So now what?

I'm trying to decide if the best song to use as the theme for this is Slack Motherfucker by Superchunk or I Don't Know What to Do With My Life by The Buzzcocks.
I finished, almost two weeks ago. I graduated last Monday officially, although my status hasn't changed online and I don't get a diploma for a few more weeks. My mom was here for the weekend that I was done, and she took me out to dinner at The Belmont to celebrate (by the way, very good food and a nice atmosphere and not all that expensive for what it is. Try it!). We also went to Dan's for a get-together and a birthday party for some co-workers. Since then, I basically spent a good week working, drinking beer and watching the Olympics until bedtime. I played some video games. I did go to Dan and Chad's for dinner and some movies, which was good because I think I was needing some company but was not making the effort. I also have finally peeled myself off the couch/computer to work out a couple of time.
Not having something to do, even though I spent a LOT of time not doing, feels uncomfortable. I'm almost chafing at the feeling of freedom, missing the little feeling of guilty mischief I felt doing things that weren't my thesis. A part of me wanted to go on an epic drunk, like I always thought I would do back in college when I was really into Barfly. I can't exactly say why I didn't, except that I think I was feeling too much ennui to do it.
I think part of the problem is that Tina has been gone since I've finished. I think having someone around to talk to makes you feel like you're doing something even when you're doing nothing. I guess there's also more things to do when you have someone to do them with.
It really would have been nice to be out in the field right now, but I've been office bound. Unfortuntely, now that I have the advanced degree (and I'll soon be turning in official change of status forms and bucking for a raise/promotion) I'll be spending more time in the office writing and less time in the field digging. Maybe not, they're going to be pulling me out of TxDOT soon, which means I can go on multiple week projects again. I missed out on a lot of money because of the TxDOT gig this summer.
I realized recently (and maybe I mentioned it here before) that in many ways I'm almost back where I was 5 years ago: working all day staring at a computer in a windowless cubicle. One of the reasons I love archaeology so much is because it's such a change from that soul-sucking existence. It's certainly a hell of a lot better sitting at a desk at SWCA working on a report and getting a co-author credit than it was sitting at the Texan slapping together ads. But it's almost like a phantom limb. Sometimes I get a sensation of something that's no longer there, but I still feel it very deeply.
That's where I stand right now. I'm sure I'll figure something to do before too long. I also hear I might be back in Oklahoma next week. Who would have thought I'd be excited about the possibility of going to Oklahoma!

Consider it defended!

I said I would try and keep up this week with updates on the thesis countdown.
The defense went very smoothly. I ended up presenting for at least 20 minutes and maybe closer to 30 (those who know me know how I can ramble). I only had a few simple questions, and my advisor had already tipped me off about his. Both professors had a lot of praise for me, which felt great.
Funny thing: I was way more nervous before my Spanish oral exam earlier this year.
I now have all the signatures on all the forms as far as I can tell. I'm about to print my abstract to the 25% cotton bond paper. Tomorrow, I'll make the minor edits suggested by my second reader (and they're very small, which is why I'm going to do it tomorrow). I'll make a pdf file and burn it to a CD, and sometime tomorrow late morning or early afternoon I'm going to turn it all in. That leaves me 2 full days to take care of anything I somehow missed.
I'm still pretty full of nervous energy. I think I'm going to be pretty exhausted by the time my mom gets here this weekend.

Another step closer

Met with my advisor today, and went over my draft thesis. He only made minor edits, almost all involving consistency errors in using numerals versus words (as in 5 times in three pages I switched back and forth). He said the content is good. I actually made all of the corrections and edits in about 45 minutes.
So I defend at 2:00 tomorrow/today (Tuesday). I have to prepare a 10-20 minute presentation, and then take a few simple questions. My other reader will also give my his comments, which he says are minor. Conceivably, I'll have this ready to turn in on Wednesday...
I decided to be lazy and watch the Olympics tonight. If only they could have started one week later! The mens 4x100 freestyle relay had to have been the greatest swim race of all time. If you missed it, you have to track it down online NOW. I was on my feet yelling and cheering for the last 25 meters. It's also a treat watching the merman Michael Phelps just destroy record after record. I know I'm cynical about politics and not a rah-rah patriotic guy, but I do love the Olympics, and I cheer for my country.
Time to work on the Power Point. I'll probably end up using a vacation day tomorrow at this point. Maybe not a bad idea, just to make sure everything is 100% ready to go.

