November 21st, 2017

I just realized that with the attempted arson yesterday, I failed to mention what we were doing at work. Since the remodel on the ancient Egypt exhibit is completed, we are now moving things back into the section. All the hardware and stuff was already put up, now we're moving in all the mobile stuff that helps us direct the crowds as they grow and shrink. The belted stanchions, movable displays, things like that. Also a lot of the delicate items that go into the display cases, things that we wouldn't want the contractors to handle for security reasons. Those were handled by museum management, scientists, and security personnel.

With Thanksgiving only days away, things haven't been very busy. It's actually been really good timing. Along with some of the others, I helped move in the less important items. It's a lot of fun watching the whole place come together. Just a few days ago it was a finished space, painted and displayed, but all the cases were empty. Made for a very open and pretty looking space. With everyone moving about and bringing things in, the place looks so much more like what the finished product will be. We even got to watch a lot of the important items get put up for display. It's very exciting. And today was more of the same, so we've got a lot done.

I'm not sure how much more they'll have left to put up. I expect that when I get back on Friday we'll be doing the soft opening to allow museum donors and the like take the first walks through the new exhibit. It won't be complete without Nephmesu, and he'll not be arriving for probably two weeks. Mostly the soft opening will allow us to test all the features and put them through the paces to make sure it all works smoothly. Then if needed we can correct any issues before Nephmesu gets here and the whole exhibit goes live.

This is one of my favorite parts about working at the museum. And we learn so much, the historians and scientists are all there explaining things in that passionate way they do. Best of all, Hal and I were working side by side. He saw me standing around waiting for direction and grabbed me to give him a hand in helping put up one of the displays. He would hold things, I would grab tools, and Dr. Asco would tell us all about the item as he put it in place. And then today we were doing it all over again. It was just a lot of fun.

One interesting bit that I learned is that Nephmesu wasn't a pharaoh like the other mummies. Nor was he one of the interred priests or servants. It's believed he was an influential merchant, and evidence suggests he was instrumental in helping to build one of the pyramids. For his efforts, he was rewarded with the rights to an interment of his own, honored to continue his job at the side of the gods for the rest of eternity. Or so the inscriptions on his tomb tell us. The tomb itself didn't survive the ages as well, and we're lucky the collapse didn't destroy Nephmesu along with the rest of his burial chamber. In fact, it's because of the collapse that he hadn't been found by looters. In a way, it protected him.

Work has been very rewarding these last two days.

As for the riot yesterday, it seems the police have rounded up a number of people that they believe to have been behind the arson attempt. Fortunately there hasn't been any more violence, though it's believed one instigator came from out of state, while two others have fled to other states. As for the tree itself, the vehicles have been removed, and the barriers repositioned. It's base is dark all the way around, but it stands defiantly. The news media seems to be in denial about the lights that everyone had been seeing. But Max has been texting me to say she's found a lot of interesting videos that were taken during the riot yesterday. She's looking forward to sharing them and really wants to know what Hal has to say about it.

Which, while we were at lunch, Hal did seem to want to talk about the arson attempt. But as usual he wanted to wait until our Saturday dinner. We talked about seeing Ragnarok since it would be the first to go. If we're quick we can hit a show time right out of work and then do dinner afterward. But if we do dinner first and then the movie, we'll be out late. So I'm going to have to remember to try and get out quickly on Saturday, maybe talk to the manager about leaving early if possible. Problem is, it'll be the weekend after Thanksgiving. People don't just go shopping, they go out, and that includes to here. So I don't know how this is going to work.

I did tell Hal we didn't have to see a movie, or we could do it another time. He's pretty insistent though, I think he really wants our date to be something more than what we usually do. Something to mark that it is a date. I get that.