Work

I had a fun day at work yesterday. A couple weeks ago told I Bill I was considering trying to get into graduate school for the 2006 spring semester. When people at work ask me what's going on in my life, I usually don't like to hide things. I feel like it eats away at my integrity. I want to be honest and tell them what is really going on so many of my coworkers have heard all about my plans. Julie, my supervisor, suggested I let Bill know too, just in case he inadvertently hears it from someone else first. I did and now I think he's trying to entice me to stay. He makes comments like, "If you are still here next summer I will send you on a museum sponsored archaeological dig for a week or two" and "we should get you more involved in other departments at the museum." It is nice he appreciates the work I do, but I don't think that's going to be enough right now. Thanks for trying, Bill.

Last week he decided I should help the Education Department and April (the curator of Exhibits) prepare for Archaeology Day Camp to be held next summer. Yesterday we went out to set up and bury the site. During Archaeology Day Camp kids participate in a simulated dig where they excavate and analyze a site created by the museum staff. The site is supposed to represent a 1900 cabin in East Sioux Falls (a quarry town) that burned down. Yesterday we measured out the units, built up the stone foundation of the cabin and planted the artifacts. Because the house burned down we burned a bunch of the artifacts. It's kind of like doing archaeology in reverse. We know what we want the kids to think happened so we planted artifacts and built remnants of structures in a way that, when excavated, would tell the story we wanted to tell.

It was a fun activity that helped break up the monotony of sitting at the front desk and staring at a computer screen. Lately, I have been working on writing an exhibit script on the evolution of shopping from department stores to enclosed malls. It's interesting, but I have been working on it off and on for a year and I needed a break.