Will this week never end?

Can I just say, it has been the week from hell. And it is only Wednesday. I am very afraid of Thursday and Friday. Although I kind of think, it can't really get much worse right? Well, ok, it can, but really, would it? So, CAS ended last Friday, and I pretty much slept all weekend. And slept. And slept some more. I was EXHAUSTED. So exhausted that when Monday rolled around, I was more than excited to head up to the doctor's office for an appointment I had made on Friday when I was feeling not so awesome. I donned my favorite Cal shirt and some raggy jeans for the trip (what? the black pajama pants were dirty). Hung out in the huge doctor's waiting room (this place is like a factory, but I LOVE my doctor!), and then went through the normal process of nurse induced medical testing (weight, BP, temp, etc.). There was a slight moment of panic when the nurse, who I think might have been on her second day of working, ever, took my BP and it came back super high. This was strange, since the day before my BP had been perfect, even when I was feeling the crummiest. After some careful thinking on her part (like, actual thinking, I could see this painful process happening), she took out a second cuff, and low and behold, 122/82. Yup, good thing, or I would have been on my way to the hospital real fast.

So, the doctor comes in, tells me I look like crap (but yet, I REALLY love her), and asks me what is wrong. After a quick discussion of how exhausted I am, and how my job is pretty much high stress year round (I seriously think I would have had to lie if she had asked me what my job was, I mean, how the heck is JSC NASA Education stressful??), she tells me she wants to test me for mono. Awesome. I do not have time for mono. She doesn't seem phased by my lack of time for sickness, and orders up a nice round of tests for everything under the sun. For which I have to fast for. Yea, awesome, cuz I am kind of a breakfast lover. As in, I have to eat within 10 minutes of waking up if it is before 8am (after that, I can pretty much make it till lunch, and I have no idea why). So, I am already not happy about this. Then she wants to run an ekg to make sure everything is good with my heart. She does this, and comes back in with the results and says "Well...." and pauses. I just about hit her. She tells me the EKG is not normal, but nothing alarming. I have some sort of weird electronic impulse that half of the free world probably has and just doenst know about because they aren't lucky enough to have an EKG. She wants me to see a cardiologist, just so he can check me out a little more. I am ok with this, cardiologists are rich right? Maybe he has a rich son. Yup, priorities are totally in order here. So, I make that appointment and return home for my third nap of the day before going to bed that night. And worked on staying calm and not getting stressed, as per my doctor's orders.

Next day, up and at em' for this great blood test. Now, the woman who drew my blood for this test: horrific. She was not friendly. Now, I would think being in that profession, friendliness should be a requirement. I mean, you are sticking people with needles for God's sake. You should at least do it with a smile. Not this woman though, she was not about to crack a smile. Or a joke. And she didn't seem to care that I was about to pass out onto her in the chair. She stuck me, took my blood, and then used really sticky tape to tape some gauze to me. I know it was really sticky because it's remnants are still on my arm. In a nice red rectangle. Around the bruise she left when she removed the needle. Yea, thanks lady. I tried to go to work that day, but was laughed out of the office after I really wasn't functioning at all. Back to napping and emailing from the couch...man, I could get used to that.

