ladylostris | Entries tagged with classes

The strange smell in my kitchen was a dirty pan. It is now taken care of and the smell is gone.

I have decided, unfortunately, that I probably won't be able to finish NaNo this month. I'm behind and only have so much time, and there's a good chance something's got to go, which would of course be the thing I'm not getting a grade on.

I have a box of rocks for my lithics project. In a couple of days they'll make their first foray into my freezer. I was talking to Phil about it at the end of class, and he said a good way to document before and after was to Xerox them, and Kaitlyn heard about this, and was highly amused by the idea of Xeroxing rocks in the library. So tomorrow (probably) I'm going to take one over to the library to see how it works, and if it works out, then I'll do that for the rest of them.

I feel like such a dork.

If the Xeroxing doesn't work, I have a camera, and I know how to use it.

Current Mood: dorky

Had a meeting with my commitee chair today. It seems that I may be having a meeting with him every week now, which is a good thing. If I don't have a specific date to finish things, I won't finish them, and that's bad.

So right now I'm at the library, working on typing up some of my prospectus. He wants the first six or so pages next week. I'm nearing the bottom of page five now, so this is good. I can do some (very minor, at this point) editing and maybe even go a little longer. Or of course I can finish that up, do some very minor editing, and get on about my Lithic Analysis reading.

Or maybe I should do the reading first, since I have that class tomorrow.

Hmmmm.

Also, I'm back to a basic account and can't use most of my icons. Sometime soon I need to go about getting a paid account again. Though I suppose I can make do with a Basic or Plus account until Christmas. ;-)

(hint hint)

I'll worry about that later. I'm going to head home now.

Current Music: "Precious Declaration," Collective Soul

Woohoo, I've just registered for classes. Over the next couple of days I can therefore go buy my books (or at least find out which books I need and look for them cheap online).

Hmmm...I have that coupon from Amazon...I should use it...

I also need to find out if I need to sign up for thesis hours or something.

I have a working printer again!

In my office, I mean. I was over talking to John about needing bags over here, and happened to mention the fact that this printer wasn't working because it had a paper jam, and he came and fixed it. It was something I could have fixed myself if I'd known enough about printers (especially this big laserjet) to know that I'd actually be able to fix it. He cleaned it out too and now it works. So yay.

I had originally planned to go to the bone lab this afternoon, but I figured if I didn't, I could use the time to do something else. Besides, I'll go later in the week, since the first bone quiz is on Monday and it'll be better to do it later, probably. There's a mock quiz tomorrow, just to see the format of the quizzes, and after that I'll see if there's something I think I need to work on. Next time I go to the bone lab I'll have to keep working on the siding the tibia, since I kept assigning them to the wrong side yesterday. I was confused about one of the landmarks. I think I've got it worked out now, so we'll see how it goes. I should look over my notes again about what landmark goes where on what bone, and what they're called. I should be doing that anyway.

Okay, enough chattering about bones. I should get back to doing what I need to be doing.

First though, I'm just going to say that the field school this summer will be near Carlsbad again, in the same place we were working before. There will be some more survey, but this one will also include excavation. I'm probably going to go. It's in the desert, and it's hot, and at least there will be some excavation. It's not the one I was really looking forward too, but that one's not being offered this summer. It's supposed to be offered next summer, but I'm hoping I won't be still be around then, so I'll miss out on that. Oh well. Such is life.

< /rambling >

Current Music: "Explanation," Train

It's snowing here.

I've just been to a lab time for my osteology class. It wasn't that hard to figure out the femurs, based on the landmarks that provide clues as to which side of the body they come from. I'll just need to start thinking of them in terms of the names for these things (since I may have to identify them too), plus I'll be reviewing those and going to lab periods at least a couple of times a week just to get lots of practice and help with siding things. My guess was that the femur (and the other leg bones too, since they'll all be included on the quiz) was an easy place to start, to get us used to what we need to do and show us how things work and all.

Now that I've washed the bone dust and residual dirt off my hands, I'm here in my office blabbering about something you probably could care less about. But I'm doing it anyway. I'm glad I've got my own computer in my own office, and that it's got Internet access too. I can hide in here, and it'll be quieter if I ever want to do homework, and I won't have to bring my own computer with me, because I can use this one here.

