It reminds me of the Wolgemutstrasse street sign near Munich. This truly is the World Wide Wohlgemuth.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Project complete!
I decided to build myself a headboard because my pillow kept falling into the space behind my bed and since I was starting a project, I decided to do it right. Instead of just putting a piece of wood behind my bed, I drew up plans (and yes, actually drew up plans when I was bored at work) for a headboard that was also a shelf and included a cubbyhole with a door. What's awesome is that I was able to make it all out of one large piece of wood which kept it pretty inexpensive. It took two days to build it because I spent one cutting the wood in the disgusting Florida heat and humidity, and by the time I finished that, it was too late to start hammering and causing a rucus in my apartment. So the next day I put it all together, and it came out exactly as I planned. Here are some pics.
By the way, I took that picture behind the bed.
By the way, I took that picture behind the bed.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
AIA...here I come!
So, I just found out that all three of the digs that I've been on (Campo della Fiera, Chianciano, and Cetamura) are being presented at the Archaeological Institute of America's Annual Conference in Chicago in January. How badass is that?
DG is going to announce the finds and her theories about Cetamura, Soren is going to announce the end of excavations at Chianciano and detail the findings, and Stopponi is flying in from Italy to announce the amazing news about Campo. Luckily, none are being presented at the same time! This should be a crazy reunion for many of the people that I've dug with over the past 5 years.
Oh, and by the way, if things go well, I could be digging at both Cetamura AND Campo next summer! Wooo!
Plus, as icing on the cake, there's talk of a Clumsy Monkey Reunion in Chicago, as well.
DG is going to announce the finds and her theories about Cetamura, Soren is going to announce the end of excavations at Chianciano and detail the findings, and Stopponi is flying in from Italy to announce the amazing news about Campo. Luckily, none are being presented at the same time! This should be a crazy reunion for many of the people that I've dug with over the past 5 years.
Oh, and by the way, if things go well, I could be digging at both Cetamura AND Campo next summer! Wooo!
Plus, as icing on the cake, there's talk of a Clumsy Monkey Reunion in Chicago, as well.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Mmmmm...chocolate camera
This picture needs no explanation.
Or does it? Maybe this next one will help explain...
No? Well, it's a GIANT CHOCOLATE CAMERA. 'Nuff said.
Or does it? Maybe this next one will help explain...No? Well, it's a GIANT CHOCOLATE CAMERA. 'Nuff said.Thursday, August 2, 2007
I am especially proud of this one...
So, Shawn, Kristen and I, while doing laundry at Mac's decided to cook and cook and cook and cook. It was a little tricky to come up with a menu because everyone had their own ideas about what to make, but we finally decided on the following:
Appetizer: Chicken Shishkabobs with pineapple, red pepper, and shallots and your choice of a peach apricot or thai peanut sauce. (I went with the thai peanut and it was glorious!)
Side dishes: Garlic mashed potatoes topped with melted mozzarella and candied carrots.
Main dish: Stuffed beef tenderloin with a bourbon cream sauce.
-Stuffing: A cheesy, orange stuffing with pine nuts
-Sauce: Bourbon cream sauce with tarragon, roasted red peppers, garlic, and shallots
Shawn prepared the appetizers and the designed and created the AWESOME cream sauce from scratch. BTW, tarragon is my new favorite spice.
Kristen made the side dishes. The potatoes were perfectly garlicked (which means more than most people can handle) and the carrots did actually taste like candy. They were both pretty fantastic with the cream sauce on them, too.
And I prepared the beef and stuffing. The stuffing was made with an orange (orange zest and orange juice), honey, and brown sugar reduction and combined with the parmigiano-reggiano cheese, breadcrumb, and pine nut mix.
This one DEFINITELY goes on the menu at the bar we'll be opening.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I never mentioned the last thing I really cooked, but it was also awesome and will go on the menu.
It was a marinated pork tenderloin with an agrodolce sauce and stuffing. The pork tenderloin was marinated in a vegetable and peppercorn white wine marinade. The agrodolce sauce (which is famously used on boar dishes in Italy) is called agrodolce (sweet and sour) but is in reality an orange, chocolate sauce.
As I said, I marinated the pork in a marinade consisting of carrots, onions, celery, peppercorns, sage, rosemary, and bay leaves for about 4 hours. Then I cooked it with pancetta and a rosemary, peppercorn, and peperoncino inflused olive oil. The sauce, which was amazing (and tricky since I have never worked with chocolate before) consisted of, obviously, chocolate, orange zest, white wine vinegar, and pine nuts. The finished product was semi-sweet with only the hint of orange and made me long for the glory that was Cinghiale in Agrodolce in Italy.
Appetizer: Chicken Shishkabobs with pineapple, red pepper, and shallots and your choice of a peach apricot or thai peanut sauce. (I went with the thai peanut and it was glorious!)
