What do you do as a Museum GA?

I am still asking myself the same question. I am really unsure as to how a museum works and at this point am just wondering around aimlessly until I am given some direction. It is just kind of caught me off guard to be thrown in a position that I have never held before and then just kind of told "There you go." Some of the things that I will be working on:

bringing the museum up to federal regulations

helping to clean up the public spaces to help them be more inviting and usable

redesigning the museum website (which I don't know how to do) as well as incorporating feedback space, a calendar, and a blog onto the site

Preparing and help design a new guest exhibit in preparation for an upcoming festival

Helping to market the museum

Helping to make the museum more hands on and kid friendly

Helping to organize and streamline the processes of the museum (very broad I know)


And those are just a few. There are 3 GA's out there total, but there hasn't been any updates done in around 30 years. Needless to say we have a lot to do and very little time to do it. Today alone I sat down and wrote out three pages of possible projects all of which are outside my own personal agendas that I have for being there. This experience is going to be one that is going to teach me a lot, but at the same time is going to be very, very time consuming.

I am really hoping that I can get my schedule down pat and start to plan out my days. At this point I am so scattered in so many directions that I don't see myself being very productive. I need to start scheduling time for studying and that just isn't there at the moment. I already have so much reading that I know that I am going to have to take it with me on our mini-vacation to Cedar Point this weekend. Ahh....to be a graduate student: They are paying for me to go to school but are gonna squeeze every pennies worth out of me in return.

Back to work!

Wife turns 24

That is right....my wonderful, amazing, beautiful, talented, loving, caring, one-of-a-kind wife is turning 24 today. We never thought that this amazing birthday and milestone would ever get here. There are so many things that come with being 24 I don't understand how she isn't screaming from the roof tops to let everyone know!!!

In all seriousness, my dear wife is turning 24 today and I wanted to use this venue, since it reaches all the masses (haha), to wish her a happy birthday and so the rest of you can do the same if you wish. She claims she doesn't like much fuss to be made out of her birthday, but we all know that is just what girls say to throw us off. We will see how she takes it.

Everyone wish her the best, as I do everyday, and let us all be thankful that the nerdy wife has survived another year (especially after being with me)

Cheers!

Long Day

My posts are undoubtedly going to be very sparse, short, and often last minute until I get my new schedule under way. There are a lot of things that I would like to see on this blog, but we will see how much this semester is going to allow.

For the time being....my first day at the museum was...ok. I don't know if the jobs that I have scheduled at this time are in full use of my abilities but thing bigger and better opportunities will come. Luckily I will be able to incorporate my museum studies class assignments into this GA and will be able to better both sides of the spectrum. The museum is going to be a challenge for me in that I have been trying to get away from archaeology and focus on physical anthropology....but I will just have to strive to keep a strong focus. I gave my first tour today and lets just say it went ok. It was to 3 people from France with only one of which spoke English. On top of that I had to explain why it was that the U.S. Gov't removed the tribes from their land, moved them to Oklahoma, and what their lifestyles were like now. Needless to say, it was a much more loaded question with a very lengthy response that I tried to summarize as democratically as possible. I think it worked.

Enough of that for now, I have to get to work on the other museum related blogs and make sure everything is progressing on that front.

Wish me luck.

Project Numero Uno

So I wanted to give you a little insight into what my first class was like. It is one of those fundamental, or core, classes that all master's of anthropology students must take and is entitled "Applied Anthropology and Development." That being said, it is the killer class. The class centers around doing team work with a local community building initiative to engage the student in the community and partner them with individuals from other specialties to complete a common goal. The project I will be working on has to do with the University district and the revitalization of the Highland strip as the new entrance to the University. This project will include identifying what the community around this area is and how they identify themselves combined with how to make that identity known and welcoming. It will include numerous building plans, business proposals, and art projects to make the Highland strip the Cumberland strip of my Knoxville year. It should be interesting.


Gotta run....I have a 45 min drive to get to work....more later

With the Quickness

I am already bogged way down with the amount of stuff to get done this week. My semester started this week....and I started behind. There were thousands (ok, maybe not that many) of things I needed to get done to "prepare" for the semester, and I put them all off. Anyway, I had my first class today and with it being a graduate only class and one of our core classes, it is going to be brutal. I am looking at around 500 pages of reading per week for this semester. And that should be on a good week.

It also looks like I will be working on 2 other blogs for this semester as well. I will bring them up more once I get them started.

I will also have my first day of work at the museum tomorrow as well. It should be interesting.

All in all my semester is in full swing and I will be staying up late to try and get ready for the rest of my week.

More to come soon....as soon as I have a moment of sanity.

Getting Started

There are so many things running through my head in these days leading up to school starting back. Tomorrow is my official start with my first meeting for the museum to discuss the action plans for the next year and get a grasp of my first assignments. I am really interested to see how everything goes because I have never ventured into this aspect of being an anthropologist before. Secondly, the director of the museum (whom will also be one of my professors this semester) is one of those very interested and very helpful people that makes sure that you are doing ok. Not that I always need this, but it is nice to have someone ask you if you are doing well and everything is going as planned.

