Found out this morning I passed the FE exam for civil engineering. Was probably the most high-stakes exam I’ve taken since the SAT so spending the last nine days (I took it on the 21st) stewing over it wasn’t good for my health. That’s a load off my mind.
I did, too. We had ONE JOB.
Ugh. I wandered into Crummyville yesterday evening and am not fully out yet. Like FCM, 'twas a most unpleasant stomach crud, only I think I really did have food poisoning. It was a very long night. Anyone who knows me IRL would tell you I’m very independent (though not for the best reasons), but last night I really wished there were someone on the other side of the bathroom door. Today I’m queasy and feeling down and discombobulated, but hopefully a good night’s sleep will set me to rights.
One thing that got me down is a friend of mine in another state who complained that she’s had to work from home and hasn’t socialized with anyone since Christmas Day. She said she doesn’t count phone conversations. Well, damn, phone conversations are ALL I’ve got, all I’ve had for 9 months, if you don’t count Uber drivers and the friend who drove me to Tacoma last week. It made me feel lame and pitiable and lonely.
On to cheerier things. Anybody else like to watch old movies on New Year’s Eve? And by “old,” chilluns, I mean Thirties and Forties. I want something lighthearted this year. I grew up watching The Marx Brothers on NYE, but this year I want something comforting. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
shoe, I do not miss snow shoveling. It is, however, quite the workout, so there’s that. Also, there’s a law that you have to have either hot cocoa or a hot toddy afterwards, so I hope you had one or t’other. Also, I vote for “Puff.”
nut, if I had a lawn, you’d be most welcome. It’s rainy western Washington, but I suspect your toesies are already getting webbed from all the rain you’ve had.
I think you need a new mirror. We’ve seen your photo, so trust us: you’re good-looking. Besides, “dainty” hasn’t been a beauty standard since Sandra Dee days. Beth in Little Women was dainty, and look where it got her.
Well, they’re good parents, I’ll say that for them. They used to dive-bomb us when Dog and I walked in the Wyoming countryside. No matter where we went or how many times I’d tell them we were NOT going to hurt their babies (whom I never actually saw), they wouldn’t let up until later in the season. What they lack in diplomacy, they make up for in smarts and beauty and good singing voices, though.
You’re a big boy now. 
I’d suggest some Nick and Nora. and if you don’t mind color, Jeeves and Wooster(modern filming, but set in the 30’s, and a hoot.)
Congrats!
Awwww, shucks metal mouse and doggio You’re too sweet.
Yay for your folks zooming dicey. May your dad continue to make good progress and get sprung soon.
Glad you’re feeling better Moooooom and nellie.
shoe, I would have said Rainbow Brite, but I like Puff the Magic Dragon better.
Congratulations tabco!
I’m somewhere in the middle of the pack, turning 58 in a few days.
I irked until 5:30 again this afternoon. When I got home, there was an unexpected package on my stoop. It was from my cousin Melanie up in Indiana. She sent a box of locally made products from the county where I grew up. 
There is some great smelling spice tea, a cake pop, chocolate covered oreos (some of this will have to be like the ice cream and carefully rationed), hand made soaps and lip balm and an ornament. 
I’ll acknowledge it on FB this evening and send her a thank you in the mail.
I am hoping to get off irk before dark tomorrow, but am not holding my breath. I am so ready for a three day weekend that doesn’t involve Nashville being on the national news for all of the wrong reasons.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Evening all. BLT’s have been consumed for dinner and are happily digesting (no stomach complaints here…I hope). Still no mail, the driver took a note with my name and address but I think I’ll stop at the Post Office tomorrow and see what’s going on. I know that I did not stop mail at Christmas, and while I know things are slow, there are some items I really do need to have show up. So a’checking I will go.
Tabco, welcome and congrats for passing. Does that qualify you or just get you into the training?
nellie, don’t we count as socializing? 
We’re all a little more alone than we’d like to be, but you folks are a real lifeline. Feel better.
doggio, know what you mean, I napped again this afternoon, fortunately woke up before the sun set.
FCM, congrats on the new cards. And the youthful dentist.
shoe, name your Humidifier Humphrey. No relation, I just like the name Humphrey. Or if you were as old as I, you could call it Hubert Horatio Humidifier… and always wait to clean off car until the snow has stopped.
OK all, on to readin’ and internettin’. All y’all take care and catch you Thorsday.
Just has a glass of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey and a small chicken-and-jalapeño quesadilla.
I think I’ll have seconds.
I am a Jameson’s fan too
I’ve always preferred Bushmill’s.
Amazingly, Hades Annex has bestowed upon us another three-day weekend, Friday being paid.
Couple of co-irkers I wanted to smack. Some anonymous idiot who noted an account that a card had been ordered express last week. Guess what DIDN’T happen, resulting in a distressed caller. I did find a solution that satisfied him, and he was nice to me, but I was still unhappy about the matter. Sup agreed with me that anonymous idiot’s sup would have the fun of hearing about this screwup.
