Wednesday, December 2, 2015

THE JANE DIARIES, #56

The original 600+ page hard copy of the Jane monograph; in recent days I have produced the final 1,011-page draft, which needs to be edited down to the agreed-upon (with the publisher) 300,000 words, along with other additions and revisions (details below). Regardless, the final draft of the description is a significant step toward seeing this work to publication.
November 7, 2015

9:41 am: Back to the tibia.
11:00-11:13 am: Brief break. Returning to the muscle scars of the tibia.
11:41 am: Done with the tibia for now; I still have to make comparisons with the juvenile and adult specimens in the collections at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum (DDM; Kenosha, WI). It’s time to move on to the fibula.
12:07 pm: Time to make lunch.
12:52 pm: Back to the fibula!
2:24 pm: Goodness – 950 pages written!
2:40 pm: Reached the joint surface for the tibia on the shaft of the fibula; there’s a lot of detail for such a thin joint surface - time for a break.

November 8, 2015

10:28 am: Back to the fibula!

November 10, 2015

10:21 am: At the Burpee, time to wrap up the adult humerus!
11:03 am: Done with the humerus; moving on to the pelvic arcade.
~1:00 pm: Leave for lunch.
2:10 pm: Back from lunch; resuming the ischium.
3:21 pm: Done with pelvic arcade; going back to collections to work on the femur, I’ll start with the proximal end.
4:25 pm: Wrapping up for the day; finished the proximal end of the femur.

November 11, 2015

10:38 am: Resuming the fibula.
11:04 am: Lateral muscle scars done; have to stop.

November 13, 2015

7:03 pm: Tonight, on the infamous night of the Islamofascist attacks on Paris, another stab at the fibula.
7:44 pm: Stop.

November 14, 2015

9:22 am: Resuming the muscle scars of the fibula in posterior view.
9:37 am: Done with the muscle scars; I now have to give some time to a sauropod phylogeny project.
11:16 am: Done with the sauropod work, now back to Jane in a few minutes.
11:23 am: Moving on to the astragalus…

Music: Brahms, Symphony no. 1 in C minor op. 68, Symphony no. 3 in F major op. 90; Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan.

12:12 pm: Time for lunch.
1:35 pm: Resuming, but skipping ahead to the pes.

Music: Brahms, Symphony no. 2 in D major op. 73, Symphony no. 4 in E minor op. 98; Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan.

3:17 pm: Break time.

November 15, 2015

10:06 am: Resuming the pes.
11:20 – 11:43 am: Brief break. Back to the phalanges!
12:28 pm: Time for lunch.
10:09 am: Resuming work on the femur at the Burpee Museum.
12:23 pm: Time for lunch!
1:45 pm: Back from lunch.
3:34 pm: Done with the femur (for now); I have to re-photograph it with the proximal and midshaft parts of the right bone attached to each other.

November 16, 2015

10:31 am: Squeezing in a few minutes on the manuscript; focusing on the red ink in the earlier draft of the ms, which returns me to the introductory section of the pectoral girdle.

Music: Brahms, Symphony no. 2 in D major op. 73, Symphony no. 4 in E minor op. 98; Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan.

11:15 am: Stop.

November 21, 2015

11:30 am: Just finished penning some revisions to a tyrannosauroid phylogeny article, penned with Brusatte; now back to Jane! I’ll resume with the red-ink revisions before I expand the description of the frontal and proximal tarsus.

Music: Brahms, Symphony no. 2 in D major op. 73, Symphony no. 4 in E minor op. 98; Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan.

12:35 pm: Stop for lunch. Done with the red ink for the ilium and pubic, next to revise is the ischium.
1:45 pm: Back to Jane; for a change of pace, I’ll expand the description of the frontal!
3:20 pm: Done with the frontal! Now, back to making revisions to the ischium.
3:47 pm: Done with the ischium, now on with the femur!
4:11 pm: Stop.

November 22, 2015

10:16 am: Resuming red-ink edits of the femur.
10:32 am: Done with revisions to the femur, now the tibia!
11:22 am: Overall done with the revisions to the tibia, but I have to include DDM (Dinosaur Discovery Museum) specimens in a few sections. Now, on to the fibula!
11:41 am: Done with the fibula, now moving on to the astragalus.
11:46 am: Time for lunch.
12:22 pm: A brief return to the astragalus.
12:36 pm: Stop.

Music: Beethoven’s 5th.

