Where in the hell am I?

Stories from the road, and home, by a contract archaeologist.

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Location: Texas, United States

I work out of town a lot as a contract archaeologist. Sometimes it's interesting. It can be quite funny, although probably only to other archys. Home is Austin, with my wife and our cute kitty and all of our crazy friends.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Me and You

Me? I'm sitting in my hotel in El Paso, drinking beer and watching UT get whupped by Kansas State (or, as Ken calls them, The Purple Pussies). My legs are a little sore. More about El Paso tomorrow or Monday because...
YOU will go here tomorrow:

Just in case you didn't know, this is my best friend Dan's photo show. You can see a lot of his awesome photos here and here. The show will be awesome, and if you can't make it to the opening you should stop by End of an Ear in the next couple of weeks and check them out (and buy some music while you're there!)

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Race for the Cure, Charlie Brown

So this morning I woke up at about 6:20 to get ready to do the Race for the Cure. Last year it was on my birthday (which is November 6), and it was the first distance race I had ever run (I ran sprints at an intramurals competition in elementary school). I was neck and neck with Texas Gov. Rick Perry for much of the race, but I pulled ahead at the end (much like I wish Chris Bell was doing right now).
This year, I wasn't even sure I was going to run until about 6:35 am, when I decided I would be kinda antsy if I just walked. I've been feeling better, but not 100%, but I went for it. I couldn't find anyone to match pace with (US Rep. Lloyd Doggett was there, but he did the Walk, not the Run) so I was kind of on my own. I'm used to a treadmill with a speedometer. Anyway, I ended up with a time of 27:27, which is one of my best times, and I finished 77th in my age class (30-34, and I bet I was the oldest person in that class too!).
I'm celebrating with beer and burgers at Casino El Camino, continuing a tradition. I think I can swing working a short day on Tuesday, too! And after election results come in, I may just want to start drinking again.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Down in the west Texas town of...

El Paso! That's where I'm going next week for work. See, I thought I'd be going to Junction the week after, but things have changed. So now I'll be flying to El Paso for a 7 or 8 day project.
Pros:
- I've never been there, or really any part of West Texas (depending on how you define Sweetwater).
- The archaeology is very different there from Central or South Texas. For example, there's some influences from the Southwestern culture spheres. This means possibly cool pottery. There's also some rock art out there.
- More Holiday Inn points and per diem

Cons:
- I will now be missing Dan's photo show opening, which sucks doubly as I was going to be DJing for a set. Missing the opening is the biggest con by far, but I can't really say no to my work.
- There looks to be lots of other cool stuff going on next weekend
- I will probably get my hopes up for cool stuff and we'll find nothing.

Maybe I'll go across to Juarez, just to say that I've been there and add to my collection of border towns.