Congrats Smarty Pants

For those who have forgotten, I took a little 8 hour exam about two months ago. It was the Professional Engineering Licensure Exam. I've been patiently awaiting the results -- knowing that it takes about 3 months to get the results! Guess what! They are in! As of yesterday, I'm a PE!!!! I'm patting myself on the back. Here is a fuzzy picture of me pretending to be a professional!

Me, a Professional?

I took yesterday off to study. After claiming I would get started studying for the PE for weeks, if not months, the time had come. I put in some hard core last minute cramming - although, it was mostly running practice problems. I made sure to get lots of sleep, and stay relaxed. Today was the big day. I got to show up at the Vicksburg Convention center at 7:15 AM. Luckily it was here in town and I ddn't need to travel far. The test started about 8:15, and it was 4 hours of fun, followed by an hour of lunch and 4 more hours of fun. The good news is that it was easier than I though. Either I passed, or I feel for every trick in the book. Hopefully I passed! If not I will know what to expect next time. Hopefully I'll have a positive update for you in the next few months. How it takes 3 months to score a standardized test, I am not sure -- but it does.

Studying for this exam brought me some good memories of taking the Fundementals of Engineering Exam during college. The FE is a standardized exam that you generally take during the last year of engineering undergraudate school. It is offered nationwide, and actually will be given tomorrow. I remember studying for the FE (could it stand for fail everyone?) the last few nights before the exam at the Perkins and University with my girlfriends. After the exam we were drained, beyond belief. But, we made our way to Murphy's, as required. A long night ensued, including Randolph putting down a $259 - there were lots of us drinking on it... and it involved pitchers of guiness and rounds of shots. From there we moved on to a party. Later in the night we were heading home, and another friend, Chad, had drinking waaay to much. He lived over in Urbana and the rest of us were in Champaign. Since he wouldn't stay on Tim's couch and insisted on going home, we insisted on walking him home. Halfway there Chad just sat himself down on the curb and refused to go... God Bless Drunk Logic - he felt tht he was just as likely to get accosted walking home alone and TIm and I were with two of us. LUckily, we were saved by the University police. A policewoman pulled up, wondering if we had a situation. Chad proudly owned up to "well yess ma'am alcohol as been involved, and I am over age, would you like to see?" She drove him home and we called it a night. OH those were some good times.

And I call myself an Engineer?

First off, I have to say that there is a major imrpovement on the health front. I've been feeling really crappy for a while. I've been exhausted, extremely achey, prone to headaches, and my allergies are acting up big time. Yesterday I sucked it up and went in for a massage. Chris spent the entire hour on my back, and I have to say she is a goddess. It was such an improvement. I didn't know how bad off I was until it got better. Actually, I was in such bad shape that I need to go back next week to get it worked on again.

Back to the title of this post. If you didn't know it, I'm planning to take my PE (Professional Engineer) exam in April. Obtaining my PE licesne doesn't actually do anything for me right now, as I don't need my stamp for my work. However, it helps fulfill a requirement at work. More importantly, it will give me street cred. PLus, if I ever leave the research world I will need it. So, the real question is, how can I call myself an Engineer if I don't even have a computer!?!?!? My big Civil Engineering Reference Manual came in last week. it is THE book. In fact, I probably wish I had had it when I was in school - in one large book they keep all of the key concepts from the core civil engineering classes. So, I decided to start my official studying last night. It didn't really work out so hot. I sat down, started reading the book, and I got to the first problem. Then I realized, I DON"T HAVE A SINGLE CALCULATOR IN MY HOUSE. Crazy. I have three in my office, but zero in my home, and zero in my backpack. SOunds like I wasn't meant to study last night.

Speaking of calculators, I have to share a story. About a year ago I went up to South Bend for my cousin's baby shower. The weekend was really fun, I love spending time with Abby and John (and Nora too)! It was snowing pretty hard, and the shower was later on Sunday afternoon, so I stayed SUnday night and headed back to school on Monday morning. I was woring on some homework for a while on Sunday evening. Abby came into the room, and she was qutie impressed with my "fancy" calculator. This caused a bunch of mental giggling. Reason: I have a$15 scientific calculator. I am constantly made fun in engineering circles because I don't have a $100+ fancy graphing calculator. I figure I break/lose things too easily -- plus anything that is that complicated needs to be done in a spreadsheet so I can pull it up again. But, to a Compative Lit major my calculator IS fancy. Every time I think of it it brings me a small smile. So, Abby, next month when I take the PE with my $15 calculator (which is the fanciest calcuator they even let you use on the PE) I'll be thinking of you!