I had a professor during my undergrad that took me under her wing and opened a lot of doors for me, and I see the same personality in this director and it makes me very comfortable and confident. I am also starting to get in well with the other masters students in the program and feel as if I am finally making the transition into this new part of my life. I am so incredibly excited for things to get started while at the same time terrified on all that I will be challenged with this term. There is also the fact that I will be tackling the museum aspect of things and will have a whole new area of things to focus on that are out of my comfort zone. Well it is off to planning for the upcoming week with dozens of things to get done and only time to really complete about three.

Spreading Stupidity

On my quest for nerdy interest across the net I find thousands of things that I always want to share. This time it is again another blog, however I am going to focus on a post that he had. The blog is Stupid Evil Bastard and he introduced me to a video clip that made me sad, angry, confident, and irritated all at the same time.

Here is Stupid Evil Bastard's Disclaimer:
"WARNING! THE FOLLOWING VIDEO HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO BE A HAZARD TO YOUR I.Q. BY THE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL. LONG TERM EXPOSURE TO STUPIDITY OF THIS MAGNITUDE CAN RESULT IN PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE AND A TENDENCY TO VOTE REPUBLICAN. FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU VIEW THIS VIDEO IN SMALL CHUNKS INTERSPERSED WITH SEVERAL LENGTHY BREAKS TO ALLOW YOUR SYNAPSES TIME TO RECOVER. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD KEEP A COPY OF CARL SAGAN’S DEMON HAUNTED WORLD OR SOME OTHER FORM OF INTELLECTUALLY UPLIFTING READING MATERIAL ON HAND TO HELP COUNTER THE STUNNING LACK OF INTELLIGENCE FOUND IN THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CLIP."



I couldn't honestly believe it. This just reaffirm the fact there are people out there that would rather look to "faith" rather than find truth. That is the way that I see it anyway. When the thought of pouring through articles and research to find answers, it is easier to look to religion and judge those that have found more concrete answers. Wow!!! This makes me so angry and so sad for this guy. I still can't honestly believe it and after much research I found out that this wasn't a parody but real. This guy really believes this. Ok....I have to leave this alone, you can see where I am coming from.

Posts of note

I was going to try and recapture the essence of some really interesting posts that I have come across in the past couple of days. In the interest of saving some time I will do another one of my famous lists of things I like with my opinions. These are just some interesting ways to procrastinate......which is one of my many skills.

The Omnivore's Hundred - A great listing of 100 foods that any omnivore would love. The point is to copy and add it to your own blog to show case the breadth of your culinary experience and just how much of an omnivore you really are. Thanks Catraggedy.


1001 rules for my unborn son - An interesting listing of things you might want to have instilled in that son that you may or may not have one day as well as providing reflection on your own life. Thanks My Midtown Memphis.

The last two are music orientated.

Hallelujah - A really great blog about those songs that you know every word to but are not sure really what it means. This one in particular centers around that catchy "Hallelujah" song that everyone knows...yet even I am not sure what it is about. All a part of the great blogs of NPR's All Songs considered

Top 10 80's Pop Songs - Another great post on the All Song's Considered page revealing the top 10 80's pop songs and their videos. I have to agree that some of them are some of the greatest, yet there are some that I had never heard of and never want to again. It is a really great post to waste some time on.

Into the Personal

I need to share something more so for me to put it out there rather than for support.

I am happy.

Not that there has been anything terribly wrong but I just haven't been happy happy in a long time. It all goes back to when I first went of to college and figured out I had a problem. My going off to college and striking out on my own after being a goody-goody high schooler coincided with my dad leaving for Iraq. My mom was struggling with my father being gone and I was able to do what ever the hell I wanted for the first time ........... and I did. I did a lot of drinking, a lot of other stuff, a lot of sleeping and very little class. Once it was too late I finally admitted that I didn't feel the same and decided to see a doctor. It was at that time that I was told that I had depression and it coincided with panic attacks and anxiety. I struggled with the fact that I was put on medication and it took me a long time to realize that I had an actual imbalance rather than just not being able to control myself.

I then went through a period in my life where I was able to get myself under control. I went through a period where I didn't have insurance and therefore decided to look into all natural alternatives, deep breathing, and meditation to try and keep myself in balance.

That worked until we came here.

Once we made the big move and the massive adjustment to the new city I found myself in need of something else and moved on to yoga. Again this was another avenue for me to postpone the inevitable. I have been struggling with my depression and anxiety since we moved here and it has caused a lot of problems. I have been leaning on my wife more than I should, I have been unable to let myself be myself around people, I have been very argumentative, and I have latched onto all of my wife's co-workers as friends. For all these things I am forever apologetic...but can't take it back. At this point I have been back on medication for a month and feel like a completely new person.

It is as if I have just made the move here and am starting over.

While I have already stepped on some toes and acted a little unreasonable and rowdier than should be done at my age, I am ready to start again. I have never been happier than I am about being back in school, working at the museum, my relationship is strong as ever, and my wife is figuring things out at work. I think that I am back on the right track and finally feel like myself again. I think another big part of this is my realization that this is something that I have to have treatment for and am not able to control in this part of my life.

The problem that still bothers me is that this is possibility that this "problem" is a product of our current culture and life style.

Anyway, thank you all for reading as I ramble....but I feel much better as a result. Thanks!

Helping Hand

Just wanted to share some new websites that have been brought to my attention.

Moracca 180: One of my favorite websites and blogs on the planet. Moracca guest stars on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't tell me almost every week giving us his witty remarks to everything culture. His site remarks on all things American and is particularly entertaining when it comes to politics.

