.a. STP - does that make anyone else think of Stone Temple Pilots?). Then I got excited because I remembered the reason I took this job and the reason I am in archaeology - so I can find artifacts that shed light on the past. One tends to forget this when you dig too many holes without finding anything but sand and palmetto roots.

Update from Florida

Something I am putting on my skin is taking the paint off my watch. I'm thinking it's the sunblock. Weird. I wonder if this has ever happend to anyone else.

Two of my coworkers, Quinn and Lauren, have written a horror film script with the all the crew members as characters in the story. I have not read the final draft, but I hear I am one of the killers. The other killer is Dave, who is a crew chief. Apparently we want to steal everyone's per diem so we can go to Reno, NV to get married. For those of you that know my love of pears (hmmm ... that's probably everyone), in one scene I give one crew member, Mika, a poisonous pear. Thrilling. They talked about trying to sell it to a production company so look for a horror film about archaeologists in the future.

Tomorrow marks the seventh day of work for me this week. My wrists and forearms are really starting to hurt. Advil has become a good friend. This weekend I might head to Georgia with Lauren and Quinn. They are driving eight hours just to go to a party in Athens on Saturday night with some people from the Museum on Natural History in NYC. An eight hour road trip just for a party - sounds like fun to me.

Tonight, we are celebrating Kat's birthday (another crew member who can't stop talking about sex - a little shocking at first, but now I'm used to it). The motel is letting us use their grill by the pool so we will have a cookout. I'm pretty pumped about a hot dog right about now.

Avon Park

This place where I am working, Avon Park, is a bizarre juxtaposition of federal land use. Most of it is an airforce bombing range, but there are quite a few other things going on here. Some land is devoted to a wildlife refuge/conservation area. Other tracts here and there are rented out to cattle farmers as grazing land. When you first get past the entry gate there is a park area with campsites and lake access. Right after the camping area lies the juvenile detention facility on the north side of the road and the adult correctional facility to the south. I'm not so sure all those things logically go together or belong in the same place. It's kind of like the goverment had an all purpose chunk of land in the middle of Florida where it's hot and not very scenic (except by the lake) and they decided to use it in as many ways as possible.

Yesterday, during a downpour over lunch, we visited the juvenile delinquent staffed bowling alley / cafeteria. Most of us got our lunch there. It was actually pretty good and they even had a fresh salad bar.

Today and tomorrow have become our weekend because some bombing exercises prohibit us working on the range. It is nice to have a couple days off, but to make up for it we are working seven days in a row next week. Yummy.

Another Rain Day

The effects of Alberto have been moving over Sebring and Avon Park. It's really not that bad, just light to heavy rain off and on. Yesterday we quit work at noon because it started raining too much. Today we went out there and waited in the trucks for a while. Then we tried to find our next project area. We went down a road called "Blood Trail" and ended up in a place titled "Tick Island." Yep, those names sound appetizing. We spent the whole time in the trucks and in an administration office break room then came home after noon again. I wonder how much of the summer will be like this. I like the time off, but I'm getting used to not working. Going back to digging holes in the hot sun could be painful.

Javers' Fed-ex buddy probably sent my bike yesterday so hopefully I will get that soon. How exciting.

Gatorade

I found out yesterday that Gatorade was invented in Florida. I'm glad because I drank it on Friday and today and I think it really helped my energy level (or maybe I just tricked myself into thinking I had more energy).

This job is crazy. All day I dig a holes with a shovel. When I accepted this job I thought I was going to be more pedestrian survey, which is mostly walking. This is mostly digging holes and a little walking. Usually, I'm by myself working on a transect - a line of holes to be dug - so I'm really glad I bought an mp3 player before I came. The first couple days I didn't bring my mp3 player out in the field and when I spend that much time by myself doing manual labor all kinds of crazy thoughts go through my head. The music is certainly a nice distraction. Most of the mp3s are off Javers' computer so I'm listening to a lot of 311 right now. I'm also liking his Weezer and Linkin Park/Jay-Z collections. Has anybody heard of Heather Nova? She is also good times. Listening to all his music kinda makes me miss ol' Jeremy too.

Last weekend I rode Amtrak to Tampa to see Uncle John and Aunt Sara. On Saturday we went to an aquarium and a strange, but amazing, exhibit at a science center called "Bodies." Whoever made the exhibit took real human bodies, soaked them in acetone then used a vacuum to replace cellular material with silicone rubber. At some point during the process the bodies were sliced various ways or divided up to expose the different bodily systems (i.e. muscular, nervous, endocrine, etc.). One of the most interesting for me was the circulatory system. They took away all the bones, muscles, organs and nerves. All that was left was the mass of fluffy red vessels in the shape of a whole person and specific parts of the body. Crazy.

On Sunday John and Sara drove me back to Sebring via a college campus with some neat Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and the Bok Conservatory, which has nice gardens and a big tower that plays songs on bells. I'm glad I have some time on the weekends to take in the local sights down here. Next weekend I think I might rent a car and do something with some of the other crew members. Does anyone have suggestions?

