Happy Monday - Well it is back to work time. Tomorrow my sabbatical leave is officially over and I am back to 100% work. I do so with great enthusiasm. Teaching is a great career and a new school year means lots of excitement and many new beginnings.
I've been in contact this weekend with some of the students who are transferred off to university and starting their exciting transition to upper division and a whole new level of expectation. I wish them well and offer to be a sounding board whenever they need it.
Our new group of students (there will be 150 total at ICC in engineering) starts to move in on this coming Saturday and school starts next Tuesday. In the interim we teachers begin the work of planning curriculum and activities as well as professional development workshops. I'm throwing in a two day engineering camp on Wednesday and Thursday for students who are starting Project Lead the Way at Grand Rapids High School.
For those of you out in the real world. I encourage you to take a moment to realize how nice life is without 3-4 hours per day of homework. We envy you.
Have a great day and expect TBL frequency to drastically increase!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
35 Years - Your Choice
Here is a quote I often mention in class and is always worth repeating. When I graduated from college my Dad told me the advice that one of his friends shared with him. "Happiness at work is a personal choice." Think about it. You know people who work doing the same job in the same office, half of whom would say they like their job and half would say they hate it. I know it is true in all of the places I have worked and others I observe. Most of us are going to work for 30-35 years, whether we like it or not, is really our own personal choice. Make the right choice.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Sideview Mirrors
We made it home safe and sound from our trip to San Antonio. While driving I was reminded of this driving tip I got from my insurance company a few years ago.
Doing the following eliminates a driver's blind spot:
We typically drive our cars so that using the sideview mirrors, we can see what is behind us. This however, is redundant. Our rearview mirror already allows us to see back there. Thus, the sideview mirrors should be adjusted to see what is beside us. Here is how - put your left cheek up against the window then adjust the left mirror outwards until you just lose sight of the side of your car. Do the same on the right side, but you obviously can't put your right cheek on the window, so just lean as far right as you can.
Once you have done this, the first few glances in the mirrors seem weird. But just wait until you are driving and have a car come up behind you to pass. Watch as they leave your rearview and simultaneously enter your sideview. It is awesome for freeway driving and has saved me from pulling into people on a couple of occassions.
Doing the following eliminates a driver's blind spot:
We typically drive our cars so that using the sideview mirrors, we can see what is behind us. This however, is redundant. Our rearview mirror already allows us to see back there. Thus, the sideview mirrors should be adjusted to see what is beside us. Here is how - put your left cheek up against the window then adjust the left mirror outwards until you just lose sight of the side of your car. Do the same on the right side, but you obviously can't put your right cheek on the window, so just lean as far right as you can.
Once you have done this, the first few glances in the mirrors seem weird. But just wait until you are driving and have a car come up behind you to pass. Watch as they leave your rearview and simultaneously enter your sideview. It is awesome for freeway driving and has saved me from pulling into people on a couple of occassions.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Paradigm Shift
For the past few days I have been in San Antonio for my daughter's graduation from Air Force basic training. I've seen the change in her, heard stories about what the past 7 weeks were like, and seen a DVD made about the experience. It has been an occurrence for me to reflect back to 1988 when I went through a similar 6 week experience. People have different opinions about the military and about those of us in the military. But that aside, there can be no arguing the worth of an experience that pushes you to your limits and far beyond what you previously thought your limits were. The paradigm shift, the expansion of personal boundaries, that comes from a basic training type experience is incredible. I recommend you look for such opportunities in life and jump at them if possible.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Tragedy
Yesterday Angie, Ronnie, and I started our day at the memorial for the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. We spent considerable time walking around and taking in the incredible devastation as well as reflecting on the loss of life.
Several hours later as we were driving into San Antonio for Liz’s basic training graduation weekend, I received a call from Jamie telling me about the bridge collapse. Basically, we have been glued to CNN ever since.
As normal human beings we are shocked. It is hard to comprehend how this happens so close to home. We worry about our friends and relatives who might have been on the bridge. We reflect back on the last time we drove across the bridge (last Sunday picking Ronnie up from baseball camp).
