Guest Speaker and Some Facts

Like most bloggers, I write posts ahead of time.  This probably surprises no one.  But a post that goes up Thursday morning is usually written Wednesday night.

Last week, my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday posts were all written Sunday night (since I knew night meetings would keep me from blog writing for the week).

So that means this post was written Wednesday night.

Truthfully, I need to be working.  I have a stormwater report that needs to be done TOMORROW.  I spent 4 hours today visiting a high school for career day, talking about civil engineering to sophomores.  I did this last year at a local middle school.  I am good to talk to students because I am a young woman.  It's good to show that engineers aren't always about old, white men.

I like to start off explaining Civil Engineering with a few examples of what civil engineering is because, let's face it, most people don't really know.  A good number of adults ask me what I do, so I wasn't surprised when adolescents don't know.

Here are a couple of engineering facts for you:

-  The Leaning Tower of Pisa is built in the shape of a banana.  As construction began, they noticed that it was sinking on one side because the soil was too weak to support the building.  So they began compensating by building that side up.  The more weight they added, the more the tower sank.  And it ended up being shaped like a banana.  They have since reinforced the soil for the building.

I was going to include a picture of the Tower of Pisa, but when I googled it, there were too many pictures of people acting like they were holding it up.

-  Why do the British drive on the left side of the road? When I studied traffic engineering in England,  a professor told me that it was linked back to medieval times, when everyone was right-handed.  Knights would joust, holding their joust in their right hand and standing on the left hand side.  A quick google search mentioned that you walked on the left hand side because everyone was right-handed and held their swords in their right hands, standing on the left.  Same basic idea.  Little known fact.


I also like to share a piece of information the head of the department of civil engineering shared at our departmental graduation.  He said, "Doctors kill people one at a time.  Engineers kill them by the dozens."  That usually gets an interesting reaction.  It certainly scared the youknowwhat out of me when he said it.

With that being said, I'd better get back to work.  I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't writing this at work.  :)

Music took me back to England

I have certain songs that when I hear them, I am basically transported back to a certain time in my life. Sometimes the song is just a glimpse of the memory.

EXAMPLES

"Feeling Good" by Michael Buble reminds me of riding my bike through campus to physics Sophomore Year of college (mostly fall term)

"My Goodies" by Ciara also reminds me of Sophomore Year of college

"Love" by Matt White reminds me of driving from Salem to Corvallis, often late at night during grad school

Norah Jones' first album reminds me of senior year of high school

Sometimes, the song makes me feel like I am literally transported back. This morning, "Vultures" by John Mayer came on and I could almost feel myself walking from my flat in Beeston through the University of Nottingham campus to class. It feels very foggy and kind of damp. The air is crisp and cool. And I am walking the long way (the flat way that took 5 minutes longer) through the Portland Building.

Pretty much any song from that album takes me back there. I bought the album while I was waiting for my first flight out of PDX the day I left for England (the day the album was released on iTunes). I really like John Mayer but this album in particular spoke to me. He had a couple of songs on there about having a broken heart (i.e. "Repair", "Dreaming with a Broken Heart", "Find Another You") and I was a little heart broken when I went to England.

Don't get me wrong, I had always wanted to do a study abroad in England, but I thought I had missed my chance. When Alan brought up the idea, I pretty much latched onto itright away because I was ready to get as far away from my ex-boyfriend as possible and nothing says far away like the other side of the world.

In the end it was the best, most challenging experience of my college days and one of the best experiences of my life. The heartache and the fact that I was alone on the other side of the world made everything more vivid I think.

Sometimes (especially lately) I miss England.

Does anyone else have a song/music that makes you feel like you are back in time?

Love, Mrs. Janney