Stock.Xchng: Just a massive photo stock site that is actually.......free!! Many of us go in search of photos for blogs and the like and here is a great tool that won't cost you anything.....as of right now.


Hit Me Later: A website that allows you to e-mail it and it will send the e-mail back to you at your specified time. This way those e-mails or things that you know you are going to forget can be sent back to you to re-jogg your memory and make sure you don't forget.


Getmooh: "Get me out of Here" is a website that allows you to set up a call to interrupt any of those blind dates or unnecessary meetings that might be plaguing your schedule. You input your information and time and the website calls you to get you out of those sticky situations.


Personal Footprint Calculator: This website takes you through a series of questions to determine the amount of emissions that you are contributing to the destruction of our planet. It may shock you!!!


Thank you to Paul Rayburn's Journal for pointing me in the direction of many of these websites..........an awesome blog to if you want to check it out.

Saturday at the market

This weekends farmer's market was amazing. First of all we got up at 7 to go which is our preferred time to go....however our "woo-hoo" summer plans have left us very hung over and unable to attend until late if we attend at all. We got down there early this past Saturday though and even had my father-in-law with me. This man knows so many people and has a vast knowledge on veggies that comes in handy when you can't tell what people have to offer. It is amazing how happy food is making me. The fact that they still had fresh blueberries in season this weekend made me just as happy as that cold beer after a long day. Same feeling, much better for my body. We also found some really fresh artisan bread, bell peppers, fresh pears, new potatoes, butter beans, organic and grass fed ground beef, a whole chicken, hot Italian sausage, beef stick snacks, a cantaloupe....and maybe that is it. We had a great time drinking our market coffee and just walking around seeing what there was for the taking and just took our time. With me being the one that has made a few trips to the market by myself....having my wife and father-in-law with me was a great experience and much better than being there by myself.

The market has become one of my favorite and most comforting places here in the city. I am able to see a great plethora of fruits and veggies that you can't find in stores, talk to the farmer's that grew them, and even ask tips on what I should be doing with them. There is since of security knowing that my food comes from the Ripley farm or the North Mississippi farm and knowing that if I don't like the quality or the size for the price there is the possibility for haggling. There is also the people that talk to you in line, the vendors that say "hope to see you next week," the people that smile for no good reason, and even the shelter dogs whom we donate too on a regular basis. In a city that has so many issues and in a time in my life when everything seems so hectic and disconnected.....I am connected there. I belong in the market and I feel like I belong among my fellow marketers. I think this is one transition that I (and hopefully my wife) have made that I will not be able to undo. What will I do come October when the market goes on hiatus?

The Desk of Procrastination

I can not focus today. All I need to be doing is combing through the web for research publications and i can't focus.......and I think I know why. My desk is a mess and a total distraction. It looks similar to this



Ok, I am exaggerating a little bit. But not as much as you think. So after putting things off yesterday to clean the house (procrastination day number 1)it looks like I am going to be redoing my office again in hopes of starting with a clean desk, and organized filing system, and a room that provokes work not procrastination (now procrastination day number 2). Even though it is a little more "Modern Gal" than I really want to be, I really wish my space could be more like this



Yes that is pottery barn...but it is so clean...I want it.

Ok....now back to work and the end of my procrastination via blogging.

Movie Post

I was able to beat off all the social invitations for the weekend (more so I didn't call anyone to see what was going on). In that vein, the wife and I were able to have a movie filled weekend. We were able to catch Pineapple Express, Wizard of Oz, Transformers, and Mama Mia.

Thursday night we wanted to take an Olympic reprieve and decided a night at the movies was a good idea. We don't go to the movies very often, but obviously when we do we go kind of overboard. I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. While it was unusual it was surprising relative and funny without going overboard. The subject matter is something that I find hilarious and noticed that many of the comments of my attending the movie was asking if I was using the subject matter in question or not. Overall the film was very enjoyable and mindless without being obnoxious and I would recommend it to anyone.

Friday night me and my wife had a much needed date night. We went downtown to our little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant for dinner and even walked around the corner to the local pastry shop for desert. Despite the fact that it was raining like crazy, the night was very enjoyable. We went to the historic theater here downtown and watched Wizard of Oz on the big screen. It was amazing to see such an iconic movie on a larger scale yet I did not expect people to a) dress up b) sing along c) making noises throughout the film. It seems to be that the loyal followers of this movie interact in a similar (yet much smaller scale) as those of Rocky Horror. The sound and film were much better on the big screen and the next time I go I will have to dress up. Oh yeah, all the kids help remind me that I am not ready for a child yet either.......like anyone is suprised by that.

Saturday night we finally got around to watching Transformers. We have had Netflicks for a while and have been trying to get around to all those movies that people have been telling us about. I have to say that I was suprised. With all the hype and the childhood tie to the movie I did not expect to like it. On top of that I really didn't expect my wife to enjoy it at all.....and she loved it. So much so that we ran to Target and bought it since it was on sale. I should start listening to other people's opinions on movies...this was a great one.

