It's Official!

I passed the FE!!! On the afternoon 22nd I got an email that said that I could log on to the NCEES site and check my results.  So I tried but their site wasn't working. Probably because everyone was getting on to see if they passed.  So I ended up finally getting on around 10pm that night and found out that I passed and that was one of the best Christmas presents that I received this year.  It feels so great to know that I don't have to take that test again.

The FE Exam

The Fundamentals of Engineering Exam was this last weekend and I had lots of support for which I am grateful for.  I decided I would let everyone know how the test went.

So Saturday morning I got up at 6:00am and got ready for the day and then left my hotel around 6:40am and walked the few blocks to the Salt Palace where the test was held.  When I got there the test was held in the Grand Ballroom so it was easy to find, last time i took the test it was hidden away in a back corner.  So check in started at 7:15am and this is were the really fun begins.  You are not allowed to have your cell phone, writing tools, or anything that is not in a clear container.  So around 7:45am the instructions are started and at 8:00am the test begins.  Once the test is started you have 120 questions to answer in 4 hours.  The subjects covered range between Mathematics, Probability and Statistics, Statics, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Electronics, Material Science, Chemistry, Engineering Economics, and Engineering Ethics.  I finished this part of the test about 15 minutes before it ended.  I felt like the test was way easier than it was last time I took it and that I didn't guess on nearly as many as I had before.  I hope that this was because I had done so much studying.

I then had an hour break and had to be back at 1:00pm for check-in for the second half of the test.  Instructions started at 1:15pm and the test started at 1:30pm.  This part of the test was 60 questions in 4 hours.  This part of the test actually has a few different tests that you can choose from.  You can choose between, Civil based, Electrical based, Mechanical based, Chemistry based, Environmental based, Industrial based, or the general test.  With the degree that I am getting from SUU I took the general test.  This test covers basically the same areas that the first part does but it is more advanced subjects.  So it covers Mathematics, Probability and Statistics, Statics, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Electronics, Material Science, Biology.  I felt really good about this part of the test just like in the first part.  I did struggle with some of the partial integrations and derivatives, and didn't really have a clue on the biology questions.  Yet I still felt like I guessed on only a small amount of the questions.  I did finish this section about an hour early which was around 4:40pm but I don't think that I rushed at all.

So you can see that I had a long Saturday.  I did get a few surprises after the test which were nice.  My parents got me a new book. They got me R. A. Salvatore's new book Gauntlgrym and Karen got me the movie "How To Train Your Dragon."  So that was my test day!

Thinking of Greatness

I often wonder about some of the great structures of the past and how they were built.  I wonder about stone castles, the Great Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and many other wondrous structures.  Some of these structures would be a great undertaking in our day and age so how great was it to those builders who didn't have the capabilities that we have.  I sometimes think that with our modern abilities of mass production and the uniform ease that concrete, along with other things, has provided us we have forgotten some of the basics of creating structures that was used on some of these wonders of the world.

Now I don't think that we will ever get back to creating structures that way because it would be to slow, cost way too much money, and we create much stronger and safer structures now.  I just think that we do not create buildings like the Colosseum any more.  Now we do create amazing structures like the Millau Bridge in France which almost seems to be flying. 

As I am getting close to graduating I have been thinking about what I am going to do with my life and where I want to work and what I would like to do.  I have always grown up thinking that I would just work for Interstate Rock designing roads, but lately I have come to realize that I want to do something great. Now some may say that I am being prideful in a way to want to design/build something wondrous but I don't think that I am because I don't want to do it so that I can say look what I did.  I want to do it because I have read a lot of books that have inspired my mind and have caused me to wonder if I could do something great and I believe that I could and would like to try.

I have decided that I want to go to grad school and have picked 4 schools to apply to and I am thinking of going to structural engineering.  The schools that I have picked are: Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, Utah State University, and University of Washington.  My top choice is Mines and the UW with CSU followed by USU.  Right now I am trying to finish all of my applications and get my letters of recommendation. I also am studying for the FE exam that I have to take on Saturday. I am really nervous for this test because I have to pass to graduate.  I also will be taking the GRE next month which will cause some stress as well.

