So it's been ages since I've updated this thing. Suffice it to say that things have been a little crazy since my return to LA.
But - we can talk about those later - since I should probably stick with the actual title of this post...whoda thunk?!?
So I spent my first Christmas without snow since I was in Australia when I was 17. I guess LA deciced to try give me a white Christmas - sadly, while it could generate the precipitation (12 inches of rain's worth!), it could not quite combine it with the proper temperatures - so instead, we had to learn to swim.
My parents decided to come visit for Christmas, since it was too expensive for me to come home (and lets face it, I spent FAR too much time in the lab on projects that really should have been done by the end of quarter...you can guess how those went...).
Let's just say they won't be telling me to suck it up anymore when I complain about the weather - turns out we've all discovered that while it may, in fact, be colder and snowy-er back home - 8 days of rain in LA still sucks because it's not supposed to happen.
With all that said - my Christmas in LA was actually quite nice. We hit up every touristy spot one could think of: Venice Beach, Santa Monica pier and promenade, Hollywood, Griffith Observatory, Universal Studios AND we still fit in a trip up to San Fransisco.
Sadly, this post won't have any pictures - but I'll try and get some up in the next one. Unfortunately I'm writing this sad excuse for an update on the computer that doesn't remember anything, rather than the one that does but occasionally refuses to turn on - so all recent photos are just out of reach enough that my lazy ass won't get up to get them.
In addition to the wild Christmas festivities with the folks, school has kept me busy. Seems I set a precedent at Te Papa and will now work on all manner of dead animals in my future. This quarter I had the opportunity to conserve a Ptolemaic period votive coffing (read: small coffin) that had a mummified shrew in it. We know it was a shrew b/c we x-rayed that sucker - tres cool, in passing.
Also, still working on the Lac Dye project - aka. the project that is as difficult to get rid of as the shellac itself! Looking into enzymes - so if anyone out there knows anything at all about hydrolases, I would be deeply indebted to you!
I think that's enough for now! More to come (I'd say soon, but we all know that's a lie).
