Friday, June 20, 2008Mission Accomplished Yesterday was my last day of work at the Assessment Resource Center. I've been there since March (a fact which shocked me when one of the higher-ups mentioned it). I can rest easy knowing that I've graded thousands of exams and my part in all of the projects I've been doing is done. Also, I've met a lot of cool people and I have most of their emails and facebook profiles.
Now it's back to being a doctoral student full time. The extra money is wonderful, but I rarely had time to work on my studies after coming home from work. Right now I'm still staring at the same page of a pdf article I've been trying to read for the past week. And then in a month it's off to San Diego and its Comic-Con! Wooohoooo! Labels: personal link : 5:38 PM
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Saturday, June 14, 2008Hero in A Half Shell One morning started off ahead of schedule (point A on the map). I needed to go to the supermarket (B) to pick up a lunch for work so I woke up early. Maybe too early. I was half an hour early as I left Gerbes with a sandwich from the deli section. I got in my car, started my car, and looked behind me to back out. On the ground was an odd small object. It took me a second but I realized it was a real live turtle! I got out of my car and walked over to it. The parking lot of Gerbes didn't seem like a great place for a turtle so I picked it up by the shell and took it to my car. I put it on the passenger seat next to my sandwich and thought for a minute. Where should I take this turtle? I decided the nearest park was the newly renovated Flat Branch Park (C) which is near downtown. So off I went! I put the turtle down on a rock near the stream that runs through the park. It looked up at me uncertainly as I watched it. I was running out of time so I went back to my car and made it to work (D) with two minutes to spare. So much for starting half and hour early!
 link : 7:30 PM
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008 I can't sleep right now because earlier today I made a kinda-important scientific discovery and now the race is on to get it published. Does that make me a geek?
link : 1:48 AM
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008Urbana-Champaign and Back Again Two weeks ago Anna had her graduation party in Urbana-Champaign. Just three short years ago she started at the University of Illinois's law school and soon she'll be on the gilded road to endless riches. I'm clearly on the wrong career path. Anyway, I had a mini solo roadtrip adventure there and back. I drove straight there for the afternoon party. I've been to too many graduation ceremonies to have hope that the next would be exciting. I actually arrived an hour early. I planned for the faux pas though so instead of ringing the doorbell I whipped out a pre-printed Google map from Anna's house to the UI campus. I had read about the Spurlock Museum is something the budding anthropologist should see. They had a lot of (presumably) replicas of artifacts and modern items from around the world. Some of it I recognize from my own department's museum. Spurlock is what we could have if we had around a hundred times the funds. They had a bright exhibit of the Calypso craze of the 50's. It's funny how fads just explode into all media then fade to nothing but museum pieces.
 {The lighting in the museum was wonderful.} I spent and hour and drove back to Anna and Anthony's house to make my entrance. A lot of their relatives were there, as well as some friends who have scattered across the Midwest in the past few years. Anthony treated us to his homebrews, which you can read about here. I'm not much of the a drinker due to my amazing "Asian flush" ability, but his beers were really good and unique. They also had Rock Band playing on a giant HDTV. It's fun!! I'm not usually into rhythm games. Sure I've tried out a few: Parappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy, Space Channel 5, Donkey Konga, Taiko: Drum Master... but they've always been too difficult and ultimately frustrating for me. I even tried Guitar Hero in an arcade once, which was a waste of a dollar. For some reason Rock Band clicked with me. I was getting high 90%s on easy guitar after a few tries. Drums is a lot harder for me partly because my foot won't cooperate, and when it does cooperate my left hand forgets what it's doing. I didn't try vocals but it looked fun. Playing Rock Band at the party pretty much sold it for me. I spent the night sleeping in their entertainment room. I snuck in some Guitar Hero III in the late night. =)  {Anthony rocks the drums.} I had big plans for the next morning. I wanted to visit Dickson Mounds (one of only two archaeological sites in the new world with a triple entendre in its name* (or one really long one**)). I also wanted to swing by Springfield to see some of their Lincoln sites. My plans were literally blown off course when a storm hit with some intense winds. I didn't have a jacket either because I didn't bother to check the weather before I left my house. Dickson Mounds was also a little out of the way so I went straight to Springfield. By the time I got there it wasn't windy but still cold. I went to the Illinois State Museum first. They had a nice section on regional natural history through time, hampered only by the fact that no dinosaur fossil has ever been found in the state (which they kind of play up for laughs before skipping to the Paleocene). They had some great dioramas of different ecosystems.  {If these prehistoric fish existed today, and could fly, it would totally bust through the wall like this.} I almost left without seeing their anthropological stuff if it weren't for reading a random brochure. Nothing really pointed the way to the elevator or escalator hiding around a corner but it lead to the other half of the museum. The second floor had a really cool exhibit on households through the centuries, showing how common material goods have changed. The last diorama had a bunch of Springsteen paraphernalia: just before my time. Still, it made me feel old. The next stop was the Lincoln Library and Museum. I only saw the museum part. It's hard to not repeat myself, but the museum was very impressive and modern. A docent pointed out the highlights for me at the entrance. It turns out she is an MU graduate as well! I went off to see one of the shows first. It had cool effects like a 2(?)