Side dishes: Garlic mashed potatoes topped with melted mozzarella and candied carrots.
Main dish: Stuffed beef tenderloin with a bourbon cream sauce.
-Stuffing: A cheesy, orange stuffing with pine nuts
-Sauce: Bourbon cream sauce with tarragon, roasted red peppers, garlic, and shallots
Shawn prepared the appetizers and the designed and created the AWESOME cream sauce from scratch. BTW, tarragon is my new favorite spice.
Kristen made the side dishes. The potatoes were perfectly garlicked (which means more than most people can handle) and the carrots did actually taste like candy. They were both pretty fantastic with the cream sauce on them, too.
And I prepared the beef and stuffing. The stuffing was made with an orange (orange zest and orange juice), honey, and brown sugar reduction and combined with the parmigiano-reggiano cheese, breadcrumb, and pine nut mix.
This one DEFINITELY goes on the menu at the bar we'll be opening.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I never mentioned the last thing I really cooked, but it was also awesome and will go on the menu.
It was a marinated pork tenderloin with an agrodolce sauce and stuffing. The pork tenderloin was marinated in a vegetable and peppercorn white wine marinade. The agrodolce sauce (which is famously used on boar dishes in Italy) is called agrodolce (sweet and sour) but is in reality an orange, chocolate sauce.
As I said, I marinated the pork in a marinade consisting of carrots, onions, celery, peppercorns, sage, rosemary, and bay leaves for about 4 hours. Then I cooked it with pancetta and a rosemary, peppercorn, and peperoncino inflused olive oil. The sauce, which was amazing (and tricky since I have never worked with chocolate before) consisted of, obviously, chocolate, orange zest, white wine vinegar, and pine nuts. The finished product was semi-sweet with only the hint of orange and made me long for the glory that was Cinghiale in Agrodolce in Italy.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Post-Dig Craziness...
Since I’ve been home all I’ve wanted to do is go back to Italy. This summer was one of the best that I’ve ever had and so ridiculously successful in every way. I had so much fun that not even the incredibly crappy experience of travelling home could ruin it. I guess I'll start with the shitstorm that was travelling home.
Well, we were supposed to fly from Rome to Philly to Charlotte to Tallahassee on Wednesday and get in at almost midnight on Wednesday night but that plan was lost pretty much from the moment we woke up that morning. We were staying in a hotel close to the Rome train station so we got there with plenty of time to make our train to the airport but we went to the wrong platform and missed it. We took the next one, which was a half hour later, and thought that we were going to have to rush to the plane but it turned out that our flight was delayed for 3 HOURS! So we had to stand in line for those 3 hours waiting to change the flights we were going to miss because of the delay. So we finally made the flight to Philly and our next one was delayed for 2 HOURS. That means that by the time we would have made it to Charlotte we would have missed our flight to Tallahassee which was the last one. So we had to completely overhaul our itinerary. My travel buddy Abbe is from Orlando so we decided to hop a flight there and spend the night at her parents’ house then take one to Tallahassee in the morning. We got onto the flight (after it was delayed for over an hour) but the plane sat on the tarmac for 4 HOURS because of bad weather. After 4 hours of sitting on the plane and it not leaving, they decided to just cancel the flight. So it was now about 2 in the morning and we were stuck in the Philly airport with no flight. So we called US Airways (the biggest piece of crap airline on the planet) and there were no flights the next morning to Tallahassee so we decided to take on to Jacksonville. We slept in the airport that night and the next morning (my birthday) we flew to Jacksonville where Abbe’s boyfriend picked us up and drove us to Tallahassee. Our bags had stayed with our original itinerary so we had to go to the Tallahassee airport to pick them up. Luckily they were there. It was by far the worst travelling experience that I have ever had. Abbe and I have officially dubbed June 27, 2007 as "Cluster Fuck Wednesday".
Now to the good stuff. After the dig, I went to Orvieto (which is like another home for me) and got to spend some time with some of my old friends. Silvia and Teddy were on another archaeological dig in town so I hung out on the dig with them and got to help them take balloon photos of the site. I also spent some time with my professors (who ran my first and favorite dig) and get this…they invited me back to dig with them next year! I never thought I’d dig there again and was actually pretty bummed about it so when they invited me back it was such an amazing surprise. I haven’t dug there for two years and in those two years the site has transformed into one of the most amazing digs I could ever imagine. Only a meter or so away from where they had been digging for the last six years they found a temple foundation! The site is officially a major Etruscan sanctuary and will be presented at the annual AIA conference in January. For three years I was a part of this dig with so much potential and now I am going to be part of one of the most important Etruscan digs ever.