November 23, 2015

3:21 pm: Day largely lost to uncontrollable extrinsic factors; presently I am at Carmax to have the tires switched, the headlight and oil replaced, etc. Resuming the red ink corrections to the astragalus.
3:27 pm: Done with the astragalus, now on to the red ink for the calcaneum.
3:36 pm: Done with the clacaneum, now on to the red ink for the distal tarsals!
3:47 pm: Done with the distal tarsal, now on to the pes!
4:13 pm: Pretty unbelievable, I’m pretty much done the red ink for the description of the skeleton; however, there are several loose threads to go back and take care of, as well as bringing the description of the astragalus and calcaneum to a close with the bones and relevant literature at hand. In the meantime, I’ll polish up some aspects of the description of mtt V before proceeding to the red ink for the Ontogeny section.
4:47 pm: Done with the red ink to the final sections (ontogeny & discussion); still have to take care of loose threads in the description, especially the proximal tarsals and pes. I’ll be off to the Burpee Museum tomorrow to take care of those sections. Stop.

990 pages written.

November 24, 2015

10:03 am: Back at the Burpee Museum to take care of loose threads in the description of the hindlimb. Resuming the fibula.
10:35 am: Done with incorporating the fibula of BMRP 2007.4.1; moving on to the distal tarsals, of which one of BMRP 2007.4.1 is preserved.
~1:00 pm: Lunch.
~2:10 pm: Back from lunch and in the gallery exhibit to examine Jane’s pes.
~5:32 pm: Leave for Kenosha.

998 pages reached!

November 26,  2015

10:32 am: Finally – it’s time to revise and expand the description of the proximal tarsals, the last major block of description left to complete! Beginning with the astragalus.
11:51 am: Done with astragalus, now moving on to the calcaneum!
12:22 pm: Done with the calcaneum, but I have some finishing touches to make to the astragalus.
12:30 pm: Done with the astragalus!

1001 pages reached!

November 27, 2015

11:11 am: A late start; the bulk of the description is nearly done, where in the short term I have to complete (1) the description of the articulated skull, (2) add the pedal phalanges of ‘Petey’ (BMRP 2007.4.1), and (3) take care of the descriptive loose threads that I had left to take care of at a later time. I also have to read through the text to correct any spelling or grammatical errors and edit it down to size.

After all of that, I then have several other tasks:

(1) complete the photographic plates of the teeth, hemal arches, cervical and dorsal ribs, and gastralia;

(2) add all of the figure citations to the text;

(3) add the table citations into the text;

(4) make sure all of the literature citations are correct and complete;

(5) make sure the literature cited section is correct and complete;

(6) draft the table of contents;

(7) draft the index;

(8) draft the rest of the figure captions;

(9) photograph the assembled 3-D print of the skull;

(10) draft the color plates; and

(11) draft the suggested cover illustration.

~5:30 pm: Resuming revisions – taking care of as many loose threads as can, based on the red-ink to the hard copy of the ms. It already is clear that I have to make a return visit to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to obtain a host of measurements from the Cleveland skull.
7:17 pm: Stop.

November 28, 2015

10:47 am: Another late start; resuming the loose threads of red ink revisions in the hard copy.
List for this Tuesday’s Burpee Museum visit: (1) pedal phalanges of BMRP 2007.4.1, (2) medial mandibular fenestra of BMRP 2002.4.1, (3) dimensions and form of the ventral temporal arch, (4) check to see if either of the 13th maxillary teeth are identifiable among the isolated teeth, if not , include a note in the ms that they might be preserved but cannot be distinguished from the other teeth;

List of data required for CMNH 7541: (1) snout length from caudal edge of lacrimal, (2) skull height through the postorbital bar, (3) rostrocaudal length of dorsotemporal fenestra, (4) mediolateral width of dorsotemporal fenestra, (5) rostrocaudal length of postorbital bar at midheight of orbital fenestra, (6) rostrocaudal length of postorbital bar at midheight of laterotemporal fenestra, (7) length of the ventral ramus of the lacrimal at its midheight, (8) length of the dorsal temporal arch, (9) height of rostral end of dorsal temporal arch, (10) height at midlength of the dorsal temporal arch, (11) height at the caudal end of the dorsal temporal arch, (12) dimensions of the ventral temporal arch, (13) length of the dorsotemporal fossa of the frontal, (14) length of the sagittal crest, (15) length of basicranium from basipterygoid process to basal tuber, (16)  

1:06 pm: Stop for lunch.
1:56 pm: Resuming the description of the ventral temporal arch. After adding needed description, the ms is now 1007 pages; the word count is 302,530, which I have to edit down to at least 300K.
2:36 pm: Stop.