-layered polarized screen that gave a sort of 3D effect. For example, the narrator will be on the front screen and the back will have a backdrop so it looks like the figure is walking around on a stage. The seats also had a force feedback mechanism which was pretty much unnecessary. After the show everyone went to the nearby early-Lincoln exhibit. I went to the presidential-Lincoln exhibit which had far fewer visitors at that time. There were some very cool displays. There were lifesize dioramas throughout dramatizing different episodes of Lincoln's life. There was a large animated timeline of the Civil War showing how the frontline moved with each real second being one war week. The early-Lincoln section was also very well made. It looks like a simple and small log cabin at first but upon entering it turns into a very large exhibit that is invisible from the atrium. I'm glad I went through Lincoln's life in reverse order because his adult life was really sad while his early years were... less sad.  {"Go back, Sam. I'm going to Mordor alone."} From Springfield I drove to St. Louis. I arrived on Delmar Boulevard just in time for early supper at a Thai restaurant Kristin and I used to go to. I also went to Starclipper because it's a cool store. It was getting dark by then and I drove to Columbia to get some rest before work on Monday (spoiler: I didn't rest enough). * Lake Titicaca is the other one. ** Ba-bump-ch! link : 10:21 PM
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Sunday, April 20, 2008Spring Cleaning Around the Home(page) One of this weekend's goals was to clean up around the house. I vacuumed the downstairs area and wiped down the fixtures in my bathroom but then I got distracted and started working on my website. It's tangentially related I guess. I fixed some of the alignments so things look a bit more orderly. I shrank the margins between the sidebar and blog (while widening the sidebar). The long list of archives is now in a menu. I can't believe this blog started in 2006. I uploaded a few flickr photos and the flickr sidebar is now mashed up against the links bar. That was unintentional but I'll see if I like it. The random box of minibanners is now wider to match the rest of the page. Next up is the professional page. I'm adding a sidebar with a table of contents so one can zip to their favorite section of my CV. And after that, the comics page will get a makeover as well. Top of that list is to remove the PayPal buy buttons. That experiment has officially failed.
Labels: personal link : 11:53 AM
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Friday, April 4, 2008Declassified Story from Work and Other Notes
 {Rawr.} link : 10:25 PM
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008I Can Haz Productive Role in Society? It's now confirmed that I won't be going to Peru this summer. It looks really good for next summer though; the universities involved seem enthused but we just couldn't get the logistics set in stone in time. In the meantime I evaluated what I was doing day to day. The comics, games, and anthropology routine is nice, but none of them pay the bills, at least not at this time. Being at home most of the time, now mostly alone nowadays, was also starting to get to me. I had played with the idea of getting a job before, but with Peru plans in flux I decided to go for it.
I'll be honest and say I'm a snob about what I want to do. Secretarial work is pretty much out; I don't even want to answer my own phone, as my friends know. I want a job that's out of the ordinary, I suppose. There was an open position for someone to milk cattle at the MU dairy farm. I was around 73% serious about checking that one out, just for the hilarity. I didn't want to take the place of someone who would actually want to do that for the job experience so in the end I didn't apply. I almost applied for a job taking care of lab animals. I totally would've if I didn't find another job.... ...which I can't really tell you about because I signed some confidentiality agreements. All I can say is that I grade exams. It's kind of cool being caught up in secret stuff, but it's not very conducive for blogging. So far it's been a great experience, and I've met a bunch of cool people from many backgrounds. Getting paid for doing something that has an effect on society is more rewarding than I had expected. Since I'm late to the employment party I guess you all know the feeling by now, but I'm going to enjoy it's warm glow while it lasts. By the way I got my job through MU's temp agency, called SOS. Which means that I'm part of the SOS Brigade and will have to learn their dance: link : 6:12 PM
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Saturday, February 23, 2008I Built Myself a Castle on the Beach/ Watching as It Slid into the Sea It looks like Perú plans are a no-go this summer. Things just didn't workout between my collaborators and I and our respective universities. We'll try to get all of the pieces in place by next summer, but for now all dissertation plans are delayed a year. Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about playing so much Warcraft.
Labels: personal link : 3:30 PM
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008All of a Sudden, Doves A few weeks ago I noticed that stuff on our front porch had an inordinately high amount of poo on it. I didn't think much of it because, as they say, poo occurs. One morning I looked out the front door and saw doves. Lots of doves:
 They're attracted to the bird feeders that our new neighbors have put up. We don't really mind except that the doves perch over our mailbox and poo on our mail. Labels: animals:birds, hitchcock, personal, poo link : 4:54 PM
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Saturday, December 29, 2007"Goodyear?" "No, the Worst" As the year drew to a close, I reflect on how utterly challenging it was. As it is, my personal and professional life are both in a highly unstable state. All of my plans for the next one to five years have one by one been destroyed due to shifting circumstances.
At least many other things went well. The trip to Peru was great. I met a lot of cool people and got a lot of work done. I also made some progress Keeley's comic, though four pages in five months isn't really something to brag about (in my defense, I'm doing the job of six people). Speaking of comics I finally met up with midmococo, the local comics group, and they're a cool bunch of people. And with them I made Selective Pressure, which I'm quite proud of. I also earned a lot of Badass Points by oneshotting the Maiden of Virtue in Karazhan with my guild in my first attempt as the main tank. Apparently that's unheard of. Sorry for the geek talk, just know that this month my virtual world accomplishments vastly outshine my real life ones.  {Pachakuteq:1 Maiden:0} Labels: personal link : 6:30 PM
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Sunday, October 21, 2007I Don't Remember the Weekend... ...but I'm holding a comic apparently done by my hand. Cleanup and scanning to commence soon!
