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September 23, 2004

"Big Words"

Things I learned today at...
L. Work: Fort Carson, Co Military Base
1. In the BEL (Big Engineering Leagues), if I want to pass as a competent colleague, I must catch on to the onslaught of acronyms and abbreviations. I have to remember that when my boss says that I am working for SES, he is referring to the umbrella company that this project in under: Sempra Energy Solutions and not that I am a man-whore. When, in mid-sentence, he asks me to hand him that "spec", that means a specification report, and not the little mark I accidentally made on the wall.
2. The engineering career ladder is full of fascinating opportunities to which I am not the least bit fascinated. Meet Wally the Welder. He's a nice guy, you know, but it's a challenge relating to him. He's actually sitting right next to me on his lunch break, sharing his world of welding with me as I am typing this. I don't have the heart to tell him to stop, he reminds me of Bubba in "Forest Gump" describing all the wonderful dishes you can make with shrimp. "I inspect all kinds of welds. Pipe welds, structural steel welds, joint welds." For taking his job seriously, I give him the sincerest respect. At this time, I would like to make a toast. "Here's to Wally. For a job weld done."
3. When I use Microsoft Word, I prefer to turn off the automatic spell check. It's not that I mind being told that I'm wrong, but can't it just wait til I'm done completing my sentence? Its lyke beeing intearrrupeted wile your trieng to mak a points.