Maybe someday I will design something great like: 

O&M Manuals

So for the last few weeks at work I have been working on creating the Operation and Maintenance Manuals for one of our jobs.  It has been quite the experience for me.  I will have to create manuals for 11 sections. I have been working one Section I which ended up being two 2" binders.  After I finished the manual I had to make 4 copies.  It was one of the most tedious jobs that I have had to do.  I really wish that there was a better way to make copies than just using a copy machine.  I have spent a few days just making copies and putting them into binders.

Bid Day

So earlier this week we had a really big bid day.  We had two bids due and I was helping with the one for the high school.  It was lots of work and I worked 'til 9:30pm the night before and then went back to work at 6:00am so that I could get everything done that I needed to do.  Also all morning I was doing whatever I need to help with to finish everything up.  In the office everyone was running around like we were an anthill that had be kicked.  It was probably the first time that I had really been involved in the bidding process on a big job.  It was an eye opener to a different type of engineering that I knew existed but had never really seen.  It was a lot of work but kind of exciting.

New Direction

So I have decided to write about my daily experiences with school and work.  I am in my last semester of college and only have three classes that I am taking.  I am taking Manufacturing and Nutrition at SUU three days a week and then I am taking Programming at Dixie State on Thursday night.  I am working really hard to pass all of these classes.

I am also working full-time for Interstate Rock in there engineering department.  This week we are really busy with bids.  We have four jobs bid on Tuesday so it is really crazy at work.  I am helping with take-offs and anything else that needs to be done right now.  Normally I am doing AsBuild drawing and keeping track of extra items on our SR-9 roadway job.

All of this is really keeping me busy and I do not have lots of free time.  But I hopefully will be able to write and share my life challenges and victories.

Fablehaven completed... Finally

I finally finished the last two books in the Fablehaven series.  It took me so long to finally finish them because I didn't have access to them and I couldn't buy them on strict orders from my wife.  But I have finally finished them and here is my thought about these two books.

First, for Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary I must talk about how surprised I was with how the book panned out.  I was not expecting the twists and turns that Mull put into this part of his series.  For those of you who know me know that I am obsessed with dragons and so with the picture of a hydra on the front cover I was skeptical about how he was going to describe his dragons.  I was very pleased with his new take on dragons and not just sticking with the main view of dragons.  I like that his dragons at Wyrmroost coming in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and abilities.  I enjoyed the plot and the storyline of this book.  I give the plot 4 out of 5.  The book is very easy to read and I found that I flew right through it with no trouble with the vocabulary or the writing style so I give it a 3.5 out of 5 on readability because there were a few spots that just seemed like the way it was written distracted from the overall story. For enjoyment it gets a 3.5 out of 5 because it was really fun to read but it just didn't suck me into it the story. So overall this book gets a 3.67 out of 5.

Now for the final installment of the Fablehaven series I read Keys to the Demon Prison which continued with the great plot line started in book 4 and just continued to excite and thrill me.  Throughout the book I kept waiting for two things to happen. 1) when Seth would use his tower and leviathan figures and 2) when Kendra would restore the astrids.  Seth never used his figurines which was a let down for me but the restored astrids more than made up for it.  I was trying to figure out who was on the front cover and what was the importance and I didn't realize it until I finished the book and looked at the cover again which made things all fall into place for me.  I didn't really like the way that this book ended.  With this being the final book I wanted a good conclusion to the story.  I felt like things didn't get wrapped up and Mull left it open for another book. So for plot I will give it a 3.5 out of 5.  For readability it gets 4 out of 5 since it was a great read and I had no problems reading and understanding what was going on.  For entertainment it gets 4.5 out of 5.  I was sucked into the story as I read this book.  I just couldn't stop reading it.  I tried to find time all the time and I stayed up late, it truly had me intrigued. So overall this book gets 4 out of 5.

Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague

This book was better than its predecessor but not quite as good as Fablehaven.  I give it a 4 out of 5 for enjoyment.  It kept me very entertained.  It gets a 3 out of 5 for plot.  The plot was somewhat predictable but it did have some unexpected twists and turns.  The adventures that the characters went through made me feel for them and cheer them on as they battled that hardships that faced them.  The readability was good.  It doesn't use any hard vocabulary other than names.  It was well written and I didn't struggle as I read this book.  I gave it a 4 out of 5.  So overall it gets a 3.67 out of 5.

