The First

Sorry for the poor formatting and grammar on this post.

Day 8, Thursday, 3/21/13, hiked 16.7 miles, Unicoi Gap to Dicks Creek Gap mile 69.6
THE FIRST SNOW

Was a very cold day with snow, we were going to camp on the trail that night but we were cold and wanted to keep moving so we called for a shuttle and went back to stay at the same hotel in Hiawassee. Tumbleweed had swollen knees and Glowbug still had a cold in the morning so they stayed at the hotel while Gweejo, Spider and myself went out without them. When we got back Tumbleweed told us that he would be getting off the trail but planned on coming back in a week or perhaps section hiking with us in the future. He payed the full price of the hotel room for us before he left, said it was "Trail Magic". Great guy, miss hiking with him. 

Day 9, Friday, 3/22/13, hiked 0 miles

THE FIRST ZERO

Spent my first full day of doing no hiking back in the Budget Inn - this is called a "ZERO". So I ate, rested, resupplied and planned for the upcoming hike. The next stop should be Franklin, NC. We also met up with Two-stix and the family while in town.

Day 10, Saterday, 3/23/13, hiked 4.5 miles, Dicks Creek Gap to Plumorchard Shelter mile 74.1

Real short day, Glowbug was not feeling well so it was slow going. They are predicting rain all day Sunday and then snow Monday so we stayed at the shelter and if it is rainy and cold we may take another zero here. "Soway", "Billy Jack", and "Ambassador" were there and taught us a bunch and did some AT trivia. They are all former thru-hikers. Soway has done the mountain-to-sea trail and will do a Yo-Yo (hiking to Maine then going all the way back the way you came) this year. "Uncle Buck" and his dog Jake were also there.

Day 11, Sunday, 3/24/13, hiked 0 miles

THE FIRST ZERO IN THE WOODS

It was supposed to rain but barely did at all. It is supposed to rain and snow tonight so at least by staying in the shelter we can start out dry tomorrow. The family (Doobee, Borders, Pink panther) also showed up. Spent the day sleeping, resting and trying not to eat so that I have enough food to make it to Franklin.

Day 12, Monday, 3/25/13, hiked 7.3 miles, Plumorchard Shelter to Muskrat Creek Shelter mile 81.4

THE FIRST STATE

Woke up to snow in the morning. I was warm all night in the shelter. The wind was very cold but as long as I am moving I stay warm. Passed the first border crossing! Passed from Georgia in to North Carolina. We arrived at the shelter around 2 or 3 pm but Glowbug had not made it yet. I wanted to go farther but we needed to wait and make sure she was alright. Spider even when back to get her - turns out she was fine, we stayed there that night. It was a bitter cold 19 degrees out and it was windy. I stayed in my tent with my head down hill so that the opening of my tent faced opposite the wind direction. I stayed warm by wearing ALL my cloths, thermal layers, 2 jackets, 2 pairs of socks, sleeping bag, silk liner, and emergency blanket.

Hike with me!

Day 13, Tuesday, 3/26/13, hiked 0.8 miles, Muskrat Creek Shelter to the Chunky Gal Trail mile 82.2
THE FIRST HITCH AND FIRST BLUE BLAZE
A "Blue Blaze" is a side trail on the AT. It was bitter cold in the morning with more snow that fell overnight and more in the forecast. We talked to Borders who told us about the "Chunky Gal trail" (what? - I don't name these things, I just hike them) that would take us to a major road. He wasn't sure how long it was but estimated about 5 to 7 miles. It was sooo cold that a group of 12 of us (plus Jake the dog) decided to bail out and get to a town before we froze. We went north on the AT about 0.8 miles then had to break through about a half foot of snow with drifts past my knees! up and down mountains. It was tuff but kind of fun with such a large group traveling together. Remember that scene from the movie white fang (I think it was white fang), Anyway there was a group of hundreds of prospectors traveling over a mountain up a huge ice stairway in a blizzard - that's what it felt like. Also with the snow everywhere and covering the trees and mountains all against the occasional blue sky was amazingly beautiful! We finally got to the road and three nice people stopped have gave us a ride to Franklin, NC where we stayed at the Sapphire Inn. 
Day 14, Wednesday, 3/27/13, hiked 0 miles
Another zero day, This time in Franklin, NC. We got up early for free all-you-can-eat pancakes at the First Baptist Church. They even had a van pick us up and they took our picture an mailed the picture and a note for us. Real nice people - there are a lot of great things about the south.

