Photo Shoot

Didn't know engineers have photo shoots, didja?

Well.. I didn't know either. The week before I went back to Seattle I thought we were going out to see the bridges to take some pictures for the proposal, not to take pictures of us. It was kinda both.

Don't worry, I won't let it go to my head since I was really just the token female engineer, although Chuck said it was cuz we were shooting at one of the bridges I designed.

Its true I am pretty awesome... except when I totally mess up my first steel bridge and am currently changing all the bracing... um, never mind.

Here we are, discussing the bridge. OK not really. Here, I'll provide the real dialog.

Arvid: "These aren't even Jacobs plans, let alone the plans of this bridge."

Melanie: "I feel very silly standing around while Arvid points at these drainage sheets."
Chuck: "Just look like your discussing stuff"

Melanie: "I really should have worn a different outfit."
Chuck: "No, look at the sheets on the barrier by you."

Melanie: "Does this vest make me look fat?"Chuck: "Here, I'll show you. Just point and smile" Melanie: "Oo Oo, I want to point too!"

Arvid: "No"

Melanie: :-( Melanie: "The column is so big! And the dropped cap looks like its coming out of nowhere and has no purpose"

Arvid: "Yes, you designed it. The dropped cap has a very important purpose."

Melanie: "I know it does! I'm just saying... and the bridge looks fatter on one side than the other"

Arvid: "Are those even engineering words?"

Chuck: "Come on you guys, look at the plans!"
Rob (bridge inspector/photographer extraordinaire): "The light just isn't right because of the shadows on the bridge. I've taken a ton of pictures and just look at these ugly black lines. How about we go look at the Blue Diamond flyover while we wait for the light to change?"

Melanie: "Please? Can we go?! Pretty Please?"

Chuck: "I have to go pick up a dining room table for my wife so lets make it quick."

Arvid: "Humph. I'm an even tempored Norweigen so I don't care" Melanie: "Where are the piers under the deck? I can't find them!"

Arvid (from ahead): "They're right in front of you."

Chuck: "Lets hurry"

Rob (too some construction guys): "#$%^"

Melanie: "Construction Dudes have foul mouths. You sound like Angus"

Rob: "What?"

Melanie: "Nothing!"

Whoa.. hello Arvid.


Arvid: "Engineers don't smile unless they are making fun of Melanie"

Chuck: "Take one of me too!"
Melanie: "Rob, how about you just skip me.... oh, I'll get out of your way."
Melanie: "It looks like an erector set!"

Chuck: "Just one more picture of this framing and then we'll go."
Melanie: "Oo Oo, I want to see the girders that ended up too short because of construction. Where are they?"
Arvid: "Your LOOKING at them."

Chuck: "Look at the time! We've got to go back! My wife will kill me if I don't get that dining room table"
Melanie: "I doubt he can see us from up there so I'm gonna make faces at him"

Arvid and Chuck: "Sigh"

Rob: "Now that is perfect lighting! Now the bridge looks beautiful. Apparently all we really needed was a couple of people dressed up like engineers."
Chuck: "We're done. Lets go... Quickly"

Melanie: "Now can I point? GQ baby!"

And that my friend, is an engineering photo shoot. (I wrote this late last night but forgot to post... hence the many inside jokes that only the engineers at work will get if they read this which I hope they never do)

Once an Engineer

Today I was told that the Ragnar (a 24 hour relay race) was 100 miles.

I reached for my calculator to see if that's really true (it can't be... that means the participants are averaging 4.17 mph, ie a 14.4 minute mile. Even I can do better than that).

Today I was told that the new hybrids get 600 miles to a tank of gas.

I reached for my calculator (assuming a 12 gallon tank, thats 50 miles per gallon).

Today I was asked how old I was.

I reached for my calculator.

I am an engineer.

Field Trip

The other day I got to take a field trip out to see where some construction machinery had run into my wingwall.

I love field trips!! Even if Arvid asks me 5 minutes before going.

Perhaps I am an afterthought.

But no worries, I have hiking books at the office and socks in the car. He has no excuse but to take me.

What is a wingwall you ask? This is a wingwall.
It's at the ends of the bridge and holds the dirt back as the bottom grade comes up to meet the top grade.

And they are usually pretty large. That's me back there. I'm borrowing some of Arvids pictures cuz he takes better ones than me... of me.

But even 1.5ft thick wingwalls can't stand up to some big truck running into the very end of it.. especially when the force is in the opposite direction its design to. Here's some quarters to show the scale.
I even got on top to get a better view.

The main curtain of steel is in the back of the wall so the crack stops there.

Don't worry, we'll probably just fill it with epoxy and call it a day. Once all the dirt is piled up behind it and the road laid on top, the pressure will close the crack. We just have to convince NDOT that that's the case.

Then we climbed along the formwork to see the pier cap (this is actually a picture of the second span but I didn't get a picture of the first) .
It is MASSIVE. I design things all the time that are 6 or 7ft in dimension and forget how big that is. See that 6.5ft column steel sticking up? Its that circle of steel right behind the random piece of wood. This is a single column cap, that's why its so big.