Books

So I looking for a good book list and couldn't find one so I decided to make my own.  I am going to review all the books that I read.  To start out I will start with Fablehaven and Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star.  I finished these books this week and am going to rate these books in three categories: readability, plot, and enjoyment.

Fablehaven. I give it 4 out of 5 on readability, 3.5 out of 5 on plot, and 4 out of 5 on enjoyment. Giving it an overall average of 3.83 out of 5.  The plot is good but a little predictable.  I really enjoyed this book and was excited to read the sequals. 

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star.  I will give this book a 4 out of 5 for readability. It was very easy to get through.  2.5 out of 5 for plot.  It has a very slow start and was hard for me to get into even though I started it right after I finished Fablehaven. 3.5 out of 5 for enjoyment.  I liked this book once things got going in the story but it took a few chapters for it to pick up.  An overall score of 3.33 of of 5.

I am reading Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague now and will give a review on it when I am done. If there is a book any of you would like to suggest I am open to all types of books so just let me know.  Here are a few of the books I intend to tackle in the next little while.

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
Frozen Fire
The Four Feathers
Peter Pan
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Secret Garden
The Odyssey
The World and the Prophets
The Ghost King



There are so many others that I want to read also but this is a good list for me right now. Thanks I hope that you all enjoy the reviews :)

Life

To follow my wife's expamle I will post some letters:

Dear Body,
Stop getting sick. It is getting really old.

Dear Karen,
Your welcome. I'll clean the kitchen anytime you need me too.  I just wish I could do more for you.  It always seems like I am busy with work or homework and can't help you out. For that I am sorry.

Dear Finacial Aide,
Where is my fafsa grant? Or do I need to wait for another week?

Dear SUU,
I quit.

Dear Books,
Go away! Stop coming out! I have to much to do and don't have time to read all of you.

Dear Hero,
You have always been a good truck what has happened this last little while? Why are you dying?

Dear Jibson Family,
I am glad to be apart of your family. I am exicted for Christmas.

Dear Weather,
I hate you.  It is not time to be cold and snowy yet.

Dear Brothers,
I miss you guys.

Dinner

I wrote this and never posted it so I am posting it now even though it was like a month ago when I wrote it.

On Monday Karen made dinner for me and Alli. She made roasted chicken and bell peppers which was really good. So I told her that I would make dinner on Wednesday. So as Wednesday came I still had no idea of what to make for dinner. I had looked through the stack of cook books we have in our cupboard and still hadn't come up with anything. We I saw something that looked good I would then find out it was something Karen doesn't like. I finally found something when I went to my parents house before work Wednesday morning. I found a recipe for Mexican Chicken and Rice. It turned out really good. Karen and Alli liked it and I thought it was good too.

Pain...

So on the weekend I have been going up to Kolob to work. I have been working in a metal pipe that has a couple inches of concrete as lining. I have been working with my brother-in-law Scott and we have been grouting the inside joints of the pipe. The pipe is 30" diameter pipe. Just big enough that I can turn around in it. This last week we did 11 joints on the steepest part of the pipe line. I did not think it was going to be as tough as it turned out to be. My job is to take care of all the materials we need and to mix the grout. So I tied the box we had are stuff in to my waist so that I could keep it from going down the pipe. It was heavy enough that it was pulling me down the pipe and to stop that I had to try and wedge myself is suck a way that I wouldn't move and still be able to mix grout for Scott. After we got done I had a bruise and rash around my hips from the rope. and I did something to my knee, elbow and shoulder. My knee and elbow don't hurt too much anymore but my shoulder is killing me. I am not sure what I did to it but I really wish I hadn't done it.

