31 January 2010

LOST

We are on disk 4 of season 1 of LOST. In three days.

Saw two eagle rays, a sting ray, a trunk fish, and caught a few lion fish. Not bad for an afternoon.

I love the trunk fish. They look funny and they let you get real close.











image from: http://k8smate.com/images/fall2005/trunk%20fish.jpg

29 January 2010

Where's the Swimming?

It was supposed to be different this time. I wasn't supposed to work alllllll the time. But I've been sucked in to the sense of urgency. There is so much to do the next couple of weeks! The big push to get everything done means no swimming, lots of time in front of the computer, and spelling errors in the invitations I sent out to the whole island. As my Lafayette friends will remember, that last one is nothing new ("Lafafayette", I believe it was, on that big poster that hung in Farinon for 2 weeks. And "Activites" on the T-shirts.).

On the other hand, it's nice to be needed in the office. And I get to throw in a bit of merchandising in the shop. One of the museum founders is here this week (one of, not "the"). One of the first things he said was that the office is looking great. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with Jessica being here?" he asked. "It has everything to do with Jessica being here!" said Neal. And just like that it was OK for archivists to visit the museum at 2,000$ per visit. Are you taking notes here people, because this is some good stuff.

28 January 2010

Breaking the Seal

Well it's all over. I'd managed to get out of doing the tours since I got back. I have horrible memories from last time of hot, irritated people not being interested in my fabulous revelations about salt production and boating in the 1500's. We didn't have air conditioning then. Even though that's all been fixed, I'm still not keen on being judged by people who might possibly know more than I do about maritime history. There's always at least one expert in the crowd: either a New England fisherman or navy enthusiast. I can't decide what I like better: struggling to come up with slightly logical excuses for the questions from the experts, or struggling to wipe the blank look off the faces of the people who couldn't care less that the indigenous population was wiped out in 50 years. That is an interesting fact! Why wouldn't you care!?
Since I've been away for a while, I thought it logical to use the "but I need to remember everything" excuse for not doing the tours. This didn't last long, because I gave a small introduction to a wandering group and *voila* all the facts were still there. I'm not a good lier, so that's out.
Then I went the opposite tactic: I'm going to be here for a while: "I have to do them when you leave, Rory, you take this one for me".
But today was the end of the line. We have no staff in the office, the labs need to be cleaned as mentioned yesterday (Rory's job), and Neal is busy with annual report stuff. So here I am, writing articles and award and presentation proposals and covering the shop. I know I seem to be invincible in managing an office, but I can't be everywhere at once and the universe proved it today: Our maintenance guy came looking for me frantically - a tour had showed up and needed a guide! But alas, I was in the middle of a tour already. So he ran for Rory, who broke his flip flop again running down the stairs. This is a problem since he didn't bring another pair and there is nowhere on the island to a good replacement. We'll have to raid the cruise center one day so he can get a cheap over priced pair. Till then - keep stapling.
I thought I was pointing out all the interesting things in the collection (that I know about), but I still feel that half weren't interested. Not angry though. That's an improvement. I need to popularize my schpeel a bit and liven things up. There is a great history here! I need to work on my flair for drama and get people interested. A work in progress...
which can continue in about 2 hours!
That those groups before were only the first round. There is another group of tours coming in about 2 hours. Just enough time to re-group and eat lunch. And read an article on the creation of the language for the Nav'i. Last night I read a sarcastic article on how Avatar is *not* Dances with Wolves. Oh yea? Well, I loved that movie too.


PS Second round of people: 24 on my tour. In the last room I was talking to 7 people. Where does everybody go?

27 January 2010

Attack of the Fly!

It was a busy day at work today. The founder of the museum is arriving Friday, the Trustee meeting is early Feb, we are planning a seminar series starting NEXT WEEK, and the issue of the museum newsletter, which consists of research based articles, is due next week. I'm only half done with an article for the newsletter, Tuvol was trying to get on my nerves on purpose, I didn't get the signage advertisement ready to send out for that lecture series, which needs to go out like TOMORROW.

Then we get home. I walk in, it smells delicious. Then I hear a simmering sound, I assumed it was the crockpot making all the noise. Then I looked around. There were flies everywhere!!! Hundreds and hundreds of flies! Making simmering noises.

Great. I escaped to the outside with bug spray to guard against the mosquitoes while. Nowhere is safe. Neal fumigated and then served dinner.

Just another day on the island.

25 January 2010

Tuvol the lazy bloodhound

I didn't make the title. I told Tuvol that he could smell that I had a list of things for him to do and he stayed away. He had some lame excuse about a meeting. At which he didn't pay attention and behaved badly. What's new? He came up with the blog title. I think he's proud of it.

