Subtle Reminders....pangs of fear...preparing for victory

I've had more than a few big exams or presentations that I knew were "a long ways off". It's been interesting to observe in myself how the stress builds up as the date draws near. Seeing the date of my upcoming defense exam printed as the best-before-date on the coffee cream today caused some mild anxiety. Every time I opened the fridge I got a mild pang of OMFG!!! It has prompted me to finally fully commit to this preparation and stop multi-tasking it with other things. I've got 12 days to get as reviewed and fresh as I can and then just accept my fate.



What's also interesting is structured procrastination. This is the theory that you can only overcome procrastination of a hated task when you are procrastinating on something else even more important and likely more unpleasant. Since this defense is definitely the most important and scariest exam of my life, and one I'm heavily invested in both emotionally and financially, I've suddenly been thrown into high gear working on a business plan, cover letters, CV, Resume(s), filing back-taxes, and my job experience report for my P.Eng. application.

Even writing this blog is just more procrastination. The mandatory PhDcomics.com cartoons display two fears: First that I will actually end up leaving it until the last night and second is that ever-slight doubt of if my work is "good enough"?





Whoops gotta run...the Canucks game is on!

Kristy Nelson, P.Eng.!!!

Just a quick note today....

Woohoo!! After a few battles I've finally received the official notice from APEGBC notifying me that I'm now registered as a Professional Engineer! :)


Although it doesn't feel any different now, I'm sure it's going to make a big difference when I go back to work in *sigh* January.

3 Weeks to D-Day

It's hard to believe, but it's now 3 weeks until my PhD defense exam. I had blown through so many self-forecasted deadlines I just didn't want to predict another estimate of "when I'd be done".

It's actually been a calendar month since handing in my thesis and it's been odd to not be working on it or making further changes. Of course there was still other work to do including scheduling the exam. It's actually amazing how many bureaucratic tasks, forms, signatures, procedures, etc. one must go through before scheduling the final exam. Often the hardest part is finding a time slot that works for 5-6 professors at the same time. In my case, one of the examiners could only make 1 out of 33 possible time slots and miraculously, the other five examiners could do it at that time as well.

And on an odd coincidence, today I found out who the Chair of the oral exam is. The exam Chair is chosen by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and typically is from a field far-removed from the student. For my exam, the head of the Department of Orthopaedics from the Faculty of Medicine will chair the exam. And it just so happens that he is the same surgeon who some 16 years ago, operated on my knee (all of the surgeries). It seems amazing to me because that crash and more specfically the injury I sustained, is what prompted my University education and lead me into the obscure field of Injury Biomechanics accessed typically after an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. I had a chance to thank this surgeon 10 years ago, in an undergraduate Biomechanics course where he was a guest speaker, and now I'll get to thank him again, for restoring my knee - which really restored my life, and for donating his time.

Anyways, I've slightly modified this cartoon to represent my situation now. Even though there is way more to review before the exam than I ever possibly could, I have a few more hard weeks of preparation to put in before the exam. I've been to several defenses now, and no matter how amazing the particular student is, this examination procedure is feared by all PhD candidates and I doubt any PhD-grad out there would not list his/her defense exam among their worst days of their life....until it's over anyways!

So if you're reading this...please cross your fingers for me and think good thoughts Monday Dec. 5th at 4:00 PM PST.

Until then I'll let Mrs. McNelson keep up the great work on the blog...

10 Months already!

I feel like only a couple of months has gone by, but sadly it's already been 10! I can't believe how fast time has gone and I'm already doing the mental count down to when I have to go back to work. I think when I do go back, I'm going to have more separation anxiety than Amber will.

Amber finally has two teeth on the bottom and she definitely enjoys using them. She chews off pieces of fruit only to spit them out. One day I found her covered in teeny tiny apple pieces that she had chewed off and spit in her lap. Another thing Amber loves doing when she's eating is feed the dog. Needless to say Loca loves this feature. It goes something like this: pick up food.....look for dog over the side of the chair....hold said food out at arms length and drop.....giggle when Loca eats said food. This often goes on for a while.