Sunday night we headed out to grocery shopping and after picking up a copy of Transformers at Target......we headed off to see Mama Mia. Neither of us really wanted to go to the grocery store and just really wanted to stay detached as long as we possibly could before our Mondays had to start. As far as the movie went......it was interesting. It was not horrible for a movie that was a play...and that is a musical. Yet it wasn't really good either. There were a lot of times in which it just seemed a little forced or a little awkward. Overall it was a "cutesie" movie and while is not one that I will watch again...I did not want to scratch my eyes out or anything afterward.

I think this is the most time I have spent watching movies in a long time...and i really enjoyed it.

Inked

I WANT A NEW TATTOO!!!!



I have a small "I am 18 and can do what I want" tattoo, but really want another to commemorate my graduating my undergrad and getting into grad school. This is not to commemorate my marriage or anything else in my life, but after failing out of school for a time, getting back in and then getting full funding for grad school I really want to commemorate that.

I want to get the tattoo on the inside of my bicep or forearm......yet I am still not decided on the design. My issues come in that I know that I want something skeletal, yet not having it anatomically correct is something I struggle with. Here are some of my favorites.




Without any text.











Now just to narrow it down and go get it done!!!!

Brace Myself

With last being my last actual week off the wife and I decided that it was time to transition back into responsible adult mode and take it easy this past weekend. While we are still having a little trouble transitioning from our summer of social activities having a laid back weekend was very enjoyable. We were able to catch four movies this weekend (will talk about those later) as well as spending a couple of hours wondering around the farmer's market early Saturday morning. It is amazing how different the experience at the market is when you get there early.....like the other responsible people.

I say last week was my actual last week before school for the fact that I have to start planning. I have a independent study course that I have to come up with a reading list for and have to have my course outline completed for two other courses. On top of that, the official start of the semester is Saturday, and you guessed it I have a meeting on Saturday. While it is a laid back meeting at the museum director's house over lunch, it is still me having to plan around it. I have this sinking suspicion that this semester (and the next 2 years) are going to make me wish for a day a boredom like I have been trying to get out of all summer.

For those that haven't gotten a grip on my future plans (and to remind myself) I will share my semester with you. I am working as a graduate assistant (full tuition paid and a stipend) for the local archaeological museum and will be completing 20 hours of work there per week (including one Saturday per month). At this point it looks like I will be taking care of all of the bone material and NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act)compliance while also helping the museum to have a better web presence and more extended marketing plan. I am really looking forward to it but the events like heritage days (over 1000 school kids visiting all five days of a week) is a little daunting to me at this point. I am doing this partnership with the museum to get my Master's Degree in Medical Anthropology. My focus will be biomedical anthropology with a focus on the effects of cultural and biological agents on the human skeleton. I will also be achieving a museum studies certificate that will allow me to work as a museum administrator in the future (an easy to achieve back-up plan). I will be able to finish this in 2 years and will be doing both a practicum and writing a thesis. It is promising to be a busy and full two years and I can't wait to get it up and going. I will be doing an independent study this year (as I mentioned before) focusing on the effects of obesity on the skeleton and the cultural and biological influences that "cause" obesity. I will also be taking a museum studies class in hopes of writing a grant to incorporate "forensics" into the museum setting to attract more individuals. Other than that I am going to be studying the applied theories of anthropology and the anthropology of health care. Exciting to me anyway.

That being said.....it is time for me to make that transition back to an adult life style and stop going out five days a week and coming home at 4 or 5 am 2 of the nights a week. I have to say that it was refreshing to be that irresponsible this summer, and I think well deserved, but it is time to refocus. I say this not to convince you, but more so to reiterate it to myself. With our money crunch (as always) combined with a close friend of ours moving to New York, we are really wanting to save a lot and be able to visit her while we can have a free room. We are shooting for Christmas.

Alright, enough of me trying to convince myself to be responsible, I need to get some of this stuff done.

Remakes

I am having to take a blogging reprieve on just blogging about the Olympics. I found some news today that is might not be new but is new to me and might destroy my childhood. Just like many of the movies of today seem to be doing, well not destroying, they are reinventing all the images from my childhood into new characters for movies which looses my childhood vision of these characters. While the new Batman movies are great. Along with superman, spiderman, and the like all shaped my childhood. Well they have gone and done it again.

If you haven't yet heard.......He-man is the next to be released. Among my top 10 childhood hero's, I am not sure if I am ready for this. Scheduled to be released in 2009, the movie has me very skeptical. With the not so recent releases of movies like 300 or Lord of the Rings, I can see great possibilities for this film.....but remain skeptical. There is also talk of the Thundercats being turned into a CGI film much like TMNJ was. We shall see.



Ok....now the BIG NEWS!!!






That's right. I am sure many of you recognize that iconic symbol. The Rock Horror Picture Show MC. I hate to say it but rumors of the movie being remade are up and going again. There have been a number of comments like it being make into a TV movie, having Dr. Fank N. Furter being played my Marilyn Manson, and the reaction of all the irate fans. I have to say that I am a huge, huge, huge fan of this movie and can't believe that they would want to redo this classic.

On top of that, making it for a TV movie will be a little too much of a change for me. With this news it does spark me to want to represent this movie for Halloween. It is also playing at the Orpheum Theater here in Memphis in September and I am going to have to go (hint, hint Memphis friends). Regardless, this might have to change my plans from being the Joker for halloween to having my wife join me to be Brad and Janet. If only I could find a Dr. Frank N. Furter to go with us. This is a good way to break it to the wife too I guess.
Here is what I have in mind:

I think she will be ok with that. Any Frank N. Furter volunteers let me know and we can work something out.

