The good news thread

Heck, the last bicycle club ride that I led for the season was yesterday afternoon and I dumped myself twice. Both were good for laughs. The first, I dropped off the edge of the paved trail. The fixed gear track bike I was riding went down but I stayed upright. The second one was the opposite, I went down and the bike stayed upright. It was at the end of a long climb and I looked back to make sure no one was struggling up the hill(most of us are in our late 60's). Turned my head back and one of the guys, Jay, up the hill before me, had stopped in the middle of the trail and I bounced my front wheel off of his rear wheel. I almost saved it but my right cleat gave me the finger and let go. Jay caught my bike but missed me. I just lay on the trail, laughing my ass off. Got back up and finished the ride.

At least I didn't end up like almost 13 years ago when wet leaves, wooden bridge, and front brake dumped me on said bridge. I did splits that no guy in his fifties should do, with my right heel almost touching the back of my head. Myself and the three guys I was riding with were laughing about it...until I really struggled to get back up. I have skinny bird legs and my right knee had swelled a bit. We stopped for breakfast anyway and my knee swelled up even more. I couldn't bend it anymore. One of the guys went to get his car and got me home. The next morning my knee was swelled up like a 16" softball. Then I went to the doc. I'd torn the meniscus, again. Surgery followed. All because of some wet leaves.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
Just got results that I passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam that I took last week. License is just some paperwork away.
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Congrats, and welcome to the club - that's a good milestone to have behind you! I had the pleasure of taking it in 1990-ish for Mechanical, and never sealed anything with it. Then, when I took on my last challenge of starting a civil firm for a friend, I took it again in 2007 in Civil, and I sealed a LOT of work then. Civils dominate the PE world, it seems. I don't do design work anymore with this new gig, so I don't seal work very often...
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
Just got results that I passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam that I took last week. License is just some paperwork away.
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1759337246784.gif
 
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sab said:
Congrats, and welcome to the club - that's a good milestone to have behind you! I had the pleasure of taking it in 1990-ish for Mechanical, and never sealed anything with it. Then, when I took on my last challenge of starting a civil firm for a friend, I took it again in 2007 in Civil, and I sealed a LOT of work then. Civils dominate the PE world, it seems. I don't do design work anymore with this new gig, so I don't seal work very often...
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I sealed a few things through the years, but most of my work didn't require it. If you ever enter PA from NY on I-99, the PA Welcome Center HVAC system was sealed by me. If you're unhappy about the heat or cold, the installation was far from what was designed. You can blame the PA government agency in charge :LOL:

The Pennsylvania Licensing Board used to send out a quarterly news letter about members that did bad things. There was a guy in the Pittsburgh area that started an engineering firm. He bought his "stamp" from a widow at a yard sale.
 
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LukesfirstJeep said:
I sealed a few things through the years, but most of my work didn't require it. If you ever enter PA from NY on I-99, the PA Welcome Center HVAC system was sealed by me. If you're unhappy about the heat or cold, the installation was far from what was designed. You can blame the PA government agency in charge :LOL:

The Pennsylvania Licensing Board used to send out a quarterly news letter about members that did bad things. There was a guy in the Pittsburgh area that started an engineering firm. He bought his "stamp" from a widow at a yard sale.
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PA was the second state I was ever licensed in. I gave that license up a long time ago, though. From what I've experienced, building HVAC systems are rarely built to the plans...
 
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sab said:
Congrats, and welcome to the club - that's a good milestone to have behind you! I had the pleasure of taking it in 1990-ish for Mechanical, and never sealed anything with it. Then, when I took on my last challenge of starting a civil firm for a friend, I took it again in 2007 in Civil, and I sealed a LOT of work then. Civils dominate the PE world, it seems. I don't do design work anymore with this new gig, so I don't seal work very often...
Click to expand...

I may finish my career and never seal anything. We don't really do that sort of work as a manufacturer but earlier this year I moved into a more customer facing role and find myself rubbing elbows with PEs constantly. It started to feel like something I needed to demonstrate a level of competency.

It will also be nice to have some letters in my email signature reminding myself and my employer that if things go south and I want a change, I'm not limited to another manufacturer.

Lastly, there are some work politics at play and this levels the credibility playing field with a peer that I find to have a lack of strategic vision when it comes to opportunities we should invest in.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
I may finish my career and never seal anything. We don't really do that sort of work as a manufacturer but earlier this year I moved into a more customer facing role and find myself rubbing elbows with PEs constantly. It started to feel like something I needed to demonstrate a level of competency.

It will also be nice to have some letters in my email signature reminding myself and my employer that if things go south and I want a change, I'm not limited to another manufacturer.

Lastly, there are some work politics at play and this levels the credibility playing field with a peer that I find to have a lack of strategic vision when it comes to opportunities we should invest in.
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Maybe your experience in your industry will be different, but before I jumped head-first into the civil world, my P.E. licensure never, not once, gave me any competitive advantage over peers in the racing or automotive world as a mechanical P.E. It was completely useless. Different from your situation, though, is the fact that I don't recall once rubbing elbows with a P.E. in that world. However, it paid off in spades when I unexpectedly joined the civil ranks years later...
 
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sab said:
Maybe your experience in your industry will be different, but before I jumped head-first into the civil world, my P.E. licensure never, not once, gave me any competitive advantage over peers in the racing or automotive world as a mechanical P.E. It was completely useless. Different from your situation, though, is the fact that I don't recall once rubbing elbows with a P.E. in that world. However, it paid off in spades when I unexpectedly joined the civil ranks years later...
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Worked with several mechanical guys with PE's in my old career none of them really needed it nor did it benefit them $$$. I still contract some of them for projects as I need extra help.

My ex FIL was a PE in civil and thought I was nuts to not get my PE but it wouldn't have been beneficial for me.

Going the management route has been more productive for my situation.
 
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chili_pepper said:
Many things...entire buildings sometimes.... :ROFLMAO: (I laugh, but it hurts a little when I do)
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No doubt. Even production vehicle parts sometimes. I refused to sign off on a few deviation requests, to my manager's chagrin. Most were no-brainers and easily signed, but I was asked to sign a few that made me put H-E-L-L in front of N-O. HVAC in buildings however seems to be an outlier. In my experience, it never substantially conforms to the plans. Part of it is engineers that don't understand the real world, and part of it is most HVAC contractors don't specialize in "P.E.-designed systems," and if they are not inspected closely, they do whatever they think will work. HVAC inspectors tend to be under-educated, as well, so that doesn't help.
 
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