True email that I received from a student in my class:
"Dr. Ruttley
I noticed that there's a big gap between test 2 and test 3. Is there any way an extra test could be administered to minimize the amount of information on each test?"
Is it just me? When I was a student, I wouldn't have had the nerve to actually ask anyone of my professors this question, no matter how cool or approachable they were. She may as well have emailed me:
"Dr. Ruttley
I noticed you didn't think through your teaching approach for this semester, and since I have more wisdom than you on this matter, I thought I'd offer some friendly advice..."
GIVE ME A BREAK!
I emailed her back that if I gave her another test, that opens the door for more detailed questions for me to ask, thus making the tests more difficult. I guess she's OK with it since I haven't heard back.
When I was a student, I'd have never thought to even ask the prof to re-think the test schedule. I mean, really? I wonder if any of my fellow students did try that while we were all in school and I just never knew? I mean, is this typical crap that profs have to deal with?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
I think I'm tired.
I think I missed the Oscars. I never see the Oscars anyway because I live on DVR and not the real world TV. But still I'd liked to have seen it. For fun. Darn it.
In fact, I miss TV.
My new job has been fun and busy. Interesting dynamics at the ISS Program level. My chief said something earlier today about not wanting to scare me away so soon in my job with tons of work to do so she's easing me into it. I laughed and reminded her I came from Flight Hardware. Seriously, this new stuff is nothing compared to the rigors of flight hardware. Not yet, anyway. So she need not be concerned about me.
Yesterday I asked Anna what she had for lunch at school. She looked at me and said, "huh?" Right into my eyes. I asked her again what she ate for lunch at school. She said "blahblahblah...applesauce and milk." I checked the menu. She was right. Score one for my baby's developing memory, understanding of what I'm asking her, and being able to tell me something new. Also she loves to talk about her classmates.
She loves to draw and color and do puzzles. She is giving more and more kisses and hugs when asked, instead of running away like it's a game. I love it.
I am behind a little on my teaching. I have to re-teach myself the electrical and mechanical events of the cardiac cycle based on the the lecture charts I have created for tomorrow night. I'd like to teach it in a non-confusing way even though I have not had much time to review this week. This is where helpful animations on my handy instructor software will be critical. Nice animations from a woman with a nice voice and clear concepts. I love you, lady.
And now I get to go pick up dinner because no one has cooked.
I am behind on one project for the new job. But my brain hurts and it requires sitting for a few hours at once, comprehending several different on-orbit operations reports, and oh yeah- understanding what each experiment on the ISS means, from physics to life sciences. It's all up there. All 100+ experiments. I really am in awe of the ISS. It is wayyyyy more capable than I had ever even known sitting in my Engineering seat for 8 years. And it's going to be an even more awesome National Laboratory soon enough.
Gotta go.
In fact, I miss TV.
My new job has been fun and busy. Interesting dynamics at the ISS Program level. My chief said something earlier today about not wanting to scare me away so soon in my job with tons of work to do so she's easing me into it. I laughed and reminded her I came from Flight Hardware. Seriously, this new stuff is nothing compared to the rigors of flight hardware. Not yet, anyway. So she need not be concerned about me.
Yesterday I asked Anna what she had for lunch at school. She looked at me and said, "huh?" Right into my eyes. I asked her again what she ate for lunch at school. She said "blahblahblah...applesauce and milk." I checked the menu. She was right. Score one for my baby's developing memory, understanding of what I'm asking her, and being able to tell me something new. Also she loves to talk about her classmates.
She loves to draw and color and do puzzles. She is giving more and more kisses and hugs when asked, instead of running away like it's a game. I love it.
I am behind a little on my teaching. I have to re-teach myself the electrical and mechanical events of the cardiac cycle based on the the lecture charts I have created for tomorrow night. I'd like to teach it in a non-confusing way even though I have not had much time to review this week. This is where helpful animations on my handy instructor software will be critical. Nice animations from a woman with a nice voice and clear concepts. I love you, lady.
And now I get to go pick up dinner because no one has cooked.
I am behind on one project for the new job. But my brain hurts and it requires sitting for a few hours at once, comprehending several different on-orbit operations reports, and oh yeah- understanding what each experiment on the ISS means, from physics to life sciences. It's all up there. All 100+ experiments. I really am in awe of the ISS. It is wayyyyy more capable than I had ever even known sitting in my Engineering seat for 8 years. And it's going to be an even more awesome National Laboratory soon enough.
Gotta go.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Picture Updates that have been sitting in my camera
I will be posting these and more pics to Anna's Flickr that's located on the top right column of this blog. For now, here's a few samples.
Our trip to the zoo several weeks ago.
Our trip to the zoo several weeks ago.
Anna's school and our home
Good news! We are re-financing our home at only 4.375% interest! In 2001 when we bought it, 6.75% at 30 years was pretty good. Now we will refinance on a 15 year loan at 4.375% and save 7 years on our mortgage payments PLUS save $89,000! WOW. Interestingly, the cancellation of the back patio loan is what drove us to look into refinancing the house. Instead of getting into more debt with the back patio, we wondered how to start getting out of some this year? Let's start with the house. We asked Chase to take another look for us. And look what we found with zero points and 1% origination fee. Dang, that's sweet. Oh, and also: all of this and our monthly house payment will still by $8 less than what we've been paying. Oh YEAH. No new car, no new back patio, but savings and debt reduction. And it is actually a more enjoyable feeling. Does this mean I'm growing up or something?
This week marked the first week of Anna staying home on Tuesdays with Paul and me picking her up after her nap at school on Thurs (instead of 12 noon). They had a great day together on Tues. But when I went to pick her up at 3 yesterday, she DID NOT WANT TO GO HOME. First they were having a snack. So she didn't want to leave. We stayed through the snack. Then they were coloring and finger painting. She didn't want to leave. So we stayed. Then it was free play. Primal toddlers running all around the classroom with toys and blocks = party time. Anna did not want to go home. So until 4:30, I served pretend juice at a toddler party for Anna and all her friends. I am not licensed for this :) I am a NASA engineer. They're cute and all, but I got tired. One little boy was an all-out destructive brat that I felt I needed to put into Time Out. But the teachers were on him. If he were my kid, I'd run away. I was finally able to drag Anna away to go spend some "fun" time with mommy before dinner.
On the way out the door, I told the director to make Thursdays till 5pm again and send me the bill.
It's a good thing she has fun there. But I do feel a little sad about it, though I'm not quite sure where that's coming from. But the good news is I'll just pick her up around 4:15pm instead of 5pm and we'll still have time for the park or play dough at home or something like that before dinner. At least she's having fun at school. It's always something you wonder about. While there, I got to see how things work, too. I see sides of her there I don't see at home. It's kinda cool. She gets all crazy and feeds off her friends' energy. My little girl.
We still made it to the park last night before dinner and the weather ROCKED. When I was getting her dressed for bed, she started in..."you never know dear, how much I love you...please don't take my sunshine away!" WHAT??!! I squeezed her and giggled and she just cracked up! I asked her to sing it again! And she started from the beginning. LOVE LOVE LOVE. My mom sang this to her when she put her to sleep during her visit. Over and over and over. She's asked me to sing it a few times since, but not much. Apparently it stuck with her. It's the sweetest thing I think I've heard her sing...sooo sweet. When I left her in her bed, I could hear her singing it on the monitor so I called my mom so she could hear it. By then Anna was sleepy and sloppy so the words kinda ran together. But she got the idea.
She can count to 19. For some reason she stops at 19 and never says 20.
This morning on the way to school, I checked my teeth in the Tank's vanity mirror. I caught a glimpse of her jamming to "Tick Tock" (that's Gwen Stefani's "Whatcha waiting for" that I now have to play over and over and over but it still beats toddler music). She caught a glimpse of me checking my teeth and she giggled. She kept giggling. I'd make a face in the mirror and she'd giggle. It was a little joke. Giggle giggle giggle...
I am loving being the mom of a little toddler girl.
This week marked the first week of Anna staying home on Tuesdays with Paul and me picking her up after her nap at school on Thurs (instead of 12 noon). They had a great day together on Tues. But when I went to pick her up at 3 yesterday, she DID NOT WANT TO GO HOME. First they were having a snack. So she didn't want to leave. We stayed through the snack. Then they were coloring and finger painting. She didn't want to leave. So we stayed. Then it was free play. Primal toddlers running all around the classroom with toys and blocks = party time. Anna did not want to go home. So until 4:30, I served pretend juice at a toddler party for Anna and all her friends. I am not licensed for this :) I am a NASA engineer. They're cute and all, but I got tired. One little boy was an all-out destructive brat that I felt I needed to put into Time Out. But the teachers were on him. If he were my kid, I'd run away. I was finally able to drag Anna away to go spend some "fun" time with mommy before dinner.
