# Please take a few minutes to read this



## civilized_naah (Mar 9, 2015)

My son takes weekly music (Indian classical) lessons from someone in the Washington area. This teacher is going through an incredible array of misfortunes. He has battled a bleeding disorder since he was 16, something that has never allowed him to leave his regular job (because of health insurance issues) and pursue music full-time. He is a little older than me, barely on the wrong side of 50. In the past couple of years, his internal hemorrhages have become so frequent that he has had to have as many as three transfusions (to replace the clotting factor in his blood) a week. On top of that, he is now dealing with two other major potentially life-threatening illnesses, while worrying about the health of his mother in India, who has been diagnosed with severe kidney disease and has just started dialysis. He cannot even travel to India to see his mother because the regular blood transfusions he needs cannot be arranged for a short term. The overwhelming stress of it all has now triggered heart problems. In February, he had five mini heart attacks in the space of a week. When the angioplasty was started, his bleeding prevented the procedure from being completed. So now, that problem has to be addressed with medicine. 

He is incredibly talented - having learnt from several of the foremost exponents of Indian classical music, such as Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri, Pandit V G Jog and Pandit Ajoy Chakravarti. He has performed on stage with many world class luminaries in Indian classical music. On top of that, he is a fantastic teacher, as I know from personal experience. I offered to start an online fundraising campaign for him, but he vehemently refused. In fact, I am writing this without telling him, because he would probably ask me not to.

So, if you are in reasonably good health, count your blessings.

[SIZE=12pt]As you all know, I teach a Civil PE Review Course online. In the past, I have sometimes done a free all day workshop (mainly geared towards the breadth exam) – once to raise funds for CARE, and another time to raise money for the Red Cross right after the devastating flooding in the central states. This time, I am thinking of doing such a workshop to raise funds (donate as you like) to help out this truly outstanding person.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]I am thinking of a 3 hr + 1 hr break + 3 hr day (online webinar) on Saturday April 4th, which is about 10 days before the April exam. The question is, would there be interest in something like it? I can be reached at [email protected][/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Indranil Goswami[/SIZE]


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## ptatohed (Mar 12, 2015)

Dr. Goswami,

Sorry to hear about what your friend is going through. I hope those studying for the exam will take you up on your webinar, and make a donation. Is there a way to donate for those of us who aren't studying for the exam? Perhaps you can include a little more detail of what your webinar will cover (to help "sell" it a little better  ).

Best of luck sir!


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## civilized_naah (Mar 12, 2015)

RCE (it feels weird to address you as "ptatohed" - ate least on this thread, and I am kinda assuming those are your initials),

You are the second person who doesn't need the webinars and has still offered to help. I can't tell you how much that is appreciated. You can send a contribution to me and I will get it to him. What I wrote to him was that I will keep you guys in the know. If there is interest in the webinars, I woud like to make sure I get everything ready for that.

As far as the webinar format is concerned, I realize that it is only 10 days before the test, so most people would have their review complete already, but there may be some that feel like they could still use a 'last minute' brush up. A single day would not be enough to cover all subjects in depth, so my vision of it is I spend the entire 6 hours going over about 40-50 AM type questions, trying to hit every single AM topic listed on the current NCEES AM syllabus.

People would be free to also ask their own questions from a broad range of topics.

Hope that clarifies it a bit more.

Indranil


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## ptatohed (Mar 12, 2015)

civilized_naah said:


> RCE (it feels weird to address you as "ptatohed" - ate least on this thread, and I am kinda assuming those are your initials),
> 
> You are the second person who doesn't need the webinars and has still offered to help. I can't tell you how much that is appreciated. You can send a contribution to me and I will get it to him. What I wrote to him was that I will keep you guys in the know. If there is interest in the webinars, I woud like to make sure I get everything ready for that.
> 
> ...






My pleasure Dr. G.

So, [email protected] is your PayPal address?

- Josh

P.S. RCE = Registered Civil Engineer.


