Sunny San Diego

Last weekend I went down to San Diego to take the Professional Engineer Examination. The test was long (8 hours on Friday, then 5 hours on Saturday), uncomfortable (plastic folding chairs), and overall was an experience that I hope I never have to do again. But once I made it through the test, I got to hang out with my brother Robby who happens to live in San Diego.

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That's Robby at his house, playing guitar.

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And here's Shannon, Robby's girlfriend.
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Robby and Shannon live at the end of a road that ends because that's where the ocean begins. On Sunday we walked down the cliffs near their house to the Ocean Beach Pier (which you can see in the background of most of the pictures from that walk. Robby says that it's the longest pier on the west coast.)

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Me and Robby, trying not to be blinded by the sun.

.Shannon and Robby, walking near the tide pools.
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A tide pool. I think that I was trying to get a picture of a crab that was hiding between the rocks.
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The ocean.

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Me, splashing barefoot in the water. (Yes, I'm wearing only a t-shirt, no sweater. No, I wasn't cold. It was a lovely break from the rain in Portland.)

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On my trip back to Portland I saw the oddest thing in the San Diego Airport.
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An area in the San Diego Airport, filled with rocking chairs.

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(Oh yeah, one last thing: I won't get the results of my test for 13 weeks, so I can relax until then.)

Big Blue Bone

Sprocket has a variety of toys. Some of them squeak (I did not buy these ones), and some of them have room to hide treats within. But my favorite is Sprocket's big blue bone.

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I think it looks like it should belong to a cartoon dog.
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Sprocket

Yesterday we added a new member to our family at Fiske Cottage.

Meet Sprocket.

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Sprocket comes to us from the Oregon Humane Society. He is a Labrador mix, and is very happy to be joining our home.

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So far Sprocket's favorite activities are following David and I around, and sniffing everything!

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He is 3 months old, and already 25 pounds. He's going to be a big boy!

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Portland Aerial Tram

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Yesterday I went on a tour of the Portland Aerial Tram with the Structural Engineers Association of Oregon (SEAO) Young Members Forum.

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The tram has been open for over 2 years, but this was my first time riding it.

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It makes an average of 170 trips each day, transporting 4,000 people.

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The elevation change from the base station to the upper terminal is 500 ft; the horizontal distance is 3,300 ft.

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In normal conditions the tram travel speed is 22mph, making the trip about 3 minutes.
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The tram project used 1,250 tons of steel and 450 tons of concrete to build.

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The haul cable, which is what makes the tram move, goes through the big wheels, seen above, and connects to the 27 ton counterweight located below the upper terminal.

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The track cables are anchored at both ends. They are not easily adjustable, so the cables are able to sag slightly on hot days, and are more taut on cold days.

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The lower terminal houses the mechanical equipment, which consists of the main drive engine as well as 2 back up drives.
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5 Pairs of Shoes

I realized today that I have 5 pairs of shoes in my cubicle.

Does that mean I'm at work too much?

Atomic Vegetables

Look what we got in our farm box this week:

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Torpedo Onions

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Tomatoes from our garden.

Sock Summit

Last weekend we went to Sock Summit. It was a whole convention just about knitting socks. Lacy and I were going to try to sign up for a class, but all the classes filled up within hours of online registration starting. So we contented ourselves with attending the marketplace, which was full of yarn, knitting needles, and basically any knitting accessory that you can imagine. We both brought our husbands along, to entertain each other and keep track of Mary so that we could focus on the yarn!

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Brianne with a whole-lotta yarn.

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More yarn.

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Lacy, Mary and Brianne.

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David was good-natured enough to pose with yarn.

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