N is for Neville who died of ennui
I went on to junior high and high school in TC, where I was involved in all sorts of things, including OM, English Handbell Choir, Orchestra (I play the viola), Flag Corps, National Honor Society, Amnesty International, Choir, Spelling Bees, Church Youth Group, "Annie" at the local playhouse, work at the Public Library, various musicals at church, Spring Hill non-denominational church camp, Lake Louise United Methodist Camp (where I was in my first and only rock band, Girl Scout Camp, Samantha Smith WorldPeace Camp, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a thing or two. I was a busy kid.
I finally graduated in June of 1991. Shortly before graduation, I got to go to LA as a member of Michigan's first Academic Decathlon team (We got 47th out of 50 at the national level - pretty good considering our only previous competition had been at the Illinois State level, where we got 7th out of about 15 (oops!).). While there, April and I went shopping with our cameras, and I found a couple of dresses that make me want that 17-year-old body back.
Anyway, I went off to Iowa State University in the fall to study Mechanical Engineering. I made several good long term friends, and even already lost track of a few. =( Unfortunately, my account in school wasn't that big, so I've just got a photo of my best friend and evil twin, Jen Kuehne (aka Buffy), who has now finished her masters and doctorate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, and is married and living in New Jersey.
In late August '96, I relocated to the Houston area, and worked as a Space Station Systems Instructor for United Space Alliance (prime contractor for NASA's Space Flight Operations). Basically what this means is that I got to learn about all of the life support, thermal, and electrical systems on the International Space Station and then teach them to the astronauts, flight controllers, and anyone else who needed to know about them.
In 1997 I met a cute boi online and got to know him. I first met him in person in March, agreed to marry him a scant 4 days later, and we did the deed in December. You can read more about that story here. He moved to Texas for me, where we stayed until mid-2000. Then we moved to the South Bay area of San Francisco Bay Area. I continued the training position on a consulting basis for a short while, then garnered myself a position doing field service on cryogenic vacuum pumps, vacuum gauges, and chillers for Helix Technology, the leader in the cryopump industry.
A week shy of one year in that job and I got laid off. During a brief flirtation with the idea of moving to the Los Angeles area in order to work at the Jet Propulsion Lab, I decided that living in LA would kill my semi-rural/suburban soul and instead took a job doing airport traffic and noise analysis for ATAC, a small but important airport analysis consulting firm. During this time we also bought our first house in Mountain View, CA: a cute little older place at a great deal for the area, and not just another of the 1950s bungalows that are so common there.
Over the years in California, it became apparent that Stuart and I weren't going to be able to make the marriage work in the long run. We narrowly avoided a divorce in 2000/2001, but in 2004 finally decided that we'd tried everything we could, but we were each missing something critical to our own happiness in the marriage and we'd have to give up on the marriage to pursue those happinesses. It was sad, but for the best. Thankfully we were able to settle things amicably, and we remain close.
In November of 2004, I put all my stuff in storage and drove back to Texas. I have no great love for Houston, but it's where the job I loved and missed was. In leaving, I discovered that my true passion is really to work in the human spaceflight program, and not doing it left a hole in my heart. When one love went away, I simply returned to an earlier love. I stayed with a pair of good friends while I started my real estate and job hunts, and arrived just in time to help the Mrs. through her enforced bedrest during the last two months of her pregnancy. 3 weeks after arriving, I lucked out and was offered a position in Space Station Thermal Control Systems safety engineering when that company found my resume on Monster. Just after baby came and before Grandma came down to stay and help, I moved in with another generous pair of friends and continued my new job and search for real estate from there.
I finally found a nice house not too far from NASA (I hate commuting), and closed in March of 2005, just two days after our divorce was finalized. About the same time as the house was closing, I was also offered a different job, doing next generation life support technology development as part of the Engineering Support Contract held by Jacobs Sverdrup. As I'd spent more time in the safety position, I came to realize that it wasn't the right job for me. I'm presently much happier with the ALS position, almost 7 months in.