November 29, 2015

10:37 am: Resuming the loose threads of red ink.
12:36 pm: Stop.

November 30, 2015

9:15 am: Taking some time to edit down the Jane ms and start a checklist of references and institutional abbreviations.
9:41 am: Stop.

December 1, 2015

10:00 am: Arrival at the Burpee museum and starting with D III PH 1 of Petey (BMRP 2007.4.1). Resaving the manuscript file as December.

Checklist for this Tuesday’s Burpee Museum visit:

(1) pedal phalanges of BMRP 2007.4.1 [11:43 am]

(2) description of the medial mandibular fenestra of BMRP 2002.4.1 [11:50 am]

(3) dimensions of the ventral temporal arch [11:58 am]

(4) check to see if either of the 13th maxillary teeth are identifiable among the isolated teeth, if not , include a note in the ms that they might be preserved but cannot be distinguished from the other teeth [12:25 pm]

(5) in caudal vertebra #1, check for foramina between the transverse process and the prezygapophysis: present

(6) in caudal vertebra #10, get the length of the process ahead of the joint surface of the prezygapophysis

(7) Check fossil for dorsal ribs with complete ventral tips; if there is one, note which it is

(8) get length of pubic tubercle

(9) get height of pubic tubercle

(10) get max width of pubic boot

(11) clarify unexpanded form of the ridge that extends ventrally from the fibular crest onto the diaphysis of the tibia

(12) check contact between distal tarsal IV and the adjacent mtts.

2:30 pm: Back from lunch; in the gallery to take care of loose threads that require direct study of the fossil.
3:00 pm: Done in the gallery; double-checking a couple of loose threads pertaining to a rib and a gastralium.
3:33 pm: Done for the time being!

Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs

The book of the nine hours
From flowered western gate
to Center Night: death, mirror,
& rattlesnake
The elements of Caiman hour:

When I saw the totality
Without day
Without night,
Without death
Without life,
Without dream
Without memory,
Without love
Without conscience;
When I saw the totality;
Without time
Without motion
Without flower
Without grass
Without eagle
Without caiman
Without dog
Without deer
Without water
Without direction
Without vulture
Without obsidian;
When I saw the totality;
Without rabbit
Without turkey
Without house
Without blood
Without gold
Without sliver
Without calendar
Without mirror;
When I saw the totality;
Without rattlesnake
Without lizard
Without birth
Without murder
Without teeth
Without energy
Without bones
Without skin
Without planet
Without star;
When I saw the totality;
Without fire
Without cold
Without body
Without void
Without layer
Without flow
Without division
Without apoptosis
Without extinction
Without speciation
Without fury
Without expectation
Without shove
Without embrace
Without ice
Without blaze;
When I saw the totality;
Without endurance
Without sensation
Without stone
Without water
Without expanse
Without gutter
Without generation
Without decay
Without rage
Without pollen
Without flight
Without pinion
Without grief
Without skeleton
Without flower
Without desiccation
Without universe
Without nature;
When I saw the totality;
Without eyes
Without terror
Without agony
Without song
Without shoe
Without barrier
Without weakness
Without power
Without breathing
Without blade
Without gratitude
Without favor
Without ghost
Without sable
Without cobalt
Without scarlet
Without disease
Without garden
Without mind
Without space
Without ally
Without nightmare
Without sequence
Without signal
Without eon
Without sun;
Without pleat
Without harpoon
Without self
Without aperture
Without Medusa

With Sutekh.

Friday, November 6, 2015

THE JANE DIARIES, #55

My Muse: imperious, constant, & 939 pages deep.
September 27, 2015

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

Saturday, September 26, 2015

THE JANE DIARIES, #54

Tea time with tyrannosaurs: once you've inked, get tentacled.
September 7, 2015
10:18 am: Back to the splenial of CMNH 7541.
12:15 pm: Lunch.
12:50 pm: back to the splenial!
1:22 pm: Been working on the intercoronoid for some time now.
1:40 pm: Now working on the prearticular! Three more mandibular bones follow this…and none can be said to be simple in form.
1:54 pm: Break.
2:57 pm: Back to the prearticular!
~4:00 pm: Brief break.
~4:05 pm: Good grief – I just had the window for email open and, as sometimes happens, if a window of a different program that spatially covers a word document completely, then that document will become invisible and it has to be closed and then reopened. I’ve reopened the Jane ms, but it isn’t loading the entire doc, I have to scroll down with the cursor, page by page, to get back where I left off, which is over 300 pages down! Bloody waste of time.
4:30 pm: What a godawful waste of time; I’ve finally scrolled down to page 401.
5:07 pm: Making my way through the prearticular; time for a brief break.
9:26 pm: Back to the prearticular!
9:55 pm: Made it to the angular. Brief break.