My life as a Spaghetti Western

The good: I just emailed the complete draft of my thesis to my readers. Took a day off from work to finish it, but I had some hours saved from last week, so it was mostly billable.
The bad: There are still formatting issues, MAJOR bureaucratic hurdles and hoops to jump, and only a short amount of time to do it all.
The ugly: My eating habits, my stress level, the heat outside.

It'll all be worth it for a few dollars more...

Laying low

So I've secretly (or maybe not) been back in Austin since last Wednesday afternoon. I've been pretty much a home/workbody since then, with a couple of exceptions. I went to a "last day of work" Happy Hour for my friend Carolyn, and a housewarming party for my friends Shelly and Kirsten (all of the above are fellow archaeologists and/or archaeology students). I also went to lunch with Carolyn at Roaring Fork (good, but pricy) to help her rate the food for a restaurant review. Other than that (and I guess it sounds like a lot), I've only been out to do errands.
I'm not really used to being in the afternoon heat. I know it sounds funny with my job and all, but we were working really early so that we could be done by 3 at the latest (with a couple of exceptions), and the time in East Texas was marked by even earlier departures most days. By the time the full heat of the day was in effect, I was in a hotel room, showered, drinking beer and working on paperwork or watching TV. I guess it makes sense that even though I'm here now, that's all I pretty much want to do after work as well. The a/c in my car also needs a tuneup, so it's almost unbearably hot being in there unless I'm on the highway. I guess I should take it in.
I can't say that I've gotten much accomplished besides some cleaning, some laundry, and getting through most of a tremendous backlog of magazines. I listened to some of the albums I bought when I was here last. I've given my cat a lot of attention, although I still don't know that it's enough for her or that it makes up for all the time I've been gone.
Tonight, though, I got to a point where the ennui was getting stifling and I realized I need to get my shit together because time is getting tight for the thesis. One good thing about the housewarming was talking with people who worked on the project and have worked there since. Not only did I get a chance to share some ideas, but I also learned that my understanding of the location of some of the later excavations was not correct. Now I have a chance to fix that before I submit the draft, and it doesn't really affect my argument at all. (EDIT: I just looked and I actually had it right already!)
Wednesday I get to go survey in the Hill Country for a couple of days. Wednesday night we stay in Comfort (Texas, that is), and Thursday is Bandera, which is a pretty cool little town. Even if it's hot (and restricted to the side of the highway right-of-way), I'll always enjoy getting paid to hike around the Hill Country.
So where in the hell am I? Austin, by god, Texas, sitting at my desk with my kitty curled up in the spot she sits while I'm writing on the computer, listening to classical music and eating ginger snaps.

Crazy already

We're not actually going to Oklahoma until next week, and it's already crazy. We endured 2 days of safety meetings last Thursday and Friday. They fed us well and we got some overtime for the drive back, so I can't complain too much. This week, there's lots of logistical things and practicing with the fancy GPS units that we won't even get until tomorrow afternoon and trying to get everything that's pending done before half our office leaves. And I still have to go to Louisiana and back, which will eat up all of Wednesday and Thursday.
Plus the thesis, which is not going to be done by this Friday. And my poor kitty has a urinary tract infection so we have to watch her closely and give her special food so we can sneak in the medicine. She's in the painful "working it out" stage so she's trying to go to the bathroom like every 15 minutes and not drinking much water. I ended up buying some low-sodium chicken broth (and watering it down) to get some liquids in her.
This weekend, we went straight from Houston to a co-worker's wedding weekend at the Canyon of the Eagles lodge and nature park. It was a nice place to spend a weekend with a bunch of people, although all I really did was drink a lot of beer and go to the wedding and reception. The park was nice and there's a place to take a cruise or do kayaking. I will try and get out there again sometime.
So this weekend I need to spend time with my wife (who is currently out of town again), try and hang out with my friends, go to Chaos in Tejas on Saturday night, see Prince Caspian with said wifey before I leave. Oh, and pack for a long trip.
I also need to buy some long-sleeve wicking shirts and fancy steel-toed boots, and maybe try and get some prescription side-shield safety glasses. But I might try and find some time for that during the week. Too bad I can 't get those at some place open past 9.
I don't know if it makes you tired and stressed out, but just writing this made my shoulders tighten.