I used a drink some worker left behind to show the scale of the size of the rebar.
Man I like rebar. So useful. So strong. So pretty.
OK, so I had the bridge inspector take my picture by the steel girders we went to see because they were erecting them the next day. I might be just a bit vain. Don't all those bolts look like something out of a toy connector set?

I like field trips I'm brought along as an afterthought. Then I get to see other stuff Arvid would have seen without me.

And I can take funny pictures.

Tandra and I were coming up with titles for this picture. Mine was, "Don't jump!", but Tandra's "Melanie.. get down RIGHT NOW!" was better. Any more?

Ants in the House

Glen left food at his desk and got tiny sugar ants over the weekend.

The secretary had them come and spray, but the ants just moved on to the next office. They sprayed again... and they continued the pattern by moving on to my office.
This time the spray guy wasn't too happy and after spraying all around my coworkers desks (who had no ants), he put a quick squirt in the corner by my desk and called it a day.

I tried to get them to move on to the next office by secretly moving them one by one over to Angus's desk.

I have no food! Go AWAY!

After a week of killing them as they climbed my cables and walls, I brought in some ammunition and set it by my desk.

Haven't seen an ant since.

Didn't have to depress the trigger once.

I guess Raid really does works.

Working Really Hard

Email String between Melanie and Arvid (in chronological order):

Melanie: PJack information as requested.
Arvid: Re-send this after modifying to the taller rails. Thanks.
Melanie: But it doesn’t change the pjack force.
Arvid: Than no-need to re-send.
Melanie: Yup.. just wanted u to know why I was going to ignore ur email.
Arvid: Thanks. Just needed to know since I will re-send Tandra’s and Akiko’s Pjack info to SDI.

Poor Arvid. Someday he'll get to manage nice engineers.

And here's another reason why I will never be paid the big bucks:
Somebody say go!

It was a stalemate so I decided to be nice and let Faraz out of it.

There was no way he could put me down, not on my left hand.

Not that I told him of course. Just everyone else here at work after he went back home to Scotland. :-)

Now it's Official

I finally got to use my stamp the other day. But first I had to carry it around the whole building
looking for an ink pad.

Chuck couldn't believe my stamp was still so pristine. All it had on it was the remnants of the test ink they used before sending it to me. I was embarrassed to ask Arvid to borrow his stamp pad even though he was the one that told me to stamp it. Akiko and Tandra were excited for me but a little perplexed as to why I didn't just go borrow Arvid's since they both didn't have an ink pad in their drawers. Before I left Tandra told me to be sure to blog about it. Glen mentioned that Pam had stamp pads but then Anil showed me where they were kept in the supply closet. I didn't know when my license expired so Chigdem showed me where to look on the Internet. Jen agreed that I would have to throw away the first atempt since I didn't sign directly over my name. Apparently in Florida you used to sign before stamping since it was a raised seal.

My poor coworkers. Sometimes I bet they just aren't quite sure what to do with me.

Here it is in all it's glory.
I'm now a stamped engineer!

PS. One of my cooworkers was going to fly back to Scotland by way of London thursday night but is now stuck here for what looks like over a week because of that volcano in iceland. Poor Faraz!

A Simple Target

What does a pile of rubber bands,

And a home(work)made target

Placed on the wall across from my desk

mean?

It means Melanie is going crazy at work.

Changes and More Changes

I'm sure most of u have heard me whine and complain about this already, but too bad.

I don't do well with change. Never have. Never will. And you can't change that.

We are "temporarily" (2 years) moving to the project office next week for this big design build.
1 - There will be 3 people to an office (a little crowded.. where will I put my stuff?).
2 - I was originally told I'd still have my cubicle here but apparently that is no longer the case.
3 - There is not enough parking at the new office for everyone and they have no plans to fix it.
4 - We won't have access to my companies servers anymore.
5 - I just burned my mouth on chicken pizza I had for lunch.
6 - We have to go to 8-5's.
7 - One of the lady Engineers told us to be careful leaving at night cuz the new office is in a seedy area.

#6 is what chaps my hide. I have always had Friday afternoon off (9 hour days, half day on Fridays). Now I can't talk 2 Bethanie for 3 hours and have lunch with Melissa and go to the library.

And what will I do with my sticker collection? I already started afresh when we moved HERE.
Don't explain that Melissa and Bethanie still exist at other times during the week or that the company is paying me so they get to decide or that I should be grateful to even HAVE a job. I am complaining here!

When I whined one more time to Arvid "I don't wanna move!", He responded with "Do you want to keep ur job?"

At that point I almost said NO. Instead I said "Yes, but I wanna whine!". Then I didn't whine at him anymore, just my family and friends. It takes a lot of work to be my friend.

Then, to top it all off.... On Sunday, this man-- (the Bishop) decided to change things up on me even more and take my Mia Maid advisor away. The most loving and competent Sis. Senecal.

And to think, just last week I was happily hiking with him and the rest of the crew.Shore, he gave an excellent lesson on Sunday and a great spiritual thought up on the mountain, but he's not on my good side right now. Happy carefree days of yore collecting branches, sticks, and pine cones... Will it ever be so again?

