6 things that have happened since last blog post...

It has been one of the longest blogging-free periods since my last post on January 23rd...I read it back and saw that I was sick the previous week.  Yup, it's been a while...I can't even remember being sick now!  Ha!

So, with our Europe trip merely a few hours away, I figured I should probably blog some sort of transition blog between our last blog and the mobile blogs we anticipate doing across the pond.  Best way to do it, why not do a bulleted list.  I'll do it as utilitarian as I can, who cares for entertainment value anymore...it's about information!  Ha...well here goes...in no particular order:

1. Debbie's long-delayed shuttle flight finally took off!  Two weeks straight of overnight shifts accompanied the flight.  In that two week span, we didn't get to see each other very much, or talk that much.  When we went out to dinner the first back-to-normal evening, it was like we hadn't seen each other in forever...which it had been!
2. Softball started!  Last summer I started filling in for a team down in Clear Lake, which turned from a part-time role to a full-time role late in the Fall.  This season I've joined a new team and games have kicked off!  We are 4-4 so far, with late games tonight.  The plan was to miss these games with our impending trip tomorrow, but I got all my chores done early and justified accepting to play tonight!  I have homered in my first at bat in the last two games...let's see if I prolong that streak tonight, or go down striking out (because I'll be swinging for the fence)!  Pearland Softball kicks off next week, so two nights a week (once we return) will be filled with my favorite rec activity!
3. Roma's getting into trouble.  Yes, Roma...the blog was on a road to being renamed Roma and Kitty, with Deb and I as mere supporting characters.  Anyways...got word Roma was not behaving with the big dogs at day care.  Apparently she decided she was going to become an adolescent (which our calculations peg her as right now) and she'd start rough housing...the funny thing is, she still knows when she's doing something wrong, as she still listens to her commands.  It's kind of like at home, often times she'll push our patience, especially when her and kitty are playing, until one of us send her to her kennel for timeout.
4. Trip planning...it's been long and tedious...but we are definitely ready.  Aside from a few hiccups that will undoubtedly cause issues in translation, such as, "the credit card these tickets are reserved under was stolen, so this is our new card."  We are ready though, we still have the stolen cards to present.  Cross your fingers on this one...otherwise we might be walking from Munich to Paris!  Ha!
5. Overnight in the hospital...not quite what it sounds like.  I have an ongoing job at a nearby 24/7 hospital/clinic and due to their constraints, we weren't allowed to do our testing during normal business hours.  We set up containment rooms which included plastic sheathing on the floors, walls, and ceilings...it was very Dexter-like.
6. Opening Day is coming!  Houston's opening day is on April 8th...woohoo...going to make this 5 years in a row attending the Astros opening day.  I wish I were able to be in Cleveland this year, it's going to be the year they win it all!  HA.  Hopefully after we get back I have time to put together my sham predictions for the upcoming MLB season.

Prochaine étape à Paris, Bruxelles, Francfort, et plus encore! Au revoir!

(Next stop Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, and more!  Goodbye!)

Bigfoot! Nope, just "big" clumsy feet! What a week at work...

Last week was an interesting week for me.  It was my second week back post-vacation, and I was finally getting my rhythm back, that is until my first blunder on Wednesday...

Granted, the photo doesn't really show it, I tracked mud into a church I was inspecting.  Not a big deal, I know, but a mess I was on the hook for.  I made the call to the office and all would be taken care of.  I'd heard of stories of damages caused during our inspections...this was minor.  One of my colleagues told me a story about when he stepped through a roof, and another about my boss falling through a roof (and narrowly escaping a 20 foot fall).  They said, "don't worry, if you haven't yet, you'll step through a roof."  My response was simply, "that's okay, I'll pass!"  

I passed...but, less than 24 hours actually passed when it happened.  While up in an attic, I lost my balance momentarily on a loose board, and my right foot went crashing through the ceiling...fell down to my hip.

The damages were relatively minor...not the end of the world.  I knocked through a piece of sheetrock and some insulation came down.  My ego was a little bruised.  I got back on the phone to my secretary and was like "you're not going to believe it..."