Off to Florida

I finished the pre-session course I took on Friday. It was all about biological anthropology which studies human/primate variation today and in the past (a.k.a. human evolution). We spent quite a bit of time in class looking at skulls - skulls of modern humans and great apes and skulls of early hominids - and learning the differences between features. Yesterday afternoon, as I on a plane to Memphis, I kept looking out the window and seeing the skulls of Homo erectus and Australopithicus and gorillas in the clouds. Who would have guessed that class would have such an impact? I think I should tell Dr. Moore-Jansen about it when I get back to score some brownie points ... or maybe they would just be nerd points.


What is my problem with packing sharp objects in my carry-on luggage? Does anyone besides Joe Dick remember when I tried to pass a few large J.A. Henckels kitchen knives through security in Frankfurt, Germany. Yep, the language barrier didn't help the situation either. This time I tried to bring my 10 in. metal file (for filing shovels and trowels, not nails) on board. I must have looked innocent because the lady told me with great regret she would have to keep it at the airport. Oh, well.


Now I am here in Lakeview, FL or Avon Park, or whatever the name of this town is. The motel is pretty cool, it's old and the rooms have neat little closets and old-school sinks. There's lots of good woodwork too. We just had an orientation meeting so I met the other people I will be working with. Apparently, we have to dig at least eighteen circular shovel test pits a day (spaced according to the field supervisor) that are 1 m deep and 50 cm in diamter. Sounds like a lot of work to me. At least the soil is sandy.

New Job

I just got a call this morning from Brandi Carrier Jones from Geo-Marine in Virginia about a job. Originally, I was in contact with her about working in Kansas, but she called to say that job has been put on hold and she could really use help in Florida. I guess this means I will be spending the next two months there. Tonight I have to find a flight to Orlando that leaves on Sunday evening. It's amazing how fast this all happened, but I think I really need to do it because it will be a great learning experience and help me with the rest of school and finding jobs in the future.

Apparently, we are staying in this really nice hotel that has a business center with computers and Internet so I should be able to keep y'all posted. Wish me luck!

Photos

Here's some photos India took at the drag show ...

Grilling

I just bought a small charcoal grill from Sarah for $2 and Javers and I are trying it out tonight. They even had lighter fluid and charcoal on sale at our local Dillons grocery store. (We actually have three "local" Dillons - it's crazy how every mile intersection out here on the west side of Wichita seems to have a Dillons, Walgreens, bank and gas station.) It's like Dillons just knew I needed grilling supplies ... trippy.

Some marinated chicken is on the barbie as we speak. I made an asparagus dish too so it should be good eats tonight.

Well, I am finally done working at MHA. All I have left to do is complete some final paperwork tomorrow morning. Ahhh, I have this great sense of freedom and relief knowing I don't have to do that again. The next two weeks I will be taking my presession class and then who knows what I will be up to after that.

This morning, I bought two books from the bargain rack outside Borders that looked interesting. Has anyone read or heard of The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst and A Separate Peace by John Knowles? New uneducational books are so exciting.

A Sigh of Relief

Exciting news: I just finished my last requirement of the semester. It was a take-home final that was supposed to answer the question "what happened to the Paleo-Indians, when and why?" I thought it would be no sweat because it was only supposed to be three to five pages long. As I was researching and writing I began to realize it was going to be hard to synthesize all the information in a concise three to five page essay. The whole thing probably took longer than studying for a final test. Well, whatever, it's done.

Now I have a week off ... except I should really read the textbook for my summer presession class. Hmmm ... they just opened the pool and hot tub here at Huntington Park/Palace/Estates/Whatever this week so maybe I'll just sit by the pool and read fun stuff instead. Very tempting.

Later today I am traveling home to SoDak. with Nick, who is moving some stuff back and maybe doing some job searching. Speaking of jobs, I resigned from my MHA job effective May 21. I know I've said this before, but I really hope I can find an archaeological job this summer or frankly any job at this point since I don't have MHA to fall back on anymore.

Alrighty then, I better get to school to hand this final in before Dr. Hughes stops accepting them at 10 am.

A Kellie Kind of Day

Today reminded of Kellie because it was cloudy and cool. Okay, Kellie is not cloudy and cool, but she does like days like this.

Drag Show

Okay, so I went to the drag show last night at a gay bar/club in Wichita. I believe there were only four people in the show - two males and two females. I am convinced they just kept changing clothes, wigs, and drawn on facial hair (the girls dressed as guys) to make it look like there were more performers. The girls dressed as guys just sort of pranced around, but the males dressed as females actually had some good dance moves and super high heels.

According to India, this particular show was not as good as the other one she saw earlier in the year so I am tempted to go back again sometime. It really was quite entertaining. I would suggest at least one drag show per lifetime so if you've never been find your local gay bar immediately.

Holy Cow Batman

This semester is almost over. Wow. My first few months of graduate school was certainly a roller coaster and an adjustment. Here's to a better Fall 2006.

I applied for a number of summer archaeology jobs. Three agencies have responded saying they have all the seasonal work they need ... as of now. That's the trouble with archaeology - it's all so hit and miss. Sometimes a big contract will come through in the middle of the summer and then they will need all kinds of help. If nothing comes through now I hope I can get in on some of that action. Otherwise, I might be working for some party carnival service here in Wichita. A fellow anthro. student, Jerry, told me his relative runs one of those and they usually need more help in the summer. Ooooh, I could be a carnie. How glamorous.

