My next nursing adventure

Hi everyone. I know its been awhile. My computer went on the fritz, but it's been repaired and all is right in the universe. Since my last entry, which I just posted, a couple things have happened. First off we had another visitor. Mandy's friend Justin came down for a visit and we went to our first Spurs game, and out to a pool hall to play darts. It was a good time although I don't think our Karaoke version of it's my life will be winning an awards anytime soon.

Also, Mandy an I finally got a chance to go to the Tower of Americas for Dinner this week. Basically it's the san Antonio version of the Seattle Space Needle. The restaurant rotates while you are eating so you can see the entire city. It was a really great meal. The best part by far was the raspberry chocolate souffle. My least favorite part was the bill, but it was worth it.

Also, I wanted to let you know that I will be starting a new travel assignment at the end of January. As some of you know, I was unhappy with the company I am currently with. We are by far the least paid travel nurses, and I have been stuck in an extended stay hotel for 3 months. The company itself is very disorganized and has let me down several times. But I am happy to report that I have found a great new company and I am going to Abilene, Texas. I am excited for this experience for a couple of reasons. First off, I will be working on a Neuro tele floor which is basically what I used to do back in Milwaukee. I will have a set schedule and I will be working on one floor so it will be a lot easier getting to know people. Secondly, Abilene is a smaller city. In San Antonio, I currently live right off the interstate and outside activities are hard unless you want to drive somewhere.

LAstly, I am excited to start this new job, because after this job, I am headed to California! I have been in the process of getting my RN license in that state which is a lengthy process but I should have it within the next 8 weeks, and I will be able to take start looking for jobs after my stay in Abilene. Ideally, I would like to do either San Diego/Los Angeles and San Francisco. Of course it depends on the job market but there always seems to be something open in CA. That's about ti for now. I will update you when I get to Abilene and let you know what I think. Thanks for reading!

Christmas Time!

My freind Mandy and cousin Montana


NSSN 2009


My brief brush with celebrities


Family home time

During December I went home twice for Christmas. the first time was for the Wagemester Christmas. It was great to see everyone but it was very short. It was the first Christmas without my Aunt Christi. For those of you who don't know, Christi (Mom's Side) passed away unexpectedly while I was on vacation in Boston. It was a sad Christmas, but one in which we remembered and honored Christy for the life she led. There was crying and sad parts of course, but overall it was better to have everyone together, enjoying each others presence and the Christmas and Christi's spirit.

The kids enjoyed it of course, and I was able to catch up with everyone that I hadn't seen in awhile. It's a big family with at least 15 other first cousins, most of which are at least 15 years younger than I am. I ended up having to head back to San Antonio the next day. It was a crappy foggy day when I left and of course my flight was delayed. My connection was to Atlanta which apparently was worse. I was starting to get nervous when I heard the landing gear come out of the plane and I was unable to see the ground. the tarmac finally appeared when we were about 5 feet above it. Someone two rows ahead of me said "Oh, shit!" which is exactly what I and probably most of the other passengers thought too.

When we landed I knew I had very little time to get to my next flight. About 14 minutes in fact. I was on a mission to get to my next flight over in the next terminal on time. If anyone knows the Atlanta airport you want in and out as fast as possible. I ended up pushing in front of several rows but I was determined. When I got off my plane, the two members of the band 3 Oh! # were sitting right in front of me. 3Oh!3 is a fairly popular band, most notably known for "Don't Trust Me" and "Starrstrukk" with Katy Perry.

I was focused and could not be distracted by the celebrities but Nate from the band started walking in the same direction. I actually started talking to him quick while we were walking and told him I was planning on going to his show in San Antonio the next day. They were apparently trying to get to Oklahoma City for a show that night and then to San Antonio the next day. He was actually really cool to talk to. I told him I was looking forward to his show tomorrow and that I had to run to my next flight. I ran down the terminal, and then ran down one of the moving sidewalks pushing past people. I arrived to my flight 3 minutes early that left 5 minutes early and was defeated.