Running behind

Over the past couple of days I have had to finish up a project that I was working on and start work on compiling a list of articles on obesity for my independent study that will start soon. That being said I have put off watching the Olympics to try and actually get some work done.

As far as the events that I was able to catch, there was only one that I wasn't able to understand. The greco roman wrestling kind of through me off guard. It wasn't the implied homosexual comments and appearance of the event (even quite comical at times) but the rules and scoring of the event threw me for a loop as well. It really reiterated the underlying homosexual culture that was alive and well in Greek culture during the time when this event was established.

I also caught some of the table tennis events, both doubles and singles. Great fun. I am beginning to really enjoy the little mini-documentaries on culture and the U.S athletes that they have been featuring. While they leave a lot to be desired (especially when regarding culture) they are still rather entertaining and informative. The men's gymnastics individual competition is rather entertaining yet I have yet to finish it to see the standing (no one spoil it for me).

That is all I have had a chance to catch outside more swimming trials and hope that I will be able to catch up tonight. I also realized that my writing has been all over the place, but I will try to at least proof my blogs from here on.....sorry about that.

The Olympic Dilemma

As the Olympics only come around (summer anyway) every four years, I allow it to be a little bit more of a distraction than I probably should. Since the addition to Tivo and DVR to our family about 2 years ago I have been able to postpone TV shows until I actually have time and need mindless escape. That is definitely not the case this week where the Olympics are on in my house 24 hours a day. That's right, anytime I am home they are on and as soon as I wake up they are on. The DVR is also allowing me to get through a lot of the events that i would normally skip in record time through the fast forward option. I have to warn you though, if you try to watch gymnastics or diving in fast forward it goes a little fast and you just see human blobs flying through the air (it can be quite comical though).



Speaking of comical, me and the wife both agree that having badminton has an Olympic event does allow for some comic relief when it comes to the days events. We were able to catch the U.S. badminton team last night, and it was hilarious.

We also were able to catch the intense finals of the womens gymnastics where the U.S. (all of age and have hit puberty) gave the Chinese a run for their money until the last two events. The Chinese showing no signs of puberty or all of their permanent teeth being in mind you.

Other than that we were also able to catch "super human" Phelps win in the butterfly (a technique that I have attempted and find quite difficult and comical to attempt) and the 4x200 relay. While the races meets where exciting because of the records that Phelps was winning, it almost seems like it would be more exciting for him to beat at this point than win. You really expect him to win and it has now become a little to easy for him it seems. Just sayin.



I have to say that the commentators are getting on my wearing on me more and more each day and as time passes I am enjoying the silence of watching the events in fast forward rather than watching live. It got to a point last night during the womens gymnastics when (granted I was very excited and on edge for us to win) where I actually told the wife that I was going to find out who the women commentator was and write a complaint. The comments she has really take away from the overall presentation and leave you to doubt the abilities and feel negatively towards our own team. That isn't right. At one point in particular she mentioned "too bad she doesn't have the skill to get a high score" and "she isn't skilled enough to be attempting this" oh, oh and "what did you expect" regarding the floor exercise fall. I still haven't decided if it is worth my time, but this lady was awful. Granted the womens synchronized diving commentator is bad too, but doesn't even hold a candle to this woman.

I think that is it for now. I need to put some more time into putting of work, house cleaning, reading, and getting ready for school but checking out the latest Olympic updates and gossip.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29455407@N06/2759389943/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29455407@N06/2760223610/

More Olympics and Zen Breathing

My usual posts are going to have to be postponed until after the Olympics due to my obsessiveness. I know that all my loyal readers (hahaha) will be so disappointed, but everything will be back to normal next week.

First of all, there is an Olympic Tweet. If you are as obsessed as I am and hate to be away from the action check out the new BeijingOlympic tweet to keep you informed.

Ok, if you didn't happen to catch it last night here is a small documentary that was shown on Michael Phelps. (This isn't the exact one that was shown but it is the same footage.) I wanted to share this with everyone because one thing he said completely blew me away. While the rest of the population struggles with eating between 1500 and 2000 calories a day, Phelps aims to eat between 8000 and 10000 calories a day. 8000-10000 calories!!!! That is how much a person that works out and wants to maintain there weight would eat in 5 days. WOW!!! That just goes to show how much and how hard he works. It also mentions that he is in the pool at least 5 hours a day, that probably has something to do with the calorie consumption.




It also seems that people are trying to keep the clips of the Olympics from being shared on Youtube. For this reason I might post a clip that you will not be able to find the next day, so I apologize for that, but will continue to try and share those with you.


I don't know how many of you saw the men's gymnastics last night either but it was amazing. I am so impressed by the abilities of Olympic athletes and the stability and strength of these guys just blew my mind. The U.S. team did some amazing things and didn't seem to even touch the abilities of the Chinese team yet with my lack of knowledge on the sport it was hard to distinguish the differences that were made. Either way, it was worth watching.