This week finds me busy putting the finishing touches on the Southwest Art exhibit for my Museum Exhibition class. It seems like there are so many details to tend to yet, but I'm sure it will come together. I just got one of my maps back from the printer today and I'm not totally happy with it. The map title is not as readable as it could be. We don't have the budget to reprint anything so I guess I will just have to deal with it. Maybe I will pretend I didn't make that map (tee hee). The opening is May 8 and anyone who's around then is more than welcome to come. I imagine there will be free food.

Tomorrow night, I am going to a drag queen show with India (an anthro. student) and possibly Javers if I can convince him it will be good times and he won't be too uncomfortable. I've never been and am really looking foward to it. Crazy.

Sprinkler Relief

Good news folks, because of all the rain on Monday and the cool weather yesterday and today I have given myself a few days off from sprinkler duty. Now that I have so much free time I think I will apply for an archaeology job this summer during part of June and July. I have two summer classes, one for two weeks right after the spring semester ends and the other one the first two weeks in August. The time inbetween will find me jobless unless I stay with MHA. Hmmmm ... let me think about that one ... I don't think so.

New Bike

I got a new bike today. I am pretty excited because it is the nicest bike I have ever had and it actually fits my body. Usually, I end up riding bikes that are too big for me and it isn't comfortable. The weather here has been very nice lately so hopefully I will get some riding in this week.

A New Profession: House-n-Dog-Sitter

Alright then. I'm back. I had a rough couple of weeks there with a large amount of schoolwork due. It actually wasn't that much, I just freaked out and went way overboard on my research and now realize that I probably wasted time reading things I did not need to read. I also know a lot more about using mitochondrial DNA to figure out where the first people in the New World came from and when they came. But that is probably boring for most of you so instead I will tell you about my new part-time job.

Last weekend I house and dog sat for the Anthro. Dept. Administrative Assistant, Nancy and her husband while they were at some conference in TX. (I went to KC for some fun and "religious" Good Friday activities so Javers covered for me on Saturday) Nancy has two little Yorkies and if any of you remember my relationship with Laura Pankratz's Yorkies in Keystone you might be wondering what the hell I was thinking agreeing to watch Nancy's and Chuck's dogs. I think one of Nancy's dogs, Bonnie, truly hated me. Nancy diagnosed Bonnie as old and crotchety. I agree. She growled at me and flashed her teeth every time I was in viewing distance of her. I figured once she began to recognize me as her food source things would get better, but they never did. She stayed in a dark closet the whole time I was there. Whatever, her choice. Jack, on the other hand was rather enjoyable. Jack was also not all Yorkie so I still think Yorkies are total snots.

This weekend I am house and dog sitting for my advisor, Keith Prufer and his wife,
Bethany Myers (who teaches my Intro to Arch.). Their dogs and I are getting along well. I think they take their pets very seriously because they have to be fed twice a day and they get all kinds of vitamins and supplements. I also have to give them half a can of vegetables every day. I get to pick between spinach and carrots. Mmmmm...

Keith and his wife have a nice big house with a huge yard (for being in town) and a very elaborate homeade sprinkler system to go along with it. It takes me 45 minutes just to run around and turn it all on and change water flow directions and whatnot. It is quite comical.

I'm posting instead of researching for my paper and here it is ...

Yesterday morning, I had it all mapped out. I was going to take specific roads to get to the MCC 5K in Hutchinson. Everything went well until I ran into some construction in Hutchinson, ended up on a detour and ultimately got lost. I finally found the park about 3 minutes before the race was scheduled to start so I ran to register and picked up my number. As I was safety pinning my number to my shirt and trotting down to the starting line the gun went off. I made it down to the trail, but got stuck behind all the walkers so the first couple minutes of the race was spent trying to navigate my way up through the walking horde. I don't think I tripped anyone or cut anyone off - at least there was no angry shouting in my direction, but these people were passive agressive Mennonites so if I did make someone mad they probably just took time to pray for the forgiveness of my sin.

Anyway, the race went well and I ended up getting first place in my age range of 20-30 year olds. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I placed considering my time was a little over 24 minutes (I think), which is decent, but not really worthy of the beautiful medal the presented to me (no national anthem was played). I have my suspicsions that there were not very many 20-30 year old women participating in the race.

After the race I checked out the MCC sale. It's a neat experience to go to other sales and I encourage anyone who has interest in MCC sale phenomena to check out others. Maybe we can all learn something from each other.

Last night was Jeremy's first football game. They played the Topeaka Koyote's and won so Javers was pretty excited, although in pain today. Apparently the Koyote's have not lost a game in three years. Nick, Charles, Sarah, Luke, Clint, Travis, Theresa (two of Jeremy's brothers and sister-in-law) and myself went to the game to show our support. It was fun. Sarah mentioned that next time we should make a poster/sign to hold up during the game. Mom, can you get out your Sharpie colleciton and work something up? Also, while you're at it, would you decorate some paper lunch bags for me to take to school? Maybe you could put mammoths and arrow heads on them. Thanks.

My Counseling Session

I actually went to a counselor at school a couple days ago. She was nice and easy to talk to. She told me not to beat up on myself so much. To combat this, she said I should write down on a piece of paper five postive or neutral (NOT negative) things about myself or the state of my life. When I am in a depressive spiral I am supposed to get out this piece of paper and read the statements. I told her that sounded silly and started laughing in her office. She said it IS silly, but it helps to visualize the statements and she pointed out that it made me laugh just to think about how dorky it sounds. True.

