6.23.12
I'm getting closer! I may even be caught up by the end of the night (but don't hold your breath!)
So, most Saturdays I get up at a pretty average time--usually between 9 and 10. Which, for me, is very average. This Saturday the a group was headed to the Woodly (sp?) Park Zoo. Now, zoos are fun and all, but not in 90 degree heat with roughly 200% humidity. That being said, I was still going to probably join the venture, until I realized the East Falls and West Falls church section of the Orange line was closed: Translation-I was going to have to drive to a station or take a bus. Either way, the trip was going to be like an hour and 20 minutes (ugh!).
Even with that deterrent, I was still serious considering going...Until I woke up at 11 am. After that, as I just relaxed in my bed, I decided that I would start my Saturday being lazy. There had been talk of going to see Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, but it had yet to solidify into anything.
So I began my day in the laziest way possible. I took forever to exit my hole in the wall before I went and decided I should probably bathe. I took a nice long shower (just because I could) and had a light lunch. And of course, since I was being lazy, I decided to watch HIMYM. I'm really going to have to figure out what to do with my life once I finish off all of those episodes (which I may do tonight).
Sam and I had also discussed going to DSW to go shoe shopping (I know, I have a problem...I'm not your typical man). It worked out and we decided to meet up around 4 before our evening plans began. After a very fruitless search for flats for Sam, we wandered to Marshall's. That store is...scary. While we definitely did not find anything worth buying for Sam's feet, we managed to have a good laugh or two along the way.
I also found my new best friend: Quackie the Duck. Quackie is a little yellow duck (I think he is actually soap). I like Quackie.
After meandering through Marshall's for awhile, we realized it was getting close to 6pm. We were meeting some friends at their GMU apartment so we could all cook dinner together (we deemed this a better idea than going out and spending money). We all managed to get to GMU and find where our friends lived (After circling the campus a little bit. Sam was following me, and Thomas gives poor directions, so it was quite the adventure!). After waiting for the rest of our group to arrive, we headed to the store to buy our cooking supplies.
We ended up cooking two types of chicken (baked with breading and sauted/stir fry) and I made a Chocolate lush dessert. It wasn't the best product I've ever made in the Chocolate lush department, but I think it was edible...or at least eatable! heehee.
The best part of all of this was cooking together. A bunch of college and recent college grads cooking their little hearts out. It ended with some very yummy results! (However, I left my lush at Thomas and Taylor's apartment...I hope they enjoy it!)
After talking for awhile and goofing around, we finally decided to go see Abe Lincoln, Vampire Slayer! Or whatever it is actually called. I just want to say: Best $11 I have ever spent.
Sure, the movie had giant plot gaps, horribly inaccurate at times, no sense of time, and was pretty shallow and gory, but it was awesome! It was one of those movies that was so bad it was awesome. A great movie to see if you want mindless action mixed with a bit of horror and gore!
Another highlight of the night: I learned about the Awkward Fireman pole. Muahaha. I just can't wait to surprise one of my co-workers/fellow KIPs with it one day (ie-Emily, watch out!). I've decided we are a pretty crazy bunch...That can debate Austrian Economics, disagree on the level of social change that is needed, laugh about historically inaccurate Abe Lincoln movies and just have a great time no matter what. I'm looking forward to spending a wonderful summer with these people.
After the movie, it was time to head home...And I've been quite exhausted lately. I knew that I was going to have to get up and take my IF (Indian Family) to mass with me, so I wanted to be sure I got plenty of sleep. I didn't want my IF to think I was an incompetent intern!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Walks, Rocks, and more Rocks!
6.19.12-6.22.12
On Monday, one of our group actually joined us instead of going shopping. However, she was flying out to Florida on Wednesday, so she needed to buy some stuff before her trip. Well, for those that know me, you may recall I have a slight addiction when it comes to shopping. Since I can't exactly afford to shop for myself, I was a tag along on Tuesday.
We started out at H&M (Which I had never heard of until I ended up in DC.)--which I consider to be similar to a Forever 21, only a little better quality. After wandering around and looking for dresses and such, we headed over to TJ Maxx to look for shoes and more dresses. Sadly, TJM had a terrible selection of shoes, but Abbie was able to find a dress or two at each place.
The worst part of shopping was the lines. Apparently Tuesdays are very popular shopping days, because the lines were taking FOREVER! At TJM we stood in line down stairs for an extended period of time, finally deciding to invest in some Smoked Cheddar Kettle Corn (which is delicious, by the way) until the lady announced that the register upstairs had no line. Well, we ventured up stairs and ended up being second in line. This wouldn't have been a problem, except the lady in front of us opened a credit card. And the cashier didn't know how to apply the discount and was really struggling. We finally were able to check out (and apparently TJM charges 5 cents per bag you get) and headed back to the Metro. We parted ways and I headed home to read, clean, and I ended up watching HIMYM...I have a bit of an addiction.
Wednesday brought about a new day. I'll be completely honest with you, I don't remember doing much. Usually after work I'm pretty worn out and just veg-out and watch HIMYM (which probably explains why I only have 4 episodes left our of 6 seasons).
Thursday was another entertaining day of work followed by an evening of adventure. One metro stop down was a gathering for Students for Liberty. The happy hour, entitle Liberty on the Rocks, is a chance for individuals to network and get to know others in the liberty movement. I decided to head out with a few friends to check it out (there are lots of happy hours around the Capitol. I obviously can't drink, but I'm curious if this is a sign of sorts. Lots of happy hours=lots of unhappy people?). There ended up being a very large crowd. I didn't actually meet anyone new, but I got to know some of my fellow KIPs better. After hanging out for a couple of hours, I was hungry (as I frequently am after not eating for 7 hours) and managed to grab a couple of friends to wander to a local eatery.
Along with Garrett, Daniel accompanied us to dinner. Daniel is an Orthodox Jew, so I was able to really learn a lot about the Jewish faith. I've always had an interest in religion, and as I've gotten older, other religions fascinate me. As a Catholic I knew a little bit about Judaism because of some similar roots, and our 8th Grade Holocaust unit also had taught me a lot, but that is nothing in comparison to learning about it first hand. The food at the restaurant was ok, and the service was kinda poor (and coming from me, as a waiter, says something), but the conversation was impeccable!
After dinner, it was, once again, late enough to head home. I jumped on the metro and headed in the opposite direction of everyone else (it's a common occurrence when you live in Fairfax and everyone else lives in DC, lol).
I made it back to my apartment, and was worn out. After getting everything ready for the next day, I laid my head down on my pillow and called it a night!
Friday brought to close the work week and the start of the weekend. My Friday started off a little rough. I some how managed to forget my Metro card, which isn't a huge deal. I just had to buy a fare card. Well, I knew I would be adventuring later in the day, so I invested in a 1-day all you can ride pass. After trying to go through the terminal a couple of times, I had to ask the people on duty why my pass was not working. Apparently, the all day passes don't start working until after 9:30 (I some how missed the big bold letters telling me that in my rush to not miss my train). So, I had to buy a $4.50 farecard on top of my recent $9 purchase. All because I forgot my silly smartcard. Blah.
But my day would get better. :)
This week Garrett and I added an additional member to our afternoon adventures: Sam. First, we began by being touristy and headed to the Natural History Museum. Well, that is after we grabbed lunch. We were originally going to go to Rays Hell burgers, but ended up eating at this BBQ joint. The food was really good, the waitress was friendly, and the drinking glasses were actually miniature pitchers! They were cool.
But back to the adventure. After lunch we went to the Natural History Museum to see Dead stuff, stuffed dead stuff, and shiny stuff! Heehee (Translation: We saw the Dinosaurs, Mammals, geological exhibit, including the Hope diamond, and quite a few other things). After logging a couple hours at the Museum, Sam and Garrett both needed to go shopping. Sam needed flats and something else, Garrett, dress clothes.
So, like my Tuesday, we headed to H&M. While I do enjoy their men's clothing section, they do not have Longs in their suit section, so everything was too short for me. Which means I wasn't tempted to buy anything. I helped Garrett pick out a 3 piece suit and a shirt (which looked quite snazzy, if I do say so myself!) and Sam found a cardigan (ugh. I am morally/economically/socially/ and every other type of "ly" opposed to cardigans).
We then wandered to TJ Maxx again because I wanted to look at their suit selection (which also didn't pan out for me. Maybe God's looking out for my budget even when I don't want too). Sam looked at their shoes, but those still didn't produce anything worthwhile.
Lacking incentives to shop any longer, we decided to head our separate directions. We happened to be walking through the station and realized a train was about ready to leave. Garrett encouraged us to make a mad rush to the train, so we did. We managed to get on in plenty of time. The catch: Garrett needed to go the opposite direction. After riding one stop, he quickly got off and transferred. Sam and I stayed on chatting away, just waiting for our stops to arrive. When the train came above ground, we noticed something was a little off. Normally when our Orange line comes up we are surrounded by highways on both sides. This time, it was trees. Lots of trees. Sam and I both looked utterly confused. After a quick look at the Metro Map, and realizing the next stop was Arlington, we realized the train Garrett had put us on was the Blue Line...we needed the Orange.
We unloaded at Arlington, crossed the platform, and jumped onto the train back to Rosslyn, where we then switched to our appropriately colored train. Some lady had also made the same mistake, but she was quite furious about it. Her phone conversation on the Arlington platform was by no means friendly!
I made it back home relatively early, in comparison to the other nights this week I had been out, and decided to take it easy. Saturday the group was going to go to the Woodly Park Zoo (which I was debating) and then cook dinner at a friends apartment at GMU (which I was excited about!). I watched a few episodes of: Wait for it...HIMYM and then crashed. It had been a long week and I was one tired Intern!
On Monday, one of our group actually joined us instead of going shopping. However, she was flying out to Florida on Wednesday, so she needed to buy some stuff before her trip. Well, for those that know me, you may recall I have a slight addiction when it comes to shopping. Since I can't exactly afford to shop for myself, I was a tag along on Tuesday.
We started out at H&M (Which I had never heard of until I ended up in DC.)--which I consider to be similar to a Forever 21, only a little better quality. After wandering around and looking for dresses and such, we headed over to TJ Maxx to look for shoes and more dresses. Sadly, TJM had a terrible selection of shoes, but Abbie was able to find a dress or two at each place.
The worst part of shopping was the lines. Apparently Tuesdays are very popular shopping days, because the lines were taking FOREVER! At TJM we stood in line down stairs for an extended period of time, finally deciding to invest in some Smoked Cheddar Kettle Corn (which is delicious, by the way) until the lady announced that the register upstairs had no line. Well, we ventured up stairs and ended up being second in line. This wouldn't have been a problem, except the lady in front of us opened a credit card. And the cashier didn't know how to apply the discount and was really struggling. We finally were able to check out (and apparently TJM charges 5 cents per bag you get) and headed back to the Metro. We parted ways and I headed home to read, clean, and I ended up watching HIMYM...I have a bit of an addiction.
Wednesday brought about a new day. I'll be completely honest with you, I don't remember doing much. Usually after work I'm pretty worn out and just veg-out and watch HIMYM (which probably explains why I only have 4 episodes left our of 6 seasons).
Thursday was another entertaining day of work followed by an evening of adventure. One metro stop down was a gathering for Students for Liberty. The happy hour, entitle Liberty on the Rocks, is a chance for individuals to network and get to know others in the liberty movement. I decided to head out with a few friends to check it out (there are lots of happy hours around the Capitol. I obviously can't drink, but I'm curious if this is a sign of sorts. Lots of happy hours=lots of unhappy people?). There ended up being a very large crowd. I didn't actually meet anyone new, but I got to know some of my fellow KIPs better. After hanging out for a couple of hours, I was hungry (as I frequently am after not eating for 7 hours) and managed to grab a couple of friends to wander to a local eatery.
Along with Garrett, Daniel accompanied us to dinner. Daniel is an Orthodox Jew, so I was able to really learn a lot about the Jewish faith. I've always had an interest in religion, and as I've gotten older, other religions fascinate me. As a Catholic I knew a little bit about Judaism because of some similar roots, and our 8th Grade Holocaust unit also had taught me a lot, but that is nothing in comparison to learning about it first hand. The food at the restaurant was ok, and the service was kinda poor (and coming from me, as a waiter, says something), but the conversation was impeccable!
After dinner, it was, once again, late enough to head home. I jumped on the metro and headed in the opposite direction of everyone else (it's a common occurrence when you live in Fairfax and everyone else lives in DC, lol).
I made it back to my apartment, and was worn out. After getting everything ready for the next day, I laid my head down on my pillow and called it a night!
Friday brought to close the work week and the start of the weekend. My Friday started off a little rough. I some how managed to forget my Metro card, which isn't a huge deal. I just had to buy a fare card. Well, I knew I would be adventuring later in the day, so I invested in a 1-day all you can ride pass. After trying to go through the terminal a couple of times, I had to ask the people on duty why my pass was not working. Apparently, the all day passes don't start working until after 9:30 (I some how missed the big bold letters telling me that in my rush to not miss my train). So, I had to buy a $4.50 farecard on top of my recent $9 purchase. All because I forgot my silly smartcard. Blah.
But my day would get better. :)
This week Garrett and I added an additional member to our afternoon adventures: Sam. First, we began by being touristy and headed to the Natural History Museum. Well, that is after we grabbed lunch. We were originally going to go to Rays Hell burgers, but ended up eating at this BBQ joint. The food was really good, the waitress was friendly, and the drinking glasses were actually miniature pitchers! They were cool.
But back to the adventure. After lunch we went to the Natural History Museum to see Dead stuff, stuffed dead stuff, and shiny stuff! Heehee (Translation: We saw the Dinosaurs, Mammals, geological exhibit, including the Hope diamond, and quite a few other things). After logging a couple hours at the Museum, Sam and Garrett both needed to go shopping. Sam needed flats and something else, Garrett, dress clothes.
So, like my Tuesday, we headed to H&M. While I do enjoy their men's clothing section, they do not have Longs in their suit section, so everything was too short for me. Which means I wasn't tempted to buy anything. I helped Garrett pick out a 3 piece suit and a shirt (which looked quite snazzy, if I do say so myself!) and Sam found a cardigan (ugh. I am morally/economically/socially/ and every other type of "ly" opposed to cardigans).
We then wandered to TJ Maxx again because I wanted to look at their suit selection (which also didn't pan out for me. Maybe God's looking out for my budget even when I don't want too). Sam looked at their shoes, but those still didn't produce anything worthwhile.
Lacking incentives to shop any longer, we decided to head our separate directions. We happened to be walking through the station and realized a train was about ready to leave. Garrett encouraged us to make a mad rush to the train, so we did. We managed to get on in plenty of time. The catch: Garrett needed to go the opposite direction. After riding one stop, he quickly got off and transferred. Sam and I stayed on chatting away, just waiting for our stops to arrive. When the train came above ground, we noticed something was a little off. Normally when our Orange line comes up we are surrounded by highways on both sides. This time, it was trees. Lots of trees. Sam and I both looked utterly confused. After a quick look at the Metro Map, and realizing the next stop was Arlington, we realized the train Garrett had put us on was the Blue Line...we needed the Orange.
We unloaded at Arlington, crossed the platform, and jumped onto the train back to Rosslyn, where we then switched to our appropriately colored train. Some lady had also made the same mistake, but she was quite furious about it. Her phone conversation on the Arlington platform was by no means friendly!
I made it back home relatively early, in comparison to the other nights this week I had been out, and decided to take it easy. Saturday the group was going to go to the Woodly Park Zoo (which I was debating) and then cook dinner at a friends apartment at GMU (which I was excited about!). I watched a few episodes of: Wait for it...HIMYM and then crashed. It had been a long week and I was one tired Intern!
The Kreme of the Crop
6.18.2012.
Alright, so I'm a wee bit behind on posting. Let's see if I can power through this afternoon and get some blogging done! Here we go.
So, I'm going to skip last Sunday. In summary, I went to Mass at nice little church, but I was very "eh" about the community. Instead of pews they had the individual chairs all lined up. I don't care for those. Something about being in a pew just brings the congregation together. After mass, I came back home and bummed around...Although I did have a nice conversation about the Catholic Faith with the Hindu family I live with.
Now, on to the interesting stuff.
After work on Monday (I really should blog more frequently, the memory is a little hazy) a group of us decided to go to DuPont Circle for dinner. A specific individual had yet to experience DuPont, so it seemed like a good place to go.
