It struck me today as I was walking to school that Kevin and I answer the same questions over and over again. On the off chance you haven't met us yet, you can come here to find the answers to the questions.
1. Wait, you guys had the same last name before you were married? So, is there . . . any relation? You guys have checked, right?
Answer: Yes, we had the same last name, yes we're distantly related, no, I don't think dating or marrying your third cousin once removed from another wife is all that weird or gross. People have told me about siblings marrying fourth cousins without realizing it until they were already married, so at least we got the hint beforehand. I'm not too worried about it until our kids start coming out with extra ears or missing fingers.
(as a side note, when girls who are recently married find this out, their response is usually like "oh! you're so lucky you didn't have to change your social security/driver's license.")
2. Oh! You're both electrical engineers! Can you fix my ____ (fill in the blank with toaster, oven, computer, lights, camera . . .) ?
Answer: Two fun facts. One: most modern stuff isn't made to be fixed. It's made to be thrown away and replaced. It's cheaper. Two: you're thinking of electricians, not electrical engineers. I can derive Maxwell's equations and probably do a z-transform or two, but as soon as I have to handle wires and circuits I'm a dunce.
3. You're an electrical engineer! Is your dad so happy?
Answer: If he is, he hasn't told me yet. (Okay, so I'm sure he's happy, but he's not the reason I went into it. All the exposure to engineering he gave me helped but I think it was a couple things my mom said that convinced me to give it a try.)
4. You're both electrical engineers! You must be so smart!
Answer: Thanks. It's nice to hear compliments like this but at the same time I'm a bit troubled. If I were doing elementary education or family life, would I not be smart? I've known plenty of extremely intelligent people in both majors, yet I doubt they hear this compliment when they share their major.
Okay, so now you know what questions I don't like to be asked. (I admit the last one was a comment, but I still don't like it.) Now you are free to ask me other (more interesting) questions such as, "What color is your toothbrush?" or "Given the choice between flying a kite and eating a marshmallow, which would you choose?" or even "Do you know what the weather's supposed to be like tomorrow?"
Yes, I think conversations would be a lot more fun with those sorts of infrequently asked questions.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
So, I've become one of those people who talks a lot about sports. It's become one of my favorite conversation topics (quickly catching up to weather), and scarcely a day goes by without me checking espn.com.
How on earth did this happen? How did the little girl who has never participated in any kind of organized sports (not even soccer) and rolled her eyes whenever anyone watched sports on TV suddenly know about how all the teams in the Mountain West Conference?
I guess that's what college does to a person. That and marriage (though Kevin's not really a sports buff either, so I can't really blame him).
I think I've figured out what it is about sports that has me intrigued. Sure it's awesome that Jimmer can score from 40 feet away, but in all honesty, I don't even watch the games. (We don't even own a TV, which has probably improved our marriage substantially.) I just watch the scores. I've figured out that games are not isolated events, and that how one team does in a conference affects how the other teams do. When a team loses to a "bad" team, it hurts a lot more than when it loses to a "good" team. When the teams ahead of you lose, you'll probably go up. And . . . that's basically how sports works.
It's simple logic, and there's not really all that much math. But nevertheless it's intriguing to see how the dice will fall each week. Will Jimmer explode or will the Cougars have 30% shooting? Will Duke stay higher in the rankings despite their losses because they're more respected? What will the implications be if BYU gets a #3 seed instead of a #2 seed?
It's a mix of athletics, statistics, probability, politics, and economics that has me just interested enough to keep on watching. And clearly, it's got a lot of other people hooked too. Thank goodness we don't own a TV.
How on earth did this happen? How did the little girl who has never participated in any kind of organized sports (not even soccer) and rolled her eyes whenever anyone watched sports on TV suddenly know about how all the teams in the Mountain West Conference?
I guess that's what college does to a person. That and marriage (though Kevin's not really a sports buff either, so I can't really blame him).
I think I've figured out what it is about sports that has me intrigued. Sure it's awesome that Jimmer can score from 40 feet away, but in all honesty, I don't even watch the games. (We don't even own a TV, which has probably improved our marriage substantially.) I just watch the scores. I've figured out that games are not isolated events, and that how one team does in a conference affects how the other teams do. When a team loses to a "bad" team, it hurts a lot more than when it loses to a "good" team. When the teams ahead of you lose, you'll probably go up. And . . . that's basically how sports works.
It's simple logic, and there's not really all that much math. But nevertheless it's intriguing to see how the dice will fall each week. Will Jimmer explode or will the Cougars have 30% shooting? Will Duke stay higher in the rankings despite their losses because they're more respected? What will the implications be if BYU gets a #3 seed instead of a #2 seed?
It's a mix of athletics, statistics, probability, politics, and economics that has me just interested enough to keep on watching. And clearly, it's got a lot of other people hooked too. Thank goodness we don't own a TV.
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