So who am I, might you ask? I have a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology, from UC San Diego, and currently reside in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I attend graduate school at New Mexico State University. Finally decided I needed to put this degree to work. At the moment, I'm trying to think of ways to combine anthropology/archaeology with some other field, like architecture.
People have been asking me, "Why the name Coyote Blue?" I picked it up from a book by the same title, by Christopher Moore. The book is about a Crow Indian who has a great life in Santa Barbara, but still feels something is wrong. That's when he meets the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, and his spirit guide, Old Man Coyote, shows up. Coyote's the trickster, and you can never predict what he'll do. In this case, Coyote screws up the man's life before forcing him to resolve the problems in his past.
The book defines "coyote blue" as having everything going right in your life, but being so afraid that something will go wrong, it does. Sorta like a voluntary Murphy's Law. I interpret it as meaning your life is in flux due to Old Man Coyote, and it's up to you to figure out what's going on. At his very core, after all, Coyote is a teacher, albeit one who's lessons are a bit unclear. Have I answered this question? Somehow, I think not...but that's just about right, then.
When I'm not scanning field reports for mention
of my beloved towers of Mesa Verde, I entertain my mind in many other ways.
Obviously, I enjoy messing with computers, or I wouldn't have a web site.
I also enjoy reading (hopefully things that don't double as Ny-Quil,) running,
music, movies, and anime.
Grad school is going...well, kinda slow, but steady. I've finished two years, and I feel I know what I'm doing...maybe. After much thought, I've concluded that the academic life just isn't for me. I had a good taste of it last year, when I was preparing a mock NSF grant for a class, trying to get my thesis proposal in some sort of order, and doing a research project involving GIS. It was a bit tense, and not something I think I could do for long.
So what's a student to do? Take a long, hard look at where this path I'm on appears to be going, that's what. The only way I can avoid a life of pure academics or pure grunt work, and still be able to enjoy the opportnities that field work presents is to combine what I know and will learn with something else. That something, I'm thinking right now, might be architecture. As my thesis topic deals with an architectural feature (see below) I decided I should at least give it a look. If it doesn't pan out...well, at least I tried. If it does work, though, it will enable me to combine two of my major interests: archaeology and buildings.
My thesis revolves around the function and use of a curious architectural feature of the Southwest, the tower-kiva complex. In a nutshell, these structures composed of one or more towers (roughly 8-20' high) associated with one or more kivas, which are subterranean ceremonial chambers ubiquitous in the Southwest. Archaeologists have known about tower kiva complexes for decades, yet no one has really tried to explain them. I may not be able to divine the ultimate meaning behind these features, but I'm going to try to shed some light on them. At the rate I'm currently going, I should be done sometime mid-spring...a bit behind my original estimate, but not too bad.
As for this web site, it shouldn't be moving again anytime soon. The wonders of the school's internet are not so wonderful, so I had to go to a local ISP for service. Luckily, I have more room to play with (essentially unlimited) with no bandwidth restrictions. Ok, so I can't generate 2 gigs of traffic a month, but it will easily serve my purposes. I should be able to put all sorts of stuff on now.
Be sure to check out my photo gallery! I finally managed to scan in some pics of me and the family, so if ya wanna know what I really look like (and my assorted relations), now you can! Sorry, marriage proposals can not be accepted at this time.
The book page will not be reappearing. Sorry. You might want to try the Barnes & Noble website. There you may order books at a slightly better discount than in the superstores. Why? It's self serve. You can also peruse reviews from other readers/customers, and check out chat rooms and interviews with authors. They also have some excerpts from some select titles. Barnes & Noble's site at America Online is also up, by the way, for you AOL subscribers.
Lycos - one of the better search engines on the web.
Excite! - another good search
engine.
Winfiles.com - if you use Windows, this page should be a permanent bookmark.
TUCOWS - shareware, etc., for those of you who use Macs or hate Microsoft propoganda.
New Mexico State University - see my school!
My Anime Den - in case you missed
the link above!
Back to the entrance...