A few days later, I couple bruises did in fact show up...on my knee and hip.

I'm going to bank on this being the worst that's going to happen.  I had a third inspection last week and it was another church.  I joked to my boss, "wonder what I'm going to do tomorrow (at the inspection)?"  His response, "perhaps you should pray..."  

What a week at work.  (On a side note, I'm loving my new job.  It's been 6 months already and I couldn't be happier.)

New JOB...in Forensic Engineering

Well, after an unfortunate and unplanned departure from my position in November, I am going back to work. Last week I accepted a job offer and will be joining as a Structural Engineer, working in Forensic Engineering. I don't need to go into too great of detail (as some things don't need to be blogged...because they could be boring to some), but I'll provide this summary as noted on the company website:

...engineers, environmental scientists, and business analysts use proven forensic techniques to probe and analyze construction accidents and disputes, residential and commercial problems, product failures, motor vehicle and marine accidents,and industrial fires and explosions of all kinds. Our job is to find out what happened and why, from the cause and origin through the extent of loss. In many cases, we can point the way toward a speedy disposition of the claim.

I may find myself going to court as an expert witness or such, plus an abundance of report writing, and communicating with lawyers, insurance companies, and more. It's going to be a big departure from the design roots I have been working in for the 6 1/2 years, but I'll call on my experience out in the field, performing inspections, and analysis of existing structures... I am excited for the possibilities, the responsibilities, and finding myself into a new field within structural engineering.

I love what I do, so there's no doubt I'm going to love this new adventure!

"Bleh" for being sick...NO, it's NOT swine flu!

Well this week has been a long week. With all the wedding plans requiring attention, calls to be made, follow ups, dance lessons....oh and that thing called "work" still being a necessity, Deb and I are exhausted. So what better way to help aide in my exhaustion than getting sick? Right?

Tuesday I woke up with an awful sore throat, congestion, and those aches and pains associated with the flu. As the day went on, I felt better, eventually capping the day off with our dance lessons. Wednesday I felt significantly better, but by the end of the day all those early morning Tuesday symptoms had crept back. That night I went through my emails and online sites for swine flu info, just in case. Scary stuff for toddlers and babies, especially with how to detect it and stuff. Yikes! in any case, I was in the clear and definitely felt as though I was just sick with a cold, not swine flu or the seasonal flu. No fever, etc. Anyways Thursday was great because I had to get to the office early and prep for a site visit to the Shell Refinery here in Houston. Who needs to inhale Vick's when they can go to a refinery and inhale methane and all the other conglomerates of fumes? By the end of my site visit I was exhausted and ill. It's the double edged sword because if you say "I'm to sick to come in," you'll get those questionable looks. However, when you do come in, you get the comments like, "oh why are you here, don't hurt yourself." It's truly a no win situation.

Best conversation of the day went like this:

He says, "Well, Michael Jordan played with a 102 degree fever."

My response, "I'm not Michael Jordan. I don't get paid millions."

His response, "he didn't do it for the money."

My response, "yeah, but I'm not playing on the 1995 Chicago Bulls. I work for Halcrow."

I mean, come on people. I'm pale (not just my normal paleness, a little more extreme), I'm talking with a scratchy and hoarse voice, walking around like a little old man, my eyes rolling around, my thought process not quite there, and probably looking quite disheveled, why make comparisons to me visiting a project site to Michael Jordan's honorable play? Oye, you just can't win!

At the end of the day I was exhausted and came home. And today I spent at home trying to get better. As of now, I'm feeling better...and really, it's better that I'm sick this week then in three from now!

I mean, who would want to congratulate the groom at his wedding if you appeared to be a swine flu carrier? :-)

And one last time, I don't have it...with the fear in America right now, you have to assume every sick person has it!

Learning Polish...well, not really.

