Kate's Adventures

Under the weather

2009-08-01T11:18:00.002-04:00

It's my last weekend in D.C- the time just flew by! This last week hasn't been very exciting, I've been sick, so everyday after work I've come straight home to bed. Work has been kinda crazy, trying to figure out all the presenters for the Family Readiness Conference 2009. Even though I feel like there's a lot of things to get done, I feel good knowing I'm contributing. I'm really impressed with how much work my supervisor, Cathann, has done; I never knew how much organization and planning it took to put together a large conference. Being sick this last week, everyone at work went out of there way to ask me how I was feeling. Even with all the tasks that needed to be accomplished, Cathann worked with me on my hours, so that I could go home early one day and sleep in several days. This weekend I'm mostly staying in and trying to rest-walking pneumonia is no fun. Tomorrow afternoon I plan to take my kindle and have a picnic; enjoying the lush green of D.C. a little longer.

Next Friday, after a security de-brief, Sarah (another intern) is helping arrange a good bye type dinner. Everyone from work will be invited and we're trying to pick a restaurant close to the Pentagon.

This Monday, Rachel leaves for Peru. I'm so excited for her and I know she'll have a great time, but it seems sad to be going home without her there waiting. When she gets back we'll have to celebrate both our homecomings and look through both our pictures.

Last Thursday was my mom's last round of chemo. Once I'm home and germ free, I plan to take her out for lunch to celebrate.

While I'm sad to be leaving D.C. and will miss a lot of my co-workers, there are so many things to celebrate at home. I'm looking forward to starting my senior year, begin interning at Catholic Charities, and applying to Grad School. I miss my beautiful apartment and my room-and I'm excited to see if we stay there after our lease runs up in January.

I don't have any pictures from this last week, but I hope to take a few more. Wednesday after work I plan to hit the National Mall and seafood market one last time. Thursday evening will probably be spent packing and cleaning. Next Saturday the van will pick me up around 12 to head back to the airport, and Ann Kelley is picking me up from the airport in AZ. I can't wait to hear about her son Jonathan's wedding.

If I don't post again before I'm home, I look forward to seeing you all soon. Lots of love,

-Kate

2009-07-26T16:15:00.006-04:00

It's been way too long since my last blog, but between a bunch of homework, work being a little stressful, and a cold-I don't want to write a long blog. I figured a few pictures with captions could suffice.

Danielle, Sarah and I (all interns) went out to sushi last week after the Secretary Gates Q&A. After sushi we wandered over to the capital to sit and talk.

This squirrel was stealing candy bar wrappers out of the trash. I almost lost my backpack in the water when I went to take a picture, but Danielle saved it!

This beautiful Castle looking building is actually a Catholic Church, and the office of Catholic Charities- the organization I'll be interning with in AZ in the Fall and Spring

In Downtown D.C. I ran into a baby possum-go figure

Everyone thought it was a big rat at first

Me being a nerd in Madame Tussaud's wax museum

...still at the wax museum...

(sadly not real)

Amy and I went to a Cubs vs Nationals game. Ben didn't like my cubs shirt

Amy bought the cubs shirts-I was forced to be a cubs fan

Apparently there are a lot of cubs fans in D.C. The game had over 36,000 people in attendance!!! The metro was a mess

We had awesome seats behind home plate. Look at the un-zoomed view

Last Sunday I went to see King Lear. This is outside the Shakespeare Theater in Chinatown

Saturday, the 25th, Amy and I went to Atlantic City. When we got there, it was super foggy

As the afternoon wore on, the sun came out. We only had about 5 hours in Atlantic City, so I didn't want to get too sandy, but I couldn't resist getting knee-high into the water

Amy and I with our ankles in the water. The ocean looked beautiful

On the boardwalk, a guy was riding his BMX in a metal sphere

Thanks for reading!

Loving Work

2009-07-16T20:47:00.006-04:00

I'm sorry I haven't kept in very good contact with people as individuals; life is crazy busy in a good way.

