kareina

My thesis examiners tell me that they liked my thesis. They liked it!!!! They say "Pass", and gave me the choice if I want them to call the list of corrections "major" or "minor". When they heard that I am about to be starting a full-time job, they said that they will described them as "major corrections", so that I will have more time till the deadline with which to accomplish the changes. (It is 3 months allowed to do "minor" changes, and 8 months to do "major", and they feel that their list falls kinda in the middle between the two.) So, sometime in the next 8 months, after I get them my corrections and the paperwork crawls its way through the system, I will be able to officially add "MPhil, Archaeology, Durham University" to my list of titles.

They will give me the full, official, list of corrections in the next week or so, but we went through the thesis chapter by chapter, and they told me what they liked, and what they think needs fixing, and I agree with their viewpoints, so I can already start doing some of the corrections before the list arrives. One of the biggies, is chapter nine--the research paper in preparation, which I had hoped to already have submitted, but for which I am still awaiting the final comments from my co-author. I had moved it into an appendix before submission, to bring the thesis word count down to a more reasonable number. After I submitted my primary supervisor said that she really felt that the paper needs to be in the main thesis, and please put it back. So I contacted the people in office where the submissions go, and they said that it would be ok to resubmit with that change, so I put it back, fixed all chapter and page numbers, and re--submitted it the next day. My examiners suggest that I put that paper in the appendix, that it adds nothing to the overall narrative of the document. This I will happily do. If I am really lucky my other supervisor will get me those comments, and we can submit it, and then the appendix will list a submitted paper, rather than an "in preparation" document...

I had my first Durham "annual review" today. I am currently at the equivalent of nine months into my degree (compared to a full time student), and they were happy with my progress thus far, and they had two great suggestion for me.

1) they are going to give me access to all of the recorded undergrad lectures that the department has (which are normally only available to students enrolled in the class) so that I can catch up on some of the background info I am missing (Karen feels bad for not having thought of this sooner, and has already sent the list of classes to the person in charge of that, asking to give me access (I got a copy), and

2) I should skype into the "reading group" that meets every so often to discuss recent archaeological papers, so that I can be a more active participant in the department, and get the benefit of reading and disusing papers with colleagues.

Crossposts: https://kareina.livejournal.com/543310.html

* Usually I fly into Edinburgh early in the day, spend the afternoon and evening with Stephanie and her family, and then take the train to Durham the next morning. This time I flew to Manchester arriving in the early evening and the train didn't reach Durham till almost 23:00

* Last conference I helped with setup and registration then spent all day both days at the conference and the evenings on the computer organising conference notes and preparing to be in the lab afterwards. This time I also worked registration/set up for the conference, but realised after I got there that I hadn't actually made arrangements to pick up the poster that my supervisor had printed for me. One of the organisers was heading over to the Archaeology building to get some other stuff, so she said she'd get it, but Karen wasn't in her office, so she came back without it. Therefore, at first intermission I hurried up the hill to get it, found Karen in her office, chatted briefly, and returned to the conference having missed the first couple of 5 minute poster presentations, but in plenty of time to get my poster up before it was my turn (they had organised us into mini sessions grouped by theme, and my group was the third to present). T

hat evening I was experiencing some discomfort with swelling at the left end of my left scar, so didn't really accomplish anything useful work related, but relaxed and took it easy. The next morning the swelling seemed possibly better, certainly no worse, so I opted to take the train to Newcastle for day two of the conference. (I had wondered if I should try to find a medical center and ask if this new swelling is a sign of infection, but since the swollen area was looking less on the pink/red end of the spectrum than the day before, I decided to stick with plan A).

I enjoyed the morning talks, but part way through session #1 the woman sitting next to me started coughing a fair bit, and even sneezed a couple of times, and all I could think was "oh, no, I don't have time for that, keep your viruses over there". I also became more aware of the discomfort with the swelling, and noticed that the right side was also feeling a bit uncomfortable (never mind that, despite normally hating the thought of "drugs" and not taking pain meds, I was taking Alvadon (Paracetamol) every 4 or so hours). Therefore when the first tea break happened I opted to take the train back to

aryanhwy's and went to sleep for three hours. I woke up on time to have had lunch and started making baking powder biscuits before she arrived home from her teaching in Switzerland.

I visited a bit with her, Gwen, and Joel (when he got home from working on the other house, which is getting close to done). I went to bed early, not that long after Gwen went to bed and Joel went back out to make more progress on the house. Of course that meant I woke up early this morning.

