the civil chick

You know you're a civil engineer when...

Scratch that. Here's how you know I'm a civil engineer.

As I was reading a book, I came across the following line

"The garden is a patch of pebbles and dust screened from the neighboring property..."

and immediately spent a good minute or so thinking, "I remember the full stack of sieves and the shaker thingy from my soil mechanics lab. Hmm. Why can't I remember who my lab partners were?  I remember the professor, though - Dr. DeGroot. That would be weird, right, to have a full stack of sieves to screen the soil and the use whatever fell through the No. 200 sieve to fill up the garden. Seems like a lot of effort, and I've never heard of that before, how neat that the author is using this in this novel..."

Then I read the rest of the sentence, continued on the next line:

"...screened from the neighboring property on the east by a rotting hedge." 

Oh. OHHH.  Ahh.  The neighboring property can't see the damn mess of a garden through the hedge. I got it now. 

Right-o, then.

***

Then and Now: Four Random Thoughts

At my very first full-time engineering job, I never used CAD. My job was to redline plans and hand them off to the drafters.
To this day, I admire the talent and skill it takes to create truly beautiful plans even though it seems like a bit of a dying art.

****

I've bought and lost bazillions of mechanical pencils, erasers (oh, god, a lot of erasers), reams of engineering paper (gold, not green), and triangles (a perfectly straight line is a thing of beauty, yo), but only one engineering scale.  I still have and use the scale I bought back in 1990, for a surveying class.  There's a big chunk missing on the 20-scale side that drives most people nuts.

****

The two guys I worked for at my very first engineering job are probably pretty close to retiring by now. I remember wondering how freakin' long it would take for me to be as confident and capable as they were.  (For the record, it took about 15 years.)

****

Can I identify wetland plants?  Sure - as long as I'm standing in a really big puddle and see bright blue flags all around me. (This is one cliche that I haven't escaped, despite years of working with very good people who've tried to teach me a thing or two about ferns, leaves, and bark.)

****

Things I wish I knew back then.

Here's the advice that I can only wish I'd received as brand new civil engineer back in 1993.  (!!!) 
 
On Workplace Fashion

Just because everyone else around you wears golf shirts and reverse-fit double pleated khakis, or button-down shirts and reverse fit double-pleated khakis, or scuffed brown leather Doc Martens and wrinkled reverse fit double-pleated khakis does not mean YOU have to follow suit.  Dress cute, for pete's sake. When you feel cute, you'll be confident. And confidence is way more important for your career than blending in, or wasting hours ironing your damn khakis.  (You'll never get those hours back, and besides, do you really want to be remembered as The Girl with the Impeccably Pressed Pants?  I didn't think so.)
 
Don't wear your favorite new construction boots with the funky Caterpillar laces to a landfill assignment. Why? Because you'll step in some leachate, and that stink will never, ever come out.  Plus, you may have to get a hazardous waste disposal permit to throw them out. 
 
On coworkers

It is certain that you'll meet dozens of engineers who act like they know what they're doing, but couldn't engineer their way out of a box.  They'll make you feel clueless and dumb. If you're lucky you'll work with a few engineers who have truly mastered the art and process of design. You'll know who they are because they'll make you feel confident, capable, and good at your job. 

Mentors most often happen by accident, not by assignment.

For pity's sake, do NOT utter the words, "I'm a true people person."  No one cares.

When you really need help, bring Girl Scout cookies. Or donuts. Or homemade brownies. Whatever baked good happens to be in season will do. (Me? I like a nice blueberry muffin.) 

Go ahead - fish off the company pier.  Just remember that those emails full of flirty quips and racy thoughts?  The IT guys will totally read them and make fun of you.  

On business skills

If there's more than one way to write something, choose the shortest, most positive-sounding way to get your point across. That's pretty much all you need to know about the art of great business writing. 

It's not just you; everybody comes up a couple of hours short when filling in their timesheets. 

For the ladies:  Go to the company Christmas party with your best work girlfriend. You'll both have a lot fun, and your sweetie will thank you for sparing him an evening of crushing boredom. 

On things that seem silly now, but are important for much later

Each time you get a new business card - when you first start working, when you get a promotion and a new title, or when you move to a new company - save one and tuck it away somewhere. (Put it in a scrapbook. Scan it and post it on Flickr or on your blog. Make a magnet out of it and stick it to your fridge.) When you're in a rut, flip through them. For the most part you'll feel a bit foolish doing this, but there will come a day when you'll see the little pile and smile, realizing just how far you've come in your career.

 
On hiring and firing

Getting fired (or laid off - really, is there a difference?) sucks balls. Here's what I've learned after getting canned twice: the less personal crap you keep at your desk, the quicker you can make your exit. Without a box full of action figures, vacation photos, mugs with your cat's photo on them, and your collection of post-it notes, highlighters, and felt tip pens, plus the dusty old textbooks you haven't cracked since college, you can march out of your office with posture that says, "Your loss, baby, your loss."
 

***

Road trip to the Road-E-O?

In my first job out of college, I spent a lot of time working at landfills. This entailed reading thermometers, filling out forms, and trying to prove to the truck drivers, loader operators, and other guys who worked there that I wasn't a complete moron. I was, of course, but they were generally pretty cool. As a result, I've always had a soft spot for dump trucks and guys who drive them.  