So, this morning. Or well, rather, last night. I noticed yesterday that Tony wasn't really into eating breakfast. By dinner, it was obvious that this little man of mine was not feeling well. While his sister pranced around him and bounded around my living room, Tony just laid in the corner, looking rather pathetic. I left the confines of my couch to buy an eye dropper and some cat milk, and tried to make peace with him over a bowl of milk. He drank a little bit, I thought I was homefree, but then he left a bunch in the bowl. Now, this cat, he does not leave food behind. Ever. So I knew he wasn't doing well. I force fed him some water through the eye dropper and he gave me a dirty look and went back to his corner. Mollie also wasn't really eating, but was super excited to play and curled up with me as usual on the couch, so I wasn't too concerned about her. Until this morning. Mollie woke me up at 6:30 am all excited to eat. Or so I thought. I trudged all the way to the kitchen to open up a new can of wet food (yup, these little cats only eat wet food. Yup, they are spoiled. And yup, I know it). I put it into clean bowls, even carried Tony in there, but nothing. They both sniffed, looked at me, and turned around. Awesome. So, I called the vet, showered, and packed both cats into the car. Anyone that has ever seen me (or helped me) do this knows this is a scene. I found a box and put a blanket in the bottom of it. I then carried Tony out, thinking he would just sleep in the box, since he wasn't moving much anyway. Then I brought Mollie out, wrapped in a towel. That lasted all of 5 minutes, and by the time I passed the grocery store, I had two very vocal cats letting me know this was not ok. I tried putting Mollie in the box with Tony, she escaped. I tried holding Mollie, she cried and Tony tried to escape. I tried letting Mollie walk around, she got under the pedals. And then Tony peed in the box. Yup. That cat hasn't eaten in 2 days, but the 20cc's of water i gave him came through at that exact moment apparently. Or he was just mad and taking it out on me, which is pretty normal. So, we finally made it to the vet after I came very close to having three heart attacks and throwing each of these little furrballs out of the car on the freeway. I signed a bunch of papers and dropped off the little guys. Pretty sure I owe someone my first born now (although, as I have said before, I get so stressed when the cats are sick, I am not sure I can ever have kids). And I went to work. Yea, nice way to stay calm and not stress out.


So I made it through most of work today before I called the vet. And the vet himself got on the phone (which is some kind of miracle considering I have never actually met the actual vet, but rather the vet tech, who drives a motorcycle and wears dog collars, according to Jessica). The vet tells me all the tests have come back except for the urine analysis, and they are all normal accept that Tony's glucose is high. He said it was sort of like I have a prediabetic cat. But, apparently cats can also just throw glucose when they get excited, so this is inconclusive (and I paid for what exactly?). He then chooses to inform me that the good news is that Tony really enjoyed his lunchtime meal. Damn cat. Hope he enjoyed his $400 meal! They are keeping both the cats overnight to wait for the urine analysis, and I am sure so they can squeeze a little more money out of me. But, as Becky so nicely put it, I will just continue to pay for my vet's annual vacation to the Bahamas, because animals win over money everytime. So, if you are going to send me a birthday present, consider donating to the Mollie and Tony fund. Cuz I can't feed them next month after the vet bills this month. They are going to have to get jobs. It will be a lonely night here tonight, since those furry bodies wont be climbing all over me at 3am. Someone asked me if they were in the same cage tonight, as in, keeping each other company. I really hope not, because I am pretty sure they hate each other, and really just put up with each other to hang out with me. ;-)

Springtime in NASA Education

It is March. And therefore, it is CAS. For those of you that aren't up to par with the NASA acronyms that I now define my life with (I like to call them the AS-es, not to be confused with the ASSes), CAS is the Community College Aerospace Scholars, a program I run for CC students in Texas. There is also NCAS, the national version, which will occur in April and May (and October and November, if my boss gets his way, and I get my raise...). There is also HAS, MAS, NHAS, TAS, and WISH. But, really, we would be here all night if I defined them. I would say google them, but our website has been down for the last three months (not adding any stress to my life...at all...ok, fine, it is killing me). Anyway, they are not nearly as important as CAS (I can say that, this is my blog). And CAS is the reason that you people who have called me are not getting a response, and those who have emailed are wondering how I so quickly responded to you with a message entitled "Out of Office." I will call/email you back, I have 2 weeks off in May. Until then, I'm gonna need you to be a little patient (note though, that if you are a California friend, this program will be taking me there in April, so maybe you will get a little visit from me...I know, I know, try to contain the excitement).

