Life with a retired engineer

[clifffaith]

So we're having lunch at a neighborhood restaurant called Hawaiian Bakery. As the name implies their specialty is Hawaiian style food. I assume they ship their bread products all over so you may have had their bread and rolls. Mister Engineer starts disparaging (to me) the size of the beer bottle saying there is no way that is a 12 oz bottle. I tell him my iced tea is in the same size glass I just watched him pour his beer into, and it sure looks like 12 oz to me. On and on he bitches, and has to order a second bottle just to grumble some more. So he then dries the first bottle out with his napkin and has me shove it in my purse while he bets me a nickel the bottle does not hold 12 oz. Arrive home and I settle into my favorite chair in our bedroom with the fan blowing full blast on me. Shortly thereafter Cliff arrives with the glass measuring cup and a beer bottle full of water. As you can see from the photo I won the nickel bet, except that he says I have to go recycle the bottle to get my nickel! At least the lunch table was level and I didn't have to hear the dissertation on how rotating the table, with three legs touching, I'm guaranteed to have the fourth leg find a spot to make it level, complete with napkin drawings!

 

[SmithOp]

I can relate, I play golf with several retired engineers.

One cornered me the other day. Hey, you are a computer guy, what do you think about this - I’ve reloaded Windows, Microsoft Office, and my printer drivers. I have a spreadsheet that I set to print centered on the page and its offset, wont print centered. I spent 3 hours on the phone with Microsoft support and they gave up!

I asked him how much it was off by, oh at least a quarter inch! Doh!


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[bizaro86]

View attachment 13055 So we're having lunch at a neighborhood restaurant called Hawaiian Bakery. As the name implies their specialty is Hawaiian style food. I assume they ship their bread products all over so you may have had their bread and rolls. Mister Engineer starts disparaging (to me) the size of the beer bottle saying there is no way that is a 12 oz bottle. I tell him my iced tea is in the same size glass I just watched him pour his beer into, and it sure looks like 12 oz to me. On and on he bitches, and has to order a second bottle just to grumble some more. So he then dries the first bottle out with his napkin and has me shove it in my purse while he bets me a nickel the bottle does not hold 12 oz. Arrive home and I settle into my favorite chair in our bedroom with the fan blowing full blast on me. Shortly thereafter Cliff arrives with the glass measuring cup and a beer bottle full of water. As you can see from the photo I won the nickel bet, except that he says I have to go recycle the bottle to get my nickel! At least the lunch table was level and I didn't have to hear the dissertation on how rotating the table, with three legs touching, I'm guaranteed to have the fourth leg find a spot to make it level, complete with napkin drawings!

I'm going to have to get out some graph paper and prove the thing about the table legs!

 

[spirits]

My best friend is married to an engineer. I love her to pieces...she is the kindest person in the whole world.

He loves her very much and is very protective of her gentle nature.

I think they found the right partner in each other....and she accepts his "engineeringess"

I think you have also....thanks for my laugh of the day.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I'm an engineer. It's fun in a sales presentation when I show up with a leather folio, with graph paper, and during the presentation I start writing down all of their numbers and making a cash flow table.

It makes a nice guaranteed out. I can always say - "ok - let me take the information and do a cash flow analysis to see how the rate of return comes out. If they start the hard push for a decision right now, I can be clear that I won't do anything until I do a financial analysis - and I add that if someone were asking them to make the same financial commitment they are asking of me, would they not want to do a financial analysis?"

 

[isisdave]

I AM one of the retired engineers of whom you speak. We know how much you love and appreciate us always, but especially whenever we pull off a little of our magic.

 

[Glynda]

I'm a married to a retired engineer. I'm chuckling over the above posts of graph paper, spreadsheets, financial analysis, etc. My husband didn't exactly propose to me. He began by handing me a brochure of Orange Blossom diamond rings, a widely advertised brand, at that time, in magazines and many a girl's dream. Then he sat at his desk across the room, pulled out his column ledger and began explaining how we would get him through the rest of his college years and following his, mine. In addition to his scholarship, I was to work and help put him through. He never asked. He just assumed. We'd only known each other a little over a month, and only dated two nights a week at that. The man had a plan. Oh, and I never got that Orange Blossom diamond ring, though I did get an "engagement" ring on our 24th anniversary.

 

[Talent312]

So we're having lunch at a neighborhood restaurant called Hawaiian Bakery...

What my DW said when I retired: "I married you for better or for worse, but not for lunch."
We've actually had many lunches, but since I elected inactive status, I leave it at the door.

.

 

[DaveNV]

Your husband is my hero. I'm not really an engineer, but I've had a 47 year career in IT and computer work, so I speak "engineer" by inference. I get how they think (mostly) and I can relate. I completely understand that if it doesn't fit, redesign the space around it. Words and numbers connect in my head in a way I can't explain, and not all of it is pleasant. LOL!

I try to listen to the voices in my head, but it's crowded in here! LOL!

Dave