I was supposed to leave Orvieto on the 23rd and go down to Naples and Pompeii to start work on my thesis but of course with my luck with travelling there was a major nation-wide train strike so I had to spend an extra day in Orvieto. It was fortuitous, however, because an old friend of mine was having her honeymoon in Orvieto so I got to see her again, which was cool. Also, it turned out that my professors were taking their study abroad group down to Naples the next morning. So they let me hitch a ride down there with them and they paid for me to get into the Archaeological Museum and then they detoured the bus and dropped me off at my hotel. I can only imagine what the 80 kids on the program were thinking when a stranger jumped on their bus and it makes me laugh.
When I went down to Naples, I spent most of the day in the Archaeological Museum and then met up with Abbe and Jen from the dig this summer and the next day we went to Pompeii. Southern Italy in the summer is absurdly hot and Pompeii is the hottest of the hot. They say that Pompeii is in the shadow of Vesuvius, but believe me, there ain’t no shadows. It is all dirt and stone and the only respite from the heat is the few ancient fountains that they refurbished. At each one you can see people surrounding the fountains, dumping water all over themselves or filling their water bottles. I had to do some work and look at some mosaics and houses so Jen and Abbe called our visit the “Mosaic Death March”. I told them they didn’t need to follow me around but they did. And it worked out well because I saw almost everything I needed to see. One of the houses was blocked by a small wooden fence that we hopped over and snuck into (shhh, don’t tell anyone). And another house I needed to see was in an area of Pompeii that was blocked off. One of the guards was nice enough to unlock the gate and lead us to the house I needed to see. Then he proceeded to give us a tour of the house. He obviously didn’t know we were students of Pompeii so we were laughing to ourselves every time he would say something obvious or wrong. But we didn’t want to complain, he was doing us a favor. It was definitely special treatment and we’re not supposed to tell anyone about it. But I don’t think anyone I know moves in the same circles as this guard so we’re probably ok. The girls got tired of the “Mosaic Death March” so they went to see the Villa of Mysteries and they missed the coolest thing of the day. There was one more house I needed to see but it was closed for restoration. So I began a dialogue with a guard hoping that he’d let me in like the first guy. But he was a little more stubborn. We were chatting about the house and I was telling him I was a student but he kept telling me that I needed a letter of special permission to get into the locked houses. Apparently this “letter of special permission” was a 5 euro note. I offered him 10 but he laughed and said he’d do it for 5. So I actually bribed a guard (although it seems like he wanted to be bribed) to get behind the scenes…it was awesome.
That night we went to Sorrento, which is just a gorgeous beach town in the south, and we were kicking ourselves (well, the girls were kicking me) for staying in Naples instead of Sorrento because Naples is by far the dirtiest city that I have ever seen. There is literally garbage lying in the streets. We couldn’t take it so for our last day down south we went back to Sorrento. For the most part, the day was AWESOME. We rented Vespas and drove around Sorrento for like 5 hours. We drove up into the hills above the beach and stopped at one of the nicest hotels I’d ever seen. Somehow, I was able to persuade the pool bartender to give us some towels and let us use their pool. So we swam and sunned at this gorgeous hotel in Sorrento for a while, then had a nice lunch, and jumped back on our Vespas. After scooting around for a while longer, Abbe fell off the Vespa and scratched herself up. And then, if that wasn't bad enough, she was FREAKED OUT on the Vespa and still had to drive it for an hour to get down from the hills. Plus, she had to pay for 300 euros to pay for damages to the Vespa. I can’t really talk about it with Abbe because she’s still so pissed off about it all. But I had a TON of fun on the Vespa. Jen rode on mine with me because she didn't bring her driver's license/was afraid to drive one so I had to drive kind of slow, especially after Abbe fell. But when Abbe fell, I scooted off to a nearby hotel to get ice and water for her and Jen stayed with her so for about 20 minutes of scooting, I was gunning it down the streets and leaning into the turns and it was so cool. After the scooting, we went down to the beach and swam around and watched the sunset. For me at least, it was the most amazing day. When we went to leave Sorrento, there was a problem with the trains and they weren’t running so we had to take a bus, which took over three hours, back to Naples.
The next day we went to Rome, and spent almost 9 hours tooling around the city. Abbe had never been to Rome so Jen and I gave her the tour of the major monuments. We walked for a very long time but I love Rome and was loving every minute of it. The only bummer of the day was that the Ara Pacis was closed. That is one of the few monuments in Rome that I had never seen before and they closed it the day before we got there. We saw the excavations at the forum and they looked awesome. I know I got hooked up with some good digs but to work in the Roman Forum would be so cool. Rome at night is almost cooler than Rome during the day. We saw the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Novona and they were glowing orange and green, it’s the coolest thing.
So that was my post-dig experience for this year. I had a ton of fun, got some solid work in, got even more hooked up for next summer, etc., etc., etc. What a trip! (in every sense of the word).