So, for the last five months I have fought with several college faculty for long enough to get them to sucker some students to do some lessons about going to Mars in exchange for an all expense paid trip to NASA. Seems fair, right? In return, I provide these students and their faculty with 2 days of NASA fun. They take tours, we feed them Cisco food, we provide some NASA engineers to talk to them about what really happens at NASA (ok, not what really happens, but what is supposed to happen...we ask them to leave out the part about the free food at Sherlock's happy hour and the security guards who sometimes fall asleep at their gates). It is a fun time had by all. And I can say that, because this week, the fun time is over, and I have napped. So I can look back and call it fun. Pretty sure if you were Becky and you had stopped by at about 3pm today, you wouldn't have said fun. In fact, fun might have been the furthest word from your mind at that point. Chaos might have worked. Becky rolled in today as I was pulling off felt from science fair boards with 5 interns and a handful of coworkers. She witnessed the moment when I stepped on the cotton ball with the pushpin hidden in it that went right through my shoe and into my foot (Kat confirmed that it has been 10 years since my last tetanus shot). She saw the blood. (I'm ok mom, I promise, and I WILL update that tetanus shot). She saw us pack up 20 computers in record time and throw (I mean put gently if anyone from work is reading this) them into the back of my car. Pretty sure Becky thinks I am a crazy woman. But, she was the only office visitor this week (yea, thanks management), so she gets to star in this blog. So Becky came in at the end, but the entire two days was pretty much this kind of chaos. Luckily, this is year four for me, so it is completely expected, and even a little fun (ok, a lot fun).

Anyway, so this week we had our smallest group. 27 students, 6 faculty. They were in 4 small teams, and were highly stressed the entire two days (this somehow translates to fun they tell me). They designed Martian rovers to present to NASA (ie David, our "Software Engineer" and Nora). And dang, they were good. I think the future of NASA might be in good hands. There were some flirty boys hitting on my cute little interns (sorry ladies, didn't actually mean to call you that on the microphone earlier, but that will teach you to be so cute), and some program alumni returning to mentor. These guys made my week, they were cracking me up and keeping me on my toes...My staff was awesome, they kept me from curling up in a ball this morning when I just wanted to sleep. They fed me wheat thins and churros (ahem, three in two hours, one for each hip and probably one for good measure). Next week we have 60 students and 12 faculty. Doubled. Ughh. But, I love it, and this is why I do my job. These kids think I am God. Ok, not God, but they seem to appreciate me, and that somehow makes it worth it. (I should say, I say kids, but these students range in age from 18-75, so really, they are all adults, it's just the teacher in me). ANd it's a good thing we got to this point, because I needed the reminder. Otherwise, I would be working in one of my current dream jobs (Starbucks drive through lady, paper delivery woman, the key cutter at Home Depot, or an x-ray technician). I guess I'll take NASA. At least for the time being. ;-)

Now I will proceed to sleep for 20 hours straight and possibly use the hot tub for the first time this spring. And then I will sleep some more...

Four years in Texas

Four years ago today, I moved to Houston. I was 26 years old, 1 week out of Grad School, and I had. no. clue. Well, that's not really true. I mean, I had a clue about a lot of things. Maybe I should rephrase. I had no clue about Texas. About Houston. About the South. I probably still only have about half a clue. Who would have ever thought that this California girl would move to Houston? And stay there? For more than six months?!? I don't think I would have ever come if I hadn't moved out here just for a six month job contract. It was easy then, there was a time limit, an end. And after six months, it was extended by three. Still easy. But, then, after nine months, not so much, as I took on a "permanent job." What was I thinking? How did I become a California transplant hanging out in Texas? Good lord.

Joy and I drove into Texas for the first time on March 15, pulling into lovely downtown El Paso. You know the place, right? Turn left, El Paso, turn right, Mexico. We didn't see much of El Paso, just the inside of a hotel, and the blurred city as we SPED out of it the next morning. That night we made it to San Antonio after finally realizing people weren't kidding when they siad there was NOTHING between El Paso and San Antonio. Our whole journey can actually be read HERE. So, we made it into Houston the evening of St. Patrick's Day. This helps me immensely in remembering my Houston move anniversary.