I also need to learn how to get used to the overwhelmed feeling I have all the time. It is just going to be a fact of life for a while. I cannot worry about trying to get everything done because it is not physically possible. Well, I hope I can make this work.

Okay, Jeremy's family is here this weekend and we are going out right shortly. His first Aviators game is tomorrow night. Tomorrow is also the MCC sale in Hutchinson. I'm running the 5K and afterwards I will load up on German food.

Another Random Update

Reed and Sue ventured down to south central Kansas this past weekend. They spent Friday night with me in Wichita. Saturday morning we went to a couple presentations of an anthropology student symposium, but the presentations were bit boring and I needed to get away from the school and Wichita so we skipped out early and went to Newton to see Nick and eat cookies and strawberries at the Bogards.

Later, on Saturday night we saw Nick in Of Mice and Men. He was Lennie (Lenny?), the mentally challenged character who just likes to pet soft things and dream, but gets himself into trouble because people don't understand him. It was very good - Nick (and others) were amazing. The show did, however, leave me depressed. No warm fuzzies from Steinbeck.

It was really good to see my family again. I just wish I was in a better mood while they were here. I am very consumed in my own life right now and very overwhelmed with all I have going on. I feel like a complete mess and it is driving me crazy. I'm worried it is driving those around me crazy too. I need to learn how to cope with all this stress better. Thanks to those who have thrown some tips my way recently - I hope they can help me get through this stress. I need to start enjoying my life more. I might even check out the counselor on campus to see if he/she has some good coping techniques since they probably deal with people in my situation all the time. At least that's the way it seems around campus right now. Everyone I talk to looks like they want to pull their hair out ... or a professor's hair.

Okay, whew, positive attitude here I come. Maybe I'll eat an acorn squash. That would totally make my day.

Blanco Canyon, Texas

Last week, Texas messed with me. The weather was so extreme that out of six days down there we only excavated for two and a half days and only fifteen to twenty hours at that. Despite issues with the weather, I did enjoy getting to know some more anthropology department students better. And enough can't be said about the hospitality of the locals during the week. They took us out for supper twice and gave us extra blankets.

In the days before spring break, the area of Texas we were heading to was suffering from wildfires. I rode with Mackenzie and Troy, other anthro grad students. We saw scorched grass along the Interstate, but it was foggy, rainy, and fireless during our trip. Mackenzie knew her Ford Escort would not make it down the roads leading to Blanco Canyon with the wet clay-like soil so we pulled up to a sketchy motel in Floydada and the three of us spent the night in a dirty 10' x 10' room with a clanky heater. And that was the last time I was truly warm until the following Friday.

On Sunday morning we tracked down the director of the small town historical museum associated with the Coronodo site we were supposed to be working on. I gave Carolyn a call and she invited us over to her house for a while. The rancher who owns the land in the canyon where the site is has a son who lives in town. He gave Troy, Mackenzie and me a wild ride in the water-soaked soil down to the WSU campsite. The first 10 miles or so out of Floydada were paved, but the remaining few unpaved miles were the muddiest trip I have ever been on. At one point, while Monte was elaborating on all the different kinds of snakes (per Troy's anxious request) we got sucked into the ditch. The side of the truck was almost perpendicular to the ground and Monte kept saying "all we gotta do is get her rockin' and we'll be fine." After a couple minutes of trying to rock the truck to get traction I pointed out to Monte that smoke was rising from his engine. He did not seem to mind and soon we were out. I sincerely hope his truck is alright. Later in the week we stopped by Monte's house to pick up a cot and some more blankets and I saw it sitting outside all cleaned up so the transmission must still be working.

After the rain stopped sometime Sunday night it got windy. Then the wind stopped and it became frigid. By Wednesday night it was snowing, which was actually about the warmest night we had. Thursday night it got down to at least 8 degrees. I mean, seriously, I never thought I would be camping in weather like that. This is definitely one for my personal record book.

Dr. Blakeslee did not make us excavate unless it was over 35-40 degrees so we spent most of the time huddled around a mesquite campfire. I do not think I have ever been so cold continuously for that long before. The nights were pretty bad. It 's hard to have a relaxing sleep when you are shivering. Once we got the extra blankets and I realized I needed to put a blanket between my air mattress and my sleeping bag it got better. Also, when we were in town, I purchased a few packets of those hand warmers you expose to air and shake to activate. They last six to eight hours so I would get a few going before I went to bed and then throw them in the sleeping bag with me to try to keep warm. One night two of the handwarmers mysteriously ended up in my sweatpants. I must have put them there in my sleep without even knowing and found them later when I was changing - made me laugh.

During the days we tried to think of things that would occupy the time and keep us warm so we went on hikes up the canyon walls and through the canyon (it was not a very deep canyon - only took us about ten minutes to walk up). Wednesday we went into Floydada to check out the museum and sit around in a heated building. Part of the day I, along with a few other students, spent exploring the town on foot. On Thursday the rancher gave us a propane powered flame thrower and let us burn some big mesquite wood piles from the cleared area around the site and the camp. That day I actually got hot.