Update: Looks like I can piece together my weekend through local news articles, like this one from the Columbia Missourian: "Comic artists burn the midnight oil for 24 Hour Comics Day." Update 2: And this blurb from KOMU (though I'm not in it). Update 3: Hey I am in the KOMU news story, for around 0.05 seconds. Check out the video to the right of the page. Labels: comics, midmococo, personal, selective pressure link : 11:31 PM
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Monday, September 3, 2007Tripping Out The weekend after I came back from Peru I went to visit some of the bioarchaeology students. We agreed to meet at Beckies' in Indiana, which was kind of a central location. I didn't have a license since my wallet was stolen so I spent one of my few days in Columbia standing in line at the DOT (Department of Transportation).
The drive was uneventful which is good. My iPod kept me company. It's weird driving so far alone because I'm used to taking turns with Kristin. The highlight of our get-together was the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin. That was some week! Over the course of a few days I went from Peru to Missouri to the Renaissance. The Faire was good, and I had a lot of delicious food like cinnamon roasted almonds and a portabella mushroom burger. It started to rain though. A lot. Since only Andrea's boyfriend was smart enough to bring an umbrella, the majority of us got completely soaked.  {So very cold.} The next day I was going to visit Anna and Anthony at their new house and spend the night. I had the morning and afternoon to do whatever I wanted so I went to the Field Museum in Chicago. There was a new exhibit on the peopling of the Americas as well as a few temporary exhibits on dinosaurs and Darwin. It was like it was custom-made for me! As it turned out, the exhibit on dinosaurs was kind of lame. When I pay money to see stuff on dinosaurs, I expect robots! But instead it was more on biomechanics and adaptation. What?! There was a cool walking model of a T-rex skeleton but the rest was very boring. The Darwin exhibit was also just Ok. They had a lot of actual items Darwin used, but I didn't find that very interesting. That's probably why I don't do historical archaeology. Now if they had his bones.... I did get some cool pictures of the Field Museum. Well, not of the two exhibits I paid for since there was no photography allowed in those (another sign of a ripoff).    {A Moche portrait sculpture.} I was a little late getting back on the road but I made it to Anna and Anthonys' that evening. They had just gotten their own house so I wanted to bring them a housewarming present. I didn't really know what to get so I asked myself "What would I want for a housewarming present?" That was a dangerous question. If I asked "What would Kristin want?" I'd come up with some kitchen gadget or new sheets. But I'm not really into those. I would want a Wii. So back in those few days in Columbia I went to Super Walmart on a lark to see if they had any in stock. As it turned out, they had four so I got one for them and I had it with me as I stopped by. It was a really fun weekend seeing everybody again. Two weeks later, last weekend, I was on the road again, but only to St. Louis. Anna and Anthony were in town for a wedding and they invited me to lunch at the Schafly Bottleworks. They had an interesting menu with bison, venison, and lots of vegetarian choices, but their food was just so-so. Dinner was a lot better: we went to Gian-Tony's for some swanky Italian food. The wait staff was eerily helpful and we almost didn't notice that we sat next to the main hallway in the restaurant. Between us all we had plans to see the City Museum, the Laumeier Sculpture Park, and the zoo, but we spent the rest of the day digesting the gigantic amount of pasta we had. All in all it was a really fun trip. I even found a comic store near the brewery. My wanderlust is pretty much gone now so I think I'll be in Columbia for the next month or so. But in the future I plan to visit the family, and who knows what else is out there? link : 4:38 PM
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 My flight home was relatively painless though it seems like the pushiest people fly in the middle of the night from Lima. One of my checked luggage was a woven plastic bag, which is a proven method of taking my stuff home from previous years. In the airport I was approached to have my bag wrapped in plastic for $8. I figured why not, and had it done. It certainly made my luggage stand out:
 {My luggage is ready for anything.} All told, my woven plastic bag luggage cost around $12. And since my woven plastic bag was protected, I now have a convenient place to store my winter clothes. The day after the earthquakes hit Peru. While the news outlets reported from Lima, understandable since it is the most well-known city in the earthquake area, I saw on the maps that the epicenter was right next to Pisco and Ica, two of the towns I visited with the archaeoastronomy students and Lin. In the following days, word filtered through from those towns. The main plaza of Pisco was in ruins: Fortunately, Bob and other people I know in Peru are all safe. As usual, the major news outlets were full of speculation and misinformation in the hours after the earthquake. Oddly, the best place for straight news that I found was on my Wii's News Channel. It displays AP articles and photos on a gorgeous interactive globe. link : 4:24 PM
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Sunday, August 12, 2007I Have Two Days Left, What Could Possibly Happen? I was planning to go to a wedding party with Lin, hence the tuxedo talk. He never showed up and since he didn't have my number I figured that was his way of saying it wasn't going to happen. I had things to do in Miraflores so I hopped on a bus there.
