That is an incredible accomplishment!! Your daughter is amazing!
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A quick spring update on the brag page…
Thing #1 was asked back for a summer coop, which was great news. Better yet, he did a presentation on his project which received strong praise from all the managers in his group, and the company’s head of R&D was very engaged, asking lots of questions.
Thing #2 was accepted at Colorado-Boulder, which was his first choice (or first realistic choice, since he fell in love with the Colorado School of Mines as a senior, but did not take the coursework in high school to apply to an engineering school). After seeing the campus my wife and I want to go back to school at Boulder.
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Outstanding!
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This is a brag about both my daughter and me.
I’m pretty handy around the house, and ever since my daughter was 14 or 15, I had her watch and learn while I fixed leaky faucets, unclogged sinks, replaced sprinkler heads, and tackled other little household repairs. She participated, reluctantly at times and sometimes accompanied by a customary eye roll 
I wasn’t sure she was paying much attention, but I always believed it was important for her to know how to handle basic fixes around the house.
Fast forward to yesterday: she called last evening to tell me the toilet in her off-campus apartment had broken. Her roommate had discovered the previous night that pushing the handle did nothing. The roommate wanted to call maintenance, but it’s exam and final assignments week, and neither of them could sit around waiting for the super to show up.
I asked her what they were going to do.
“I already did,” she said. “I opened the tank lid and saw that the chain between the handle and the flapper valve was broken. So I stopped at the hardware store after my exam, picked up a replacement, and fixed it. Took me about five minutes. We’re good now.”
Sweet! I’m so proud of you, girl — and proud of myself for teaching her those skills 
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My BIL is the handyman (also a civil engineer) but my mother was so mad at him all the time as he never required the kids (his 2, my 2, my nephew) to help him with repairs. She tried to convince him that he’d learned by helping his father (a general contractor) but for all the great things he did for my mom, patience and teaching others isn’t one of his gifts. Now that his son is older (also an engineer) BIL does help him make the repair the first time. My daughter, a civil engineer, is great at fixing things by watching Youtube.
The other 3 are hopeless.
My brother was also a general contractor and pretty handy. His older two kids are not that great at fixing things (but one married a welder, so that helps), but his two younger (20 years younger, second marriage) are handy (one an engineer, one an EMT) and good at figuring things out. Brother learned to include the kids during those 20 years.
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I’m hopeless at fixing physical things. I work on the invisible only (planning, taxes, investments, strategy, electronics, etc.). Back in the dark ages, I created software either for others or for my research. But I veered off in another direction after getting my PhD.
One of my goals for this year was to try to use AI in lots of ways to really become comfortable with it. A couple of days ago, I wrote my first AI agent. A simple one to address a personal issue. Now I’m writing a more complex one that could be very useful in my work. Lots of fun. And, of course, invisible.
Fortunately, ShawWife is very good at the visible.
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Those are called “life skills”.
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Whatever you call them, they appear to be in short supply, so kudos to @DadOfJerseyGirl for launching such a resourceful daughter.
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YouTube can be helpful in teaching a lot of skills. S and D have managed to use it and get what they need to from it. S is an electrical engineer and pretty handy—always has been as much is intuitive to him. I remember when we had a baby shower for one of my friends. When he came home with H and we were still at our house, he (as a preschooler) assembled the stroller we gifted the new mom to be. The expectant mom was amazed & pleased.
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That’s so cute HImom (toddler assembling stroller!). My husband and his nephew are like that - just an intuitive sense (and true enjoyment in) putting things together and figuring out how to build.
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My middle brother took unscrewed the door of the “icebox” (circa 1952 refrigerator). Mom had a friend over and I guess he was bored. He was 3.
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Sounds like a future engineer!
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S23 attended a Montessori school and by middle school, about 70% of class was gifted (as others left through attrition). When he had sleepovers, I always reminded them not to take anything apart without asking first. All my friends joked I would wake up and my house would be rewired.
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This reminds me of the classic engineering interview question: What happened to your first bike?
My mechanical engineer kid was never asked that question, but had a good answer - parts of it became an articulated puppet.
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Goodbye Army! Our son accepted a senior leadership role doing military-adjacent AI work with a boutique cyber organization in the DC area starting December 1st. In the meantime, he will run out his ton of banked leave spending some of it with us over what is now his and DIL’s annual 4th of July Lobster Fest here at the cabin as well as Thanksgiving with us in Arizona. Merry Christmas to us!
The Brag: The money is insane, he is working at the top of his specialty, and can’t believe the freedom and authority he’s being given to do what he’ll get to do. The Army was this kid’s first paycheck. He’s never had to look for a job, and has spent the last few weeks deciding among three outstanding offers that pursued him, including one we’re surprised he’s turning down. In any case, after four years in The Gray Prison and eight years of post-academy service, he will return to civilian life (and hair!) in six months. We haven’t seen him this happy since his wedding.
Gotta start thinking about a new avatar…
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Fabulous news.
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Congrats!!
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Exciting!
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Hard work, dedication and discipline pays off. Congrats!
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Talking with my daughter tonight I remembered a time when I’d picked the kids up from their after school karate class and stopped by the grocery store for a minute to pick something up.
When I returned I realized the car had been hit. Probably $2000 damage, I don’t know remember.
When I got in the car the kids calmly explained what had happened. A woman had gotten in the car in front of ours, drove forward and rammed us, looked around for a minute, saw no one, and backed up and drove away.
Then one of the kids handed me a note with the make, model, and license plate number of the offender’s car.
A few minutes later a sheriff was there, ran the plate, and said “We know her. She thinks her money means the rules don’t apply to her. Sit tight and we’ll have her here shortly“.
And somehow they did. It was as if they had her on speed dial. A few minutes later she was there, feigning ignorance even though her bumper damage matched ours. Then when confronted by the 7 and 9 year old witnesses, she told the truth and admitted the deed.
I’m putting this in the bragging thread because it’s a story of 2 calm, smart, poised little kids who knew what to do and did it.
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