We met at Metro Center (which still baffles me. DuPont has a specific Metro stop, but hey, I was just along for the ride) and decided to walk to DuPont. Apparently it isn't very far from Metro Center...That is, if you decide to walk the appropriate direction once you leave the station. After walking a few blocks south, we realized we should have been heading north. Oh well, it was only like Mid-80s...the terrible heat hadn't hit us yet, so what's a few extra blocks of walking in a city like DC, right?
Upon arrival at DuPont Circle we had to wait for a few more members of our group to arrive. To kill time, we played in the fountain that is in the center of the circle at DuPont. There were ducks playing in the overflowing fountain, so we had to shoot some pictures off to our friend Karen who has a minor obsession with ducks! I hope she enjoyed the pics!
When the last two ladies of our group arrived, it was time to find food. Of course, since we all knew we were meeting to go out to dinner, none of us had any idea of where to go or what we wanted. We picked a direction and decided to test our luck.
DuPont is like the hub of a wheel, with various streets that come out as spokes (As seen below). I would hate to drive in traffic in this area. 
After mostly walking and talking, and rejecting a restaurant every now and again, we decided to try La Tomate: Italian Bistro. The prices were very average, so we wandered in--we were also all starving at this point, so we didn't really care what type of food we ate.
Turns out it was a pretty snazzy place. Clothe table clothes and all! (Heehee).
The food was absolutely delicious. I ordered Tagliatelle alla Bolognese (Tagliatelle pasta w/ classic meat ragout. And yes, for the record, I did look that up online to make sure I got it right! Heehee. They sprinkled fresh parmesan cheese and ground pepper on our dishes if we wanted it after they brought the food out. Yum Yum!
You would think, at a restaurant where they have wine glasses sitting at the table (they offered us drinks, but were sure to mention that they would card us. Apparently we didn't look mature enough) that our dinner conversations would be sophisticated and intelligent. Occasionally, it was; however, the majority of the time was spent discussing topics that would have resulted in a glare and a reprimand from our mothers. And of course, there was one (staged) outburst of laughter specifically designed to make everyone else in the restaurant jealous that they were not at our table.
Needless to say, we are a classy group.
After our waiter brought our checks and kindly boxed-up Emily and I's left overs--we ordered the same thing, so he marked them "him" and "her"--we decided to head out for dessert.
When we arrived at DuPont, Emily caught sight of the Krispy Kreme shop and we decided that we would make that our dessert. So, sticking to our guns, we headed to Krispy Kreme (see what I did with the title? heehee). A couple squares decided they didn't want to get donuts, but I didn't care. I ordered a dozen assorted and after sharing, claimed the leftovers as mine!
Of course, anyone that has been to Krispy Kreme knows they always have their epic hats out for customers to take--I think they are supposed to be targeting small children. The only logical thing to do was to get the group to all put on a hat and take a group picture. After a small about of coercion, everyone had a hat on, and we had a group picture!
At this point, it was getting late and the majority of us still had reading to do for our Tuesday sessions. We deemed it time to head our separate ways. Part of us fractured off and headed back towards DuPont and the Red Line. The other part headed to whatever station had an Orange line.
Emily, Sam, and I were the second group. After walking for a minute or two, there was a group consensus that a restroom break was needed. The local place: The closest Subway store. So, loaded with Krispy Kremes and left over Italian food, we stopped at the Subway across the street from us and made use of their facilities. It was at this point that I realized the white shirt I had been wearing did not make it out of the restaurant unharmed.
Sadly, my white shirt had been hit. While my tie had made it out without any major incidents, my shirt had a red/orange spot on it. It was clear the pasta had targeted my helpless shirt and left it for dead. Luckily, I noticed it in the bathroom and was able to apply pressure and get the poor thing home!
As usual, there was a wait for the Metro. Seldom is the train ever there when you actually want it to be. Oh well. As the 3 of us headed in the same direction, we chatted about various nicknames and childhood memories from our past. Unfortunately, neither Sam nor Emily had nicknames that are overly embarrassing and would be fun to post online! Drat!
I made it home around...well, I'm not entire sure, 9 ish maybe? Somewhere between 9 and 10. It was dark and I had to use my flashlight app to walk through the wooded path, but I made it home without anything notable happening.
Well, almost nothing notable. I remembered on the walk home that I had forgotten to pay my insurance--which was due on the 11th. After a desperate attempted to contact the agency, I realized that no place was open to process my late payment. This little stressor reminded me of a couple of other events that just brought on more stress. No one was available to remind me that everything was going to be ok, so I decided to sent a nice long rambling email to a friend.
By the time I had typed out the email, I was feeling much better and realized I would just call my insurance agency the next day. 12 hours was not going to be a problem--especially since I wasn't planning on driving any where any time soon.
After reading for awhile, I decided to call it a night (the best part of riding the Metro is it provides amble time to read). While I had somehow managed to turn an entertaining evening into an incredibly stressful night, it all worked out and I was able to start my next morning as an Optimistic Intern!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Yankees, Eclairs, and DUCK!
6/16/12
Confused by the title? Heck, do you even actually read the title? If not, be sure to! Sometimes they are catchy and at others, they are hints at what is to come (ie, this post!).
Alright, so weekend 3 in DC, 2nd weekend with KIPs. This weekend our group was a little smaller than last weekend, however, it was quite a malleable group. Our targeted location: Eastern Market.
Luckily for me, they had completed the weekend work on the Orange line (however, it has transitioned to the Blue and Red line). Not so lucky for me, the Yankees had invaded. Last weekend we had to fight through the crazy mobs of girl scouts, this weekend it was a mob of Yankees fan in town for the Nationals game.
I'll be completely honest, I would have preferred girl scouts and track work. To start off my day I caught the Metro at my local station (a nice change, right?) and was headed towards Eastern Market--or I would have been. Even though the track was up and running, I sat at the Vienna station for something like 14 minutes. During those 14 minutes the train went from being empty enough for me to find a seat to full of Yankees fans. And I mean, FULL--the fullest I have ever seen the Metro. And I have been surrounded by girl scouts and gay pride activists.
Again, I digress (surprising, right?). So, after sitting for nearly a quarter of an hour, the train was off. Luckily, I wasn't the only one that was held-up, so even though I was 5+ minutes late, I was only the 3rd person to arrive.
After the majority of our group arrived (missing a few people that over slept, etc) we headed a couple streets over to the market. It is a really neat place. Eastern Market is a mixed of old and new. There is a large brick building, which still houses fresh meat and such, and outside the building is surrounded by tents of various items--jewelry, fresh fruits and veggies, paintings, other forms of art, and assorted trinkets, etc.
We started our day out by grabbing lunch at small little place (that I don't remember the name of. However, it was 210 7th street) that was featured on the food channel or something (some show that is apparently really popular). It was really good. I had a chicken empanada with rice and delicious fries.
The group did not initially go into the brick building, but we found our way inside after navigating the market. At the south end (I think) there was a bakery counter. I was great and resisted the urge to buy anything--the first time. We then met up with some new members of our group (Our dear Southern Bell overslept) and wandered around the market a little while longer. A segment of our group split off to find some place to grab some drinks (the first place we tried was ruled out because of its prices) and we agreed to meet up a little later. Our late comers wanted to see the market.
So, we found ourselves back in the market...and part of the group wanted to get cookies. I was going to resist buying anything, like I had before, but then I saw the eclairs. I eventually caved and bought an eclair (which was awesome!) and a sweet tea (I was thirsty).
We had worn out the market (you can only walk past stalls so many times without buying anything) and it was time to go meet up with the rest of the group. We wandered around the area (which I found to be a gorgeous, but Garrett was skeptical. Apparently Georgetown is a prettier part of town. Regardless, it was quaint) and finally found the rest of the group. Happy hour started at 4pm, so we killed time until our older members could enjoy drinks.
Killing time meant we found a really neat store with chairs outside on display. They were a mix of hammocks and those big circle chairs with the cushions. They were some of the most comfortable chairs I have ever relaxed in!
The group found a unique little piano bar. Some of the group enjoyed happy hour while the rest of us chatted and got to know one another a little better. This continued for awhile until, surprise, I got hungry. I pitched it to the remaining members of our group (we lost a few along the way) and we headed out (loosing a couple other members who decided that Popeye's chicken sounded like a good dinner option).
Unfortunately for us, we are not quite the masters of the DC area that we like to tell ourselves we are. We headed off walking down the street, turned onto a different one, and then ended up by the Navy Yards (or something along those lines). Finally, we did the intelligent thing-pulled out our smart phones, stopped listening to Garrett--only kidding...partially--and figured out where the nearest metro station was. After a bit more of a walk--and a slight detour where the majority of our group decided to talk to the Marines guarding some parking structure--we made it to the subway that would take us too...the part of town that we would find food in! (I really should learn the names of the area, but hey, when you have a Metro app, it's irrelevant!).
We entered the Metro station, only to experience a slight delay--not in trains (surprisingly) but with a member of our group. It was a nice day out, but the Metro stations can be a little warm right when you enter them. Not to mention, being underground, in a "modern cave" can quickly lead to a strong sense of claustrophobia. Some mild side affects of claustrophobia can be dizziness, nausea , and death. Luckily, the last side affect didn't apply to a certain member of our group. Not-so-luckily, the first two did. The details are a little fuzzy to me (I had already jumped, errr, gone through, the turnstile [which doesn't actually turn] so I missed the actual event. Thankfully.), but a certain member--who for legal reasons shall remain nameless--got sick.
Vomit aside (or in the can maybe...) we all boarded the train and headed to--well, I wasn't entirely sure until we go there. I just was following along, sort of. We finally got out and made it to Chinatown (which was NOT where I thought we were going).
If you recall, I mentioned that we had been to Chinatown before. Well, I was partially right. We were on the outskirts of Chinatown. This time, we actually saw the big Chinese gate that spans the road. We "crossed the threshold" and entered the "true" Chinatown district. By this point, we were all starving, and stopped in at the first Chinese restaurant we saw.
As we looked over the menu, a certain female member of our remaining group (we lost two more on the subway who headed to a concert) mentioned how wonderful duck was to eat. She made sure we knew that duck was far superior to chicken in every way. And that duck was the only thing she ordered when she ate Chinese food. Oh, and she wanted us to know that one time she ate a whole duck because it was delicious. And did I mention that duck apparently is really good? Next time you go out for Chinese, you may want to try duck. Duck is much better than chicken. Be sure to try duck, you will LOVE duck. Duck is just delicious. While I didn't get duck, I did enjoy my orange chicken (which, in case you may have forgotten, is not duck).
Along with the duck--and the many jokes that accompanied the duck talk--the restaurant was one that served tea with the meal. We had a neat little pot (which reminded Alyssa and I both of Mulan, and then led to a discussion of our favorite Disney Movies [hers is Lion King, mine...meh, I find it hard to decide]) and the small ceramic cups to drink from. The tea didn't have much flavor--which, notes Alyssa, is why she probably liked it so much. She really likes the taste of water. It was a very good meal. DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK CHICKEN.
(That last line can be omitted from reading for everyone that was not present for the meal).
After we all finished our meal of Duck and not duck, we decided to go visit some of the monuments. This was both a good and bad idea. Good because they are beautiful at night. Bad because we walked, and didn't really have a game plan, and just kind of meandered. Good because we got to know one another, bad because I was sleepy.
We originally headed toward what we THOUGHT was the Jefferson Memorial--it wasn't. While we missed our target the first time, we didn't mind. At least, not until we all realized how full our bladders were. Garrett and I had both used the restroom when we arrived at the Chinese place. And then proceeded to describe the torture chamber that was straight out of a Saw movie that was the restroom. (Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but it was a little sketch. You had to go down a flight of stairs, follow an oddly lit hallway, and then enter into a grungy restroom. When I went down there, there was another door right next to the restroom that looked like it led to a storage area--a concrete, cold, creepy storage area.).
I'll be honest (and maybe a little too honest for some of my readers) but I don't have a very big bladder, so I needed to find a restroom. I asked a kindly-old-police officer (who really wasn't all that old, but was kind) where we could find the nearest restroom. He pointed us towards the Smithsonian. While it was closed, he mentioned they would probably let us in. And let us in they did!
We probably looked a little suspicious. Garrett and I had not finished our meals and were walking around with little brown bags. Upon entering a National Museum, I'm sure we looked just a tad sketch. Thankfully, the security guard let us in, chuckled about our "baggage" and then had a great conversation with us while we waited on the girls.
Upon leaving the museum, we found direction for the rest of the night: the monuments. We were bound and determined to see the Jefferson Memorial. We headed off in the general direction, making pit stops at the Washington Monument (which, Karen and Sarah decided looked like a certain time of head gear from a specific type of organization) and the WWII memorial. The WWII is a gorgeous memorial to see at night. It is breathtaking. I highly recommend a visit after sundown!
The group took a short breather at the WWII memorial (we were a bit tired from walking) and then headed off towards the Jefferson Memorial. For the record, the Jefferson Memorial is on an island. This island is within walking distance, but not "close" walking distance. I'd give it a "walker-friendly" score of like 6.5. It was a bit of a trek. A trek most of us had small regrets about once we finally reached the memorial.
Regrets aside, the Jefferson is another great memorial to see at night. The power and prestige is but a fleeting capture of what Jefferson stood for. There is something amazing about the standing Jefferson in his rotunda that contrasts with the sitting Lincoln in his temple. It's amazing.
After a longer-than-intended rest break, we reached the conclusion we would catch a taxi back to the metro stop if we could find a taxi for 5 people. We didn't. So, the walk back began. We were all pretty sluggish by this point--worn out from a long day of exploring. As we got closer to the metro stop, I rejoiced at being the first person to recognize where we were at--close to the smithsonian metro right next to the USDA buildings. Something about my first day exploring the city will always help me to remember that spot!
So, after one final random fact (I had been spouting off random facts about the monuments all day. I'm not sure if anyone was listening or not. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be "that dad" or "that guy" when I get older." I guess that's the downside to always reading all the tid-bits of information they put in museums and on monument apps), we rode the escalator down for one final time that night. Of course, the train wasn't there. Of course we had to wait, but hey, that's government transportation!
We all loaded to go the same direction, but 3 departed after only a couple stops, and then I was left alone after another couple stops. On the upside, the train was relatively empty. I had a short conversation with some Yankees fans and an elderly Nationals fans--I interjected into their conversation with my limited knowledge of baseball by saying "Go Cards!" Luckily, thanks to their wonderful World Series records-and a couple jokes about the Cubs and White Socks, I was able to appear half way baseball-literate.
Eventually even my baseball buddies left and I was left to listen to the conversations of the small number of remaining people (I would have listened to music, but my phone had basically died. Luckily, when I made it back to Vienna, there was enough battery left for me to use my flashlight app so I didn't have to walk on the trail that runs through the woods in complete darkness).
Well, that's the gist of the story. I thought about calling it a night a couple of times while typing this, but I promised Garrett I'd get it up before tomorrow morning and I did! So, it's now past my bed-time (I'm an old man on Sundays, remember?) so I'm going to bring this to a close.
I'll do my best to post about my Sunday and Monday (we are going to DuPont Circle tomorrow) as soon as I get the chance. But sleep will be a priority. Maybe not everyone is this way, but this Intern certain likes his sleep! Goodnight!
Confused by the title? Heck, do you even actually read the title? If not, be sure to! Sometimes they are catchy and at others, they are hints at what is to come (ie, this post!).
Alright, so weekend 3 in DC, 2nd weekend with KIPs. This weekend our group was a little smaller than last weekend, however, it was quite a malleable group. Our targeted location: Eastern Market.
Luckily for me, they had completed the weekend work on the Orange line (however, it has transitioned to the Blue and Red line). Not so lucky for me, the Yankees had invaded. Last weekend we had to fight through the crazy mobs of girl scouts, this weekend it was a mob of Yankees fan in town for the Nationals game.
I'll be completely honest, I would have preferred girl scouts and track work. To start off my day I caught the Metro at my local station (a nice change, right?) and was headed towards Eastern Market--or I would have been. Even though the track was up and running, I sat at the Vienna station for something like 14 minutes. During those 14 minutes the train went from being empty enough for me to find a seat to full of Yankees fans. And I mean, FULL--the fullest I have ever seen the Metro. And I have been surrounded by girl scouts and gay pride activists.
Again, I digress (surprising, right?). So, after sitting for nearly a quarter of an hour, the train was off. Luckily, I wasn't the only one that was held-up, so even though I was 5+ minutes late, I was only the 3rd person to arrive.