The other offender is one of the ones who, before this week, routinely managed to take fewer calls in a week than I do in a DAY. She’s a few desks down my row and is for the most part an OK person, but pushed a button today. I was out yesterday with bad sinus headache and whirlies (bus drivers do object to barfing passengers), so apparently missed a seriously busy day. Princess ChitChat was whining this morning about how she hoped she wasn’t going to be dealing with nonstop back-to-back-to-back today. She took 54 calls, per the activity report. At least five people took over 100 EACH. Today, she took less than half of what I did, and apparently considered herself quite hard done by for this. Grrrrr.
Golden Arches catered tonight. DH has a serious thing for the McRib, and I got enough McNuggets and fries to cover both dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.
They did at my house too. Cheeseburgers to two of us, a McRib for the other one, fries all around. I succumbed and had an apple pie since the only fries I ate were the two I snatched out of my roommate’s order. Will the excitement ever end? She does love those McRibs.
Most people are taking the exam right around when they graduate from college (I graduate in June). It basically makes you an official “engineering intern” and lets you work under the guidance of licensed professional engineers (PEs). After about four years of that, you can take the PE exam and become a licensed engineer yourself. There are variations within the US but that’s the gist of it.
Thanks to you and everyone else for the congratulatory remarks.
Well done! I have the idea I had to wait longer for my results when I took it for mechanical engineering, but that was more than 25 years ago. I didn’t follow that path so I never took the PE exam.
We saw Some Like it Hot this year for the first time. It’s from 1959 but set earlier. It’s cute. Last night we watched No Strings Attached with Natalie Portmann. Also amusing.
Snow shoveling gets old fast. Glad we don’t have to do it, but we still have to navigate icy paths. Not fun at all.
Normally I take down the Christmas stuff before my husband’s birthday (Monday), but he said he’d like to keep the decorations up longer. Fine by me.
Going to make sauerkraut and sausage with potatoes today and thinking about throwing them in the multi-cooker instead. I should use it for something other than rice, right?
I’m normally not one to do something special for NYE, but this year, I think I want to watch 2020 go. Somebody was already celebrating at 3:45 this morning with fireworks, even.
Morning, mumpers! It’s bright and sunny out there, weather app says “This is the perfect weather to ride a goat. And if you’re wondering, fuck yeah, I’d ride a goat”, whilst promising me 0C/32F with a high of 2C/35F if I’m really lucky.
Not that I can do much with it…Alexander the Unmentionable has decreed that my area (and most of the country, apparently) had to upgrade to Tier 4 restrictions from 00.01am, so virtually nothing is open and we’re not allowed anywhere too far away without good reason. You can meet one person in a public space but woe betide anyone who still has enough snow in the garden for that second snowman…das ist verboten! I’m still not entirely sure on the status of mince pies but I suspect I might have to eat mine within forty feet of the nearest squirrel, providing the planets are properly aligned.
Nut I had a go at bog snorkelling many years ago, it was on my list of fun things to have a go at (along with flying, skydiving and fire-breathing) before I die. Since I’ve now reached almost 55 and ticked most things off my list, it was a worthwhile day out.
Tabco congrats on the exam pass, I hope it’s the ticket to a glorious future!
Moooom glad to hear the cards arrived, and the ickiness has passed too. We haven’t had any mail since before xmas, probably due to public holidays and lack of staff. Given the fact we’ve got soaring rates of covid infections, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the postal service was also hit pretty hard with it. We only got our bins emptied today after delays for illness and weather, prompting my local NextDoor site to virtually implode in distress.
nellie sorry to hear you are feeling more alone than usual, we’re all still here though, and there are folks I’d much rather socialise with virtually than some people I know IRL!
Plans for the day? None! I was going to the gym first thing this morning but the change to T4 meant that got shoved, as they’re not allowed to open. No idea how long the new restrictions will last for either, but it most likely means the two things in my calendar for January will now not happen. Honestly, barely worth actually having a calendar at the moment!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! YAWN Up and caffeinatin’. ‘Tis 60 Amurrkin out and rainy(ish), i.e. a very light rain, with a predicted high of 71 and rain (or not) for the day. We shall see. Tomorrow and Sattidy promise to be very rainy and warmish. Welcome to Winter in the Southern USofA. The weather can do anything. Today we shall make a cheesecake for tomorrow. I shall also cook collard greens today, as they are better cooked the day before they are et. Also I shall get the blackeyed peas soaked and ready to go into the slow cooker tomorrow mornin’. JDD and Partner shall join us for NYD eats and festivities. Normally (well, what passes for normal around here) there could be upwards to a dozen folks millin’ about da cave tomorrow, but not this year, alas. Anywho, we shall feast upon beastloaf (believe it or not this was requested) collards, blackeyed peas, rice, mac & cheese, cornbread, and cheesecake with macerated (I love this word, it sounds dirty!) strawberries with real whipped cream. YUM! JDD and Partner are bringin’ cheese straws and all the makin’s for Bloody Mary’s, which is the traditional NYD drink here. By contrast, any need to feed today will be via forage. We got all kinds of stuff for sammich makin’s, so starvation shall not be a problem.