This brings me to another point that I want to bring up. The wife and I have noticed that commentary on the Olympics on the major networks might be skewed in a way. In events such as men's and women's diving and gymnastics is seems as if the commentary is extremely critical on the U.S. team, as would be expected. The issue is that when the commentary comes to the Chinese teams, there is little to no mention of mistakes that even I can see. Sometimes there is even praise on items that are clearly flawed with mistakes and just not mentioned. I could come up with some underlying reasons why this might be the case, but I would feel better if the comments could be more even. Either be hard on everyone or lay off a little bit. Personally, I don't need to hear talking the entire time.....take a breath every once in a while.


Last but not least, Zasta over at Zen Happens has shared a very good breathing technique to help you center and refocus on those overly stressful days. I have used this method in yoga practice before and it works rather well and is very easy. Here ya go:

I need more Twitter Friends

I have been "tweeting?" for almost 2 months now and I love it. Granted I only have three Twitter friends, it has been a really cool experience. For me, and for many of them it seems, it gives you a venue to say those little comments that you want to make during the day and send it out to a group of like minded people that will often respond. I am really trying to get my wife to join, she also knows The Modern Gal so it would be fun for her, and am wanting to have many more people to add to it. I can envision having Twitter set up for my graduate pals, for our "Anthro" club, or even for the museum so that when there is an announcement it can go straight out to the masses.

With all this being said let me know if you are already a Twitter-er and if not think about joining. Everything can be sent to your cell and you can reply via text with no additional charge.

Check it out at Twitter

If you want to add me my twitter name is "mynerdiness"

It has begun

Yes it has. Being an overly obsessive fan (even of games I don't know much about) has begun and will provide for a very exciting week.

For those of you who missed the opening ceremonies...you missed an amazing performance. Without the use of any mechanics or hydrolics, the Chinese put a theatrical and finely choreographed representation of their history and culture combined with an impressive fireworks show many times during the ceremony. The precise movements and forms they were able to form with the print blocks (with people controlling them by standing and sitting inside) was probably the most impressive and enjoyable for me. Their precise lines and shapes throughout all the movements were also made without markers and prove impressive to any of us that were band geeks in high school. Also, the drums used in the very beginning of the ceremony were only found in 2005 in an archaeological dig. Now they have been mass produced and used in these games.....thank you archaeology.



I have to say that I am a big fan of gymnastics, both men and woman's, despite how damning that may be to my masculinity. Regardless, after watching the first part of the pre-lims I have seen where the controversy will come this year. Not only does the U.S. team already have an injured ankle that could cost us the games, but the age issue is bigger than ever this year. Deng Linlin of China shocked me when she came on stage and the discussion started about how you must be at least 16 to compete. Check out the picture to the side and decide, when you see her compete she looks even younger than this picture. This isn't even the contestant that is causing the most controversy, just the one that I noticed first.

Last but not least the excitement that has been the games so far. I have been able to catch men and women's basketball, men's water polo, men and women's gymnastics, men's boxing, women's fencing, a lot of men and women's swimming, some women's synchronized diving, men and women's handball, some field hockey, boxing, volleyball, and even some badminton and crew. The most exciting so far has been the 4x100 men's relay in swimming last night that included Michael Phelps. With the combination of not being favored and having mostly people either new to the event or to the Olympics, we were not expected to win. By 8 100ths of a second we did and it was an amazing victory.


Check out the Relay video below or check back for new updates as i see them. I also put a ticker in upper right hand corner of this site if you need updates.



Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56639789@N00/533266226/
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/2008_olympics_opening_ceremony.html
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/8/235318.shtml
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12861589@N03/2752205587/
video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyhqx2pNbHE&feature=related

Still Recovering

After what I think will be the last weekend that I go out for a while, I am still recovering. We had another woo-hoo night out on Beale and while we had a good time as always, it is becoming a little mundane. I am convinced, however, that it is time for the wife (wife's name deleted for her own protection) and I to expand our friend base a little bit and maybe not spend so much time with the same few people.

On a different note, I am extremely addicted to the Olympics. I am typically not an athletics fan, but the Olympics are my exception. I become mildly obsessed and will revolve my life for the next week around a game that I don't have any affiliation nor wish to participate in.

Regardless, I have some Olympics to get back to. Phelps is getting his second gold from the amazing performance in the 4x100 with the rest of the team and I need to watch.

Swashbuckaling with the Wii

For the first time ever I was able to refer to myself as a Buccaneer.

My father-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle-in-law, and friend all went to a Midtown dive last night that had always evaded my attention. The bar is called the Buccaneer and is complete with a whole pirate-esque theme of sorts and topped off with that wonderful old bar muskiness that bars-in-old-houses can be known for. It was a great little dive that I have to say I will venture to try again.

On another note, spending time with the family is always something that stresses me in the beginning yet always yields an enjoyable time. My father-in-law wanted all the guys to go out last night and even though I drifted off into space when the conversation got bombarded with sports, it was still a rather enjoyable time.

On top of that the Wii provided for much needed entertainment last night with the three younger guys playing until the wee hours of the morning. I remember video games being a blast, but when you are drinking and the controls are the fine-motor movements of the controller.....playing and drinking becomes rather comical. It is always enjoyable, however, and we played for a good 4 hours straight.

I am beginning to gain some good insight into my brother-in-law. We are close enough in age where hanging out seems natural, yet only doing so a couple of times a year can lead to some awkward silences. He is very interesting, however, and seems to be plagued with what many of my friends and acquaintances in this age group are being challenged with: Their friends getting married and the dwindling number of single friends and significant other possibilities. This has come up so much lately that it will have to be the topic of an even more involved post, but that is for another day.