After the majority of our group arrived (missing a few people that over slept, etc) we headed a couple streets over to the market. It is a really neat place. Eastern Market is a mixed of old and new. There is a large brick building, which still houses fresh meat and such, and outside the building is surrounded by tents of various items--jewelry, fresh fruits and veggies, paintings, other forms of art, and assorted trinkets, etc.
We started our day out by grabbing lunch at small little place (that I don't remember the name of. However, it was 210 7th street) that was featured on the food channel or something (some show that is apparently really popular). It was really good. I had a chicken empanada with rice and delicious fries.
The group did not initially go into the brick building, but we found our way inside after navigating the market. At the south end (I think) there was a bakery counter. I was great and resisted the urge to buy anything--the first time. We then met up with some new members of our group (Our dear Southern Bell overslept) and wandered around the market a little while longer. A segment of our group split off to find some place to grab some drinks (the first place we tried was ruled out because of its prices) and we agreed to meet up a little later. Our late comers wanted to see the market.
So, we found ourselves back in the market...and part of the group wanted to get cookies. I was going to resist buying anything, like I had before, but then I saw the eclairs. I eventually caved and bought an eclair (which was awesome!) and a sweet tea (I was thirsty).
We had worn out the market (you can only walk past stalls so many times without buying anything) and it was time to go meet up with the rest of the group. We wandered around the area (which I found to be a gorgeous, but Garrett was skeptical. Apparently Georgetown is a prettier part of town. Regardless, it was quaint) and finally found the rest of the group. Happy hour started at 4pm, so we killed time until our older members could enjoy drinks.
Killing time meant we found a really neat store with chairs outside on display. They were a mix of hammocks and those big circle chairs with the cushions. They were some of the most comfortable chairs I have ever relaxed in!
The group found a unique little piano bar. Some of the group enjoyed happy hour while the rest of us chatted and got to know one another a little better. This continued for awhile until, surprise, I got hungry. I pitched it to the remaining members of our group (we lost a few along the way) and we headed out (loosing a couple other members who decided that Popeye's chicken sounded like a good dinner option).
Unfortunately for us, we are not quite the masters of the DC area that we like to tell ourselves we are. We headed off walking down the street, turned onto a different one, and then ended up by the Navy Yards (or something along those lines). Finally, we did the intelligent thing-pulled out our smart phones, stopped listening to Garrett--only kidding...partially--and figured out where the nearest metro station was. After a bit more of a walk--and a slight detour where the majority of our group decided to talk to the Marines guarding some parking structure--we made it to the subway that would take us too...the part of town that we would find food in! (I really should learn the names of the area, but hey, when you have a Metro app, it's irrelevant!).
We entered the Metro station, only to experience a slight delay--not in trains (surprisingly) but with a member of our group. It was a nice day out, but the Metro stations can be a little warm right when you enter them. Not to mention, being underground, in a "modern cave" can quickly lead to a strong sense of claustrophobia. Some mild side affects of claustrophobia can be dizziness, nausea , and death. Luckily, the last side affect didn't apply to a certain member of our group. Not-so-luckily, the first two did. The details are a little fuzzy to me (I had already jumped, errr, gone through, the turnstile [which doesn't actually turn] so I missed the actual event. Thankfully.), but a certain member--who for legal reasons shall remain nameless--got sick.
Vomit aside (or in the can maybe...) we all boarded the train and headed to--well, I wasn't entirely sure until we go there. I just was following along, sort of. We finally got out and made it to Chinatown (which was NOT where I thought we were going).
If you recall, I mentioned that we had been to Chinatown before. Well, I was partially right. We were on the outskirts of Chinatown. This time, we actually saw the big Chinese gate that spans the road. We "crossed the threshold" and entered the "true" Chinatown district. By this point, we were all starving, and stopped in at the first Chinese restaurant we saw.
As we looked over the menu, a certain female member of our remaining group (we lost two more on the subway who headed to a concert) mentioned how wonderful duck was to eat. She made sure we knew that duck was far superior to chicken in every way. And that duck was the only thing she ordered when she ate Chinese food. Oh, and she wanted us to know that one time she ate a whole duck because it was delicious. And did I mention that duck apparently is really good? Next time you go out for Chinese, you may want to try duck. Duck is much better than chicken. Be sure to try duck, you will LOVE duck. Duck is just delicious. While I didn't get duck, I did enjoy my orange chicken (which, in case you may have forgotten, is not duck).
Along with the duck--and the many jokes that accompanied the duck talk--the restaurant was one that served tea with the meal. We had a neat little pot (which reminded Alyssa and I both of Mulan, and then led to a discussion of our favorite Disney Movies [hers is Lion King, mine...meh, I find it hard to decide]) and the small ceramic cups to drink from. The tea didn't have much flavor--which, notes Alyssa, is why she probably liked it so much. She really likes the taste of water. It was a very good meal. DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK CHICKEN.
(That last line can be omitted from reading for everyone that was not present for the meal).
After we all finished our meal of Duck and not duck, we decided to go visit some of the monuments. This was both a good and bad idea. Good because they are beautiful at night. Bad because we walked, and didn't really have a game plan, and just kind of meandered. Good because we got to know one another, bad because I was sleepy.
We originally headed toward what we THOUGHT was the Jefferson Memorial--it wasn't. While we missed our target the first time, we didn't mind. At least, not until we all realized how full our bladders were. Garrett and I had both used the restroom when we arrived at the Chinese place. And then proceeded to describe the torture chamber that was straight out of a Saw movie that was the restroom. (Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but it was a little sketch. You had to go down a flight of stairs, follow an oddly lit hallway, and then enter into a grungy restroom. When I went down there, there was another door right next to the restroom that looked like it led to a storage area--a concrete, cold, creepy storage area.).
I'll be honest (and maybe a little too honest for some of my readers) but I don't have a very big bladder, so I needed to find a restroom. I asked a kindly-old-police officer (who really wasn't all that old, but was kind) where we could find the nearest restroom. He pointed us towards the Smithsonian. While it was closed, he mentioned they would probably let us in. And let us in they did!
We probably looked a little suspicious. Garrett and I had not finished our meals and were walking around with little brown bags. Upon entering a National Museum, I'm sure we looked just a tad sketch. Thankfully, the security guard let us in, chuckled about our "baggage" and then had a great conversation with us while we waited on the girls.
Upon leaving the museum, we found direction for the rest of the night: the monuments. We were bound and determined to see the Jefferson Memorial. We headed off in the general direction, making pit stops at the Washington Monument (which, Karen and Sarah decided looked like a certain time of head gear from a specific type of organization) and the WWII memorial. The WWII is a gorgeous memorial to see at night. It is breathtaking. I highly recommend a visit after sundown!
The group took a short breather at the WWII memorial (we were a bit tired from walking) and then headed off towards the Jefferson Memorial. For the record, the Jefferson Memorial is on an island. This island is within walking distance, but not "close" walking distance. I'd give it a "walker-friendly" score of like 6.5. It was a bit of a trek. A trek most of us had small regrets about once we finally reached the memorial.
Regrets aside, the Jefferson is another great memorial to see at night. The power and prestige is but a fleeting capture of what Jefferson stood for. There is something amazing about the standing Jefferson in his rotunda that contrasts with the sitting Lincoln in his temple. It's amazing.
After a longer-than-intended rest break, we reached the conclusion we would catch a taxi back to the metro stop if we could find a taxi for 5 people. We didn't. So, the walk back began. We were all pretty sluggish by this point--worn out from a long day of exploring. As we got closer to the metro stop, I rejoiced at being the first person to recognize where we were at--close to the smithsonian metro right next to the USDA buildings. Something about my first day exploring the city will always help me to remember that spot!
So, after one final random fact (I had been spouting off random facts about the monuments all day. I'm not sure if anyone was listening or not. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be "that dad" or "that guy" when I get older." I guess that's the downside to always reading all the tid-bits of information they put in museums and on monument apps), we rode the escalator down for one final time that night. Of course, the train wasn't there. Of course we had to wait, but hey, that's government transportation!
We all loaded to go the same direction, but 3 departed after only a couple stops, and then I was left alone after another couple stops. On the upside, the train was relatively empty. I had a short conversation with some Yankees fans and an elderly Nationals fans--I interjected into their conversation with my limited knowledge of baseball by saying "Go Cards!" Luckily, thanks to their wonderful World Series records-and a couple jokes about the Cubs and White Socks, I was able to appear half way baseball-literate.
Eventually even my baseball buddies left and I was left to listen to the conversations of the small number of remaining people (I would have listened to music, but my phone had basically died. Luckily, when I made it back to Vienna, there was enough battery left for me to use my flashlight app so I didn't have to walk on the trail that runs through the woods in complete darkness).
Well, that's the gist of the story. I thought about calling it a night a couple of times while typing this, but I promised Garrett I'd get it up before tomorrow morning and I did! So, it's now past my bed-time (I'm an old man on Sundays, remember?) so I'm going to bring this to a close.
I'll do my best to post about my Sunday and Monday (we are going to DuPont Circle tomorrow) as soon as I get the chance. But sleep will be a priority. Maybe not everyone is this way, but this Intern certain likes his sleep! Goodnight!
Busy week=weary feet
6/15/12
You may have noticed that I have not posted in a few days and if you haven't, well that's ok too!
I have not been posting daily for a couple of reasons: 1) I have been extremely busy with my internship and 2) the day to day operations, while thrilling to me, may not seem too thrilling to my readers.
That being said, I'll try to highlight all of the fun things (that are also interesting to my readers) I participated in over the past week.
Monday and Tuesday were additional days of training for the program. We worked on wrapping up all final aspects of business training and the mission of the organization. It was quite entertaining. We did some hands on training by working with group simulations. It was quite entertaining.
Through all of our simulations, it was interesting to feel the hands on (on a small scale) application of the topics that drive our economy.
Wednesday brought direction and guidance for the summer. I finally had projects for the summer on my desk and things I needed to do on a daily basis--I wasn't just sitting at a desk.
Thursday resulted in a change of scenery after work. I went to a Leadership Institute and American Future Foundation public speaking workshop with a friend of mine. The workshop was interesting (however, I ended up with homework. It's a two part workshop [which I didn't know] and part two involves giving a speech. Oh well). Garrett and I found our way to CEI and enjoyed the downtown life during rush hour.
Did I mention there was free food at the event? The food was good and the speaker was as well. The workshop was quite helpful. The downsides: After the workshop (it ended at 9:30-9:40 ish) I had to wait for 20 minutes for the train and the ride home took forever. I get spoiled by only having to ride 20 minutes to work, so the hour ride home was a bit much.
Friday yielded the start of another adventure weekend. Garrett and I were able to get off work early and head into the City to explore. Believe it or not, it's hard to look at and enjoy museums with a large group (no offense to going out with large groups of people).
So, Garrett and I ended up at the American History Museum. We meandered through a few exhibits and then realized we were hungry. Neither one of us had had lunch (we skipped it to leave work early) and so we departed the museum to find food. We ended up at an Elephant & Castle (which is a British Style pub restaurant). The food was good and we had two waiters. One that looked like Chum from Pawn Stars.
After dinner, we wandered the streets of DC. We walked by the White House, the Treasury, the EPA building (I took pictures for Jena. That's her favorite government agency), and we ended up at the Old Post Office building. It has a glass elevator you take to the 9th floor and then another one you take to the 12th (which is the top of the tower). You can look out and see DC and Arlington, including the monuments and important buildings (and to identify them, at the top of the tower is a picture with the buildings labeled).
Riding up the elevator we met a lady from Texas. She had a "Bergstrum,"--a picture of a goofy guy that is similar to a Flat Stanley. After taking pictures for her, I had to have a picture of her and Bergstrum as well. It was humorous.
When we got back to the bottom of the elevator and back in the post office, we went to a little souvenir shop that had 50% posted all over the place. I didn't plan on buying anything, but (to quote Garrett) the people were "incredibly pushy." While I wouldn't have paid what they were asking for any of the items, they were incredibly flexible. I effectively bartered down every item I bought. I fully plan on going back and buying more souvenirs.
So, upon reflecting on my posting, I realized this is a little out of order, but that's ok. It's factual, just out of order.
That evening I made it back home (after another long metro ride that was a plethora of sudden, unplanned stops) and indulged in my guilty pleasure before skyping my friend Jena. Sadly, skyping Jena involves a drastic time difference. So, this time she woke up early and I stayed up late (as opposed to her staying up late and me getting up early). After a skype conversation, it was time to call it a night. A group of KIPs were headed to Eastern Market and no body likes a tired Intern!
Through all of our simulations, it was interesting to feel the hands on (on a small scale) application of the topics that drive our economy.
Wednesday brought direction and guidance for the summer. I finally had projects for the summer on my desk and things I needed to do on a daily basis--I wasn't just sitting at a desk.
Thursday resulted in a change of scenery after work. I went to a Leadership Institute and American Future Foundation public speaking workshop with a friend of mine. The workshop was interesting (however, I ended up with homework. It's a two part workshop [which I didn't know] and part two involves giving a speech. Oh well). Garrett and I found our way to CEI and enjoyed the downtown life during rush hour.
Did I mention there was free food at the event? The food was good and the speaker was as well. The workshop was quite helpful. The downsides: After the workshop (it ended at 9:30-9:40 ish) I had to wait for 20 minutes for the train and the ride home took forever. I get spoiled by only having to ride 20 minutes to work, so the hour ride home was a bit much.
Friday yielded the start of another adventure weekend. Garrett and I were able to get off work early and head into the City to explore. Believe it or not, it's hard to look at and enjoy museums with a large group (no offense to going out with large groups of people).
So, Garrett and I ended up at the American History Museum. We meandered through a few exhibits and then realized we were hungry. Neither one of us had had lunch (we skipped it to leave work early) and so we departed the museum to find food. We ended up at an Elephant & Castle (which is a British Style pub restaurant). The food was good and we had two waiters. One that looked like Chum from Pawn Stars.
After dinner, we wandered the streets of DC. We walked by the White House, the Treasury, the EPA building (I took pictures for Jena. That's her favorite government agency), and we ended up at the Old Post Office building. It has a glass elevator you take to the 9th floor and then another one you take to the 12th (which is the top of the tower). You can look out and see DC and Arlington, including the monuments and important buildings (and to identify them, at the top of the tower is a picture with the buildings labeled).
Riding up the elevator we met a lady from Texas. She had a "Bergstrum,"--a picture of a goofy guy that is similar to a Flat Stanley. After taking pictures for her, I had to have a picture of her and Bergstrum as well. It was humorous.
When we got back to the bottom of the elevator and back in the post office, we went to a little souvenir shop that had 50% posted all over the place. I didn't plan on buying anything, but (to quote Garrett) the people were "incredibly pushy." While I wouldn't have paid what they were asking for any of the items, they were incredibly flexible. I effectively bartered down every item I bought. I fully plan on going back and buying more souvenirs.
So, upon reflecting on my posting, I realized this is a little out of order, but that's ok. It's factual, just out of order.
That evening I made it back home (after another long metro ride that was a plethora of sudden, unplanned stops) and indulged in my guilty pleasure before skyping my friend Jena. Sadly, skyping Jena involves a drastic time difference. So, this time she woke up early and I stayed up late (as opposed to her staying up late and me getting up early). After a skype conversation, it was time to call it a night. A group of KIPs were headed to Eastern Market and no body likes a tired Intern!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Spectacular, Spectacular!
6/10/12
Today I'll be caught-up! Woohoo! (I now understand why so many bloggers frequently get "behind," this stuff is a lot of work!).
My day today was a day of playing "catch-up." After touring and being out until, well, bedtime last night, I had a lot I needed to accomplish today. It was my "old-man" day, if you will (however, no offense to old men!).
I started off my day by getting up at 7:30 (I know, 7:30 ON A SUNDAY!) so I could skype with my friend Jena. She is in Italy studying abroad, so our communications are limited and quite restricted, since she is 6 hours ahead of my time zone. Again, as in most of my posts, I digress. So, I woke up at 7:30 so I could shower. You never know how long Jena and I are going to talk. Maybe it will be 15 minutes, or maybe it will be 2 hours and 15 minutes (depends on how chatting both of us are, because if we are both in talkative moods, then you'll never get us to shut up). After I was finished skyping Jena, I planned on heading out to Mass, so I wanted to be sure I was ready.
We had quite the conversation (as we always do) covering all sorts of topics, baiting and insulting one another, and just having an overall good time.
