The 21st day of January, 2013

It's 2013, people. I can't believe we survived the Mayan Apocalypse, that we don't have flying cars, and that Zombies haven't taken over the world.

Today is MLK day which means, as I mentioned last week, that I have the day off. I'm dog sitting for my parent's neighbors, but I was excited to know I could sleep in until about 9am before heading over there, since she'd been let our late last night. But there's a house at the bottom of the hill that's being worked on, and we were woken up at 7:15 by hammering and beeping trucks. I almost called non-emergency police to complain - in Arlington you're not supposed to make noise like that before 8 am - but then I would have felt guilty about it all day, so I just rolled out of bed, stumbled into some sweat pants, took care of the dog, and then finished reading a novel I'd started earlier in the weekend (The Sugar Queen, by Sarah Addison Allen - I recommend it if you'd like some nice, light reading).

I also watched a Smithsonian program on Bog Bodies (all before 9am)! I mean, wow. Bog bodies are kind of amazing. So I've been doing mild internet research on them for the last 20 minutes, and discovered some interesting facts. First, in case you didn't know, a bog body is a cadaver that's been very well preserved in the peat bogs of Europe by a combination of acidity, cold, and lack of oxygen. Thousands of them exist. Here's some other interesting info...

• The earliest bog body supposedly dates back to 8000BC. EIGHT THOUSAND BEECEE! That's old!
• Many scientists believe that bog bodies from the bronze age were human sacrifices deposited along king's land boundaries. Most of these bodies were between 16-20 years of age.
• Many bog bodies were killed by trauma, which either supports the sacrifice idea, or suggests they may have been criminals that were executed.
• One body they found had Bronze Age hair gel (a Spanish resin), indicative of high social status. Others are similar - found with jewelry, headdresses, and fine textiles.
• They've found hundreds of American "bog people" in Florida that date back to 5000+ BC.

Anyway... now I sort of wish there was a bog cemetery that I could be buried in, as a time capsule for another age to find thousands of years from now. Maybe J and I can move to Denmark and start one.