On the way out the door, I told the director to make Thursdays till 5pm again and send me the bill.
It's a good thing she has fun there. But I do feel a little sad about it, though I'm not quite sure where that's coming from. But the good news is I'll just pick her up around 4:15pm instead of 5pm and we'll still have time for the park or play dough at home or something like that before dinner. At least she's having fun at school. It's always something you wonder about. While there, I got to see how things work, too. I see sides of her there I don't see at home. It's kinda cool. She gets all crazy and feeds off her friends' energy. My little girl.
We still made it to the park last night before dinner and the weather ROCKED. When I was getting her dressed for bed, she started in..."you never know dear, how much I love you...please don't take my sunshine away!" WHAT??!! I squeezed her and giggled and she just cracked up! I asked her to sing it again! And she started from the beginning. LOVE LOVE LOVE. My mom sang this to her when she put her to sleep during her visit. Over and over and over. She's asked me to sing it a few times since, but not much. Apparently it stuck with her. It's the sweetest thing I think I've heard her sing...sooo sweet. When I left her in her bed, I could hear her singing it on the monitor so I called my mom so she could hear it. By then Anna was sleepy and sloppy so the words kinda ran together. But she got the idea.
She can count to 19. For some reason she stops at 19 and never says 20.
This morning on the way to school, I checked my teeth in the Tank's vanity mirror. I caught a glimpse of her jamming to "Tick Tock" (that's Gwen Stefani's "Whatcha waiting for" that I now have to play over and over and over but it still beats toddler music). She caught a glimpse of me checking my teeth and she giggled. She kept giggling. I'd make a face in the mirror and she'd giggle. It was a little joke. Giggle giggle giggle...
I am loving being the mom of a little toddler girl.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Stuff
It's been a busy day at work. I'm cleaning up from my old position, preparing for my new which started today. I actually got down to only 277 emails in my Inbox that I need to either delete or file. Nice to clean it out. That, plus alot of reading today to learn about the new job...
How is it almost Wednesday again? What is HAPPENING here?
Anna is liking Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". In the car, she asks for "Big girl, big girl". She thinks it's the Big Girl Song. She claps and then you can see her little hands waving in unison back and forth with her little head bobbing, like she is praising the Lord in church. So serious...
"oohh this my ****, this my ****" But she doesn't sing that part.
Lately she tells us alot that she's a "big girl." Really cute. She's talking more and more in sentences. We think she may be getting her last bottom 2nd year molar in. I mean, I dunno, here we go again. Last night she kept saying her teeth hurt while she was eating but then she was saying she'd pretty much stabbed herself in the mouth with her fork or something. Ha. Later that night she was reaching back there with her hand. Who knows?
My Human Phys class just took their first exam, remember? The grading of 120 essay questions was as painful as I expected. Don't say I told you so, I already knew grading essays would suck. But I figured it was giving the students a break considering they complained about multiple choice. Well guess what, MOST of them screwed up the essay pretty badly too. So here's what I've learned: if they complain about the test format, it's really not about the test format. They're just complaining about the test, period. You either know it or you don't. Frankly, I was grateful to the students who didn't bother and just left it all blank. Saved a little bit of my sanity.
But here's a kicker: that grad student failed, ofcourse. Even though he failed this class LAST year, too. And another student who failed the class last time failed this test. And she ticks me off most because she has two kids she could be spending the evening with instead of being in this class. AGAIN. ggrrr...
Well, next time no more essays! Out of 63 students, 18 failed and there were 10 A's. The mean was a 70. I think that's a pretty good distribution. I think it was a good test.
By the way, the student who was copying off another student also failed. Miserably. Stupid, stupid. Don't forget, people. If you lie, life will give it all right back to you. Why would anyone want to live like that?
This past weekend, my mom and her husband came to visit and they sat with Anna for a few hours while Paul and I did our first official training bike ride for the MS150. I mean actually, it's the first time our butts have touched the bikes period for the MS150. And we felt it. OUCH. I SWEAR my butt not only hurt but it even felt SWOLLEN. Is that possible? My ass was a little bigger...or maybe it was just the bike shorts. Anyway, we also forgot how bad head-winds felt. We were excited to see for the first half of the ride we were averaging 18MpH. We were feeling good...not bad for not having been on the bikes for years. And then on the way back, we realized we were just enjoying a good tail wind as we now faced 8MpH averages. And it hurt. It sucked. Gah!
So now I'm on the bike at LEAST 30 min every morning. Soon to be more.
Anna had a blast with Nana and "papa Ray." She keeps asking for them. She got lots of cuddles and love from them so who can blame her? They adore her. I have to tell her they went home. She's OK with it but she keeps asking. My sister, nephew, and brother-in-law also came out. She had a kick-butt primal toddler fun time with my nephew, who entertained her to exhaustion. And she got lots of cuddles and new valentines gifts from them. Again, more adoration adorned on Anna that weekend.
It was fun having everyone there. She would love to see them every weekend if she could. This is when it sucks not to have family nearby. She would love it. Bummer.
We have changed Anna's day care hours. Here's the deal. With me taking Anna on Thursday afternoons, I have to make up that time at work by staying late on Tuesdays. So I miss evening time with Anna and Paul. And even though I have her on Thurs, she naps from 1-3 so those are hours she just spends sleeping, but time I have to make up at work. So as of this week, Paul is taking her all day on Tuesdays, and I will pick her up on Thurs at 3, after her nap at school. So now I get to be home on Tues nights with them! Also, technically we are paying for her to be there on Tues mornings (it comes with the "new package") so if there's a last minute need, we could take her in on Tues mornings. But hopefully that's rare.
I am a little bummed about the change. I can't figure out exactly why I'm bummed, other than the fact that I feel bad about leaving Anna there to nap on Thurs instead of taking her home with me. But the point is to spend waking hours together and I just feel that this is a better plan.
Paul is such a great dad. He is so patient and loving with Anna. He loves to spend every minute he can with her so I hope he enjoys his daddy days with her on Tues. Already this morning was less rushed because she didn't have to get ready for school. I listened to them read books and play through the baby monitor this morning. My Type A brain kept telling me that she should technically be eating right now, not playing. But then my rationale side kept saying to chill out. She'll eat when she's hungry. This is what it's like to not have to rush somewhere on a weekday. It's OK.
And Paul is so flexible. He still does stuff with her that I couldn't do because I am just too neurotic. He brings her to the clinic even when he has patients to treat. Some days she is a handfull and other days she is perfect. I wouldn't even attempt to split my attention like that. And he can feed her on the go, and she'll pass out in the car seat. He doesn't even have to plan for stuff like I do. He is so good with her. He just goes with it without complication. She loves him so much. We're so freaking lucky.
How is it almost Wednesday again? What is HAPPENING here?
Anna is liking Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". In the car, she asks for "Big girl, big girl". She thinks it's the Big Girl Song. She claps and then you can see her little hands waving in unison back and forth with her little head bobbing, like she is praising the Lord in church. So serious...
"oohh this my ****, this my ****" But she doesn't sing that part.
Lately she tells us alot that she's a "big girl." Really cute. She's talking more and more in sentences. We think she may be getting her last bottom 2nd year molar in. I mean, I dunno, here we go again. Last night she kept saying her teeth hurt while she was eating but then she was saying she'd pretty much stabbed herself in the mouth with her fork or something. Ha. Later that night she was reaching back there with her hand. Who knows?
My Human Phys class just took their first exam, remember? The grading of 120 essay questions was as painful as I expected. Don't say I told you so, I already knew grading essays would suck. But I figured it was giving the students a break considering they complained about multiple choice. Well guess what, MOST of them screwed up the essay pretty badly too. So here's what I've learned: if they complain about the test format, it's really not about the test format. They're just complaining about the test, period. You either know it or you don't. Frankly, I was grateful to the students who didn't bother and just left it all blank. Saved a little bit of my sanity.
But here's a kicker: that grad student failed, ofcourse. Even though he failed this class LAST year, too. And another student who failed the class last time failed this test. And she ticks me off most because she has two kids she could be spending the evening with instead of being in this class. AGAIN. ggrrr...
Well, next time no more essays! Out of 63 students, 18 failed and there were 10 A's. The mean was a 70. I think that's a pretty good distribution. I think it was a good test.