After my skype call, I had about 35 or so minutes to kill before I needed to head to Mass...well, I had two options: 1) Read the Science of Success or 2) Watch How I met Your Mother. Since HIMYM happens to be roughly 22 minutes long, I figured I might as well get an episode in before Mass, and then maybe read a bit too (I didn't).
After that episode, I piddle around and did a few small things (responded to some emails, did a couple small chores, etc) and then decided to head to mass. My target this morning: Our Lady of Good Counsel.
It was a little farther from my apartment than St. Leo the Great, but not too bad. I think it took me around 15 minutes to go the 4.2 miles (which I HATE...after all the traveling I've done, and living in the country, 4.2 miles should take between 4.2 minutes-7minutes, max). OLGC was a lovely campus. Yes, I said Campus. They had a Chapel, the Church, a School (up to 8th grade from what I understood), and a couple other buildings. They also have quite a few morning masses, so they must have quite the congregation. I would say the church was between 2/3-3/4 full this morning. Not as many people as what St Leo had, but then again, OLGC has more time for parishioners to attend. Parking was also much better here than St. Leo.
Regardless of the mundane details, let's get to the church itself. I loved it. It was a brick building, that sloped-up as you approached the altar. Along with sloping, the church itself came to a point, so the Priest was sitting in a "corner" that was lit by a large skylight you were unable to see. Hanging over the altar (since there was not a flat wall) was a large carved crucifix. Unlike St. Leo's, this one was not painted. It maintained the dark color of the wood. I felt as if Christ was truly hanging on the Crucifix. While the colors were not human, the woodwork was exceptional. The fact it was hanging directly over the altar, and not against a wall, really made Christ tangible in the service--at least for me.
I won't lie, I was a little scared of what the music was going to be. The choir section had roughly 8-10 people in it (it could probably hold 30+) and the majority of them were...older. Our Cantor also was a little ill, and her voice was not nearly as powerful as it could have been--in addition to giving out at times. However, never judge a book by it's cover--especially during mass! I was pleasantly surprised when the entrance hymn began. The Cantor had a lovely voice, even if she was ill, and the choir was (no offense St. Leo) superior to the one I had heard last week. I was amazed at the power and beauty that came from those "old souls." It was a beautiful mass. The priest was an older gentleman, but had a beautiful message. He used the cellphone commercial where the guy is on a date and he keeps getting updates on his phone about "the game" he is watching. In essence, it was about the beauty of a relationship and how a table of two (Christ and oneself) really should be free of distractions. Despite getting up at 7:30, and sleeping less than I had last week, I felt much more awake at this mass than last week. I really enjoyed the Priest and the Church.
I'm debating between going back to OLGC or keep exploring the different churches in the area like I originally planned. We shall see what the future holds!
After mass, I ran back home to change (I literally was limping because of my disgusting sore on the back of my ankle from my dress shoes. Lesson to be learned: Do not break in your new shoes in DC).
After changing, it was time to go out and buy my life force (yes, I only buy it in weekly doses...It's too expensive to buy a month's supply at once for me). I debated on trying a Safeway (the local grocery store chain), but I opted to go with the good ol' Wal-Mart. It is a little farther from my house than a Safeway, but I was told that it was cheaper (plus: It's a brand new Walmart and the clientele always looks waaayyy above my income level, so I consider it safe).
As I was grocery shopping I received a lot of looks from what I suspect are/were mothers. It was that "aww-look-at-you-all-grown-up-shopping-on-your-own-without-a-mom-or-wife" look. At least, that's what I hope it was; the alternative doesn't seem as nice "you-poor-soul-you-don't-have-a-clue."
Regardless of what was behind the looks, they always looked endearing and that's all that matters to me!
Upon returning to my apartment, I unpacked all my groceries (considerably more than I bought last week at a lower price. However, last week I did buy a coffee pot, so that makes a difference) and decided it was lunch time (or mid-after-noon meal time, since it was close to 2:30/3:00). I found something to eat (I have yet to cook any hot food, other than Campbell's microwavable soups and instant Velveeta Shells'n'Cheese, It's on my to-do list this week) and headed to the basement to hideout until Monday morning!
Ok, so maybe not hide out. I simply had to blog and read some more. I finished yesterday's entry (while watching HIMYM) and upon completing that, finished the majority of the book I have to have read for tomorrow. (We have reading assignments each week for our program. Along with placement, Tuesday is a group seminar day, so we are learning about advancing Economic Freedom both academically and through a hands-on approach). I left the last chapter to read for the Metro ride in tomorrow.
Tomorrow begins a new week. Monday and Tuesday we will finish-up our program training, and from there on out, it will be strictly business interning and KIP programming! I'm quite excited! Now, having finished this, I'm thinking more HIMYM (Yes, I know, I have a problem. I believe I'm somewhere around the half-way mark of Season 3. Yes, I've managed to watch almost 3 entire seasons in a week. No, you cannot judge me [at least, not openely]).
And that concludes my "Old-Man" Sunday. I foresee most of my Sundays looking like this, and I am perfectly ok with that! After all, everyone deserves a break, even Interns!
Today I'll be caught-up! Woohoo! (I now understand why so many bloggers frequently get "behind," this stuff is a lot of work!).
My day today was a day of playing "catch-up." After touring and being out until, well, bedtime last night, I had a lot I needed to accomplish today. It was my "old-man" day, if you will (however, no offense to old men!).
I started off my day by getting up at 7:30 (I know, 7:30 ON A SUNDAY!) so I could skype with my friend Jena. She is in Italy studying abroad, so our communications are limited and quite restricted, since she is 6 hours ahead of my time zone. Again, as in most of my posts, I digress. So, I woke up at 7:30 so I could shower. You never know how long Jena and I are going to talk. Maybe it will be 15 minutes, or maybe it will be 2 hours and 15 minutes (depends on how chatting both of us are, because if we are both in talkative moods, then you'll never get us to shut up). After I was finished skyping Jena, I planned on heading out to Mass, so I wanted to be sure I was ready.
We had quite the conversation (as we always do) covering all sorts of topics, baiting and insulting one another, and just having an overall good time.
After my skype call, I had about 35 or so minutes to kill before I needed to head to Mass...well, I had two options: 1) Read the Science of Success or 2) Watch How I met Your Mother. Since HIMYM happens to be roughly 22 minutes long, I figured I might as well get an episode in before Mass, and then maybe read a bit too (I didn't).
After that episode, I piddle around and did a few small things (responded to some emails, did a couple small chores, etc) and then decided to head to mass. My target this morning: Our Lady of Good Counsel.
It was a little farther from my apartment than St. Leo the Great, but not too bad. I think it took me around 15 minutes to go the 4.2 miles (which I HATE...after all the traveling I've done, and living in the country, 4.2 miles should take between 4.2 minutes-7minutes, max). OLGC was a lovely campus. Yes, I said Campus. They had a Chapel, the Church, a School (up to 8th grade from what I understood), and a couple other buildings. They also have quite a few morning masses, so they must have quite the congregation. I would say the church was between 2/3-3/4 full this morning. Not as many people as what St Leo had, but then again, OLGC has more time for parishioners to attend. Parking was also much better here than St. Leo.
Regardless of the mundane details, let's get to the church itself. I loved it. It was a brick building, that sloped-up as you approached the altar. Along with sloping, the church itself came to a point, so the Priest was sitting in a "corner" that was lit by a large skylight you were unable to see. Hanging over the altar (since there was not a flat wall) was a large carved crucifix. Unlike St. Leo's, this one was not painted. It maintained the dark color of the wood. I felt as if Christ was truly hanging on the Crucifix. While the colors were not human, the woodwork was exceptional. The fact it was hanging directly over the altar, and not against a wall, really made Christ tangible in the service--at least for me.
I won't lie, I was a little scared of what the music was going to be. The choir section had roughly 8-10 people in it (it could probably hold 30+) and the majority of them were...older. Our Cantor also was a little ill, and her voice was not nearly as powerful as it could have been--in addition to giving out at times. However, never judge a book by it's cover--especially during mass! I was pleasantly surprised when the entrance hymn began. The Cantor had a lovely voice, even if she was ill, and the choir was (no offense St. Leo) superior to the one I had heard last week. I was amazed at the power and beauty that came from those "old souls." It was a beautiful mass. The priest was an older gentleman, but had a beautiful message. He used the cellphone commercial where the guy is on a date and he keeps getting updates on his phone about "the game" he is watching. In essence, it was about the beauty of a relationship and how a table of two (Christ and oneself) really should be free of distractions. Despite getting up at 7:30, and sleeping less than I had last week, I felt much more awake at this mass than last week. I really enjoyed the Priest and the Church.
I'm debating between going back to OLGC or keep exploring the different churches in the area like I originally planned. We shall see what the future holds!
After mass, I ran back home to change (I literally was limping because of my disgusting sore on the back of my ankle from my dress shoes. Lesson to be learned: Do not break in your new shoes in DC).
As I was grocery shopping I received a lot of looks from what I suspect are/were mothers. It was that "aww-look-at-you-all-grown-up-shopping-on-your-own-without-a-mom-or-wife" look. At least, that's what I hope it was; the alternative doesn't seem as nice "you-poor-soul-you-don't-have-a-clue."
Regardless of what was behind the looks, they always looked endearing and that's all that matters to me!
Upon returning to my apartment, I unpacked all my groceries (considerably more than I bought last week at a lower price. However, last week I did buy a coffee pot, so that makes a difference) and decided it was lunch time (or mid-after-noon meal time, since it was close to 2:30/3:00). I found something to eat (I have yet to cook any hot food, other than Campbell's microwavable soups and instant Velveeta Shells'n'Cheese, It's on my to-do list this week) and headed to the basement to hideout until Monday morning!
Ok, so maybe not hide out. I simply had to blog and read some more. I finished yesterday's entry (while watching HIMYM) and upon completing that, finished the majority of the book I have to have read for tomorrow. (We have reading assignments each week for our program. Along with placement, Tuesday is a group seminar day, so we are learning about advancing Economic Freedom both academically and through a hands-on approach). I left the last chapter to read for the Metro ride in tomorrow.
Tomorrow begins a new week. Monday and Tuesday we will finish-up our program training, and from there on out, it will be strictly business interning and KIP programming! I'm quite excited! Now, having finished this, I'm thinking more HIMYM (Yes, I know, I have a problem. I believe I'm somewhere around the half-way mark of Season 3. Yes, I've managed to watch almost 3 entire seasons in a week. No, you cannot judge me [at least, not openely]).
And that concludes my "Old-Man" Sunday. I foresee most of my Sundays looking like this, and I am perfectly ok with that! After all, everyone deserves a break, even Interns!
There And, well, Still Here: An Intern Tale
6/9/12
Well, as you may or may not have noticed, I have not posted form Friday. After careful consideration, I have deemed a blog post unnecessary for Friday. I'll give you a quick synopsis: I went to work, I read, I came home, I Skyped for somewhere around 2 hours, and I watched a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother before calling it a night. A group of us were going to go exploring on Saturday, so I wanted to make sure I was well-rested for our adventure!
And that was my Friday, very chill, but very nice.
Now, on to the exciting stuff: Saturday. Now that I actually have individuals from KIP reading my blog, I guess I can't reveal my true feelings toward my fellow co-workers (only kidding, they are wonderful people!).
Our designated meeting place was the Smithsonian Metro Station by the USDA. This was a terrible life decision on all of our parts. While we had a rough idea of the day's agenda, we had neglected one very important aspect: planning for the crowd. If this had been the regular, touristy, DC crowd, this would not have been an issue. We were fully prepared for a DC crowd. We were not, however, prepared for the 45 million Girl Scouts that descended upon the Capitol.
I started out my trip by driving to the Court House Metro stop (again, they Metro is doing line work between East and West Falls Church, effectively cutting me off from fully and efficiently utilizing the metro) and then riding into the city. Being a Saturday, this business-district stop was not very active. I was quite happy with the empty train. I had a seat, not a lot of loud individuals, it was going to be a good day. All was calm and quite until I reached the next stop-that is when, like the locust swarming Egypt, the Girl Scouts swarmed the train. It was madness. My quiet, roomy car became a madhouse filled by green-and-brown sashed-and-vested girls. And this was just the start. Our day would be filled with long lines at turnstiles as troop leaders handed out day passes to giggling girls, crowds of loud and silly merit badges were seen no matter which direction you looked. It was quite the experience.
Well, on to the fun stuff--unless you find girl scouts fun, then more power to you. Not exactly my cup'o'tea, believe it or not.
Like I was saying, to the fun stuff. We started off the day with ideas of touring the Smithsonians. After meeting up (we had planned on meeting up at 11, but because of all the girl scouts, etc., we ended up all finally getting together around 11:30, oh well!), we headed towards, what I like to call, Museum Row. There was not a very rigid itinerary for the day--or more truthfully, a set itinerary at all--so the group just started wandering. Upon arrival at the Castle (the Smithsonian Castle is the "base" of all the other museums), we diverted to one of the art galleries next to it--believing it to be under the Girl Scout's radar. Our assumption was correct, as the art gallery was very quiet and mostly empty.
While the art was interesting, the group was a little preoccupied with getting to know one another. Certain individuals (who will remain anonymous, *coughcoughcoughjeffcoughcoughcough*) were continually discussing life events and simply neglecting the art. After about 30 minutes of mindless wandering--I refused to start doing any in depth reading, as I would just want to stay and read everything (do not go to a museum with me unless you really want to appreciate the history!)--the group decided that maybe it was best to meander elsewhere.
Apart from loosing 2 or 3 members of our group in an attempt to use the restroom, we made it back out to the mall safe and sound. By this time it was after noon and a number of us started lobbying heavily for food (myself being a ranking member of this group). After a nice little stroll through the Statue Gardens (or something like that) and a side-trip to the large water fountain, the group headed towards Chinatown.
I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when we headed to Chinatown, and maybe we just didn't get very far into the area, but I was a little disappointed. The only difference between the Mall area and Chinatown was the Chinese Characters underneath the regular characters on restaurant signs. Oh well. Maybe I need to adventure to Chinatown sometime.
In China town we did what any good group of American interns would do--we ate at a chain sandwich shop, Potbelly's. The food was good, I thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich, that's for sure. Since our group actually picked up a member, we had to divide and conquer--that is, sit at different tables. It was nice to just be sitting in the AC and eating, it was starting to warm up outside.
Upon the completion of our meal, it was time to wander back to the Smithsonians. We had every intention of seeing the American History museum (since it has lots of fun things in it like the Ruby Slippers and Kermit the Frog, crucial points in American history). We wandered through the Smithsonian Castle (which really was just a hodgepodge of miscellaneous stuff) and then headed to our next target.
The arrival at the American History Museum was as far as we got: the line was out the door and around the corner. It was hot, the sun was intense, and we were not going to spend our afternoon standing in that line. We wandered down to the Natural History Museum, which, in it's defense, had a shorter line, but still a line too long for our tastes.
Group deliberation took place. Garrett pulled out his handy-dandy map ("I'm a map, I'm a map, I'm a map...Thanks Emily, that's still stuck in my head) and we decided to head to the National Gallery. If I had to guess, I would say this is where we spent the majority of our day, at least in comparison to all the other places we visited. The gallery was awesome.
As we went through the museum we hit the Dutch and Italian artists...or at least a small portion of them. I thoroughly enjoyed the older (1300-1600) Italian artists. Every piece that I saw was centered around something religious. Christ, the Saints, the Holy Family-all of it was beautiful!
In addition to the amazing pictures of Christ and his followers, there was a picture of de Vinci on display. Apparently it was the precursor to the Mona Lisa. I really enjoyed the art gallery. One of these days I need to go with a small group or on my own so I can have a little more time to appreciate the art and the museums.
After the museum, we lost a couple members and it was decided to go somewhere we could all sit down and relax. We headed over near the Navy something Metro stop and went to a sportsbar to watch the Germany-Portugal soccer game (and whatever else was on, which included a baseball game, a basketball game, and a horse race, lol).
After about an hour or a little more of hanging out at (I wish I could remember what the name was) the sportsbar, I decided I was hungry and I wasn't feeling sportsbar food. I was hoping for something a little more restaurant like. (By this point, we had lost another part of our group, but we gained a couple other guys).
So, we jumped on the Metro and headed to DuPont Circle, which just happened to be a very exciting part of town. There was a LGBTQ event going on. It was quite the site.