Sorry for the randomness of this post, but that is how the next couple of days are going to be I feel.

In the life of the Archaeologist

So.....my tasks today lead me to go through hundreds of boxes that have been sitting in water for a matter of weeks. Not only has the daub (clay building material) reverted back to clay and has to be dried, but I am sifting through multiple colors of mold. Does anyone know any stats on mold and mildew? Should I be worried that I will soon be harboring a mutant type of pre-historic mold from all the wet artifacts? Always an interesting day in the life an archaeologist.

Do you act your age?

Stumbled upon this little internet quiz and got some pretty accurate answers. Take the ten question quiz and see what age you actually rank at. My results are below (I am 24 by the way).
Do You Act Your Age?

You Act Like You Are 26 Years Old

You are a twenty-something at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

A little Procrastination

Was just doing some good ole procrastination and thought that I would pass it along.

I am a huge fan of Trivia and tonight is the night. In light of the oh so exciting task of recalling often useless knowledge, check this out. I found a list of 15 facts that are completely unnecessary and you will never need, unless you are a Trivia fan like I am. "50% of female polar bears have a penis"

And to suffice for some more procrastination check out this post on one of my favorite blogs. Steve's Nude Memphis Blog posted "Only in America", a list of odd practices or phrases that you would only find here in America. It is rather entertaining and thought provoking even though you might have seen some of them before. Thanks Steve.

Th voices in my head

I have to say that the voices in my head have quite a variety of range and are exceptionally talented. I am not talking about the voices that help me decide what to do or not to do, or even the ones that make fun of peoples clothes when I am in a particularly judgmental mood. More so these are the voices that I use to differentiate between characters when I am reading a good piece of fiction or imagining what the couple outside the restaurant window is arguing about. This is not to be confused with that one dominate voice, some may call it a conscience, that is what I assume my voice to sound like and helps me have an audible representation of my thoughts.....and is my thoughts. Anyway, I know it isn't actually my voice because I am still shocked by what I sound like on voice-mails and recordings. Overall, however, I have thousands of voices at my disposal inside my head. There is the teen boy character that I use when reading Harry Potter which, coincidentally, is not British but sounds more like Mccully Culkin from Home Alone. There is the fun dad character that I use from time to time that sounds like Tim Allen from Home Improvement. I also have the dead-beat dad voice that sounds like the dad from Married with Children. Intelligent girls always seem to come off with a British accent in my head and the typical dumb blond just inserts a lot of uh's and um's into her sentences. And then those omnipotent characters, depending on the era and religion of the reading in question, either takes on the angry deity voice of James Earl Jones or the pleasant deity voice of Morgan Freeman. Like I said, the range of the voices in my head is amazing.

All this being brought up from this one statement that was brought up in conversation the other day. It was said that a certain person had taken a job because they had prayed for it and God had told them that it would be a good decision. Granted this is paraphrased, but you get the jest and I am sure have heard it before. Well with all my my quabbles with religion aside, I have never been able to understand this concept.

When I was a little kid I thought that these people were hearing that personal voice, or conscience, in their head and that was what people thought was God talking to them. To this day, however, I still am not sure what they mean. Is this some kind of Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones voice that wakes them up in the middle of the night to have a 15 dialogue? Or is this simply a manifestation of peoples reaction to a certain situation in which they actually make the decision on their own and manifest it as being "from God" in order to follow their decision blindly without worrying about the reprocutitions? I am not talking about the Frailty type "must kill the sinners" stuff here, but those decisions that could land you in a major predicament that one makes anyway but in this instance, with God leading them, they are able to follow it without the anxiety that the rest of us face. What is this voice that they hear and is it any different from the many voices that I hear inside my head or simply their mechanism to convince themselves that they are doing the right thing?

The "Too Fat" Excuse

Yes, that's right, people are using the fact that they don't have control over their weight as an excuse for just about everything these days. Today took it to a new level though. The AP reported this morning on a man who was trying to appeal his death by lethal injection on the basis that he was obese and that it was going to be difficult to find a vein.

Today's report on Richard Cooey was particularly disturbing. Cooey was sentenced in 1986 for raping and murdering two college girls and has been on death row ever since (yes, almost 22 years). At 5 foot 7 and 265 pounds Cooey would register between a 41-42 BMI according to the World Health Organization's classification which would be class III obesity or in the severe to morbidly obese category. Putting your opinion on the death penalty aside, the bigger issue here might be that this individual has been on death row at least 20 years and is still obese. He is getting enough calories and food each day on the tax payers bill to cause him to stay obese. How is this right? So being in prison is a good thing for some people? On top of that, he was arguing that this lethal injection could be classified on cruel and unusual punishment on the basis of the issues finding a vein in an obese individual can be difficult and the migraine medicine he is presently taking might interfere. His execution is not scheduled until October 14, how about we take him of the headache medication. I am sure it won't hurt more than being raped and murdered.

As crazy as this is, this brought me to three other similar cases over the past couple of years in which obesity was sited as causing complications for finding a vein and used to try to get individuals out of the death penalty.

