Spring is Here!

Some weekends are busier than others…

On Friday I talked to a group of very energetic 5th graders about structural engineering, amazingly, none of them nodded off. Then they built structures using gumdrops and spaghetti. The object was to build the most efficient tower, which is the ratio of height to cost. Gumdrops cost $1.00, and spaghetti $0.50, because as most structural engineers (and even some architects) know, connections are always more important than beams and columns. The winning team scored a 0.84 which is very, very good.

Saturday afternoon I was part of a record setting crowd of almost 18,000 Buff fans who turned out for the annual spring football game, pitting the Black Team from the University of Colorado vs. the Gold Team from the University of Colorado. This is a very clever trick that all college football coaches use because it ensures that no matter what, your team always wins the spring game…

CU Spring Game

The Buffs unveiled their new no-huddle offense, which is all the rage these days in college football. They moved the ball okay, but they still struggled with the running game. The defense gave up some passing yards and I think that might be a real problem during the upcoming season. Special teams had two blocked punts and one blocked field goal attempt, that’s a good news – bad news sort of thing. You like to see your team make those kinds of plays, but you hate to see your team give up those kinds of plays.

For me the highlight of the day was during halftime, when former players from the 1940’s through the 2000’s were introduced and brought on to the field. Colorado is one of the top 25 “winningest” programs in college football history,

I-A Winning Percentage 1869-2007

and to see these legends back on Folsom Field was a thrill. When these men all gathered together at midfield and sang the school fight song, well, it raised goose bumps on the outside of me, and stirred something very deep inside of me. They left the field to a standing ovation. Phew, what a moment!

The most exciting play of the day was made by newcomer Ralphie V, the Buffs latest mascot. Ralphie V is an 18 month old American Bison who is very quick. When she led the Buffs onto the field after halftime, she took off in a hurry, causing one of her handlers to fall. She ran right over the top of him, I couldn’t tell from my vantage point if she stepped on the handler or not, but after she passed he rose to his knees and threw his fists into the air. Sometimes the toughest guys on the field aren’t necessarily the ones wearing helmets and shoulder pads.

By the time Ralphie had made it to the far sideline, she had broken free from all but one of her handlers, and this poor guy was hanging on for dear life. The handlers finally got her cornered on about the 40 yard line on the west side of the stadium, and she made the rest of her trip around the field without incident. (Note to Reader: I scoured the Internet looking for a video of this exciting run, but was unsuccessful...)

Ralphie V may slow down a bit by the start of next season, since she is expected to gain 500 or so more pounds by then. If I was CSU, or Eastern Washington or West Virginia or Texas or Kansas State or Iowa State or Oklahoma State, I would be very concerned...

Sunday I took a snorkeling lesson. It was the class of Larry’s – a retired couple and their grandson, and me. Grandpa’s name is Lawrence, and his grandson’s name is Larry. Larry, his parents and grandparents are heading to Cozumel in June to celebrate Larry’s graduation from high school. Lawrence is a retired fire-fighter and is in excellent condition, he is also a heckuva nice guy.

The four of us, along with our instructor Dennis, watched a short video and then headed to the pool at

Underwater Phantaseas

our local suburban dive shop.

The first thing we learned was how to adjust and put on our gear. As you can see from the photo at the top of this blog, I had already been working on that. It was important to me not to look like some kind of goofball…

Grandson Larry was clearly the star of the class, quickly mastering the pike dive and efficiently cleaning the bottom of the pool of all of the rubber fish. I did manage to snag one fake manta ray off the bottom, but it took a couple of attempts.

I earned the snorkeling equivalent of a gold star for my version of the “giant stride” step off move, which is what you’re supposed to use when leaving a diving platform from a boat.

Once I got used to breathing through the snorkel I found I could easily move through the water, and my only concern was crashing into the pool wall, which fortunately never happened.

Not bad for a slightly uncoordinated dork with two left feet…

Indulgence

For those of you that don’t have to spend time with engineers, consider yourself very, very fortunate. For those of you that do spend time with engineers, you have my deepest and most sincere apologies…

As many of you know, I'm a Structural Engineer. Structural Engineering is a specialty within Civil Engineering and I describe it as "figuring out how to keep buildings from falling down, and figuring out what happened when they do fall down." Others have more eloquently described Structural Engineering thusly:

“Structural Engineering is the art of modeling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyze so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."

That definition is a little tongue-in-cheek, but there is also some truth in it.

My personal definition of Structural Engineering centers on two basic fundamentals:

Newton’s First Law:

A body at rest remains at rest, unless acted upon by an external force (kinda sounds like me during football season).

Newton’s Third Law:

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (push forward against your desk and your chair rolls backwards)

These simple definitions have worked well for me in 27 years of structural engineering practice. I have been fortunate enough to perform design work on structures all over the United States (some of which you may have visited at one time or another), to conduct condition assessments of buildings after some horrible disasters (Hurricane Andrew and the Oklahoma City bombing), and to preserve some nationally significant historic buildings. I also have been fortunate enough to work with several very talented and outstanding people, some of whom are readers of this blog.

So far, during the course of my career, I have cumulatively spent over one year away from home on business, assessing buildings or visiting construction sites. My family has always been patient and understanding, and I am so grateful for that. Thank-you S and C and K.

Today I found out that, after a semi-rigorous evaluation process, I have become a Board Certified Structural Engineer. I am only the 12th Structural Engineer in my home state to attain this certification, and one of about 1000 Structural Engineers nation-wide.

I’m a lucky man, indeed!