Well, we were supposed to fly from Rome to Philly to Charlotte to Tallahassee on Wednesday and get in at almost midnight on Wednesday night but that plan was lost pretty much from the moment we woke up that morning. We were staying in a hotel close to the Rome train station so we got there with plenty of time to make our train to the airport but we went to the wrong platform and missed it. We took the next one, which was a half hour later, and thought that we were going to have to rush to the plane but it turned out that our flight was delayed for 3 HOURS! So we had to stand in line for those 3 hours waiting to change the flights we were going to miss because of the delay. So we finally made the flight to Philly and our next one was delayed for 2 HOURS. That means that by the time we would have made it to Charlotte we would have missed our flight to Tallahassee which was the last one. So we had to completely overhaul our itinerary. My travel buddy Abbe is from Orlando so we decided to hop a flight there and spend the night at her parents’ house then take one to Tallahassee in the morning. We got onto the flight (after it was delayed for over an hour) but the plane sat on the tarmac for 4 HOURS because of bad weather. After 4 hours of sitting on the plane and it not leaving, they decided to just cancel the flight. So it was now about 2 in the morning and we were stuck in the Philly airport with no flight. So we called US Airways (the biggest piece of crap airline on the planet) and there were no flights the next morning to Tallahassee so we decided to take on to Jacksonville. We slept in the airport that night and the next morning (my birthday) we flew to Jacksonville where Abbe’s boyfriend picked us up and drove us to Tallahassee. Our bags had stayed with our original itinerary so we had to go to the Tallahassee airport to pick them up. Luckily they were there. It was by far the worst travelling experience that I have ever had. Abbe and I have officially dubbed June 27, 2007 as "Cluster Fuck Wednesday".
Now to the good stuff. After the dig, I went to Orvieto (which is like another home for me) and got to spend some time with some of my old friends. Silvia and Teddy were on another archaeological dig in town so I hung out on the dig with them and got to help them take balloon photos of the site. I also spent some time with my professors (who ran my first and favorite dig) and get this…they invited me back to dig with them next year! I never thought I’d dig there again and was actually pretty bummed about it so when they invited me back it was such an amazing surprise. I haven’t dug there for two years and in those two years the site has transformed into one of the most amazing digs I could ever imagine. Only a meter or so away from where they had been digging for the last six years they found a temple foundation! The site is officially a major Etruscan sanctuary and will be presented at the annual AIA conference in January. For three years I was a part of this dig with so much potential and now I am going to be part of one of the most important Etruscan digs ever.
I was supposed to leave Orvieto on the 23rd and go down to Naples and Pompeii to start work on my thesis but of course with my luck with travelling there was a major nation-wide train strike so I had to spend an extra day in Orvieto. It was fortuitous, however, because an old friend of mine was having her honeymoon in Orvieto so I got to see her again, which was cool. Also, it turned out that my professors were taking their study abroad group down to Naples the next morning. So they let me hitch a ride down there with them and they paid for me to get into the Archaeological Museum and then they detoured the bus and dropped me off at my hotel. I can only imagine what the 80 kids on the program were thinking when a stranger jumped on their bus and it makes me laugh.
When I went down to Naples, I spent most of the day in the Archaeological Museum and then met up with Abbe and Jen from the dig this summer and the next day we went to Pompeii. Southern Italy in the summer is absurdly hot and Pompeii is the hottest of the hot. They say that Pompeii is in the shadow of Vesuvius, but believe me, there ain’t no shadows. It is all dirt and stone and the only respite from the heat is the few ancient fountains that they refurbished. At each one you can see people surrounding the fountains, dumping water all over themselves or filling their water bottles. I had to do some work and look at some mosaics and houses so Jen and Abbe called our visit the “Mosaic Death March”. I told them they didn’t need to follow me around but they did. And it worked out well because I saw almost everything I needed to see. One of the houses was blocked by a small wooden fence that we hopped over and snuck into (shhh, don’t tell anyone). And another house I needed to see was in an area of Pompeii that was blocked off. One of the guards was nice enough to unlock the gate and lead us to the house I needed to see. Then he proceeded to give us a tour of the house. He obviously didn’t know we were students of Pompeii so we were laughing to ourselves every time he would say something obvious or wrong. But we didn’t want to complain, he was doing us a favor. It was definitely special treatment and we’re not supposed to tell anyone about it. But I don’t think anyone I know moves in the same circles as this guard so we’re probably ok. The girls got tired of the “Mosaic Death March” so they went to see the Villa of Mysteries and they missed the coolest thing of the day. There was one more house I needed to see but it was closed for restoration. So I began a dialogue with a guard hoping that he’d let me in like the first guy. But he was a little more stubborn. We were chatting about the house and I was telling him I was a student but he kept telling me that I needed a letter of special permission to get into the locked houses. Apparently this “letter of special permission” was a 5 euro note. I offered him 10 but he laughed and said he’d do it for 5. So I actually bribed a guard (although it seems like he wanted to be bribed) to get behind the scenes…it was awesome.
