Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Not much going on in the last couple of weeks -- I've been in the field, mostly, and learning oodles. Janine's been batting around the idea of going into the tea shop business with her mother sometime in the next couple of years, possibly after she acquires an MBA to guide her along. Which is perfectly fine by me; I do so like tea.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and
irritating, and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here
everything's soft... and smooth...

- Anakin Skywalker, speaking about Andy's new job and finally being home with Janine


Things are pretty groovy here, although my job, although very interesting, is getting to be more like a very educational dare. My newest assignment is quite cool, digging ca. 12th century Hohokam pit houses in Marana, just north of town. We're excavating four days a week, ten hours a day in 100+ degree heat, with a fine, tan dust swirling around the nostrils when the breeze kicks up, sticking to the thick foundation of sunblock I apply every morning, resolving itself after many hours into a brown paste. The scenery can't be beat, though -- the sky today was a Smithsonian diorama blue with cirrus clouds lifted straight out of a child's bedroom wallpaper. Beat that, office dwellers!



Now if I don't come down with brown lung, this stint will have been an amazing success. As for everyone else, read this article that Kelli clued me onto, and then send me tribute.

I also came across the weblog of a local historical archaeologist, one with whom I've enjoyed working quite a bit, and one whose job I really wouldn't mind replicating somewhere back east. Now I guess he just needs a boyfriend. Anybody know any history-obsessed candidates?

Interesting also in that Janine is in some sort of bizarre transition from being a Davis to becoming a Bockhorst. She has Social Security cards to get and other applications and God knows how many bank accounts and subscriptions and phone bills and other crap to get changed over into her new name. And I'm not really sure why she's doing it -- up until now, we've had contrasting problems: she almost always has to spell out her first name to keep her interviewers from writing "Jeanine" or "Jeanninne" or one of the surprisingly infinite varieties of her name; I always always have to spell out my last name, to keep my interviewers from making jokes about sausage. Now she's completely screwed.

And do keep that concentrated laser beam of good wishes focused on Dan and his family this weekend. Hope it goes well, my friend.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Monday, September 06, 2004

Life, cont.

We're back in the Old Pueblo after a six-day road trip, and everything's strangely like it was before I took off to live intermittantly in Los Angeles, which, considering I get to live with Janine again on a not-just-weekends-only basis, is a definite upgrade. Or retrofit? Any mechanic readers who care to help me with my analogies?

Anyway, the wedding was wonderful -- not just the wedding, but the entire week, all the way through, was absolutely beautiful. On Thursday, a good chunk of my relatives and Janine's were already at my uncle Fred's (the wedding site), gourmet Fred probably effortlessly whipped up a large salmon feast and most got plowed on my brother Pete's fine wines, and you could have cut the love with a knife and spread it on the rolls. Friday was the rehearsal dinner, which was a repeat of the night before, but with more people and different food at a different place. Just as cool. Janine threw a tea party at a tea bar (or whatever they call those places) for the women from both (well, all) sides of the family -- they had a blast, but are mysteriously tight-lipped about the affair.

And we got married on Saturday. The photos do it a lot better justice than I can. It started late at 5:30 and ended sometime before midnight. We get the negatives this week -- the photographer said there were some "nice shots," and we're counting on his having a fine command of understatement.

Alright, so we're married and stuff, but on the way back through Tennessee... GRACELAND, BABY! Yes, we saw the jaw-droppingly garish and gorgeous/awful abode of the King, even the exact piano in the foyer of his personal raquetball court where he sat his impacted colon for the final time and serenaded his waning heart into that good night. Unfortunately, visitors aren't allowed upstairs where he later retreated to his bathroom and everything resolved itself so improperly. I like to think Sir Noel Coward expired in the early seventies because his fashion sense smothered him in his sleep out of ultimate kindness, but I haven't gotten that far in the book yet. Let's say the Fashion Fairy wasn't as kind to Elvis.

We also took in the Oklahoma City National Memorial late this past Friday, and it's hard to convey the chillingness. The monolithic gates at either end of the disaster area marked with the time immediately before (9:01) and after (9:03) the attack, and the hundreds of empty chairs were devastating, but I think the part that affected me most was the realization that the immense plaza that once led up to the Murrah building (steps, landscaping, ramps, tile, gates to the underground parking where McVeigh left the van) are kept entirely intact, and now overlook the Memorial grounds. The whole city block gives a intensely eerie air of frozen time, punctuated by the ongoing tributes populating a chain-link fence along the western sidewalk that are regularly updated nine years later.

So we're back in the Tucson, and I'm starting a new job digging a site in Marana (just north of town). Janine and I will be arriving home about the same time every night. How effin' cool is that? My only regret is that I'll miss the Cardinals when they play San Diego and LA this month in California. Life is... bittersweet.

Friday, September 03, 2004

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Getting... chokey...



I know Janine (the bride) looks a little nonplussed -- we were actually a little inbetween official shots here. This was the only one we have at the moment with all the Bridal Party Members (I forgot the insigneated armbands), but trust me, we all smiled quite a bit.

Janine and I stopped at my brother's place in Tennessee on the way back (where I'm writing from), and we have to hit the road presently. Details (and many more photos) to come...