Recently a fellow Smithie asked about featuring Twilight at Morningside in the Society of Woman Engineers newsletter. Michelle Montepara is president of the Hartford chapter and I was so flattered she wanted to share my blog with other smart women from Connecticut. While pondering if an engineer would even find my life of any interest, my thoughts wandered back to my father. He had a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering. Years after my father’s death, my uncle found his slide rule from college.

I had forgotten all about it and realized I hadn’t seen it since we moved in 2007. After some rummaging in the basement this weekend, I relieved to find my dad’s slide rule safe and sound. This is a Keuffel & Esser model, complete with collegiate mascot printed on the outside of the leather carrying case.

One of my dad’s classmates from M.I.T. tried to show me a few calculations, but the truth is numbers make me nervous! For those of you who do not know me, I’m not being modest when I say no math/science genes were passed on to the next generation! I’ll stick with humanities, thanks.  I’m sure this photo will bring back some memories for other folks out there. One day, perhaps I’ll take some time to appreciate just how a slide rule really works. Regardless, I’ll always fondly remember the good ol’ days with my Texas Instruments TI-82 graphing calculator!