That night we went to Sorrento, which is just a gorgeous beach town in the south, and we were kicking ourselves (well, the girls were kicking me) for staying in Naples instead of Sorrento because Naples is by far the dirtiest city that I have ever seen. There is literally garbage lying in the streets. We couldn’t take it so for our last day down south we went back to Sorrento. For the most part, the day was AWESOME. We rented Vespas and drove around Sorrento for like 5 hours. We drove up into the hills above the beach and stopped at one of the nicest hotels I’d ever seen. Somehow, I was able to persuade the pool bartender to give us some towels and let us use their pool. So we swam and sunned at this gorgeous hotel in Sorrento for a while, then had a nice lunch, and jumped back on our Vespas. After scooting around for a while longer, Abbe fell off the Vespa and scratched herself up. And then, if that wasn't bad enough, she was FREAKED OUT on the Vespa and still had to drive it for an hour to get down from the hills. Plus, she had to pay for 300 euros to pay for damages to the Vespa. I can’t really talk about it with Abbe because she’s still so pissed off about it all. But I had a TON of fun on the Vespa. Jen rode on mine with me because she didn't bring her driver's license/was afraid to drive one so I had to drive kind of slow, especially after Abbe fell. But when Abbe fell, I scooted off to a nearby hotel to get ice and water for her and Jen stayed with her so for about 20 minutes of scooting, I was gunning it down the streets and leaning into the turns and it was so cool. After the scooting, we went down to the beach and swam around and watched the sunset. For me at least, it was the most amazing day. When we went to leave Sorrento, there was a problem with the trains and they weren’t running so we had to take a bus, which took over three hours, back to Naples.
The next day we went to Rome, and spent almost 9 hours tooling around the city. Abbe had never been to Rome so Jen and I gave her the tour of the major monuments. We walked for a very long time but I love Rome and was loving every minute of it. The only bummer of the day was that the Ara Pacis was closed. That is one of the few monuments in Rome that I had never seen before and they closed it the day before we got there. We saw the excavations at the forum and they looked awesome. I know I got hooked up with some good digs but to work in the Roman Forum would be so cool. Rome at night is almost cooler than Rome during the day. We saw the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Novona and they were glowing orange and green, it’s the coolest thing.
So that was my post-dig experience for this year. I had a ton of fun, got some solid work in, got even more hooked up for next summer, etc., etc., etc. What a trip! (in every sense of the word).
Thursday, May 3, 2007
I Lied...
I'm not posting from Italy yet. Still in Florida. Really there are only 3 things I could be doing right now.
1. Since I'm at the office I could be doing work but...nah.
2. I could be playing an epic game of solitare but...maybe later.
3. I could be posting to Blogger...sure, why not.
In case any of you are interested, I am going to tell you about my summer reading list. First and foremost, I need to get started with my thesis, so I am going to read all of the background information on modern techniques for conserving mosaics. But then...on to the good stuff.
1. Eugene O'Neill: Mourning Becomes Electra - This is a play by the guy who did The Iceman Cometh. It is a retelling of the Oresteia but instead of Agamemnon coming home from the Trojan War, it is a Northern general coming home from the Civil War. All your favorite characters are still there: that bitch Clytemnestra, Orestes, Electra, and even the Chorus. O'Neill is known for his dramatic realism, and I hope MBE will be just like that and give a more humanistic reality to the Oresteia. Pre-reading stokedness level: 5
2. August Strindberg: The Ghost Sonata - Strindberg was a late 19th c. Swedish playwright who, along with Ibsen, was one of the most important Scandinavian authors. He is known for his naturalism and is considered a precursor to O'Neill's realistic literary style. The Ghost Sonata is a play in three parts following a young man who idealized the lives of several people who live in a very upscale apartment building in contemporary Stockholm. Eventually he is able to make it inside the building and finds that the inside is a sort of Hell or den of iniquity and the people he watched and idealized become mummies and vampires inside the apartment. Pre-reading stokedness level: 5
3. August Strindberg: The Dance of Death - A play in two parts that takes an amusing look at marriage in which a couple, living together in a desolate castle torment each other and mess with each other's mind. They attempt to involve any visitors into their vicious marital games. Pre-reading stokedness level: 4.5
4. (If there's time) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust - The ageless telling of the medieval scholar who makes a pact with the devil. I read it a while ago and I think it's time for me to reread it.
So yeah...there's the summer reading list. Mostly plays, which is interesting, and much of it written before the 20th century. If someone can suggest a modern book I might like, let me have it. But right now I'm taking Shannon's advice and heading back in time.
Oh, I almost forgot:
5. J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - The last chapter in the Harry Potter series. I hope he shoves his wand up Snape's ass.
