Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Midterm

Writing my midterm today. Wish me luck!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Back to School Shopping!

I love back to school shopping!

This year we went up to West Edmonton Mall to do our shopping. More than 800 stores to choose from!

We try to make a special day out of it for Cassidy and she gets to be involved 100% in picking out her new outfits.

This year we didn't really need a lot since Cassidy had a growth spurt at the end of the last school year and needed all new clothes in June. Clothes that still fit! (Thank heavens!)

We still got quite a bit:



2 pairs of pants, a skirt, 3 long sleeve shirts, 2 short sleeves, indoor shoes, church shoes and a backpack. (Okay, the church shoes aren't for school but aren't they cute?)

Also, thanks to a wonderful school district, I only need to buy one more thing from Cassidy's school supply list: a box of tissues. Woot!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Another quick card

Just a pink version of the baby boy card I posted a while ago.

Congratulations John and Andrea! Welcome to Tabitha Rose - a little sister for George!

Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump

One of the neat things about the foothills is the history. We have some great museums and some amazing historical sites.

One such place is Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump .

This particular buffalo jump was used by the Blackfoot tribes for almost 3000 years.

Here's the view from the top:



And the view from the bottom:



The museum at the site was really well done and I learned quite a bit of local history that I didn't know! (Did you know that when the Europeans came to Canada, they would look for buffalo jumps and mine the base of the cliffs for the phosphurus found in the bones?) I was also able to pick up a stone tool identification book and some archaeology field reports from the Lethbridge Arcaeology Association.



Here's a few more of my favorite photos from the trip:









Wednesday, August 19, 2009

999 Challenge - update

Here's what I have read so far!

1. Course related books
1) The Western Humanities, Volume 1 by Dewitt and Platt. This was for my History 201 Course which was the course that inspired me to change my major from History to Anthropology. Yuck

2. Books written by men
1) Assegai - Wilbur Smith I've read the majority of his books and this one was one of his best. Not as violent or as gory as some of his others and I'm OK with that!

3. Vampire books
1) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
2) Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
3) Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
4) Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris...Yeah I'm going through 1 of these every day.

4. Books by Kathy Reichs
1) Cross Bones
2) Death Du Jour
3) Devil Bones - So Far I've liked this one the best!

5. Non-fiction books
1) Ancient Futures - Helena Norberg-Hodge. AMAZING! I highly recommend this book to anyone. It was very eye-opening.

6. Historical Fiction (my favorite category!)

7. Authors I've never read (the scariest category - venturing into the unknown!)

8. Classics
1) The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne. This was a harder book to read than I thought it would be. I guess I'm not used to the writing style of the mid-1800's. My copy of this book was bought at an antique shop and doesn't have a publication date so I don't know how old the book itself is.

9. Business/Leadership (I have several that I have never started)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

My Baptism - Part 2

As promised, here are some pictures from my Baptism on Sunday!

This is Pastor Bryn and Sharky. Pastor Bryn is the one with the wiiiide mustache on the left!



There were five of us baptized. Here we are listening to Pastor Bryn explain how things are going to work. Why do I always look so unimpressed with everything?



I was lucky enough to be baptized in a river - just like in the Bible! This is the Little Red Deer River just north of my home. I grew up on an acreage a little further north from here and spent a lot of time in the summers cooling down in this river!



Here we are getting out of the water. It wasn't too cold which was nice! Fortunately the thunder and lightning didn't start until after lunch.



Pastor Bryn presented each of us with a brand new Bible and a certificate.



I'm so thankful that I had this opportunity - as Pastor Bryn said "It's been a long time coming".

999

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm going to attempt the 999 challenge. Since I'm starting so late in the year though I'm going to cheat a little and count the books that I read earlier this summer.

Basically, if it hasn't made it's way from the living room to the bookcase in the basement, I'm going to count it!

Here are the categories I'm going to try for:

1. Course related books (textbooks and other required reading)
2. Books written by men (I don't read a lot of books by men. I wonder why?)
3. Vampire books (My BFF got me hooked)
4. Books by Kathy Reichs (my new favorite author!)
5. Non-fiction books (non-fiction that doesn't fit into #1)
6. Historical Fiction (my favorite category!)
7. Authors I've never read (the scariest category - venturing into the unknown!)
8. Classics (the older the actual book, the better!)
9. Business/Leadership (I have several that I have never started)

Monday, August 10, 2009

Baby Card



Just a quick little card for a coworker. Congratulations Mishar!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

My Baptism

Today I was baptized!

Yes, I finally made the trek down the river bank, told the members of the church about my commitment to Christ and let the pastor dunk me!

I was asked to give a testimony but I was so overcome with emotion that the most intelligible thing to come out of my mouth was ``I am ready``

Pictures will be coming soon as the church website is updated.

100%

That's the mark I got on my latest Anthro test! :-) I really thought I flubbed the first one though. I kept mixing polygyny and polyandry up.

Now I have three essays and a midterm to write...

Saturday, August 8, 2009

999

9 books in 9 categories in '09.

81 books.

Do I have time for this?

Probably not.

Could I do it in 4.5 months?

Not likely.

Am I going to try it anyway?

Of course.

999 Challenge on Library Thing

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Why Anthropology?

I am a student of Anthropology at Athabasca University. I'm also taking anthro classes at the U of C. I'm often asked "Why Anthropology?"

My answer is found in this quote:

"The purpose of Anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences" - Ruth Benedict

That's why. I can't imagine a world without human differences. I wouldn't want to.

We are so busy "civilizing" the world that we're destroying the diversity that has allowed us to thrive. I want to learn what I can from other cultures before they disappear completely.

Anthropology has many different areas of study. Archaeology, linguistics and primatology are just a few examples that are often considered part of the Anthropology department at various universities.

My area of study is Cultural Anthropology: the study of human behaviour. Why do we do the things we do?

My hope is that as I learn about other cultures and how they behave, I'll learn about myself in the process.

Maybe I'll also learn why I do things like this when I think no one is looking:



PS - Yes, I realize that shirt isn't very flattering but it's super comfy. I promise I'll change it before I go out in public again

PPS - Pictures like this are what happen when you don't hide your telephoto lens from your husband.