I should get to work now. I'll stick around here until the anthro club meeting, then may stay a little longer than that (and I probably should, until the person who's in at two gets here, just to make sure she knows what's she doing and all). I guess laundry will have to wait a little longer still. Besides, the longer I stay here, the longer I can avoid going back out in the cold and snow.

I may go get something warm to drink from the coffee shop though.

Current Music: "Smashing Young Man," Collective Soul

Woohoo! I found out something this afternoon that made me happy. All I have to do to take the colloquium course this semester is get an add form from the Registar's office, get it signed, and sign up. Then I'll of course have to pay for that additional credit, which I'll take care of on Friday, which is the day it has to be done, so there's time for the additional credit to be registered. I don't need to sign up for any thesis hours to go with it, and that would be extra work anyway, plus extra money. So it'll just be seven hours this semester, which is fine, considering how much work I'll probably end up having to do for my two regular classes. Plus, I'll still be considered full time.

It feels good to be making this step. I'll have to work out specifics of the thesis next and then put together a committee before I start writing.

ETA: Geoarch is going to be good this semester. We have five (+/-) problems to do. No tests, no papers, just the problems. The first one is a research problem. One of them will have something to do with a site one of the other profs is working on, and when we're all done with our work, both profs will get a copy of our results. We also may not meet every week, but there may be weeks when we're exchanging information and we meet until six or seven pm if we have to. There will also be some problems that require lots of time in the lab.

Thinking on it, I may be glad that I've only got the two classes plus the colloquium.

I've been to my first class already today, and dang if it isn't going to kick my butt. Granted, while learning the important features of a femur that will allow it to be sided (determined which side of the body it's from) I didn't know all the terms yet for where these features are, and haven't had time to look things over and get used to the idea of these features indicating side of the body. Plus, that's what the lab times are for, to look things over using notes and such so we know what's what when we have the weekly quizzes (I don't think we have one next week though). Kathy all but told us we're going to have a pop quiz on identifying the bones in the skeleton on Monday, so that's one thing the next four days will be devoted to. She also noted that lots of times, archaeologists who have had an osteology course become the project osteologist when bones are discovered, even if it's not their specialty, because lots of archaeologists never have an osteology course. She also said something about one of the students in the department apparently finding the skeletal remains of a woman in Pheonix who had been missing for over a year, thereby solving the matter of her disappearance. (Hmmm...I ought to try and find mention of that online.) Anyway, by the end of the semester I ought to know more than most people ever want to know about bones. Graduate students also have to do a short paper (10-12 pages or so) on a bone disease of our choice, which we then present to the class. Learning how to determine the side of the body a bone comes from really will be the hardest part of the class. I'll have to make my brain figure out how to visualize that, or something. We all had a femur to look at as she was telling us the important stuff, so that helped to figure some things out for the moment.

I have a chapter to re-read before my 2:00 class. It's only nine pages, so it shouldn't take long.

I'm trying to get the first step for my thesis taken care of by the end of the week, because that's the end of the add/drop period, though I don't know if that's going to happen. If it doesn't, I suppose I can be glad I only have two classes (from what I've heard, that will count as full time), and I suppose I probably also could be working on it over the semester, and then do the official stuff next semester, presenting my colloquium early in the semester and starting to work on my thesis after that. I'm going to look over what I've got so far for that, and then I intend to talk to Phil after class and see if it's feasible or what my options are (and maybe for a colloquium I don't have to have that added by the end of the week, but I probably do).

Anyway.

< /rambling >

Current Music: "Same," Snow Patrol

Having unsuccessfully (for the moment) movtivated myself to stop being lazy, I decided to take a look at next semester's schedule to decide which classes I want to take, since I should get about registering for those. I was hoping to take the SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) class, but it conflicts with Geoarchaeology (and I am not passing up Geoarch). Dang. I guess it's back to Prehistoric Origins of Complex Societies (which ought to be interesting anyway). Unless I could take an undergraduate class...I'm not sure if I can. Oh well. So it's those two and Historic Presevation, and I can add the Colloquium credit later if I get a thesis topic sorted out.

Now I should get back to cleaning. My apartment really needs it, plus I haven't found my remote yet either. However, if I don't, I can get a universal one from the dollar store for $5, so all is not lost. It has to be here somewhere...

And of course, despite having cable, there's nothing good on TV.

Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: Beethoven