We are indeed still alive

I've realized recently... I don't really like blogging. It is SUCH a time-sucker, and I don't have that much time to begin with. So, back to the basics. I'm not going to go crazy over the html anymore, and I'm sticking with prefab backgrounds or no background at all. And that's that.

Anyway. Life's good. This is going to be a good year :) Last semester was an absolute nightmare, but a really great nightmare.... The reason for the lack of stuff on here: Anthr 456R. I did my lab class last semester. It's like the capstone for my major, only archaeologist style. We took all of the artifacts we recovered from Wolf Village during our spring excavations (which was a TON; really good season, but definitely not long enough), divided it up into data sets, and then we were each assigned a data set in whatever artifact category we chose to work in (ceramics, botanical analysis, chipped stone, faunal remains; and then there were the people who made up their own categories, like shell beads, bone gaming pieces, and clay figurines. But I digress.). I chose chipped stone and subsequently received a data set composed of 2226 pieces from three different sites at Wolf Village. In all honesty, it really was a nightmare, but it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. If you were to bring me a flake, I could tell you what it was made of (generally--like chert, obsidian, quartzite, basalt, chalcedony... nothing much more geological than that), whether it was a bifacial thinning flake, secondary shatter, or internal flake; or if it had cortex: whether it was primary decortication, secondary decortication, or primary shatter. Yes, I am now most definitely showing off. And aren't you impressed? Probably not. But that's ok. I still think it's cool :)

Anyway, those were just the flakes. I had stone tools too. And THOSE were awesome. I had a handful of projectile points (arrowheads, but I can't call them that, because I'm an archaeologist), a bunch of cores, one possible hammerstone/core, some scrapers, a bunch of drills, some moderately modified bifaces and I think one uniface. I also had one really cool knife that was made of white chert. Really pretty. And there were some really weird tools too that we couldn't give a name to. Even my director was frowning at some of the pictures in my presentation because he couldn't tell what the tools were either. Cool? Yes. Definitely.

So after analyzing everything (which by the way totaled over forty pages of hand-written analysis in chart form), I Excel-ed it and analyzed all of the statistics (what percentages of tools/debitage were chert or obsidian or quartzite, micro vs. macro, etc.), wrote a big fat paper about everything, gave a presentation on said paper and research, made a poster advertising my research (these posters are for some reason a big deal at academic conferences and could potentially win you money. I guarantee you mine will not), and after all was said and done, got an A in the class :)

And that's me done with my degree in archaeology. Pretty much. I'm filling my last elective this semester. And taking a Mayan Culture and Society class for fun. Because I'm a dork like that :)

So, may I just say with much fanfare: WHEW. I'm glad that's done. I learned SO much though. (And spent about 15-18 hours per week in the lab during the last two and half-ish months. Hence: no time for anything else.)

But anyways, I'll stop tooting my horn and start tooting Chad's now. Last semester was his best yet at BYU! The boy got all A's and one B I think. And considering his class load and the types of classes he takes: that's pretty phenomenal. So, my husband's a genius. You should all be jealous. :)

He taking another similar semester, and he's busier this time around too. He's still TAing, but he's moved with the 201 students up into their 202 class, which he loves TAing for so far. He's such a good teacher. And he loves Arabic. So basically, he's extremely good at what he's doing.

After this semester, Chad has two more classes, then we graduate. This is my last semester, and I'm actually a little sad about that. I don't like school very much, but I like the classes I get to take in the archaeology program. But I've been hoarding my books from those classes, so I guess that'll have to be good enough.

Once we graduate... we're not sure where we'll end up. Chad has a few applications out for a few different departments and a grad program that would take us to either Egypt or Damascus for a year. But don't tell my parents that we're considering that. I don't think I've mentioned it yet.... When he was first applying, I really didn't want to go. I had the attitude of: ok... I'll go if you want me to... but don't expect me to smile again until we're back on US soil and allowed to flush our toilet paper. But now... I'm kind of excited. Not about everything mind you. About almost nothing pertaining to actually living in what Chad's department head and study abroad professor calls "the most unromantic place on Earth." But for some reason, I've warmed up to it, and a very obscure part of me actually wants to go.

ANYWAYS. Sorry for the novel. I'll be more faithful about writing on here so I don't have to do these humongous catch-up posts. I've got more too, but Christmas'll have to wait until next time.