Where I've Been

I found something today that perfectly demonstrates the love/hate relationship that I and many other grad students have with our dissertations:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd080910s.gif

Particularly because I was so eager to get home, and kind of tired of Ecuador after a year, it's been difficult for me to return mentally to that place to think about the data I collected.

Fortunately I had a great lunch with an old friend last week who has kicked me back into gear, and now I'm actually excited to work on my dissertation! I'm currently working with another colleague to get a session together for the 2011 Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, which means I need to come up with a paper to present. I've also decided to go ahead and try to beat the Mr. to the finish line of the dissertation writing experience. Maybe we can get there together and put this grad-student life behind us!

Drowning in Documents

In preparation (or is it procrastination?) for getting started on writing the dissertation I've decided that I need to organize my electronic files in some sort of bibliographic software. The goal is to know what I have so that I can figure out what I'm missing and then know what I need. Simple enough, right?


I began the process of converting my physical library into an electronic one before when moved to Wales in 2007, since I knew I'd need to write grant proposals while all my books were packed away into storage. The work that I put in then (hours and hours of scanning) have paid off in two ways: 1) My entire academic library fits onto one Billy bookcase, and 2) I always have my resources just a mouse click away, as the computer is infinitely more portable than a bag full of books. There is a downside to this process, though.


I am drowning in electronic documents. As a conservative estimate I would say that I have 1000 files on my computer that need to be recorded in some type of bibliographic software. Most of the files are centralized (two folders - Ecuador Stuff and Everything Else), but there are others scattered throughout my computer, sitting in the folder of the class when I downloaded it to write a paper, or, even worse, languishing in the catch-all "Prelim" folder that contains everything I used to study for my comprehensive exams prior to fieldwork. Not only do I not know what I have, but I don't even know where it is!


My husband has BiblioScape, so I downloaded their free version, BiblioExpress, to give that a try. The program is quite simple, and reminds me of a more basic version of the EndNote 9 that I had once upon a time. It's limited, but it could record it all, which is the point of this exercise, and best of all, it's free. 


Through our university library we have free access to RefWorks, which is an online based application. I downloaded it a while ago, but I could never get the offline version to work correctly. Even though spotty internet is no longer an issue for us, I still prefer the ability to do the data entry on my computer, and not have to navigate a website. A friend recommended Zotero, which sounds awesome, but it's a plug-in for Firefox, and I'm using Chrome. Also, it's web-based.


My preference, at the moment, is EndNote X4. I downloaded a free 30-day trial from their website, and if I like it I can buy it through our university for a very reasonable sum. One of my favorite features is that I can import the PDFs into the program, which means that even if I move files around during subsequent housecleaning the program will still open them for me, which is a big plus in light of the disorganized state of my files.


So the question remains, how should I organize my electronic files on my computer, and how should I organize the references within EndNote? One giant folder, my current two and a bit, or detailed sub-folders by category? The same for within EndNote: should I keep an Ecuador library and a non-Ecuador library (even though there are some cases of overlap), or put them together and separate them into groups by topic within the program?


Any of you out there with experience in this kind of thing, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Returning to the Sisterhood

Two weeks ago I had the honor of delivering the keynote address to the annual convention of the Wisconsin chapters of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO). We rented a car and drove up to Stevens Point from Illinois. Steve came with me to the banquet and Baby Girl stayed with her grandparets, so Steve and I got to spend a lovely evening together, without the toddler craziness.

When I spoke with them last year it was just a few days before we left for Ecuador. It was one of their afternoon sessions, and a smaller audience, but the outpouring of love and support was amazing. They keynote session was like that, but on an order of ten.

The ballroom was packed with people, who were chatting and finishing their dinner even as a few other people gave short speeches. My turn came, and Steve said that before I had even finished saying hello the room got silent. I had a little case of nerves at the beginning (it was, after all, the largest audience I had ever spoken to), but quickly warmed up and got into it.

Steve and I with Christine Whitton, chairwoman of the Scholar Award committee for Wisconsin.

It was pretty hard for me to describe my experience, because it was still so new and I hadn’t had much time to process it. Also, as I’m sure you could tell from my blog posts, the last few months were a real count down to us getting out of there. We were just exhausted, and wanted to come home. So I had to focus, and read back through of some of my old blog posts, and find the good things again, and the things that would appeal to people not familiar with archaeology or Ecuador. So I talked about the village and the friends we made, and I spoke about my journey, the 4000 year change in research topics. And I think they enjoyed it.

The response was just as positive as last year, and I had so many women coming up to me to give me hugs and to ask questions. I felt like quite the celebrity. I think they also enjoyed hearing first hand what someone did with the money that they worked so hard to raise. After my speech last year I had a really hard time describing the experience to Steve, because it was so unlike anything that I had experienced before. I think that after being there with me this year he totally understands the difficulty that I had.