So you can't even imagine how excited I was when I learned about the trash truck rodeo:  Road-E-O.  Get it?  GET IT?! 

There are regional qualifiers, like the mid-Atlantic event held back in June. It was covered by NPR's Only A Game. (Scroll down to the bottom for the link to the segment titled "Trash Collector's Rodeo.")  And it's pretty easy to find some footage on YouTube, like this. 

According to the event's official website: The SWANA Road-E-O, the national finals are this September, in Largo, Florida.  

I'm thinking road trip. Maybe.  I wonder if I still have my Rhode Island Solid Waste hoodie, so I can represent...

Cheers,

Sarah

Iggy Peck, Architect...and other book club suggestions

I don't know about you, but lately I've noticed an uptick in news coverage and books about engineering.  In the last couple of months alone, NPR has presented stories about stormwater runoff and urban planning and architecture. Some are business-focused, like this. But many more are focused on making the technical stuff easier to understand. On PBS, Frontline has an entire story about the current state of the planet's water quality. (Watch it here. And listen to NPR's interview with Hedrick Smith, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who wrote the story, here.) Just yesterday, my boyfriend called me into the living room to see Waste Management's education advertisements on the Discovery Channel.  (He said something like, "Hey, isn't this one of your things?" And when I saw the landfill on TV, my face lit up.  I think landfills are magical. He thinks I'm odd.)

I didn't see much of this mainstream stuff at the start of my career, 15 years ago.  Back then all I had was a fresh engineering degree and a copy of The Civilized Engineer.   (I just used the phrase "back then." Not a good sign.  What's next?  Gloating about the days of dot-matrix prints?  HANDWRITTEN graphs and lab reports? Laughing at the glory days of COMPUTER PUNCH CARDS?)  

Anyway, there's more than just news; there are books, too.  I'm always on the lookout for inspiring books about design. The other day I found 2 fantastic ones.  One is for grown ups, and one for kids. Both would be fun gifts for new grads, too, now that I think about it.

Iggy Peck, Architect is a children's book about a little boy who loves to build things.  The story is a lot of fun, but the illustrations are incredible.  They show what Iggy builds, versus what he envisions in his mind.  (As you can imagine, there might be a difference between his imagination and reality).  The whole look and feel of the book's artwork will remind you of hand-drafted blueprints, down to the shades of blueprint blue used throughout.  (I wonder why Blueprint Blue isn't yet a Crayola color; I think it should be.)

3,000 Years of Building, Design, and Construction. This one is for grown-ups.  I spent well over an hour reading this beautiful book at the store. There's a chapter about the evolution of CAD software that's beautifully written. It's full of pictures and illustrations of all sorts of things: structures, buildings, slide rules, calculators, and engineering references. One of my favorites are The Rules for Designing Air Handling Systems for Theaters. (I'm paraphrasing.) It's an elaborately handwritten list that includes gems like: "Don't expect to design a Rolls-Royce system for the cost of a Ford" and "Don't expect to pull air anyplace. You can push air, but you cannot pull it."  (Between finding this funny, and my use of the phrase "back then," I am very concerned about becoming crotchedy.)

If I had a coffee table, I'd definitely put both of these books on it.  Either way, they're on my wish list.

That's it.  Get thee to a library, or book store.  Happy reading!

Cheers,

Sarah

Cool Gifts for Engineers and Architects: The 2008 List

Buying presents for Christmas? Hanukah? Festivus?  I'm always looking for cool gifts with an engineering or architecture theme, and here are a few that I love this year:

1.  The Gingerbread Architect by Susan Matheson.  It's full of blueprints for different styles of houses you can make from gingerbread.  (I would totally create a building information model full of custom materials like gingerbread (walls), Necco wafers (roof tiles), and gumdrops (yum).  

2.   Rex's Outrageous Road Crew Crunch.  Pick your flavor: Asphalt (dark chocolate), Gravel (white chocolate), Sand (peanut butter), or Mud (milk chocolate). This might be my favorite find of the season.  (My favorite?  Sand.)  

3. 101 Things I learned in Architecture School It's written by Matthew Frederick, an architect living in the Boston area. I found this one day when I was browsing at a Borders in Boston, and noticed it because it's beautifully designed and illustrated. It's elegant, and simple.  The first lesson is titled "How to Draw a Line."  (I'm hoping someone buys this for me this Christmas, but I'm running out to the bookstore on the 26th if I don't get it. Even though its about architecture, a lot of the observations are ones that engineers and landscape architects will easily relate to.)

4. This is the coolest little handbag I've ever seen. Click the link, and take a look.  I'll wait.  

I KNOW, right?! Who'd have thought that a geotechnical textbook would make such a CUTE PURSE?

5. If you don't want to splurge on a purse, how about a kitschy coaster for your office?   (On a side note, Etsy is simply awesome. Add it to your list of time-wasting websites if you haven't already. I like searching it for vintage books, but could kill a lot of time aimlessly browsing everything.)

6. The Rhode Island School of Design has a store that features work from students and teachers.  I like these compass cuff links.