After an eventful walk around the circle, yes, DuPont Circle in a circle, we stopped at the Front Page. It is a really snazzy restaurant with old front pages of newspapers all around the restaurant. The food was good and the conversation was incredibly interesting. The only downside: our food took awhile because of the rally outside. Even this couldn't dampen the atmosphere of our conversation. In fact, until the waiter came to mention that he was sorry our food was taking so long, I hadn't even realized it had been awhile.
When we finished up dinner, we lost all but 4 of us, and went to Claredon to hang out. We were going to meet-up with some other interns, but after hanging out for awhile, and with the Metro taking so long, we finally decided to call it a night.
Since I had to drive to Court House earlier in the day, all that was left to do was run a couple of my friends back to GMU and then I called it a night. After a long day of adventuring (which was far more detailed than what I recorded, because I'm lazy!), it was time to call it a night: especially since I would be getting up too early for my tastes on a Sunday.
Well, there ya have it, my second Sunday as an Intern!
Well, as you may or may not have noticed, I have not posted form Friday. After careful consideration, I have deemed a blog post unnecessary for Friday. I'll give you a quick synopsis: I went to work, I read, I came home, I Skyped for somewhere around 2 hours, and I watched a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother before calling it a night. A group of us were going to go exploring on Saturday, so I wanted to make sure I was well-rested for our adventure!
And that was my Friday, very chill, but very nice.
Now, on to the exciting stuff: Saturday. Now that I actually have individuals from KIP reading my blog, I guess I can't reveal my true feelings toward my fellow co-workers (only kidding, they are wonderful people!).
Our designated meeting place was the Smithsonian Metro Station by the USDA. This was a terrible life decision on all of our parts. While we had a rough idea of the day's agenda, we had neglected one very important aspect: planning for the crowd. If this had been the regular, touristy, DC crowd, this would not have been an issue. We were fully prepared for a DC crowd. We were not, however, prepared for the 45 million Girl Scouts that descended upon the Capitol.
I started out my trip by driving to the Court House Metro stop (again, they Metro is doing line work between East and West Falls Church, effectively cutting me off from fully and efficiently utilizing the metro) and then riding into the city. Being a Saturday, this business-district stop was not very active. I was quite happy with the empty train. I had a seat, not a lot of loud individuals, it was going to be a good day. All was calm and quite until I reached the next stop-that is when, like the locust swarming Egypt, the Girl Scouts swarmed the train. It was madness. My quiet, roomy car became a madhouse filled by green-and-brown sashed-and-vested girls. And this was just the start. Our day would be filled with long lines at turnstiles as troop leaders handed out day passes to giggling girls, crowds of loud and silly merit badges were seen no matter which direction you looked. It was quite the experience.
Well, on to the fun stuff--unless you find girl scouts fun, then more power to you. Not exactly my cup'o'tea, believe it or not.
Like I was saying, to the fun stuff. We started off the day with ideas of touring the Smithsonians. After meeting up (we had planned on meeting up at 11, but because of all the girl scouts, etc., we ended up all finally getting together around 11:30, oh well!), we headed towards, what I like to call, Museum Row. There was not a very rigid itinerary for the day--or more truthfully, a set itinerary at all--so the group just started wandering. Upon arrival at the Castle (the Smithsonian Castle is the "base" of all the other museums), we diverted to one of the art galleries next to it--believing it to be under the Girl Scout's radar. Our assumption was correct, as the art gallery was very quiet and mostly empty.
While the art was interesting, the group was a little preoccupied with getting to know one another. Certain individuals (who will remain anonymous, *coughcoughcoughjeffcoughcoughcough*) were continually discussing life events and simply neglecting the art. After about 30 minutes of mindless wandering--I refused to start doing any in depth reading, as I would just want to stay and read everything (do not go to a museum with me unless you really want to appreciate the history!)--the group decided that maybe it was best to meander elsewhere.
Apart from loosing 2 or 3 members of our group in an attempt to use the restroom, we made it back out to the mall safe and sound. By this time it was after noon and a number of us started lobbying heavily for food (myself being a ranking member of this group). After a nice little stroll through the Statue Gardens (or something like that) and a side-trip to the large water fountain, the group headed towards Chinatown.
I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when we headed to Chinatown, and maybe we just didn't get very far into the area, but I was a little disappointed. The only difference between the Mall area and Chinatown was the Chinese Characters underneath the regular characters on restaurant signs. Oh well. Maybe I need to adventure to Chinatown sometime.
In China town we did what any good group of American interns would do--we ate at a chain sandwich shop, Potbelly's. The food was good, I thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich, that's for sure. Since our group actually picked up a member, we had to divide and conquer--that is, sit at different tables. It was nice to just be sitting in the AC and eating, it was starting to warm up outside.
Upon the completion of our meal, it was time to wander back to the Smithsonians. We had every intention of seeing the American History museum (since it has lots of fun things in it like the Ruby Slippers and Kermit the Frog, crucial points in American history). We wandered through the Smithsonian Castle (which really was just a hodgepodge of miscellaneous stuff) and then headed to our next target.
The arrival at the American History Museum was as far as we got: the line was out the door and around the corner. It was hot, the sun was intense, and we were not going to spend our afternoon standing in that line. We wandered down to the Natural History Museum, which, in it's defense, had a shorter line, but still a line too long for our tastes.
Group deliberation took place. Garrett pulled out his handy-dandy map ("I'm a map, I'm a map, I'm a map...Thanks Emily, that's still stuck in my head) and we decided to head to the National Gallery. If I had to guess, I would say this is where we spent the majority of our day, at least in comparison to all the other places we visited. The gallery was awesome.
As we went through the museum we hit the Dutch and Italian artists...or at least a small portion of them. I thoroughly enjoyed the older (1300-1600) Italian artists. Every piece that I saw was centered around something religious. Christ, the Saints, the Holy Family-all of it was beautiful!
In addition to the amazing pictures of Christ and his followers, there was a picture of de Vinci on display. Apparently it was the precursor to the Mona Lisa. I really enjoyed the art gallery. One of these days I need to go with a small group or on my own so I can have a little more time to appreciate the art and the museums.
After the museum, we lost a couple members and it was decided to go somewhere we could all sit down and relax. We headed over near the Navy something Metro stop and went to a sportsbar to watch the Germany-Portugal soccer game (and whatever else was on, which included a baseball game, a basketball game, and a horse race, lol).
After about an hour or a little more of hanging out at (I wish I could remember what the name was) the sportsbar, I decided I was hungry and I wasn't feeling sportsbar food. I was hoping for something a little more restaurant like. (By this point, we had lost another part of our group, but we gained a couple other guys).
So, we jumped on the Metro and headed to DuPont Circle, which just happened to be a very exciting part of town. There was a LGBTQ event going on. It was quite the site.
After an eventful walk around the circle, yes, DuPont Circle in a circle, we stopped at the Front Page. It is a really snazzy restaurant with old front pages of newspapers all around the restaurant. The food was good and the conversation was incredibly interesting. The only downside: our food took awhile because of the rally outside. Even this couldn't dampen the atmosphere of our conversation. In fact, until the waiter came to mention that he was sorry our food was taking so long, I hadn't even realized it had been awhile.
When we finished up dinner, we lost all but 4 of us, and went to Claredon to hang out. We were going to meet-up with some other interns, but after hanging out for awhile, and with the Metro taking so long, we finally decided to call it a night.
Since I had to drive to Court House earlier in the day, all that was left to do was run a couple of my friends back to GMU and then I called it a night. After a long day of adventuring (which was far more detailed than what I recorded, because I'm lazy!), it was time to call it a night: especially since I would be getting up too early for my tastes on a Sunday.
Well, there ya have it, my second Sunday as an Intern!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
A Painful Policy
6/7/12
Today was the day. The culmination of all my hard work and sacrifice. Years of...Ok, so maybe it isn't quite that dramatic, but it was still very exciting. Today I began the actual interning experience of the Koch Internship Program. And, let me tell you, it was a very exciting day!
I began the day bright and early (7:05 was a tad early, so I crawled out of bed at 7:15 instead). There was a slight downside to my morning: I had left my coffee cup in a friend's string-bag. So, sadly, I did not start my day with coffee. But no worries, my office has coffee. And not just coffee, a full kitchen. Equipped with a Starbuck's coffee machine, that freshly grinds your beans before brewing them. So, every cup of coffee is literally a fresh cup. AMAZING!
My day was extremely fascinating, at least to me. I started off by logging on and going through my computer and setting up all the sites and such that I would be using (ie, my electronic time-keeping site. Cha-ching!). After going through my email (which took quite awhile), I was able to begin reading, which would take up my entire day.
I started reading on cronyism. I started out with articles but moved onto reading a book that details how the American society has become a society of moochers. I'm not going to lie, the readings were a little (or a lot) depressing. I'm fearful for the American society. The growing debt, the crazy amount of subsidies and the ever growing regulation leading to continually increasing debt is daunting, at minimum.
However, depressing statistics aside, the day was interesting. We had a couple short meetings, one to go over, one final time, proper office procedures and the other to take a tour of the building. There are roughly 15 interns from the program at the Institute/Foundation. Just based off of the looks we received from the other office staff, I think this is the largest number of Interns that have been placed CKI. I'm not going to say that for sure, but just a guess.
Along with the short meetings we had, for lunch the entire policy team met for a lunch meeting to go over the basics of the team. They are a fascinating group. I am really looking forward working with the group for the summer.
After I got off, I took the metro back, which was jam-packed. I guess I had better get used to being in a can of sardines! Oh well. On the upside, I was able to talk with a fellow intern about our first day and just some various other topics.
The biggest downside of my day--my dress shoes have not fully been broke in. Needless to say, I now have blisters on both of my pinky-toes and one on each of the back of my ankle/heel --whatever you call the place where the back of your shoe rubs (the right one has burst).
While this may not sound like the most exciting day, it was incredibly interesting for me. Tomorrow will be another day in the office reading and researching, but on Saturday, a group of us are going out to explore DC. All I can say is: Watch out DC. Here come the Interns!
Today was the day. The culmination of all my hard work and sacrifice. Years of...Ok, so maybe it isn't quite that dramatic, but it was still very exciting. Today I began the actual interning experience of the Koch Internship Program. And, let me tell you, it was a very exciting day!
I began the day bright and early (7:05 was a tad early, so I crawled out of bed at 7:15 instead). There was a slight downside to my morning: I had left my coffee cup in a friend's string-bag. So, sadly, I did not start my day with coffee. But no worries, my office has coffee. And not just coffee, a full kitchen. Equipped with a Starbuck's coffee machine, that freshly grinds your beans before brewing them. So, every cup of coffee is literally a fresh cup. AMAZING!
My day was extremely fascinating, at least to me. I started off by logging on and going through my computer and setting up all the sites and such that I would be using (ie, my electronic time-keeping site. Cha-ching!). After going through my email (which took quite awhile), I was able to begin reading, which would take up my entire day.
I started reading on cronyism. I started out with articles but moved onto reading a book that details how the American society has become a society of moochers. I'm not going to lie, the readings were a little (or a lot) depressing. I'm fearful for the American society. The growing debt, the crazy amount of subsidies and the ever growing regulation leading to continually increasing debt is daunting, at minimum.
However, depressing statistics aside, the day was interesting. We had a couple short meetings, one to go over, one final time, proper office procedures and the other to take a tour of the building. There are roughly 15 interns from the program at the Institute/Foundation. Just based off of the looks we received from the other office staff, I think this is the largest number of Interns that have been placed CKI. I'm not going to say that for sure, but just a guess.
Along with the short meetings we had, for lunch the entire policy team met for a lunch meeting to go over the basics of the team. They are a fascinating group. I am really looking forward working with the group for the summer.
After I got off, I took the metro back, which was jam-packed. I guess I had better get used to being in a can of sardines! Oh well. On the upside, I was able to talk with a fellow intern about our first day and just some various other topics.
The biggest downside of my day--my dress shoes have not fully been broke in. Needless to say, I now have blisters on both of my pinky-toes and one on each of the back of my ankle/heel --whatever you call the place where the back of your shoe rubs (the right one has burst).
While this may not sound like the most exciting day, it was incredibly interesting for me. Tomorrow will be another day in the office reading and researching, but on Saturday, a group of us are going out to explore DC. All I can say is: Watch out DC. Here come the Interns!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Greek Life-Literally
6/6/12
Today, I woke up at 7:05 am, my new wake-up call for the rest of the summer. Welcome to the real world I guess. After a semester of 10am and 9:25 classes--where I woke up at 9:15 and 8:40 respectively--this is just a wee bit earlier then what I would prefer. heehee.
I am really starting to get used to riding the Metro. It is quite the experience. People from all walks of life ride the metro. My stops are in fairly safe neighborhoods, which makes me feel quite safe. However, I have not ventured out at night on the Metro. I'm sure the first time I do, you'll hear from me!
After arriving at CKI we went over some more HR and other trainings. We are almost done, with only next Monday left for the "training" part, and then it will just be the Tuesday Seminar days, while the rest of the week will be the actual intern work. I'm quite excited. I've enjoyed the days up to this point, but I am ready to really dive into my work with the Institute!
Today was a half-day. We finished up around 12:45. Since today we were on our own for lunch, a few of us decided to go adventuring. We deemed Dupont Circle as our target. We jumped on the orange line, road to Metro Center, jumped on the Red line, and before you knew it, we were at Dupont Circle. After walking around for about a block, we decided to try a little restaurant that was in a blue-and white little building. The architecture of Dupont is really quite neat. The streets are narrow, winding, and confusing. The buildings are older, build side-by-side and only a few stories high, but well maintained. Old and new intertwined. A historic feel in a modern society--much like the rest of DC.
I will say, the escalator coming out form the Dupont metro station was HUGE! I'm spoiled here at Vienna/Fairfax with an above-ground station and just a short little walk down our short escalator. But, I digress.
The little restaurant was interesting. I think I would enjoy Greek food more if I liked vegetables more. I'm really working on it, but it's quite the uphill battle! I've come to the conclusion I HATE shredded lettuce. I can stomach lettuce in leaf/salad form, but the shredded variety just is too "yuck" for me.
I tried a Greeksub burger. I thought I'd start off simple. Didn't want to dive into anything too radical. I kept the lettuce on, but asked for no mayo or tomato. (One step at a time, I'll work my way up!) The burger was interesting, not a patty so much as smaller pieces of meat that had seasoning and such rolled into them. The bread was really good, but it was difficult to down the shredded lettuce. Oh well! Luckily, I wasn't all that hungry.
After we all finished our lunch, it was time to head back. We have assigned readings for each week, with time allotted for designated reading, so that is why we were getting the afternoon off. Right at Dupont we lost one member of our group and Metro Center saw me depart the other 2 guys. Jumping back on the Orange line gave me time to read a solid 20 pages before walking home.
I'm not entirely sure why, but I had a terrible time falling asleep/staying asleep last night. I'm pretty sure sometime around 3 am I was jerked from my sleep by Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me, Maybe. Since I live in the basement of a townhouse, I have the unfortunate luck of being able to hear the two floors above me, along with the noises of the next door neighbors. I'm not entirely sure where the music was coming from--upstairs or next door--but I was unhappy with being ripped out of my slumber! The point is, I'll be throwing in the towel early tonight--especially since I am up-to-date on these posts and have finished close to have of my reading for Monday!
I'm quite excited to begin my actual duties tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day. My first day as an actual intern. My Beginning.
Today, I woke up at 7:05 am, my new wake-up call for the rest of the summer. Welcome to the real world I guess. After a semester of 10am and 9:25 classes--where I woke up at 9:15 and 8:40 respectively--this is just a wee bit earlier then what I would prefer. heehee.
I am really starting to get used to riding the Metro. It is quite the experience. People from all walks of life ride the metro. My stops are in fairly safe neighborhoods, which makes me feel quite safe. However, I have not ventured out at night on the Metro. I'm sure the first time I do, you'll hear from me!
After arriving at CKI we went over some more HR and other trainings. We are almost done, with only next Monday left for the "training" part, and then it will just be the Tuesday Seminar days, while the rest of the week will be the actual intern work. I'm quite excited. I've enjoyed the days up to this point, but I am ready to really dive into my work with the Institute!
Today was a half-day. We finished up around 12:45. Since today we were on our own for lunch, a few of us decided to go adventuring. We deemed Dupont Circle as our target. We jumped on the orange line, road to Metro Center, jumped on the Red line, and before you knew it, we were at Dupont Circle. After walking around for about a block, we decided to try a little restaurant that was in a blue-and white little building. The architecture of Dupont is really quite neat. The streets are narrow, winding, and confusing. The buildings are older, build side-by-side and only a few stories high, but well maintained. Old and new intertwined. A historic feel in a modern society--much like the rest of DC.