Spider Gweejo and Globug




Steady-State

The Beginning

Finally had a chance to update my blog! Thanks for all your kind words, and well wishes through texts and facebook etc. and thanks for your prayers. I appreciate them all very much!
Day 1, Thursday, 3/14/13, hiked 2.8 miles, Springer to Stover Creek mile 2.8

Took a Southwest Airlines flight from San Antonio at 6am and flew to Atlanta via Houston. Took the MARTA train to the North Springs station. A shuttle drivers "Survivor Dave" drove me to the start of the Appalachian trail. He took me to Cooper Gap first to drop off some water that I wound need the next day then took me to the Springer Mouton parking lot which is 1 mile North of Springer Mountain. From There I hiked South to the top of Springer. When I got to the top I met "Spider" and some others, then I hiked back North and stopped for the night at Stover Creek Shelter at the 2.8 mile mark. Spider was there and I met a few other hikers at well. I also saw "White shoes" there who I meet back in the Springer parking lot. It was a cold night - about 32 degrees. I had been feeling really sore from training and i guess just nerves. I felt way better after I took my first step up Springer. Wore knee braise and ace bandages for first few days but not I am just legitimately ore from hiking - which is normal.

View from Springer Mountain

On Springer Mountain

Day 2, Friday, 3/15/13, hiked 13 miles, Stover Creek to Gooch Mountain mile 15.8

Hiked to Gooch Mountain shelter. Met a family "Borders", "Doobie", and "Pink Panther". Borders has hiked the AT and the PCT before. They shared their water with a German couple on Sassafras mountain and then I shared my water from Survivor Dave with the family at Cooper Gap. I also had my first trail magic at cooper - a former thru-hiker stooped by with pop and Gatorade. Also met "Nema", "Gweejo", "Glowbug", "elbow skin" (Chan), "tumbleweed", and "Icarus" at the shelter.

Day 3, Saturday, 3/16/13, hiked 8.5 miles, Gooch Mountain to Lance Creek mile 24.3

Saw the famous trail Angel "Miss Janet" that morning, she was camping an doing trial magic, also got an apple from a Church group camping there. Miss Janet's group had a lot of current and former thru-hikers there, one came right up to me and showed me how to adjust my pack properly by putting most of the weight on my hips and tightening the load lifters. The load lifters should be loosened on downhills to provide balance. I met "Unremarkable" soon after that. Got AMAZING trail magic from the Glenloch Baptist Church when i came through Woody Gap! They had everything, hot dogs, soda, cookies, supplies, napkins, granola bars. They even washed our feet - Literally washed our feet. Many hikers were hesitant on the foot washing but those that gave in loved it. The Church isn't even close, more like 3-4 hours way. One of there Pastors is a hiker and then come out once a year to just bless and server the hikers. They didn't press another but just said that by washing feet they were following the example of Jesus - what a great idea - most hikers would have resented a Gospel message that that point but instead the saw a great example of God's people just loving other people.

Trail Magic from Glenloch Baptist Church

Day 4, Sunday, 3/17/13, hiked 7.4 miles, Lance Creek to Neels Gap mile 31.7

Great hike and a great view from the top of Blood Mountain. Tumbleweed says it is called that because two Indian tribes fought a big bloody battle up there. Hiked to Neels Gap where the Mountain Crossings outfitter is. Got a "Shake down" they go through your pack and tell you what you need and don't need. They took my picture and put it on Facebook if you care to find it. Logan told me to loose a bunch of stuff that I don't need to carry and told me that I don't really ened to worry about ticks until i start seeing grass that is taller grass. Stayed in blood mountain cabins next door with Nema, Icarus, and Two stix. They stayed a second night, so did the Germans couple and the Borders family. Got a free dinner from that same Church Group too! Then a bunch of us stood around listening to "Baltimore Jack", another AT legend who has hiked the trial many many times. He gave advice and said to make a list of chours the night before you go into town and that it is best to go in to towns in the morning then either stay there that night or go back to trail that night. Usually there is a big climb going out of a town. Take real food to town with you the first night. Take at least one meal you don't have to cook, in case you don't want to cook.

