Invisible Lacerator

As I slowly emerge from the social-prison known as grad school, along with the regular updates, I'll be telling some of the epic tales that occurred along the way...these may seem a bit random...and here is one that's been on my back burner for awhile.

The Tale of the Invisible Lacerator

Once upon a time there was a good older brother who kept telling his younger brother about the hidden gem known as West Sechelt for amazing singletrack.  The older brother had been learning the trails inside and out for several years and knew some of the best loops around.  One fine day that younger brother and his wife found their way out to Sechelt and off we were. The older brother really wanted them to experience the ride as as he normally did, i.e. start out from Kristy's parents house, which is the equivalent of slopeside ski accomodations - call it trailside if you will, do an amazing ride, and then come home to a hot tub and cold beers.

The day started out well.  A single photo got snapped of the Elkfordians about to drop into Skullduggery showing that they were indeed enjoying themselves.

But as you may have sensed...things were not to turn out so well on this fateful day. Just after Skullduggery on the very last steep-ish portion of Beaver Pond, my bro was leaned in to the right, and got his leg out a bit and got it caught on this stumpy-branch on the right hand side of the trail that was almost invisible in the lighting that day.  In the photo below, the branch is on the right in the brightest sun spot.  I snapped this right after it happened.

Up close you see how gross this really was.  There is some fresh human leg meat complete with leg hair on the end of the stumpy-branch hereinafter known as the Invisible Lacerator.

It is a tree stump from a fallen tree so it's solid, not like a normal branch with some give to  it.  Paul kept riding, i.e. no crash, but was in a ton of pain, looked down and couldn’t believe what he saw.  WARNING: NOT FOR WEAK STOMACHS!!

Instead of the glorious apres-ride as envisioned, SJ, like the amazing athlete-nurse that she is, and the only one wearing two layers, ripped off her shirt and tied it around Paul's gaping leg and we went down the first forest service road we came to.  Once I got in cell reception we called in the Brigade.  Steve and Uncle Oly grabbed my truck keys and showed up to meet us.  That was the end of the Elkfordians biking trip and Paul required 14 external stitches, plus internal stitching and a drain.  Emergency was busy that night and it took hours, so again, like the good brother I am, I brought them pizza in the ER ward to satisfy the post half-ride hunger.

Also like the good older brother that I am, I returned to that trail the next time I was up  there and I tore that Invisible Lacerator a new one.  Before I did though...I took a bunch of photos showing  just how brutal this seemingly errant stumpy-branch really was.  Just for reference the bright orange saw is in the same place in all the precut photos.

Precut close up  - downhill view

Precut - uphill view 

Precut - downhill approach zoomed out

Precut - downhill  approach zooming even farther out

Lacerator Removal Machine

Postcut - Death to the Lacerator - Downhill view

Postcut - Death to the Lacerator - Uphill view

I rode this trail, among others on Christmas day.  It was glorious, and of course I noticed how safe/open the trail is now.








And that concludes the tale of the Invisible Lacerator.

Stay tuned for more random stories as I am unemployed  and procrastinating on my business plan writing.

Success - Dr. McNelson at last!

I did it. I pulled off the defense.

It was intense. As per normal I was up late the night before working on the presentation, trying to get it down to 30 minutes. Finally at 1:00 AM just decided sleep was more important and rode my bike home on a frosty December evening. Clear sky, cold air, slippery pavement with frozen leaves, it was so surreal to be riding home thinking..."wow, this is the day of my defense, I better not wipe out riding my bike home!!"

Even at noon on the day of I rehearsed my talk at 36 minutes long knowing the 30 minutes is strictly enforced.

The stress throughout the day was crazy. So much so I could only get down about a 1/3 of cup of coffee, where normally I'd drink 3. I couldn't eat - forced down a bowl of granola like sand rubbing down my dry esophagus. By the time we left, at 3:05 to get all the way cross-town to Point Grey campus to start at 4:00, I was shaking and seriously trying to just meditate as Kristy drove to calm down. Thank God Kristy had one of Amber's spit up towels in her purse for me to continually dry my waterfall-like sweaty palms...I know gross on the details but seriously I have never felt stress like that in my life.

To add to matters, one of the University examiners mixed up his schedule and though it was at 4:30 instead of 4:00, so the tiny room of 16 people had to wait for a full half hour to get started. Again, thank God for Kristy and the power of her banana bread to keep things manageable. I used the opportunity to tell the whole audience the story about how the chair of the exam did all my knee surgeries years ago...

Anyways, to sum it up, despite the pressure, I nailed it. Talk was 29 minutes, followed by 2 hours of questioning. I think the temperature in the room was approaching 30 Celsius and I stood the whole time in my suit. I think the 10" diameter pit stain pretty much shows it all.

When I came back in the room, all the examiners had signed the form and although I have zero details, found out I am going to be nominated for an award for my work. Wow....and I was going into it thinking that I'd pass, but not really "feeling that I was going to pass" if that makes any sense. I do have some minor revisions to make that might end up taking the week and then I'll get to hand it in for good.

It hasn't really sunk it yet but I'm standing a little straighter with a bounce in my step. So far so good..

And of course it wouldn't be right without the PhD comics to match. This comic strip likely saves grad students' lives, and it hits especially close to home for me as it's written by a guy who did his PhD in Mechanical Engineering.

Night Before

Day Of

The Aftermath

Dr. McNelson out....

A big year for the McNelson family!

2011 has been a big year for us to say the least! We welcomed Amber into our family:

 I got my P.Eng. designation:

And soon we will have a doctor in our family!

       *Picture to be posted shortly!*

Now onto the Amber update.....

This last month has been a big one for Amber too. She finally decided to upgrade from skooching:

To crawling! 

Fortunately Tim was also able to witness her first attempt :)

  Since then, Amber has been practicing her crawling techniques and has been having a lot of fun with it. Needless to say Loca is doing a lot more running away these days!

Tim also recently set up our mini Christmas tree and Amber absolutely loves it when the lights are on. Every time she sees it she points and starts shrieking. She usually likes to sit next to it and touch all the ornaments and lights on it :)

Amber is also becoming more and more independent these days. On a typical day I'm lucky if she'll let me feed her one meal with a spoon. She loves to stuff handfuls of food into her mouth and typically drops a few handfuls down the side for Loca as well. Actually, that usually signifies that she's full....once she starts feeding Loca on purpose I know she's done!

 

That pretty much sums it up for us at the moment, but there will definitely be more exciting posts in the near future!

Only 2 More Days of Prep

Well it's down to the wire...

The presentation is coming along. I've got 2 more days to prepare and then it's time to just accept that there is nothing left for me to do; other than go do my best and accept my fate.

And if this isn't the nerdiest thing you've ever seen...these are images to represent my four research chapters.



I went and visited "the room" last Monday to help with the positive visualization. I've always done well with presentations in the past, so hopefully this one will be no different.





It's not really "about" the presentation though, that is just my chance to impress. The examiners have had a month to prepare their questions, but I have to answer them on the spot. That is the make or break.

The way it works at UBC, is that the external examiner submitted his report, with his recommendation for pass/fail 1 week ago. If the report had come back negative, my exam would not even be proceeding so at some level I kind of "know" that I should get through this, but I also know that mo matter what it's going to be hard.

Anyways...Friday night at the lab; hopefully for the last time, but depending on how significant my post-defense revisions end up being I still may have another few all-nighters left in me.

Only time will tell.