Also while up at the mountian my truck decided to crap out. It started shuttering. It seemed like it was either missfiring or the transmission was kicking in and out of gear. So I went down the hurricane way just in case it died completely. I left it at my parents house and took my mom's car back to cedar. Then my mom took it to a mechanic and they finally called me back today. It seems I have a water leak somewhere and it is leaking in such a way that it is causing the injector coils and sparkplugs to short out. It is a $500 dollar fix. That is way expensive. Right now Karen and I don't have enough money to pay for that. We are still trying to pay for school. I don't know what to do. The mechanic cleaned out the area and then tried to seal the coils and plugs but it is just a temperary fix and who knows how long it will work. In the last two months I have had my truck in the shop 3 times now. It seems to have started to fall apart. :(

New Stuff :)

So we are almost done going through everything we got at the wedding and it is nice to have new stuff. We got lots of things we really needed... and some stuff we didn't. We are now in the try to return everything we got more than one of or just don't need. It is a pain because lots of stuff we need to return doesn't have gift receipts so we will be lugging everything around to all the main stores like walmart and target in effort to find out were it came from and hope that it can be returned.


We registered for some poka-doted dishes that Karen loved and we ended getting some and we used them for the first time yesterday at a birthday dinner for one of our friends. For this dinner we made enchalad's and Karen used another gift to make cake. We got a Kitchen Aid.

Karen loves her new Kitchen Aid so much.

We are having lot of fun since getting married. Yet there has been so much to do. We are working on insurance and getting everything taken care of with Karen changing her name. We have had to start school and so now we have all are school work to do along with work so we are pretty busy right now and at times I feel like I have way too much to do. Things are starting to fall into a routine so that is good. :)

It's about time!

I have been a slacker and not written anything in so long. I have been really busy with the wedding and work. Now that Karen and I are married and school started this last Monday things will hopefully get in to some sort of routine. I am working in the mornings and will be leaving the house at 6:00am so I can get to work. I am taking Heat Transfer, Probability & Statistics, Structural Analysis, Electronics, and Senior Design. It is 18 credits so it is going to be a tough semester. Also I am wanting to take the FE exam this October as well but i may wait 'til April. So school is busy.

Karen and I are trying to go through all of the gifts we got and decide what we want and what to return. We got through most of it last night. On Saturday we will be going around everywhere to return everything. That will be lots of fun...

Right now I am sitting in my electronics class waiting for class to start and all i can think is I wish I had studied harder and passed this class last year :( but it looks like it is going to be a typical engineering class and only have about 10-15 people. I am the only person retaking it and that makes me feel really stupid...

Books....

So I have lots of books. And there are a lot of new books that I want. My birthday is coming up and Karen asked what books I wanted and gave her a list. Later we were talking about my books and I happened to tell her that that I hadn't read some of them. She then told me I couldn't get any new books until I had read all of the books I own. So I counted all of the books in the bookshelf in our living room and got 19 books. And then there are a bunch in our boxes that I haven't read yet also so I have lots of reading to do. I agree I should read the books that I already own but new books come out all the time which I always want to read. I am now reading some of them. I am starting the Cleric Quintet By R. A. Salvatore. Then I will be starting the Olympians series so that will get about 10 books finished. Do love reading and am happy to be reading. It gives me something to do while I am away from Karen during the week. So in a while if you know of any good books I may be needed some to read. :)

Nightmares

So this morning around 5:30 am Karen calls me and I was way confused because I couldn't figure out why my phone was going off. I finally woke up enough to realize that she was calling I answered my phone to find out that she had had a bad dream. She was scared and alone so she called me. I felt so bad for her because I know that whenever I have a bad dream you just want some human interaction. I tried to help her calm down so that maybe she could go back to sleep. I don't know what her dream had been about but I know that nightmares are awful. I usually don't remember any of my dreams but I have had a few nightmares and they are not pleasant. They usually involve me being alone and raptors chasing me in the dark or atleast my mind tells me that they are raptors I never really what is chasing me but I am getting chased by something and it is always raptors I'm sure of it. I am pretty sure that everyone has had a nightmare or two before and it nothing to be ashamed over because there is nothing we can do when we are sleeping. So what are some of your nightmares?

Work...