On Friday it was finally warm enough to work, but it was the last day we were there so David and I finished up our unit. Dr. Blakeslee found a dark soil stain on the floor of the unit that extended into the ground to the south, but we did not have time to excavate that area so we covered the floor in plastic and filled it back up with dirt so whoever works on the site next could investigate the stain further.

Now I am back in Kansas and school starts again today. The pile of reading and research lurking over me is causing that unpleasant stressed feeling to return. Ughh ... school. I think I'm going to feel this way for the next two years. On the bright side of things, the rest of my student loan money was disbursed to me last week so I am going to go pick it up this morning. I really need a new pair of running shoes and I should pay off the credit card I have been using to purchase things in the last three months. Using a loan to pay off a loan - this is life.

Thanks to all who sent their birthday greetings (it was March 20, in case you didn't know) either through voice mail messages, emails, or cards. Know that you are all important to me and I'm sorry if I don't have the time I would like to devote to each of you. I'm trying, but I feel so incredibly busy it's hard for me to manage much of a personal life right now. I guess some people are just better at that than others.

RV

I was watching one of my favorite TV shows this morning, Sunday Morning on CBS, and I heard about this new movie coming out called RV. Okay, how exciting is that? I hope it's good.

Spring Break

Yipeee!! Spring break is finally here. I signed up to go on a dig with one of my professors (Dr. Blakeslee) near Floydada, TX -- Blanco Canyon. Blakeslee thinks he's found a Coronodo camp site so it will be 16th c. Spanish stuff. It sounds neat, I have never dug at that kind of site. Sometimes I wish I could have the week to just lounge around and work on a paper I have due in April, but I hear from people who have been on the trip prior years it is a very good time. It will also be some good experience for me. I can work on my paper when I get back. Ha, yeah right. When I am down in TX there will be no Internet access, computers and even the cell phone reception is shoddy so don't look for a post for a week or much communication from me at all. Upon my return I will let y'all know how it went.

Also, I should mention that I decided not to move to my own apartment. I called the lady I signed a lease with a few weeks ago and begged her to release me from the obligation. It would be nice to live closer to school, but in the end it just didn't make financial sense for me to live by myself. I would miss Jeremy, too. At first I felt that morally I shouldn't live with Javers. That hung over my head for a while and it still does a bit, but I'm getting over it. I feel good about my choice now.

When we first moved down here it was a bit weird and taxing getting used to each other on a daily basis along with all the stressful transistions in our lives. Now that we are more settled in it's really comforting to have someone to come home to at night (when he's not traveling for work, which is the case about two days out of every week) and share the day's adventures or lack thereof. So for now, my address will remain the same. Come and visit anytime. Remember I got those really nice towels? Yep, they are plush.

p.s. My birthday is on Monday so if you need an excuse to celebrate on a run-of-the-mill-Monday you can use my 25th as a reason AND it will be the first day of Spring too. Rock 'n' roll.

Flying

My how time flies when you're having ... fun? I have noticed time goes so much faster since I started school. Every day I am just running, running, running and it's never a rigid schedule. I think my life before grad school was a bit more monotonous so it seemed to go at a slower pace.

I found out some exciting news while at school today. Keith, my advisor, asked me to stop by his office today. As a side note, I'm starting to really like Keith. When I was in the process of enrolling at WSU he was always rushed when talking to me and I got the feeling he didn't know what was going on with my enrollment or understand the policies of the graduate school. After getting here, I realized that he is new at the school as of last year and that I am his first and only advisee. He has actually been helping me out quit a bit - talking to financial aid on my behalf, loaning me a book for a class, trying to find me a job, even trying to find me friends by telling peole they should be my friend. He knows how I don't have much money so he is going to pay me to watch his house/pets while he goes to a conference for a week in April.

Anyway, so I went to visit him today and he told me I got the City Archaeologist position at the school. It is a two semester part time graduate assistant appointment that gives me much, much cheaper in-state tuition and pays me a modest stipend per semester. It starts next fall and I'm very excited about it. I didn't think I would be much of a contender for the position because I had to get references and my professors don't know me as well as the other students who applied (that might have actually been beneficial for me!!). Also, I get the feeling like some students who have anthropology undergraduate degrees have more experience and knowledge than me. But alas, I am the next Wichita City Archaeologist. I get my own office and computer in the anthropology buidling too. Pretty wicked.

This also means I can probably quit my Mental Health Association job by next fall. Yesterday I spent three and a half hours with my client who was in crisis. He was severely emotionally escalated, stormed around the house yelling at me, threw pillows and a soccer ball at me, and kicked me. Because he kicked me I had to fill out an incident report so next Monday I have to go in and talk to my supervisor about it. Sorry Jared, but the whole thing made me regret taking this job. If I stay on for more than 90 days and you get your $50 referral bonus I think you should take me to DQ for a Blizzard.

I am Dumb

Last night I went for a run on the Sedwick County Park trails (it's near the zoo and Javers' apartment) and I lost my car key again. You think I would have learned my lesson. Nope. I was retracing my steps and asking everyone I passed if they had seen a key lying on the path. Finally, one lady said she saw some kid playing with a key that looked like mine on a part of the path that was about 3/4 mile away. I booked it over there and the key was propped up on a stick coming out of the ground. Thank God!! Okay folks, second time's a charm. You know how sometimes you just believe in something so strongly that you convince yourself it will work. Well, I will stop trying to prove to myself that my idea to weave my car key in my shoelaces is genius and come up with a new solution.