As engineers we are frightfully reminded of the tremendous importance of our responsibility to society. It is really hard to know what went wrong. In our culture there seems to be a need for blame and finger pointing. Engineers are going to be in the crosshairs on this incident. Don’t be surprised if you feel some shame or guilt by association. It is normal – I feel it. However, it is not well placed.
I do not believe that this will prove to be negligence on the part of the design team nor the inspection engineers. Remember this bridge was designed and built 40 years ago, under what I am sure were acceptable standards at the time. The negligence here is a responsibility as a country to keep its infrastructure safe. Our interstate was built in a relatively short period of time (a great engineering feat), but a relatively long time ago. This infrastructure failure is going to be repeated on interstate bridges across the country that are nearing this same age and usage.
TBL: As engineers we are sobered when the public for whom we are responsible suffer due to a failure of an engineered structure.
Several hours later as we were driving into San Antonio for Liz’s basic training graduation weekend, I received a call from Jamie telling me about the bridge collapse. Basically, we have been glued to CNN ever since.
As normal human beings we are shocked. It is hard to comprehend how this happens so close to home. We worry about our friends and relatives who might have been on the bridge. We reflect back on the last time we drove across the bridge (last Sunday picking Ronnie up from baseball camp).
As engineers we are frightfully reminded of the tremendous importance of our responsibility to society. It is really hard to know what went wrong. In our culture there seems to be a need for blame and finger pointing. Engineers are going to be in the crosshairs on this incident. Don’t be surprised if you feel some shame or guilt by association. It is normal – I feel it. However, it is not well placed.
I do not believe that this will prove to be negligence on the part of the design team nor the inspection engineers. Remember this bridge was designed and built 40 years ago, under what I am sure were acceptable standards at the time. The negligence here is a responsibility as a country to keep its infrastructure safe. Our interstate was built in a relatively short period of time (a great engineering feat), but a relatively long time ago. This infrastructure failure is going to be repeated on interstate bridges across the country that are nearing this same age and usage.
TBL: As engineers we are sobered when the public for whom we are responsible suffer due to a failure of an engineered structure.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Driving for the conditions
My cousin Dick was driving to work yesterday morning in Duluth. It was foggy. While driving, he saw a person flagging him to slow down. So he did and came upon this scene:
A semi-truck was crossing highway 2. It had stopped at the stop sign, saw no on-coming traffic in either direction and started to pull across the highway. A motorcyclist driving on highway 2, with the right-a-way, drove under the semi and was subsequently driven over by the back of the truck.
Dick is a first responder and was the second person on the scene. He approached the downed motorcyclist who was crushed and dead with no chance of being saved.
What went wrong? It appears as though the semi had cautiously stopped and pulled out. The motorcyclist had the right-a-way. What went wrong was perhaps the fog.
We've all been here - fog or pouring rain or blowing snow.
Dick told me this scene will stick with him for a long long time.
TBL: Next time we find ourselves in a similar situation, slow down, high speed takes away most options for safety when the conditions for visibility are poor.
A semi-truck was crossing highway 2. It had stopped at the stop sign, saw no on-coming traffic in either direction and started to pull across the highway. A motorcyclist driving on highway 2, with the right-a-way, drove under the semi and was subsequently driven over by the back of the truck.
Dick is a first responder and was the second person on the scene. He approached the downed motorcyclist who was crushed and dead with no chance of being saved.
What went wrong? It appears as though the semi had cautiously stopped and pulled out. The motorcyclist had the right-a-way. What went wrong was perhaps the fog.
We've all been here - fog or pouring rain or blowing snow.
Dick told me this scene will stick with him for a long long time.
TBL: Next time we find ourselves in a similar situation, slow down, high speed takes away most options for safety when the conditions for visibility are poor.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Success
Here is a comment posted by Marty. It deserves front page posting. Thanks Marty.
Also, I have been a litte slow on posting. Bear with me, I will pick back up as school approaches. RU
I borrowed this from the Dilbert Blog and writer Scott Adams, but thought it also appropriate to the bottom line.
Marty
The Loser Decision
In my mid twenties, when I was a banker, a top executive in the company offered me a job as his personal gopher. I declined because I already had a good job managing a small group of people. Being a gopher seemed like a step backwards. There wasn’t even a raise involved.