1. Since I'm at the office I could be doing work but...nah.
2. I could be playing an epic game of solitare but...maybe later.
3. I could be posting to Blogger...sure, why not.
In case any of you are interested, I am going to tell you about my summer reading list. First and foremost, I need to get started with my thesis, so I am going to read all of the background information on modern techniques for conserving mosaics. But then...on to the good stuff.
1. Eugene O'Neill: Mourning Becomes Electra - This is a play by the guy who did The Iceman Cometh. It is a retelling of the Oresteia but instead of Agamemnon coming home from the Trojan War, it is a Northern general coming home from the Civil War. All your favorite characters are still there: that bitch Clytemnestra, Orestes, Electra, and even the Chorus. O'Neill is known for his dramatic realism, and I hope MBE will be just like that and give a more humanistic reality to the Oresteia. Pre-reading stokedness level: 5
2. August Strindberg: The Ghost Sonata - Strindberg was a late 19th c. Swedish playwright who, along with Ibsen, was one of the most important Scandinavian authors. He is known for his naturalism and is considered a precursor to O'Neill's realistic literary style. The Ghost Sonata is a play in three parts following a young man who idealized the lives of several people who live in a very upscale apartment building in contemporary Stockholm. Eventually he is able to make it inside the building and finds that the inside is a sort of Hell or den of iniquity and the people he watched and idealized become mummies and vampires inside the apartment. Pre-reading stokedness level: 5
3. August Strindberg: The Dance of Death - A play in two parts that takes an amusing look at marriage in which a couple, living together in a desolate castle torment each other and mess with each other's mind. They attempt to involve any visitors into their vicious marital games. Pre-reading stokedness level: 4.5
4. (If there's time) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust - The ageless telling of the medieval scholar who makes a pact with the devil. I read it a while ago and I think it's time for me to reread it.
So yeah...there's the summer reading list. Mostly plays, which is interesting, and much of it written before the 20th century. If someone can suggest a modern book I might like, let me have it. But right now I'm taking Shannon's advice and heading back in time.
Oh, I almost forgot:
5. J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - The last chapter in the Harry Potter series. I hope he shoves his wand up Snape's ass.
So, you may well remember from my first post that I was heading for Tunisia on April 30. So you might think, "Hey. Is Kevin posting from Tunisia?" The answer would be no. First of all, it would take too long to translate my post into Arabic, send it with a messenger on a camel to Blogger in San Francisco and have them post it. Second, I'm not in Tunisia...I'm still in Florida. A very unfortunate event occurred about a month and a half ago which set in motion other events that led to me changing my thesis topic and thus not going to Tunisia. Instead, I will be heading to Italy on Monday, working at Cetamura for 6 weeks, then spending on week in Pompeii working on my new thesis which concerns the conservation of mosaics at Pompeii. So, the next time I post, it will be from Italy because it certainly is easier to translate it into Italian and send it with the Pope-mobile than through all that sand in Tunisia. So stay tuned for the adventures of Cetamura and Pompeii 2007.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The downside of Mardi Gras...
...is Lent.
So here are my top ten things I'm giving up for Lent.
10. Vegetarianism
9. Sleep-walking
8. Ordering Chinese food with an Australian accent
7. Throwing clocks to see if time can actually fly
6. Watching Red Dawn (I know, it'll be hard, but it's worth it in the end)
5. Playing darts blindfolded
4. Running out in my boxers to get the newspaper (especially dangerous because I have to go three miles to the market to get the paper)
3. Sodium Bicarbonate
2. Celibacy
1. Being a bad Jew
And now, the top 10 WORST things to give up for Lent:
10. Sex
9. Meat
8. Porn
7. Math
6. Bar fights
5. Saved By the Bell reruns
4. Sex
3. Meat
2. Table Tennis
1. Going to visit the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota
So here are my top ten things I'm giving up for Lent.
10. Vegetarianism
9. Sleep-walking
8. Ordering Chinese food with an Australian accent
7. Throwing clocks to see if time can actually fly
6. Watching Red Dawn (I know, it'll be hard, but it's worth it in the end)
5. Playing darts blindfolded
4. Running out in my boxers to get the newspaper (especially dangerous because I have to go three miles to the market to get the paper)
3. Sodium Bicarbonate
2. Celibacy
1. Being a bad Jew
And now, the top 10 WORST things to give up for Lent:
10. Sex
9. Meat
8. Porn
7. Math
6. Bar fights
5. Saved By the Bell reruns
4. Sex
3. Meat
2. Table Tennis
1. Going to visit the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota
Polar Opposites...
Two books written by the same person:
1. Frames of Evil: The Holocaust as Horror in American Film.
2. From Ballroom Dancing to DanceSport: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Body Culture.
C'mon pick a field and run with it!
I think I'm going to focus on the Archaeology of Italy and Biomechanical engineering. Or on the history of accordians and the mating habits of panda bears. Or perhaps the effects of shiny objects on pre-teens and quantum physics.
