2003-07-21 - 2:10 p.m.

So What Does Engineer Think Sound Like?

Well, I wouldn't know what most other engineers sound like. Perhaps snoring or the clicking of a keyboard. My deep think comes with a tapping of the foot and humming the sounds echoing through my head, be them enchanting heavenly voices or cycling air raid sirens and sonar pings.

I'm surprised when I ask my friends what they are thinking and they'll say, "Nothing." I can't imagine a world without sound. Even if that sound is in my own head, there is always a series of thoughts battling inside me.

Right now I'm staring at the report I wrote last week and making edits. Though I've released a draft version last Wednesday, a revised draft Thursday, and a revised revision on Friday, I'm still working on the report (though I won't share this revision until I'm happy with everything else). In this latest revision I'm doing the job left undone by one of my co-workers. I wish he'd work just one day of his life. But until then, the rest of us are basically having to carry his load.

So how should I show the San Joaquin River flows? I've got a time series and a change in flow time series ready to cut and paste. In fact, I've pasted them both a few dozen times and promptly deleted them.

In English: you know how you'll put on a shirt or slacks before going to a club and then decide that you're more in a stompy mood and want to change into a t and BDUs? Well, I'm indecisive about my writing in the same way.

There is more than one way to convey information. Each way will strike a cord with a small segment of your potential audience, but how can you maximize this. Hmmm, maybe I show the actual time series and just describe in words the differences between the base and all my alternatives. That isn't too much information, but then again, graphs are cheap. And on top of that, if I had a dollar every time I told somebody something only to have them demand to see the same graph. That settles it! If it prevents me from having to repeat the obvious more than once, I'm overloading them.

n.p. dead can dance :: into the labyrinth

-=-

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