The problem with being an engineer

is that you can't really ever *stop* being one.

- I was assembling a cheap set of shelves that had holes all the way down the side rails so you could place the shelves wherever you want. The sharp edge of the metal edge was folded over to prevent injury. However, the holes were obviously punched first and then the material folded, resulting in some holes being half-covered by the material. This resulted, on a Saturday morning, in a 15 minute rant on the shelf manufacturing process and a complete design of the process that would actually make sense and deliver a quality product to the customer!

- At lunch, a coworker (also an engineer) was eating a kit-kat bar and suddenly stopped. "They almost had a severe quality defect here." The chocolate layer was so thin on one side that the wafer cookie was almost poking through. Several of us investigated.

- Discussions with a friend (also an engineer) on the features and qualities of a large pasta pot led to the taking of measurements of both the pot and the spaghetti so that a proper conclusion could be drawn. It also resulted in a rather ingenious (if I do say so myself) omega-shaped pasta pot designed to serve all your pasta needs!

- At a dinner the other night, someone was telling me about a new tool in nursing (and medical) education, which is a life-size doll (for lack of a better word) that could react to physical examination. (You buy scenarios for the doll to present with). I started wondering how exactly that would work (be programmed). Later, in the washroom, another tablemate told me that, as soon as we were told about the doll, she could see a look come over my face as if I were trying to figure it all out. :p

On the flip side, the other weekend, my friend's boyfriend had to, at 1 am, disassemble the futon I put together because I had put the hinges on the wrong side so, when our friend went to sleep on it, it was all off-centre and she fell off. :p Oops. :p That wasn't very engineery - maybe there's still hope yet.