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I'm a life-long New Englander, father of 4 challenging kids (I know: I'm supposed to say "wonderful", but while that'd be true, technically speaking, it'd also be misleading), and fortunate husband to my favorite wife of more than 20 years. I've got over 20 years experience breaking things as a test engineer, quality engineer, reliability engineer, and most recently (and most enjoyably) a Product Safety / EMC Compliance Engineer. In the photo, I'm on the left.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Engineer's Day - June 4

So being the whiny old bloke that I am, years ago I was whining at my beautiful wife over the fact that there seem to be many other profession-days (Secretary's Day, Teacher's Day, Firefighter's Day, and many others including my favorite: Nurse's Day), but no Engineer's Day here in the US.

How can there be no Engineer's Day? India has one, as do many other countries: Argentina, Singapore, Colombia, Iran...). I'm not trying to take anything away from the Secretaries (without whom...wait...I don't have one and never have), or Teachers (probably one of the very toughest and most important professions in the world) or other day-dedicated professions (least of all the Nurse...my personal favorite). BUT, where would we be without engineers?

We'd be living in caves, praying that a stray lightning bolt would spark a fire so that we might be able to be warm for a while. All the little pieces of technology, right down to the brick, would not be possible without the engineer. TVs, Stoves, Dish Washers, Bicycles, Cars, Computers, the Internet, Bowls, Toilets, Running Water, Fans, AC, etc, etc, etc ad nauseum.

So I whined about this long enough that my lovely wife got sick of listening to me, and in our house we've established Engineer's Day as June 4.

So, this coming Monday (I hope I gave you a decent enough head start), June 4, give your friendly neighborhood engineer a big "Happy Engineer's Day". They may seem stand-offish, but for the most part, we're just really shy.

Quick engineer's joke: Do you know the difference between a introverted engineer and an extroverted engineer? The extroverted engineer looks at *your* shoes when he talks to you!

I'm hoping it catches on...we need to make a national day of it!

11 comments:

  1. Hubby is an engineer, always worked with engineers, and know without them we would not be as advanced as we are now. Truly wish I had that kind of mind.

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  2. The engineer's mind has its pluses and its minuses...we're pretty twisted. But, I'm betting that you know that already! Happy Engineer's Day to your hubby!

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  3. It's on Wikipedia, so it must be true!

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  4. I think we are going to need a blog party to celebrate something of this significance.

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  5. Have you seen the Dilbert video clip, The Knack (on engineers)? Very funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOtoujYOWw0

    I think you are spot on with this... we have a lot to thank our engineers for. I don't know where I'd be without my couch and my laptop, for starters. :)

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  6. My current love interest is an engineer, and he will be very happy to know he has his own special day. Just what does one get an engineer?

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    1. A few items that come to mind:
      Leatherman Micra
      Anything Dilbert
      Tavern Puzzles
      My dad had a "pocket watch" which, when opened, had a tiny Stonehenge in it!
      an Abacus
      a slide rule

      Depends upon how twisted your engineer is!

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  7. Happy Engineers Day......balloons, fireworks, brass bands and food to you.....

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    1. Ohhhh...prettyyyy...

      I'm not usually a fan of fireworks, but those were awesome :)

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