Well, the work goals for the week, anyway
The week isn't over yet (in Sweden, as in many other countries, Monday is the first day of the week), but I can report that I have already met my work goals, with 21 hours worked for Durham, and 27 for LTU (20 is the minimum for each). However, it isn't looking good for this week's exercise goal, since so far I have only managed 9 hours, and I would like to do 15 each week. But I still have yoga tonight, and there is Sunday during which I can, I hope, do more than just Folk Dance in the evening.
My LTU work has been fun this week. I spent the first part of the week looking at the results from the pyrite map I had done, and then when talking with C. about which elements are zoned in the pyrite from that location she was delighted, since one of them is an element which she would like to focus on in an upcoming research project. Therefore I did another map, in higher resolution (3.5 hours to run as compared to just over 1 hr for the other map), with higher counting times for that element as well. I ran that second map on Friday right before heading to Phire practice for acroyoga and handstand practice, and didn't expect to make time to look at the results till Monday, since I had already exceeded my goal for the week. However, I couldn't resist looking (yes, it shows the same sort of pattern, only clearer) after geting home from Phire.
However, given the focus on LTU that meant I woke up this morning with still 10 more hours to go for Durham this week. I figured I could do half of them today, and the other half tomorrow. Much to my surprise, I was having so much fun, I put in almost 11 hours today!
I have been systematically working my way through the Swedish Historical Museum's database, searching by landskap (province) and material. I started in the north, and have been working my way south. Usually I try to finish up the entire province before I put it down, and do a sneak peak on the next one to see how many steatite items came from the next province. However, today when I thought I was at a breaking point the next one had zero. So I tried the next, and it also had zero. Then I got inspired, and went through the whole list, making notes of how many, if any steatite objects in the SHM database come from each province. So now I am done with 10 of 25 Swedish provinces (5 of which don't have any steatite objects in SHM). Of the remaining 15 provinces seven of them have 4 or fewer steatite objects in SHM, four have 18 to 44 steatite objects, and one (Uppland) has 178 steatite objects! (*cough*Birka*cough*)
I think I will change my approach, starting with the provinces with very few steatite items, so as to get them done quickly, and work my way up to the biggies. It will be interesting to see how much longer it takes. Today's work may have taken longer than it should, because I was still working in the north, and, of course, I put extra effort into trying to figure out just where the items came from, since their entries didn't have an "RAÄ" number (I don't know what it stands for, but those finds which have one have a clickable link that downloads a .klm file to import into GoogleEarth and get not only the location, but all of the other available information as well).
One of today's finds comes from Nordmaling, where some of my friends own a house, and where I have often visited (almost a 4 hour drive south of here). That find is especially exciting for me, as its catalog entry said that very near the farm from which the item was found, in a ravine, on an island, there is an outcrop of the same type of stone as the item had been made from. (Click on the little book icon next to the "Inventarienummer" to see the catalogs, then choose the "Bronsålderkatalog" to see the photo of the object, and click to the second photo to see the description (in Swedish) which talks about the find and the outcrop.)
Tomorrow is the Frostheim Annual General Meeting (seven years in Sweden, and I still find it odd that business meetings happen only once a year), where we will discuss, among other things, this summer's group trip to Cudgel War in July (I will miss the second weekend of that event because of a conference in Durham, but at least that means I can just fly to Durham from Helsinki.)
I should also pack for next week's trip to Ireland, for the The Feast of St. Adalbert II, which sounds like a really fun event. Kaarina will be teaching classes on Medieval music (of course), and the main meal of the day will be served during the day (when I am hungry!). I am really looking forward to it. But it does mean that I won't get much done while I am gone. I don't think I will even bring my computer, even though I will have Wednesday and Thursday there during which I could, in theory, work. But perhaps I will bring the tablet, if I get around to loading some of the books I should be reading into it.
My LTU work has been fun this week. I spent the first part of the week looking at the results from the pyrite map I had done, and then when talking with C. about which elements are zoned in the pyrite from that location she was delighted, since one of them is an element which she would like to focus on in an upcoming research project. Therefore I did another map, in higher resolution (3.5 hours to run as compared to just over 1 hr for the other map), with higher counting times for that element as well. I ran that second map on Friday right before heading to Phire practice for acroyoga and handstand practice, and didn't expect to make time to look at the results till Monday, since I had already exceeded my goal for the week. However, I couldn't resist looking (yes, it shows the same sort of pattern, only clearer) after geting home from Phire.
However, given the focus on LTU that meant I woke up this morning with still 10 more hours to go for Durham this week. I figured I could do half of them today, and the other half tomorrow. Much to my surprise, I was having so much fun, I put in almost 11 hours today!
I have been systematically working my way through the Swedish Historical Museum's database, searching by landskap (province) and material. I started in the north, and have been working my way south. Usually I try to finish up the entire province before I put it down, and do a sneak peak on the next one to see how many steatite items came from the next province. However, today when I thought I was at a breaking point the next one had zero. So I tried the next, and it also had zero. Then I got inspired, and went through the whole list, making notes of how many, if any steatite objects in the SHM database come from each province. So now I am done with 10 of 25 Swedish provinces (5 of which don't have any steatite objects in SHM). Of the remaining 15 provinces seven of them have 4 or fewer steatite objects in SHM, four have 18 to 44 steatite objects, and one (Uppland) has 178 steatite objects! (*cough*Birka*cough*)
I think I will change my approach, starting with the provinces with very few steatite items, so as to get them done quickly, and work my way up to the biggies. It will be interesting to see how much longer it takes. Today's work may have taken longer than it should, because I was still working in the north, and, of course, I put extra effort into trying to figure out just where the items came from, since their entries didn't have an "RAÄ" number (I don't know what it stands for, but those finds which have one have a clickable link that downloads a .klm file to import into GoogleEarth and get not only the location, but all of the other available information as well).
One of today's finds comes from Nordmaling, where some of my friends own a house, and where I have often visited (almost a 4 hour drive south of here). That find is especially exciting for me, as its catalog entry said that very near the farm from which the item was found, in a ravine, on an island, there is an outcrop of the same type of stone as the item had been made from. (Click on the little book icon next to the "Inventarienummer" to see the catalogs, then choose the "Bronsålderkatalog" to see the photo of the object, and click to the second photo to see the description (in Swedish) which talks about the find and the outcrop.)
Tomorrow is the Frostheim Annual General Meeting (seven years in Sweden, and I still find it odd that business meetings happen only once a year), where we will discuss, among other things, this summer's group trip to Cudgel War in July (I will miss the second weekend of that event because of a conference in Durham, but at least that means I can just fly to Durham from Helsinki.)
I should also pack for next week's trip to Ireland, for the The Feast of St. Adalbert II, which sounds like a really fun event. Kaarina will be teaching classes on Medieval music (of course), and the main meal of the day will be served during the day (when I am hungry!). I am really looking forward to it. But it does mean that I won't get much done while I am gone. I don't think I will even bring my computer, even though I will have Wednesday and Thursday there during which I could, in theory, work. But perhaps I will bring the tablet, if I get around to loading some of the books I should be reading into it.