Birthdays

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rachael and Mom!!

Yep, yep, yep

Yep, yep, yep. That's an ode to Javers. He cracks me up. They guy doesn't even like cookies, but last week he brought home a big box full of eight normal sized boxes of girl scout cookies. Does that mean I am supposed to eat them? I can't have that many girl scout cookies around at one time - too tempting. I took some shortbread cookies to the Anthropology building today. So, hmmm ... that leaves only seven boxes left.

I feel like so much has happened since I last posted. I don't really have time to write a book (Intro to Archaeology test to study for and CSI is going to be on in 10 minutes) and you don't really want to read a book so I'll just say everything is fine. I suddenly got really busy with school and the new job. I met my three kids/clients for the first time last week and I think I will be able to handle them. Mostly, they just have trouble focusing on school work and have poor social skills, which means they don't get along with their peers very well. Regardless, I am excited to receive my first paycheck on Friday.

I signed a six month lease for an apartment a lot closer to school. It's only $200 a month. It is not the nicest place I have ever lived, but I think I can afford it and I didn't see any rodents or big bugs crawling around when I visited the place. Ha, I am sure it will be fine.

Finallly, this is not my news, but Kellie called last weekend to say she and Dustin are engaged. Super exciting. K-Dawg, how 'bout that black wedding dress?

What's New

I did start my part time Children's Attendant Care (CAC) job last week. It made the week busy so it flew by. So far, the job has consisted of classroom training and a few hours of shadowing. It has been interesting learning how to respond to these kids and keep them motivated to accomplish their mental health goals. Laura, the trainer has a phrase that she drilled into our minds: "seek first to understand, then be understood." It sounds like a good way to go about the job and I hope that idea of seeking to understand others before trying to make them understand me spills over into the rest of my life.

School is fine. For the first few weeks I was actually kind of bored. Now, with the job and more school work piling up I am definitely not bored anymore. No stress at this point either, so I may have found a good balance.

I am getting to know some people from the anthro. dept. better through. I wouldn't call them friends yet, but they are certainly very friendly. Those curious anthropologists - full of questions and intrigued by everyone. I think I will go to Texas with one of my professors and some other students for some excavation during spring break. This should help me get to know other students in the department, too.

Okay, it's 10:30 already and I need to get to work!

New Job

This morning, Denise from the Mental Health Association (MHA) called and offered me the Child Attendant Care Worker job. I accepted and I start on Monday evening. I honestly don't know much about it yet outside the general information I got from Jared and the lady who interviewed me so I hope training goes well and I am suited for this kind of thing.

Question of the Day: Are Warrenties a Waste of Money?

I just realized it has been a while since I last posted. Time flies when you're having ... fun? Actually, things are going better. Most of my frustrating issues are still there, but I'm learning how to deal with them and getting more used to this transition. Jeremy's apartment is feeling more like home. I even broke in his new microfiber furniture last night by spilling tea all over the chair. He said not to worry because he got everything Scotch Guarded and bought all kinds of warrenties and insurance and razzamatazz when he purchased the furniture. I usually view those kinds of things as a way for companies to make a little extra money off of me - the poor, vulnerable consumer. Jeremy, on the other hand, gets excited about warrenties and insurance and smooth-talkin' salesmen. Well, it's a good thing because the Scotch Guard worked and it looks like my tea left no trace on the chair. Whew!

I had a job interview with the Mental Health Association on Tuesday for a position working with children and adolescents. Jared Smith works for the MHA and introduced me to that position. Today, I have an interview with Sherwin Williams. Yeah, the paint store. Sarah found a want ad in the classifieds so I applied. On Tuesday, when I opened up a checking account at Commerce Bank here in Wichita, the banker told me Commerce had teller positions available and I didn't need to have any prior experience. Hey, I'm keeping my options open right now.

Kristine's in the area for a few days. On Friday, we (I don't really know who all "we" will include) are eating at the Bread Basket in Newton. Oh boy, I should probably start fasting tonight in preparation for a big German/Russian Menno meal tomorrow.

From Wichita

I am now writing to you from Jeremy's apartment in Wichita, KS. I got here last Wednesday afternoon and spent Thursday and Friday taking care of some school stuff and looking for looking for an apartment. On Thursday, I found out that only half of my student loans were dispersed in January. The other half come at the end of March. That's just great considering the other half of my loans was what I was supposed to live on. Now I am trying to find a job. I hope I can go to school and work at the same time and not get too stressed out. As long as it's not like working at the museum and ShopKo at the same time, I think I can probably handle it.

My life is making me emotionally volatile right now. This feeling of being in limbo that I have had for the past week and a half, since I quit my jobs in Sioux Falls, is driving me nuts. I just need somethinig to hold on to and hopefully school can give me that. I think I'm going to go in and talk to my advisor, Keith, today. He said something about setting up a plan of study for the next two years. That should make me feel better. A plan of study is kind of like a map and I LOVE maps. Later I am having lunch with Jeremy at some Chinese buffet in Colwich (where ICM is) and then I'm off to Newton to visit Sarah.