By the way, the student who was copying off another student also failed. Miserably. Stupid, stupid. Don't forget, people. If you lie, life will give it all right back to you. Why would anyone want to live like that?
This past weekend, my mom and her husband came to visit and they sat with Anna for a few hours while Paul and I did our first official training bike ride for the MS150. I mean actually, it's the first time our butts have touched the bikes period for the MS150. And we felt it. OUCH. I SWEAR my butt not only hurt but it even felt SWOLLEN. Is that possible? My ass was a little bigger...or maybe it was just the bike shorts. Anyway, we also forgot how bad head-winds felt. We were excited to see for the first half of the ride we were averaging 18MpH. We were feeling good...not bad for not having been on the bikes for years. And then on the way back, we realized we were just enjoying a good tail wind as we now faced 8MpH averages. And it hurt. It sucked. Gah!
So now I'm on the bike at LEAST 30 min every morning. Soon to be more.
Anna had a blast with Nana and "papa Ray." She keeps asking for them. She got lots of cuddles and love from them so who can blame her? They adore her. I have to tell her they went home. She's OK with it but she keeps asking. My sister, nephew, and brother-in-law also came out. She had a kick-butt primal toddler fun time with my nephew, who entertained her to exhaustion. And she got lots of cuddles and new valentines gifts from them. Again, more adoration adorned on Anna that weekend.
It was fun having everyone there. She would love to see them every weekend if she could. This is when it sucks not to have family nearby. She would love it. Bummer.
We have changed Anna's day care hours. Here's the deal. With me taking Anna on Thursday afternoons, I have to make up that time at work by staying late on Tuesdays. So I miss evening time with Anna and Paul. And even though I have her on Thurs, she naps from 1-3 so those are hours she just spends sleeping, but time I have to make up at work. So as of this week, Paul is taking her all day on Tuesdays, and I will pick her up on Thurs at 3, after her nap at school. So now I get to be home on Tues nights with them! Also, technically we are paying for her to be there on Tues mornings (it comes with the "new package") so if there's a last minute need, we could take her in on Tues mornings. But hopefully that's rare.
I am a little bummed about the change. I can't figure out exactly why I'm bummed, other than the fact that I feel bad about leaving Anna there to nap on Thurs instead of taking her home with me. But the point is to spend waking hours together and I just feel that this is a better plan.
Paul is such a great dad. He is so patient and loving with Anna. He loves to spend every minute he can with her so I hope he enjoys his daddy days with her on Tues. Already this morning was less rushed because she didn't have to get ready for school. I listened to them read books and play through the baby monitor this morning. My Type A brain kept telling me that she should technically be eating right now, not playing. But then my rationale side kept saying to chill out. She'll eat when she's hungry. This is what it's like to not have to rush somewhere on a weekday. It's OK.
And Paul is so flexible. He still does stuff with her that I couldn't do because I am just too neurotic. He brings her to the clinic even when he has patients to treat. Some days she is a handfull and other days she is perfect. I wouldn't even attempt to split my attention like that. And he can feed her on the go, and she'll pass out in the car seat. He doesn't even have to plan for stuff like I do. He is so good with her. He just goes with it without complication. She loves him so much. We're so freaking lucky.
Friday, February 13, 2009
CLOSE CALL!!!
Well here's a real eye-opener.
Paul and I have been looking to replace our back patio. We got quotes and interviewed about 4 companies over the last year. We decided to go with a company called Affordable Concrete (Concrete Forever). Their web site really kicks ass and the sales people were friendly and knowledgeable. Professional. Plus they matched my lowest bid.
So I arranged the financing. I will be signing the loan paperwork on Monday. But my head and heart is not in this project right now. Paul and I discussed holding off another year because we'd rather keep the cash flow for now. But in the end we agreed we may never find another deal so good with a seemingly-reputable company.
So we decided to move forward. They told me that we shouldn't need a residential building permit from the city. That they never have had to do one with a permit...Hmmm...that is contrary to what another contractor told me. It bugged me. So I did the research myself at the city. Looks like we'll need a permit. Why didn't Affordable Concrete know that?
In looking at the permit requirements, it prompted me to check out my HOA guidelines. In reading through the guidelines, I could justify to myself why we don't need approval. But because I'm a rule follower, I called the HOA and they said yes, of course you need our approval! Silly girl!
On the HOA website there was a link to the Houston Better Business Bureau (BBB) and a little friendly reminder to do your research before you signed. So I clicked and found nothing on Affordable Concrete. That's a good thing, right?
Then I remembered from my days of being a poor Landrover owner that the best way to get the dirt is to do a Yahoo search of Landrover + hate+ sucks+ complaints...you get the idea.
All I had to do was enter Affordable Concrete complaints.
And holy S**T. I almost gave this company WAY TOO MUCH of my not-even-yet-hard-earned cash to build our patio. Ah HELL NAW:
http://www.concreteforeversux.com/
http://www.judysbook.com/cities/houston-tx/BtoB~Builders-and-Contractors-/5403/p1/t1/Concrete_Forever.htm
Good thing I didn't sign the paper work on the debt. It's the final decision in my mind on why we should wait another year for this patio. I like cash more. And I need more time to find a good contractor, if one exists.
For once someone can thank their handy HOA. Thank you, HOA. You just earned your $410 per year membership dues. And by the way, I also found this through other avenues...at the BBB, even though I had missed it when I did the search initially:
http://www.data.bbb.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=houston/houston/showrpt.html?language=english&bis=n&zid=35000907
SON OF A BITCH!
Paul and I have been looking to replace our back patio. We got quotes and interviewed about 4 companies over the last year. We decided to go with a company called Affordable Concrete (Concrete Forever). Their web site really kicks ass and the sales people were friendly and knowledgeable. Professional. Plus they matched my lowest bid.
So I arranged the financing. I will be signing the loan paperwork on Monday. But my head and heart is not in this project right now. Paul and I discussed holding off another year because we'd rather keep the cash flow for now. But in the end we agreed we may never find another deal so good with a seemingly-reputable company.
So we decided to move forward. They told me that we shouldn't need a residential building permit from the city. That they never have had to do one with a permit...Hmmm...that is contrary to what another contractor told me. It bugged me. So I did the research myself at the city. Looks like we'll need a permit. Why didn't Affordable Concrete know that?
In looking at the permit requirements, it prompted me to check out my HOA guidelines. In reading through the guidelines, I could justify to myself why we don't need approval. But because I'm a rule follower, I called the HOA and they said yes, of course you need our approval! Silly girl!
On the HOA website there was a link to the Houston Better Business Bureau (BBB) and a little friendly reminder to do your research before you signed. So I clicked and found nothing on Affordable Concrete. That's a good thing, right?
Then I remembered from my days of being a poor Landrover owner that the best way to get the dirt is to do a Yahoo search of Landrover + hate+ sucks+ complaints...you get the idea.
All I had to do was enter Affordable Concrete complaints.
And holy S**T. I almost gave this company WAY TOO MUCH of my not-even-yet-hard-earned cash to build our patio. Ah HELL NAW:
http://www.concreteforeversux.com/
http://www.judysbook.com/cities/houston-tx/BtoB~Builders-and-Contractors-/5403/p1/t1/Concrete_Forever.htm
Good thing I didn't sign the paper work on the debt. It's the final decision in my mind on why we should wait another year for this patio. I like cash more. And I need more time to find a good contractor, if one exists.
For once someone can thank their handy HOA. Thank you, HOA. You just earned your $410 per year membership dues. And by the way, I also found this through other avenues...at the BBB, even though I had missed it when I did the search initially:
http://www.data.bbb.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=houston/houston/showrpt.html?language=english&bis=n&zid=35000907
SON OF A BITCH!
Hunker Down! Expect the Worst!
Here's an email we got from Anna's school today...we are hoping for the best. Maybe we'll get lucky? I haven't even heard any word on the street about this kinda stuff going around so maybe we're running in the right circles?
Darn.
Dear Parents -
We have experienced a very high level of illness in the Early Childhood Ministries. We are currently experiencing bronchitis, pink eye, sinus infections, RSV, ear infections, a stomach virus
and the flu (just to name a few). This recent outbreak has not only affected our program but the entire Bay Area Community. Please take all extra precautions necessary to reduce the
spread of germs and illnesses. If your child is ill or you feel could be ill, please make your first visit to the doctor’s office rather than ECM. Please encourage hand washing and an extra
measure of cleanliness with coughs, runny noses, drool, fever or any other symptoms of illness. With everyone working together we can significantly reduce any unnecessary spread of
illness. Thank you in advance for your attention to this very important health issue.