I said goodbye to Juan Carlos... which reminds me I forgot to write about him. For kicks I had dinner in McDonald's. I was disappointed when my Big Mac, Fanta, and fries tasted just like in the United States. Places like Burger King had some local variations of their hamburgers. After that I hopped on another bus heading back to Jesus Maria. The but mysteriously stopped a few blocks down, much to the disdain of the passengers. I looked towards the front and saw that we had been pulled over by a motorcycle policewoman (!). She told us to all get off the bus and we got our fare back. Everyone waited for the next bus to arrive. I figured that if eight people hop on the next bus, i'll be pretty crowded. So I waited for the one after. I sat up near the front on a sideways-facing seat. A forward-facing seat opened up so I moved there. It was the seat reserved for the needy, but I could move if I had to. It also fits two people, and a few stops later a pregnant woman sat next to me. Then the bus started to fill up. In fact, I've never seen so many people on a bus before. I was fairly wedged in and couldn't really move. The bus went by where I wanted to get off, but I didn't want to get a pregnant woman and ten other people out of my way so I kept riding. The bus kept going and going full of people. We went through a few of the large plazas in downtown Lima. When some of the people got off the bus, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get out myself. I looked out the window and saw a pile of rubble and a burned out husk of a van. I kept riding the bus. The bus crossed the Rímac river, and entered a busy intersection. The pregnant woman got out there and I quickly followed her out. On the street I was surrounded by tables selling wine. I kept going and saw some booths selling different food items. Across the street I saw a large outdoor market. I walked a bit but I'd rather get home so I went across the street and took a bus going back the way I came. I sat right next to the door so no matter what I could get out when I wanted. Along the way back I felt the beginnings of a stomach ache and a little bit of nausea. I thought it was from all of the bus travel, though I'm not really known for motion sickness. In fact, the last time I threw up was when I was ten or so, a record I'm quite proud of. I got back to the Villa Rica with no other problems. I sat on my bed and surfed the web, emailing Bob that I was feeling sick. After another few minutes my stomach completely shifted to a new level of aching. I stumbled towards the toilet. Some instinct told me it was time and I lifted the toilet lid, got on my knees, and blasted a gooey mix of french fries and Fanta into the toilet. Oh, um sorry if you were eating while reading this. Amusingly I was mad that my streak was over. I rolled into bed and looked for web information on food poisoning. Then I passed out. At 4AM I woke up with a severe craving for water. I called downstairs for a bottle and went back to sleep after I got it and had a sip. The next morning Bob had gotten me a lot of supplies for the sick, since he's had a lot of experience treating sick students. He got me some crackers and three liters of Fanta, among some other things like Cipro. Unfortunatley my stomach didn't take to the pills and my next streak lasted only 8 hours or so. I spent the rest of today sleeping and surfing the web, with sips of Fanta and water in between. Update 9:05PM: Feeling better now. I went through a period where I was either moaning, saying the f-word, or raising my arms and roaring softly. While Kristin would tell you that's within the range of variation for my behavior, it usually doesn't come out all at once. Now I'm packing up my stuff so I have more time tomorrow. I have a few things to give out, and someone to see. link : 5:42 PM
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Friday, August 10, 2007Can I Rent a Smoking? We sat in a smoke-filled bar on Av. La Marina, a popular strip of department stores, hamburger joints, and discotecas. The place was a big bar, which had an appropriate name: Big Bar. It was my going-away party with my coworkers. We just came back to our tables after a round of dancing and we're enjoying our beers. In my case, I had a coke. Lin, who had taken us on the trip to the south, leaned towards me. I could barely hear what he said over the music and the lasers (which somehow interfered with my hearing).
Lin: ***** smoking **** aquilar.Lin takes a breath and thinks of another way of saying what he is saying. I know the word smoking. I know the word aquilar (to rent). But I can't think of a sentence where those two words would make sense. Was he talking about the smoke in the bar? But why rent? Is that a phrase for second hand smoke? Lin continued: Lin: *translated from Spanish* Aquilar is when, for example I let you use this glass *picks up his glass of beer.* You pay me 50 soles and I let you use it. Then you give it back when you're done.I confirmed that aguilar is to rent. But... smoking? Lin took another breath, encouraged that I got that part down. Lin: *translated from Spanish* "Smoking" is clothes you wear to a wedding. We'll need it tomorrow when we go to my friend's wedding. We're going to rent "smoking" tomorrow afternoon.Smoking is Spanish for tuxedo!!!! What?! How... that boggles the mind. Back in my hotel room I checked my new Spanish dictionary and the translation widget:  Indeed: Smoking, spelled exactly the same way, means a tuxedo in Spanish. That's not confusing at all! Labels: linguistics, personal, peru link : 10:58 PM
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Friday, July 27, 2007Me Robó The title sounds like I'm telling you that I'm a robot, but it actually means that I was robbed. Which I was, unfortunately.
