YOU MIGHT BE AN ENGINEERING STUDENT IF...

Hi everyone! I wanted to give you a quick update on something I've been working on since graduating. I was looking for something different to work on outside of my day job and this is what I came up with! It’s allowing me to find a different outlet for my creativity while the engineering side of me continuously thinks of how to make the process more efficient.

I have opened up an Etsy shop called Strings & Strokes where I sell one-of-a-kind handmade string art. I have a few different creations available but also love making custom pieces! I would love if you would take a look and/or share. Let me know which piece is your favourite or any suggestions you have for new designs!

Here are some of my favourites:

For those of you who haven't heard/seen, western Canada is in the middle of a huge crisis. The province of Alberta has declared a state of emergency as wildfires rage out of control. The entire city of Fort McMurray, Alberta was evacuated on Wednesday, May 4th, forcing 80,000 people to flee their homes. Many people left with nothing but the clothes on their backs and are in desperate need of food, water, shelter, etc. Thousands of houses have been burned to the ground and these families will have nowhere to return to.

The images and footage of the fires are beyond devastating (see more here). It continues to spread. On Tuesday, the fire covered an area of 75 square km. By today (Friday), it has reached 1000 square km (100,000 hectares). For those  wanting live updates on the areas at risk, click here.

Whether letting evacuated people into your home or onto your land, using your company’s resources to help those in need [Labatt produced 200,000 cans of water instead of beer to help firefighters and evacuees], donating the only $5 you have in your wallet, or even just spreading the word to others who may be able to help. There are many ways you can help - the easiest is by donating to the Canadian Red Cross. The federal government of Canada has pledged to match all donations made to the Red Cross for this relief effort.  

One uplifting piece of news to rise from this crisis is the help of Syrian refugees in Alberta who are giving what little they have to evacuees of Fort McMurray. "We understand what they’re feeling. When you lose everything, you have to start from zero. You lose your memories, your items. It’s not easy. It’s something very sad. We can totally understand their feeling.... We are very thankful to the Canadian people and we want to be a part of this society. We will do our best to be a good part of this society. By doing that, maybe we can return a little bit of the great job that Canadian people did for us.”