Spoiled brat’s bday is Sattidy. We do not make a deal out of bdays, except the bday boy gets to decide what he wants to eat and usually cake is involved. He says leftover cheesecake and the cookies I made yestiddy will suffice. He wants breakfast foods as well. So I’m thinkin’ maybe omelets for a brunch and either pancakes or waffles with snausages or bacon for sup, his choice. No, he cannot have all four. However, he would try if’n he thought he could get away with it.
Tabco congrats! May it lead to a satisfyin’ and lucrative career for you!
Everyone else, I read all, but retention is at a minimum, so yays, boos, hugs, trouts, chitlin’s, noogies and how you doin’s all around as needed.
Now I need more caffeine and rumbly tummy wants to be fed. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Thursday/New Year’s Eve Y’all!
Although I like doing silly things with fire, breathing it is where I draw the line- unlike most silly firey things, it really is as dangerous as it looks.
When I was just a wee nutlet, at a school Christmas party we had some guy- a kid’s uncle- do a fire show for is (in retrospect, I have no idea what the adults were doing to allow it to go on- we were inside, in a wooden building, and he’d already set fire to the bin, with a line of 4-year-olds sat about 4’ in front of him) where he managed to dribble the fuel down his chest and set fire to himself. He wound up in hospital for two weeks.
Ironically, that’s why I got into juggling and doing silly stuff with fire- I developed a circus phobia from the incident, and decided to try and get over it by learning how to do it properly in my 20s. The more I found out about fire breathing the more I realised there isn’t actually a truly safe way to do it, but I got hooked on the rest of the circussy stuff.
We got hail instead of rain today- looks like a dusting of snow from a distance, but the snowballs are owwier. Went into town to visit the vampire (checking if I have low iron as I’m so washed out lately) and the pharmacy. Was a bit slippery, with the ice, and not much was open- we’re also now in tier 3 along with everyone else except them with even higher restrictions. Annoyingly the postie showed while I was out and left me a note. This is especially annoying as the downstairs flat is in - I can hear 'em - and I regularly take parcels for them.
I’m assuming that FE is what used to be called EIT? (Engineer In Training)
Oddly enough (at least to me) - when I was an Aero Engineering student (Purdue '79) I never heard mention of EIT or PE. It wasn’t till I got my first engineering job that I found out about them. But I was working for the Dept of the Navy, and having a PE didn’t really mean anything where I was. No extra pay, no promotion, no reason to have one, really. So I never pursued it. Frankly, I don’t know if I could have passed anyway. I barely got my BSE (mostly due to my attitude and slacking off towards the end… so ashamed…)
BooFae - your reports of restrictions imposed by your fearless (??) leader (??) do crack me up. I sympathize - it sounds like it really sucks - but you still explain it in a most entertaining fashion. Maybe you can eat mince pies while riding a goat with a squirrel?
Today’s big plan is making crusty bread to take to dinner at daughter’s this evening. My bread maker cookbook doesn’t have a recipe, but I saw a couple on line, so I’ll pick one and give it a shot. I may work in the basement some more, too. And call the electric company about my accounts (one for the house, one for the shop.)
As for NYE celebrating - I can’t recall the last time I was awake beyond 10PM, so I don’t expect to welcome in the new year, much as I look forward to it (at least Jan 20…) So apart from dinner with the offspring et al, it’s just another boring day.
Happy End of Freekin’ 2020!!!
Well, that was a surprise - the COVID relief money was deposited in our bank account! If only the gummint was as efficient getting the COVID vaccine distributed…
Nut I had serious problems with fire after my dad was very badly burned in a “bonfire gone wrong” incident after his mother died and he was burning stuff outside whilst he was clearing out her house. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of fire-eating/breathing but it came up as the most popular workshop in the activity group I belonged to, so I decided to get over myself and give it a try. It was a very well-run workshop, lots of activities based on trust (as we were working in pairs/small groups) and the guy who ran it made sure we all knew his safety rules.
A small group of us continued it regularly in each other’s gardens, always careful to follow the rules, and watch out for each other. We never had any serious incidents, and always made sure we’d got buckets of water and fire blankets handy. The guy who started it all also managed to get us into a mass fire-breathing event at Stonehenge, which also got us into the world record books and was filmed for the Guinness World Records 50th anniversary show. And I have a GWR sir-stickyfoot to prove it
Mooom I haven’t seen any goat-related restrictions, I might check that out with regard to mince pies, although I suspect the goat might try to run off with it.