Thursday morning began like any other. I wake up 2 hours before I have to go to work. I surf the net for 90 minutes and hurriedly get ready to go and eat breakfast in the last half hour. I checked for my wallet in my jacket, and noted that my travel pouch with my passport is under a pile of clothes in my hotel room. I leave the Villa Rica and walk down a block to catch a bus. On the bus I sit alone, but then a man sitting somewhere behind me moved to sit next to me. It's not so unusual as I figured that he had a stop coming up and wanted to be closer to the door. He was kind of large so I was squished against the bus window. I wrapped my arms around my backpack, which had my computer and camera and was on my lap. The man jostled a bit. He had a large yellow plastic bag with him with some cardboard or something inside. He got off a few corners later. I myself hopped off the bus a few more blocks past that. I started walking to the museum when I noticed that my jacket's pocket was open. I put my hand in and nothing was there. I patted down my pants pocket, the other place I put my wallet. Nothing there either. Just like that, I was professionally robbed. After some fast, frantic thinking about my options I decided to hop on a bus going back towards the Villa Rica. I searched my room for my wallet, in case I had left it there. I got online to tell Kristin what happened. As I chatted with her I looked online for advice about what to do in this situation. I checked the US Embassy in Lima, wikihow.com, and then my online banking site. When I saw the statement I noticed that there was already a new charge: around $3.50 at an inn in Lima. I was excited that I had a lead already so I bolted downstairs to ask the hotel staff what I should do. They got me a cab to the nearest police station. The police station was like any other building in Jesus María. It was made of brick plastered over and had alternating sections with and without a ceiling. Florescent lights made everything green. After explaining to several officers that my wallet was stolen and my card was being used, I was led to a room where they took my statement. Jesus María is not a tourist district so it must be rare for them to deal with foreigners (or was it...). The officer I was assigned was nice even though answering each question seemed like its own confusing ordeal. He hand-wrote the statement and directed me back downstairs. As I left, a group of police officers called me to another corner of the room. I had no idea what was going on. They asked me if I spoke English. I said yes and they led me into the circle of officers. In the center was a white-looking person dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, hardly appropriate for a cold wet morning. They wanted me to talk to this guy, and get the basic information from him. Following their instructions I asked the man for his name, where he came from, and his birthday. He answered all three with a slight grin and a shake of the head which to me said "Whatever, dude." It dawned on me that this guy didn't come here on his own for help; the police brought him in for something! I put myself on alert as I was a foot from this strange guy. The police tried to get me to engage him in conversation but the man wouldn't comply. They sent me away again. Downstairs an officer was typing up my statement into an old PC. When she was done she had a printout stamped and signed by another officer and I was told I could go. All told, my first real experience with the police was very positive. Back at the Villa Rica, Kristin told me via chat that she had cancelled my Columbia cards. On her advice I took a nap to rest. I got up to have lunch and went to work finally at 2PM. When I told my coworkers what happened they were very empathetic. I have something of a reputation for just leaving my valuables hanging around while I run errands so they cautioned me on my lax personal security (I'm actually careful, I swear!). They affirmed that that would be last experience with crime here in Lima. One aspect of my personal security practices that paid off was that I keep money and documents in separate locations. I had around $8 in another pocket, which sustained me for the two days before I could reach Bob for help. My passport is safe. It's just $30, some credit cards and ID cards which were taken. Actually, that sounds kind of bad. Maybe I should re-evaluate my plan. Hmm. link : 10:15 PM
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007"They Called Me Mr. Bean" I almost lit my laboratory on fire on Tuesday. Well, that may be an exaggeration. I was plugging in my extension cord to power the lights in my work-tent. The plug has been deteriorating, sometimes refusing to work. This time as I jiggled the wire hoping for a circuit, it made a loud sparkly pop. It didn't hurt me, except for my pride as the entire lab turned to see what I was up to. Carlos, one of my supervisors, put down the phone with a quick "I'll call you back" so he could help me get another cord.
Today I was carrying my box of stuff in from the work-tent as usual when I was distracted by a interactive CD-ROM (they were big in the mid-90's) on bioarchaeology that was playing on a computer in the lab. I hit my elbow on the door frame and dropped the box, nearly spilling all of my stuff on the ground. Sigh. Labels: personal link : 8:56 PM
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Friday, July 6, 2007Church Faires Are Also Awesome Before I took the new students to the Inti Raymi faire I went alone through Jesus María to get to the Metro for some groceries. Along the way, I passed by the local church and there was a lot going on. A church faire!
 The fact that faires now get me really excited is no secret. I immediately changed course and headed right into it. It was a small event, but it did have a stage with amps. On the stage was a guy in a cheap clown suit (no makeup!) and a guy dressed up like Spider-Man. There were several row of tables of people selling freshly cooked food. Looking at the signs, I thought they represented local churches and different denomination. I had a plate of tallarín con salsa de carne, which is spaghetti with meat sauce. For the first time in Peru I felt like someone who was part of the community and not some Chinese weirdo walking through town. Here's what happened: the church let out and many tens of people suddenly spilled out into the faire area. As they walked by me they saw me standing there like a weirdo eating a plate of spaghetti. Some people walked up to me, but instead of commenting on me, they asked me if the spaghetti was good and how much it was. They valued my opinion! There were also some faire games set up. One was a simple cointoss onto a platform. Another was jail which I considered joining but I was concerned that no one would pay to let me out. As I was looking around a woman came up to me with some numbered tickets. She asked me to pick one for one sol. I chose 4 for no reason in particular and then I saw the setup she was attending to. It was a ring of boxes surrounding a box in the center. On each box on the outside was some cheap item: stickers, condensed milk, things like that. I had no idea what was going on:  {I paid 1 sol before I knew how this game worked.} When she sold off all of the tickets she called a guy over who reached into a box and picked up a cuy (guinea pig)! I got it: the guinea pig was going to be placed in the box in the center and when it's uncovered, it would scaredly run into a box. The person who had the ticket for that box wins! That was exactly what happened as seen in this video: The video was actually the second cuy run I saw. On the first one, the cuy ran into box 4. I won! My incredible prize was a pack of rigatoni pasta with a bottle of white glue and a green marker taped to it.  {Now my party can really get started.} At another event, someone was selling rolled up tickets. When I paid a sol and picked one, I unrolled it to reveal a number. Then another person working there would get some cheap item that corresponded with that number. Simple enough, right? Except that Peruvians are rather pushy at times and the people running that booth were kind of slow. I waited patiently to buy my ticket and have it exchanged for my item. One of the guys came up to me and handed me a tiny orange plastic flute. His expression said "Pfft, here you go dude" while mine was more "Uh, thanks, I think." I later gave the flute away to the daughter of anthropologist Rick Sutter, who happened to stop by with his family to visit Bob. There's a chance that he absolutely despises me now. link : 9:04 PM
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Saturday, June 30, 2007Personal Interlude 2: Rite of Passage... Passed! Mercedes Delgado, Peruvian archaeologist, approached me with an envelope. She had me take out the contents. An official invitation to present at a anthropometry/bioarchaeology workshop at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, here in Lima. !!! She said I could present in English, so no pressure. I was just to give a brief lecture on my work here this winter in Peru. I accepted, as I had three weeks to prepare.
