My iPod got stolen off my cubicle desk at work today. It happened during lunch sometime. And I'm sure that's how it went down, because as I was leaving to go buy lunch, the iPod caught my eye, and I debated for a moment whether to plug it in to charge while I was gone. It was as if it blipped into my aware & conscious thoughts for just a moment, like a wink goodbye before it got taken.

Geez, the day before Christmas Eve, too. And I guess it's even more distressing, cuz I'm 99% sure it was someone I work with. We have to badge in to unlock the doors to the building, and surely some outsider would have been noticed if they'd made their way in. I dunno- while I'm certainly upset over the loss of my iPod, I know it would only sow more discontent around the office if I start throwing around accusations. And, I mean, you never wanna think the ppl you work around day in & day out are capable of that, ya know? And it's crazy, because I've left cash and my entire wallet out on the desk before, and nothing happened. Well, I know better now. =/

I dunno, times are getting harder than I thought, I guess. I joked that "someone's kid is gonna have a VERY merry Christmas this year!" And it's ridiculous, because the iPod charger was right next to the iPod, but the thief didn't think to take that too. (Idiot.)

So I took the PE (Professional Engineers exam) back near the end of October. I took the Mechanical (Machine Design) test. It was another one of those godawful 8-hour tests. I finally DID manage to get my butt into gear and hardcore study for the last 2 or 3 weeks before the exam. I went through some review DVD's and made a notebook of formulas, and I worked a practice test. I still felt like I could've done with a lot more studying though.

And also, the night before, I had to make an appearance at a co-worker's going-away party too, where I tried "real" absinthe for the first time. >_< (It was overrated.) I didn't stick around too late though, cuz I had to wake up early to drive to the test site on the other side of town.

Anyways, so I started getting intimidated when I got there that morning and there were ppl hauling in literally crates and full-size suitcases full of textbooks into the exam room. I'd only brought a pitiful little sack's-worth. And of course there's the talk that some ppl have taken it like 5+ times and STILL couldn't pass it.

But yea, seriously, that was one hell of a hard test! I only really knew how to do half of it or so and was largely just guessing on the rest. I dunno though, after it all, I'm not sure hauling in that many textbooks woulda helped anyways- like MOST problems, everything you needed was in the handbook they give you for the FE (prerequisite) exam. Bringing in every book from my undergrad miiiiighta helped me get an extra on or two problems only. Walked out of the room feeling pretty drained. I guess all you can hope for is that everyone was in the same boat, but that you did better than everyone else in the room.

Months later, still no word yet about the results of the PE exam. =/ I'm super nervous about it. I've had 2 dreams about it in one week alone- both good dreams though... I dunno though- usually I have bad dreams and end up doing well; so I'm a little afraid that the GOOD dream this time means I did bad. =X

*I PASSED!!! =D

Transitive Property in Arguments. Maybe it's very engineer-like of me, but I've realized that when I'm arguing a point, I tend to construct my logical arguments according to a pretty predictable pattern. The most commonly employed tactic I use is to use analogies. In trying to make a point, I liken situations to others. In trying to prove that items A & D are similar, I like to say: If A=B and C=D, then if B=C, A=D also.

I dunno, maybe revealing all this is some kind of huge strategic flaw on my part (towards future arguments), but I just recently realized that I do this and was quite amused to see the underlying logic that my subconscious works by.