The main reason why I did not become an ME

People often ask me why I became a chemical engineer. I give them the generic, "I was good at math and science and I liked chemistry in high school." But no one has ever asked me why I chose chemical over mechanical, and electrical. I think the following story sums it up nicely.

A few months ago my shredder stopped working. I started to pry the plastic cover off of it. I'm not sure what I was going to do once it was off though. I thought I would see a bad connection or something and fix it with my invisible sodering iron. At any rate, I couldn't get the cover off, so I gave up and just went out and bought a new one. I told Andy that he could have the broken one because he's way better at the whole mechanical thing. He's not that great at remembering to take things that are hidden in my closet, so needless to say, it's still here.

This morning I went to use my new shredder, and it wouldn't work. I tried a different outlet, and it still wouldn't work. So I took it off of it's little waste bin to see if there was anything stuck in the little shredder teeth. It was then that I noticed something. There is a little switch along the side which fit into a slide on the side of the waste bin. Kinda like the switch on a washing machine. I made sure the shredder was squarely on the waste bin, crossed my fingers, and turned it on. And wouldn't ya know.. it worked.

So I got the old on out of the closet, and did the same thing, and now it works. A little "cosmetic" damage, but still running well.

I should learn how to trouble shoot better. :)