1. Frames of Evil: The Holocaust as Horror in American Film.
2. From Ballroom Dancing to DanceSport: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Body Culture.
C'mon pick a field and run with it!
I think I'm going to focus on the Archaeology of Italy and Biomechanical engineering. Or on the history of accordians and the mating habits of panda bears. Or perhaps the effects of shiny objects on pre-teens and quantum physics.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
Some thoughts to ponder...
Here are some of my favorite quotes from recent memory:
Figure out where they're from and you'll get a prize.
1. "A good snapshot stops a moment from running away." (thanks Lacy)
2. "Quando dio vuole castigarci ci manda quello che desideriamo." (also a point for translation)
3. "If a guy’s a good neighbor, if he puts in a day, if every once in a while he laughs, if every once in a while he thinks about somebody else and above all else if he can find his way to compassion and tolerance, then he’s my brother."
4. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
5. "It is certainly sordid to do the wrong thing, and anyone can do the right thing when there is no danger attached; what distinguishes the good man from others is that when danger is involved he still does right."
More to come next time.
Figure out where they're from and you'll get a prize.
1. "A good snapshot stops a moment from running away." (thanks Lacy)
2. "Quando dio vuole castigarci ci manda quello che desideriamo." (also a point for translation)
3. "If a guy’s a good neighbor, if he puts in a day, if every once in a while he laughs, if every once in a while he thinks about somebody else and above all else if he can find his way to compassion and tolerance, then he’s my brother."
4. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
5. "It is certainly sordid to do the wrong thing, and anyone can do the right thing when there is no danger attached; what distinguishes the good man from others is that when danger is involved he still does right."
More to come next time.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Procrastination is key...
I am not a thief...unless I am engaged in thievery: So I stole this from Sandwich Flats.
Things that scare me:
1. Being tortured by Colombian guerillas
2. Dying alone
3. Da Ghetto
People that make me laugh:
1. Eddie Murphy in 1983
2. Douglas Adams
3. Mel Brooks
Things I love:
1. Archaeology
2. L.A.
3. The phrase: "Let's blow this popsickle stand"
Things I hate:
1. Modern Art
2. Bad drivers
3. Being itchy
Things I don’t understand:
1. Why people like Reality TV
2. Bio-Mechanical Engineering
3. How to properly perform a tracheotomy
Things on my desk:
1. Febreze
2. Tennent's Beer Tray
3. Euripides' Herakles
Things I’m doing right now:
1. Procrastinating
2. Procrastinating
3. Surfing the InterWeb
Three things I want to do before I die:
1. Travel to every continent
2. Make a worthwhile contribution to the world
3. Make a time-capsule
Things I can do:
1. Use a pick-axe with precision
2. Fence
3. Part the Red Sea.
Things you should listen to:
1. "Blind" Willie Johnson
2. Your mother
3. Your conscience
Things you should never listen to:
1. Trace Adkins: Honky Tonk Ba-Donka-Donk
2. W
3. Time-share salesmen
Things I would like to learn:
1. How certain chemicals effect the state of degradation of specific archaeological artifacts
2. How to cheat at cards
3. The physics of billiards
Favorite foods:
1. Ribs
2. Ice Cream
3. Steak
Favorite beverages:
1. Water
2. Guinness
3. Gummy Juice
TV shows I watched, books I read as a kid:
1. Saved By The Bell
2. The Berenstain Bears
3. Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers
Things I like about Sandwich Flats:
1. Makes me laugh
2. Can quote The Big Lebowski and the Simpsons for days
3. Will buy the next round
Your turn.
Things that scare me:
1. Being tortured by Colombian guerillas
2. Dying alone
3. Da Ghetto
People that make me laugh:
1. Eddie Murphy in 1983
2. Douglas Adams
3. Mel Brooks
Things I love:
1. Archaeology
2. L.A.
3. The phrase: "Let's blow this popsickle stand"
Things I hate:
1. Modern Art
2. Bad drivers
3. Being itchy
Things I don’t understand:
1. Why people like Reality TV
2. Bio-Mechanical Engineering
3. How to properly perform a tracheotomy
Things on my desk:
1. Febreze
2. Tennent's Beer Tray
3. Euripides' Herakles
Things I’m doing right now:
1. Procrastinating
2. Procrastinating
3. Surfing the InterWeb
Three things I want to do before I die:
1. Travel to every continent
2. Make a worthwhile contribution to the world
3. Make a time-capsule
Things I can do:
1. Use a pick-axe with precision
2. Fence
3. Part the Red Sea.
Things you should listen to:
1. "Blind" Willie Johnson
2. Your mother
3. Your conscience
Things you should never listen to:
1. Trace Adkins: Honky Tonk Ba-Donka-Donk
2. W
3. Time-share salesmen
Things I would like to learn:
1. How certain chemicals effect the state of degradation of specific archaeological artifacts
2. How to cheat at cards
3. The physics of billiards
Favorite foods:
1. Ribs
2. Ice Cream
3. Steak
Favorite beverages:
1. Water
2. Guinness
3. Gummy Juice
TV shows I watched, books I read as a kid:
1. Saved By The Bell
2. The Berenstain Bears
3. Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers
Things I like about Sandwich Flats:
1. Makes me laugh
2. Can quote The Big Lebowski and the Simpsons for days
3. Will buy the next round
Your turn.
