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I've been looking at this as the final summer of Claire’s childhood. She's 15. Next summer, I expect she'll have a summer job. She's also been amazing. She's top of her class at school, she helps take care of her little brother, never misses his bus, and has just been the best kid we could hope for. She's pretty much ready for university, but she's going into grade 10.

With the above in mind, and with me working more and making decent money again, some has been thrown her way. She got a new racing mountain bike last fall, is going to summer camp in August, and had her first summer ski camp in Whistler last week.

It's her final hurrah, I guess, before even more responsibilities set in.

She asked for none of this, of course. Which makes me want to reward her more, ironically.

Before the trip, some who follow me on social media Will know Claire fell and broke her brand new bike. She felt terrible, but I was more proud that she tried to do something aggressive. This time it didn't work out. It happens. The manufacturer offers discounts for new frames when you broke yours in a crash. It was still going to cost $3000+ for a new frame - about what the bike cost new. I was not impressed. It would also take months to get it.

Now, I have a nasty habit of thinking I can do or fix anything. Call it Engineer's Syndrome. Still...

PotHdnq.jpeg


One day this mindset is going to come back to haunt me. Today is not that day.
 
chansen said:
Now, I have a nasty habit of thinking I can do or fix anything. Call it Engineer's Syndrome.
Click to expand...

The Vacation Bible Camp crew could have done with your help yesterday. Two women, neither particularly handy (her hubby was supposed to come help but decided to invite friends over for drinks instead), a hammer and nails and some totally inadequate (not duct) tape, and a stapler (my staple gun was "safely at home", I guess), three pieces of wood (well, we had a little assortment to choose from), a "found" baby change table, a generous amount of cardboard, and a bagful of crap from the buck store, and we've got a set for a treasure island skit to construct. We managed, thanks to the fact that K has a reasonably strong and accurate arm on a hammer, and I can add logic to a situation (K, wouldn't it be easier to prop this and hammer straight down instead of lying on your side trying to nail sideways?). Tomorrow, I am going armed with duct tape and the staple gun, in case there's some deterioration during the week.
 
chansen said:
Now, I have a nasty habit of thinking I can do or fix anything. Call it Engineer's Syndrome. Still...
Click to expand...
LOL. Maybe it's limited to civil and mechanical engineers or something. I can't really see Little M (he's now officially a computer engineer) doing that except to some kind of IT hardware. He did used to reflash cheap Chinese Android phones with stock Android but that's about as close as he has come. Right now, though, I think he is packing a second hand iPhone (for which I have not disowned him but was tempted:ROFLMAO:).

Anyhow. Claire is lucky to have a Dad who can do stuff like that. My mechanical skills are rather limited, even where something fairly simple like a bike is concerned. Seems wild to think she is into teenager-dom and could even be driving in another year. Sounds like she was raised well. ;)

So we just ordered a new bed and I swear it ended up getting more complicated than buying the new car. We'll get it sooner, though. It's delayed to August but only because we plan to be away for a couple weeks right at the time when they first had delivery slots open.
 
chansen said:
Claire fell and broke her brand new bike. She felt terrible, but I was more proud that she tried to do something aggressive
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That sucks. It's also great she's willing to take risks. That attitude will serve her well in life

chansen said:
Now, I have a nasty habit of thinking I can do or fix anything. Call it Engineer's Syndrome. Still...
Click to expand...

Most engineers I've known were the kids who tore things apart and MAYBE put them back together again.

Claire is lucky to have you as a dad. Even if you don't actually fix things, you're giving her great stories to tell later.
 
My civil-engineering-type daughter is a bit that way inclined. It was rather awesome watching her trim a mini-sim card from an Android phone to a micro-sim for an iPhone. Luckily, she's got her Dad's long slim fingers as opposed to my short sturdy ones.
 
BetteTheRed said:
The Vacation Bible Camp crew could have done with your help yesterday. Two women, neither particularly handy (her hubby was supposed to come help but decided to invite friends over for drinks instead), a hammer and nails and some totally inadequate (not duct) tape, and a stapler (my staple gun was "safely at home", I guess), three pieces of wood (well, we had a little assortment to choose from), a "found" baby change table, a generous amount of cardboard, and a bagful of crap from the buck store, and we've got a set for a treasure island skit to construct. We managed, thanks to the fact that K has a reasonably strong and accurate arm on a hammer, and I can add logic to a situation (K, wouldn't it be easier to prop this and hammer straight down instead of lying on your side trying to nail sideways?). Tomorrow, I am going armed with duct tape and the staple gun, in case there's some deterioration during the week.
Click to expand...
Duct tape AND staple gun? You could build a raft to get OFF the island with those tools.
 
