About Me

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I received teaching and engineering degrees and have traveled extensively, living ten years outside the US. I moved from the big city of Houston to a small sleepy community in North Carolina, which has been a tremendous change and a great inspiration for my novels, full of the local color. My time has been filled with writing and helping to physically construct three additions to our former farmhouse. I have a great view of the mountains ten miles away across the broad valley and the sunsets are breathtaking. I am an avid reader of all kinds of mystery and contemporary fiction.
Showing posts with label engineer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label engineer. Show all posts

Friday, January 4, 2013

Safety or What?




Safety or What?

How many times have you seen a sign that said "Safety First?" Do they really mean it or is it just a bunch of words? I ran across this sign in the picture at a local factory. The fact that this sign, which says nothing of itself, covers over a sign important to safety shows a questionable attitude that some businesses have toward safety. It appears that safety is only the employee's concern.

Whenever I worked as an engineer, we had many safety classes and were informed of the dangers in the plants and other work environments. Sometimes that safety lesson was in the form of films which showed gruesome injuries to people. Since then industry has learned that showing such films does not do that much good. People are de-sensitized by all the horror in films.

Some companies claim that there is no such thing as an accident and that all accidents can be prevented. A friend of mine once told me that if there were an accident in his unit, then he would feel it in his paycheck. Those people obviously had a greater concern for safety than those in the picture above.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Super Heroes

Super Heroes

Last week we went to see "The Avengers" and I can't keep thinking about it. I had to wait until the crowds had disappeared. Along with my husband, the only other people in the theater were a woman and her son. It was great.

I think that all the characters were cast perfectly. I'm not a big Robert Downey Jr. fan, but I do think that he played his role well. Probably like that in real life. My favorites have always been Thor and Captain America. Call me a softie for the patriot in Captain America and the long hair and hammer of Thor.

I think we need more heroes and heroines in real life, those who come from the working class. I am partial for engineers since I am a mechanical engineer. My heroine in my books, "Murder by the Clock" and "Murder in Emerald Hills," Rachel Christie, is a mechanical engineer turned private investigator sympathetic to the downtrodden and overcomes many obstacles.