Cars and Brett

Brett and Jethro went to Geneva on Saturday to an auto show. So here are some of the pictures he took. I also promised you an interview with Brett. Well the other night he was working on something for work on his laptop on the couch and I was playing on my laptop at the desk about three feet away from him. But then he started instant messaging me, so we were having a good time talking to each other. (I love technology. But not as much as I love you. But I still love technology.) So then I started giving him his interview, and here it is for your viewing pleasure. Just know that we were a little silly that night, and this is unedited. Okay, it is edited. I totally took out the part where Brett mocked me about my huge zit. Because that was rude and uncalled for and shouldn't be shared with the world. So. Here you go:
Here's your interview. The Merrills want to hear your comments on your new job, what you think now about what you want to do next, and how you are feeding his hands-on hobby urges at your new place. {Thank you Merrills, for this most excellent question}
Hmmm, my new job makes me feel wonderfully inadequate because I know nothing about Denavit-Hartenberg transformations. I did make a little shelf/storage system for the kids out of scraps collected from the side of the road though. I think that I will have to make do with hiking and biking and such since I have no tools.

What about what you want to do next?

Robotics is pretty cool, not sure if I want to stick with it. There's something good about being able to go home and forget about all the woes of the day. Not sure where to find that outside of manual labor?

What do you mean? Explain something good about being able to go home and forget.

Uhhh, it's nice to be able to not think about work at home. If you go turn a wrench at some garage all day, or machine some part, you get to just forget about it when you go home. It's not hanging over your head like a deadline or some such nonsense. I guess you have to make a tradeoff between ulcers and money...
Favorite childhood t.v. show?

What's going on here?

Your interview.

Mmmm, A-team and Macgyver.
Has there been anything about being in Switzerland NOW that has disappointed you? Or surpassed your expectations?

Yes, skinny jeans. I guess they are popular in the US too, but I doubt to the same proportions one experiences here. I think my expectations of everything being expensive have been exceeded. Though I must admit that the used car market is quite deflated.
Skinny jeans disappointed you?

Well, I'm disappointed at seeing so many skinny jeans around.
Why are you looking at how other people fit into their jeans?

I simply don't like them.
And that wasn't what I meant by exceeded expectations. I mean, is anything BETTER--as in, more good--than you expected. And noted. No skinny jeans. I can't anyway - I am very bowlegged and would look ridiculous.

Well nothing is coming to mind.

How rude. I thought showing things to your wife and family would be wonderful.

That has nothing to do with exceeding expectations...
Anyway, moving on. If you could have any superpower for a week, what would it be?

I wouldn't have a superpower for a week, that's simply too short a time.

You're loony. And greedy. You should be grateful to get to experience your superpower for a week.

How about 10 days, can we work with that?

All right Greedyhead, 10 days.

You can't decide, can you.
In that case I would decide to be like that one guy in that movie where he can jump really high and his wife makes him weak.

What are you talking about?

I don't know. Let's move on.
Psycho. Alrightey. What do you think about before you fall asleep?

Usually nothing. I think this is why I fall asleep, it's so boring.

Okay then, what are your first thoughts upon waking up?

Muesli sounds good. If I've got something exciting planned for the day, I usually can't wait to get started on it.
List 3 of your best personality traits:

By the way, I must ask, is this diatribe going to be published in some way?

Really must you ask? By the way I just looked up diatribe and this is definitely NOT a bitter written attack on somebody.
Dependable, zuverlaessig, acreditado

English please, for those readers who have not brushed up on their German recently.

Well you didn't say it was going to be published. Besides, the last one is Spanish.
What in the world. ENGLISH POR FAVOR!

5

4

3

2

1

Sure, you don't have to yell. A little manners will go a long way with me. And what's with this 5 4 3 2 1 business.

Please, honey, would you be so kind as to answer the question?

What question are you talking about? I answered all your questions so far. I'm going to bed now.

We're not finished yet.

Goodnight.

Ruffff!

I thought we were sticking to English.

Please just stay for a little while longer?

Two more questions.
5 4 3 2 1
Too late.
How in the world did you ever get such an incredibly brilliant and gorgeous woman as myself to marry you?

I have no idea, it must have intrigued you that I would have the audacity to ask you to a junkyard on our first real date. Or maybe you were astounded by my intellectual prowess and amazing wit. Or, maybe it's just because you were so young and didn't know any better.
Next question. List 3 goals on your life's to-do list.

Build a plane. Race in a Baja 1000. Learn to swim better.

Goodnight.

Wait!!!

A few more!!

No.

Come on!

Ok, lets go.
Tell me something you miss about being a kid.
Playing with my brothers.

What do you love most about being married to me.
Having fun and just being my strange self.

And canoodling?

We've only been canoeing together once. We should go to Boundary Waters sometime. 5 4 3 2 1 Too late.

If you knew you were going to die tonight, what would you have for dinner?

I don't know. It's not that important. Maybe some homemade bread. My battery is dead I'm going to bed.



And that's the end of the interview. Although, I did get him to tell me tonight what he does at work. (This little entry makes him sound very smart, doesn't it? Good thing you have the above interview to set you straight.)

I work on surgical robotics for the ear. Deafness is sometimes caused by otosclerosis which can be a pathology of any of the three middle ear bones which transfer vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the oval window of the cochlea. This necessitates the removal of one of more of the bones. A stapidectomy is performed when only the incudostapedial joint is compromised. For this process, a surgeon uses a microforceps to crimp a prosthesis on the incus, which is then inserted into the oval window. This process often compromises the incus and we hypothesize that the reduction of the crimp force may improve the outcome. Therefore we are instrumenting forceps with force transducers to measure the crimp forces, in hopes that this will reduce incus necrosis.

If all of these bones are compromised, an electromechanical device is sometimes used to replace their functionality. Currently, surgeons must excise a large portion of the temporal bone to implant this prosthesis which amplifies sounds from the environment and localizes them on the cochlea. In order to reduce the morbidity of such an operation, we are seeking to implant the device in a single drill pass. The proximity of two important cranial nerves in the temporal bone prevent the surgeon from performing this procedure using a free hand drilling technique. Therefore, we are combining advanced imaging and surgical planning techniques with a robotic manipulator to perform this drilling process.

P.S. My little sister Lindsay HAD osteosclerosis and had to have some of her ossicles removed and replaced--can't remember which. And I was sooooo excited because she had her surgery right when I was in my Anatomy of the Ear class and I totally told them all about her, and she was such an anomoly because usually it doesn't happen to young people. And then when she came to visit I had her come into the class and show people how the tragus--the little flap thingee--was cut off where they went in. Pretty sweet.