User:Kim

I'm Kim. I live in Wichita and joined MakeICT in 2015. I'm an electrical engineer who likes crafts.

About Me

I was invited to present to MakeICT about Little Free Libraries back when we were in delano, and really liked the spirit of the organization. I joined shortly after our move to the east douglas space. The running joke is that I joined to learn about 3D printers, but then I didn't actually get into 3D printing until about a year later, I was too distracted by the woodshop and laser cutter. I'm happy to say that I can now 3D print! I also started teaching laser cutter classes, because I like teaching and it's a great tool, very accessible but unique, it's one of those things that makes membership worth it so I want everyone to be certified. I've been quite obsessed with graphic design since I was a teenager making geocities websites, so the laser cutter was a great new tool to use with my inkscape skills. Besides my own projects I joined the makerspace to support the idea of sharing. We buy too much stuff in America. Whether it's tools, toys, appliances... must we manufacture one of everything for every citizen to hold in a corner of his house, or can we come together and share some things? It's eco-friendly to share. That's the same reason I enjoy building and advocating for Little Free Libraries - I love to read, but I don't need every book in my house. I've built or helped build seven little free libraries in Wichita. It's also eco-friendly to be organized. When your stuff is findable, it's usable and shareable and reduces the need to go buy a new thing because you just can't keep track of your old things.

I'm an electrical engineer by trade. In 2002 I moved to Wichita to take a job offer at an airplane company and I never left. I'm now a department manager. I really like helping new engineers become Real Engineers, who can make meaningful contributions to huge complicated projects. I am in systems integration which is a fancy term meaning I plug in things in. Avionics, lights, antennas... I draw a lot of block diagrams and concern myself with the 17,000 wires running through a little airplane. I have lost some of my component-level design muscles but am interested in getting some of them back. I have a private pilot's license, a masters in EE from WSU, a six sigma green belt certificate, and a red swingline stapler.

I am a utilitarian linux user who likes having it on my home computer because it's fast with GIMP and inkscape, I'm not compiling my own kernels, right now I have a tiny xi3 running xubuntu rather badly.

I have some pet peeves that I try to keep to myself so nobody thinks I'm crazy but at the top of the list are:

• The word "utilize"
• Pennies
• Merged spreadsheet cells
• Sneeze acknowledgement
• Daylight savings time
• Apostrophes in plural acronyms
• Automated phone lines that start with long desclaimers about recording
• Products with snowflake designs where the snowflakes do not have exactly six points

At home I live with my husband marc who DJs and codes things for a living, many of you know him because he is loud and giggly and hugs everyone. He has helped me a great deal in life, mostly with lessons on how to chill and and just roll with whatever's going on. We have three daughters age 19 7 and 4, a dog, a guinea pig, a turtle.

Contact Info

• twitter: @kimengineers
• ksbswe at gmail dot com

Where you'll find me

• In the woodshop
• Making Little Free Libraries
• Using the Laser Cutter
• Teaching the laser cutter class

Other Groups I'm in

• Society of Women Engineers
• Toastmasters

Other Skills I have

• Sewing
• HTML
• PHP/MySQL
• Inkscape
• GIMP
• Parenting