Work is pretty much amazing. Even when my tasks are complicated or a little frustrating, I am learning so much. I have plenty of work, and at the end of the day I feel like I've accomplished something good. I wish I could say more, but I'd have to run it by my supervisor :0)

Yesterday, I got to go to a Q&A with Secretary Robert Gates-THE Secretary of Defense. I sat about 12 feet from him, and was one of like 11 people who got to ask him a question. Here is what I asked:

"Previously, you spoke about trying to have more assets available for injured troops in Afghanistan after visiting with several Wounded Warriors. You spoke of the addition of more helicopters for medical evacuation with the goal of trying to help injured soldiers receive care as close to the golden hour as possible. Has the amount of time soldiers are waiting for treatment continued to decrease? Would you say we are making positive strides towards helping the wounded soldiers?"

Secretary Gates Q&A Session for DoD Interns--Can you find me in the picture?

I was honored to be able to attend the Q&A, let alone get to ask a question. Secretary Gates was very passionate about getting troops in Afghanistan the same standard of care as the troops in Iraq.

Tuesday in class I had a debate--the surprise stress for the night was when my debate partner didn't show! It was me on the more difficult pro side against two other very passionate students, eek. Oh well, at least its over, and I think my professor cut me some slack since my partner was a no show.

Besides that, life is pretty good. I got a sinus infection over the weekend, but I've been taking antibiotics and feel almost entirely better. The weather today was pretty hot, but besides today it's been staying in the low 80s and not too humid. I still can't get enough rain, wind, or green grass.

I also caught my first lightening bugs. I washed my old peanut butter jar and caught three of them in about two minutes!

People on the Metro were laughing at me and my lightening bugs, but in a good way

Part of me really wishes I could stay in D.C. for several more months...or more... but I am definitely looking forward to being back in my nice clean apartment with a bed that I fit in.

Thanks for reading

(p.s. If you couldn't find me in the picture, I'm three rows back, on the end, on the left side)

Three Day Weekends ROCK

2009-07-05T09:56:00.014-04:00

This last week at MC&FP has been good--I love it when I get to draft important work :0)

A couple times I felt a little ill this last week, but I kept drinking lots of water, took extra vitamins, and was able to stay on my feet!

Thursday, I got off work early (since Friday was a Federal Holiday, we only had to work 28.8 hours) and went down to the National Mall. They're currently having this huge festival out on the lawn, so I went down to walk around. I even bought some of the over-priced "folk" food--never again.

Festival on the National Mall Lawn

Friday morning I slept in until 8:30 then made homemade corned beef hash and canned cinnamon rolls. Yum! It was so nice to have a slow morning with a good breakfast. Then I headed down towards Chinatown, where my first stop was the American Art Museum/Portrait Gallery

The American Art Museum/Portrait Gallery

The floor had all sorts of folk art

The Portrait Gallery had a lot of cool pictures of Lincoln-this was my favorite

I fell in love with all of the marble statues. They look like they were made out of butter instead of stone. The pure white marble even had bits of sparkle to it

I loved all of the marble statues and busts, but her hair was amazing

This painting was huge (around 12 feet wide) and gorgeous...this picture doesn't give the painting justice

A mini statue of liberty leading into a hall full of American Art

The museum's building was even a work of art. The higher

up in the building you got, the more amazing it looked

Contemporary art was one of my favorite sections

Idaho had potatoes on every one of its screens (I cracked up)

I don't know what it was supposed to be, but it was cool

This had so much detail and was over 20 feet wide

The top floor had their restoration area with glass walls

Bob Hope made out of wood

I was shocked when I came across this area-rows and rows of art in storage, but housed so that you could still see it

Computers allowed guests to look up works of art and then find the correct row

After the American Art Museum/Portrait Gallery, I walked toward Chinatown and ate some yummy Kung Pao Chicken. Then I went over to the Spy Museum, where I went on the cheesy but fun interactive spy adventure. While I was at the Spy Museum, a friend invited me to a Nationals Game.

We were in the nose-bleeds, but had a great view of the whole field

Chris and I at the game drinking strawberry daiquiris--Chris is lives in Alexandria and is interning at the White House

At the end of the 4th inning, the Nationals game has the

presidents race--it was hilarious, and everyone was cheering

After the games on Friday nights, they have fireworks. We had the perfect view

The 4th of July:

Saturday Morning I went and got my hair cut. My hair had been too long and annoying me and the cut was long past due, but I really like the way it came out.