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## civilized_naah (Mar 12, 2015)

No, actualy [email protected] is the address with which I am registered on Paypal


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## civilized_naah (Mar 19, 2015)

I haven't had any (well, one) interest in the review webinar idea - maybe it IS too close to the test. So, I am abandoning the idea. Sorry for the flip-flop.


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## NakedOrangie (Mar 19, 2015)

civilized_naah said:


> I haven't had any (well, one) interest in the review webinar idea - maybe it IS too close to the test. So, I am abandoning the idea. Sorry for the flip-flop.




I cannot speak for others, but I am currently enrolled in EET's civil review class and we have a mock exam on that day. I would have been very interested in the review class had there not been a time conflict.


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## civilized_naah (Mar 19, 2015)

I am open to a alternate date, if I get specific feedback from enough people. I am open to 3/27 (FRI), 3/29 (FRI), 4/3 (FRI), 4/5 (SUN)


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## ptatohed (Mar 19, 2015)

civilized_naah said:


> I am open to a alternate date, if I get specific feedback from enough people. I am open to 3/27 (FRI), 3/29 (FRI), 4/3 (FRI), 4/5 (SUN)




Dr. G., try advertising this in a more visited forum too. Like the Anything about PE Exam forum and/or the vendor forum. And title the thread to include the webinar.


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## civilized_naah (Mar 21, 2015)

OK, here goes another attempt. I got a couple of queries yesterday, and it seems that Sunday April 5th is better than Saturday April 4th. So, I am changing the date to Sunday April 5th. Same time frame - 9-12 EDT for the first session. 1 hour break and 1-4 pm for the second session. Those interested can send me email at [email protected] I am maintaining a contact group at that address and will send out information to that group.


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## civilized_naah (Mar 23, 2015)

Probably the easiest way to contribute is via Paypal, on which I am registered with the email address [email protected]. If you want to send a check, my address is

Indranil Goswami

6901 Timber Creek Court

Clarksville MD 21029

I have set up two webinars on www.gotowebinar.com. The first one is scheduled for Sunday April 5 9am to noon EDT and the second one for 1 pm to 4 pm EDT. 

Part 1 of the free webinar will discuss the following topic clusters (refer to the official NCEES syllabus): 
III. Soil Mechanics (6 questions expected)
IV. Structural Mechanics (6 questions expected) 
VI. Geometrics (3 questions expected) 
VII. Materials (6 questions expected)

[SIZE=11pt]Part 2 of the free webinar will discuss the following topic clusters (refer to the official NCEES syllabus):[/SIZE] 
[SIZE=11pt]I. Project Planning (4 questions expected)
II. Means and Methods (3 questions expected)
V. Hydraulics &amp; Hydrology (7 questions expected)[/SIZE]
VIII Site Development (5 questions expected)

On or about April 2nd (Thursday), I will send out the registration link for both parts to those who are on my list that I am building now (based on inquiries) . Once you register, you will receive instructions on what to do to actually ATTEND the sessions. Note: the link to attend will be different from the link to register.


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## John QPE (Mar 23, 2015)

My wife will probably kill me for this, because that is Easter Sunday .... but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.


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## civilized_naah (Mar 25, 2015)

Many thanks to all those who have shown support. It is very much appreciated


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## ptatohed (Apr 1, 2015)

I still think you'd get a lot more response if you placed a new thread in the _Anything About PE Exam _forum and titled the thread to indicate the free webinar. 

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=24888&amp;p=7262931


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## civilized_naah (Apr 3, 2015)

The response has been terrific. If the group becomes very large, then certain issues related to scale enter the picture and it takes a lot of discipline to keep the meetings on track. If the response had been more lukewarm, I would have regretted not publicizing it more widely ptatohed


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## ptatohed (Apr 3, 2015)

civilized_naah said:


> The response has been terrific. If the group becomes very large, then certain issues related to scale enter the picture and it takes a lot of discipline to keep the meetings on track. If the response had been more lukewarm, I would have regretted not publicizing it more widely ptatohed




Good to hear.


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