Today is Saturday, and the final day of the conference. The plan is a tour of Lindisfarne,including a talk about recent archaeological excavations, something I have long been looking forward to. I am a little hesitant though--there is still swelling on the left side--it almost looks like I still have a (small, with no hint of sag) breast on that side, except that it is centred closer to my armpit than breasts normally are. If I go on the field trip I will have to be with them all day--the bus departs at 09:00, and isn't returning until 17:30. I still have an hour before I need to decide if I am going. I want to, but should I?

Crossposts: https://kareina.livejournal.com/537790.html

I am currently at the conference: Grave Concerns: Death, Landscape and Locality in Medieval Society, in Durham, where I submitted a poster describing my research in progress. They had a poster contest, which I figured I had no chance at, since this is my first ever conference as an Archaeologist. Much to my delight I won second place! They let me choose a book from the sale table, so I selected Maritime Societies of the Viking and Medieval World, which was the one that most closely related to my research project. I am looking forward to reading it.

Somehow I am not as sad about leaving Cudgel War early to attend the conference as I had been. (Cudgel was amazing! I really look forward to typing up a report on that soon, but it is already after midnight and the conference starts again at 09:30, so I had better do my yoga and get to bed...)

Crossposts: https://kareina.livejournal.com/516077.html

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.

Crossposts: https://kareina.livejournal.com/504038.html

I left Sweden on the first flight out of Luleå on Friday morning. I got to the airport early enough to do a yoga session while waiting to board the plane, and had enough time in Stockholm to both spend much too much money on a sweater and do more yoga before flying on to Edinburgh.

sismith42.livejournal.com met me at the airport and we took the buss into town to pick up her daughter, Emily, from school, after which we three had a late lunch at a cafe and then went to their home, where we had just enough time for me to eat another quick snack and them to pack a snack for later before we went right back out the door to head to ice skating. Sadly, while we were within 3 meters of the buss stop when the buss drove past, the driver refused to stop, so, undaunted, we walked 30 minutes to the rink, and then skated for an hour 20 minutes. After skating her friend Paul and his two kids, who go to school with Emily, drove us over to the neighbourhood where Gaita live. First we popped into the youth hostel on the corner so that everyone else could eat a late dinner, and then we went up to the Medieval Dance practice, where we had time to do a few dances before it was really too late to keep the kids out any longer, and we returned home. I had the option of staying later and making my own way back to the apartment, but, since I had gotten up at 04:30 that morning, I decided that sleep mattered more than more dancing.

The next morning I walked with Stephanie to work and admired the fabric store (and bought a feather pillow to use while I am in the UK, and leave with Stephanie afterwards--her "birthday present" (because she is precious). Then my friend Julian met me at the store and we walked 20 minutes to a bus stop (by which point my shins were already wondering about all of skating the day before and the various hills I had been subjecting them too), which we took up to Lauriston Castle and wandered around the grounds a bit, then walked on to the village of Cramond, where we had lunch in the pub (and I had a much needed rest from walking, since we did 1 hr 20 minutes of walking around the "castle" gardens and to the pub).

Then Julian helped me get back to Stephanies, and I had just time to bake her some birthday cupcakes and make a beetloaf before she got home from work and another of her friends, and her son, arrived to help celebrate her birthday. After I ate dinner I made up a ( birthday ice cream recipe )

Sunday morning we returned to the ice rink for yet more skating, before she drove me to the train station for my trip to Durham. It was snowing when I arrived, so

aryanhwy and Gwen, who met me at the station, suggested that we take a cab back to their place. Given how slushy and icy the sidewalks were, I was delighted to agree to the suggestion. We had a lovely time visiting, and looking up various queens of Germany for Gwen's school report, and I baked a Swedish style oven pancake for dinner and to have food to pack for lunches. This was a big hit with Gwen, who helped me lick the batter from the mixing bowl with great entusiasm, and asked for thirds of the pancake after it was baked. (She actually asked for fourths, but was told that if she was still hungry she could have a carrot.)

Gwen joined me in yoga before she had to go to bed, and I didn't stay up talking with her parents very much later, since my weekend's adventures had pretty much worn me out. Therefore I woke up nice and early this morning and had time to get everything I needed for today ready, and had just finished microwaving myself some museli as hot porridge when Gwen came down stairs and asked for help making her morning oatmeal. This meant that she was nearly done eating before her mom came downstairs for her own breakfast, and we were soon out the door. I walked with them as far as Gwen's school (right by the cathedral) and then continued on to the Post Graduate Induction session. The walkways were somewhat slippery, as yesterday's slush had re-frozen in the night, and was starting to melt again, but I got to the induction on time anyway. The morning was full of info-dump "everything you need to know to survive being a post-grad student at Durham", and I made good progress on my nålbinding project as I listened. The session ended with free lunch (sandwichs and wraps with fresh fruit and potato chips), and the vegetarian options were edible, as was the fruit.

