Round 2: It passes all my understanding.

I am a bit in shock.

Just a bit.

And that statement is just a bit of an understatement.

:)

I have been in a bit of a funk trying to do a little self-evaluation.

Am I making the right choices?

Am I on the right path?

Am I looking at where this path is taking me, not just what I am doing at the moment?

Do I feel good about this direction?

Am I happy?

Why or why not?

Is there a purpose to what I am doing?

I could go on forever but these are some of the things I have been thinking about.

Sometimes life takes you on such an amazing ride so fast you feel like you are losing control.

So I wanted to make sure I knew what the heck I was doing - or at least trying to do.

Less than a year ago a very generous person donated a significant amount of money to grad students traveling to a specific dig in Apamea, Syria.

That miraculously included me.

(Click here for recap)

Long story short Syria fell apart and it was no longer safe for me to go so I instituted plan B and traveled all over Jordan, Italy (here, and here too!) and Great Britain.

It was a dream come true.

Since that point things have become increasingly...overwhelming.

1. I started my last class before my official thesis research.  
2. I presented at a research symposium for the first time - my own research (ahhhh!!!)
3. My thesis adviser approached me about trying to get funding for more research for my thesis this summer and needed a list of theaters to go to.
4. I've finished my coursework and am starting my personal research.
5. I am also getting ready to propose my thesis so I can start writing it.

Once Upon A Time: The Evolution of the Desktop.

When I was a senior in high school, for Christmas, one of my friends gave me a new desktop computer.

I was pretty stoked.

So I took it with me to school and typed a lot of papers, played a lot of solitaire and minesweeper, and basically survived my 4 years of university with that marvelous beast.

Not that I didn't sometimes "step out" with other technology.

Out of necessity my sophomore year of college I bought my first laptop to work with my desktop.

I named him Douglas, Douglas the Dell.

Yes, I name my technology, "whatcha gonna do 'bout it?"

After a couple of years of teamwork with the desktop, Douglas perished while the desktop lived on.

Yes, that is duct tape.

 Apparently two trips to the middle east and being on a few other digs was really, really hard on Douglas.

I knew Douglas was on his way out so I replaced him the summer before my first year of grad school.

With Tahla.

Who is marvelous, light, and has already traveled around the world with me this year.

Tahla in Arabic means "little palm tree". 

(or so I am told)

Considering the size and weight difference I thought it was appropriate.

I bought Tahla right after I got back from Syria and started working on a dig in Utah for the rest of the summer.

I had lent my computer to my familia while I was gone.

I came back and the monitor no longer worked and the computer had a few nasty viruses.  

So I reformatted it but it was starting to dawn on me that my desktop would not last much longer.

So I began saving and preparing myself for its death.

(backing up things and so forth).

It took a year and a half for it to die.

It happened this Thanksgiving.

I was angry at first but then I was relieved because I got black Friday prices.

So I bought my new best friend...who I haven't named yet. ;)

We got double monitors at job 1 and now I am a woman obsessed.  

It took me a few days to realize I could hook up my old monitor and then have love at home too.

It seems silly but the double monitor has changed my life.

Writing and researching is FANTASTIC!!!

So there you go.

The evolution of my computer life.

♥ ♥ ♥

Wow, it has been a really long time.

The last time I blogged was September 18th.  That is ridiculous. :)

A LOT has happened since then.

I turned 24.

My brother Juanita got engaged.

My brother Juanita got married. 

I am working on my last class before my thesis research.

I've been so busy I have barely taken any pictures in weeks.

(that may not seem like a big deal but I usually take a few everyday)

Hmmm....

I am in the middle of writing a paper...

ok, not that interesting.

Basically Jon's wedding, school, and...I'm not sure what else (bad sign) have taken over my life for the past few months and left no survivors. 

To show this, here are the only pictures I have taken since September 18th.

Ridiculous.

Walked by this as I was heading toward the library on Halloween.

Only at BYU 

:)

Fall leaves falling as I am walking to work.

Deruda took Rosie running 

(meaning he let her off her leash and let her go wild)

in an old parking lot.

She ripped up her paws and we had to bandage them.

I'm still mad at Deruda.

They took down a sculpture on campus that I used to play in as a child.

It was not earthquake proof so they took it down for the winter and are going to rebuild it in the spring.

Members of the family of deer that live on the hill between upper and lower campus decided to come down.

For fun I guess.

I was walking from job 1 to job 2.

Yes, I have 2.

Yes, I love them both.

The top of my car a week or so ago.

I wore flip flops and a skirt the day before.

Gotta love Utah weather.

This is from the inside of my car looking through my windshield on that same day.

It took a bit to scrape through that mess.

It was fun though.

:)

Juanita over Thanksgiving break.

Cousin Taylor taught him how to do a back bend.

He was showing off for his cute wife.

True story.

:)

In summary,

life is good,

I've been unbelievably busy,

and the semester is about to end.

YES!

♥ ♥ ♥