I don’t know what it is about that pun… I just can’t resist it. So, Monday at 5:30 I had my big test, the Ph.D. prelim exam. In truth, it was a bit of an anti-climax. I kind of set it up to be… I had 4 mock prelims with very gracious graphics students who grilled me much more severely than my actual examiners. I scheduled the test to be in the same room that I had been practicing in, so it all felt very natural. Things kicked off with questions about a techinical paper I’d picked (this one if you must know). This was supposed to take about 10 minutes, but actually took more like 40. People had told me things like, “if they have 4 questions, and you only get to 1, you get at most 1/4 of the points,” so I was panicking a bit (on the inside). We moved along for a few questions on light an color, and that was it. This test that I’ve been getting ready for all summer, that, if failed, I would have to wait another semester to take again, that, without passing, I couldn’t move forward toward finish my Ph.D.–done. Well, that’s a relief.

So… the plan for tonight is to take all those folks who made me ready for this thing and buy them beer at a great nearby pub, Triple Rock. I should review that one soon…

So, despite my breathless promises, I’ve reached the end of another week without having taken my prelim. No, indeed, with all my frantic studying last friday Carlo came in to tell me that it had been pushed back a week. So next Tuesday it will be and perhaps a less stressed and/or more prolific Bryan you will find me then.

So, I got back about a week and a half ago from SIGGRAPH and SCA. They were both fun, it was exciting to give a talk, it hurt to crutch around downtown LA, but I survived. Since I got back Leslie and I have been very lazy… doing nothing all day, reading, playing video games, and generally being worthless. We decided to call it a vacation from activity.

But today, Leslie is a real student again… she left this morning to go her “math camp,” something that’s supposed to help get her prepared for all the statistics and such she’ll encounter in policy school. I, meanwhile, am starting to study in earnest for my prelim.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that when I visited the doctor last week, he refused to give me a walking cast but did take a week off of my cast time. So a week from today I will be off the cursed crutches nursing my wizened leg back to health.

I hate them. When my six week tenure with them is over, I will crush them, mangle them, smelt them down and reforge them into a mythical sword that I will use to slaughter their maker and his family. I will then fling their bodies and the sword into the sun.

Anyway… the day after the accident I went to a specialist to get a cast. The doctor told me that the ankle dislocation was very rare since I had to tear (but not separate) all three ligaments in my ankle to get the foot to do that. But as bad as that sounds, it could have been a lot worse. There were a couple of chipped bones, but the chips were minor and all the bones ended up in the right place. I’m stuck in the cast for 6 weeks, then I’ll probably have a couple of months of physical therapy to regain the motion in my ankle, but I’ll probably avoid any arthritis or lasting effects. Yay. Also no surgery. And yeah, I’m really fucking tired of crutching around everywhere and I’m only 1/3 done with it. I have bruises on the palms of my hands and pain in my elbows and shoulders, but at least I’m still getting plenty of cardiovascular exercise (I’d say crutching at a walking pace is at least as taxing as jogging at a good clip).

So, Friday was my last day at Apple. Oddly I left handing off the same project that I handed off the last time I left. I think maybe it would have gotten picked up if the whole crazy Intel thing hadn’t happened. Anyway, the money was good but I’m glad to have my freetime back to enjoy Berkeley and start studying more for my prelim.

But that also won’t happen this week, since I’m in LA at SIGGRAPH. It’s overhyped but fun anyway. I had a talk at a little sub-conference called SCA (Symposium on Computer Animation), which has kept me extra-busy over the last few weeks. SIGGRAPH itself is basically continuous schmoozing punctuated by people presenting academic papers where you repeatedly hurl your brain at slides stuffed with double integrals and, invariable, bunnies.

I’m heading home Thursday, where I will sit (for those of you who don’t know, when you sit you’re not on crutches).

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Comments

Callie — 2007-02-24 08:09:54

Omg, I just had the same thing happen to me, my sides hurt so bad from them rubbing on my sides, i hate them so fucking bad!!!!!!!!! so yea, i can relate

bryan — 2007-02-25 11:15:28

i feel your pain. hang in there… soon the crutches will only be a memory.

JZAP — 2009-09-18 08:26:40

i hate them so much, i will burn those things when im done with my 6 weeks… but i was wondering does anybody know how to relieve pain in my foot it hurts everytime i get up… will there be pain all 6 weeks or just the few weeks….. pain meds, endorphin releaving etc. anything

Well. Yesterday I was at the climbing gym and had a bad fall when bouldering. I heard a sort of crunch, and I thought I’d twisted my ankle. What I actually did was dislocate it pretty badly and chip a couple of bones. That was the one unlucky thing that happened to me all night. The rest of the night was a series of lucky breaks. Also bouldering in the same area were two EMT’s and a doctor. They swooped in and took a look at the foot, elevated it, immobilized it, someone called an ambulance. I would put a picture of the foot right here, but it might bother some of my readers so I’ll just give you a link: here.

I got the first ambulance ride of my life. I foolishly turned down pain medication because I was still in shock and the ankle didn’t hurt too much. By the time we got to the ER I was probably in the most pain I’ve ever been in. About 20 minutes later they gave me some morphine, which evened things out a bit. They took an x-ray, then wheeled me back. Then a few doctors came in grabbed my leg and foot in various places, and crunched things around until my foot was pointing in the right direction again. At that point I felt a lot better. There’s something very psychologically unsettling about having a dislocated body part (at least for me). They said that I was very lucky that nothing broke, since it will probably save me from some arthritis 20 years down the line.

They splinted my leg and told me to get a cast put on the next day. I’ve got an appointment to get that done this afternoon. In the meantime, I’m not much use around the apartment. Hopefully I’ll be a bit more durable once I get in a cast.

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Comments

Eoin — 2012-01-16 07:51:50

Cor blimey dat look a wee bit painful man i feel for ya bra. if i had done that in thee cape town i would have had to get myself to the nearest hospital.

John — 2012-02-04 13:51:46

I did something simialer like two days ago, I was playin basketball with my friends and my foot rolled of the concrete into the grass. I was on my back and i saw my foot for a split second and it looked just like that. Before I could really understand what happened I grabbed my foot and popped it straight back. I knew that since I was still in shock that it wouldnt hurt as bad if I popped it in now rather than later at the doctor. It must have helped a lot because I’ll I took for pain that night was 3 Advil. The next day I got some good x rays and nothing was broken either. I’m still currently in a boot and a couch potato as we speak.