September 9, 2015
12:17 am: Just completed the next round on the sauropod project; relaxing with a glass of La Fée, Absinthe Parisienne.
10:21 am: Back to the angular!
10:57 am: Errand to run.
11:47 am: Errand done; back to the angular.
12:08 pm: Time to eat and then prepare for today’s first class in Comparative Anatomy – Hennigian systematics.

September 10, 2015
~8:30-9:35 am: Angular, continued.
12:22 pm: Angular.
12:50 pm: Done with the angular; now on with the surangular!
1:00 pm: lunch.

Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
The skull in the box
With popcorn cheeks
Gorgonizes the mind
& contrabands the heart

September 11, 2015
4:25 pm: Back to the surangular!
5:44 pm: Time to make dinner.
808 pages reached; revising page 414.

September 12, 2015
4:15 pm: Back to the surangular.
4:55-5:05 pm: quick break.
5:37 pm: Stop for dinner, etc.
9:00 pm: Back at the surangular.
10:40 pm: Time for refreshment – a shot of Kraken black spiced rum in 12 oz of Pabst blue ribbon.
10:46 pm: Back to the surangular.
10:54 pm: Good grief – feeling effervescent…just like in Drugstore Cowboy.
816 pages reached; revising page 421.

September 13, 2015
10:40 am: Resuming the surangular.
11:55 am -12:07 pm: Brief break.
12:12 pm: Errands to run.
9:25 pm: Back to the surangular, specifically the joint surface for the angular.
9:44 pm: Short food break (four-cheese tortellini with shredded garlic in olive oil).
9:52 pm: Back to work.
9:58 pm: Stop.
Revising page 426 of 818.

September 14, 2015
4:38 pm: Back to the surangular, specifically the glenoid (jaw joint) region.
5:21 pm: Break.
8:38 pm: Back to it (see how long I last).
9:41 pm: Need a brief break; today’s had a very early start.

September 15, 2015
9:45 am: Resuming the surangular with the lateral scar below the glenoid fossa.
11:18 am: Time for a brief break.
11:27 am: Stomach somewhat filled; coffee topped off. Back to the caudal glenoid process.
12:06 pm: Time for a break.
Revising page 426 of 824.
10:31 pm: Late, yes and for a change of pace tonight I’ll add in my old comments on Gilmore (1946). The comments were made back in 1993, during my first visit to the CMNH for a week-long marathon of description, measurements, and photography on CMNH 7541. I stayed at the swish and close-by Glidden House; I’ve roomed there ever since during my following research visits to Cleveland.
11:18 pm: 828 pages written.

September 16, 2015
9:03 pm: I’ll continue with the Gilmore ’46 commentary tonight and pick up the description tomorrow morning when my mind has the energy.
Music: Beethoven’s 2nd & 4th.
Refreshment: Pabst blue ribbon (neat, Ms. Del Rey), sans Kraken.
9:55 pm: Good grief, flagging before 10:00 pm! Done with Gilmore, now ready to include comments on Bakker et al. (1988)!
830 pages reached.

September 17, 2015
8:45 am: Back to the joint surface for the articular!
9:37 am: Errand to run.
11:00 pm: Time to add the commentary on Bakker et al.
11:13 pm: Wow – Kraken tastes like smoky caramel.
11:36 pm: Stop.
836 pages reached.

September 18, 2015
9:24 am: Back to the surangular!
10:45 pm: Stop.
Revising page 442 of 837.
9:24 pm: Back to adding comments on Bakker et al.
10:15 pm: Done with Bakker et al.!
Taking a break – 839 pages reached.