Over the last four years, I have learned a lot about myself, and even more about other people, and the way the world works. I think living in Texas has made me realize that there are a lot of different types of people who make up this world. Texas is a country all of its own. People here are proud (sometimes to a fault I think, I can say that right? I mean, it is my blog), I never pictured myself living in the bible belt, but that too has been interesting. Most of you that know me well know I am not super religious. Spiritual maybe, but definitely not religious. I am intrigued though, by the religions around me, and the traditions and beliefs that come along with these. Definitely opened my mind to learning about the history or religion and its traditions (well, not enough to actually take a class or anything, but I do like the friends I have that are willing to talk openly about their beliefs without pushing them onto me...). Houston is actually somewhat liberal in parts, especially compared to other parts of Texas. However, still, overall I find myself faced with a lot of very conservative people. I struggled for a while with my closest friends having vastly different beliefs than I have. I guess in the long run though, this has been part of life since I was young. It is only now though that I find myself being able to separate my political beliefs from my respect of the person who these beliefs belong to. Well, mostly. I learned long ago to not get into political debates with close friends. It is not worth it (because in the end, I will just think you are a moron, so I would rather remain dumb to that thought). It has been a bumpy road of judgement, but I think in the end, it intrigues me to learn about why people think the way they do more than what people actually think. Confused yet?

Anyway, in four years, I have bought a house, a new car, countless expensive furniture pieces, appliances, and even a Christmas tree. I have acquired two very love-able furrballs that sleep on my bed every night and keep me company on my couch every evening. I have found a career that I love (well, mostly), and made some amazing lifelong friends long the way. I have also kept up with some of the most wonderful friends a person could ever hope to have. I have childhood friends, high school friends, college friends, camp, grad school...the list goes on and on. I have visited my fourth and fifth continents (now just missing South America and Antarctica). I have seen some great couples tie the knot and even produce some beautiful children (with some more on the way in the VERY near future). Who would have thought so much could happen by moving to Texas? And would have EVER thought I would live in Texas? Crazy the path that life takes you. Crazy. But fun crazy. And you all know I love fun crazy. Or just fun. Yea. I guess I like Texas. Now, if the weather would just improve, I would really be ok with four more years. Eh, who I am kidding, Bring on the next four years!

The Twins have arrived!

So, the Cejka twins arrived this week. Yea, a little early, but man are they cute. And very healthy, especially for being born just before mom was 31 weeks pregnant. They both came out crying and are breathing on their own (this means strong lungs for all the screaming later, as both infants and teenage girls). Anyway, Jessica delivered these sweet little girls (Brylee Elizabeth and Brooklyn Marie) on Monday morning at 1am. Just in time for them to be 18 before their senior year of high school spring break. Miami Beach anyone? I went up to the hospital later that morning to make sure they didn’t need my doctor skills. I was met with quite a scene. Dusty’s mom was in town (love her!) and she and I solved the world’s problems for a few minutes while Jessica learned how to use all the hospital tools that come with being a new mommy. Once I got in to see Jessica, I though, Well, she looks pretty good and happy for having 2 babies ripped out of her less than 12 hours ago. Then she looked at me, looked to her left, and pushed a button. The machine attached to the button beeped, and Jessica gave the machine the Go To Hell Look. That’s right, the morphine machine wasn’t reacting fast enough for this woman. If she could have, I think she might have shot out of bed and strangled the machine. But then again, maybe not, since she then would have had no morphine. Anyway, she was looking pretty good, and pretty drugged up. And the liquid diet only wasn’t really flying with this hungry skinny girl. The food lady actually brought her a solid meal first, and then came back to replace it with tea, jello, soup broth and grape juice (who still drinks grape juice? The hospitals must be keeping these people in business). Man, that woman got out of there quickly. Probably a good call.

So, Dusty walked me down to the NICU so Aunt Debs could visit the two little trouble makers that had been kicking at me for the last 2 months during staff meetings (effectively cutting off any attention anyone else was about to get). After 2 minutes of scrubbing and nail cleaning (better than a manicure), I donned the yellow suit and made my way into the NICU. And less than 12 hours after they came out of their warm comfy spot right on their mom’s bladder, there were the little Cejka twins. At that point they had yet to be named. Baby A was hanging out on her stomach, all curled up. The nurse flipped her over and then changed her diaper. Just as the diaper was being changed, this little troublemaker pooped. Good luck, mom and dad, this is the beginning of her revenge for his sister’s constant head kicking while in the womb. Baby A is now being called Brylee, and B is Brooklyn. Good strong names for cute little girls. So, we checked out B, who was chillin’ over by the window, on her back, legs stretched out. She was so long! Brooklyn has her dad’s eyes and seems to like to move quite a bit. Those legs were all over the place! We hung out for a few minutes with each little one, and then made our way to back to mom, still waiting in her hospital bed, recovering from the c-section. By this point, Jess was a little tired/drugged, and since she hadn’t slept since before giving birth (when, coincidentally, she took an Ambien), we decided to let her sleep. I headed back to work (after picking up Gimp #1/Veronica who was threatening to driver herself to work by lifting her right leg between the gas and brake), and somehow made it through the rest of my day.


