Not that most of you are aware of it, if only because there are no Hallmark Card for the occasion, but this is National Engineers Week, colloquially known as a celebration of all things geek. As I am an engineer, you can send me a homemade card (enclosing a check is optional) anytime this week. If that doesn’t grab you, tomorrow is Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, so named because, completely in keeping with stereotypes, there aren’t enough women in engineering. I understand marketing (as per usual) overruled the engineers who wanted it to be called Engineering Needs Women! Day.

Actually, I’ve found engineering (turning ideas into reality) to be a rewarding career. Going into college, I was going to be a scientist, but you can’t do much real science without a PhD, and I quickly discovered I didn’t have what it took to stay in an academic setting for more than four years. So I went into aerospace engineering and have had a ball making things happen ever since.