Confidence course

Today was the last day of the QE conference. In order for us to bond better, we spent the morning at NAU's confidence course. We started with small challenges (pass a hulu hoop around a circle while holding hands), moved on to slightly more difficult (flip a very small rug while the 9 person team is standing on it (this turned into a massive group hug with no personal space but we managed it), and then finished with a ropes course. I almost made it across the log (25 ft up) but lost my balance before the end. I did better on the rickety bridge, even swapping places with a team member coming from the opposite direction. It was mostly fun. I was in an excellent group and we worked very well together. The 'lessons learned' discussions afterwards were a bit annoying though.

After lunch, I had my final session, titled 'Would you put this in your mother?' It was a very interesting discussion on handling potential quality issues, what the options are, and what decisions an engineer is authorized to make. It was good way to learn. And a good time to have that discussion (theoretical is better than for real).

For dinner tonight, I met Matt, Karen, and one of Karen's Scottish co-workers at the Beaver Street Brewery. I'm really going to miss her and hope I can manage to visit soon (she also promised to suggest us for any openings over there). She's pretty happy about going home though. Four and a half weeks is a long time to be away. Plus, she's apparently been working very hard to speak more 'posh' so she can be understood. We tried to get her to act naturally so we could try but couldn't get her to cave.