I re-booked myself on the next flight and decided that I should at least get a picture with 3Oh!3 since I had some time. I ran back to C Terminal and looked around for them. I finally found them waiting in line for Delta customer service. I went up to Sean this time and talked to him for a short while then asked if I could have a picture. I know it sounds cheesy but these were by far the most famous people I have met and I wasn't going home empty handed. They were very nice about it, and I wished them luck trying to get to Oklahoma City. I made it home slightly late but safe.

The next day Mandy and I went to Not So Silent Night 2009. It was an outdoor concert featuring 3Oh!3, The Fray, Owl City, Boys like Girls, Blue October, Jason Derulo and Jay Sean. I was basically there for 3Oh!3 and I enjoy the Fray from time to time as well. The show started at 3pm. I decided we should get there by 2 because I wanted decent position to see the band.

I should have known better but I think every teenage kid was there. We were definitely the older part of the crowd. The line when we got there already had about 1000 people in and stretched across several blocks. We finally get in and I was fighting for my square foot of space with all my might. We ended up staying till the end but I was dying because there was no way to sit down and The Fray started at 9pm so I was standing for the better part of 7 hours. I was glad we went home before The Fray finished because traffic was still good. The show was alright, but never again do I want to go to a concert where I have no where to sit and no personal space.

"Christmas-Take 2" started on December 20th with another early flight home, this time with a connecting flight through Dallas. I thought Atlanta was a terribly designed airport but Dallas is by far worse. It took us 25 minutes to taxi to our gate which was occupied by another plane and apparently we could not get out at any of the many empty gates right next to it.

Our plane sat for another 20 minutes, giving me about 15 minutes to get to my next flight which was in Terminal B and I would be fine. Come to find out when I got on the train to take me from terminal C to B that we would have to stop at Terminal A first. I was thoroughly annoyed with dyslexic qualities of Dallas and was on the train for 10 minutes. I get off my train and run down the escalator to get to my flight 8 minutes earlier.

The plane was still there so I am thinking I am in the clear. I was very wrong. I went up to the gate person and told them I was here. He told me the flight is closed. I pleaded with the man to let me on the plane but he gave me a lame excuse that they needed to weigh the planned which I decided was code for "We gave away your seat." I grudgingly went to the next flight for iowa which was in "another" terminal and was booked for that and made it safely back.

This time I was able to spend a whole week in Iowa It was filled with friends and family. My HS friends and I were able to get together for a Christmas shin-dig and i went to several family Christmases. I had a chance to hang out with my brothers which I was really excited about and I think they were too. all in all it was an excellent Christmas and it reminded me that I will be back to Iowa because I love my family, friends, and Iowa itself, snow and all.

New years week brought my first visitors. Actually it was cousins of mine who were coming down for a vacation but I was excited someone would be coming down that I could go out with. Paul and Robin and their two kids, Montana and Ciera (sp?) came down for a week long trip. Mandy and I caught up with them on New Year's Eve during the day. It was an amazing 73 degrees out and we went downtown. Mandy and I finally had a chance to go on a riverwalk boat tour, which was more entertaining then I remember it. We ended the night going to a rodeo.

You would think a rodeo would be in a fairly well known area. We had the GPS and I knew it was going to be an interesting trip when we started going down a county road. We ended up getting lost and driving through the most ominous trailer park in the middle of nowhere before we found our destination. We arrived a bit early for the rodeo and we were probably the 5th ones there. My cousin Robin already decided to not take responsibility for the whole trip if it turned out to be a bust. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We ate there and they had some of the best hamburgers and a few drinks before the start of the show.