So I have started working full time again and it is nice to be earning money again. I was working at Lake Mead and doing draft/design work in the evenings and on the weekends for a couple of weeks. I am working on an irrigation system design for Temple Bar Marina. At Lake Mead I was operating a loader at Callville Bay Marina. We are dredging out some areas around the marina and working on extending the boat ramp. Because it is two hours away we stay down there all week and come home on the weekends and that was pretty tough to be away from Karen all week. We did call and talk to each other every day but it still was really hard. We lucked out and she didn’t have to work at all on a Friday so we planned on hanging out and doing some stuff in St. George that we have needed to get done and then go up to the mountain with some of our friends and stay at the cabin.

Lately I have just been working in Hurricane at the office just doing the drafting. I am basically finished with the Irrigation design. I have been working on it mostly for the last two weeks but I also helped do so take-offs for some bids we had going out. I really enjoy doing the take-offs. They don’t get mundane like the long projects get.

With being in Hurricane it has made it so I get to see Karen more often. I drive up there in the evenings when she isn’t working and spend some time with her. We went to Transformers yesterday and I really enjoyed it but Karen didn’t like it as much. The only thing I really didn’t like was that it seemed to be more focused on the people than the Transformers and I would have liked to see more character development of the transformers and actually get to meet the new Transformers.

It also has been nice to be able to hang out with my friends after work. I played with Brandon, Marie, and Skyler the other day and that was a lot of fun. We stayed out to late since we all had work in the morning. I hadn’t seen Skyler since school got out over a month ago.

I will try to be a better blogger but I make no promises.

Disneyland

For Easter weekend I ended up taking Karen to Disneyland with some of our friends. It was so much fun. I was going to pick up Karen's ring on Friday but we decided leave on Thursday. I really wanted to have her ring when I proposed to her so I went in to Kay Jewelers on Wednesday and asked if it would be here on Thursday and they said it would. I Then had Brandon pick it up for me and made up some excuse to stop at his house on our way out of town. I didn't tell Karen that I had the ring and it was really hard for me to keep that secret. So on Friday we went to California Adventure and spent all day there. Then on Saturday we spent the whole day in Disneyland!! It was so much fun. We were able to ride most of the rides before it got really busy so that was great. In the late afternoon after we had just got out of the Tiki Room we walked over in front of the castle on our way to the other side of the park and that is when I proposed.



It was really weird to have everyone stop and form a semi-circle around us and then start clapping. But it was great to surprise Karen with her ring and to be able to propose somewhere fun. Disneyland was so great but it was even better to be there with Karen. Here are some pictures from the trip.

The Happy News!!

So it is official, Karen and I are getting married!! I am so excited. I have given her my mom's old wedding ring that my parents gave me when my dad got my mom a new one. She is just wearing that one until I pick up her ring. She has one picked out and we are going this afternoon to get it. It has been a very exciting week for me. I have asked Brandon Staples, Mike DeMille, and Brandon Maxfield to be my groomsmen. Also I called the Denver Temple and set up our appointment and that really made me excited. We have the Temple at 10:00 am on Saturday August 15th.

We are really excited and very happy. Yesterday we also signed the lease to an apartment that we will be staying at. We rented it for May so Karen can live there during the summer. We are very happy about it. There will be more info as it happens.

Spring Break Tour

So this last week was my spring break and I spent all of it touring with the ballroom dance company. We had some fun times and there was some not so fun times. I enjoyed performing and getting spend time with my friends on team but the driving was tough and I didn't like how some team members would not help with loading and unloading the trailer. But I guess there sometimes just isn't enough stuff to do for everyone to be working. It just seemed like the same people did all the work. The worst part of the whole trip was the drive back from Page, AZ. After the show was done we had to pack up before we could leave. I think we left at around 11:45 pm Utah time and got home around 2:30 am. It was a really long drive. I drove the entire time but my truck was pulling the trailer and I don't know if anyone else has had much experience pulling a trailer so I really didn't have a relief driver.

I really like being able to spend time with Karen, she was in my truck the whole time, even if she slept most of the time. We had some good times with everyone that was in my truck. I really tried to make the best of taking my truck since I really wasn't planning on taking it and just kind of ended up driving because we didn't have anything else that could pull the trailer. I am happy to be home and glad that I will be able to get some well needed sleep.