My sister reads a blog where the woman tested 14 different notebooks and the cheap ones held ink better than the $30 ones. Makes you wonder what we were paying for all along.

Noticed this happens with everything where people feel forced to finish something just because they started it, like those gym memberships nobody uses or movie tickets for a film you hate 20 minutes in. Sometimes the group picked wrong and it's fine to just admit it instead of dragging everyone through 700 pages out of pride. Maybe the real problem is letting one person pick without the group getting a say first.

I always figured those pricey field schools were worth it since you get real dig time and a network. But a friend did one in Peru last year and came back saying the same thing, she spent most of it sorting bags of dirt while the crew did the digging. So now I'm with you, that money is often better spent on local volunteering where you actually touch the stuff.