The good news thread

[Westtown Willy]

sorry just saw this and had to slip it in

now if the Master Thread Rerailer @Squatch could just come in & clean things up

That'd be great

 

[red02tj]

Did they catch anything?

Yup. Lake Notley in Blairsvile, it’s usually sunnies, Brim, Stripers, and of course the dreaded Catfish

 

[Squatch]

My eldest son came up for a visit. First time I've seen him in almost seven years. When I picked him up at the train station, he walked up to my truck, and I told him "Damn! You left half of you back at home!" Turns out, he decided when he turned 30 (three years ago), he was going to get healthy, drop some weight, and generally change how he approached nutrition and exercise. He's dropped from 230 lbs. to 160, and has some serious muscle definition in his arms and legs (something he's never had), as well as generally appearing thinner. He shared that he exercises daily (2-2.5 hours a day), as well as monitoring his caloric intake. It's really quite impressive.

He also got to visit with my son-in-law, whom is someone my son grew up with since he was about 6 years old. It was cool to hear the childhood stories that a parent never knows about until many, many years later. He also met his three nieces for the first time. Taking him back to the train station in an hour. It's been a great time.

*Edit: Turns out he dropped his weight from a high of 255 lbs., and not the 230 lbs. I posted here. Even more impressive!

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Engineers that practice in a firm have to take tests and be licensed in a process that starts with a 5 hour Fundamentals (FE) test intended to be taken around the time they graduate, then an 8 hour Principles and Practice (PE) test and some years of experience to qualify for the license. What many don't realize is this is not required, and generally not valued when working in manufacturing, so I never pursued it.

18 years later I find myself in a role where I interface a lot with customers who are very often licensed PE's and it started to feel like something I need to establish credibility and authority, even if I never have need to stamp anything.

I took the first step last Monday by taking the FE, which I got the result for this morning, and tonight registered for the PE and now have a year to take.

They are updating the test specification in October, so I plan to take it before then.

 

[Apparition]

Engineers that practice in a firm have to take tests and be licensed in a process that starts with a 5 hour Fundamentals (FE) test intended to be taken around the time they graduate, then an 8 hour Principles and Practice (PE) test and some years of experience to qualify for the license. What many don't realize is this is not required, and generally not valued when working in manufacturing, so I never pursued it.

18 years later I find myself in a role where I interface a lot with customers who are very often licensed PE's and it started to feel like something I need to establish credibility and authority, even if I never have need to stamp anything.

I took the first step last Monday by taking the FE, which I got the result for this morning, and tonight registered for the PE and now have a year to take.

View attachment 619584

They are updating the test specification in October, so I plan to take it before then.

Good luck with your studies and eventual testing. I took the FE before graduating college and never took the PE as it wasn't going to put any more money in my pocket for my career path but it's different for everyone.

 

[Westtown Willy]

Engineers that practice in a firm have to take tests and be licensed in a process that starts with a 5 hour Fundamentals (FE) test intended to be taken around the time they graduate, then an 8 hour Principles and Practice (PE) test and some years of experience to qualify for the license. What many don't realize is this is not required, and generally not valued when working in manufacturing, so I never pursued it.

18 years later I find myself in a role where I interface a lot with customers who are very often licensed PE's and it started to feel like something I need to establish credibility and authority, even if I never have need to stamp anything.

12 years after I graduated I found myself sitting for the bar exam in a new state, to say that was a shock to my system is an understatement

I was in school non-stop from age 6 through 25 and in that 12 years that elapsed following graduation I thought I was safely out of academia & 'test-taking', wrong, and that was a bit concerning to me at the time. Turns out actually being in the real world all that time was orders of magnitude more useful in my preparation for that miserable test & I cruised to victory while half of the people I took it with fresh out of school tanked it.

 

[sab]

Engineers that practice in a firm have to take tests and be licensed in a process that starts with a 5 hour Fundamentals (FE) test intended to be taken around the time they graduate, then an 8 hour Principles and Practice (PE) test and some years of experience to qualify for the license. What many don't realize is this is not required, and generally not valued when working in manufacturing, so I never pursued it.

18 years later I find myself in a role where I interface a lot with customers who are very often licensed PE's and it started to feel like something I need to establish credibility and authority, even if I never have need to stamp anything.

I took the first step last Monday by taking the FE, which I got the result for this morning, and tonight registered for the PE and now have a year to take.

View attachment 619584

They are updating the test specification in October, so I plan to take it before then.