Button and Zip

Why do work pants have so many buttons?

When you do up normal pants there are 2 things to remember, button and zip. Pull them up, button and zip.

I can handle that.. button and zip. Can do that all day, button and zip. There should be a song.

"Learn from your pants. Button and zip, button and zip. Your lip!" (hey now, it rhymes)

Unfortunately, work pants often involve hook, button, and zip; or button, button, and zip; or my favorite, hook, hook, button, button, zip. I suppose they are trying to help that front panel to flow smoothly across the fat. It probably would work if I tucked in my nice work shirts.

So what happens if over a weekend of button and zip you forget there might be a third action?

I'll tell you what happens. The next time you go to use the restroom, ur grateful ur shirt is so long.

I have developed a new routine. Before leaving the restroom, always check the zipper (perhaps it shoulda been an old routine?).

This has been a public service announcement.

A Dam Bridge Post

hee hee. I love being an engineer and the "wit" that goes with it :-)

Akiko's husband (here after referred to as AH... I can't spell his name :-) works for the company that is building the Boulder Dam Bypass bridge. That's the reason Akiko and her family are here. The company does projects all over the world and she comes with him as she can. I don't remember where, but there was a country or 2 that the whole family couldn't go to because of civil unrest. AH had to go around with a body guard.

Anyway, Akiko has offered many times to take us out there and I finally got to go. She had to set up two separate times to get everyone in (Marcia and Angus still missed out) so this time it was just Arvid and me... and Akiko, AH and her 6 yr old son Ted. Poor Ted. This was all old hat for him. He was bored out of his gourd! He did tell me all about snakes and we also discussed heaven, his grandparents, middle names, finding treasures (like a nut and a piece of wire), and why the seat cover was not snakeskin (i tried to convince him, but he wasn't having it).

I marked the 2 places we got to go...

First, the Nevada side.
Here is AH talking to a Carpenter.

This whole construction reminds me of Lord Of the Rings. You know how there was supposed to be all this huge ancient construction around middle earth? That's what I think it looks like, broken down monuments of an ancient society.
Remember that carpenter? I was excited to watch him go out onto the arch. It was around 2pm so one shift had ended and the next one hadn't started. It's too hot in Nevada to work through the middle of the day. I thought it was so cool seeing the guy all decked out and climbing those ladders, but I wasn't about to go out there even though Akiko suggested I could :-). Arvid didn't seem that interested either.
Do you see him there at the side, climbing?
AH told us they were pouring lengths of about 25 feet each side on a 6 day schedule. When they first started they were working at a 45 degree angle and everyone was new at it so the cycle was more like 25-30 days between pours. He said they kept dropping things and having a really hard time. He also told us that the thickness of the boxes (they are hollow) were 1'-6" at the arch and only 12" for the towers. Can you imagine? Seems very small for such a massive structure. AH told us wind was the governing factor in design which is one of the reasons its so small. You can imagine how strong the wind can get channeled down through the canyon.

I thought this was pretty funny. No drugs.... be Safe!

And here is the stretcher.

On the Arizona side, we saw a couple of rebar cages set up and it looked like they were only using a #8 bars spaced around 12". I've specified #10's at 6" for a retaining wall before! Arvid asked about why they decided to do Cast-in-place rather than precast concrete. AH said that logistically it wouldn't work. I can't remember the details anymore and it makes me mad... I think I'll have to ask Arvid :-)

Here's the crew (my camera accidentally got put on a different setting for most of the trip so I have to use Arvid's Picture). Akiko, AH, Ted, and Me..
And I couldn't resist putting in this GQ picture of Arvid, even though most of u don't know him.
Look at those huge cranes in the back! They are used to take material out to the ends. Those are the things that fell a year ago and set everything back a year.

I wanted to show you the bottom of the big pylons, but my picture didn't turn out. These are just temporary until the arch is finished.
Essentially, right now the bridge is a suspension bridge, but when it is finished it will be an arch bridge. Those tall pylons have a pinned connection at the bridge (as opposed to a fixed connection). This way they can move around as work continues alternately on each side.
Akiko's husband said they try and keep things as even as possible and check the movement many times a day. That's why this is such a big job because they had to design the structure to withstand construction, not just the final loads as a finished product. For example, right now the concrete is experiencing tension from being suspended above the bridge but once it becomes a full arch it will all be under compression. That's the whole point of arches. AH said you could hear the concrete cracking under the stress when you are out there, especially as it expands and contracts with the changing of the temperature throughout the day. These cracks will close once the "keystone" (or in this case, "key concrete section" :-) is in place.

This is where the suspension cables are anchored. Everything in this picture is temporary, including the cranes in the background.

Here is the sidewalk that will eventually be along the road.
Here is the view they will get from the bridge (well.. at one side anyways :-)The plan is to get the arch done, then work on the roadway from the center out. The hard part will be attaching the columns to the arch.
(Picture courtesy of Akiko) I learned alot and it was way cool. Arvid told Akiko we should go out again when it get's closer to being done. I whole heartily agree!

*UPDATE* go here for more information on the bridge..