Darn.
Dear Parents -
We have experienced a very high level of illness in the Early Childhood Ministries. We are currently experiencing bronchitis, pink eye, sinus infections, RSV, ear infections, a stomach virus
and the flu (just to name a few). This recent outbreak has not only affected our program but the entire Bay Area Community. Please take all extra precautions necessary to reduce the
spread of germs and illnesses. If your child is ill or you feel could be ill, please make your first visit to the doctor’s office rather than ECM. Please encourage hand washing and an extra
measure of cleanliness with coughs, runny noses, drool, fever or any other symptoms of illness. With everyone working together we can significantly reduce any unnecessary spread of
illness. Thank you in advance for your attention to this very important health issue.
Whew, the test was negative!
Not MY test, people. Isn't ONE CHILD enough for you all already?
Anna's test. Because she's a little water addict, we were concerned that something serious might be going on. Her blood work at the pedi's a few weeks ago turned out fine but they were still after us for urine results. Here's the deal.
At that pedi's visit, they stuck a little bag to Anna's girlie parts and left it in the diaper to collect. We waited in the exam room for her to pee. However, since we had starved her and deprived her of water, we got nowhere.
So we took her home with the bag still attached in her diaper. After another hour or so, we had pee-pee! We also had poop. Bummer. It went into the bag. That was ruined. Now what?
We tried to get away with just not doing it but the nurse called us a week later and asked what's up with that? So Paul picked up another bag. Anna protested. She walked funny but got used to it. After an hour, we had pee-pee! Laid her down on the diaper changing table, and the dang thing got soaked with pee, it unstuck itself and leaked out into her diaper.
Joy, we get another round of this.
I go back to the pedi's office and pick up THREE extra bags. I explain our failures and the nurse says, "oh, you can't lay her down to collect it. She's gotta be standing up!" Otherwise the pee will do what it just did to us: unstuck from the bag. I have hated that nurse for the past 2 years. Really. Ask Paul.
Seriously? Anna will LOVE this one.
Take 3, I swear we're going to get this one to work. Anna protests. Wouldn't you? She's looking at us like we're crazy. She walks funny and then an hour later, we have pee-pee. It takes both Paul and I to make sure she stands up while we get this thing off of her.
Jesus. I guess it beats a catheter.
Turns out the results are normal. Nothing funny going on. All this to confirm that our daughter is a water addict like her mother. I mean now she needs to keep it in her bed at night. She doesn't drink it, but she needs it there. It's her comfort object I think.
I know I never go anywhere without my water bottle too.
But I wonder if her addiction was foreshadowed by the fact that I was thirsty every minute of every day of the last few weeks of my pregnancy? I mean I couldn't SLEEP because I was so thirsty. And they had to induce me because my amniotic fluid was so low. Even back then, she was sucking it down.
This one!
Anna's test. Because she's a little water addict, we were concerned that something serious might be going on. Her blood work at the pedi's a few weeks ago turned out fine but they were still after us for urine results. Here's the deal.
At that pedi's visit, they stuck a little bag to Anna's girlie parts and left it in the diaper to collect. We waited in the exam room for her to pee. However, since we had starved her and deprived her of water, we got nowhere.
So we took her home with the bag still attached in her diaper. After another hour or so, we had pee-pee! We also had poop. Bummer. It went into the bag. That was ruined. Now what?
We tried to get away with just not doing it but the nurse called us a week later and asked what's up with that? So Paul picked up another bag. Anna protested. She walked funny but got used to it. After an hour, we had pee-pee! Laid her down on the diaper changing table, and the dang thing got soaked with pee, it unstuck itself and leaked out into her diaper.
Joy, we get another round of this.
I go back to the pedi's office and pick up THREE extra bags. I explain our failures and the nurse says, "oh, you can't lay her down to collect it. She's gotta be standing up!" Otherwise the pee will do what it just did to us: unstuck from the bag. I have hated that nurse for the past 2 years. Really. Ask Paul.
Seriously? Anna will LOVE this one.
Take 3, I swear we're going to get this one to work. Anna protests. Wouldn't you? She's looking at us like we're crazy. She walks funny and then an hour later, we have pee-pee. It takes both Paul and I to make sure she stands up while we get this thing off of her.
Jesus. I guess it beats a catheter.
Turns out the results are normal. Nothing funny going on. All this to confirm that our daughter is a water addict like her mother. I mean now she needs to keep it in her bed at night. She doesn't drink it, but she needs it there. It's her comfort object I think.
I know I never go anywhere without my water bottle too.
But I wonder if her addiction was foreshadowed by the fact that I was thirsty every minute of every day of the last few weeks of my pregnancy? I mean I couldn't SLEEP because I was so thirsty. And they had to induce me because my amniotic fluid was so low. Even back then, she was sucking it down.
This one!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
There are only 4 left
Four people out of about 65 are left taking my test right now. I'm watching them. I wonder if they're struggling or if they are just super neurotic about checking their work. Man I am glad I'm on this side of the teaching podium. I remember all too well being in their seats.
A girl in the class told me that the two students sitting next to her were sharing answers. One had left already. I didn't see it so I'm not sure how to handle it. I think the place to start is with the Bio coordinator, Dr. P. to see what he says.
The guy with the walkman...I'm watching you. I guess if you were using your IPod to cheat, you'd be rewinding and replaying instead of tapping a beat. And you wouldn't be sitting right here in the front row. What are the rules these days for all this technology they could use to cheat? You can't very well take away cell phones, can you?
The guy over there had his notes on the floor next to him. Please, son, that's so old school. They're mine till the end of class...
It's all about karma, people. If you cheat, you will get cheated. Your life will suck because my guess is your entire life is a lie anyway. I don't have to take you down to the Dean's office to teach you that lesson. Real life's lessons are much worse.
Now there are 2 left. I'd like to go home but frankly those essay questions are indeed painful. And they will be painful for me to grade so I guess it's just the law of the land.
A student pulls me out of the class and tries to explain why he knows he sucked this exam up. He was working last week and missed my class and didn't know what to expect on the exam.
Our Actual conversation:
Him: Ummm, I'm a grad student here and I took this class last semester with Dr. P. But he failed me so I have to take it again to graduate.
Me: Oh, yikes! I heard his exams were tough! (DUDE, GRAD STUDENTS DON'T FAIL ANYTHING!!!! ARE YOU CRAZY?!)
Him: Yeah. Yours weren't much easier...
Me: What?! Yes it was...
Him: Well I missed last week's class because I was working and so I didn't exactly know what would be on it. Did you discuss the contents in last week's class?
Me: Yes, I went over in detail exactly what you should know (WTF does it matter? Learn the material we went over in class and you'll pass the exam. ESPECIALLY if you've had this class already!!! Do I really have to spoon feed a graduate student??)
Him: OH! Well I missed the class so I didn't know the format...
Me: Next time if you miss a class that we discuss the format feel free to email me and I'll reply with what I told the rest of the class. But seriously, dude, really? LAME EXCUSE.
If you are a graduate student and this is the second time you're in BASIC HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, an UNDERGRAD course, and you can't diagram and action potential or the events that happen at the synaptic cleft, leave now. You'll be useless to society.
Now there's one left. Look at him work!
It's getting cold in here. All the 65 warm bodies have left.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
This morning Anna told me that my necklace was pretty.
"It's PRETTY!" she exclaimed over breakfast. So sweet and happy and meaningful, complete with inflection. Like a little sweet girlie person. It made my heart melt. She thinks my necklace is pretty...awwww...I love you, baby girl.
And the last one is finished! He just gave me his test. He smelled like pickles. What's THAT about? Time to lug home the 700 pages of exams and start grading.
A girl in the class told me that the two students sitting next to her were sharing answers. One had left already. I didn't see it so I'm not sure how to handle it. I think the place to start is with the Bio coordinator, Dr. P. to see what he says.
The guy with the walkman...I'm watching you. I guess if you were using your IPod to cheat, you'd be rewinding and replaying instead of tapping a beat. And you wouldn't be sitting right here in the front row. What are the rules these days for all this technology they could use to cheat? You can't very well take away cell phones, can you?
The guy over there had his notes on the floor next to him. Please, son, that's so old school. They're mine till the end of class...
It's all about karma, people. If you cheat, you will get cheated. Your life will suck because my guess is your entire life is a lie anyway. I don't have to take you down to the Dean's office to teach you that lesson. Real life's lessons are much worse.