Good luck, freedom_in_4low! I think I've already mentioned to you that the TestMasters course is worth the expense. It, along with diligent studying afterwards, allowed me to easily pass the PE exam in civil engineering seventeen years after passing it in mechanical engineering.

 

[bucky]

As an X-ray tech and then a Radiation Therapist I had to take State and National boards. In my field no one cared where you went to school or your grades just that you had board certification. For my Radiation Therapy boards
I studied my ass off the week before boards and took mock boards every day. When the day came for the boards I walked out of the 6 hr test in 45 min. My fellow students thought I gave up and quit. The thing is I learned that there were only so many things they could ask you and the mock boards had all the questions only in different formats. Luckily there were no essay questions. Lots of math, physics, medication, legal and patient care questions.
I finished in the top of my class at 96%. Funny thing is none of my employers asked how I scored on the boards. In the medical field the certification letters after your name on your badge are what count. I doubled my salary and my hours became 8-4:30 M-F no nights, weekends or holidays with the addition of 2 letters after my name.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

12 years after I graduated I found myself sitting for the bar exam in a new state, to say that was a shock to my system is an understatement

I was in school non-stop from age 6 through 25 and in that 12 years that elapsed following graduation I thought I was safely out of academia & 'test-taking', wrong, and that was a bit concerning to me at the time. Turns out actually being in the real world all that time was orders of magnitude more useful in my preparation for that miserable test & I cruised to victory while half of the people I took it with fresh out of school tanked it.

Fortunately engineering doesn't change much from state to state so I can move and just apply to the state board..my dad is an attorney (retired) and had to take the bar in different states over the course of his career and probably got in my head a little bit (unintentionally) by sharing the wisdom he was given in law school - "you're never more prepared for the bar as you are the day you graduate from law school". Sounds like your experience was a little different. He never took one as deep into his career as you did...he took Oklahoma after graduating in '77 and Colorado in '80, but Colorado has so much crazy water law vs Oklahoma being a lot of oil and gas that I'm not sure it would have mattered.

I joined the FE_exam subreddit and am kindof astonished at how many people are taking the test 3, 4, 5+ times before passing...and most of them should have this knowledge fresher than I do. I paid for a prep program from PPI2Pass...their problems were significantly more difficult than what was actually on the test. I walked out of the real test with time to spare and didn't really have any doubt that I'd passed.

As an X-ray tech and then a Radiation Therapist I had to take State and National boards. In my field no one cared where you went to school or your grades just that you had board certification. For my Radiation Therapy boards
I studied my ass off the week before boards and took mock boards every day. When the day came for the boards I walked out of the 6 hr test in 45 min. My fellow students thought I gave up and quit. The thing is I learned that there were only so many things they could ask you and the mock boards had all the questions only in different formats. Luckily there were no essay questions. Lots of math, physics, medication, legal and patient care questions.
I finished in the top of my class at 96%. Funny thing is none of my employers asked how I scored on the boards. In the medical field the certification letters after your name on your badge are what count. I doubled my salary and my hours became 8-4:30 M-F no nights, weekends or holidays with the addition of 2 letters after my name.

my wife is an x-ray tech and took her test last August. In our area there is one particular school that people like to hire grads from because they go above and beyond what's on the test in some areas like patient care and understanding and being able to select technical factors, and they put a big emphasis on work ethic and professionalism that aren't often taught. That school just happens to be the one she chose to go to, so it's worked out well, and like you said, no one asked her how she scored on the test.

I don't even know what I scored on the FE, it's purely a pass/fail, and those who fail get a diagnostic report that gives them what topics they need to improve before a retake. I kinda wish I'd gotten a score back, because I felt so good coming out of it.

 

[bucky]

X-ray is a great stepping stone. While it pays well in most states upgrading to CT, Angio, MRI, Radiation Therapy or becoming a PA is where the money is. She has lots of career options.

 

[Cheesy]

I took Owen to the Big Rock(IL)Car Show today. He had a great time.

He picked out the colors of his t-shirt.

The kid's getting tall. And yes, he has a mullet.

He spotted this Jeep display and had to have his pic taken in front of it.

We took the DeSoto after I managed to chase down and fix the electrical short in the transmission relay yesterday that cost me 2 condensers, 2 point sets, and the coil. (It's a long story) The old broad sure runs good after a complete tune up.
After the car show, we rode home and picked up Grandma and Buster dog then drove the DeSoto out to Hinkley, IL for lunch at an old drive in restaurant. I met one of the couples I ride scooters with while they were getting ice cream.
We had a pretty good day.