September 19, 2015
9:52 am: Back to the surangular; I’m making sure that the adult condition has been included. At times I run ahead with description of Jane, and later have to backtrack to make sure that all of the comparisons are made.
11:48 am: 845 pages reached, revising page 424.
3:05 pm: Resuming the surangular.
3:28 pm: I’m done with the surangular, a deceptively simple-looking bone; next in line is the articular.
3:57 pm: Break.
9:45 pm: Resuming with putting all of the dentition descriptions together under one section.
10:21 pm: Looks like I may be done with the articular…I suppose I’ll start a comparison between the overall form of the reconstructed skull of Jane with that of CMNH 7541.
10:48 pm: Losing focus; 848 pages reached.

September 20, 2015
4:56 pm: A late start. I have several primary accomplishments to make on the manuscript: (1) make all of the corrections marked in the hard copy; check the manuscript against -and make any and all comments - (2) Gilmore, 1946, (3) Witmer and Ridgley, 2010, (4) Larson 2008, (5) Larson, 2010, and (6) Holliday (2009); (7) take care of any remaining loose threads in the descriptions; and expand and revise the (8) summary, (9) discussion, and (10) conclusions; and (11) include my recent notes on CMNH 7541. Figures, index, etc. follow all of that. For today, I’ll continue with the comparison between the reconstructed skull of Jane with the Cleveland skull, and a representative adult. I’m considering writing a description of the reconstructed skull as a single unit, functional structure.
5:12 pm: Dinner’s ready!
6:16 pm: Back to it!
7:19 pm: Break.
9:00 pm: Back to the skull comparisons!
9:42 pm: Comparisons made. Moving on to the red ink for a while – that’s the most arduous task, and I’ll feel much better once it is done.
10:00 pm: Done in by this already.
Revising page 372 of 851.

September 22, 2015
9:52 am: Back to making the red-ink revisions! I am sick today (head cold).
10:56 am: Short break.
12:11 pm: Continuing, briefly; have done the fixes for the angular and surangular, now resuming with the prearticular.
12:32 pm: Done with the prearticular, now moving on to the angular. Have to leave for the museum soon to continue identifying, sorting, and cataloging the fossils we collecting during this last field season. It’s a lot of fun to set aside fossils that will appear in the second version of our field guide to fossils of the Hell Creek Formation. Whoops – OK, I’ve already done the angular; I’m working my way backwards, not forwards! OK – intercoronoid, now.
12:36 pm: On to splenial!
12:49 pm: Splenial’s done – time to get to the Dinosaur Discovery Museum (DDM).
7: 11 pm: Resuming the revisions; starting with the dentary.
8:34 pm: Phew – done with the dentary; now, on to the dentary teeth! Have to make sure I’ve taken all of the tooth measurements following Smith, Vann, & Dodson. Have to pull out Edmund (1962).
Reached the end of the dentary teeth, now reading Edmund (1962)…
11:17 pm: Just completed a bunch of Edmund eruption diagrams for Jane, CMNH 7541, and AMNH FARB 5027 – there’s a pattern! I should add LACM 28471.
11:51 pm: After a pause, I’m starting to write up the tooth eruption pattern results.
12:12 am: Wrote up the maxilla tooth replacement patterns. Stop.

September 23, 2015
~9:30 am: Back to the tooth eruption section; I have to draft the dentary eruption for the adult, and then write up the results for dentary eruption for the growth series.
10:30 am: Stop.
Revising page 489 of 853.
10:06 pm: Resuming with the tooth replacement section – reading Edmund (1962) in detail.
11:09 pm: Added some text on tooth replacement in T. rex; 855 pages reached.

September 24, 2015
9:43 pm: Late start today; bad headache – I thought I could get away with skipping lunch. I will set Edmund (1962) aside and instead focus on incorporation my red-ink revisions.
9:59 pm: This damn headache has bested me…

September 26, 2015
9:37 am: Back to the tooth replacement patterns; I am revising the figures, where I’m replacing the spindles with shapes that look more like teeth and I’ve combined the premaxillary and maxillary eruption series. After that, I’ll revise the text and add some more observations that will make this more comparable to what Edmund (1962) did.
11:52 am: Lunch time.
~2:30 pm: I resumed with Edmund (1962) and just finished the task; now on to making the red-ink reivisions for the cervical vertebrae.
3:46 pm: Hunger gnaws; time for a short break.
4:02: Back to work!
4:14 pm: Good grief- hunger again.
9:38 pm: Back to polishing up the cervical series!
~10:40 pm: Stop. Reached the introduction to the axis and postaxial cervicals. Revising page 502 of 862.

Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
The omenless sleep of

Bowheads in coal cars