Fast forward: the presentation went great! The workshop was around 25 people or so, mostly students with a few faculty. Mercedes chatted with me before my talk and said "You're talking in English right?" I answered "No, I'm talking in Spanish." and she replied "Wow thank you thank you!" She's great, by the way. Anyway I got up and just delivered a talk in Spanish. I suffer from One More Day Syndrome and I wished I had one more day to work on the presentation to get it just right. My first half is well rehearsed, but the last half was full of me asking the crowd what the Spanish word for brain was, etc. Still, Bob said I didn't need one more day and I gave a grade A talk. Nice! After the talk, two students came up to ask me to elaborate on cranial deformation. Silly me, I glossed over the whys and hows of it because I assumed that they as Peruvian students would know. I guess it's like someone assuming that I know all about the Han Dynasty. I did give them my email though. Yay for meeting new colleagues. The talk will appear on this site in the Professional section. I do have to start promoting myself for when I have to apply for jobs. I can see my CV entry now: 2007: Made and gave a talk in g#*d@&%ed Spanish!!!!!! link : 9:13 PM
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Personal Interlude 1: Pachakuteq According to one version of Inca history, when Cusi Yupanqui defeated the invading Chancay people and drove them from Cusco, he started a period of conquest that would soon reach over two thousand miles along the Pacific Coast of South America. He gave himself a new name as leader of the Inca people: Pachakuteq, which is literally "world turner," but the connotation can be more like "earthquaker" or the more extreme "reality remaker."
I'll get to the point before you wonder why this is called a personal interlude. Two weeks ago Kristin and i broke up. All of a sudden, the future I had envisioned for us was overturned. I'm talking about the next decades. I just assumed that we'd be together for a long time, and it never really occurred to me that that might not happen. (On a sidenote I have to admit that my mom was right, maybe intermingling the house purchase finances might not have been the bestest idea.) Kristin hung on when I was at my lowest, and I literally owe her my life. But more recently we developed different social interests (basically she had them and I didn't), and while I thought that was fine for us, she didn't feel the same. The field school students were very nice when they found out. They got me some flowers and a lúcuma mousse which was great. Kristin and I still friends, best friends even, and we already joke around the breakup. I'll still have a cool house and 3 cats when I get back home in August. But one day when I get my PhD and find a job, I'll be leaving Columbia and Kristin will stay behind. Yeah, I'm scared as hell about that day. My reality just got remade. link : 8:54 PM
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Friday, June 22, 2007A Night at the Faire In my previous trips to Peru, I've gone to a faire that has been held in the nearby Parque de la Exposición. It's a pretty big park built expressly to add culture to the city. It has several art museums, and a nice fountain. There are also amphitheaters and even a puppet show building for kids. I really wanted to go to the faire this year as well, but didn't really know how to find out about it. I scoured the internet for a calendar of cultural events in Lima but didn't really find anything. I did find that there was going to be a concert at the park on father's day. I asked the staff at the hostal but I didn't really understand the conversation. Either the fair is closed on holidays, or it really picks up on holidays. Holidays... like father's day! They also told me that Sundays are a good day to go to the faire. I wanted to ask Bob, but he was busy handling details for a trip to Buena Vista to observe a possible astronomical alignment that coincides with the winter equinox, a major event for the Incas and people living here today. In Cusco they have a giant celebration called Inti Raymi with parades and ceremonies.
