Off at a Canter...

Well, it was back to horse-riding, for the first time in my new fortnightly regime.

I felt really good this week.  Much better, in fact, than I do on my usual weekly slot, because most of the time I'm still stiff and sore from the previous week's efforts when I have to take to the saddle again.

Molly did very well, and I managed a small jump.  And since that time I rode my friend's horses when she nagged me about my position, I seem to have had a bit of a canter transformation, or epiphany, or whatever. 

I'm sorry.  I forgot the camera again, so I can't post a photo of Molly.  Some day, I'll actually remember to take it...

Horse-riding aside, it was a bit of a trying day.  I had to do some more work on the Heavy Anti Aircraft battery report, but it was worth the effort.  I felt it was fairly strong before it got its final edit, and it's even better now.  As you've probably guessed, I'm rather pleased with it.  Now I've just got to wait and see what the local archaeological curator has to say about it...

And then in the afternoon, I was wrestling with OASIS forms.  Over the last couple of decades, developer-funded archaeology has generated a heck of a lot of grey literature.  There's been significant difficulties in finding what actually exists, let alone accessing it, so some bright spark came up with the idea of having a centralised database where contractors fill in information about what they're doing, when they're doing it, and where it's taking place.

It's excellent in theory.  But in practice  (she rolls her eyes in exasperation)...  Inputting the data is so complex that the task is almost unworkable.  The amount of detail required is incredible.  End result - I spent about two hours inputting data into one site.  AND I had one instance where I spent twenty minutes filling in a record, only to have it disappear into the ether before I could save it.  Aargh!!!  Reminds me a bit of LiveJournal, come to think of it...

It took endless cajoling, wheedling and threatening from The Boss to get me to sort out just one of my OASIS forms.  Is it any wonder I'm so reluctant when the process is so tortuous?  If they'd opted for a simple option of Date of Work, Type of Work Done, Brief Summary, 8 Figure Grid Ref (or even 6 for a walkover survey), plus a little section for the date of the site/features then it would make life a whole lot easier.  I mean, all a researcher needs is a means of roughly locating the site and a brief summary of the findings to know if they want to go to the trouble of accessing the report.  If it ticks the right boxes, all the information you need will be included there.  As it is, even ticking the 'pasture' box means you have a choice of five options...

Ah, archaeology.  The last refuge of Over-Complication. 

Never mind.  Thursday's the new Friday.  And after that, I'm on holiday.  Before long, I'll be following in the footsteps of J Arthur Evans and looking at some REAL archaeology!  And Bettany Hughes is doing Athens tonight - I don't know if I'll get a chance to see it for a while, but I'm sure it'll be fascinating!

Off at a Canter...

Well, it was back to horse-riding, for the first time in my new fortnightly regime.

I felt really good this week.  Much better, in fact, than I do on my usual weekly slot, because most of the time I'm still stiff and sore from the previous week's efforts when I have to take to the saddle again.

Molly did very well, and I managed a small jump.  And since that time I rode my friend's horses when she nagged me about my position, I seem to have had a bit of a canter transformation, or epiphany, or whatever. 

I'm sorry.  I forgot the camera again, so I can't post a photo of Molly.  Some day, I'll actually remember to take it...

Horse-riding aside, it was a bit of a trying day.  I had to do some more work on the Heavy Anti Aircraft battery report, but it was worth the effort.  I felt it was fairly strong before it got its final edit, and it's even better now.  As you've probably guessed, I'm rather pleased with it.  Now I've just got to wait and see what the local archaeological curator has to say about it...

And then in the afternoon, I was wrestling with OASIS forms.  Over the last couple of decades, developer-funded archaeology has generated a heck of a lot of grey literature.  There's been significant difficulties in finding what actually exists, let alone accessing it, so some bright spark came up with the idea of having a centralised database where contractors fill in information about what they're doing, when they're doing it, and where it's taking place.

It's excellent in theory.  But in practice  (she rolls her eyes in exasperation)...  Inputting the data is so complex that the task is almost unworkable.  The amount of detail required is incredible.  End result - I spent about two hours inputting data into one site.  AND I had one instance where I spent twenty minutes filling in a record, only to have it disappear into the ether before I could save it.  Aargh!!!  Reminds me a bit of LiveJournal, come to think of it...

It took endless cajoling, wheedling and threatening from The Boss to get me to sort out just one of my OASIS forms.  Is it any wonder I'm so reluctant when the process is so tortuous?  If they'd opted for a simple option of Date of Work, Type of Work Done, Brief Summary, 8 Figure Grid Ref (or even 6 for a walkover survey), plus a little section for the date of the site/features then it would make life a whole lot easier.  I mean, all a researcher needs is a means of roughly locating the site and a brief summary of the findings to know if they want to go to the trouble of accessing the report.  If it ticks the right boxes, all the information you need will be included there.  As it is, even ticking the 'pasture' box means you have a choice of five options...

Ah, archaeology.  The last refuge of Over-Complication. 

Never mind.  Thursday's the new Friday.  And after that, I'm on holiday.  Before long, I'll be following in the footsteps of J Arthur Evans and looking at some REAL archaeology!  And Bettany Hughes is doing Athens tonight - I don't know if I'll get a chance to see it for a while, but I'm sure it'll be fascinating!