New Applicant
1) Pix:
My husband and I:
Me and my future enginerd baby:
2) Nerdy hobbies
Let’s see….
Reading
I read like crazy. I’ll read anything if it’s sitting in front of me. My Amazon wishlist of books is about 7 pages long, and there is a range of subjects from religion, to fitness, to electronics, to fantasy.
My favorite authors:
Tad Williams
Richard Russo
Tolkien
Arthur C Clarke
Robert Ludlum
During my lunch hour, at my desk, I’ll read Wikipedia, the latest EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) Society newsletter from IEEE, or my textbooks.
Board Games
I am a board game fanatic.
In college, my Honors College friends and I would gather every Thursday to play board games or card games, and I never missed a week. In fact, after I left college, I hosted a monthly party to gather my friends together for board games, snacks, and/or cards.
I own 5 different versions of Trivial Pursuit: The 20th Anniversary edition, Genus 5, the 1990’s edition, the 6th edition, and a PS2 version. I also own Balderdash (loooooooooooooooooooove making up funny definitions of words), Cranium, Wise and Otherwise, Monopoly, and of course, Scrabble. I used to play my father and grandmother in Scrabble, but I would repeatedly find her cheating, but using French words.
Video games
I enjoy some video games, but not as much as I love board games. One of my goals is to own every single gaming system that was in existence. So far I only have NES, SNES, N64, Sega, PS1, PS2, XBox, and Gamecube. I also played some computer games, including Lineage 2, City of Heroes, City of Villains (love City of Villians), Diablo 2, and the Sims.
Various Masters Classes
I haven’t committed to going back for my masters yet, but I take various classes here and there, for fun and to test out the waters. So far I’ve taken Electromagnetic Compatibility and Antennas.
3) Educational History
I have a bachelors of science electrical engineering from Michigan State University. While everyone else burned couches, I was in the lab, making antennas and testing their antenna patterns. I had a 3.5 GPA, and I found myself quite ticked on graduation day because they didn’t say “cum laude” when I walked. My professor for my last electrical engineering class accidentally gave me a 3.0 instead of a 4.0 which dropped my GPA below the 3.5 line. I was a member of the Honors College, Student Government, IEEE, and SWE.
In high school, I was valedictorian, and had over a 4.0 (we didn’t get honors points, much to my dismay). I took AP English, AP Physics, AP Calculus, and AP US History. In the afternoons, I went to a “special math and science school” called Macomb Mathematics Science Technology Center. It is a school for people gifted in math, science, and computers. Some of our “projects” included rocket powered sleds, rail guns, making soap, plinko boards (including the statistics behind them), hot air balloons, laser grids to protect “diamonds”, bridges, robots, and mini cars.
My extra curricular activities included National Honor Society, French National Honor Society, Drama, Softball, Yearbook, and French Club.
4) Hours Spent On The Internet
I’m always on the net whenever I’m not driving anywhere. I’d say a good 12 hours overall, and I have at least 10 windows open at any given time, so I can switch back and forth between various message boards, wikipedia, LJ, Amazon, and various news sites. I even breastfeed my baby boy at my computer.
5) Passions
I love my job.
I work on tanks. Yes, that’s big, honkin’ army tanks. My full title is Electromagnetic Environmental Effects, Nuclear Hardness and Survivability Engineer. I usually just go by “Radiation Engineer”. I love doing Electromagnetic Compatibility tests where I get to go on the tank, play with the radio, and make sure that things don’t blow up. I get excited when I can tell people that I have a security clearance.
When I first got my job, I spent my tax refund money on new textbooks to read in order to be better at my job. I get excited when I get a new EMC Society or Magnetics Society newsletter from IEEE. In fact, I took one of my EMC books with me when my husband and I went to Jamaica for the first time.
I love my husband, who is also an engineer. In fact, he used to be my supervisor when I worked at a different place. When we were dating, we would discuss different antennas and ECPs (Engineering Change Proposals). Our first date was spent at his house where we watched Conan, his favorite movie. I still laugh when I think about it.
We hope that our baby boy will also be an engineer. I dress him in little polo onsies and khakis. I painted mathematical formulas on his nursery walls.
6) Other nerdy tidbits
My Christmas present to myself two years ago was my IEEE membership.
Our baby boy is named after two comic book characters, Wolverine and Batman.
I love the TV show Heroes and sometimes think that I, too, have a superpower.
My husband and I went to Jamaica this past year and brought back, not liquor, but 13 lbs of coffee.
I have had the same screen name (on IM programs, not LJ) and email address since 1997, when I first got the internet. It’s based on numerology.
I was a member of Prodigy Classic and used to participate in a group fanfic of Sailor Moon.
I dressed up as Sailor Jupiter for 2 years on Halloween while I was in high school.
I incorporated engineering jargon into my wedding vows.
One of my favorite pickup lines is, “Hey baby, what’s your cosine?”
I look at calculators online like some people look at porn magazines.
My husband and I get separate copies of Popular Science because we want to read them at the same time.
I think there should be a TV show about engineers. I mean, there are lawyer shows, doctor shows, why not engineering shows?
I can type 120 wpm.
That’s all I can think of right now. Any questions? Suggestions?