I realize something…men thrive in routine…I’m sure we heard this notion a million times, but I couldn’t help noticing this fact while shopping for groceries these few weeks. For the past few weeks, during shopping nights (Thursday evenings)…I’ll always bump into my ‘transportation’ lecturer at the butcher section around the 7:30 slot…and as I head towards the cashier around the 8:00 slot, I’ll bump into one of my lab instructors… and the fact that I seems to run into this particular cycle…well, I suppose it’s because I’ll more often than not, be at those particular places at those particular times… Man…I guess I’m not as flexible as I think…Normally my shopping routine revolves around, getting a loaf of bread, followed by a carton of milk, and then to the deli to buy some cold cuts…after that…everything else (according to what I think I might need)…
That’s precisely why men should never be entrusted with grocery duty…If memory serves me right, when the whole family goes out grocery shopping…Dad will head to the confectionary section…with a probability of 0.87 (don’t ask me how I generated those figures, trade secret), that he’ll be holding a packet of ‘tau sa piang’ or those caramel biscuits upon exiting that aisle…times when dad was given grocery shopping duty, he basically lived by the principal of ‘entering and exiting’ as fast as possible…women will tell us grocery shopping is an art…like an A+ project, we have to take time to ensure everything is done to perfection… ‘Enough, but not overdone’…that’s why when Mom goes shopping…we’ll never starve… so women, trust us with pulling the trolley but not with it’s contents…we’re strong but apparently not very ductile…
Anyway, I’m doing a little geology this semester…it’s a rather interesting subject…we study various rock and soil specimen…one thing about geology is that many parameters cannot be quantified in field test (i.e. fracture, hardness, strength…etc)…so engineers and geologist alike have come up with quite a number of ingenious methods of defining those parameters…what I like to call ‘the average joe’ test…test as simple as scratching rocks with a pocket knife, smashing rocks against each other, and my favorite one I call the ‘spit drop test’…like the name suggest, we dap a small drop of spit and observe if the specimen absorbs the spit. Engineers sure are a resourceful bunch (as they would all profess)…Anyway, I know this guy…lets call him ‘Ir. A.’ …who uses a similar test to check for quality of fabric…since there’s no real way to test for quality…what Ir. A. would do is dap a little spit on the fabric and observe how much spit is absorb by the fabric… He must have used his resourcefulness and above average analytic skill to associate quality of fabric with its permeability… I wouldn’t expect anything less from an engineer…
That’s precisely why men should never be entrusted with grocery duty…If memory serves me right, when the whole family goes out grocery shopping…Dad will head to the confectionary section…with a probability of 0.87 (don’t ask me how I generated those figures, trade secret), that he’ll be holding a packet of ‘tau sa piang’ or those caramel biscuits upon exiting that aisle…times when dad was given grocery shopping duty, he basically lived by the principal of ‘entering and exiting’ as fast as possible…women will tell us grocery shopping is an art…like an A+ project, we have to take time to ensure everything is done to perfection… ‘Enough, but not overdone’…that’s why when Mom goes shopping…we’ll never starve… so women, trust us with pulling the trolley but not with it’s contents…we’re strong but apparently not very ductile…
Anyway, I’m doing a little geology this semester…it’s a rather interesting subject…we study various rock and soil specimen…one thing about geology is that many parameters cannot be quantified in field test (i.e. fracture, hardness, strength…etc)…so engineers and geologist alike have come up with quite a number of ingenious methods of defining those parameters…what I like to call ‘the average joe’ test…test as simple as scratching rocks with a pocket knife, smashing rocks against each other, and my favorite one I call the ‘spit drop test’…like the name suggest, we dap a small drop of spit and observe if the specimen absorbs the spit. Engineers sure are a resourceful bunch (as they would all profess)…Anyway, I know this guy…lets call him ‘Ir. A.’ …who uses a similar test to check for quality of fabric…since there’s no real way to test for quality…what Ir. A. would do is dap a little spit on the fabric and observe how much spit is absorb by the fabric… He must have used his resourcefulness and above average analytic skill to associate quality of fabric with its permeability… I wouldn’t expect anything less from an engineer…
6 comments:
"... if my memory serves me right...". watching alot of Iron Chef eh?
i disagree about men not as capable as women in grocery shopping. in the supermarket, i usually walked through every aisle and there is no fix routine in my grocery shopping. i get what i feel is needed.
in fact girls can be terrible in shopping sometimes. they get carried away and lose focus on their task at hand in purchasing healthy food.
don't mind me... am in a happier mood. just had a test today. thank god its over.
hahahah, you know what...when i was writing this post...somehow i got the feeling that you were inclined to say something like "speak for yourself, i'm a legend when it comes to grocery shopping"...
Engineers seem to be seen as a one track mind creature. They seem to follow a fixed routine.. When a group of familiar engineers get together for a drink. You could guess who order what. Kopi O kosong; Kopi O kurang manis; Tehsi Kow etc. Some say that we are boring which can be true to a big majority. But then many creative minds are no other than the engineers ! Hurray !
Talk about routine ! Our Saturday mornings inevitably goes like this : First the drive to Lido market, 1st stop - the butcher's, then the vegtables,the fruits, the taufoo, meatballs, then buying of breakfast ( always fried meehoon) and ending at the fishmonger's. On reaching home, breakfast at the side porch.
Routines can be nice... especially if they are shared with loved ones. Simple everyday tasks can turn into wonderful memories...
This Ir. A also uses the twist test to see how much ironing the fabric would need. You just take a corner of the fabric and twist it as hard as you can and see how much crease it produce. That will give you a fair idea of the kind of fabric. Very resourseful these engineers.
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