Preparing for the trip

Well, 2 days till we leave sunny Dunedin and begin our expedition to Nepal. It has been pretty hectic the past few months with testing, testing and more testing. This week however, Sam, Kate, Karen, and Phil, have been running around arranging the final preparations for the trip, such as checking equipment, baggage transport, consumables, accommodation, testing schedules and so on.

Phil has been placed in charge of establishing what our power requirements are for the running of all our gear once we reach the pyramid laboratory (http://www.evk2cnr.org/en/Piramide). The Pyramid is solar powered during the day but at night we'll be running everything off batteries.

As for me, well I have been busy helping out with Emma and Luke's experiments which involves passively heating up participants (victims!) using a water-perfused suit (which makes you look like spiderman). The goal is to increase the participant's core body temperature till intolerance or till they reach a critical temp of 39.5 oC, measured using oesophageal, tympanic (from the ear canal), and rectal (need I explain?) thermometers. In addition, Emma then "zaps" our subjects with both transcranial magnetic stimulation (on the head)and electric muscle stimulation on the thigh (it literally feels like been zapped by an electric fence).

On the side, I have also been trying to pack our equipments into large pelican cases, making a mess with the padding, and annoying the cleaners by spreading bits of foam everywhere in the Lindo Ferg building.

Amongst all of this, we have also been causing havoc in the administration office with the endless piles of paper work and unpaid invoices we have sent their direction. I'm sure they will all be breathing a sigh of relief once we leave for Nepal.

2 more sleeps!!!





Mickey