The executive went ballistic. He told me I was making the stupidest decision of my career. I laughed to myself, wondering if anyone was dumb enough to think a gopher job was a stepping stone toward becoming a captain of industry.
Another young guy in the division took the gopher job. A year later he was promoted to Assistant Vice President. In three years he made Vice President, thanks to his mentor. Now he probably owns his own bank.
What I didn’t understand at the time, and the executive in my story didn’t mention, was that the gopher job was his way of getting to know me better, and introducing me to the other executives before propelling me up the ranks. My ego clouded my judgment. I wasn’t willing to go from boss to gopher. That’s all I saw in this decision, even though the reality is obvious in retrospect.
Years later, I got a chance to fix that mistake. When Dilbert launched in newspapers, the response was underwhelming. In the early years, it wasn’t a workplace strip. It was about Dilbert’s life in general. He just happened to have a job. I was surprised to learn, via my e-mail, that readers loved the relatively rare comics featuring Dilbert in the office. Personally, I didn’t think those were my best work. My ego told me to do it my way. My readers told me I was wrong.
What the hell do readers know? After all, they aren’t syndicated cartoonists, and I was, albeit in only a few dozen newspapers. But this time, fortunately, I ignored my ego, changed the focus of the strip to workplace humor, and it took off.
Recently I was reminded of this as I watched two young people allow their egos to drive them over career cliffs. I know they feel good about their decisions, just as I did when I turned down the gopher job.
I’ve come to call this ego-driven behavior the “loser decision.” I don’t mean it as an insult. It’s an objective fact that life often presents us with choices where the comfortable decision leads nowhere and one that threatens your ego has all the potential in the world.
You need a healthy ego to endure the abuse that comes with any sort of success. The trick is to think of your ego as your goofy best friend who lends moral support but doesn’t know shit.
Also, I have been a litte slow on posting. Bear with me, I will pick back up as school approaches. RU
I borrowed this from the Dilbert Blog and writer Scott Adams, but thought it also appropriate to the bottom line.
Marty
The Loser Decision
In my mid twenties, when I was a banker, a top executive in the company offered me a job as his personal gopher. I declined because I already had a good job managing a small group of people. Being a gopher seemed like a step backwards. There wasn’t even a raise involved.
The executive went ballistic. He told me I was making the stupidest decision of my career. I laughed to myself, wondering if anyone was dumb enough to think a gopher job was a stepping stone toward becoming a captain of industry.
Another young guy in the division took the gopher job. A year later he was promoted to Assistant Vice President. In three years he made Vice President, thanks to his mentor. Now he probably owns his own bank.
What I didn’t understand at the time, and the executive in my story didn’t mention, was that the gopher job was his way of getting to know me better, and introducing me to the other executives before propelling me up the ranks. My ego clouded my judgment. I wasn’t willing to go from boss to gopher. That’s all I saw in this decision, even though the reality is obvious in retrospect.
Years later, I got a chance to fix that mistake. When Dilbert launched in newspapers, the response was underwhelming. In the early years, it wasn’t a workplace strip. It was about Dilbert’s life in general. He just happened to have a job. I was surprised to learn, via my e-mail, that readers loved the relatively rare comics featuring Dilbert in the office. Personally, I didn’t think those were my best work. My ego told me to do it my way. My readers told me I was wrong.
What the hell do readers know? After all, they aren’t syndicated cartoonists, and I was, albeit in only a few dozen newspapers. But this time, fortunately, I ignored my ego, changed the focus of the strip to workplace humor, and it took off.
Recently I was reminded of this as I watched two young people allow their egos to drive them over career cliffs. I know they feel good about their decisions, just as I did when I turned down the gopher job.
I’ve come to call this ego-driven behavior the “loser decision.” I don’t mean it as an insult. It’s an objective fact that life often presents us with choices where the comfortable decision leads nowhere and one that threatens your ego has all the potential in the world.
You need a healthy ego to endure the abuse that comes with any sort of success. The trick is to think of your ego as your goofy best friend who lends moral support but doesn’t know shit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
