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| Night...Night...always toward Night. |
NOTE: The caption in the previous entry said ‘borrowed time”
without explanation; the Jane monograph is going through negotiations with a
publisher and, of course, there’s a deadline.
June 19, 2015
~10:20 am: A relatively late start, but I have the energy to
take on the quadrate!
12:31 pm: I’ve made excellent progress on the quadrate; the
last part to complete is the medial mandibular condyle. Following that, I’ll
check the inked-up hard copy to see what revisions I have in there. Time for a
breather.
10:15 pm: Back to the quadrate; all that’s left is the
medial mandibular condyle and the red ink in the hard copy.
10:38 pm: Description is done, now to check the red ink.
10:43 pm: Terrible gnawing in my stomach – back in a sec.
10:48: olives, retsina – back to work.
11:00 pm: Finished with the quadrate; now, on to the
prefrontal!
11:09 pm: I’ve rapidly run out of stamina; I’ll have to
continue with this tomorrow.
June 20, 2015
11:18 am: Terribly late start, but the coffee’s on and I’m
resuming with the prefrontal.
1:06 pm: Break. 723 pages reached. Before this break, I
finished the prefrontal and started on the frontal.
1:30 pm: Resumed with frontal.
~5-minute restroom break.
2:57 pm: Almost done with the frontal; I still have to make
the red-ink revisions and add data from some small T. rex frontals in the Dinosaur Discovery Museum collections (a
federal repository) that we’ve collected over the years on BLM regulated lands in
Montana. Along the way, I’ve been cleaning up mistakes made by Gilmore (1946)
on the osteology of the Cleveland skull.
3:15 pm: Break.
9:28 pm: Back to the frontal.
9:37 pm: I am done with the frontal for now, but I will return
to it once I am able to see the other specimens at the museum later this week.
Now, on to the parietal.
10:11 pm: Hungry - time for a quick break.
10:23 pm: Back to the parietal!
11:06 pm: Hunger is gnawing again – tortilla chip rounds and
watered-down crancherry juice didn’t hold me for long – time for olives and
retsina!
11:11 pm: Back to work!
Music: Mozart’s
Requiem.
11:25: Starting to flag.
11:41 pm: Baking up onto the external hard drive.
727 pages reached. (In terms of revisions, I am at page 288).
June 21, 2015
9:38 pm: Resuming with the braincase.
11:14 pm: Progressing through the braincase at a good rate,
and have reached the occipital condyle (next is the laterosphenoid). Time for a
refreshment break (the usual).
11:20 pm: Losing steam.
729 pages reached, revising page 294.
June 22, 2015
8:58 pm: Back to the braincase!
9:51 pm: Dammit, hunger gnaws again – time for a brief
break.
10:05 pm: Back to work on the basioccipital.
10:44 pm: Good grief, being tired and hungry does not help
with concentration on the task at hand. Time for a brief refreshment break for
a quantum of satiety and a less agitated frame of mind.
10:50 pm: I’m back (4 olives, 1 glass retsina); I have to
backtrack a little because I rushed ahead, which is always a sign of fatigue
and impatience. I am usually good with being strict with myself, but sometimes
impatience gets the upper hand.
10:58: Fading out.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
On the midnight barque
In the painted tomb
On the day of night
The brush marks
The raft afloat
& sable welds
A foil star
To the swaddling prow;
His face
Her smile.
June 23, 2015
10:01 am: Another late start to put a finish to the
basisphenoid.
10:21 am: Done with the braincase, and moving on to the primary
palate.
10:41 am: Started the vomer!
11:45 am: Working on the stem of the vomer (completed the
rostral process and the keel). Taking a break.
10:02 pm: Resuming the vomer.
10:41 pm: Hunger gnaws; time for a short break.
11:02: Finished the olives and retsina, but I’m too tired to
carry on; the vomer’s nearly done. The last hurdle is the joint surface for the
palatine, comparisons, and the red ink in the hard copy. After that, the
palatine, my favorite of the palatal bones…
June 24, 2015
9:25 pm: It has been an early and exhausting day; I can’t
face the last of the vomer tonight, but I’ll steal ahead to the palatine for a
while. I didn’t have the opportunity to resupply olives and retsina today;
perhaps tomorrow.
10:07 pm: Dammit, hunger again.
10:13 pm: Hopefully a banana and grape+orange juice will
hold me for a little longer; I put some water in the freezer for some Amerique
1912 (red) a little later. Back to the palatine. Backing up to the external
hard drive as I go.
10:28 pm: Good grief – I can only last an hour at this.
735 pages reached, revising page 311.
References cited
Gilmore, C. W. 1946. A new carnivorous dinosaur from the Lance Formation of Montana. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 106:1-19.
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