Keeping Busy

Once again I (Mo) have been a bad blogger - just not that much going on and I am not sure that reporting on the interior of my "office" would be all that interesting. Basically I've just been working and shoveling snow . . . However in the past of couple weeks I did do some interesting things.

Visiting Mrs. Fleming's Grade One Class

A few months ago our 5 year old niece decided that it would be interesting for her class if "someone" (since Yo is in the Middle East that would be Mo) came to talk about archaeology. Last week I went to the class taking along a bag of goodies. I borrowed some Jordanian artifacts from the lab at UToronto and took my tools and dressed like an archaeologist. The kids were great, they asked a ton of questions and had some great guesses about the various artifacts I took along.

Sample Questions:

1. How old are you? LL and I had practiced my talk before I went to the class and she assured me that someone would ask how old I was - I was unconvinced but we practiced the answer at her insistence.

2. How many years have you been in school? We glossed over the answer so as not to put the fear of god into these budding academics.

3. What cities do you work in? Memphis, but not where Elvis comes from. "My dad has Elvis albums" "Who is Elvis?" I left Mrs. Fleming to answer that question.

4. Are you a paleontologist - another classmate answered - "no she doesn't dig up dinosaurs, so she's an archaeologist". Great when the kids do the work for you.

5. Do you watch the Magic School Bus? They have archaeologists on that show.

6. Is that used for air hockey? It was a ceramic handle that did look like an air hockey paddle (only in Canada).

I asked one of LL's classmates if he wanted to be an archaeologist (he asked a LOT of questions) he answered - "no I am going to work at MarineLand (like San Diego Sea World, near Niagara Falls) with the dolphins". LL tells me later that this little guy is obsessed with dolphins, sharks and pandas and "we aren't supposed to talk to him about them, he gets too excited". Kids make me laugh.

Archaeology is in the news in our small town of Ingersoll as during the development of a site downtown, some skeletal remains were uncovered. The remains may be associated with the nearby Catholic Church or they might be the remains of some individuals who were part of the Underground Railroad. Investigations are continuing but when I mentioned the Underground Railroad the kids wanted to know what that was - Mrs. Fleming left me to explain that one . . .

I stayed about 45 minutes and I think that kids enjoyed measuring each other, using the calipers, and guessing the potential uses of the artifacts.
Raptor Girls

On Sunday afternoon I went with my pal Dr. J to a Raptors' game (Toronto's NBA team), tickets courtesy of the ever generous brother in law BDL. I had never been to a game nor had Dr. J, we both admitted that while neither of us were bball fans, we were interested in the spectacle - the game did not disappoint. Unlike baseball (Dr. J is a huge Red Sox Fan) there is constant music, noise and movement - the action never stops. As I waited on the subway platform to meet Dr. J, I overheard two fans "this is going to be an excellent game. It's sold out, and the Supersonics (Seattle) are a great team". I felt a bit guilty because we had great seats and these die hard fans were probably not in row 10. We sat next to a guy and his little boy - they have been season ticket holders since the beginning and knew all of the ins and outs of attending.

Like when the opposing team is taking their foul shot the fans have to make tons of noise with these clappers.
When to dance, so the camera will zoom in on you and you'll be on the big screen. No picture because "we do not dance".When to shout defense and when to clap. For two very tall women (hovering around 6ft) we really had no clue.
This is the pretty creepy Raptor who rolls around on the floor and throughout the crowd. Apparently you can "rent" him for birthday parties . . .
The final score - yeah the Raptors won!Thanks BDL we had a great time!