Now there are 2 left. I'd like to go home but frankly those essay questions are indeed painful. And they will be painful for me to grade so I guess it's just the law of the land.
A student pulls me out of the class and tries to explain why he knows he sucked this exam up. He was working last week and missed my class and didn't know what to expect on the exam.
Our Actual conversation:
Him: Ummm, I'm a grad student here and I took this class last semester with Dr. P. But he failed me so I have to take it again to graduate.
Me: Oh, yikes! I heard his exams were tough! (DUDE, GRAD STUDENTS DON'T FAIL ANYTHING!!!! ARE YOU CRAZY?!)
Him: Yeah. Yours weren't much easier...
Me: What?! Yes it was...
Him: Well I missed last week's class because I was working and so I didn't exactly know what would be on it. Did you discuss the contents in last week's class?
Me: Yes, I went over in detail exactly what you should know (WTF does it matter? Learn the material we went over in class and you'll pass the exam. ESPECIALLY if you've had this class already!!! Do I really have to spoon feed a graduate student??)
Him: OH! Well I missed the class so I didn't know the format...
Me: Next time if you miss a class that we discuss the format feel free to email me and I'll reply with what I told the rest of the class. But seriously, dude, really? LAME EXCUSE.
If you are a graduate student and this is the second time you're in BASIC HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, an UNDERGRAD course, and you can't diagram and action potential or the events that happen at the synaptic cleft, leave now. You'll be useless to society.
Now there's one left. Look at him work!
It's getting cold in here. All the 65 warm bodies have left.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
This morning Anna told me that my necklace was pretty.
"It's PRETTY!" she exclaimed over breakfast. So sweet and happy and meaningful, complete with inflection. Like a little sweet girlie person. It made my heart melt. She thinks my necklace is pretty...awwww...I love you, baby girl.
And the last one is finished! He just gave me his test. He smelled like pickles. What's THAT about? Time to lug home the 700 pages of exams and start grading.
Miscellaneous
The past 2 nights while putting Anna to bed, she has laid down, lights off, and handed us her pacis while saying, "No! No paci!". Then when we leave with them, we see much tossing and turning and eventually a call back for the paci. We comply, of course. But it's interesting to see where she is trying to go with this.
Especially since her paci addiction heightened during those top teeth, and since then she'll still occasionally ask for it during the day. And even in public. To which I give in rather than hearing the screams. And this, of course, perpetuates the paci addiction cycle.
I promise to stop now. Until those bottom teeth start giving her yet more grief and we go through it all over again.
She is starting to use sentences. If I ask her where her stuffed animal (or paci) is, she'll say "in the bed". If I ask her to go tell Daddy something, Paul can get the general idea of what she's trying to tell him. The other morning we talked all about the cool frogs on her shirt as she was getting dressed. Later Paul told me she told him something about frogs on her shirt and mommy and getting dressed. Yesterday she told me "I like grits!!" during breakfast. Pretty cute.
We got a reminder note from her teachers to remember to bring the Valentine's cards to class for the list of her classmates (attached). Really? That one caught us off guard. Isn't that like pre-school stuff? Looks like they're having a little Val Day party at school on Friday. Guess I'd better get over to Walgreens and work the Valentine cards. I don't think I've seen batch Valentines cards like that since elementary school...wow.
On the home front, we got new carpet installed throughout the upstairs and front formal. I liked the color in the store, of course. But I was too lazy to bring the swatch home to match it in our lighting. Instead, I brought some furniture pillows into the store from home and felt good about that. Now that the carpet's installed, I'm not so sure I like it. I mean, the INTENT is there...I just wish it were more of a sandy color. To me, it's got too much gold or something. I swear it was more brown in the store. Under the fluorescent lighting. Paul likes it but then again you all know he is in fact slightly color bind. Sorry to call you out honey, haha. Regardless, there's no going back so when you come over just tell me you like it. At this point, the carpet's installed and so no one's opinion really matters anymore (including my own). So you may as well fake it. And yes, we INTENTIONALLY went a darker color than the original. Toddler = stains = dark carpet covers it nicely with less scrubbing.
Especially since her paci addiction heightened during those top teeth, and since then she'll still occasionally ask for it during the day. And even in public. To which I give in rather than hearing the screams. And this, of course, perpetuates the paci addiction cycle.
I promise to stop now. Until those bottom teeth start giving her yet more grief and we go through it all over again.
She is starting to use sentences. If I ask her where her stuffed animal (or paci) is, she'll say "in the bed". If I ask her to go tell Daddy something, Paul can get the general idea of what she's trying to tell him. The other morning we talked all about the cool frogs on her shirt as she was getting dressed. Later Paul told me she told him something about frogs on her shirt and mommy and getting dressed. Yesterday she told me "I like grits!!" during breakfast. Pretty cute.
We got a reminder note from her teachers to remember to bring the Valentine's cards to class for the list of her classmates (attached). Really? That one caught us off guard. Isn't that like pre-school stuff? Looks like they're having a little Val Day party at school on Friday. Guess I'd better get over to Walgreens and work the Valentine cards. I don't think I've seen batch Valentines cards like that since elementary school...wow.
On the home front, we got new carpet installed throughout the upstairs and front formal. I liked the color in the store, of course. But I was too lazy to bring the swatch home to match it in our lighting. Instead, I brought some furniture pillows into the store from home and felt good about that. Now that the carpet's installed, I'm not so sure I like it. I mean, the INTENT is there...I just wish it were more of a sandy color. To me, it's got too much gold or something. I swear it was more brown in the store. Under the fluorescent lighting. Paul likes it but then again you all know he is in fact slightly color bind. Sorry to call you out honey, haha. Regardless, there's no going back so when you come over just tell me you like it. At this point, the carpet's installed and so no one's opinion really matters anymore (including my own). So you may as well fake it. And yes, we INTENTIONALLY went a darker color than the original. Toddler = stains = dark carpet covers it nicely with less scrubbing.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Update on my new role at work
I am slowly transitioning over to the ISS Directorate to work as the Associate ISS Program Scientist (ISS = International Space Station). Things should be full time by Feb 17. In the meantime, I am still at my old desk, just wrapping up some current projects with my team before I'm officially gone. Yesterday I had a meeting with the team to announce my leaving, and to try to answer questions regarding the stability of HRF when I am gone (that's the Human Research Facility project that I've been leading for the last 15 months or so...at least the engineering component). It was tough to announce my departure, since HRF has been unstable for the last year or so when the Engineering Directorate announced its intentions to de-prioritize biomedical hardware development in favor of developing the new launch vehicle that will replace the space shuttle...I am not exactly thrilled about adding more instability to the team's daily activities of simply trying to get flight hardware out the door. The good news is, no one could blame me for taking the new position, and their team lead was upbeat and optimistic. In fact, even though there's no official replacement for me yet, there is some talk on the street and if it works out, it will be in their favor. So I am keeping my fingers crossed...especially since Engineering will lose their current HRF lead my Feb 17! Someone will have to assume the position!!
Anyway, this morning I met with my new team at my new role to discuss JR's upcoming press release regarding Expedition 19/20 science activities. It was a brainstorming session on how to get the best bang for our 15 minutes of air time. It was actually a really cool meeting. Super interesting...I'm already learning tons. JR has also put my name into the Media 101 training class so I know how to "work the cameras ;) " It's the same class the astronauts take. I'm sitting here the whole time like :"FOR REAL?!"
I am glad I am in the process of fixing my front tooth. It broke when I was in middle school and has been off-colored since. It's fake. I should have the new improved tooth in by Feb 23. Yeah, baby. Now I can REALLY work the cameras!
The new team is also super cool and down to Earth. I haven't had much exposure to the new position, but I feel comfortable...like this stuff might be natural to me.
Although I do still find it truly surreal and a tad bit depressing when I take a second to realize that the JSC Engineering world is no longer my home. I will be in 4S and they are in building 36. And I won't be on their roster.
Anyway, this morning I met with my new team at my new role to discuss JR's upcoming press release regarding Expedition 19/20 science activities. It was a brainstorming session on how to get the best bang for our 15 minutes of air time. It was actually a really cool meeting. Super interesting...I'm already learning tons. JR has also put my name into the Media 101 training class so I know how to "work the cameras ;) " It's the same class the astronauts take. I'm sitting here the whole time like :"FOR REAL?!"
I am glad I am in the process of fixing my front tooth. It broke when I was in middle school and has been off-colored since. It's fake. I should have the new improved tooth in by Feb 23. Yeah, baby. Now I can REALLY work the cameras!