So, to all the PEO women out there, thank you for believing in me and making me part of your family. 

Overactive Mental Paralysis

So, what happens when your mind is furiously whirling in a dozen directions with a multitude of things that need to be done? Well, if you're me, nothing. I suppose some of it is just exhaustion after the traveling experience, and some of it is confronting all the differences between there and home, but a lot of it is purely the fact that we have a lot to do to get ourselves in a comfortable place after being away for so long.


I did about five loads of laundry yesterday, washing everything that hasn't had a proper washing in months. On tap today is stripping cloth diapers and washing stuffed animals. We've also had a bit of a set back, in that the apartment that we want won't be available until a week after we were originally planning to move. On the one hand it's great, because it gives us more time to do what needs to be done. On the other hand, it opens up the possibilities of what can be done, and expands my to-do list significantly. Like building a bed instead of buying one. Yup, I finally get to work on some of the things I've been drooling over at Knock-Off Wood, and do a few projects of my own.


The to-do list is my friend, getting all my thoughts written down and out of my head. Hopefully I'll be able to move again soon!

Despedida(s)

We left Dos Mangas for good on Thursday, and the days leading up to our departures were full of good-byes. On Sunday we had the comuna wide celebration for the whole family. I planned to give a little talk, show off some artifacts, and had arranged to provide cake. I figured the families of the people I dug with and the close friends that we made over the course of the year would show up. It was scheduled to start at 4pm. 5:30 rolled around and the was nobody there. I was starting to feel a bit concerned, but about then the cabildo showed up, got on the megaphone, and started calling people to the party. Not only did way more people that I expected show up, but different people from the community contributed to make it a real party. One guy played some traditional songs on the guitar, the women's association did a traditional costeno dance and made me get up there with them, there were several other speeches by cabildo members, and then they pitched in and added empanadas and soda to the little feast. We barely had enough cake to go around, but we made it, and it was a great night!

Me, mid-talk

Getting covered in frosting as I cut the cakes

 I finished my analyses on Tuesday (WOOHOO) and on Wednesday morning we moved everything over to the casa comunal for storage. It was great to get all of that out of house so that the packing could begin in earnest.


Wednesday afternoon we went to Baby Girl's daycare to have a going away party for her. It was so great to see her running around with all her little friends. Once again, when we thought we were just going to do cake, the day care surprised us by making a whole meal and inviting us to eat with them. I think BG was starting to get what was going on and got kind of upset towards the end. Poor little thing.

Baby Girl dancing the a conga line with her classmates

On Wednesday night a bunch of people came over for final farewells, and then we took a walk on Thursday morning to see the people that we hadn't been able to say goodbye to before then. It really started to hit me, and I'll admit that I shed a few tears, not so much about leaving the place, but definitely about leaving the people. Friends gave us a bunch the local handicrafts as we walked along to say goodbye to take home with us a souvenirs. 


Amazingly for us, with our history of moves, we managed to get everything packed and the house cleaned up without pulling a single all-nighter, and we even managed to get out of the house and catch our bus at the time that we planned. Steve shot some video as we left town, and I get misty thinking about it, because people kept coming out of their houses to say good-bye as we drove away. What a great end to an incredible year.

Ground to a halt

So I apparently forgot to knock on wood after that last post. I felt icky on Tuesday, and then had a migraine Wednesday and Thursday, so I've gotten virtually no work done this week. I'm finally feeling better today, but day care is closed so Baby Girl is home today, meaning very little is getting done. Prepare to resume previous levels of nausea-inducing stress...

I might actually pull this off..

I finished three units over the weekend, leaving me with five more (shallow) units to process. At two days per unit that means I should finish everything up next week Friday, leaving me with five days to organize and pack up all the artifacts for storage, get the house in order, and pack our selves up for a short stay in Guayaquil. Holy Toledo, Batman, this might actually happen!


Steve still has swollen tonsils and I haven't been feeling too hot either, but we got our water supply problem resolved, so at least we're clean sick people. I've started discussing with Baby Girl what's going to happen in the next few weeks. I'm not sure that she really gets it, but we are quite fortunate that she is such an easy going kid. She might ask for the "ninos" at daycare, but I think she'll enjoy the adventure, and in the end, just be so happy to spend some time with her Nana that she won't really miss it. There are a few favorites who I'm sure she'll ask for, like Fanny, who is pretty much the only person here that she'd choose to hold her instead of me. We're going to get a cake to have at daycare on her last day, turn it into a little bit of a party and take pictures. I hope she will remember some of her time here, and all the friends she made.