...and one

Yep, met my goal, plus a page, plus I dropped in a figure and cleaned up a little bit of the introduction (which I think still needs just a little more work). Including figures and tables (and not counting 2 full page figures) I'm almost at 45 pages.
I think I might be able to sneak in a little time at work tomorrow to resize those full page images to a suitable dimensions to be added to the formatted document. Probably not time for much else, as the new every-other-week schedule at TxDOT keeps me a lot busier while I'm there.
I'm finding that I have to really really push myself to write while it's light out. I'm not going to totally stop trying (because I can't stay up past 2am every night) but I'm also not going to feel really guilty if I decide to read a magazine for a while instead, or sit with Kit Kat.
My goal for tomorrow is 4 pages. I'll have to tape my shows, but that saves me even more time in the long run. If I hit that goal, I think I'll be pretty close to having Chapter 2 completed!

Procrastinating, again

Can you say that you're taking a break from work when you've done more breaking than working?
I did get to dig on Monday and Tuesday. I didn't find anything noteworthy at all, just some lithic debitage and very small burned limestone pieces. I also forgot my gloves, so I started getting blisters, although they've already hardened into calluses.
Wednesday I finished a survey in a different part of San Antonio, which I started writing about on Thursday and Friday. I'll finish that report on Monday or Tuesday. I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, they can spare me the rest of the week and I can stay home and write.
Got word on the Oklahoma survey. Starts in mid-May. We'll be working 6 days a week, 10 hour days. That means lots of overtime. It also means I'll be out of town for a month, unless they do some kind of rotation (which I'd rather not do, since I'd really like as much OT and per diem as possible). The client is being super-hardcore about safety, which means I'll need to get a pair of steel-toed boots and some lightweight long sleeve shirts (since getting poison ivy is considered an "incident"). I think we might even have to wear safety glasses in addition to hard hats, safety vests and steel-toed boots.
Other than all that, Tina's best friend Kensey is in town for the weekend and last night was Dan's birthday party. I watched some Japanese women's wrestling earlier this evening. I've written maybe 3 pages the past week.

Writer's block

So yeah, I think I spent a good 2.5 hours or so in front of my computer, trying to make myself write something, then finding something important to distract myself with (like Google's awesome April Fools Joke, or Ric Flair's farewell speech and tribute), then staring again and trying to make something happen...so I finally gave up. I spent pretty much all day the last two days at work reading site forms and writing background reviews and project overviews, and I just can't spend another 5 hours tonight writing about archaeology, or even caring about archaeology.
Tomorrow I get to walk around in the woods in northwest San Antonio. Then, Thursday and Friday I get to go back to a different part of northwest San Antonio and walk around in woods (and pasture). I might even get to do some metal detecting. I think the fresh air will do me good.
I'm going to go to bed early and read Dracula until I fall asleep, and try this all again tomorrow.

Indispensable

I asked my supervisor today if I might be able to take off a couple of days this week to work on my thesis. He asked our boss, who said that they had a lot of stuff for me to do this week and couldn't spare me. I'll be doing at least one day survey in San Antonio on Wednesday, and probably at least one more on Thursday or Friday. While it's nice to go out in the field and help write reports and such, I must admit I was really hoping to be able to work at home for a couple of full days.
The classical radio station I listen to while writing (KMFA) is having their spring fund drive right now. It's not so bad late at night, as they only mention it once or twice an hour, briefly, and then get back to the music. During the day, they play a lot of shorter pieces and have two hosts chattering back and forth for a few minutes between each song. It's not as bad as the KUT fund drive (which starts Wednesday) but I listen to KMFA because of the long stretches of background music with minimal interruptions. They did almost get me last week, though. First, they talked a couple of times about how a lot of students use it as study music while writing. Then, they played the Theme from Indiana Jones. I do plan on giving some money once I finish (and get my tax return).
Only 2.5 pages this evening, relatively minor in that it was about a specific unique artifact rather than the overarching research questions. Also spent an hour getting the format just right for the finished chapter, which was a pain because of the pictures not wanting to cooperate. The formatting did add a page, though (I had to make my top and bottom margins bigger).
Still not sure I'm going to get all this done on time, but I'm gonna try my damnedest

One down, 3 to go?