For fireworks I decided to brave the crowds and head down to the National Mall. After changing my mind multiple times about where to go, I took a blanket, some water, a book and a subway sandwich toward the Lincoln Memorial. Chris came with me, and I even ran into Amy (my roommate).

I got down to the Lincoln Memorial around 6 and found the perfect spot right next to the reflecting pool. Half of the reflecting pool was blocked off, because they shoot the fireworks right there next to the Washington Monument.

Amy and I with my amazing view of the Washington Monument

Chris and I with the view in the opposite direction of the Lincoln Memorial

I couldn't resist showing off my amazing patriotic outfit

Fireworks weren't until 9:10, but I had fun sitting out on the lawn. It was about 75 degrees and overcast with a slight breeze-perfect weather. As it got darker, the monuments lit up beautifully

Lincoln's glowing

Right on time, the fireworks started.

The fireworks on the National Mall were THE BIGGEST fireworks I'd ever seen. They were huge, loud, bright and amazing

It was definately the best fireworks show I'd ever seen and well worth the crowds and wait

All the smoke from the fireworks looked cool around the Washington Monument

The fireworks were so bright and the finale was almost scary it was so bright and loud. I've never seen anything like it before

Thanks for reading; I hope everyone else had a great 4th as well

Revision

2009-06-30T21:50:00.003-04:00

To revise the previous post... I ended up doing 5 loads of laundry.

And those of you asking about cookies... I didn't buy the stuff because I realised I would have to buy everything from flour to sugar to egss to baking soda (and the cookie sheet here sucks), but Danielle-the other intern @ MC&FP lives in Falls Church and agreed to let me come make cookies with her sometime next week. Then I can eat some and send some to my bro!

P.S. It was raining when I got out of class... listening to Enya in the rain is one of my favorite things in the whole world. The rain makes me feel energized....like I could run 5 miles, even though I have no intention of running anywhere.

Yawn... Another Week Gone By

2009-06-28T09:15:00.003-04:00

Yawn...it's Sunday Morning and I'm tired. I guess that's what happens when you spend your time flying from one thing to the next

Time sure is flying here! I had to double check the calendar twice; it doesn't feel like June 28th. I've been here a month, and I'm still staying busy, having fun, and have a whole list of things I want to do. This last week at work went well; I was able to help create several spreadsheets for other people in the office-it's always nice feel useful.

Yesterday, another intern and I went to Six Flags America. They had a special online deal of buy-on-get-one-free admission, and the park is only an hour and a half metro/bus ride away or 45 minute drive. Six Flags America was lots of fun and yesterday was a super hot and sunny day; thankfully this six flags has the Hurricane Harbor (water park) inside it for free! I went on all of the main roller coasters, several huge water slides, and even got a turkey leg for lunch (it was super moist and delicious). I put on sunscreen several times--so I got a little burnt on my face, shoulders, and hairline, but not bad.

Today I'm going to mostly stay home. I need to do about 4 loads of laundry (our washer is tiny, and I need to wash clothes, sheets, and towels), and I want to clean my bedroom and bathroom. I also am planning on walking to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make cookies and more lunch stuff.

I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the upcoming 3 day weekend and the 4th of July.

Thanks for reading!

A Train Accident, Loads of food, and Mr. President

2009-06-24T21:30:00.010-04:00

The Metro Train Wreck

As I’m sure most of you saw, two red metro trains collided Monday. Currently, there are reports of 76 people injured and 9 deaths; two riders are still in critical condition. The responses here are all the same—everyone was worried about people who commute to Maryland and felt overwhelming worry and compassion for those involved. TWC student interns were just getting out of programming when the trains collided; they are asking everyone to call/e-mail their RAs or Program advisors to make sure that everyone is ok and accounted for. The Washington Post has numerous articles, full of eye-witness reports of people (a pentagon civilian employee and a student intern at the American Sleep Apnea Association among them) on the trains; many who were uninjured spent their time trying to comfort and help those less fortunate.