The rest of this week was kind of a whirlwind. I made it back to the hospital a couple more times, and the on Wednesday, woke up sick. Well, originally I was pretty sure it was allergies. Friday I made it back to work on allergy medicine, but really, all the means is I was too drowsy to be really sending emails, and ended up going home at lunch and crashing. Friday night Becky and Thomas came over, with Liam (ok, Liam has to come everywhere, since he is still living in Becky’s belly), and we hung out on the couch and ate chinese food/KFC, all while watching the latest crap TV and eventually trying to sound educated by figuring out exactly what was going on in Japan, and what exactly it means to have a “Nuclear meltdown.” My Physics degree proved useless in this matter. I have spent most of the weekend in bed, which I am TOTALLY ok with, and I feel human again, but kind of miss the nice drowsy NyQuil feeling right before bed. Maybe it’s time for a Benadryl after all...

The Drama List

The following is a list of the current dramatic situations that are occurring around me:
-Jessica is in the hospital having contractions with her 30 week 5 day twins. She is not supposed to be eating carbs. Jessica does not know how to diet. (This was how it was during writing. Jessica has since given birth, update to follow)
-Becky is having seriously high pulse rates at 3am (Becky, are you sure NOTHING was going on at 3am?) The word surgery has already been used. Oh and Becky is 19 weeks pregnant.
-Veronica has a torn ACL from skiing and had knee surgery on Thursday. Veronica has seen more of the inside of a surgical ward this year than she has of her own house. We are considering bubble wrapping her.
-My sister has decided she is driving back across the country in the dead middle of winter from Kentucky. My dad is in no shape to drive with her, but my mother is too stubborn to let her do leg 1 alone so I can do leg 2 (Man, I hate the drive from Houston to Los Angeles). Stubbornness runs in our family.
-Cara FINALLY got her apartment (yes, Cara, I knew you got it, but seriously, enable the wall comments on FB, how else am I going to respond to this GREAT news). This is great because Cara is also pregnant (24 weeks maybe?) and has been living in a one room studio apartment with her husband Xabi, who does not sleep at night). And extra room or two will be great!
-Joy bought a house. We all know this is stressful. However, Joy is also pregnant (16 weeks maybe?), which just adds to the whole ordeal. She is seriously super mom.
-Caitlin is living with her in-laws. Like, in their basement. With two dogs. And Mike. And she fell off the bus seat yesterday on her way home from work because she fell asleep. Caitlin is...not pregnant (yet).
-Sara has mothers calling her about my community college students. (I saw this one coming but was not about to warn her). She is about to live my year round pain.
-Travis cheated on his American Idol bracket and now has one of the lowest scores in our group (we won’t mention who else has the same score as him). He is stressed about this. But not pregnant, so life is good for him.
-My cat, Tony, continues to poop in my bathtub. He is not stressed about it, but he might be soon if he doesn’t stop.

And now the list of people who don’t seem to be adding to the drama (thank you)
-Katherine. She just keeps me sane on a regular basis. And is my gambling buddy on long road trips.
-Cindy, pregnant (24 weeks I think) but sends regular updates and has already painted her nursery.
-Kiyomi, who while could maybe have a better job, has an employed husband and called ID, so she knows when her mother is on the phone. Oh, and not pregnant.
-Karin, running (literally) around LA and sending fun Fresh and Easy food ideas to try. Also, not pregnant. I think.
-Colleen, who always seems to have some sort of heart associated with her FB status. Yea, Colleen, I notice.
-Leilani, who turned 30 this weekend and didn’t make me feel guilty for forgetting to send her a card. And pretty damn sure she is not pregnant.
-Susie, who has taken all of the crap from the teachers I have had for the last 3 years, and doesn’t even complain. Well, ok, maybe a little, but so much less than I used to.