I just finished one chapter of my draft thesis, complete with tables and photos. I'll probably end up putting a few relevant drawings in a different chapter, since I won't really have good copies of them until next week. I doubt I could actually get away with an archaeology report that did not include any stupid profile and plan map drawings.
I think I'll work on the project and area background chapter next. A lot of that will be citations from other sources that I've already typed in, so I just need to start stringing them together in a coherent and meaningful fashion. I've already got a small part of that started anyway. I've also got a few pieces of the discussion chapter started, although they're not the most important parts.
Not tonight, though. I'm spent, and I can't take off work again tomorrow. I'm hoping to save a few days for when it's absolute crunch time. Like maybe next week.

Not tonight, baby

I just couldn't get cracking on the thesis tonight. I was up until 3am yesterday, and I did a bunch of bibliography and scanning stuff today during slow times at work. I decided to work out instead (I have been really lazy and it showed), drink some herbal tea and read.
Unfortunately, tomorrow starts the SXSW mayhem. I actually have a light schedule planned out for tomorrow, which will leave me time to write tomorrow night. But Thursday through Saturday will likely be washes as far as getting work done, although I may try and read some articles on the bus.
After that, I have somewhere around 3 weeks to get a complete rough draft to my readers so they can edit and prepare for the thesis defense. Sigh...

Yawn redux

Okay, I definitely accomplished more today, but it is a constant struggle to try and rectify my notes, field forms and drawings, and photos and make a cohesive and thorough excavation narrative out of them. There are so many gaps in the information that I simply can't fill, that aren't crucial but are going to bug me long after this thing is finished.
I want to not care, but this is going to have my name on it and be in the library and probably online. It's going to be on my resume and future employers may want to take a look at it.
In my field notes (and I think in my old LJ) I spend a lot of time near the end of the project upset and frustrated. Trying to make sense of all the information (and lack thereof) brings all that right back, so I'm basically nodding my head when I read a section where I'm venting or on the verge of a breakdown.
Anyway, I know I've learned a lot since then and I can't do anything about what was done but try and explain what I can and hope I can get away with ignoring the rest. I miss digging in Belize, but I'm sure not going to miss writing about it!

Yawn

I'm actually up late working on the damn thesis. Didn't get a whole lot of words on the page, but it was a start. I had to spend a lot of time cross-referencing my notes with field forms and photos. I also started on the most complicated unit to describe in a lot of ways. Tomorrow I hope to get a lot more actually written.
March is going to be a long, boring, painful, low sleep month for the most part (except the big wedding this Saturday and then the big festival next week).

Oh yeah, still somehow managed not to vote for the winner. I think I know my strategy for the next primary...

A deadline, at last

Friday my mom wanted to go to campus to look at some journals in the libraries, so I took advantage of the visit to check on my academic status. Amazingly, even though it's been at least 2 tears since I last darkened her office, the person who is the guru of Latin American Studies remembered my name. I found out that if I don't graduate by the Summer semester of '08, I'll lose a year's worth of credits (24, almost my entire coursework). I also need to take the Spanish oral exam on November 18th or 19th. I might just have to drive to the border the weekend before the test and do some language immersion.
While I'm a bit freaked out, having a deadline is the best thing that could have happened to me, because I work best under the wire. So tomorrow it gets real. I talked to my second reader (not my main advisor, who I need to email) and he told me what he's expecting, which is maybe even a little less than what I was planning. I think everybody just wants me to finish, on a good note.
The Spanish exam might be the toughie. I know I can pass, but I haven't spoken much lately and I have a weird problem speaking Spanish to someone who I know speaks English. I sure hope that they'll let me try again in the spring if I don't pass next month. I wish I could afford to fly back down to Mexico City for a few days.
When I finally finish, I'm going to have a humongous party.

No way!!!

I'm actually working on my thesis! Wow! I need to drink a few rum and cokes at 9pm every night.