I will say, the escalator coming out form the Dupont metro station was HUGE! I'm spoiled here at Vienna/Fairfax with an above-ground station and just a short little walk down our short escalator. But, I digress.
The little restaurant was interesting. I think I would enjoy Greek food more if I liked vegetables more. I'm really working on it, but it's quite the uphill battle! I've come to the conclusion I HATE shredded lettuce. I can stomach lettuce in leaf/salad form, but the shredded variety just is too "yuck" for me.
I tried a Greeksub burger. I thought I'd start off simple. Didn't want to dive into anything too radical. I kept the lettuce on, but asked for no mayo or tomato. (One step at a time, I'll work my way up!) The burger was interesting, not a patty so much as smaller pieces of meat that had seasoning and such rolled into them. The bread was really good, but it was difficult to down the shredded lettuce. Oh well! Luckily, I wasn't all that hungry.
After we all finished our lunch, it was time to head back. We have assigned readings for each week, with time allotted for designated reading, so that is why we were getting the afternoon off. Right at Dupont we lost one member of our group and Metro Center saw me depart the other 2 guys. Jumping back on the Orange line gave me time to read a solid 20 pages before walking home.
I'm not entirely sure why, but I had a terrible time falling asleep/staying asleep last night. I'm pretty sure sometime around 3 am I was jerked from my sleep by Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me, Maybe. Since I live in the basement of a townhouse, I have the unfortunate luck of being able to hear the two floors above me, along with the noises of the next door neighbors. I'm not entirely sure where the music was coming from--upstairs or next door--but I was unhappy with being ripped out of my slumber! The point is, I'll be throwing in the towel early tonight--especially since I am up-to-date on these posts and have finished close to have of my reading for Monday!
I'm quite excited to begin my actual duties tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day. My first day as an actual intern. My Beginning.
KIP Summer Camp--Or something along those lines
6/5/2012.
Adventure Challenge: Constructing a bridge, underwater, with you eyes closed. Reassembling a precious statue surrounded by a force field. Working with a partner, while blind, to avoid a deadly mine-field.
All in the day's work of being an Intern during KIP. No big deal. Confused yet?
The Interns did not start their day out in dress casual and at CKI as they had on Monday, but at a local park in athletic gear!
Today, as a team builder, we were assigned into 5 teams, of 12 people, and set to complete (or at least do our best to complete) six tasks. I have given a quick summary of some of them; however, it very well may be a little dramatic. Our group started out at a task where you had two people blindfolded and linked by their elbows. They were receiving directions to various objects laid out in the field. This, however, was not the end of the confusion. The blindfolded individuals were receiving directions from two individuals: One who had the exact instructions and could see where the blindfolded individuals were going, the other was looking at the person who had possession of the instructions. The individual who was capable of seeing the blindfolded individuals had to, without speaking, convey the instructions to the person opposite of them. Our 4-person group managed to complete the task, twice. Compared to the other groups 3, if not 4, times of completion. We required some time to warm up.
The tasks throughout the morning continued to be challenging. Our 2nd task of the day involved using PVC pipe-gutters that had 4 strings attached to them. You had to keep the "gutter" at least one foot off the ground and at least 1 foot away from your body. There were 4 or 5 of these gutters. The object was to transfer different types of balls (a ping-pong ball, a racquetball, and a small soccer ball) from one spot to another. It involved having 2 people manipulate the gutters to move the ball from one bucket to another. There were additional rules that made things more difficult, of course. For example, once the ball was in your gutter, you were unable to move your feet. You simply had to wait for the next gutter to be ready and carefully tilt the ball into the next gutter.
We managed to complete this task-mostly. We may or may not have skipped the part where we navigated around a tree.
Our third task was a total jam. We were assigned 2 sets of numbers in a half circle, 1-6 with an orange circle in the middle. We had to stand on the circles and with only moving one person at a time, and only crossing a person who you were facing, while never moving more than 2 spaces at a time (still following?) rearrange the half circle so everyone on the yellow side (1-6) ended up on the red side (6-1), while pretending the ground was lava and not stepping off a circle. Our group thought we had successfully completed the task, until we read the rules. In which case, we eventually gave up.
Our fourth task, another tedious one we didn't finish, but managed to actually make progress on, was one that even the directors of the day said was virtually impossible. We had to stack 6 cups in a 3-cup pyramid style and then place a PVC-gutter on top of them. However, we had to devise a contraption that would go through the "force field" that prevented human flesh from entering. We were the first group that was able to actually make progress on this event. We were very excited!
The fifth task was quite entertaining, and one we all completed successfully! A rectangular minefield was set-up with a large number of "mines" (water balls). A partner was blindfolded and then had to be told how to navigate by their partner outside of the minefield. Of course, there was a catch. You could not use a commonly known language: English, French, Spanish, etc. In essence, you had to create your own. My first time through, my partner and I utilized (nerd alert) Harry Potter Spells (or variations of them). Accio meant move forward, Wingardium Leviosa was a large step, (I split this one) Avada-left, Kedavra-Right. Prego (I was trying to think of Protego, but we improvised!) was stop. It was quite humorous. After everyone successfully navigated through the field, you had to find another partner and combine your languages. This made for some interesting variations!
The sixth (and thankfully final task) was to reconstructed a bridge, based on a picture our team leader had taken previously in the day, while "under water." Of course, no one was actually submerged (thankfully, because it was a cool day for DC standards). You had to stay outside of the roped off area unless you closed your eyes and held your breath to find and construct the bridge. Your bridge was only completed once you could roll a ball off of it over the "river" (which you also had to assemble). It was quite the adventure, but our team was very effective and managed to complete this task as well!
After all our team-builders were successfully (for the most part) completed, it was lunch time! We stayed at the park and had a choice of turkey, ham, chicken, or pesto (I think) boxed lunches from Corner Bakery. I'm not entirely sure where this place is at, but a lot of our food has been from there, and it's quite yummy!
Upon finishing up our lunch, we returned to the Institute where we watched The Smartest Guys in the Room, a movie discussing the rise and rapid fall of Enron. It was an interesting movie, which we then discussed. It was quite an interesting discussion.
At the end of the day, I was exhausted. By the time I got back to my apartment it was around 6pm. I went to my room and attempted to blog, but gave up. After vegging out and working on some small projects, I decided to watch an episode (or 3) of How I Met Your Mother and called it a night. I was now prepared to take on my third day--the final day of training for the week and the day before I start in as my role as a Regulatory Policy Intern.
Adventure Challenge: Constructing a bridge, underwater, with you eyes closed. Reassembling a precious statue surrounded by a force field. Working with a partner, while blind, to avoid a deadly mine-field.
All in the day's work of being an Intern during KIP. No big deal. Confused yet?
The Interns did not start their day out in dress casual and at CKI as they had on Monday, but at a local park in athletic gear!
Today, as a team builder, we were assigned into 5 teams, of 12 people, and set to complete (or at least do our best to complete) six tasks. I have given a quick summary of some of them; however, it very well may be a little dramatic. Our group started out at a task where you had two people blindfolded and linked by their elbows. They were receiving directions to various objects laid out in the field. This, however, was not the end of the confusion. The blindfolded individuals were receiving directions from two individuals: One who had the exact instructions and could see where the blindfolded individuals were going, the other was looking at the person who had possession of the instructions. The individual who was capable of seeing the blindfolded individuals had to, without speaking, convey the instructions to the person opposite of them. Our 4-person group managed to complete the task, twice. Compared to the other groups 3, if not 4, times of completion. We required some time to warm up.
The tasks throughout the morning continued to be challenging. Our 2nd task of the day involved using PVC pipe-gutters that had 4 strings attached to them. You had to keep the "gutter" at least one foot off the ground and at least 1 foot away from your body. There were 4 or 5 of these gutters. The object was to transfer different types of balls (a ping-pong ball, a racquetball, and a small soccer ball) from one spot to another. It involved having 2 people manipulate the gutters to move the ball from one bucket to another. There were additional rules that made things more difficult, of course. For example, once the ball was in your gutter, you were unable to move your feet. You simply had to wait for the next gutter to be ready and carefully tilt the ball into the next gutter.
We managed to complete this task-mostly. We may or may not have skipped the part where we navigated around a tree.
Our third task was a total jam. We were assigned 2 sets of numbers in a half circle, 1-6 with an orange circle in the middle. We had to stand on the circles and with only moving one person at a time, and only crossing a person who you were facing, while never moving more than 2 spaces at a time (still following?) rearrange the half circle so everyone on the yellow side (1-6) ended up on the red side (6-1), while pretending the ground was lava and not stepping off a circle. Our group thought we had successfully completed the task, until we read the rules. In which case, we eventually gave up.
Our fourth task, another tedious one we didn't finish, but managed to actually make progress on, was one that even the directors of the day said was virtually impossible. We had to stack 6 cups in a 3-cup pyramid style and then place a PVC-gutter on top of them. However, we had to devise a contraption that would go through the "force field" that prevented human flesh from entering. We were the first group that was able to actually make progress on this event. We were very excited!
The fifth task was quite entertaining, and one we all completed successfully! A rectangular minefield was set-up with a large number of "mines" (water balls). A partner was blindfolded and then had to be told how to navigate by their partner outside of the minefield. Of course, there was a catch. You could not use a commonly known language: English, French, Spanish, etc. In essence, you had to create your own. My first time through, my partner and I utilized (nerd alert) Harry Potter Spells (or variations of them). Accio meant move forward, Wingardium Leviosa was a large step, (I split this one) Avada-left, Kedavra-Right. Prego (I was trying to think of Protego, but we improvised!) was stop. It was quite humorous. After everyone successfully navigated through the field, you had to find another partner and combine your languages. This made for some interesting variations!
The sixth (and thankfully final task) was to reconstructed a bridge, based on a picture our team leader had taken previously in the day, while "under water." Of course, no one was actually submerged (thankfully, because it was a cool day for DC standards). You had to stay outside of the roped off area unless you closed your eyes and held your breath to find and construct the bridge. Your bridge was only completed once you could roll a ball off of it over the "river" (which you also had to assemble). It was quite the adventure, but our team was very effective and managed to complete this task as well!
After all our team-builders were successfully (for the most part) completed, it was lunch time! We stayed at the park and had a choice of turkey, ham, chicken, or pesto (I think) boxed lunches from Corner Bakery. I'm not entirely sure where this place is at, but a lot of our food has been from there, and it's quite yummy!
Upon finishing up our lunch, we returned to the Institute where we watched The Smartest Guys in the Room, a movie discussing the rise and rapid fall of Enron. It was an interesting movie, which we then discussed. It was quite an interesting discussion.
At the end of the day, I was exhausted. By the time I got back to my apartment it was around 6pm. I went to my room and attempted to blog, but gave up. After vegging out and working on some small projects, I decided to watch an episode (or 3) of How I Met Your Mother and called it a night. I was now prepared to take on my third day--the final day of training for the week and the day before I start in as my role as a Regulatory Policy Intern.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The Rise of the Interns
It begins.
Today, 6/4, was the day
the Interns took over. Fifty-three twenty-plus year old's swarmed on the
Charles Koch Institute to overthrow the current staff and declare a regime
change...
Wait, that's not right.
Wrong story. Today was the first day of the Koch Internship Program
(KIP), and there were 53 interns-making this the largest KIP class in history;
however, we did not come to over throw the current staff, but to learn from
them!
Let's back track.
I woke up, quite bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to be honest, this morning
at 7:55. After a quick shower I assembled my "business casual
attire." I deemed that my grey suit with a solid black shirt, open
collar, would be business causal. Not too casual, not too business.
Again, must like at Mass, I fell right in the middle of the spectrum.
Some guys were in full suits, some were in khakis and and open collar.
Perfect.
The only downside to my
morning was my walk to the metro took longer than I expected. For some reason,
I had it in my mind it would only take 5 minutes, but it took more like 10.
Not that it was a huge problem, since I was able to make it to the CKI
with time to spare, but I'll make note of that for the future! After just
missing (literally, I tried to step onto the train as the door closed) the
first metro, I jumped on one that was still in the station. The
Vienna/Fairfax/GMU stop is the beginning (or end, depending on which direction
you are headed) of the Orange line, so I was able to not only have a seat, but
pick where I wanted it to be. It was quite splendid.
The walk from Court
House Metro to the CKI is only like 3-5 minutes, so that is another perk of the
metro. I thoroughly enjoy not having to pay any attention to where I'm
going, except to know when they call my stop. It is much more relaxing
than driving (and much quicker in my case!).
Our first day began with
breakfast and paperwork. Of course, not at the same time, that would get
messy! Part of us went through and worked on our paperwork (I9's, all
that legal stuff) while another group munched on fresh fruit trays (they had
pineapple, YUM) and a variety of bagels and other breakfast breads-I didn't pay
them any attention, I just ate a bunch of pineapple and grapes!
We kicked off our morning
at 10am after all our paperwork was finished. From here on out the day
would be filled with Seminars with nifty names like HR Intro, Koch
101, and Careful Communications. Basically, we were
going over all the basic procedures and such that were required by law.
Maybe not the most fascinating topics, but the staff was extremely
friendly and positive, and my fellow Interns made it much more entertaining.
Around 12:15 (I think we
were ahead of schedule) it was lunch time. We broke our group into half,
since neither of the two classrooms could hold all of us, and divided by last
names. It felt a lot like elementary school, but hey, it's efficient!
At lunch, much like at
breakfast, we were able to mingle and get to know our fellow interns. The
KIP places people at a variety of think tanks in the DC area, but on Tuesdays
we all congregate at the CKI and will do KIP programming. However, M-W
and M and Tuesday of next week we are just going through training and team
building. Side note aside, I'm excited.
But back to lunch.
At lunch it was amazing to be able to discuss politics, sports (yes, I
discussed sports, more along the lines of how I don't follow them, etc, but
still!), DisneyLand vs. DisneyWorld, various state and local government issues,
and a medley of other issues. While we are all similar in our mindset, we
are not all the same. Each individual is exactly that, an individual.
We believe in a similar "big idea," but it's our route and
other ideas that add the flavor and excitement to the group. If I can base my
summer on the breakfast and lunch small talk, then I am in for a very exciting
and splendiferous summer!
After lunch it was more
programming until we hear from our guest speaker. I don't remember how to
spell his last name, but he works for Institute for Justice and was
a phenomenal speaker. The topic was on economic freedom in the
court system (the entire CKI is for advancing economic freedom) and through the
legal process. He (I have his card, I'm just too lazy to get it. I'll post
his name or edit this post at a later date) was humorous, full of energy (to
the point I wish he would have stood still once in awhile, I was starting to
experience motion sickness from watching him walk around) and had such a
vibrant personality and presentation style.
Upon the completion of
the guest lecture, we received our summer reading: 8 books and a binder.
I had a small flash back to the start of the semester, but I feel like
I'm going to really enjoy these readings. These are various economists
and other economic authors. It should be very interesting--and a little
outside of what I normally read. Each Tuesday, I presume, we will be
discussing a different book/author/idea. I love learning, but when I'm
learning in seminar style, I enjoy it ever-so-much more!
Receiving our reading
for the summer concluded our day at the Institute. It was time to jump
back on the metro and head back to Fairfax. Unlike this morning, I was
unable to even find a seat--I barely had standing room--but I was able to get
on the train. I did not have service, for some odd reason, in the
building, and once underground I really didn't have any. However, about 3
stops into the ride, all 9 emails, 2 voicemails, and a handful of facebook
notifications and texts all hit my phone. I just had it on vibrate, but I
thought it was going to explode!
It was a nice day-around
75 degrees-but after caring the 8 books and a binder, plus my portfolio and
empty coffee mug, I was ready to get out of my suit and put some shorts on!
I ran down to Best Buy,
since one of the voicemails was from them, to pick up my laptop with all my
data backed up on it (yeah!). I made myself some dinner of Campbell's
Chunky Vegetable soup, a Pb&J, grapes, about 10 Pringles, and a handful of
Cashews. It was yummy. I'm not entirely sure why, but I've actually had
the urge to eat a little healthier (hence the fruit I've been eating at every
meal) and I think I'm doing quite well. I mean, I'm no star eater, but
I'm at least on the correct path!