Another new milestone that Amber has reached is that she's able to stand on her own while holding onto something. She's still a little wobbly, but she's getting the hang of it. She's also starting to pull herself up on things too, although she doesn't seem to have enough strength to really get herself up quite yet. This picture is an older one when she was first learning to stand, she's since become much more stable :)

All in all we've been having a lot of fun over the past few months. Halloween was great fun too. I took Amber (dressed in her dragon costume) down to my office to hand out candy. Then later that night we went over to Amber's friend Morgan's place to hand out candy to more kids. I would have taken her out trick-or-treating, but then I'd "have" to eat the candy....and I thought both Tim and I could do without the extra candy :)

Amber and some of her baby buds at a Halloween brunch

Looking like a fuzzy bear to stay warm this winter

Ottawa Visit!

At the beginning of the month, Amber and I went out to Ottawa to visit the twins for their 1st birthday! Unfortunately, Tim had to stay behind for this trip as it was crunch time for him (more on this to come from Tim).

Amber was, once again, a great little traveler on the flight over. She managed to win over the people sitting next to us by flashing smiles and offering the occasional giggle. She was, however, a lot more squirmy on this trip! She definitely did not want to sit still while she was awake. The flight home was pretty good as well, Amber got her own seat for part of it as there was a free one next to me. The only major disturbance she caused was a shrill shriek....of happiness. I always dreaded the grumpy crying baby on a plane, but Amber proved that a happy baby can create just as much noise. After the shriek the guy next to me even commented "good one".

Flying in style

Once we arrived at Rick and Tracy's place the girls got to meet again. Amber wasn't so sure at first as her cousins were mobile (and quick!) and a bit bigger than her. There were many tears shed over the week as she adjusted to having two other babies around all the time. Even more tears shed when both Keira and Naomi stole toys from her! In the end, Amber did learn to steal the odd toy  for herself though.....and she definitely loved playing with her cousins :)

Cousins Keira and Naomi looking cute

The twins birthday party was a hit as well - the girls got to have their very first cupcake.

Amber got her party on as well.

Other highlights of the visit were the trips to the park. On our first outing Amber decided to nap the entire time.

Amber on the swing...or rather..the swing on Amber :)

But at least Keira and Naomi had fun.

Naomi swinging

Pausing for a photo op with Keira

We also made a trip to the experimental farm to see some pigs, cows and horses!

Another big highlight was watching Naomi create new dance moves. Here's one of my favorites.

 All in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to do it again :)
 

A few more firsts

Last Friday Amber had her first swing ride at the park. At first she wasn't so sure about the whole thing.

But after watching her friend Morgan having a great time next to her she started to realize that she could actually have some fun.

Morgan swinging

Happy girl

 Another first that Amber had today was her first Iron Maiden pose with Dad. Note all the collectibles that Tim has displayed: Eddie flag, collectible tin box set, Iron Maiden scroll, Eddie shot glass, Steve Harris wrist band (caught by Tim at a concert), Trooper Vans (Tim's shoes) and of course the shirts :)

Amber must truly be a Nelson because I gave her the choice of what shirt to wear today and she picked up the Iron Maiden onesie and started flapping it around the room!

Dusted off the gloves this week

I've finally decided that it was time to dust off my kickboxing gear one more time and start trying out some new gyms. After two classes this week I am more than just a little bit sore. I can't even laugh without a bit of a whimper afterwards. It was interesting to see that although my technique is still okay, my cardio and flexibility is....well...let's just say sad. I thought jogging was getting me back into shape, but it clearly wasn't kickboxing shape!

Tim has been doing a great job at taking care of Amber while I'm out getting back into shape as well. The first night Amber slept the entire time I was gone. The second night, however, she had a meltdown for the majority of the time I was out, but Tim persevered and was able to get her to sleep before I got home.

In other news we now have daycare set up for Amber when I have to go back to work in January! There is a woman with an in-home daycare really close to our house with two kids of her own, one of which is only one month older than Amber. After visiting/interviewing her and introducing her to Amber we decided that it would be a pretty good fit :) That's one last stress off of my mind!

mmmmmm.....blackberries!