THE JANE DIARIES, ENTRIES #36-43

Cast of the horizontal ramus of the left maxilla of BMRP 2002.4.1 in lateral view upon the bound manuscript. At the time this photo was uploaded, I had made a total of 58 pages of revisions out of 616; 558 pages to go!

December 22, 2014

10:49 am: Resuming revisions to the ms based on yesterday’s red ink.

~12.00 pm: Dammit, MW just crashed, and another paragraph lost. Luckily I saved it into another document so all I have to do is retype it.

~1:30: Break for shower and lunch.

2:33: Back to the revisions of the premaxilla. My inability to paste text without MW crashing means I have to rewrite entire paragraphs into the spots where I want to move them. That inevitability is an infuriating waste of time.

3:01: Overcome by a wave of tiredness; I’ll switch to red inking the ms.

3:26: Time for a break.

Parts of evening and night: red inking the manuscript through the maxilla to maxillary teeth.

THE JANE DIARIES, #37

December 23, 2014

11:27: I just spent the past 45 minutes to hour sorting the hundreds of additional photos of Jane’s bones into folders. It will be a while before I start making the new plates; I want to get the manuscript in shape first. Also, making the plates last will provide an accurate number and save a lot of headaches when the time comes to put in the citations in the text. For now, I will resume revising the description of the premaxilla following the red ink of the past couple of days.

12:48: Lunch.

1:31: Back from lunch.

3:02: I am fatigued by the revisions; it is time to switch gears to red inking the ms.

4:22: Reached maxillary tooth #5. Time to post the latest Jane diary entries.

Night thoughts of a vertebrate paleontologist

11:46 pm: there is no night in cities; restoring the sensory blight is futile, where light streams through the imbrications of venetian blades, and the continuous traffic rasps like a mammoth sidewinder pinned to slate.

THE JANE DIARIES, ENTRY #38

December 24, 2014

11:15: An unfortunate late start to the day. I am picking up from where I left off in the premaxilla. By the way, the ms has crept up to 607 pages over the past few days.

11:32: Just finished the 22^nd page of 601 pages of revisions – 579 pages to go!

12:26: On page 26; break.

3:30: After many delays – back to work.

5:11: Stop.

THE JANE DIARIES, ENTRY #39

December 26, 2014

4:01 pm: Returning to revisions to the manuscript; I am plodding through the premaxillary teeth and I am on page 30. The manuscript has reached 609 pages.

5:56. Stop. Completed the section on the premaxillary teeth!

Night thoughts

The section on the nasals is in a sorry state and needs a lot of work to separate it from the gravel.

THE JANE DIARIES, ENTRY #40

December 27, 2014

11:07 am: A late start, in part to post the 35^th diary entry. I am starting today with a new section, the maxilla. Along the way I have to add a specimen, RSM 2347.1 that fills in the gap in the growth series (sensu Carr et Williamson, 2004) between LACM 28471 and CMNH 7541.

1:34 pm: Lunch.

~2:00: Back to the General Form section of the maxilla.

2:25: Stop; 611 pages reached.

References cited

Carr, T.D ., and Williamson, T. E. 2004. Diversity of Late Maastrichtian Tyrannosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from western North America. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 142: 419-523.

 

THE JANE DIARIES, ENTRY #41

December 28, 2014

11:12 am: Late start; resuming with the maxilla. I got past the General form section yesterday and started the Rostroventral complex – time to finish that.

~2:30 pm: Lunch.

2:58: Back to revisions!

3:50: Unwanted break.

4:13: Resume.

4:48. Break.

THE JANE DIARIES, ENTRY #42

December 30, 2014

11:11 am: About to resume revisions; I spent yesterday in the vertebrate paleontology collections at the Royal Ontario Museum to shore up some data on ROM 1247, a subadult Albertosaurus libratus. I didn’t get all the way there, but I am closing in on the last stretch of data for the skull of that specimen.

1:00-1:15 pm: Shower.

~3:00: Lunch.

3:49: Back to revisions, made it to the maxillary fenestra!

4:33: The manuscript is 616 pages in length.

5:20: Time for a break; the maxillary fenestra has finished me.

THE JANE DIARIES, ENTRY #43

December 31, 2014

10:56 am: Back to revisions on the maxillary fenestra.

11:41: Red ink the manuscript for ~20 minutes, then return to revisions.

1:41: I’ve reached the maxillary sinus system, which requires a lot of revision (loads of red ink); time to take a break.

2:26: Back to revisions!

4:24: Break.