The rest of my evening
has been spent blogging. I'm about ready to post this final blog,
complete some online forms due for tomorrow and the rest of the week, put on an
episode of HIMYM and head to dream land. We are headed
to the park tomorrow for team building. Exciting!
So, maybe the interns
didn't take over the Institute on the first day, but I definitely had a
wonderful first day! I'm pretty sure everyone else did too, but I can't say for
sure...I'm just an Intern.
Monday, June 4, 2012
The Historic Beginning
Shall we begin day one? I think so. Bear with this post. I'm writing this on my tablet because my laptop is currently at best buy having the data switched over from my old laptop. Oh well.
This morning I refused to set an alarm. My travels had worn me out, so I called it a night around 11:30 after attempt/ing to start A Knight's Tale. I made it all of half an hour before I shut down my computer and zonked out. Without an alarm my body slept soundly until around 9. I laid in bed, flirting with the idea of more sleep until 9:30. At this point, I decided to hop up and shower. The water pressure is grand and the shower is practically the exact same as the one I have at school. The only down side is the faucet handle only goes to half-way...this resulted in a slightly-warm shower. I meant to talk to Joe about this...and I still should. [Update. I discovered on Sunday that while my shower does only go half way, the cold side is actually the warm water. As I was trying to force the faucet further to the left, I noticed the water kept getting colder. Mildly frustrated, I gave up, but bumped the handle closer to the "C" etched in the metal. To my surprise, the flowing water went from lukewarm to warm. Turns out I no longer have anything to complain about!]
After showering, I started planning my trip to Arlington with my handy-dandy app (Having a smart phone is quite helpful!) but it said the route was unavailable. I ruled this was a problem with the app and jumped on my computer. Unfortunately, I received the same message online. It was time to contact the expert, so I went upstairs. I told Joe about my little problem. He pulled up the website and investigated the issue. Apparently the Orange line was down in our area for major work on the tracks. I could take the bus and the trip would take around an hour, or I could drive it in 15 minutes. Needless to say, I ran downstairs to retrieve my keys. After 14 hours in a car, I was pretty sure I could handle another 15.
So my adventure began. I jumped on 66 (the two big highways around me are 66 and 55) and it was pretty much a straight shot to Arlington. When I arrived at the address that was noted to be the metro station, I was utterly confused. So, I did what any logical man would do and drove round until I came up witha better idea--whih only took a few blocks. The area I was in was incredibly neat. I reprogrammed my GPS to take me to my internship building. I had originally planned on going from the metro stop near my apartment and doing a "test run," but I ended up doing it backwards. I found my building, with only minor setbacks. There was a street festival or something going on so a couple blocks were closed off. I found a parking lot that looked like free parking (Joe said on the weekend it should be, and since there were no tickets awaiting my return, I assumed he was corrected) and walked to my building. The Institute is on one of the upper levels, with a cafe, a lobby, and an Office Depot making up the bottom floor. (Sidenote: I bought a portfolio from the Office Depot. Wanted to make sure I was prepared on Monday!)
It was now time to find the Metro station...so I pulled out my handy-dandy Skyrocket (which I have affectionately named Skyra), used my metro app, and then walked the three minutes to the station that was .literally one block away. Dang, tough life! I meandered down the escalator and bought a metro fare card...which was moderately expensive, but not as much as parking!
After waiting a couple minutes I stepped onto the orange line and headed to the Foggy Bottom/GWU stop (nice name, huh?). GWU is a gorgeous school, for the record. Maybe I should look into their grad programs? After a quick glance at my National Monuments app, I started walking towards the Lincoln Memorial. It was about an 8 minute walk, so not bad.
I have come to realize the secret to not looking like a tourist involves a handful of very basic points. 1) Do not walk around with a huge camera around your neck (check). 2) Do not always consult a map of the metro or of DC, at least, not the free paper versions they hand out everywhere. 3) Act like you know where you know where you are going-even when you don't (check and check). 4) Do not, I repeat Do not Gawk. Period.
There is nothing wrong with looking like a tourist, except there may be an increased risk of robbery, and you look like a dork, but otherwise, there isn't much else wrong with looking like a tourist. I seemed to have mastered the anti-tourist look, since on the Metro a gentleman spoke with me about the red line and a few people asked me about the line we were on. I was able to answer all of the questions, since I had consulted my app regarding many of the same ones!
When I reached the Lincoln Memorial, I was speechless once again. I had forgotten how breath-taking the memorial actually is. I also noticed, I think for the first time, that all of the state's names and year of statehood-in roman numerals- lined the top of the momument. Being a pleasant saturday in June, the plaza was packed. The enthroned Lincoln, always vigilant, surrounded by his famous words (The Gettysburg address and [I believe his] Second Inaugural Address) is truly an amazing scene to behold.
I took numerous pictures and then moved on to the bridge that is across from the Lincoln Memorial. The bridges are flanked by 4 statues which were gifts from the Italians in 1950. They stand for Valor, Sacrifice, Music and Harvest, and Aspiration and Literature. I do not know the history behind these statues (something I plan on looking up), but they are beautiful.
It was time to meander to the Korean War Memorial. I cannot say why, but this memorial is one of my favorites.
It is a beautiful memorial, dedicated in 1995 and made up of 19 larger-than-life military men moving in patrol formation through low-growing junipers. These men represent the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy. While the Vietnam Memorial Wall is probably the most sombering, this memorial really is quite touching. Lining one side is a granite wall with faces etched into the wall. These lead up to the end of the wall where "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE"is inlaid in the wall. The other side of the triangular memorial includes all the Nations that assisted in the conflict and then the USA and UN numbers of Dead, Missing, and Wounded soldiers from the war. It is a beautiful site--one I recommend you really spend some time seeing and reflecting on if you are ever in DC.
(At this point, I gave up writing my post on my tablet in frustration, and decided to hold out until my laptop was returned to me).
From Korea, I went to the WWII memorial. For those that don't know, the WWII memorial is a circular memorial with a large fountain in the middle. The side closest to the Washington Monument is open. The side opposite of this is closed off and has a reflecting pool and bronze stars. The other two sides represent the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, with each state and US territory having a pillar to signify their involvement. This is probably my second favorite memorial
There was a special ceremony that had numerous vets from WWII. I'm not entirely sure what organization was hosting the event, but men and women, all in their later years, stood side-by-side in two rows. The sight brought tears to my eyes. As children ran around and international tourists snapped photos of the memorial, I had to pause to thank these men and women that risked it all so I could spend my summer looking at memorials and interning. God Bless each and every one of our Veterans.
After getting a picture of the Illinois Pillar, I walked around the Washington Monument. You can no longer get up next to it, as it is closed due to an earthquake (I believe around a 5.8?) last September. Having seen quite a few major landmarks, I was wearing out. However, I did notice a small memorial I had not seen on my first trip to DC. Standing in the middle of a split highway, was a memorial to John Paul Jones (1747-1792) who was the "First to compel Man-of-War to strike colors to the Stars and Stripes." It was a neat statue.
From the Washington Monument (I actually noticed the John Paul Jones statue right before heading the Washington Monument. Improper recall). I felt like just adventuring. I started walking, with purpose, to no where. It was quite fun (and I heard a tourist or two say, "Watch out, let that man through"). I ended up walking by the United States Department of Agriculture. According to the blue banners, the USDA is celebrating 150 years this year. 150 years of increasing farm regulations and restrictions (oops, I'll avoid that topic...no subsidies discussions here).
I'm not sure if you have seen the USDA...but it's HUGE! I was walking next to the South Building. This building, according to Wiki, was the largest office building in the world until the completion of the Pentagon. It is something like 7 stories high and has somewhere around 4500 rooms. It is connected to the Administration Building by two impressive arches that span the entire road. It is quite the site. I'm happy I was able to see it!
By this time, I was starting to realize I had not consumed any sustenance. I deemed it necessary to return to Arlington. The odds were in my favor, as there was a metro station right at the corner of the USDA building. And it happened to be the Orange line. I had to wait around 10 minutes for a train to arrive, but in those 10 minutes, I was able to sit for the first time. It was quite lovely.
After reaching Arlington, I stopped in at Jerry's Subs. It's a local chain (I guess?) that has subs and pizzas. The special of the day was a cheese pizza and a drink for 6 bucks, so I said why not (however, I upgraded my drink, something I would not be able to do in New York any more!). The pizza was a little greasy--it certainly wasn't Alfonso's--but it filled an empty stomach!
After walking around the aforementioned street fair, I decided to head by to Fairfax and maybe get some groceries. I wasn't sure where the nearest Walmart was, but I was lucky enough to find a Target on my way back off of 55. It was time to buy my own groceries. This was my first shopping experience where I was buying food that would keep me alive, not just in addition to my meal plan at school. It was heart wrenching to see those digital, cash-register-green numbers total something that seemed all too high for what little I was buying; yet I knew there was no error. Food is expensive. Ugh. I miss my meal plan already. This whole "growing-up thing," well, I think I'll pass!
Oh well.
After unloading at my apartment, I ran to Best Buy to deliver my laptops and get this one fully functioning! Too much old data that I could not afford to lose on my previous lappytop!
After Best Buy, I ran to Goodwill to track down a cheap-o TV stand. I had originally thought the plastic drawers I bought to house my shorts and skivvies would serve as the stand, but since I opted to get the cheap set of drawers (and therefore narrow) I didn't want to risk balancing my 32" baby on cheap plastic.
So I found cheap pressed-wood to balance my TV on. It has a nice open stand which my (provided) microwave sits on.
I finished a Knights Tale, attempted to blog, gave up, and read for a bit. I tried to start another movie, but after surfing Netflix for almost 30 minutes, I gave up and went to sleep!
I'm going to post Sunday's events as well, since it was a pretty laid-back day.
On Sunday, I was faced with my first challenge. How to decide which of the 30 Catholic churches to attend in the 5-8 mile radius of my apartment. Since I didn't want to have to get up early, I decided to set a time restraint this first week. 11 am mass was my target. It was determined by the first Church that had an 11 am mass time: St. Leo the Great.
The church was GORGEOUS! It was in a 4-point star design. You walk in to this snazzy glass entry way before entering the actual church. The church is a nice mix of modern and older. The interior looks to be fairly new, but with absolutely lovely stained-glass windows on the two points to the left and right of the entry. The fourth point is the Altar, with a huge Crucifix hanging on the wall and a-surprisingly-simple tabernacle. I prefer bronze Crucifixes, but this one was wood and had the flesh-colored Jesus hanging. Still lovely.
After Mass I ran back home and changed (I was happy I put on slacks and a dress shirt. I would have been fine in jeans, but there was such a range that I felt comfortable being in the middle of that range!). From home I had a few more things I needed to retrieve.
I found my local Walmart--after driving past it and not realizing it. My GPS took me past the Walmart, around a circular Subdivision, back out to the Highway, and then back by the Walmart. I'm thinking it's time to update Susan. She must not have known the light was there. At Walmart, I purchased the life-giving machine known as a coffee pot and a couple other small items. I believe I have everything purchased that I need! At least, until I run out of food.
Upon returning to my apartment (or my basement dwelling, as I'm coming to refer to it) I decided that I really didn't feel like going out. I was still a little travel/toured out from the previous days. Instead of going out, I began a How I Met Your Mother marathon. It was a lovely afternoon/evening of peace and quite.
When I went up to retrieve an apple for a snack (for some reason I wasn't feeling very hungry...I suppose my body was conserving food for me!) I ended-up talking to Joe and his family for like an hour. We discussed being from a small town, his upbringing in LA, and a plethora of other ideas pertaining to small and large areas of population. It was quite enjoyable. I popped back down into my hole (another name), finished another episode of HIMYM and called it a night.
After a long drive and a fun weekend, I was ready for the next step--becoming the Intern.
So my adventure began. I jumped on 66 (the two big highways around me are 66 and 55) and it was pretty much a straight shot to Arlington. When I arrived at the address that was noted to be the metro station, I was utterly confused. So, I did what any logical man would do and drove round until I came up witha better idea--whih only took a few blocks. The area I was in was incredibly neat. I reprogrammed my GPS to take me to my internship building. I had originally planned on going from the metro stop near my apartment and doing a "test run," but I ended up doing it backwards. I found my building, with only minor setbacks. There was a street festival or something going on so a couple blocks were closed off. I found a parking lot that looked like free parking (Joe said on the weekend it should be, and since there were no tickets awaiting my return, I assumed he was corrected) and walked to my building. The Institute is on one of the upper levels, with a cafe, a lobby, and an Office Depot making up the bottom floor. (Sidenote: I bought a portfolio from the Office Depot. Wanted to make sure I was prepared on Monday!)
It was now time to find the Metro station...so I pulled out my handy-dandy Skyrocket (which I have affectionately named Skyra), used my metro app, and then walked the three minutes to the station that was .literally one block away. Dang, tough life! I meandered down the escalator and bought a metro fare card...which was moderately expensive, but not as much as parking!
After waiting a couple minutes I stepped onto the orange line and headed to the Foggy Bottom/GWU stop (nice name, huh?). GWU is a gorgeous school, for the record. Maybe I should look into their grad programs? After a quick glance at my National Monuments app, I started walking towards the Lincoln Memorial. It was about an 8 minute walk, so not bad.
I have come to realize the secret to not looking like a tourist involves a handful of very basic points. 1) Do not walk around with a huge camera around your neck (check). 2) Do not always consult a map of the metro or of DC, at least, not the free paper versions they hand out everywhere. 3) Act like you know where you know where you are going-even when you don't (check and check). 4) Do not, I repeat Do not Gawk. Period.
There is nothing wrong with looking like a tourist, except there may be an increased risk of robbery, and you look like a dork, but otherwise, there isn't much else wrong with looking like a tourist. I seemed to have mastered the anti-tourist look, since on the Metro a gentleman spoke with me about the red line and a few people asked me about the line we were on. I was able to answer all of the questions, since I had consulted my app regarding many of the same ones!
When I reached the Lincoln Memorial, I was speechless once again. I had forgotten how breath-taking the memorial actually is. I also noticed, I think for the first time, that all of the state's names and year of statehood-in roman numerals- lined the top of the momument. Being a pleasant saturday in June, the plaza was packed. The enthroned Lincoln, always vigilant, surrounded by his famous words (The Gettysburg address and [I believe his] Second Inaugural Address) is truly an amazing scene to behold.
I took numerous pictures and then moved on to the bridge that is across from the Lincoln Memorial. The bridges are flanked by 4 statues which were gifts from the Italians in 1950. They stand for Valor, Sacrifice, Music and Harvest, and Aspiration and Literature. I do not know the history behind these statues (something I plan on looking up), but they are beautiful.
It was time to meander to the Korean War Memorial. I cannot say why, but this memorial is one of my favorites.
It is a beautiful memorial, dedicated in 1995 and made up of 19 larger-than-life military men moving in patrol formation through low-growing junipers. These men represent the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy. While the Vietnam Memorial Wall is probably the most sombering, this memorial really is quite touching. Lining one side is a granite wall with faces etched into the wall. These lead up to the end of the wall where "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE"is inlaid in the wall. The other side of the triangular memorial includes all the Nations that assisted in the conflict and then the USA and UN numbers of Dead, Missing, and Wounded soldiers from the war. It is a beautiful site--one I recommend you really spend some time seeing and reflecting on if you are ever in DC.
(At this point, I gave up writing my post on my tablet in frustration, and decided to hold out until my laptop was returned to me).
From Korea, I went to the WWII memorial. For those that don't know, the WWII memorial is a circular memorial with a large fountain in the middle. The side closest to the Washington Monument is open. The side opposite of this is closed off and has a reflecting pool and bronze stars. The other two sides represent the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, with each state and US territory having a pillar to signify their involvement. This is probably my second favorite memorial
There was a special ceremony that had numerous vets from WWII. I'm not entirely sure what organization was hosting the event, but men and women, all in their later years, stood side-by-side in two rows. The sight brought tears to my eyes. As children ran around and international tourists snapped photos of the memorial, I had to pause to thank these men and women that risked it all so I could spend my summer looking at memorials and interning. God Bless each and every one of our Veterans.
After getting a picture of the Illinois Pillar, I walked around the Washington Monument. You can no longer get up next to it, as it is closed due to an earthquake (I believe around a 5.8?) last September. Having seen quite a few major landmarks, I was wearing out. However, I did notice a small memorial I had not seen on my first trip to DC. Standing in the middle of a split highway, was a memorial to John Paul Jones (1747-1792) who was the "First to compel Man-of-War to strike colors to the Stars and Stripes." It was a neat statue.