Northwind said:
Claire is lucky to have you as a dad. Even if you don't actually fix things, you're giving her great stories to tell later.
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I can't fix everything, but sometimes I surprise even myself.

I'm at the stage in life where I've done a lot of things, and I can research what I don't know and apply what I do know to the problem. I teach Claire things along the way. The family joke is that boys her age will be intimidated by her. If they get a flat tire on a date, she'll install the spare. I'm not raising a girl that needs to run to a boy to help with stuff. Boys will be asking her for help.
 
Mendalla said:
LOL. Maybe it's limited to civil and mechanical engineers or something. I can't really see Little M (he's now officially a computer engineer) doing that except to some kind of IT hardware. He did used to reflash cheap Chinese Android phones with stock Android but that's about as close as he has come. Right now, though, I think he is packing a second hand iPhone (for which I have not disowned him but was tempted:ROFLMAO:).

Anyhow. Claire is lucky to have a Dad who can do stuff like that. My mechanical skills are rather limited, even where something fairly simple like a bike is concerned. Seems wild to think she is into teenager-dom and could even be driving in another year. Sounds like she was raised well. ;)

So we just ordered a new bed and I swear it ended up getting more complicated than buying the new car. We'll get it sooner, though. It's delayed to August but only because we plan to be away for a couple weeks right at the time when they first had delivery slots open.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Chemguy has been surprisingly handier than I initially thought, but it very much was a surprise. When it comes to O & G field service work there's a joke that the engineers never get their hands dirty - none of the physical work. Something like that is well beyond what I can imagine Chemguy doing. He did rig up rainbarrels to our house sump pump and then after he did more of the garden watering (and a full season of me hauling the water with watering cans) set up an outdoor pump and hoses leading out of the barrels so I can water the boxes easily with the hose and also still fill up watering cans easily. I think that was close to his limit, I cannot see him fixing a bike frame!
 
chansen said:
I can't fix everything, but sometimes I surprise even myself.

I'm at the stage in life where I've done a lot of things, and I can research what I don't know and apply what I do know to the problem. I teach Claire things along the way. The family joke is that boys her age will be intimidated by her. If they get a flat tire on a date, she'll install the spare. I'm not raising a girl that needs to run to a boy to help with stuff. Boys will be asking her for help.
Click to expand...
Knowing how & physically doing are different unfortunately. I was taught how to change a spare tire, specifically before I was driving outside the city so it could be changed on the highway if needed. What my Dad and I quickly figured out though is I would still need to flag someone down for help. In runners I couldn't get most of the lug nuts off, we did retry after my dad got them off and put them back on. In less sensible footwear (my typical choice), not a chance.. We figured I could at least flag down help and know what to do if someone stronger but clueless came around. Maybe I should test that out again sometime, not sure if all vehicles are equally difficult to get them off.
 
The trick to lug nuts: no matter the footwear, jump, hard, on the lug wrench. I got stuck one day on the 401 short of Kingston, had been trying (and crying) over the tightness of the bolts, when a guy pulled up to help me. 85 if he was a day, and he wasn't much physical help, but strategically, he was the bomb.
 
BetteTheRed said:
The trick to lug nuts: no matter the footwear, jump, hard, on the lug wrench. I got stuck one day on the 401 short of Kingston, had been trying (and crying) over the tightness of the bolts, when a guy pulled up to help me. 85 if he was a day, and he wasn't much physical help, but strategically, he was the bomb.
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I was under 100 pounds when I was learning, which didn't help. Now that's not a problem.
 
Good morning all! Porches and porch swings being spruced, well-brung-up offspring, things assembled for children's summer programming, and engineering in all its variegated forms... lots to talk about yesterday. The coffee cart is ready to help continue the flow of words and thoughts on these and other interests. Allis ready, c.mon in.

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I want to know what redundancies were omitted and if they will listen to their engineers. They will never say that.

I worry about switching to Bell right away. I think Bell will be inundated and service will suffer at first. But in the coming months, I will probably switch our home to Bell. We have a good cell plan with Rogers. Having some services with both is the obvious answer to me. I'd love a different option. I don't like either company.
 
Morning, all! From high tech to the proper use of lug wrenches, we do cover a lot of ground. To help us along, the coffee cart is ready to meet your virtual hot beverage needs.

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