Lately I have been reading things that don't normally interest me: Love, Freedom & Aloneness
Intimacy Trusting Oneself and the Other both by Osho; Power of Positive Thinking, Law of Attraction and Life of a Foreign Service Officer.

What are you reading? Do you ever read books that are against your morals/values?

Lately my reading is mostly work related. I can tell you all sorts of nonsense about epoxies if you would like. I'm looking forward to a long plane ride where I plan on reading The Hunger Games.

I will read things that are outside my personal values if someone else has recommended it to me. For instance, my grandmother sent me The Shack, which is a Christian book on why bad things happen to good people. Not being religious myself, I gave it a try. Ended up giving the book to my mother, who did appreciate it.

I also tried reading a Christian marriage prep book given to us by my future in-laws. There was some useful advice in it, but it was hard to take it seriously after the male writer started going off about how his poor little wife had to be guided quite firmly, as women are such frail creatures that can't think for themselves. No thank you!

Please do! Seriously, I'm an engineer. I love learning about that kind of stuff. And it doesn't get better than glue.



Hopefully your future hubby has not bought that hogwash! Really, you will be in a lot of trouble if he secretly wants a woman "just like mom." You clearly are a professional who thinks for herself. How's it going to work when you in-laws are trying to convince you husband that he needs to make you stay home, make dinner, and take care of the babies according to some outdated ideal based on mythology, unless you also truly want that? Maybe they think you spent all that time in school just so you could be your husband's pet.

Definitely. From globalization to the virtues of coal as a power source, its always interesting to read different perspectives.

I am currently reading PET: Parent Effectiveness Training. It's a little early perhaps - though I know my daughter knows the word "NO" because she cries every time we say it!

I was partway into House of Leaves but I had to return it from the library. It was interesting but long and rambling. I'm not sure if I'm going to pick it back up.

I have tried to read a book or two that was "against my morals" but found them boring. Or maybe my subconscious was protecting me.

I'm currently reading Richard Feynman's memoirs "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". I read it several years ago, and remembered it being very entertaining. It still is.

Most of my leisure reading is history, pretty evenly split between Revolutionary times and the Civil War era, with some other time periods thrown in here and there.

The closest I can get to reading outside my morals/values is reading authors who hold different morals/values than I and let that show in their writing (which I do frequently). Otherwise, its mostly articles.

This had me rolling. I can honestly say I've never heard that before.

Well, engineering is an exciting field, and we engineers are an exciting bunch! It's odd that so many TV shows feature lawyers rather than engineers isn't it.

The sad part is, I have found it necessary several times in my career to study up on adhesives. But I bet as a chemist Kaitlyn is a real expert.

That's because large chunks of air time would have to be devoted to showing us finance guys saying "no" to you engineering guys.

You just think you can say "no." We have ways of making your decisions irrelevant.

Gluing their mouths shut?

That's because you've figured out our modus operandi: Say no first, then negotiate.

Nope. It's because when you say "no" things will just break and you'll have to spend the money anyway, likely far more! Smart finance geeks know better than to challenge the engineers. We always win in the end. Of course there are young engineers that don't understand this and allow themselves to be pushed around...

Actually, I don't have an issue with repair or replacement of stuff. We've been building airplanes for a long time and I fully understand that it takes money to make money. Likewise, I'm good with spending money on safety improvements. But trust me, you guys don't always win. When I'm told that that a project will save us thousands of manhours, I ask what jobs can be eliminated because of it and then tell them that their future budgets will be predicted on their savings forecast. It's amazing how many projects wind up being withdrawn when I do that.

Oh, and it's not a matter of winning. It's a matter of ensuring that when we spend money, we get a reasonable chance of a good ROI. When you're doing R&D, you have to take a lot of risks, especially when you're doing something no one else has ever done before. But when you're on a mature program, it's all about getting leaner, especially as the program nears the end of its life.

Ah, so you must be one of those smart finance guys.



Yes, I completely agree. I've been in senior management and have been in the position of putting the squeeze on the engineers. I'm just sparring with you.

Ironically, since you mentioned building airplanes, when I was in senior management I reported directly to our CEO who was a former SVP for the Boeing company. Assuming that's the airplane company you are referring to, I got a good indoctrination to their way of thinking. (Though this was several years ago when, I am told, the Mcdonnell Douglas management philosophy was spreading through the company so things may have changed.)

I'll tell you from experience, I have a lot more freedom as an engineer/engineering manager than I did in senior management. I also work far fewer hours, travel much less, and get paid about the same. I'll take being an engineer most days!