Hopefully, I will be more comfortable with my new life the next time I write.

moving, moving, moving

I am back from Emily's and Jon's wedding in Ohio, which was a great time. Now I really need to focus on packing and tying up loose ends. Everything that doesn't fit in my car needs be loaded up in the U-Haul on Thursday night. I still have today off from work so I'm going to use it to pack. Well, I was planning on using today soley for packing/preparing to move, but I woke up late and have been procrastinating ever since. It's already 2:30 pm. I better stop writing and get to work.

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. I had a three day weekend with no work - including ShopKo - so I found some time to lounge around and do family things. The Schrag family Christmas celebration was on the 24th. It spanned two delicious meals and involved pass-around-while-music-is-playing gifts with an international theme. Everyone seemed so happy with their presents that only one or two people stole someone else's gift. One thing I found interesting about the Schrag gathering was how non competitive most of us are. Someone got out a few board games, but we ended up just sitting around the living room with all of us trying to answer the same questions, not even keeping score.

On the afternoon of the 25th Reed, Sue, Nick and I went to a movie in Sioux Falls. We saw The Family Stone. I would recommend. After the movie I dropped Mom and Dad off at the IHOP (one of the few restaurants we found to be open on Christmas) and filled the car up with gas at the station across the street. While I was filling up, Nick went up by the convenience store to smoke. After I filled up I moved the car up by him and went in to pay.
As I was leaving a strange man stopped me to tell me a man in a stocking cap was trying to break into my car. I thought about and realized that Nick was wearing a stocking cap and this guy probably didn't realize he was my brother. I laughed, but thanked the guy for looking out for me. Reallly, it was very nice of him.

I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas. I will be flying to Ohio tomorrow for the Suter/Wiebe wedding and I am looking foward to it. I bought some yarn for a new knitting project today. I wanted to knit during my flights, but now that I think about it, having knitting needles on a plane might be illegal. Hmmmm...

Friday

First and foremost I need to give a shout out to my good chum Phil Gratz from Bluffton, OH. Phil, welcome and I’m looking forward to spending some quality time in your hometown next week. Yeehaw … vacay!

Today Rachel Ries is the Noon Concert performer at the Old Courthouse Museum. I switched with Paavo so I could be over here today for her performance. I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing her. Her new CD is good driving-to-work-music for me because it calms me amongst the traffic.

Tomorrow I am heading to Freeman for some Schrag family Christmas and then on Sunday I think I will just hang out with my immediate family. Sue mentioned going to a movie. Any suggestions? All this Brokeback Mountain hullabaloo interests me. I also want to see Syriana and the Squid and the Whale. Are these even in theaters right now?

Sudafed

This may sound strange, but I do believe that taking Sudafed semi-regularly since the end of August made me mentally and emotionally unstable and irrational. I remember Polly complaining in college that she could not take too much Advil Cold & Sinus or just plain Sudafed because it made her crazy. I believed her, but I thought she was just a very rare and special case. Now I am not so sure.

It all started back in August at my yearly allergy and asthma check up. Dr. Smith stuck his little light up my nose and exclaimed to the intern beside him, "wow, you snould look at this!" He told me I could take periodic steroid regimens to reduce the swelling and inflamation or take Sudafed when I felt especially plugged up. I opted for the Sudafed because prednisone (a steroid) does weird things to me too.

I didn't notice any change at first, but by November I was irritable (easily annoyed and mean) and very emotional. One time I was sitting at the front desk of the Old Courthouse Museum and I could not stop crying. I wasn't even sad or upset about anything, but I kept crying. I even started to laugh at the situation and I still couldn't control it. I thought, what is wrong with me? I didn't have anything to be that depressed or stressed out about.

I did some research on the Internet (yeah, not very scholarly, I know) and found some other peoples' testimonies on how pseudoephedrine made them crazy, too. One girl had been taking decongestants daily since she was in junior high. It changed her disposition, but she did not realize it until ten years later. Now she is off pseudoephedrine and back to her "old self," if she can even remember what that was. Another source I found was a more scientific study that said pseudoephedrine had caused emotional instability in some of the people in the study.

These findings encouraged me to stop taking Sudafed for a while to see if it helped. I stopped right around Thanksgiving and have felt fine since. There are probably other variables involved so I will conduct this "trial" for a while longer, but still, what a crazy experience. I talked to a nurse at the allergy clinic to ask her about my suspicions. I told her I thought Sudafed was making me crazy and she laughed. I laughed too because it is kind of a funny and strange situation. Now I am congested at times, but a happier person.

Staff Meeting

This morning at the end of our staff meeting Bill had us each tell what our plans for the holidays were. It all took me back to elementary school when, after winter break, we went around the room and said what we did over break and what we got for Christmas. It was sort of funny, but it was also neat to hear what everyone was doing.

Mary Lou's Christmas tradition was interesting. She and her grandkids bake a birthday cake for baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. It sounds funny, but it is a neat idea. I wonder how many candles they put on the cake. Jesus is old.

I like Marty's Hanukkah plans, too. Her family rents out the fire hall in Mitchell (she hopes there aren't any fires in town that day) and plays rousing games of volleyball. I wouldn't associate volleyball and Hanukkah, but maybe it's a sacred Jewish tradition ... um, I doubt it.

