Robowranglers

Tomorrow I leave for the FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, MO with my team, the Robowranglers. We are from Greenville, TX and I am the teacher who runs the team. Our group consists of 31 students, 3 teachers, and 16 engineering mentors from L3 Communications and Innovation First. Every year we have six weeks to completely design and build a robot from scratch to play a game. This year's game is like robot basketball.
I am in this program for several reasons. First I participated on a robotics team in high school, and college and I love the program and competition! Second I love working with kids and helping them learn about STEM fields.
But most importantly I love working with this team because they are my family. We have a bond that is so incredible I've never had it anywhere else. I love the students and mentors so much I could burst. They are hard workers, with brilliant ideas, who never give up and work at a consistently high level every day. At this point we are a well oiled machine and everyone from our drive team, to pit crew, to scout team is practiced and ready to go. I am so excited to compete this weekend no matter what the outcome!!

Finalist & Quality Award, Alamo Regional

Winner, Website Award, & Quality Award, Midwest Regional

Anna (human player), Amy (operator), and Me

Tebowing cause we are silly :-p

Winner & Quality Award, Dallas Regional

So here's hoping for a safe, fun, and successful weekend with my robotics family. They have been the most stable thing in my life the past couple months and they all have no idea how grateful I am for that!

Getting back up...

As a strong and powerful woman, it doesn't excuse me from having flaws. One of my flaws is that I tend to let things build up and build up until I explode over something small, which I think a lot of people do. Although this is certainly a flaw, it also sometimes helps me function in situations where I need to be on top of my game, and then react to things later. I am frequently in situations where I can't lose my cool no matter what. I am a high school teacher and I need to be on my game at work. I also coach a robotics team and I travel with them 4 to 5 times a year, and I need to be focused when we are at events.
Recently I went through a break-up. Longest relationship I've ever had (3+ years), first boy I've ever lived him, and oh yea I moved from New York to Texas for him. I loved him, case and point.
So now I am trying to accept the situation and move on, but it's been a complete roller coaster so far. I have been traveling almost constantly since it happened and been absorbed in work and robotics which has been good. This weekend was pretty much the first time that I've had some time to myself... and I lost it. Over something completely meaningless and silly on Friday night. I won't go into details, because it's not important. I cried, I screamed, I yelled, I broke things, I swore, and then I yelled some more.
Thank goodness I have a wonderful friend in Texas who took me in and let me stay at her house that night. After I finished going crazy, I crashed and slept for a few hours. Later that night I talked with my best friend from New York. I was embarrassed by my actions, disappointed in myself, and just down right depressed over the whole situation. But she reminded me how strong I am to be able to hold all those feelings in until I am in a situation where I can let them out and have it not serious repercussions. I didn't hurt myself, any one else, or put my job at risk. Feeling emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted I decided to just go to bed.
This morning something great happened. I was OK. I felt like I could get through this for the first time since February. I felt like I could feel again, like I could breathe again, like not every reminder of him was going to send me into some dark pit of despair. I got back up.
I still have a long road ahead, and I know that. I know that the hurt is not gone and that there are still things that need to be worked out and reconciled, but I know one very important thing now. I will be able to get through it. Knowing that simple fact gives me strength. We all have to fall down, before we can get back up.

Rome

As I mentioned in my first post I decided to start this blog on a trip to Europe. The first stop (and my favorite of the trip) was in Rome. Let me start by saying, I took Latin in high school. Anyone who also took Latin knows how much I am saying in that sentence without actually saying it. I hated every single second. My teacher, Mrs. Timpano, had to be the most patient woman I have ever met because she used to stay for hours after school with me while I desperately tried to learn enough to pass the Regents exam (NY state test). I got an 85 in case you were wondering. But back to the point, the only part about class I enjoyed was the history. I used to dream about the pictures of Rome and Pompeii that were in the textbook. It has been on my bucket list to go there since I was 13. While I was there I wanted to just soak in as much as I possibly could. This proved to be very difficult considering the MASS amount of amazing sites there, but here are the highlights.
Day 1 & 2:
We started the trip from DFW, to Philly (where I of course had a Philly Cheesesteak), and then headed on an overnight flight to Rome. I magically slept like a baby and woke up 8 hours later ready to go. No jet-lag to be had. We hurried to our hotel, dropped off our luggage, had lunch (fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and tomatoes, YUM) and immediately headed to the Vatican.