Around the office, I have been dubbed "Polska." (Thanks Ruwaida & Luis!) Of course this is because I am a Pollack. Anyways, it was only a matter of time until the question was raised, "how do you say 'hello' in Polish?" This of course is "witaj." (Duh, everyone knows it's "witaj.") So at work it's now, "witaj polska."
This prompted me to use a great Google tool, "Google Translate." CLICK HERE to try it for yourself, it can be entertaining...

Some of the things I translated for office use:
Hello = witaj
Thanks = dzięki
Bye = cześć
Stupid = głupi
I’m an engineer = Jestem inżynierem
Our project manager is not competent = nasz kierownik projektu nie jest właściwy

If only I could rattle off something in Polish and not sound like a complete tool, I totally would use the last one. Odds are he wouldn't understand...but with my luck, he totally would!

Looks like I'm ready for our trip to Poland...although it's not anytime soon!

"I hope it hits an iceberg and sinks"

Now that's a real quote. No joke. Heard it today!

Our office is without a permanent manager at the moment and while doing an audit for one of my current projects, we got off track. He started telling me about how in Port Canaveral they have to lower one of the gangways to allow for the "crazy new Carnival ship" to berth properly. Apparently the ship's lifeboats overhang the sides conflicting with the current gangways. Being a ship freak, I knew he was talking about the Carnival Dream, our honeymoon ship. I know it'll end up year-round in Port Canaveral come December so I knew that was the only ship he could've been referring to.

Anyways, I said to him, "Oh you are talking about the Carnival Dream. We are honeymooning in the Mediterranean this October on it."

His response, verbatim, "I hope it hits an iceberg and sinks."

I kind of sat there puzzled, in a sort of "The Office" kind of moment when Michael says something classically at the wrong time and moment. I mean ships don't hit icebergs anymore, there are zero in the Mediterranean Sea...but really the funny thing is that THAT was his response RIGHT AFTER I said we were going on our honeymoon ON IT! I could launch into one of the SNL "Really?" skits here. I mean, really? I say I'm honeymooning on it, you say you hope it sinks. Really? :-)

Ah...the antics of work, my own version of "The Office!"

PE!

So, my PE Certificate came last week and I immediately went and got it framed. Then I brought it and hung it up in my office!

Funny because when I took the pic, I found this one...

This is what I had to deal with studying...Debbie wouldn't bother me (she was awesome!!!) but it was Midnight. It was "meow meow meow...play with me!"

Word from the past week..."Liability"

Well it's been a little over a week now, and all last week and now into this week I keep hearing the same thing over and over...

"Nothing like a little liability to help you sleep at night"
"You are a PE now, you don't need me anymore."
"Put everything in your wife's name."

It's all new to me and I have a lot to learn, but now I just chuckle when I hear these things. I know I shouldn't, because it's soooo true! Today I was reading a story about the 13-story apartment complex in Shanghai that fell over. Craziest thing...it fell over intact! I assumed it had to be geotechnical to fall over like that...and apparently it was when they started excavating for the underground parking garage that it all happened. Check out the picture:


...or go read the link at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5685963/Nine-held-over-Shanghai-building-collapse.html

Debbie's response to all of this, "huh, and you wanted to be a PE..."

Ten Cent Beer Night! (A great idea 35 years ago in Cleveland) (& More)

Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the genius marketing folks with the Cleveland Indians. With the promotion double the people showed up to see the awesome Indians (to put it in perspective, the tribe hasn't won a World Series since 1948...so you can imagine they were just as bad as they are this year!). Cheap drinks led to everyone getting drunk, getting violent, and eventually a forfeit! Oye. You can read about it at:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=beernight/080604

Anyways, tonight Debbie and I are headed out for a "Six" party (not quite the real name), as we are celebrating six birthdays in June...Debbie, Carol, Jenn, JR, Hilary, and Will. After dinner at Chuey's we are headed over to The Ginger Man, in Rice Village, for some good beer and fun.

Lastly, today I did some refresher training at the Houston Area Contractor's Safety Council. In the course, they say, just after a slide about what forklifts are, "this training does not qualify you to operate a forklift." Really...what kind of idiot thinks one slide makes them qualified...wow.