Then I wandered over to my advisor's office and we had a good chat about what I will be doing and what I need to do in the next few weeks, followed by a tour of the building. By that time it was almost 16:00, so I called it good for the day and went back to the apartment, where I got a nap till Aryanhwy and Gwen got home, then I joined them for dinner, after which I had time to catch up on LTU email and answering questions of one of our PhD students before it was time for Gwen and I to do yoga before she went to bed. Now It isn't even 21:00 yet, and I am seriously considering going to sleep myself, even though I haven't yet opened the books my advisor lent me.

Tomorrow my first time commitment is lunch with the vice-president of my College, and I will decide in the morning if I will work from home in the morning, or go use one of the department "hot desks" before my lunch date.

Crossposts: https://kareina.livejournal.com/498437.html

I spent more than two hours after work today just doing admin sorts of tasks as a new PhD student at Durham. The department secretary sent me the "Post Graduate Research Handbook", and I have gone through there, took care of the quick and easy tasks that it assigned (like putting my "annual progress review" on the calendar for September), and starting on more complicated tasks (like filling in my profile for the department web page). That last task turns out to be harder than I would have expected, since one can only log in and access that server from an on-campus computer. Therefore I checked the Durham IT page to find what VPN they recommend, and found out that, unlike LTU, where any staff or post grad student may download and install a VPN connection to permit them to work remotely, at Durham one must fill in a form explaining to IT exactly why you need VPN, and one must supply the name of a "sponsor". So I sent my supervisor a note warning her I would list her as a sponsor, and explained to IT that as a long distance student who is required to access the department server to create and maintain my profile, and as a research student who needs access to library databases and publications, that I actually do need that VPN connection. I further explained that I have used them before, that I have spent eight years in academia between my first PhD and enrolling for this one.

Now, I just need to put in the hours doing the research, too. I often find it easier to focus on these sorts of admin tasks, as they tend to be smaller, easier to define, and often kinda fun.

I met Ellinor after work today for acroyoga. First we discussed a dream we have to find more people to do acroyoga with. We are going to approach the uni gym about getting regular sessions going there, with us as the leaders. Perhaps every other Thursday evening. If all goes well we will find plenty more people who want to play, and we won't always be dependent on the other having free time and energy and good health at the same time as we have. Then we went to the gym to do "20 or 30 minutes" of acroyoga. 53 very enjoyable minutes later she went off to Phire training, and I went home to get some dinner and empty my Durham in-box. I had been half expecting today's acroyoga to be difficult, since I did no exercise all weekend (other than very short yoga sessions each day), since I had come home from Umeå with a runny nose. But by Monday evening I was feeling good enough that I did a quick 15 minute workout before yoga, and today our session just felt easy.

I love how solid of a base she has become. When I am in that airplane pose, supported only by her feet under my hips I feel as comfortable as if I were laying on the floor. These days the "spiny thingie" (as we call it), where I go from hanging upside from her feet like a bat, to being balanced in a backwards airplane, with my hips on her feet and my feet in the air over her head, then back around to hanging like a bat again, feels easy. I remember how difficult it was when first we tried it, and now I never feel like she could drop me.

Work today was doing sphalerite analyses with one of our PhD students. She will be in the lab again tomorrow, but I have that doc appointment at 08:30, so am not certain what time I will make it. Therefore she will try turning on the machine on her own (I let her drive today). With luck the written instructions I have prepared (long since), plus having seen me do it both yesterday and a few times since Christmas will be enough. I think I may be more nervous about someone else using my lab when I am not there than I am what the doc will say. That said, I did ask Ellinor to come with me to the appointment, for moral support, and on the off chance that it would be useful to have a native Swedish speaker along. Of course, it will be fine, there will be no problems, and I will be able to head off to Durham on Friday with no complications.

Crossposts: https://kareina.livejournal.com/498032.html

today's Vivia

first Annual Review

not my typical Durham trip

a quick bit of bragging

Well, the work goals for the week, anyway

has it really only been a few days?

it begins to feel real

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May 2025

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