Prelim exams: making it seem like really NOT A BIG DEAL that your head got run over by a truck.
It happened in Madison, too, although the victim is not a sociologist.
In a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Lipscomb said he has had some lingering headaches and a stiff neck.
“All things considered, that’s about as good as it can get,” he said.
Despite the close call, he said, he has to focus on school because his qualifying exam for the Ph.D. program is next week.
“I think it will probably hit me when I’m done with exams,” Lipscomb said.
Lipscomb does plan to ride again, he just prefers to wait until after exams are over.
All I ever did while studying for prelims was go on a diet, and a lot of people were pretty amazed that I was willing to do THAT.
Of course, as a helmet proponent of many years, I find the story interesting for its clear demonstration of their value, but man. I think you have to have spent a month buried in your office reading the Social Psychology Handbook, coming home at midnight only to watch episodes of Cold Case in your darkened living room and WEEP, to really understand why this guy does not currently have the emotional energy to process having had HIS HEAD RUN OVER BY A TRUCK.
Yes, every morning when I wake up, right before I start worrying about my dissertation, I experience a little shock of bliss that I am DONE WITH PRELIMS. And also I am grateful not to have been run over by any trucks thus far.
May 15th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
There was extensive discussion of this incident on rec.bicycles.racing today, with considerable discussion of the pressure required to break your skull and the protective value of a helmet. The general opinion was that a) helmets protect your head from impact, not pressure, and b) no way did the truck’s wheel actually run over his head.
Not that this changes the main point of your post, which I believe was that prelims suck.
May 17th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
While I was writing my master’s dissertation, I too got flipped off my bike and hit the road hard with my head, destroying the back of my helmet.
I wasn’t quite that blasé, but the police did not make me go to hospital. I went to work.