 

[bucky]

Good Times.

 

[Cheesy]

We've had Owen and Eli for the past week or so while their parents could take a vacation for their 20th anniversary. The boys spent the first few days at the other grandparents. While they were here, they wore us out. Eli, being 12, has passed grandma in height. He's also starting to morph into a jerk and I see a serious attitude adjustment on the horizon.

That bit out of the way, neither of the boys can ride a bicycle. Bikes have been a major part of my life since I was 4 years old. I even raced in France once. I sucked, but hey, I raced in France. My kids went on overnight bike camping trips with me. The boys Mom even did a two day, two hundred mile trip with me. Eli flat out refuses to ride and won't give a reason. Owen, on the other hand, says he is afraid of falling and getting hurt.

Today, grandma talked Owen into going for a ride with me on the back of our tandem bike. She told him that he could hold it over Eli's head that he rode and Eli didn't. Owen was quite a bit nervous when we started. I'm a bit shaky on it with that initial start, so I'm sure that didn't help. Anyway we rode up the short hill from the house, turned around, and coasted back down to the end of the street. I asked him how that was and he said fun. Do it again. We did it again, hitting about 19 mph on the way down the hill. I asked if he wanted to ride a bit further and he said yes. Back up the hill a third time, this time turning right. We got about a half mile down the road when Owen said, "I've never been here before." To which I replied, "If you can ride two wheels, you''ll see lots of places and things you've never seen before." He was quiet for a little bit, then said. "Look! Two big birds in that yard!" He spotted a pair of Sandhill Cranes. I told him he would not have seen them if he'd been in a car. We turned around for home. As we are climbing another hill, Owen says, "Grandpa, my balls hurt." Nice guy that I am, I told him he shouldn't sit on his balls.

We got back to Chez Fromage and he ratchet jawed to grandma about how much fun he had, that he saw two big birds, and that he sat on his balls. We have a 20" Trek bike that he can try to solo on next week. It's old and getting new tires and an overhaul tomorrow.

 

[KennethS]

Great job getting him on a bike! I’m similar to you with a lot of bike activities over the years (other than racing in France). It’s hard for me to imagine not having all those bike adventures.

 

[John Cooper]

Great job getting him on a bike! I’m similar to you with a lot of bike activities over the years (other than racing in France). It’s hard for me to imagine not having all those bike adventures.

For sure grew up on a bike!!!! Rode it to school, baseball practice, girlfriends house. Everywhere i could I road a bike.

 

[red02tj]

Love it. I rode 50 this morning and took Jake to the off road park yesterday.

 

[Cheesy]

Love it. I rode 50 this morning and took Jake to the off road park yesterday.

View attachment 627365

Good on ya.
My high mileage days are behind me. Those days consisted of 24 hr time trials, multi-century rides, and brevet rides from 200 to 1200 km in length. I used to ride with 'Marathon Lon' Haldeman back in the 80s and early 90s. When I say I rode with him, I mean I started with him and he was out of sight within 10 minutes. Now, I may do some 30-40 milers during the year if I can get the old crew together and the Lake Pepin 3 Speed Tour. 3speedtour.com
Mostly tho, it's a weekly 90 minute Novice/Casual ride that I lead with the local bicycle club. I roller skate 2 or 3 nights a week and walk a mile or two with Buster dog every morning to make up for the lack of riding. I attribute the lack of saddle time to riding to and from work for 8 years. That took some of the fun out of it. Getting rear ended by a car while touring in 07 took the rest of it. It took a few years to get the mojo back.

 

[1o1proof]

Good news for me…
My birthday is coming up and our daughter came home to hang out with me today, it was a good day!

 

[Moab]

I came to the Phillipines 2 months ago. Found a paradise where land, building a house, and healthy, organic, excellent food was vastly cheaper. Like a 5th of the cost in the US. I can afford the off-grid homestead I've always wanted here.

I also found a ten times more mature, deeply loving and settled relationship. Than I have ever had.

I'm going back to the US today. And returning for good in three weeks.

 

[Tray Burge]

Good news for me!
After 2 years into retirement I started working 2 days a week at my local gun store for something to do.
Never asked what the pay is and still don't know or care, but my first day I found out I get EVERYTHING at cost.
Gee, I sure hope I can afford to work there!
Picked up this discontinued Wilson Combat Adjuster suede lined Kevlar paddle holster for my S&W 4506 for $25.00 bucks on Saturday, they retailed for $250.00 new.
Image won't load, I'll try later.