Slippery Roads

Yesterday I dropped my car off at the downtown Firestone store to get a flattening tire fixed. After work I walked to Firestone to pick up the Malibu (by the way, it’s the opposite of Malibu here in SD right now) and on my walk I had a mishap. I was trucking along because it was so cold and I came upon the Duluth Ave. and 9th St. intersection. I needed to cross 9th Street and it was pretty busy at 5:05 pm. I saw an opening and figured if I trotted across the street I could make it. Well, I ended up falling flat on my ass right in the middle of the intersection. At first I just wanted to sit there for a bit, wallow in my pain and then slowly get up. Then I realized that the reason I was running across the intersection was to beat an oncoming car. The whole thing must have looked pretty comical because I was trying to get up and crawl across the intersection at the same time. It is a good thing the oncoming car noticed me a slowed down because I probably would have gotten hit. I really didn’t want to look at the driver because I knew he/she was probably laughing, maybe on the phone with a loved one sharing the bit of humor. Then I started to laugh and massage my sore butt because, really, it was quite a funny situation. Ha.

Brrrrrrrr

It's so c-c-c-cold at the Pettigrew Home & Museum. I found the electric blanket in storage and I now have it set on hi-warm and wrapped around my legs. This place needs an electric jacket to keep my arms warm too. The museum is trying to save money this winter so we have to keep it cool in the buildings. Julie said she would make me some coffee to thaw me out so I will have to go upstairs soon to get a cup. Oh, but I love it, I really do. Being cold makes me appreciate things that make me warm, just like being hot makes me appreciate things that cool me off.

New Towel

I just tried out my new towel this morning and I'm going to give it two thumbs up. It is so soft and luxurious compared to my other towels. My old bath towels are nice, but 6.5 years old and starting to lose their soft touch.

I figured it was time to add another bath towel to my stash because I want to change towels every few days for sanitation reasons. If I have one more towel I can go longer without doing laundry. Plus, when I have guests over toward the end of the towel cycle I only have my beach towel or the weird benzoyl peroxide dyed purple towel to offer them. Yeah, that's welcoming: "Here you go, here are my crap towels. Please, have your choice of the towels I never use and be sure to come again." If you come to visit me now I will let you use my wonderful new towel. It's tempting, I know.

Last Day of November, Yo

I hope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have to practice using "y’all" more now that I’m moving to KS. I had a pleasant Thanksgiving. I should actually say ThanksgivingS. When it was all said and done I experienced three. They were all good times … good times. I went to my first Javers family Thanksgiving. I would have to say that they are all ordinary Americans who basically eat and do the same things my family does on Thanksgiving. Surprise, surprise. I might have, however, actually enjoyed a crazy second cousin named Fred who only wears pink, shouts phrases in pseudo-Spanish to make everyone think he knows the language, and insists he needs to hide under the table to avoid assassination.

Yesterday, I told Julie I was officially resigning on January 8, 2006. She said she would really miss me and got a little teary eyed. I didn’t want to look at her because I knew I would probably start to tear up too. She really encouraged me in my educational efforts. The event made me very reflective for the last two hours of the day. I will certainly miss most of my coworkers. I hope I can find employment in the future with such neat people.

ShopKo

Sigh ... I just finished my fourth day of part time seasonal work at ShopKo. After the first day I wondered how I would ever make it, but now I am getting the hang of things. Basically, I just have to tell people where they can find items (which is tricky because half the time I have no clue) and straighten up the aisles. Today, an older couple asked me if we had any of those Dutch shortbread cookies that come in a tin. We looked all over the food aisles and the seasonal Christmas aisles and found no shortbread cookies in a tin. About ten minutes later I was walking around the pharmacy area and I found a display of cashews and those crazy shortbread cookies. I gasped, picked up a tin, and scurried around the store looking for the couple. I finally found them on their way out and saved the day. Yeah, Amber Schrag - hometown hero.

Yesterday I worked for three hours with Scott folding and refolding the three towel aisles. Talk about tedious. Today I helped Adam, build two treadmills for a display. That was a little different and fun. Maybe this job won't be so bad, but when I work at the museum all day and then hit up ShopKo till 10:45 pm it ... sure makes ... me ... ... ti...r...e...d ... ...zzz...

Congratulations Shelly and Jon!

This past summer Shelly (an ex-roommate) and Jon scooted by my apartment on their roller blades to throw rocks at my patio door and tell me they were engaged. Last Saturday I went to their wedding with Dawn and Amanda. I didn’t really know anyone else at the wedding very well, but I still had a delightful time.

The DJ at the reception/dance made Dawn and me chuckle. I would compare his voice to that of a game show announcer. When the wedding party came in to the reception hall to sit down, he called off their names as they walked in – reminded me a lot of “The Price is Right.” During the meal, I am not even sure what he said, but he made several other announcements. Dawn thought he sounded like a circus announcer and a great idea popped into my head. Would it not be the most exciting thing ever to have a circus at your wedding? People could hit the dance floor OR watch some tigers do tricks. Yeah, if I get married I think there will have to be a little circus, even if it’s just some neighborhood dogs running around in elephant costumes and a clown.