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....