Maltese experiments downgraded

Well...some of our worst fears have been realized; we are missing a bunch of crucial sound files, and thus will not be able to run the full-scale experiments here this time. It's such a pity, too, because I was so convinced that we had everything. Makes me feel pretty idiotic to not have actually checked for sure before getting on that plane back on November 27! I am almost done hating myself for messing up so badly, actually - by now, I have some sense of perspective that this in fact NOT the end of the world, or even the end of my little world.

What we will be able to do is run a pilot, perhaps two pilots, with two Maltese verbal classes, rather than the four we were hoping for. I've also learned to plan much better, and in more specific ways, for the future. For instance, back up all our sound files daily (hourly?) and make sure that all potential items are spliced and accounted for BEFORE leaving. Also, it would help for us to have actually done item selection BEFORE leaving as well. Now that Andy has written a perl script that can be fed the various parameters that go into item selection, this step will be practically automated the next time, which means we have probably a pretty good chance that we can actually do this next year.

Since we're just running a short pilot or two I am guessing we'll be able to finish mid-week next week. Because of this, I've decided that we're going to come home early. With the spring semester beginning, and various responsibilities already accumulating, a large part of me would feel irresponsible for sitting around in Malta (even if I were to enjoy that) while missing teaching and other responsibilities back home. Add to that the fact that I've been gone almost two months already, and you can see how compelled I was to change our flights. We're leaving Malta January 24, spending the night in Paris (and dining at Le Sagittaire, which should be memorable), and flying from Paris to Tucson on January 25. I find this a good compromise between getting something done, and being able to go home sooner.

We'll know by tomorrow afternoon for sure whether or not our pilots are on. Andy's working on it now, but of course the poor man also deserves some sleep :-)