7. Boris Bally is an artist who creates all sorts of things from salvaged traffic signs. Many are incredibly expensive, but some of his pieces, like these wreaths, are pretty accessible. (I can imagine these looking really cool in a big loft.  Like the one I don't live in.)

And once you're ready to wrap your gifts, check out these templates for holiday gift tags at Microsoft's website. Maybe it's a good way to use up some of those Avery labels you have lying around. (I'm using these orange snowflake ones.)

Happy shopping, and best wishes!

Cheers,

Sarah

On the first day of AU, my true love gave to me...

The first thing at AU

I really want to see,

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

The second thing at AU

I really want to see,

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh, and

a blogger at breakfast with me

 

The third thing at AU

I really want to see,

My agenda! (Really, can anyone read font that small?)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh , and

a blogger at breakfast with me

 

The fourth thing at AU

I really want to see

Caffeinated Grading!

My Agenda! (Can you have NEGATIVE font sizes?)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh, and

a blogger at breakfast with me

 

The fifth thing at AU

I really want to see,

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading (Mmm. This Red Bull. Is tasty.)

My Agenda! (Oh, the squinting!)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh, and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

The sixth thing at AU

I really want to see

The DWF Spot a-dwiffing

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading (Need. Coffee. Now.)

My Agenda! (Gaah. Where is LUNCH on this thing?)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh, and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

The seventh thing at AU

I really want to see

Partbuilder building

The DWF Spot a-dwiffing

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading (Trade you these chips for that Red Bull, dude.)

My Agenda! (Does anyone have a magnifiying glass?)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh, and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

The eighth thing at AU

I really want to see,

More tips and tricks and hacks,

Partbuilder building,

The DWF Spot a-dwiffing,

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading! (Sweet Starbucks, with your festive red cup.)

My Agenda! (Oh, it’s so dang heavy!)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh, and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

The ninth thing at AU

I really want to see

Labs with open seats,

More tips and tricks and hacks,

Partbuilder building,

The DWF Spot a-dwiffing,

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading! (Why are there no Dunkin’s here?! Why?!?)

My Agenda! (Oh, forget what it says, I’ll just walk in to this class and hope for the best.)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh, and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

The tenth thing at AU

I really want to see,

Photos from the Beer Blast,

Labs with open seats,

More tips and tricks and hacks,

Partbuilder building,

The DWF Spot a-dwiffing,

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading! (These hotel cups are so SMALL! Gaaah.)

My Agenda! (Does anyone know what day it is?  I didn't think so.)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

The eleventh thing at AU

I really want to see,

Sneak peeks at new releases,

Photos from the Beer Blast (OMG. That wasn’t me!)

Some labs with open seats,

More tips and tricks and hacks,

Partbuilder building,

The DWF Spot a-dwiffing,

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading! (Screw it, I’m buying a travel mug!)

My Agenda! (Really, Security Dude?  My bloodshot eyes, bad breath, and pale skin aren’t enough to ID me as an AU attendee?)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

 

And the last thing at AU

I really want to see

Space for all that swag,

Sneak peeks at new releases,

Photos from the Beer Blast (Can we Photoshop that out, please?)

Some labs with open seats

More tips and tricks and hacks,

Partbuilder building,

The DWF Spot a-dwiffing,

Funk’s Secret LIST!

Caffeinated Grading! (Is there any Mountain Dew around here?)

My Agenda! (I lost it at the Beer Bust, please just let me in so I can have some coffee.)

Free t-shirts and some PlayDoh and

a blogger at breakfast with me.

Best wishes for a great AU.

Cheers,

Sarah

Looking for me?

Send emails to scunningham71 at gmail dot com, or follow me on Twitter: I'm scunningham71. If I get my act together, I'll be skulking around LinkedIn and Facebook someday in the near future.

Closing Credits

Things to do when one is no longer required to occasionally think about Civil 3D during normal business hours:

1. Be secretly thrilled about not ever having to recover from another trip to Vegas.

2. Apply for job as a conducktor. Driving a duck boat around Boston...how hard could it be, really?

3. Write up plan to create handmade Christmas gifts, because nothing says holiday fun like testing the limits of "It's the thought that counts."

4. Stop looking for the perfect way to illustrate runout and runoff. Not that I was really trying all that hard in the first place.

As of today, I'll be putting my brain to work elsewhere. There are, like, 4.2 people who read this blog, and I'm guessing the reason there aren't fewer is because they keep forgetting to clean out old RSS feeds. 

For anyone who stumbles upon this tiny little corner of the web and wonders, "Who left this Internet litter behind?" they can rest easy knowing that I've moved on to other things.

Best wishes, happy trails, and all that good stuff.  Don't let the feature lines get you down.

Cheers,

Sarah

Fast Company: Lost in the Funhouse

A simple case study about an owner, a building, an architect, and construction firm turns into a soap opera when you're talking about MIT, a new technology center, Frank Gehry, and Skanska USA.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/122/lost-in-the-funhouse.html 

What I liked about this article was the way it presented the perspective of each person. It makes you think, not just "blame the architect," or "blame the contractor."