The pieces fell into place in my head: a concert at the park for one holiday, which is on a Sunday. A major cultural event coming up... maybe the faire will be there that day? On Sunday morning, I walked to the park to see what was there. I was greeted by gigantic banners advertising the Inti Raymi festival at the park. Another banner was for the concert taking place that same day. Cool! I walked in and saw people setting up. Already, whole pigs were on the grill, with delicious smoke rising into the air. It was going to be awesome. I went back to the hostal to tell the students the good news. They had gone to some parties with a Peruvian student so they were slow to awaken. I told them all the cool stuff that was going down that day. We had already decided to go to Miraflores that day so Beckie could pick up a skirt she wanted at Juan Carlos' booth at the circle market. Juan Carlos? Oh right, he needs his own post lol. Anyway our cab ride there was very entertaining because our driver spoke a lot of English and had a nice car. We got a taste of that when I talked him down from 10 soles for the cab ride (a ridiculous price). He pleaded that it was father's day so I should be generous! I did get him down to 8 soles. On the way we talked about a lot of the usual things like why we were in Peru and how long we were staying. When he found out we were archaeologists the conversation changed to the rich archaeology of Peru. We talked about Caral/Chupacigarro (he was surprised we've been there already), the Incas in general, and the mystery of the Nasca lines. In Miraflores he told us to try the lúcuma ice cream and was surprised again when we told him that we were way ahead of him. In the end we gave him 10 soles for the ride. Beckie got her skirt and we immediately set off back towards Jesus María for the faire. When we got there it was already dark (heading towards the winter equinox does mean that the nights are getting longer). There weren't as many booths set up as I had thought as many stalls were empty. There was a lot of stuff going on though, including a motion simulator ride:  Once again what is popular at the faire has changed. The first one I went to, in 2003, had predominantly touristy stuff and local food. The second year, 2004, had a much larger showing of health-related products: vegetarian food, natural ingredients, etc. That was also the first time i saw sorpresas there, grab-bag goodies that can be bought for 1 sol each. This year, there are very few tourist goods, and many more redundant booths. There were at least 3 booths selling the same soy chicharrones. A few artists were doing spray paint/fire breathing demonstrations. The restaurant area was a lot larger though. There was a large section of tables and chairs with rows of booths grilling all kinds of meat. I spied anticuchos (beef hearts), hot dogs, tripe (mmm), and a pile of cuy chactado (guinea pig on a stick). Another aisle was all alcohol. At one end of the food area was a concert stage, where most of the people were. This wasn't the concert that was advertised, but rather where some smaller bands entertained the crowd.  We split up and went through the aisles. I bought some mazamorra morada for people to try. This is what i affectionately call "chicha snot-rada" because it tastes like chicha morada, the regional purple corn drink, but with a mucus-like consistency. Most of us picked up a little something. I got a little knit cap for Kristin. Andrea got a spraypainting of what appears to be a waterfall, explosion, and a panda. Eventually we all got back together and they decided to leave to get dinner. I had other plans so when I got them a cab, I told them I was staying. They were shocked (perhaps I should've told them beforehand) and thought I was mad at them. I just wanted the explore some more! I also wanted to try out the faire food. After they left I walked around the entire fairgrounds, picking up a lot of sorpresas for Kristin. Dinner was winding down and that meant a lot of freshly grilled food wasn't so fresh anymore. I found a place that was still grilling things and ordered the standard plate there. The chef was very nice and even put on her bandana when I asked to take her picture. It didn't show up in this one, but I have another picture where the bandana paid off:  The plate I got was this:  {Mmmm} It has some grilled potato, a grilled piece of corn, two sticks of anticuchos, all covered in delicious tripe. Pretty sweet for 6 soles ($2 or so). They started closing off the fairgrounds at 8:30 or so, which I thought was kind of early for a culture known for their parties to 3AM. I walked back to the hostel and snapped some pictures along the way:  Next: this weekend! link : 12:15 PM
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Sunday, June 17, 2007You Almost Hit Me! Take Me to the Pizza Hut! A little bit of non-linear storytelling here: before the homeless guy incident below, we had decided to get some American-style cuisine. Namely, KFC. I looked up the nearest KFC/Pizza Hut in Lima (they have double stores, like Hardee's and Red Burrito). It's on the way to the museum we work at so I've seen it before. We hailed a cab and I asked to go to the Pizza Hut, since I didn't know how to say KFC in Spanish. While sitting in another tin box/cab I realized that I just turned into a customer in the game Crazy Taxi. In fact, being in a Peruvian cab is a lot like being in Crazy Taxi, except I have no control of the car. Being nerds, the students thought that comparison was funny.
Our nerdiness showed up again when we entered KFC. We found out that if we bought a kid's meal (una Cajita Chicky) we would get a Mario Party 8 watch. Beckie, who has a Mario fetish, just stood there with her mouth hanging open for a while. We bought two kids's meals since we couldn't outright buy the watches (we asked). We did get to choose though. Beckie got a Yoshi watch and I got a Luigi one. It didn't fit my wrist so I sold it to Crystal at a discount as it was her birthday. link : 10:16 AM
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Sunday, June 10, 2007How to Eat for Free (and Safely) in Peru On weekends I like to visit the Metro and stock up on things like snacks and tea. I grab a cheap lunch there as well since they have many little booths of food. Today I went to the good ol' Chinese food booth. For 4 soles (around $1.25), I had a chicken wing, a pork dumpling, another kind of pork dumpling, two fried wontons, and a pork bun. Oh, and a dixie cup of Inka Cola. I was still wanting more though so I went around the supermarket. They have many people giving out free samples during peak hours. After a few circuits around, I had eaten samples of ham, sausage, tamales, cheese, ramen in soup, and rice pudding. Now that's a lunch!
link : 12:32 PM
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Wednesday, June 6, 2007Adventures in Supermarketry Sunday was spent recovering from the trip to Chupacigarro/Caral, but we did have another adventure in the city as well.
