Oops, the semester is getting away from me…

Around the second month in a semester is the time where you realize there isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done that needs to be done. This snowballs into the third month where all you can do is try to keep your head just above the water. And you sink into a desperate loop where you are too anxious and rushed to produce your best work and too exhausted to think clearly and logically any longer. Its a strange juggling act to begin with, but all the while you are also telling your colleagues and professors that everything is under control while in reality the $h*t has already hit the fan. This may or may not be me right now – I’m showing several of the signs – My Vulcan sense of logic has been replaced by a Romulan state of overly-emotional chaos.

Highlights From the Archaeology Department from Last Month:

• Paxton Thurgood Ford was born to Ben Ford and Hillary Creely – everyone involved is happy, healthy, and beautiful.

 

• I have subsequently inherited a wonderful James Brown statue that sings ‘I Feel Good’ and no longer dances – but is still amusing. It graces my office in McElhaney G4 and produces spontaneous dance parties often.  Thank you, Dr. Ford. My cat, James Brown would hate this statue, but the folks I share my office with… well they kind of hate it too…. I love it.

• Archaeology Day for the department was a hit! Many more folks visited this year than last year – and I got to gross out the public in the zooarchaeology lab this year because Dr. Sarah Neusius’ zooarchaeology class is processing skeletons ! That means lots of rotting carcasses to enjoy, and just in time for Halloween. For more info on Archaeology Day in Pennsylvania check out: http://www.archaeological.org/archaeologyday

• Several students from the Applied Archaeology program defended their theses:

Dan Sandrowicz – GAS WELLS AND THEIR IMPACT ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Stefanie Smith – FOODWAYS IN COLONIAL WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA: AN ANALYSIS OF FAUNAL REMAINS FROM HANNA’S TOWN (36WM203)

Adam Burke – THE WAYNE’S SINK SITE (8JE1508/8TA280): A PXRF ANALYSIS OF LITHIC MATERIALS FROM A SUBMERGED QUARRY IN THE AUCILLA RIVER, FLORIDA

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I polled some folks in the Archaeology Department – students and faculty – for some helpful hints on staying afloat mid-semester. I asked them to:

Name one organizational thing you do to stay afloat

Name one stress relief thing you do to cope

And as part of my ‘Munsell Everything’ section, I asked folks to:

Munsell something from your daily life

Here were the results:

Organizational: Keep a detailed calendar to stay on top of deadlines

Stress Relief: Trashy TV – White Collar

Munsell: My Dog 10YR 2/1 Black

Organizational: Create obsessive lists by month, crossing off successfully completed tasks, use many index cards

Stress Relief: Baths, long drives, puppy time

Munsell: Coffee this morning 10YR 3/3 Dark Brown

 

Organizational: $1 planner – enter all tasks, check off finished stuff

Stress Relief: I drink.

Munsell: Fried chicken lunch 10YR 7/8  Yellow

 

Organizational: [Gargling noises]

Stress Relief: Hikes.

Munsell: Lunch 5YR 5/8  Yellowish Brown

 

Organizational: Organize all syllabi together and cross off days as I go

Stress Relief: Music, housework/ decorating, hiking, gym

Munsell: Emergen C drink 5R 5/6  Red

 

Organizational: I haven’t stayed afloat. I’m not afloat.

Stress Relief: [Nervous laughter]… I eat.

Munsell: What I’m eating right now 10YR 7/8  Yellow

 

Organizational: I stagger my work – allot for time for all subjects and take breaks in between

Stress Relief: Yoga

Munsell: Core/ paper weight in office 5R 7/1 Pinkish Gray

 

Organizational: Sticky notes. A lot of sticky notes. Also I start early on big projects by writing outlines for papers or gathering sources/ making annotated bibliographies

Stress Relief: Indian food, Star Trek, baths.

Munsell: Dreamboat Dr. Julian Bashir’s bad turtleneck from Deep Space Nine Gley 2 – 4/10BG Dark Greenish Gray