It was starting to get cold and by the time the rodeo started it was in the high 40's. did I forget to mention this was an outdoor rodeo? Don't worry so did my cousin, Robin. We stayed for most of the rodeo huddled under blankets and sticking close to one another for warmth. My cousin Montana (11 years old) went out for the kid corral. Basically they released a bunch of calves with ribbons on there tails and the kids who got the first ribbon won a bike. It was the funniest thing I watched all night. Mandy I went home after that . We decided New year's Eve would best be spent watching a movie and ringing in the new year back at our place. Downtown would have been crazy and cold and we wanted nothing to do with it.

Alright another, even longer post. Sorry about that. I still want to talk about what's in store next for my next destination and this week's festivities. Hope all is well and I miss you all! Unless your a random person who has come by my blog then I don't miss you because I don't know you. Thanks for reading though.

Catching up...

It's been awhile and I apologize. December was crazy month. I was constantly working with little time off so I could make it home for the holidays twice. Now that it's all over I have a bit of free time again to update my blog.

Thanksgiving was fun in San antonio. Mandy and i worked until thanksgiving morning. We woke up around 1:30ish in a bit of tired haze, and decided to venture downtown to find something to eat. We ate at this very nice restaurant in the hyatt hotel downtown called achiote. they were serving a Thanksgiving buffett.

I was excited to have turkey and potatoes, but I was also looking forward to trying some new things. It was all very good and went down very nicely with a glass of red wine. Mandy decided that when she went back for seconds on dessert she would get two of them. Wel she obivously did not finish either. In fact she took a bite of each. I was grateful that our waiter harrassed as much as I did. she tried to force her discarded pastries on me, but I could not eat another bite.

December rolled along and I worked 4 days in a row to start it out. For this job I have to average 36 hours per week, so I was trying to build up my hours to have vacation for christmas. MMandy's sister, Amy came for a visit the first weekend. in december. It was a great time.

We went down to the riverwalk the first night and had dinner at the Iron cactus. We had guacomole which was made fresh at our table, and I had some of the best fajitas ever (minus my own, homeade ones of course). We had a couple drinks, one which included a Texas Tea. Texas tea can be compared to gasoline witha splash of coke and a lime served in a 16 ounce glass. It was strong and it was nasty. being an Eggers though I had to finish my drink.

After dinner we ventured out to coyote Ugly. come to find it is just like the movie except all the patrons are less attractive. There were girls dancing on bars and serving drinks with large bouncers walking back and forth. Iwas able to convince Mandy and amy after several drinks and some obnoxious pushing that they should get up on the bar as well. Apparently I had just the right amount of drinks to try my hand at the bar, but was stopped abruptly by a large bouncer, saying "Women only" We ran into some crazy people on business trips in tiedye shirts and hung out there all night.

the last day amy was in town, we went to Sea World. It hd dropped below freezing in San antonio the night before so when we arrived it was pretty chilly and the 100's of poinsettias were all wilted and sad looking. we went to see al the same shows as last time which were all christmas themed now. The killer whale show was not nearly as cheesy and got some great action photos.

that evening we went to eat at the Magic Time Machine. This is a themed restaurant where everyone who works there dresses up like a favorite character of theirs. I knew it was going to be fun when life size replicas of the simpsons weresitting at a bench in the waiting area. Our waitress was Cruella Deville, and she did quite well. She started by asking us if we would be her puppies and we agreed. Thats when the black facepaint was brought out and we all got our dalmations spots. My name was Spike, Mandy's was Pearl, and Amy's was Lucky. We were then escorted around to the Salad bar which was a maze to get to with some intentional circles and wrong turns. We learned not to ask where the bathroom was unless you wanted the entire place to know what you are doing. We ordered these Magic drinks that come out bubbling, and Cruella convinced Pearl to order the "Ugly" version, which comes with a parade of waitors singing the "You're so Ugly" song. Mandy will not be ordering the ugly drink again.

This blog is officially. long. Stay tuned for follow up to the rest of what has been going. hopefully closer to the actual event. Thanks for reading.

~Zac