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| My Muse: imperious, constant, & 939 pages deep. |
10:41 am: Resuming the corrections to the axis and postaxial
cervicals!
11:19 am: Completed the initial run through the axis; now I
must expand the description so that it is comparative with adults.
12:03 pm: Done with the odontoid and axial intercentrum;
poised to begin the axial pleurocentrum. But I must stop for now.
10:24 pm: Night of the lunar eclipse; back to the axis.
10:48 pm: Can’t continue; 864 pages reached.
9:52 pm: Resuming the axial pleurocentrum.
10:37: Feeling beat. Revising page 512 of 871.
September 28, 2015
10:38 am: Back to the axis!
11:19 am: Done with the axis! Now on to the third cervical
vertebra.
11:53 am: ~15 minute break taken.
12:36 pm: It looks like I’ll have to make a trip out to the
Burpee Museum next Tuesday to re-assess my identifications of several cervical
vertebrae. I think they are 5, 7, and 9, but I have to double check to make
certain; previously, I had identified them 5, 6, and 8. I’ll postpone the
revisions to the posterior cervical vertebrae and move ahead to the dorsal
vertebrae.
9:55 pm: Back to the dorsals.
10:38 pm: What a slog; stop. Revising page 567 of 873.
September 29, 2015
10:16 am: Turning back to the red ink to pick up where I
left off at the tail end of the axis.
10:48 am: Time to run an errand.
11:08 am: Back to work!
11:30 am: Stop
9:47 pm: Resume revisions to the dorsal vertebrae.
10:25 pm: Stop.
9:13 pm: Resume.
10:00 pm: Stop.
October 3, 2015
11:14 am: Late start, resuming caudal vertebrae 4. I’m only
about halfway through the revisions – there’s some 300 pages to go.
Music: Mozart’s
Requium.
1:07 pm: Lunch.
2:36 pm: Resuming caudal vertebra 14.
3:24 pm: Done with the caudal vertebra, now on to the
cervical ribs.
3:50 pm: Will take a brief break; this gets pretty monotonous,
even if the rate of progress is good.
4:47 pm: Resuming revisions; reached the third last cervical
rib.
5:06 pm: Reached the dorsal ribs!
5:26 pm: Pause.
5:48 pm: Resume.
6:04 pm: Dinner.
9:20 pm: Resuming dorsal rib C.
10:04 pm: Reached the hemal arches! Stopping for the time
being. Good progress made – I’ve reached 459 pages of approximately 600.
October 4, 2015
10:21 am: Making the corrections to the hemal arch section.
11:20 am: I just cleared the 500th page of the
hard copy of the ms; this is an important milestone in bringing this part of
the project to completion – approximately 120 pages of small revisions left to
make!
11:43 am: Reached the gastralia!
12:05 pm: Stop. Page 526 of the hard copy cleared.
10:34 pm: Back to the gastralia.
10:45 pm: Made it to the appendicular skeleton! Stop.
October 5, 2015
9:07 pm: Resuming revisions to the appendicular skeleton,
starting with the scapula.
9:19 pm: Stop.
October 6, 2015
10:31 am: Resuming the scapula section; there is some
description to add.
12:07 pm: Stop.
October 7, 2015
10:21 am: Resuming the scapula.
10:43 am: Errand to run.
10:54 am: Errand done.
11:44 am: Stop.
October 19, 2015
8:06 pm: Long hiatus owing to preparations for this year’s
SVP meeting, and to its four days of proceedings. Our presentation was well
received, with an unexpectedly emphatic burst of laughter when I mentioned that
my 1999 hypothesis (that the Cleveland skull is a juvenile T. rex) “has not been universally accepted”. I lost my footing
under the combined laugh of 300 and stammered my way back to the next thought…
8:29 pm: Not feeling all that well; time for a break.
October 20, 2015
9:38 am: Resuming revisions and additions to the coracoid.
11:19 am: Just cleared the coracoid; now I’ll move on with
the glenoid fossa as a single unit structure.
11:32 am: Now, on to the humerus.
11:42 am: Break.
11:48 am: Back to the humerus.
12:06 pm: Time for lunch.
October 21, 2015
9:33 am: Back to the humerus.
10:45 am: Break.
11:19 am : Brief return to the deltopectoral crest.
11:30 am: Stop.
9:21 am: The press release drafted between
the SVP (specifically, Denver Fowler), myself, and co-authors has just been
posted!: http://vertpaleo.org/The-Society/SVP---Paleo-News/Society-News-and-Events/Press-Release--Adolescent-T--rex-unraveling-contro.aspx
9:30 pm: Working on the muscle scars of the shaft
of the humerus in anterior view.
9:38 pm: Deciding if I have the energy to continue
with the scars on the posterior surface of the shaft.
9:41 pm: Stop.
October 23, 2015
9:48 am: Back to the muscle scars of the humerus.
10:40 am: Stop.
4:20 pm: Resuming the humerus.
5:08 pm: Stop.
October 24, 2015
10:35 am: Resuming the humerus description; making
comparisons with the description of Sue.
11:23 am: Done with the humerus, moving on to the
pelvic arcade.
12:33 pm: Time for a break from the ilium!
12:55pm: Resuming the ilium.
1:29 pm: Time for lunch.
3:09 pm: Back to the ilium!
4:32 pm: Break from the ilium.
5:54 pm: Back to the ilium.
6:31 pm: Stop.
9:22 pm: Resuming the ilium.
9:57 pm: I’m done with the ilium for the moment;
I’ll return to it tomorrow morning.
October 25, 2015
10:46 am: Resuming the ilium.
11:33 am:
Done with the ilium! Now proceeding to the pubis.
12:27 pm:
Stop.
October 27, 2015
10: 39 am:
At the Burpee museum to take care of some loose threads.
12:45 pm:
Leave for lunch at the Stockholm Inn (regular stack of swedes, with
lingonberries and a side of bacon).
1:25 pm:
Back to work! Done with sorting out the cervical series, now, back to the
humerus of a subadult.
4:48 pm:
Time to wrap up; I’ll have to come back next week to finish with the
comparisons of the humerus and scapulocoracoid.
October 28,
2015
10:25 am:
Back to the pubis!
11:44 am:
Stop.
October 31,
2015
245 pm: Back
to the pubis.
3:50 pm:
Effectively done with the pubis, now I’m working on a summary of the pelvic
girdle en bloc.
4:49 pm: Proceeding
to the ischium; stop.
November 1,
2015
9:51 am: Resuming
the ischium.
11:15 am:
I’ve expanded the description of the ischium as far as I can; the loose threads
will have to wait until Tuesday for my return visit to the Burpee Museum. I’ll
move on to the femur.
11:44 am:
Time for lunch.
November 3,
2015
10:06 am:
Back at the Burpee to do some finishing touches on the pectoral skeleton and
the pelvic arcade.
12:45 pm:
Leave for lunch.
1:50 pm:
Return from lunch.
5:04 PM:
Still adding the adult to the humerus description; will have to return next
week! Stop.
November 4,
2015
9:11 am:
Resuming the femur.
9:33 am: I’ll
have to set the femur aside until next week when I return to the Burpee; I need
the specimen in hand to proceed. I move on to the tibia.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
Athena
Epitome:
I
spent my best hours
In
midnight’s tinsel chrysalis
Warmest
to you
Warmest
to me
It
was the aria of the tomb
The
breeze & basket upon the reed;
But now
The
funeral shadow’s become my law
&
only on the blood-mottled bricks
Will
the rasp bore
true
& our Age fruit