Mountain Crossings outfitter at Neels Gap

Day 5, Monday, 3/18/13, hiked 11.5 miles, Neels Gap to Low Gap mile 43.2

Was a cold and rainy day with lots of fog so you couldn't see any of the nice views. The Shelter was full so we stayed in tents (by this point I was meeting up with a lot of the people I met the second night). Everything got wet, everything got muddy! :( We set up our tents and got in them right away. The wind was blowing almost right in to my tent so I was cold until i let up. By bag was also wet in the morning from condensation. They sun showed up in the morning so i hung up almost everything I have and let it dry. I left around 11 or 12 and was almost the last to leave, put I caught up to them without a problem - turns out I am a fairly fast hiker but I do need to slow it down for the first few weeks until my body gets used to hiking.

Day 6, Tuesday, 3/19/13, hiked 7.3 miles, Low Gap to Blue Mountain mile 50.5

Stayed in the shelter for the first time, supposedly the windiest shelter in Georgia. Thankfully it wasn't too windy that night and we were not too cold. Met "Wild Willy" there, he is from Oakridge Tennessee. also met "Grumpy", "Thor", and Miles (that's his real name) along the way.

Day 7, Wednesday, 3/20/13, hiked 2.4 miles, Blue Mountain to Unicoi Gap mile 52.9

Got up really earily and hiked to the road at Unicoi gap to take a free Shuttle to the Budget Inn in Hiawassee, GA. Stood in the cold a long time waiting for it :( We decided to stay here because they are calling for really really cold weather Wednessday night. We checked in an when right to breakfast at a real restaurant - what luxury! We will be back here on Friday night to because they are calling for rain and cold weather. Because we started so early we have to be carefull of the weather at this time of year so we are playing it safe and may even be back in to Hiawassee a few more times this weekend due to cold/rain/snow. We can't avoid all that weather but will try to avoid the worst.

 

Waiting for the Shuttle, from left: Spider, Gweejo, Globug, Me. Tumbleweed is taking the picture

 

Steady-State

The Defense

There was a request to do a post about my Doctoral Defense so here it is.

My Finite Element Simulation of an optical plane wave traveling through a vibrating electro-optic crystal

 (not to scale)

I get a lot of questions about graduate school, being a PhD student, what I can do when I graduate, what my research is about etc. which is quite understandable - I had no idea about any of this before I started the program and it's a different world from what most people go through.

What I had to do in Graduate school

• Take 90 credit hours beyond my undergrad degree. About half of that time is research and the other half is classes.
• Pass a written test and an oral proposal to become a "PhD candidate" about half way through the program
• Write/publish papers and present at conferences
• Write a Dissertation (really long final paper) about all my research
• Committee must approve it
• Will be published in the school library
• Given a Dissertation Defense (final presentation) 

What it means  to be a PhD

• It means I am qualified to teach at the college level
• It means I have some extremely specialized knowledge about a subject you have never heard of
• It means I am qualified to be a Scientist or Engineer at a University, Company, or Government organization
• It means I am a Doctor (but not a medical doctor) I can legally write PhD after my name or Dr. before it
• It means I have spent several years in graduate school taking classes and doing original research. The actual time varies from one person to another and is different for different majors. For example Engineering takes about 5 years beyond the Bachelors degree but theoretical physics can take 8 or 9 years.

Here is a really nice, brief, easy to follow explanation of what it means to be a phd

http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

What it doesn't mean to be a PhD

• It doesn't mean I am any more intelligent that the average person
• It doesn't mean I am a better person than anyone else
• It doesn't mean I know everything about science, or literature, or history, or auto mechanics
• It doesn't mean I can diagnose your illness 
• It doesn't mean I will necessarily make a lot of money or have job security
• It doesn't mean I can beat you at poker or monopoly

The Defense

A doctoral defense is a final presentation of your research work before a committee of professors. There is a committee of at least 4 PhDs that grade me. The committee is made of mostly professors but sometimes others from outside the university. My committee has four professors and one scientist from a local research facility.