The new team is also super cool and down to Earth. I haven't had much exposure to the new position, but I feel comfortable...like this stuff might be natural to me.
Although I do still find it truly surreal and a tad bit depressing when I take a second to realize that the JSC Engineering world is no longer my home. I will be in 4S and they are in building 36. And I won't be on their roster.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Busy, busy
Where'd all this busy time come from? It used to be that I'd come home at 5:15pm or so with Anna, we'd make dinner (while she impatiently tugged at my pants and cried: cccchhhheeessseee!!!" out of hunger), we'd play, give Anna a bath, and then put her to bed so that mommy and daddy can have time to watch TV or surf the net or update the blog. It seems we rarely have nights like that anymore. It's more of a hand-off to Paul in between dinner and bedtime before I am out the door. I guess with the re-emergence of Girls' Nights on Mondays (yay!), me working late on Tues to make up for the Thurs afternoons I'm home with Anna, and my teaching on Wed nights, the remaining week days are reserved for house up-keep, errands, and family time.
I'm falling behind on TV. Rats. And with the new U-verse and everything. I even forgot to set it to record Desperate Housewives last night, though I did hear the Grammys were on so maybe it was a re-run anyway.
I'm falling behind on reading. I have two non-fiction books sitting on my desk for actually months now. They look cool...I just need to pick them up. And stay awake. Or maybe I can read them at 3:30am when it seems I wake up and stay awake for the day lately.
I was exercising at 6:00am but that lasted about a week. I do need to get on the bike, though, or the MS150 is really going to hurt.
Although I am now gone from the house a few more nights a week, Paul and I still both seem to get in alot of time with Anna, thankfully. And Z and C were so awesome to come babysit while Anna slept so Paul and I could go out to dinner Sat. night. Imagine that. We didn't even mind the 1 hour wait to get seated.
I like being busy these days. I've spent much of my energy and time devoted to being there for Anna and Paul the past 2 years. I feel like it's an obligation over anything else in my life. So it's been good that work's been less challenging and I can leave by 5, although part of me finds it boring. I don't go to happy hour with co-workers (that stuff takes alot our of me anyway) and I am very protective of my weekends when it comes to things like volunteering my time. It's just that I am much more picky about how I choose to spend my time or something...But Paul has been encouraging me to get out of this feeling of obligation and just go do it. At least the stuff I want to do.
So it was kinda nice when I got to go volunteer at an all-girls science workshop event with my new boss JR and her team on Sat morning while Paul brought Anna to the Little Gym. I think it was the first time I have missed going with Anna to the Little Gym ever. It wasn't so bad.
Pre-baby Tara wouldn't have given it a second thought. I am continually reminded how priorities change with the addition of a little one to the family, even if I didn't intend the changes. It amazes me the women I know who have tons of hobbies and stuff to do, because it means less time with their kids (most of the time). How I feel about them is too complicated to write down but I can say I admire the fact that they balance it all. I am slowly stepping back out to add things onto my life almost two years later. But I am challenged to balance it all in a way that makes me feel good knowing Paul and Anna's needs are also being met. I can't enjoy the rest of my life if I am worried about the two people most important to me.
So it's a daily thing.
I'm sure most moms feel the same.
Actually, this post started out with the intent to document the fact that we were too busy to sit down this weekend!! We spent a good deal of the weekend preparing the house for the carpet that's going to be replaced tomorrow, including trying to fix the squeaks in the upstairs flooring. In the process, Paul found a quick way to enlarge an existing A/C register upstairs that would allow more airflow through our A/C and hopefully save on some electric bills...as for the squeaks, we have one more night to work that out.
Yesterday we took a break from the renovations (and cleaning!) to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science with TJ, CM, and OM to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. Our babysitting plans fell through so we took Anna with us, thinking she'd be at least somewhat interested in the body parts, though we still expected an element of the distracting behavior that comes with an almost-2-year-old. We lost TJ, O, and CM early in because the crowds were really insane, and since much of the display were things (bones, cancerous lungs, etc) that Paul and I have already seen, we tried to move through the crowd to the more interesting full-body anatomical dissections. But the crowd got thicker and thicker. The lines grew longer to see anything, and the toddler got bored. As long as we were looking at stuff, she was fine. While waiting and waiting, she got giggly, silly, and punchy (surprise!). It was hot in there. And did I mention crowded? There were also other kids and babies there too. Some were taking it better than others. We'd had enough. Even after $50 for the tickets and $10 for parking, we decided to turn around and abort this mission. It was just too much. Even without a toddler, we'd have just left. While there, we just weren't feeling it. If we weren't feeling it, then to me and Paul it was just more dissected cadavers that we've seen numerous times in our careers and at the previous Body Worlds exhibit years ago. But really, I can't even believe the museum would allow so many people into one single exhibit. It's just not fun that way. Although I think it's really AWESOME that the lay public is interested in the fascinating human body.
The most interesting thing I did fight to go see was the dissected pregnant woman. I couldn't get close enough to read the info on it, so I am not sure how far along she was, but she looked at least 5 months or so. Maybe I'm off. It was very, very cool. If she'd have had skin, I'd have thought she must have also been pretty. The fetus was still in her placenta and all cut away to show it all. If it were at the first Body Worlds exhibit years ago, I must have forgotten, or maybe for obvious reason I am more impacted this time around. I thought it was anatomically amazing. Then I thought: this was somebody's loved one, expecting a baby. And then they died.
Darn it.
I'm falling behind on TV. Rats. And with the new U-verse and everything. I even forgot to set it to record Desperate Housewives last night, though I did hear the Grammys were on so maybe it was a re-run anyway.
I'm falling behind on reading. I have two non-fiction books sitting on my desk for actually months now. They look cool...I just need to pick them up. And stay awake. Or maybe I can read them at 3:30am when it seems I wake up and stay awake for the day lately.
I was exercising at 6:00am but that lasted about a week. I do need to get on the bike, though, or the MS150 is really going to hurt.
Although I am now gone from the house a few more nights a week, Paul and I still both seem to get in alot of time with Anna, thankfully. And Z and C were so awesome to come babysit while Anna slept so Paul and I could go out to dinner Sat. night. Imagine that. We didn't even mind the 1 hour wait to get seated.
I like being busy these days. I've spent much of my energy and time devoted to being there for Anna and Paul the past 2 years. I feel like it's an obligation over anything else in my life. So it's been good that work's been less challenging and I can leave by 5, although part of me finds it boring. I don't go to happy hour with co-workers (that stuff takes alot our of me anyway) and I am very protective of my weekends when it comes to things like volunteering my time. It's just that I am much more picky about how I choose to spend my time or something...But Paul has been encouraging me to get out of this feeling of obligation and just go do it. At least the stuff I want to do.
So it was kinda nice when I got to go volunteer at an all-girls science workshop event with my new boss JR and her team on Sat morning while Paul brought Anna to the Little Gym. I think it was the first time I have missed going with Anna to the Little Gym ever. It wasn't so bad.
Pre-baby Tara wouldn't have given it a second thought. I am continually reminded how priorities change with the addition of a little one to the family, even if I didn't intend the changes. It amazes me the women I know who have tons of hobbies and stuff to do, because it means less time with their kids (most of the time). How I feel about them is too complicated to write down but I can say I admire the fact that they balance it all. I am slowly stepping back out to add things onto my life almost two years later. But I am challenged to balance it all in a way that makes me feel good knowing Paul and Anna's needs are also being met. I can't enjoy the rest of my life if I am worried about the two people most important to me.
So it's a daily thing.
I'm sure most moms feel the same.
Actually, this post started out with the intent to document the fact that we were too busy to sit down this weekend!! We spent a good deal of the weekend preparing the house for the carpet that's going to be replaced tomorrow, including trying to fix the squeaks in the upstairs flooring. In the process, Paul found a quick way to enlarge an existing A/C register upstairs that would allow more airflow through our A/C and hopefully save on some electric bills...as for the squeaks, we have one more night to work that out.
