Ark Builder Wanted

Well here's another unwanted day of no pay because of the weather. They've shut down our highway due to standing water, and will shut it down in Arlington city limits within the hour due to major flooding on the Stillaguamish. There is no guess as to when it will crest, because the snow level is all the way up to 7,000 feet, and we still have over a foot of snow to melt here. Also, the rain is coming down so hard, our cell and satellite signals are in and out. I guess it is just as well that I miss work, since I woke up around 3am with a fever and other lovely GI symptoms, but I was going to make it a Purell day at work anyway. The river god says it shall not be.



So, OMG, I am the ONLY girl in my engineering class! I walked in and could just feel all the eyes on me. I ended up on a team with 19 year olds, because the guys my age, behind me didn't want to work with me. Whatever - we had fun on our first project failure. We had the most crooked tower, but dammit I bent it to balance and at least it stood.

So, WTF ladies? We are more than English and History degrees - challenge yourselves with some math and science girls, or at least encourage your daughters to do so. Contrary to your mother's belief, math and science are useful and fun - you just have to look at everything as a giant puzzle, and realize you're going to be wrong sometimes. It's part of the cognitive learning process to be wrong in science, maybe that's why I like it so much.


Anyway, we'll be working in groups to design and program a robot along with a couple of other design projects during the semester. The best part about this engineering class is that half of our grade is based on creativity, working with others and writing first person accounts about each project. The other half of the grade is based on our 1 test, that's right - 1 test, and our projects themselves.

I really hope I am the robot and computer programmer in my group, but it would be a better learning experience if I'm challenged with the structure or electrical engineering, especially the latter. I really need to learn more than just the Chemistry behind electricity and start to use some electrical applications. I got seriously zapped in high school by my lab partner in AP Chemistry (cough cough Minton) and have been shy of electricity projects ever since. I've built chemical batteries and completed other electrochemical labs in college Chemistry, but I'm far from being comfortable with it, and I need to be for my future job. This should be an interesting learning process, I just hope my group partners find humor in mistakes, because I sure will be making some.