Structure of the Defense

1. Public presentation with interuptions for questions - about 40-60 minutes
2. Everyone but candidate and committee leaves
3. Committee can ask questions about anything from my education (but usually only things relating to the dissertation)
4. Candidate leaves the room so committee can talk
5. Candidate is invited back in and then one of two things happen 
• My adviser will reach out to shake my hand and say "Congratulations Dr. McIntosh" 
• Or my adviser will say "Sorry, try again"  and I get one more chance to pass

So why did I go to school this long?

• I love Science
• I love college - I hated school all the way from day one of  kinder-garden to my senior year of high school - but I love college
• I used to work at a company where pretty much everyone else was a scientist - so I said "Me too!"
• I genuinely enjoy learning

A brief description of my research

I am studying electro-optic materials. When you apply a voltage to an electro-optic material the refractive index will change. The refractive index is a measure of how fast light travels in the material. These materials are used in devices to encode information on to an optical beam. So for example they are used in fiber optic networks to encode electrical information from your computer so it can travel over an optical fiber. When we apply an electrical signal at a specific frequency called the resonant frequency the material vibrates very strongly resulting in increased coupling between the electrical and optical signals. This improved coupling is very important for improving device efficiency. My research is primarily involved in studying/understanding/optimizing this effect through experimental techniques and computer modeling.

Want to see an interactive computer model I made that is related to my research? go here: Acoustic velocity of materials. You will need to install the Wolfram Mathematica Player, its free.

Defense day
My defense was March 4^th 2013 and I passed!

Not bad for a kid the State of New York classified with a "learning disability" from third grade to twelfth grade right?

Thank you

• Thank you fellow students for helping me with my classes
• Thank you colleagues for teaching me what you know and encouragning me to go back to school
• Thank you teachers for your patience and extra help
• Thank you to my professors for your help and very patient explanations
• Thank you to all the Church congregations I have been a part of for making me feel at home while I was far form home
• Thank you friends for your encouragement, for letting me skip parties/trips/concerts so I could study, for bringing me food while I was studying, for letting me do homework at your house
• Thank you to my family for letting me be away from home so long
• Thank you to my parents for the constant 30 years of support and encouragement 
• Thank you Jesus 

Dr. Steady-State

The Training

I am not athletic. My sport is Archery and though it definitely requires strength well... its not like hiking. I did a half marathon, but that was quite a few years back. I have been doing some exercise to help prepare my body to walk all day every day with a 34 lb. pack on my back. I run, and I do exercises that were recommended in a backpacking magazine I subscribe to. So I am at my University's recreation center 3 days a week.

This was Summer 2002. Perhaps my greatest single end ever; 58 out of a possible 60 points from 90 meters (100 yards) away. I used to shoot on a farm lane next to my grandparents house; it was nice but every now and then I had to step out of the way to let a tractor pass.

Running in the Red Baron 2006 half marathon in Corning, NY 

UTSA Campus Recreation Center

Indoor track at the Rec

Indoor track at the Rec

I do exercises which I found in Backpacker magazine. Mostly I do core and leg stuff with a exercise ball.
http://www.backpacker.com/january-2012-backpacker-bible-hike-farther/skills/16315
http://www.backpacker.com/fitness-leg-strength/slideshows/231

Training schedule and notes

This will hopefully help a little but I think my plan is to go really slow the first 4 to 6 weeks on the trail until my body turns to steel, or Diamond, or Silicon Carbide, or Graphene! which are very hard due to their bonding and close packed structure of their atoms.....oh, sorry, I had to nerd out a little there - all apologies.

Spinel is pretty hard too - here is a 3D representation of it I made for one of my classes

I don't run a million miles, I haven't tried P90X or yoga, I don't lift big heavy weights. I might do those things sometime but for now just some very focused exercise and once I hit the trail I will avoid the temptation to do big miles right away.

steady-state