Yesterday we took a break from the renovations (and cleaning!) to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science with TJ, CM, and OM to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. Our babysitting plans fell through so we took Anna with us, thinking she'd be at least somewhat interested in the body parts, though we still expected an element of the distracting behavior that comes with an almost-2-year-old. We lost TJ, O, and CM early in because the crowds were really insane, and since much of the display were things (bones, cancerous lungs, etc) that Paul and I have already seen, we tried to move through the crowd to the more interesting full-body anatomical dissections. But the crowd got thicker and thicker. The lines grew longer to see anything, and the toddler got bored. As long as we were looking at stuff, she was fine. While waiting and waiting, she got giggly, silly, and punchy (surprise!). It was hot in there. And did I mention crowded? There were also other kids and babies there too. Some were taking it better than others. We'd had enough. Even after $50 for the tickets and $10 for parking, we decided to turn around and abort this mission. It was just too much. Even without a toddler, we'd have just left. While there, we just weren't feeling it. If we weren't feeling it, then to me and Paul it was just more dissected cadavers that we've seen numerous times in our careers and at the previous Body Worlds exhibit years ago. But really, I can't even believe the museum would allow so many people into one single exhibit. It's just not fun that way. Although I think it's really AWESOME that the lay public is interested in the fascinating human body.
The most interesting thing I did fight to go see was the dissected pregnant woman. I couldn't get close enough to read the info on it, so I am not sure how far along she was, but she looked at least 5 months or so. Maybe I'm off. It was very, very cool. If she'd have had skin, I'd have thought she must have also been pretty. The fetus was still in her placenta and all cut away to show it all. If it were at the first Body Worlds exhibit years ago, I must have forgotten, or maybe for obvious reason I am more impacted this time around. I thought it was anatomically amazing. Then I thought: this was somebody's loved one, expecting a baby. And then they died.
Darn it.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Growing up
Yesterday I put one of my favorite litte outfits on Anna. It's really cute. The shoulders and arms seemed a little tight. She was annoyed by the snap on the waist. Moving right along, I took that quick mental note but just thought -eh, this shirt must have been dried too many times or something. I though her annoyance was just irritating with teething in general enough to tick her off about every little imperfect thing.
This morning I dressed her in another one of my favorite little cozy outfits. Her belly was hanging out. I really noticed it when I dropped her off in class. My goodness, she's got to stop eating! Her bottomless pit approach to the table is catching up with her!
On the drive to work: there's no way she's growing out of her clothes, is there? I mean her clothese are 2T for crying out loud. She has several more months till she reaches the 2T age of 24 months...that's wayyyy down the line.
And then I realized it wasn't. That's in 4 weeks. She'll be 2 in about 4 weeks on March 8.
Yikes. That explains the clothes.
And the fact she's been experimenting with talking in sentences to us enough to be able to have a little conversation. And she gets the jokes. And that we're finishing up with teething.
Now I get it.
This morning I dressed her in another one of my favorite little cozy outfits. Her belly was hanging out. I really noticed it when I dropped her off in class. My goodness, she's got to stop eating! Her bottomless pit approach to the table is catching up with her!
On the drive to work: there's no way she's growing out of her clothes, is there? I mean her clothese are 2T for crying out loud. She has several more months till she reaches the 2T age of 24 months...that's wayyyy down the line.
And then I realized it wasn't. That's in 4 weeks. She'll be 2 in about 4 weeks on March 8.
Yikes. That explains the clothes.
And the fact she's been experimenting with talking in sentences to us enough to be able to have a little conversation. And she gets the jokes. And that we're finishing up with teething.
Now I get it.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Meet your new Associate ISS Program Scientist
Well I can officially announce it. Remember that job interview I tried to sabotage? Apparently my Wit, charm, and CV were just too much for my big mouth and honesty because I was offered the position of Associate International Space Station Program Scientist. I am officially no longer an Engineer. I am a Scientist.
This means a big, fat promotion (with pay and high visibility) and apparent decrease in office size. Geeze, I am spoiled at my current office in Engineering that I've gotten to share with my friend CS for the past few years. It has 4 walls and a door. And a little meeting table and a white board. My new office is in cube-ville in 4S, where all the "Program" people and Astronauts sit. It is a literal sliver of space with a desk and book case. They apologized repeatedly. Fortunately, I'm not the high maintenance type so I should be just fine after I touch it up a bit. Pictures of Paul and Anna and space stuff will at least make it look lived in.
They tell me that spot used to be called "The Cave" until they just fixed the lights! My cube neighbors may be finding their walls slowly pushed inward over time. I did warn them.
I will be 2 floors down from the astronaut office. Ouch.
The parking is so far from the building, it will require outdoor gear.
Really, I'm not complaining. It's just that after 8 years here in Engineering, I've always had a nice office space and close parking. Now I will have a cubical. It will just be different. Until the next promotion, that is! I am just one away from getting my own office with 4 walls and a parking space :)
But here's some info about the new job...in fact, here's the job description as it was posted when I applied:
Serves as Associate Program Scientist in the Space Station Payloads Office with responsibility for assisting the ISS Program Scientist in the promotion of research on the International Space Station (ISS), and providing scientific assessments, integration of NASA research priorities, and recommendations to the ISS Program Manager, ISS Payloads Office Manager, and the NASA Headquarters Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) on research issues. Specifically:
Represents the ISS Program Scientist on boards, panels, and international research working groups, and in interfaces with personnel in the ISS Payloads Office during strategic and tactical planning and real-time operations.
Develops program documentation to establish the new multilateral ISS Program Science Forum.
Promotes and publicizes ISS research results and plans at external scientific and technical conferences, press conferences, in written publications, and other public venues.
Serves as technical lead for contractor support of the ISS Program Scientist's Office, including supervision of the records maintenance of research accomplished on ISS, tracking of results through completion of scientific publications, and provision of appropriate information to the NASA community and to the public through the NASA Portal website.
Serves as interface on ISS science to the Public Affairs Offices at JSC and MSFC, advising on story development and key science themes, and reviewing products prior to public release.
What does all that garble mean? It basically means that I will have a big role in decisions regarding which experiments will fly on the International Space Station (it's an on-orbit lab, folks), conveying the information (including data) to the public through conferences and press releases, knowing important details about such experiments, travel to NASA Headquarters to meet with Agency-level science program leaders (and international travel to work with our International Partners), future science planning, and lots of other stuff that if I tried to explain wouldn't come out sounding very smart so I'll digress till I get into the swing of the job.
My new boss (JR) is a high-powered, approachable woman with a daughter and husband and she seems darned cool. She appears to be flexible with my schedule and my concern for my little family as a priority. She tells me she was 35 with a 2 year-old when she started this position (she is the ISS Program Scientist and I will be her "Associate"). So she's been there and hopefully will provide good mentoring.
We are already planning travel to Headquarters in March, which had to be worked around my teaching schedule. But she is willing to work with it (by the way I think I really want to keep teaching all year so hopefully we'll be able to work that out beyond this semester).
We are preparing for an upcoming Press Release event; details of which I will learn when we meet up next Monday.
For now, I am slowly moving into my new Office Sliver and she's going to start inviting me to meetings and parsing out my duties to relieve her of some of the tons of stuff she has been doing on a regular basis. I am going to need a slight wardrobe upgrade.
Part of my job is to provide her relief from her job load. In parallel, she is training me to someday become her replacement. I guess that's far down the line, and one year from now I may be ready to turn tail and run far away, but going in, these are the reasons for creating my position as her Associate.
I am melancholy about leaving Engineering. Although I had not started out to be an Engineer, I have really liked being an Engineer. I have learned that my brain thinks like an Engineer: I like facts and lines and black and white and rules and processes. I like working with a team. In my mind, Science has many more gray areas, exceptions to rules, blurred processes, and more individualism. I used to be that way. My undergraduate degree is in Biology. I got my MS in Engineering and then my PhD in Neuroscience. I agree with JR when she says I'm a scientist at heart (she says she can tell). If you'd have offered me this exact position when I was an undergrad, it would be a dream come true. In fact, I couldn't have made up such a position myself. But since I've been an Engineer here for 8 years, I have become that in my mind. It's nice. JSC Engineering kicks ASS and I have enjoyed being a "do-er" here in Engineering. (Besides, being the only physiologist in Engineering was cool).
Although I have loved Engineering, my current Engineering chief agrees I'd be stupid to pass this promotion up. Promotions like these are very difficult in Engineering. Especially for biomedical these days, which has taken a low priority in the Engineering Directorate with the emergence of the new vehicle developments for the Constellation Program. As such, I have been a low priority. These things have highs and lows. I rode the "highs" for 6 years and now I'm in the "low". It's part of the thing that has made me feel like I've been in "Time Out" for the last few years. The Engineering Directorate has changed its priorities, and I don't exactly fit in for now. When the time comes that Engineering decides it wants to do biomedical hardware again for the moon and mars, maybe I'll be able to come back. Until then, it's time Spacemama has a challenge. My brain needs a challenge.