While I'm at it...
While I'm talking about my future, I might as well just let the world in on the little secret that is my life plan.
Let's start with the immediate and move towards the long-term.
1. Monday, February 12, 2007: Nail my Pompeii test to the wall...make it my bitch.
2. February 12-February 18, 2007: Pompeii test, intramural soccer, Sweeney Todd
3. February 2007: Pompeii and Museum Object presentations, major research for Etruscan Mirrors and Pompeii
4. Spring Break 2007: The Keys! Key Largo and Miami, baby!
5. Spring Semester 2007: Write publishable paper, present a paper.
6. Summer 2007: Archaeological digs in Tunisia/Italy.
7. 2007: Majority of my thesis research.
8. One-Two years out: Write thesis and graduate with an M.A. in Classical Archaeology and Museum Studies Certificate; Intensive Conservation internship at Ringling Museum.
9. Five years out: M.A. degree, Conservation pre-program requirements (2 years of chemistry, art portfolio, conservation internship, etc.)
10. Ten years out: Conservation degrees and expanded archaeological conservation internship; get a job as an archaeological conservator.
So that's my ten year career plan in a nutshell. I anticipate plenty of obstacles, but none that will stand for too long.
Let's start with the immediate and move towards the long-term.
1. Monday, February 12, 2007: Nail my Pompeii test to the wall...make it my bitch.
2. February 12-February 18, 2007: Pompeii test, intramural soccer, Sweeney Todd
3. February 2007: Pompeii and Museum Object presentations, major research for Etruscan Mirrors and Pompeii
4. Spring Break 2007: The Keys! Key Largo and Miami, baby!
5. Spring Semester 2007: Write publishable paper, present a paper.
6. Summer 2007: Archaeological digs in Tunisia/Italy.
7. 2007: Majority of my thesis research.
8. One-Two years out: Write thesis and graduate with an M.A. in Classical Archaeology and Museum Studies Certificate; Intensive Conservation internship at Ringling Museum.
9. Five years out: M.A. degree, Conservation pre-program requirements (2 years of chemistry, art portfolio, conservation internship, etc.)
10. Ten years out: Conservation degrees and expanded archaeological conservation internship; get a job as an archaeological conservator.
So that's my ten year career plan in a nutshell. I anticipate plenty of obstacles, but none that will stand for too long.
Summer Plans
Now that my summer has been officially planned, I would like to tell everyone so that their jealousy may ensue.
1. No FINALS, baby!
2. April 30: Flying to Tunis, Tunisia! WOO!
3. 2 weeks in Tunisia researching for my thesis. One week will be spent at the archaeological site of Leptiminus, the second week I will travel around to the famous archaeological sites and to Tunis to check out the Bardo Museum. Hopefully in this time I will do all the on-site research necessary.
4. May 16: Fly to Milan, Italy.
5. 5 weeks digging at Cetamura del Chianti where I will resume my position as trench supervisor.
6. May 21: Spend the night basking in the glow of the warm lights of Rome.
7. May 22: Fly back to Tallahassee.
At some point in July, and I can never remember the exact date, I'll be heading to the beach for Shawn and Kristen's wedding. I will also probably head back to California for a bit in August. I was invited to go up to Virginia for a few days during the summer, probably in August and I really hope I have the time.
I am more than stoked to get the summer started. I mean Tunisia? WTF? Who gets to do that?
1. No FINALS, baby!
2. April 30: Flying to Tunis, Tunisia! WOO!
3. 2 weeks in Tunisia researching for my thesis. One week will be spent at the archaeological site of Leptiminus, the second week I will travel around to the famous archaeological sites and to Tunis to check out the Bardo Museum. Hopefully in this time I will do all the on-site research necessary.
4. May 16: Fly to Milan, Italy.
5. 5 weeks digging at Cetamura del Chianti where I will resume my position as trench supervisor.
6. May 21: Spend the night basking in the glow of the warm lights of Rome.
7. May 22: Fly back to Tallahassee.
At some point in July, and I can never remember the exact date, I'll be heading to the beach for Shawn and Kristen's wedding. I will also probably head back to California for a bit in August. I was invited to go up to Virginia for a few days during the summer, probably in August and I really hope I have the time.
I am more than stoked to get the summer started. I mean Tunisia? WTF? Who gets to do that?
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