Christopher Newton appealed his case in 2007 saying that his obesity was the cause for a vein not being easily found on him. Newton had only been on death row since 2001 but his joking during the procedure and giving of a bathroom break tell me that he wasn't treated poorly. Furthermore, his sentence was for killing his cell mate over a chess game. His reasoning was that each time they played he would give up when he was loosing and giving up wasn't something that Newton would tolerate so he choked him to death. Newton was 6 foot and 265 lbs. which classified him as having a 36 BMI and in class II obesity. Again, how does one stay obese in prison if prison is supposed to be punishment?

Jeffrey Lundgren used the cruel and unusual punishment plea based on his obesity back in 2006. Lundgren was the leader of a RLDS cult who killed a family of 4 execution style in 1990 when they refused to move into his house in Ohio in order to better control their cult following with him as head messiah. Lundgren was on death row for 20 years and still maintained his obesity........

And the basis for all of these cases comes from the obese drug user, Joseph Lewis Clark who remained obese throughout his 22 years on death row. Clark was sentenced for killing a gas station clerk in a hold up for $60 in 1984. His obesity and drug use left very little veins to be found that could actually support the shunts needed for execution.

With all this being said, how is this an excuse to get out of the death penalty. It doesn't make the death of those they kill anything less because they are fat and can't stop feeding their fat faces. On top of that, why the hell are we giving them enough food in prison for them to be obese. We have people, children even, starving and yet we are going to give rapists and murders enough food that they can get out of execution because they are fat pigs. I don't get this at all but you better believe I will be using this info in my future arguments for the messed up status of these great United States.

New Clothes?

I don't buy new clothes very often, but in hopes of trying to relax and taking advantage of the tax free days I stopped by Old Navy and found these items that spoke to my Forensic Anthropology side......I really like!

What's New

EcoSmart is promoting a new organic bug spray that is a great alternative to having DEET soaking through your skin (not to mention killing coral as you swim in the ocean)












Ecofriend has a good write up about this carbon footprint monitor that lets you know how much you contribute.



Check out this very entertaining blog on the Top 5 Green Cars (Celebrities will be driving tomorrow) brought to us by the always entertaining people at Ecorazzi



Ecorazzi also gives us a ridiculous little write up on the McCain-Obama organic tea argument.



Just a little touching story about a lion cub and his care takers that has been going around the web. Also, you can check out a write up on it here.



To take your next step on your mission of being green, here is a combination dish rack and herb garden. Interesting concept.





A solar powered grill. I wonder how this does for that wonderful taste that you get from grilling. Is it really worth it?



A wind-up walkie-talkie that takes out that option of loosing touch with dying batteries.








Mosiac art from that always annoying junk mail.







Another power strip to help you control that phantom energy loss.






A new alternative to street lights that are not only powered by solar but also keep themselves hidden.







New Eco-friendly PC's by dell, and stylish.




This is the latest book that I finished. Rant by Chuck Palahniuk is an amazing entertaining read in a very Matrix meets ethnography meets small town America kind of way. It is worth picking up.








And last but not least, I have been adding numerous new-to-me blogs to this page so please check them out and let me know what you think. I have also made it capable for anyone and everyone to comment on this blog, so if you have something to say let me have it.

Back to being Lazy

As you can tell my hope to post at least once today has gotten off to a rather poor start. Yesterday proved to be oddly hectic and not according to plan which left me with little time to get done everything that I wanted to. With that aside, however, we did have a friend come through with tickets for the wife and I to go to the Dave Matthew's Band concert. The concert was in our local baseball stadium here and with the temperature at 10 at night still being 92 degrees with 60% humidity, it was HOT. So hot you couldn't really even drink that much.......which is hot. We then found Beale street as usual and stumbled through Raiford's Hollywood before calling the cab home. Needless to say, today has been very uneventful and with only two naps I am still tired and not back to 100%. I have a lot talk about in regards some of my experiences with my new place of employment (museum) and the exhibit opening I attended. I also had a great night Friday with some of my fellow graduate students and even got to hang out with them and get to know them all a little better. That can all wait for tomorrow though cause right now I am going to return to watching TV and being as lazy as possible.

UK Tipping Policy Change

Just like in restaurants here in the U.S., tips are used to subsidize the lack of wage that restaurant owners are able to pay their employees in hopes that tips with bring the hourly wage above minimum set by federal government. My last restaurant job here in TN had me at a $2.15 hourly rate ($5.15 when bar tending) with my tips for the night left to hopefully bring me to up to a high hourly wage. This is one of the many reasons that servers will run as many tables that they can handle in hopes of maximizing the amount of tips in one set of table rotations. Regardless, the UK held the same policy until recently. It seems that the restaurant worker's unions have pushed a bill that requires servers to earn the minimum wage regardless of their tips. This could do a number of things for the industry including bringing in a better level of staff and making the jobs more competitive and profitable than in the past.

Check out the BBC article.

Blogs??

First of all, I have decided to become more diligent in my blogging. I am going to try to blog about something, or the lack of something, every day. I think that it is necessary in keeping my blog going in the way that I want it to be portrayed (a grouping of my nerdiness and randomness).

Ok

As far as blogs, I am wanting some help. Everyone has been able to get some sort of idea of what kind of topics interest me and so I am wanting your suggestions on new blogs for me to check out. While I already have a vast number of blogs that I read already, I still seem to be missing big topics like "Dr. Horrible" until they have become old news. So, when/if you leave a comment leave me a suggestion of a blog or two that you think that I would enjoy.

Thanks!