I intend to bribe him with treats and/or strong arm him into completing my list. I think I'll be able to get him to willingly 3 out of 4 things on my list. If I get him to do just a bit of the last one (which is quite boring - typing up and index in Excel so we don't lose it every 3 minutes) it'll be a big help.

We all remember Tuvol from Big Papa Limited, an up and coming company currently hosted on my website. Hopefully we'll update his page while I'm here: http://www.jabrody24.com/friends/Tuvol/Tuvol.html. Rory found a shell that would be great for a necklace. Since making things "bootiful" is in Tuvol's department, I told him he should make the necklace and I'll sell it in the museum shop. We're making progress.

24 January 2010

Church Day


The "boys" have gone off to church. I wasn't invited, but that's no one's fault but my own. I set the precedent the last time I was here. It was too hot to sit inside a building at 11am during the hot season. Instead of Mass (Church, actually - Southern Baptist), I usually go for a walk on the beach and convince myself I'm praising God's creations, when really I'm just looking for shells. Sometimes I'll get close to introspection, or talk to my grandfather, or ponder the universe. It's not a great substitute, but it's closer to Mass than how I spent my Sunday's in Boston.

I haven't gone to church without my parents and sister since college. Ever since we started holding hands during the Our Father, it makes me miss them when they aren't there. We are supposed to be an independent type family - we all do our own thing and come together every once and a while. But really, I depend on them a lot. It bothers me that we've gotten into the habit of being away from each other - I think it bothers us all.

So now my Mass experience is ruined as I'm reminded of our new family dynamics when I should be listening to the gospel. Since I'm an avoid-er at heart, (and quite frankly I've learned too much over the last two years to feel obligated) I prefer to stay away and find another way to spend my Sundays. Just something to assuage the guilt and have a little meditation. This week it's shell hunting and pondering the fate of the world.

We had a spirited debate on politics this morning as we watched Meet the Press (we get NYC TV from the satellite). Will we get anything done without Teddy in the Senate? How is the American voter making decisions these days? Is the American empire on the decline or will we get back up? How did we get to this point anyway? It was a bit heavy for Sunday morning coffee, but it's part of the fun of living with Neal. Lectures abound. He carries his classroom with him.

Other interesting things this Sunday? For the first time in a long time, our island vet sounded really depressed. I drove the truck over since she asked to borrow it to help to move her stuff from one house on the island to another. She's had a falling out with her landlord over his cutting down the trees. He hates green (on an island where green things are rare, it really got her goat that he was taking away the only shady spot in the yard.). Then he told her to move her animals and she was worried he might poison them. Her story just keeps getting crazier and today she was not in a positive mood. She's run out of time to move her animals, the government is taking away her funding, and she can't find adoptive homes for her dogs and cats.

This is causing me to do some self-reflection. Here is this poor woman, trying to do what she sees as a favor for the islands - taking care of the abandoned dogs (which started out as wild animals, please remember) - and is ending up with the short end of the stick. I feel there is a lesson here. If you are filling a need, make sure it's viewed as an actual need.

Hey, it actually relates to one of my Golden Rules of Archives: You can't save everything, just the things that qualify as having value. I'll have to remember that for the MIT interview. **knock on wood**

23 January 2010

Saturday Swim

Today was a perfect Saturday. I spent a slow morning relaxing and drinking coffee and then went over to the museum to join the "boys". Currently the "boys" include Rory, the 18 year old gap year travel enthusiast and Neal, whom almost everyone I've ever told about my first TCI should remember as the director of the museum. After a couple hours of light office work, Rory and I convinced Neal it was time for lunch and swimming. After lunch, we spent the rest of the day in the water.

The first spot we went to was North Point, just under the historic lighthouse that warned ships of the 2 mile reef extending from the top of the island. Neal saw a reef shark (3-4 ft) and a unusually large barracuda. Rory saw the barracuda too and I was bitter, to say the least, that I had missed both. We walked on the beach for a bit, looking at the carved out limestone cliff towering above. Then we went back into the water to swim to our entrance point and I was DETERMINED to see something interesting. I saw a barrauda - a big one - but not THE barracuda. Rory and I watched a triggerfish for a while, which was interesting because they use their top and bottom fins to swim (dorsal and ventral fins). Not a shark, but fun.

Not finding any lion fish, which was on the menu for dinner, we went back home to the reef outside the museum house where we know there are plenty. We saw a number of them, but only caught 4. Dinner tomorrow night? Since they an invasive species, there is no limit to how many you can catch. We are helping the reef and get a tasty treat. They are a delicate little fish and go great with veggies.

I also swam with my new friend the eagle ray. I'll have to learn more about these creature's behavior because I'd love to go in for a closer look, but I don't know what their "don't even think about it" signals are. I've been playing it safe so far and staying away from the pointy end.