Communism and tacos

[draftermatt]

And if you could see some of my classmates or the undergrads around here, you'd understand why I'm confused at you using "engineering students" in a way that suggests this implies smartness. I think we have a higher rate of failing at life than other faculties do.

Heh, I was an engineering student too. The social awkwardness of a lot of those guys was amazing. They had "their thing" and man, anything outside of that was just "weird".

They were super crazy smart when it came to engineering (they had me beat, which is why I stopped after my AA), but other stuff, not so much.


In regards to "making boys take home ec" around here in Middle School (6th-8th grade) everyone is required to take 2 home ec courses a year (one cooking, the other sewing and etc.) and two "shop" classes a year (wood working and electronics).

[wolfie]

COMMUNISM!
One night, about 1AM, I have a truck pull up. We have no on-site parking and it's before I can allow trucks to be on the pads.

Me: I'm sorry, but I can't have anyone here yet. Dock's not open. Here's a list of the three closest truck stops. Come back at 4.
Trucker: This sucks.
Me: Yeah, well, what can you do? It's a paycheck.
Trucker: No, it's communism.
Me: Umm....what?
Trucker: (shrugs and leaves)

A couple problems with that:
1. If there are 3 truck stops nearby, you're close to a major centre, which means that at 1 AM, all 3 truck stops are going to be full.
2. I have a 7 AM delivery appointment. Even if there were space at the truck stop, my 14 hour "window" ends at 3 AM (couldn't have started my day later because I had a fixed pickup appointment at the shipper). If I overnight here, I can be in the dock at 7 AM. If I go to a truck stop, getting there and my post-trip will take until 1:30 AM. 8 hours in the sleeper berth (minimum to "stop the clock"), pre-trip, and getting back here means I won't be able to deliver until 10 AM. Even if I didn't have an electronic log (trips to "driving" after 7/10 of a mile), which means I can't "fudge" my logs, I WON'T falsify a log in order to meet a schedule set up by someone who doesn't know trucks - my license is too valuable for that. When I called for directions, I was told I could overnight here (otherwise I would have told my dispatcher that 7 AM was not possible, and overnighted at a truck stop a few hours back). Do you have the authority to change my appointment to a later time? Didn't think so - to meet the 7 AM delivery appointment, I need to overnight HERE.

[Nurian]

to meet the 7 AM delivery appointment, I need to overnight HERE.

To which I call the police for someone trespassing. The warehouse makes the rules and appointments, not me. And the warehouse tells the dispatch there is no overnight on-site.

[BrenDAnn]

Ah, Wolfie and Nurian, the endless (and ridiculously ludicrous) battles of the trucking industry. I know them well, for my own father fights them daily. By the way, there's a reason that truckers call their log book "the lie book" and it's not because they really stay within the nearly impossible to meet time restrictions. Not that I'd know much about that...really...

As for the cooking, the one example that stands out in my mind is my pumpkin bars. I made them one year, from a recipe in a book mind you, and got lucky enough to get an egg with two yolks, thus making them extra moist. Ever since then, every Christmas, I can be guaranteed to be making pumpkin bars. Everyone (read: my sister, sister-in-law, nieces, etc) goes nuts over them. I want to say "it's a recipe, FFS! Anyone could make them!" but I just keep my mouth shut and go on with life. Funniest part was, making cream cheese frosting two years ago. Homemade cream cheese frosting. I used my mother's method of measuring (God rest her) which was, essentially, just dumping sugar in there. Dad freaked at first, thought I'd put too much in, but once I got it all mixed up and he tasted it, he said "Oh. It tastes like frosting." I laughed pretty hard at him! This girl watched her mother in the kitchen, and KNOWS how to make some good stuff because of it!

[Cookie]

Reminds me of the NASA engineer my husband once knew. He didn't know eggs came from chickens, but literally thought they were manufactured. This is a man with a wife and children. Oh, and did I mention he's an engineer for NASA?!?!

[Jester]

I'm confused at you using "engineering students" in a way that suggests this implies smartness.

I was a broadcasting major. I partied. A lot. Engineering students seemed intelligent to me. At least, as much as I paid attention to them when I wasn't figuring out where the next kegger was or how to hook up with the cute Swedish chick from another wing in my dorm.