I slept in and missed breakfast but agreed to meet the students at the Metro, one of the giant supermarket chains in Peru. At least, that's what I thought we agreed on. Apparently they were waiting for me as I obliviously got ready to go and walked right by their doors. At the Metro I had a little lunch of a carne empanada (a stuffed bread) and a cup of chicha morada (purple corn drink). I bought a few supplies such as drawing pens and paper and walked back to the Villa Rica. When the students saw me with my bags from the Metro they were in various degrees of shock and dismay. To make it up to them I agreed to take everyone there. The students bought a small cake for later (which turned out to be not so good) and I bought a package of microwave pork rinds for kicks. The students ate at a food court that was built on the second floor above the Metro. They had stalls with various foods: Chinese, "Tuscon" (mostly things like baked chicken and fries), criollo (traditional Peruvian) and an espresso/dessert stand. Afterwards a few of us treated ourselves to ice cream. I had lúcuma (native fruit)/chocolate, which was very good. Next: an important date for Peruvian archaeologists link : 11:27 PM
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Friday, June 1, 2007omgwtfbbq Tonight at the Villa Rica, I wanted to go to an internet cafe and surf the internet a little before turning in for the night. I asked the hostel night staffer downstairs where the nearest one was. He offered to show us (Beckie was there too) so we left the hostel. On the way he asked if I had a laptop. I said yes and he replied that we can just use the one in the hostel. What?! Some work later and an ethernet cable is now coming from the roof and through a side window into my room! That made my room pretty popular with the students who were here to see all of this. It's so convenient! No more Windows 98 on a sticky keyboard for me.
link : 10:03 PM
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Thursday, May 31, 2007Todo está bien I am posting this from a rather dirty internet cafe in Lima, Peru. I had a whole post written but my PC running Windows 98 wouldn´t read it. When I get it to work somehow, this will be replaced by a harrowing account of travelling from St. Louis to Lima via Atlanta! OK, it wasn´t harrowing.
Update: Here it is! 5/31 2:18AM Lima, Peru I tried to sleep after arriving at the Villa Rica once again, but I'm just not in the sleeping mood. The trip from Columbia to Lima could've been better, but I got here in one piece (except for the skin that flaked off due to an earlier poison ivy encounter). The first flight, from St. Louis to Atlanta, ended abruptly as the plane slammed into the runway. I felt that one! The crew was apologetic and said that they did get us there early (get it, because the descent was so fast!). The flight to Lima was better. I wish it wasn't over six hours long though. The plane was also late because it needed servicing, which isn't very reassuring. We did get a free meal of chicken or pasta. I thought pasta was kind of vague so I ordered chicken. It turned out that the pasta was pesto and I missed out. I met up with two of the students on that flight from Atlanta. I knew one of them from MU but the other was a mystery to us. We tried to pick out from the crowd who was most likely to be the other student. One young woman had a pink Hello Kitty carry-on and was clutching a giant Minnie Mouse plushie. We joked that that was the anthropologist in training, ready to work in a dusty lab on ancient skeletons. Getting out of customs took forever as usual, and when we finally reached the exit we were met by a frantic Bob. The student who was supposed to arrive an hour before us was delayed until after we had landed. I don't think he's back from the airport with her yet. Hope things went ok. Since Bob had to stay and work that out, I was to guide our taxi to the Villa Rica. We got kind of lost and confused. I have little maps, but it appears that Peruvians just aren't used to reading maps or seeing the city grid as a map. Our driver was trying to read the map as he was driving which was funny and scary at the same time. Good thing traffic at 1AM is very light. Everything in this district seems to shut down at 10PM or so if I recall. We did eventually hit a major road and got to an intersection I recognized. Then it was home free, so to speak. The two students who are here now seem satisfied with the lodging. The Villa Rica has been pimped out since the last time I was here. There's a vending machine for beer in the main hallway. I bet the previous field students would've appreciated that! Some of the rooms sport new TVs too, flat screen CRTs. Nice! Unfortunately, there is one change for the worse: all the light bulbs are replaced with those energy saving fluorescents. It's very harsh. I'm glad Kristin isn't here to be blinded by all of them. link : 6:04 PM
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Friday, May 18, 2007Soy! Soy! A few months ago I invested some of my savings in the stock market. My portfolio is a whopping 5 shares in several different companies. I'd rather not divulge too much about my financial information on the internets but I'll toss out a tidbit: one of my companies is Apple. Shocking, I know. Who knew I was a fan of Apple? The stock has been doing well recently with new Mac announcements, favorable financial reports, and the upcoming iPhone launch. Anyway it recently started actually turning a profit for me by surpassing the $10 commission fee I had to pay to buy it. Isn't it weird how I have to pay a commission fee to buy and sell stocks unless if I have $25,000 in my account whereby the fee is waived? It takes money to save money I guess. Why did I buy stocks? I wanted to retire early lol. I thought that now is as good a time as any to get started. I also figured that I could put my knowledge of statistics to good use. It seems to be a simple matter of studying trends and keeping an ear to the (wall)streets for changes. My stocks took a bit of a tumble soon after I bought them, but they all seem to be on the upswing now.  {Apple stock in the past few months. Cha-ching!} Labels: macs, personal, tech:computers |