What were you doing 10 years ago? Ten years ago I was beggining what would become the second worst semester in my educational career. I was actually looking forward to the semester because I was starting the research on my master's thesis. I was going to examine some recently created methods for determining gender from the tibial plateau (really more in the way of verification on modern forensic samples). I was also going to try and apply them to zooarchaeological situations. At any rate, during the course of the semester I came down with bronchitis on three separate occasions. The third time I developed cough syncopy to go along with the bronchits - which means I passed out almost every time I coughed. I managed to muddle through the semester with GPA intact.
What were you doing five years ago? Five years ago I was working for a company that provided nurse case management for worker's comp claims (don't get hurt in Missouri is all I can say - Blunt's made it worse). I was also back at a community college taking Trigonometry and College Algebra. There is a silver lining in every cloud and somewhere along the line I saw the good in being knocked out of college (see the previous post). You see, I didn't really pick the master's thesis I wanted, mainly because I didn't have the math (if you are reading this post and want to be a physical anthropologist take math, a lot of math, chemistry, evolutionary biology and evo-devo wouldn't hurt either - neither would some good classes in comparitive anatomy). What I would have liked to have done was test Martin Bernal's theories developed in "Black Athena" concerning the ethnicity of the greeks. In particular I wanted to see if there was any biological admixture between the greeks and surrounding peoples. This would have required more math than I had so I was back in school trying to acquire the tools I needed to become the type of anthropologist I want to be.
What were you doing one year ago? One year ago I was starting the scanning department for my current employer. I was out of college, again, because my wife wanted to go and since I had a B.A. I felt it was her turn. I'm a very patient person - I'll have a Ph.D before all is said and done.
What were you doing yesterday? Writing a post on my one year anniversery as a blogger! Oh, and packing.
Five songs you know the words to? Well, that's kind of tough... Once upon a time I used to play a bamboo flute (I also used to play the trumpet - Louis Armstrong rules!) and had the sheet music to quite a lot of songs - play them enough and you learn them by heart. So, pretty much anything off Neil Young's Harvest, Stairway to Heaven, Ben (I don't know why I know the words to that - seen the movie once to often I guess). Anything off Black Sabbath's Paranoid.
Five snacks you like? Popcorn, Baby Ruth, Trail Mix, Bannanas, Milk Duds
Five things you would do with $100 million? I divide this into two sections. The selfish part: Finish my education, increase my library size significantly (this applies to books and monster movies - a weakness of mine), buy a 40 ft Hallberg-Rassy and sail to greece with my family:
They are beautiful, beautiful boats and cost a small fortune.
Then I would make sure several other family members are taken care of, which should really be included in the altruistic section. The altruistic part: endowe some scholarships in science so others could attend college. Either start an evolution research institute or maybe endowe the NCSE.
Five places I would run away to? Anyplace the sailing is good, in particular the Aegean. Greenland (as long as I wasn't unemployed). Aydin mentioned Darwin's house and that would be cool - as would the Galopagos Islands. Hadar would be fantastic as would Olduvai Gorge.
Five things I would never wear? Those skimpy swimming trunks Brazillian and Italian men wear at the beach (at least not without doing some serious exercising). This is a really tough question. I'm stumped...
Five greatest joys? Does Mrs. afarensis count? The little afarensis' too. The explosion in my brain when I have an "eureka" moment and solve a difficult problem. Sailing. Chess (although it's been awhile - I really admire the style of Aron Nimzovitch if that means anything to any of you). Fencing. Reading.
Five favorite toys: My computer obviously. Slide rules - I have five. Having a telescope and a microscope would be fun as would a digital camera.
Five people I'm tagging? Most of the bloggers I know have already done this so I'm leaving that open to whoever wants to do it.