Don't get me wrong. My current role in Engineering as the lead for the Human Research Facility has been kick-ass. My team is technically knowledgeable, professional, caring, and product-driven. They are friendly and approachable. They know what they're doing and they get the job done. As such, my role becomes less involved, and so for the last 1.5 years I've been the lead, I've been less challenged and a little bored at times. While this has been GREAT in terms of balancing my schedule as a working mom of a toddler and a wife to a start-up small business owner, my inner self has been feeling like I'm just not productive enough. I think like most other people, feeling productive at the end of the day makes me feel valued in the workplace. I should come home realizing my significant accomplishments for the day. I think the new job will do that.
I was given the option to leave HRF and stay in Engineering to potentially work spacesuit design. That would have been totally fun I think. But it wasn't a guarantee, and there were a few other drawbacks I won't get into.
Either way, I told you that after the astronaut process, I was going to make some kind of big move. See how the Universe works that way? Admittedly, I think I under minded my own astronaut application because I actually believed more that a big change was coming like THIS, more than I believed the astronaut office would call me. In some way I think I wasn't done with the other stuff at NASA. I think that I think I have more work to do before becoming an astronaut or something. The Science part.
I admit I was looking for a position with what I thought was more fun, like performing engineering design and testing, operations on console, or things including making use of NASA's parabolic airplane, or the underwater lab (NBL), etc. Different from biomedical, even. But then I thought harder: I have been there, done that. Over and over, and early in my career. I have done the diving, the flying, the extreme mission simulations. The next time I experience all of that stuff needs to be as an astronaut.
Let's face it, it's time for me to put my big-girl panties on and represent NASA at a different level. That of Associate ISS Program Scientist. I am a scientist and an engineer. I will now make use of my Science degrees.
This means a big, fat promotion (with pay and high visibility) and apparent decrease in office size. Geeze, I am spoiled at my current office in Engineering that I've gotten to share with my friend CS for the past few years. It has 4 walls and a door. And a little meeting table and a white board. My new office is in cube-ville in 4S, where all the "Program" people and Astronauts sit. It is a literal sliver of space with a desk and book case. They apologized repeatedly. Fortunately, I'm not the high maintenance type so I should be just fine after I touch it up a bit. Pictures of Paul and Anna and space stuff will at least make it look lived in.
They tell me that spot used to be called "The Cave" until they just fixed the lights! My cube neighbors may be finding their walls slowly pushed inward over time. I did warn them.
I will be 2 floors down from the astronaut office. Ouch.
The parking is so far from the building, it will require outdoor gear.
Really, I'm not complaining. It's just that after 8 years here in Engineering, I've always had a nice office space and close parking. Now I will have a cubical. It will just be different. Until the next promotion, that is! I am just one away from getting my own office with 4 walls and a parking space :)
But here's some info about the new job...in fact, here's the job description as it was posted when I applied:
Serves as Associate Program Scientist in the Space Station Payloads Office with responsibility for assisting the ISS Program Scientist in the promotion of research on the International Space Station (ISS), and providing scientific assessments, integration of NASA research priorities, and recommendations to the ISS Program Manager, ISS Payloads Office Manager, and the NASA Headquarters Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) on research issues. Specifically:
Represents the ISS Program Scientist on boards, panels, and international research working groups, and in interfaces with personnel in the ISS Payloads Office during strategic and tactical planning and real-time operations.
Develops program documentation to establish the new multilateral ISS Program Science Forum.
Promotes and publicizes ISS research results and plans at external scientific and technical conferences, press conferences, in written publications, and other public venues.
Serves as technical lead for contractor support of the ISS Program Scientist's Office, including supervision of the records maintenance of research accomplished on ISS, tracking of results through completion of scientific publications, and provision of appropriate information to the NASA community and to the public through the NASA Portal website.
Serves as interface on ISS science to the Public Affairs Offices at JSC and MSFC, advising on story development and key science themes, and reviewing products prior to public release.
What does all that garble mean? It basically means that I will have a big role in decisions regarding which experiments will fly on the International Space Station (it's an on-orbit lab, folks), conveying the information (including data) to the public through conferences and press releases, knowing important details about such experiments, travel to NASA Headquarters to meet with Agency-level science program leaders (and international travel to work with our International Partners), future science planning, and lots of other stuff that if I tried to explain wouldn't come out sounding very smart so I'll digress till I get into the swing of the job.
My new boss (JR) is a high-powered, approachable woman with a daughter and husband and she seems darned cool. She appears to be flexible with my schedule and my concern for my little family as a priority. She tells me she was 35 with a 2 year-old when she started this position (she is the ISS Program Scientist and I will be her "Associate"). So she's been there and hopefully will provide good mentoring.
We are already planning travel to Headquarters in March, which had to be worked around my teaching schedule. But she is willing to work with it (by the way I think I really want to keep teaching all year so hopefully we'll be able to work that out beyond this semester).
We are preparing for an upcoming Press Release event; details of which I will learn when we meet up next Monday.
For now, I am slowly moving into my new Office Sliver and she's going to start inviting me to meetings and parsing out my duties to relieve her of some of the tons of stuff she has been doing on a regular basis. I am going to need a slight wardrobe upgrade.
Part of my job is to provide her relief from her job load. In parallel, she is training me to someday become her replacement. I guess that's far down the line, and one year from now I may be ready to turn tail and run far away, but going in, these are the reasons for creating my position as her Associate.
I am melancholy about leaving Engineering. Although I had not started out to be an Engineer, I have really liked being an Engineer. I have learned that my brain thinks like an Engineer: I like facts and lines and black and white and rules and processes. I like working with a team. In my mind, Science has many more gray areas, exceptions to rules, blurred processes, and more individualism. I used to be that way. My undergraduate degree is in Biology. I got my MS in Engineering and then my PhD in Neuroscience. I agree with JR when she says I'm a scientist at heart (she says she can tell). If you'd have offered me this exact position when I was an undergrad, it would be a dream come true. In fact, I couldn't have made up such a position myself. But since I've been an Engineer here for 8 years, I have become that in my mind. It's nice. JSC Engineering kicks ASS and I have enjoyed being a "do-er" here in Engineering. (Besides, being the only physiologist in Engineering was cool).
Although I have loved Engineering, my current Engineering chief agrees I'd be stupid to pass this promotion up. Promotions like these are very difficult in Engineering. Especially for biomedical these days, which has taken a low priority in the Engineering Directorate with the emergence of the new vehicle developments for the Constellation Program. As such, I have been a low priority. These things have highs and lows. I rode the "highs" for 6 years and now I'm in the "low". It's part of the thing that has made me feel like I've been in "Time Out" for the last few years. The Engineering Directorate has changed its priorities, and I don't exactly fit in for now. When the time comes that Engineering decides it wants to do biomedical hardware again for the moon and mars, maybe I'll be able to come back. Until then, it's time Spacemama has a challenge. My brain needs a challenge.
Don't get me wrong. My current role in Engineering as the lead for the Human Research Facility has been kick-ass. My team is technically knowledgeable, professional, caring, and product-driven. They are friendly and approachable. They know what they're doing and they get the job done. As such, my role becomes less involved, and so for the last 1.5 years I've been the lead, I've been less challenged and a little bored at times. While this has been GREAT in terms of balancing my schedule as a working mom of a toddler and a wife to a start-up small business owner, my inner self has been feeling like I'm just not productive enough. I think like most other people, feeling productive at the end of the day makes me feel valued in the workplace. I should come home realizing my significant accomplishments for the day. I think the new job will do that.
I was given the option to leave HRF and stay in Engineering to potentially work spacesuit design. That would have been totally fun I think. But it wasn't a guarantee, and there were a few other drawbacks I won't get into.
Either way, I told you that after the astronaut process, I was going to make some kind of big move. See how the Universe works that way? Admittedly, I think I under minded my own astronaut application because I actually believed more that a big change was coming like THIS, more than I believed the astronaut office would call me. In some way I think I wasn't done with the other stuff at NASA. I think that I think I have more work to do before becoming an astronaut or something. The Science part.
I admit I was looking for a position with what I thought was more fun, like performing engineering design and testing, operations on console, or things including making use of NASA's parabolic airplane, or the underwater lab (NBL), etc. Different from biomedical, even. But then I thought harder: I have been there, done that. Over and over, and early in my career. I have done the diving, the flying, the extreme mission simulations. The next time I experience all of that stuff needs to be as an astronaut.
Let's face it, it's time for me to put my big-girl panties on and represent NASA at a different level. That of Associate ISS Program Scientist. I am a scientist and an engineer. I will now make use of my Science degrees.
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