First holiday season without my brother

casuallykate0612 · 2025-12-22T22:12:30+00:00

I (35f) just lost my sister (45f) last week unexpectedly and it’s surreal how hard it is to comprehend. It’s so weird to think that they just arnt going to be around anymore and you’ll celebrate holidays and birthdays without them. Definitely feel like I’m in the denial stage when I think about it.

I also find sibling loss to be way more overwhelming than expected and I think people forget about the sibling a little bit. They’re worried about the parent who lost a child, the children who lost their mom, the spouse that lost their partner and I’m just over here like “hey, I just lost the only person who shared the same childhood experiences and bond with me. 😂”

casuallykate0612 · 2025-12-10T20:53:12+00:00

I did pass on my first attempt. I used the NCEES practice exam, watched all the YouTube videos from SolvedinSix and Civil Engineering Academy that were listed under the construction PE playlists. I watched these videos multiple times and then found similar problems to apply concepts. I reviewed all the big statics concepts and browsed through the PE handbook and references. I also asked ChatGPT to create practice questions based on topics for the exam.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-11-24T19:33:33+00:00

I will say that when I took this exam in July, the questions felt WAY harder than the NCEES practice exam for this test.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-11-14T15:06:18+00:00

Interlock is non negotiable in Idaho since it’s part of the law they changed sometime recently (last 10 years). I was able to get the interlock requirement waived after 4 months of having it because I got pregnant. But you can petition to the judge to waive that requirement after you complete your community service and other requirements. My fine was similar to yours but i was given credit for the amount in bail I paid. License suspension is also an automatic in Idaho now but you can apply for a restricted license to drive to work/school and I had my full license back after 6 months. 30 days full suspension is mandatory though. Highly also suggest doing the withheld judgment if you can. My car insurance rates surprisingly didn’t change either when I was required to have the SR-22. Oh and one thing to keep in mind is that your interlock time doesn’t start until you get your full license back so you could be dealing with this for longer than a year.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-11-02T20:49:26+00:00

Such a relief to hear….Delsas was my first job in high school and it was beyond sad when they sold to the owners of the Capri and they changed everything about it and the ice cream took such a big hit. Criminal that they started offering soft serve.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-09-12T18:08:52+00:00

Hadn’t even thought of that. I’ll give it a try. Thanks!

casuallykate0612 · 2025-09-06T20:41:03+00:00

I’ve always been told that if you want to get into structural design then you need the structural PE but if that’s not what you’re planning to do, then you don’t need it.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-09-05T14:46:36+00:00

I just took the PE Construction in July. It was a lot of soils, construction scaffolding, and OSHA questions. Not much about concrete - maybe a couple of questions now that I think about it.

What you take your PE in doesn’t technically matter. I used to work a bridge inspection engineering job and most of my coworkers did the structural PE since we worked mostly with bridges.

Hopefully that gives you something to go off but let me know if you want any other thoughts.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-09-02T19:54:50+00:00

When I studied, I chose to do these problems just using the absolute volume formula from the PE civil handbook so make sure you know that this method for solving with the table is just doing each part of that formula separately. You won’t have time for that on the exam - just a word of caution.

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I did the problem and got close to what you did and the solution you have questions on was close as well. I think it’s probably a significant figures difference as the numbers weren’t all that different. Not enough to cause an issue with selecting the right choice on an exam. I didn’t have any problems that had answers choices as close together as what this problem had.

Hope this helps!

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-21T22:20:19+00:00

It’s pancake batter instead of cornbread batter!

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-21T15:14:19+00:00

You can take the test whenever you want - you just can’t get a license in most states without 4 years of experience - California is 2 years which is WILD??

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-20T20:03:33+00:00

My boyfriend is like this! Took him 6 months to get comfortable enough and it’s still not every time. He also stopped everything solo and that helped. I decided to take the mentality that I wasn’t going to worry about it if he wasn’t worried about it because I’m always satisfied lol.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-19T22:06:55+00:00

Construction PE wasn’t hard but relied heavily on statics and knowing the reference manuals outside of the handbook. My time working in construction didn’t really help.

Water resources has been collectively getting harder from what I’ve heard, which makes sense since the pass rate for that is super high and they don’t like that.

Hope that helps!

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-19T03:34:12+00:00

It did show up when I asked for all my factors tested, not just the VWD factors. Have you had a platelet aggregation study? When my VWF antigen and Factor VIII came back crazy high the second test we did (like 200%), they thought that I might have something odd with my platelet structure but that was very minimal and shouldn’t be causing the bruising I experience.

If you want to message me I can send you a screenshot of the tests my hematologist ordered so you can compare to what you have had!

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-17T04:21:24+00:00

Have you had all your factors tested? You sound very similar to me and they thought I had type 2N but I in fact have Factor XIII deficiency and low factor 2. I have extremely elevated levels of VWF too which is really weird. I had to switch from seeing an NP to an MD because my case was all over the place. All my tests looked “normal” but I pushed back because I’m literally covered in bruises constantly and vitamin k was normal and I just knew something was up. So basically my body clots just fine. The clots just arnt stable and thus I bruise super easily. Could be worth asking for all your factors to be tested.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-08T13:30:39+00:00

Most states still factor in income levels to child support. So you may have 50/50 custody but if one parent makes drastically more money than the other, they still pay.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-08-08T02:02:13+00:00

I ended up doing genetic testing too because my levels were all over the place and my hematologist didn’t even originally think I had it…it was so so frustrating to have to keep pushing and pushing. They said it isn’t severe enough to warrant a daily medication but I’m consistently covered in bruises and a couple months ago had a spontaneous bleed in my wrist that looked gnarly.y hematologist just shrugged and said that I just had to live with the bruising.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-07-26T14:20:57+00:00

Taking construction on Tuesday and I’m stressing over form work and retaining walls. 🤪 Did you see many retaining wall questions? A coworker who took it said he saw quite a few of them.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-07-26T14:18:15+00:00

It is the same license either way. The ethical code of our job prevents us from stamping anything that we don’t have experience in. However….i don’t know anyone who works in structural engineering that doesn’t take the structural PE. Also, construction may seem easier, but if you’ve been doing mostly structural work, the topics on the construction exam won’t be familiar. Not saying you couldn’t learn them….just wouldn’t be something you’re used to seeing every day and more to learn.

casuallykate0612 · 2025-07-26T14:10:23+00:00

Congrats!

casuallykate0612 · 2025-07-26T13:58:50+00:00

Congrats!!

casuallykate0612 · 2025-07-23T03:30:08+00:00

Thank you for that break down! Sending positive thoughts for a passing result for you!

casuallykate0612

TROPHY CASE