From the Washington Monument (I actually noticed the John Paul Jones statue right before heading the Washington Monument. Improper recall). I felt like just adventuring. I started walking, with purpose, to no where. It was quite fun (and I heard a tourist or two say, "Watch out, let that man through"). I ended up walking by the United States Department of Agriculture. According to the blue banners, the USDA is celebrating 150 years this year. 150 years of increasing farm regulations and restrictions (oops, I'll avoid that topic...no subsidies discussions here).
I'm not sure if you have seen the USDA...but it's HUGE! I was walking next to the South Building. This building, according to Wiki, was the largest office building in the world until the completion of the Pentagon. It is something like 7 stories high and has somewhere around 4500 rooms. It is connected to the Administration Building by two impressive arches that span the entire road. It is quite the site. I'm happy I was able to see it!
By this time, I was starting to realize I had not consumed any sustenance. I deemed it necessary to return to Arlington. The odds were in my favor, as there was a metro station right at the corner of the USDA building. And it happened to be the Orange line. I had to wait around 10 minutes for a train to arrive, but in those 10 minutes, I was able to sit for the first time. It was quite lovely.
After reaching Arlington, I stopped in at Jerry's Subs. It's a local chain (I guess?) that has subs and pizzas. The special of the day was a cheese pizza and a drink for 6 bucks, so I said why not (however, I upgraded my drink, something I would not be able to do in New York any more!). The pizza was a little greasy--it certainly wasn't Alfonso's--but it filled an empty stomach!
After walking around the aforementioned street fair, I decided to head by to Fairfax and maybe get some groceries. I wasn't sure where the nearest Walmart was, but I was lucky enough to find a Target on my way back off of 55. It was time to buy my own groceries. This was my first shopping experience where I was buying food that would keep me alive, not just in addition to my meal plan at school. It was heart wrenching to see those digital, cash-register-green numbers total something that seemed all too high for what little I was buying; yet I knew there was no error. Food is expensive. Ugh. I miss my meal plan already. This whole "growing-up thing," well, I think I'll pass!
Oh well.
After unloading at my apartment, I ran to Best Buy to deliver my laptops and get this one fully functioning! Too much old data that I could not afford to lose on my previous lappytop!
After Best Buy, I ran to Goodwill to track down a cheap-o TV stand. I had originally thought the plastic drawers I bought to house my shorts and skivvies would serve as the stand, but since I opted to get the cheap set of drawers (and therefore narrow) I didn't want to risk balancing my 32" baby on cheap plastic.
So I found cheap pressed-wood to balance my TV on. It has a nice open stand which my (provided) microwave sits on.
I finished a Knights Tale, attempted to blog, gave up, and read for a bit. I tried to start another movie, but after surfing Netflix for almost 30 minutes, I gave up and went to sleep!
I'm going to post Sunday's events as well, since it was a pretty laid-back day.
On Sunday, I was faced with my first challenge. How to decide which of the 30 Catholic churches to attend in the 5-8 mile radius of my apartment. Since I didn't want to have to get up early, I decided to set a time restraint this first week. 11 am mass was my target. It was determined by the first Church that had an 11 am mass time: St. Leo the Great.
The church was GORGEOUS! It was in a 4-point star design. You walk in to this snazzy glass entry way before entering the actual church. The church is a nice mix of modern and older. The interior looks to be fairly new, but with absolutely lovely stained-glass windows on the two points to the left and right of the entry. The fourth point is the Altar, with a huge Crucifix hanging on the wall and a-surprisingly-simple tabernacle. I prefer bronze Crucifixes, but this one was wood and had the flesh-colored Jesus hanging. Still lovely.
After Mass I ran back home and changed (I was happy I put on slacks and a dress shirt. I would have been fine in jeans, but there was such a range that I felt comfortable being in the middle of that range!). From home I had a few more things I needed to retrieve.
I found my local Walmart--after driving past it and not realizing it. My GPS took me past the Walmart, around a circular Subdivision, back out to the Highway, and then back by the Walmart. I'm thinking it's time to update Susan. She must not have known the light was there. At Walmart, I purchased the life-giving machine known as a coffee pot and a couple other small items. I believe I have everything purchased that I need! At least, until I run out of food.
Upon returning to my apartment (or my basement dwelling, as I'm coming to refer to it) I decided that I really didn't feel like going out. I was still a little travel/toured out from the previous days. Instead of going out, I began a How I Met Your Mother marathon. It was a lovely afternoon/evening of peace and quite.
When I went up to retrieve an apple for a snack (for some reason I wasn't feeling very hungry...I suppose my body was conserving food for me!) I ended-up talking to Joe and his family for like an hour. We discussed being from a small town, his upbringing in LA, and a plethora of other ideas pertaining to small and large areas of population. It was quite enjoyable. I popped back down into my hole (another name), finished another episode of HIMYM and called it a night.
After a long drive and a fun weekend, I was ready for the next step--becoming the Intern.
Friday, June 1, 2012
And I'm off! (Looks like I made it!)
Well, as you may have noticed, my blog has been a little bit dormant. That's because I was home for about 3 weeks--and my laptop decided to die somewhere between Louisville and Rockbridge. Drat! Oh well.
Let's get up to speed before I dive into my DC escapade! My weeks at home consisted of lots of work. I painted and power-washed my dad's house. He happens to live in an old two-story farm house. It took the better part two weeks to accomplish this task. Nothing like a little bit of hard labor before starting an internship.
As exciting as painting was, let's get to the fun stuff: traveling to DC!
On Thursday, I had planned on leaving between 9-9:30, so of course it was around 9:45am when I finally got on the road. Typical start. Roughly 35 minutes into the the drive, my car was beeping at me. Apparently, one of my tires was low. So, I had to pull over at a gas station before I got too far into my journey. It had been raining lightly the entire time, so of course, when I pull over to fill up my tire, it decided to pour. I quickly popped open my back hatch and grabbed my umbrella. After checking all of my tires-and airing up one-I was back on my way. Within the hour, my car was beeping again. I apparently had a tire sensor fault. After a quick (and slightly frantic) call to my brother, a ford mechanic, it was ruled that this was not an immediate problem. So down the road I went.
Mind you, throughout the entire day it was raining, at least until I got within an hour of Dayton. Luckily, there were no other issues for the majority of the trip. I'll spare you the minor details.
When I arrived in Fairborn, OH, I was greeted by my enthusiastic host. Jim is a 72-year-old retired fireman. He's a wonderful guy. We went his local "watering hole" the Quaker Steak & Lube, or just "the Lube" for short. The Lube is a sports bar themed (surprise) with cars and motorcycles. There are numerous old vehicles hanging from the ceiling and a few just on display. The waitress were friendly (and Jim liked to point out, quite cute) and the food was great! I had started discussing politics on the way over, but I quickly caught myself and told Jim I would avoid the topic. And I did, for the first 30 minutes. In my defense, however, he brought it up with the bartender/waitress! So, we then proceeded to discuss new and old politics, welfare (and the need for reform), and a plethora of other politically-loaded topics.
After leaving the Lube, Jim took me on a mini-tour of his neighborhood. There was a Five-and-Dime store that I would have loved to go into, but unfortunately, it was closed, along with all sorts of other nifty shops! It would be a neat place to visit again.
Upon arrival back at Jim's home (where I had my own, comfy bed and private bathroom), Jim decided coffee was needed. He has a snazzy coffee grinder/pot combo and we enjoyed nice warm cups of freshly ground-Starbuck's coffee. It was grand.
After a few hours of rest, I was up again at 6am to prepare for the day. By 7:11 I was driving into the raining morning. As I traveled through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, W. Virginia again, and then Maryland I stopped for gas once. I refused to stop unless I absolutely needed gas. The drive was wet. I was hoping I was going to be able to drive out of the rain, but it must have picked-up some gusto because it rained for all but about 30 minutes of my drive. It was quite awful.
I have decided that each state I drove through had some very redeeming, or at least, notable, qualities. Indiana, for example, is an incredibly historic state. I swear, every exit I drove by was boasting about "Historic Town X" and "Historic Town Y". I never fully realized the true historic value of Indiana. Ohio was, by far, less historic. Dayton and Columbus were pretty easy to get through. I hit a small blip with morning traffic in Columbus, but nothing too terrible. However, once I left Columbus, the countryside was beautiful. Ohio is so green and lush with trees. Oh, and the most important part of Ohio: The 400+ Country Music Stations that exist outside of Columbus. There was an hour time span when every time I scanned my radio, a country station popped up. I had to utilize the tune button quite a bit in that hour to find something other than country to listen too.
West Virginia...well, the best I can say about this lovely little state...well...Ummm. To be honest, what I noticed about WV was how terrible the air smelled. It, quite literally, smelled like coal fumes. And I swear the clouds above WV were 2 shades darker grey than any other state.
I didn't spend much time in PA. I dropped down on 68 to avoid the turnpike and skirted the very, very outer edge of Pittsburg. It seemed to resemble a flatter version of Maryland, at least the part I was in.
Maryland was gorgeous-horrifying, but gorgeous! The rolling hills (or mountains, if you want to call them that) topped with low clouds made for a gorgeous scene. I kept trying to take pictures, but it was just too damp and hilly for my to effectively (and safely) drive and capture my surroundings. In the end, I gave up on trying to get a good picture every time I popped over another hill.
As I got closer to the DC-metro area, the traffic increased, exponentially! However, I was still able to make exceptional time. I arrived 30 minutes earlier than I had planned to my new apartment!
I will be living in the basement of a brother and sister's home. Their parents are currently visiting from California (where they are originally from) and will be here all summer. Joe, my host, is a wonderful guy. He showed me where the metro stop was and the basic area that I need to know (shopping center, gas, etc). My room is about the size of my dorm room, if you include the hallway. However, my bathroom is quite a bit smaller, but it's mine. So it will be just fine! The area I am in (Fairfax) is extremely safe. Joe says that within the past two year lots of new homes (and by homes I really mean townhouses) have gone up. He pointed out a construction site that was all forest 2 years ago.
I was wanting to go exploring once I finished unpacking (and by finished, I mean I have the majority of my stuff unpacked. I need to invest in a set of plastic drawers to keep my skivvies and shorts in), bu the weather was not cooperating. There were tornado warning out for DC and our area. So, alas, I continued rearranging my room and decided that I should probably update my blog (since my Internship begins on Monday and all).
The weather has died down and I think I'm going to see about venturing out into this intriguing city. Most importantly, I am going to get food. I have not received any additional sustenance since my original Cheerio's I had for breakfast at 6:45 with my cup of coffee. (I told ya, I only stop when I absolutely have too...and food is not a necessity on a day like today).
Well, I'm off to appease my grumbling tummy. I'll let you know how exploring goes (if I don't get blown away). I'm sure I can figure this place out--after all, I am an intern!
Let's get up to speed before I dive into my DC escapade! My weeks at home consisted of lots of work. I painted and power-washed my dad's house. He happens to live in an old two-story farm house. It took the better part two weeks to accomplish this task. Nothing like a little bit of hard labor before starting an internship.
As exciting as painting was, let's get to the fun stuff: traveling to DC!
On Thursday, I had planned on leaving between 9-9:30, so of course it was around 9:45am when I finally got on the road. Typical start. Roughly 35 minutes into the the drive, my car was beeping at me. Apparently, one of my tires was low. So, I had to pull over at a gas station before I got too far into my journey. It had been raining lightly the entire time, so of course, when I pull over to fill up my tire, it decided to pour. I quickly popped open my back hatch and grabbed my umbrella. After checking all of my tires-and airing up one-I was back on my way. Within the hour, my car was beeping again. I apparently had a tire sensor fault. After a quick (and slightly frantic) call to my brother, a ford mechanic, it was ruled that this was not an immediate problem. So down the road I went.
Mind you, throughout the entire day it was raining, at least until I got within an hour of Dayton. Luckily, there were no other issues for the majority of the trip. I'll spare you the minor details.
When I arrived in Fairborn, OH, I was greeted by my enthusiastic host. Jim is a 72-year-old retired fireman. He's a wonderful guy. We went his local "watering hole" the Quaker Steak & Lube, or just "the Lube" for short. The Lube is a sports bar themed (surprise) with cars and motorcycles. There are numerous old vehicles hanging from the ceiling and a few just on display. The waitress were friendly (and Jim liked to point out, quite cute) and the food was great! I had started discussing politics on the way over, but I quickly caught myself and told Jim I would avoid the topic. And I did, for the first 30 minutes. In my defense, however, he brought it up with the bartender/waitress! So, we then proceeded to discuss new and old politics, welfare (and the need for reform), and a plethora of other politically-loaded topics.
After leaving the Lube, Jim took me on a mini-tour of his neighborhood. There was a Five-and-Dime store that I would have loved to go into, but unfortunately, it was closed, along with all sorts of other nifty shops! It would be a neat place to visit again.
Upon arrival back at Jim's home (where I had my own, comfy bed and private bathroom), Jim decided coffee was needed. He has a snazzy coffee grinder/pot combo and we enjoyed nice warm cups of freshly ground-Starbuck's coffee. It was grand.
After a few hours of rest, I was up again at 6am to prepare for the day. By 7:11 I was driving into the raining morning. As I traveled through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, W. Virginia again, and then Maryland I stopped for gas once. I refused to stop unless I absolutely needed gas. The drive was wet. I was hoping I was going to be able to drive out of the rain, but it must have picked-up some gusto because it rained for all but about 30 minutes of my drive. It was quite awful.
I have decided that each state I drove through had some very redeeming, or at least, notable, qualities. Indiana, for example, is an incredibly historic state. I swear, every exit I drove by was boasting about "Historic Town X" and "Historic Town Y". I never fully realized the true historic value of Indiana. Ohio was, by far, less historic. Dayton and Columbus were pretty easy to get through. I hit a small blip with morning traffic in Columbus, but nothing too terrible. However, once I left Columbus, the countryside was beautiful. Ohio is so green and lush with trees. Oh, and the most important part of Ohio: The 400+ Country Music Stations that exist outside of Columbus. There was an hour time span when every time I scanned my radio, a country station popped up. I had to utilize the tune button quite a bit in that hour to find something other than country to listen too.
West Virginia...well, the best I can say about this lovely little state...well...Ummm. To be honest, what I noticed about WV was how terrible the air smelled. It, quite literally, smelled like coal fumes. And I swear the clouds above WV were 2 shades darker grey than any other state.
I didn't spend much time in PA. I dropped down on 68 to avoid the turnpike and skirted the very, very outer edge of Pittsburg. It seemed to resemble a flatter version of Maryland, at least the part I was in.
Maryland was gorgeous-horrifying, but gorgeous! The rolling hills (or mountains, if you want to call them that) topped with low clouds made for a gorgeous scene. I kept trying to take pictures, but it was just too damp and hilly for my to effectively (and safely) drive and capture my surroundings. In the end, I gave up on trying to get a good picture every time I popped over another hill.
As I got closer to the DC-metro area, the traffic increased, exponentially! However, I was still able to make exceptional time. I arrived 30 minutes earlier than I had planned to my new apartment!
I will be living in the basement of a brother and sister's home. Their parents are currently visiting from California (where they are originally from) and will be here all summer. Joe, my host, is a wonderful guy. He showed me where the metro stop was and the basic area that I need to know (shopping center, gas, etc). My room is about the size of my dorm room, if you include the hallway. However, my bathroom is quite a bit smaller, but it's mine. So it will be just fine! The area I am in (Fairfax) is extremely safe. Joe says that within the past two year lots of new homes (and by homes I really mean townhouses) have gone up. He pointed out a construction site that was all forest 2 years ago.
I was wanting to go exploring once I finished unpacking (and by finished, I mean I have the majority of my stuff unpacked. I need to invest in a set of plastic drawers to keep my skivvies and shorts in), bu the weather was not cooperating. There were tornado warning out for DC and our area. So, alas, I continued rearranging my room and decided that I should probably update my blog (since my Internship begins on Monday and all).
The weather has died down and I think I'm going to see about venturing out into this intriguing city. Most importantly, I am going to get food. I have not received any additional sustenance since my original Cheerio's I had for breakfast at 6:45 with my cup of coffee. (I told ya, I only stop when I absolutely have too...and food is not a necessity on a day like today).
Well, I'm off to appease my grumbling tummy. I'll let you know how exploring goes (if I don't get blown away). I'm sure I can figure this place out--after all, I am an intern!
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