It Takes An Engineer (No Two!) to . . . .

I've often been told something like, "You're an engineer, so [fill in the blank]." Somehow I always tend to cringe when I hear that beginning line. Often what follows deals with something that I feel like I ought to know or understand better than I do. Now, the things in this post don't really take an engineer, but they are "engineer type" things!

One area in which I've always been a little nervous about is trying to do any sort of car repair by myself. In the past, I was very fortunate to live near my dad who is a great mechanic. I've spent many evenings watching and "helping" my dad as he did something to my car. Now that I'm 700 miles away, we're faced with either trying things ourselves or paying repair shops.

Ever since I purchased my honda accord, I've had trouble with the CD player. It worked only for about the first month and was sporadic about playing CDs (at best). Since my new job involves some driving and starts on Tuesday, I was wishing to be able to listen to CDs and mp3s. Well, after pricing a cd player and finding cool instructions that didn't look too intimidating online, we decided to take the plunge! Well, we ended up using my Honda repair book, the online instructions, the new cd players instructions as well as the adapter kit instructions! Even with all those, it did take a little time, but it worked! I'm sure those who are used to repairing cars would say this is not a big repair, but we were quite happy to find out that after a few hours, everything went back together and plays CDs perfectly!

Another thing we've had some fun with is John's birthday airplane!

We've spent two days and probably three or more hours on it so far and just have the wings left! I've utilized my organizational skills sorting and finding parts as John was the chief builder. It is a big plane! I don't know if we'll finish it before we go camping - just two days from now!