Museum Entrance

Vatican Courtyard

St. Peter's Square

We spent about 3 hours here and it was more then I could have ever imagined. The massive amounts of sculptures, art, mosaics, tapestries, and other historical items was overwhelming. One of my favorite rooms was to the left of the courtyard showed in the picture above. There were tons of statues from all different time periods and you could get right next to them, and even touch some. It was incredible to see the detail up close. The biggest disappointment at the Vatican was the Sistine Chapel. It is not very big, in case you've never been, and we were squished in like sardines. The ceiling was beautiful no doubt, but the restoration in my opinion has almost made it look fake. I just didn't have as much of a reaction too it as I thought I would. The walls however are magnificent. I could have looked at them for hours, but by that time I was exhausted and my feet were killing me so we kind of rushed out. That night we went to dinner down the street from our hotel and had a salad, pasta, and some delicious roasted chicken. It was at this dinner I started my quest to drink as much wine as possible during our trip :-)

Day 3:

Finally a day that was all about exploring! After a wonderful full night's sleep under our belts we took the subway to our first destination. The Colosseum, one of the sights I was looking forward too the most. It is such a feat of engineering and I could have stayed there all day wandering around and imaging all the fights and performances that happened there. We could not have imagined such amazing weather, and it made for some great pictures all day.

A view of where the floor used to be, with all the animal cages now exposed

Linda and I

We took a quick walk after leaving and ended up right down the road at the Roman Forum, another site that I had been dying to see. It was rough terrain in there, and massive amounts of hills, and stairs. I definitely got my workout.

Roman Forum

One of Julius Cesar's palaces

A place near the forum where it is rumored Julius Cesar was murdered

After another mile or so of walking I turned the corner and was face to face with this:

The Pantheon

Our tour guide was so amazing that he planning for us to arrive here exactly at noon so when we walked in we could see the oculus in all it's glory.

Inside the Pantheon at noon



After this we had some free time to roam around on our own. I ended up sticking with our guide to have lunch at a great little place off the beaten trail a ways. It was one of my favorite meals in Europe. Gorgonzola and Walnut Risotto. So yummy! I walked around Piazza Navona where the Fountain of the Four rivers is, and where the scene from Angels and Demons was filmed. (The fountain where they tried to drown the last priest). I did some shopping there for a few people (like Katy Hayes!) and then the group rallied and headed to dinner. We had good old fashioned pizza that night, I got one that had salami, prosciutto, artichokes, olives, and mushrooms. We then headed out for our last adventure in Rome. The Pantheon at night and the Trevi Fountain!

Trevi Fountain

Making a wish

Before we went to bed we made a stop and climbed the Spanish Steps. Most of the group stayed at the bottom, but me and most of the kids decided to climb to the top.

 Great group of kids to travel with

Looking over Rome from the top of the Spanish Steps

And just like that, we had to say good-bye to Rome. I had wonderful rest of the trip (more entries to come) but Rome was by far my favorite. I want to go back as soon as possible!

What are you most proud of?

I had a moment yesterday during school. A quick moment when I started reflecting on something, but had to snap out of it quickly to return to my students.
Our school is part of something called Kilby presentations. Basically it is a live feed of a special guests: scientists, engineers, etc. and the students get to ask questions to that person. Today's guest was Mark Reed, Associate Director at Yale Institute for Nanoscience and Quantum Engineering. While I wish I could have heard more about his work there was one thing he said that made me stop. One of my brilliant students asked him "What, in your opinion, is your greatest accomplishment?"
His answer was simply this, The ability to think clearly.
He went on to explain what he meant by that was when he was younger he would ask simple questions, How can I make this work better? or What can I do about this? but as he gained the ability to think clearer he was able to ask more probing and "better" questions to lead him to discover new things and bring him to where he is today.
I wish I had this ability. I feel like my brain gets clouded so much, that many things that should be simple become unclear. I spend too much time thinking about all the things in my life that are wrong, yet I'm not asking the right questions. What can I do to make me feel better? What can I do to make a difference? Why am I here and what is my purpose? So I am going to attempt to think more clearly, and be able to ask those questions that will lead me to new discoveries about myself.
I also started thinking about what would I consider my greatest accomplishment (you know, at 3am when I couldn't sleep). For now, I think it is my ability to connect with people, most importantly my students. The relationships I have with them change my life as well as theirs. I feel like in a way it's where I'm leaving my legacy. I think I am going to ponder this one for much longer though.

New Adventures

Why would I start a blog? Good question. I've been thinking about it ever since I went on a 10 day (soul searching) vacation to Europe over spring break. During that time I did a lot of thinking and reflection and realized I have a lot of experiences in my 27-ish years that may help some woman somewhere. Who knows if this is really true or not, but I figured it's worth a shot. Plus I love trying new things, and having new experiences. Recently I have been really trying to push myself out of my comfort zone, and considering how much I hate writing I thought this would a good opportunity to break through another wall.
My life is a series of weird/crazy adventures. Many of my friends often ask me if I have ever had a normal day. Simply the answer is no. I think the reason for this is two fold. First of all I am a person that things just happen too. Everyone has a friend like that, I am that friend to many people. Second I don't really let myself have normal days. I like to push the envelope, I like to challenge people, I like to be challenged, and I typically can not keep my mouth shut about anything. Although sometimes it's stressful and painful, I am thankful to not be boring in any sense of the word. My ups have been high and my downs have been very low. But one constant in my life has been my mother always reminding me of one simple fact. "You are a strong and powerful woman." Believing that has gotten me through thick and thin. Hence the name of the blog. So here's to my new blogging adventure, and being strong and powerful. Let's see how things go from here...