Hospital Vacation (Hospication)

So, last night I spent the evening with the Cejkas at Clear Lake Medical Center. Jessica was having contractions, so her doctor told her to check in to the penthouse suite on the 4th floor of the hospital. She had her own room, two beds that adjust to any angle imaginable, a flat screen TV, a phone number to order food, and her own set of nurses to bring her ice water. Penthouse indeed. Dusty was pretty much on vacation (his admission, not mine), and was wondering what it might cost to rent the room on a more permanent basis. Free coffee around the corner, wireless internet, and someone else to clean the bathroom? I can sort of see his point. I wonder if there is a pool...

So, Jessica is having twins, for those of you who live under a rock. Twin girls to be exact. And she is waiting for a sign from God to name them, apparently. Her favorite phrase is “well, I am not ready to commit to name tonight, obviously.” Obviously, Jessica. Obviously. I imagine two four year old blonde girls, going by A and B. And mom and dad still trying to decide. By then, at least the names on the top 100 baby names list will have changed. Maybe then they can just go with Madison. Anyway, so Dusty thought it would be interesting to put all the names into a hat (or cup) and draw two out, just to see the gut reaction. Apparently, whatever names were picked would be a sign from the universe. So, he takes of writing down all the name choices on the. smallest. scraps. of. paper. ever. Like, half an inch. And really, I say paper, but I actually mean brown napkin. And in these little pieces go, to the cup that was sort of dry. So, now these scraps are stuck to the side of the inside of this cup (that right there should have been the universe sending you a message). Jessica’s mom and I each pick out a name from the cup. Dusty doesnt like the one I pick out, so I pick out another name from the cup. Jessica doesnt like the name her mom picked out, so Yvonne picks out a second name. Somehow, the point of this exercise has disappeared and now we are just reaching into the inside of an old drink cup to fish out stuck together pieces of napkin. Anyway, what it comes down to is that the babies’ names with either both start with “B” or “K” (or every once in a while “M”). And that there is no real need to pick these names out anytime in the next six months. A and B it is.

So moving on, Jessica is having her contractions measured, and is on magnesium to stop them. This means Jessica is very hot (temperature wise...her day old hair and crooked belly line are also hot, but we are talking degrees here people). And of course, this is abnormal, so the thermostat is being turned up and down on a regular basis. She also have some fancy stuff going on on the belly, to measure the babies heartbeats. Apparently Baby A will be the one spending time at Saturday school, and Baby B will be the one volunteering to do beach clean up. At least we are excited (or, well, I am excited, mom and dad not so much) that these twin girls will be 18 by the time their senior year spring break comes around...Miami Beach, here they come! And they will be able to drive for spring break their sophomore year...man, it just gets better and better. I am sure though, they will take after their mom and be well behaved and never do anything stupid like running away from home with a college boy. Oh. Wait. Crap.

What I didn’t realize was that at some point in the last two weeks, Dusty has gotten his MD. Very exciting, I must say. And he seems to know what he is doing. He is pushing buttons and working out kinks in the IV, and ready contraction printouts. I wonder if he is on the hospital pay roll yet. He should at least get a white doctor’s coat out of this. And he is up and down with Jessica, since she has to pee every ten minutes, and is basically a bowling ball with arms and legs. She does pretty well though, and has learned to measure her intake of fluids, so she knows exactly when she should start moving toward the bathroom (somewhere just below 400 units, although Dusty and I think she can make it to 475, since apparently 500 might be the real limit) We feel she should really try to go as long as possible. it is sort of like a contest with your bladder. I guess it sucks if you lose that race.

So, the real update is that Jessica is doing better, the contractions have slowed from the medicine, and the girls were given some steroids to speed up their growth. Today she will have some fluid removed from her belly to hopefully take some of the pressure off of the babies. And her OB tells her she is in the penthouse for the long haul, hopefully to 34 weeks (another 3.5 weeks). We have already planned a slumber party and I am pretty sure I am about to meet my future husband at this hospital. One of the nurses is going to look into where the rich ones work, and has already told me there are no med students (good news, since those guys have a bunch of student loans and haven’t become brain surgeons yet). It’s gonna be an interesting March!