I feel terribly grateful and lucky that I was not on the train, but somewhat disturbed by several of the reports coming in. The trains are supposed to be ‘impossible’ to crash, with computer systems that automatically enable the brakes if two trains are too close. There are also emergency breaks that the operator can hit, but people on the train say they neither heard nor felt any breaking. While my worry is not that this is likely to happen again, or to happen to me, I feel such sadness for those who were not helped despite supposed preventative measures. The train that ‘rear-ended’ the other was nearly 30 years old.

Going to class yesterday night was an aggravating process. The Brookland/CUA stop was closed, and the entire red train was backed up. It took well over an hour to get there, taking different metros, and then a shuttle to the final stop. There were people pushing and shoving… I felt like a sardine most of the trip.

Friday- Seeing the President x2

Friday, the President of the United States Barack Obama (yes, you read that right) came to my office building in Rosslyn. My office is on the 6^th floor, and he was visiting the 2^nd floor, so unfortunately I didn’t get to see or meet him, but I did get to observe all the preparations that went into planning his arrival. The week prior, we were sent an e-mail saying that the building had been randomly selected for a ‘government mandated drill’ in the parking garage… that they would be checking cars on Friday, and to allow extra time to get to work. As the day progressed, we realized this was not a random screening. There were secret service all over; my side of the building looked down to where the president would be arriving. My fellow intern, Danielle, was first in realizing that the President was coming to our building; she had to run outside for an errand and saw a tent being built and a sign on the 2^nd floor stating ‘Welcome Mr. President’. We watched a lot of the events unfold from the sixth floor, including the bomb sniffing dog smelling all the cubicles. We even saw the gentleman with the big guns (snipers) walk over, and then later saw them on our roof. As the time for President Obama’s arrival drew closer, Danielle and I went outside to try and stake a spot to watch from. We ended up having to move several times as they pushed everyone farther away from the street, but eventually Danielle was on the corner and I was standing on a bench behind a parking sign. The streets were blocked off, and we got to watch his whole motor brigade arrive; what a sight!

Later, that same night, two other interns and I were walking down the street near the White House when we came to a street with cops blocking the intersection. We couldn’t cross, but two minutes later, the whole motor brigade drives by. I guess the President’s car likes me. :0)

My office building

View from the 6th floor of police re-routing traffic

The Snipers arrive

The dog with the expensive nose--his handler was very nice

Danielle and I standing outside our office building before we got moved farther away

In front of the tent the President pulled into

The growing crowd

They said move behind the Parking sign, so I stood on the bench

Binoculars examining the crowd

The President's motorcycle brigade

He arrived

His limo

Seeing the President's Motorcade later that night

Weekend in Pennsylvania

Saturday morning, I traveled to Philadelphia by Amtrak. I rode the metro to Union Station (about a 45 minute ride) and my train left at 10:20. The two hour train ride went by very quickly; the seats are comfortable and the view was beautiful. I would highly recommend using the Amtrak to take a trip—it can be a tad expensive, but my Aunt and Uncle were very generous and bought my ticket for me. I got into Philly shortly after 12, and both John and Val (the aforementioned aunt and uncle) were there waiting for me. We went to Chinatown for Dim Sum and gorged ourselves; it was amazing. After Dim Sum we stopped at a Chinese Bakery and bought a coconut bubble tea to share, John got a custard bun (a bun with custard in it, lol) and some almond cookies for later. The drive back to their house took approximately an hour (they live just outside of Reading), but was filled with gorgeous buildings, green trees, lakes, and rolling hills—all picturesque views. It was an overcast day (which always makes me smile) and their two dogs Zoey (an 11 year old mutt) and Dempsi (twenty month old boxer) gave me a warm greeting. We started to take the dogs for a walk, but it started raining and we turned around. We went into the backyard, which has no fences but backs up to forest, and Dempsi and I played in the rain while John and Val sat under an awning. Dempsi and I played Frisbee and ran around the house in the pouring rain until every bit of me was soaked…at one point I even slipped in the wet grass and ended up flat on my back laughing.

After a warm shower and a change of clothes, the three of us went to dinner—we shared some cheese fries with old bay seasoning for an appetizer (which was really good) and then I ate an order of ribs, mmmm. We rented Slumdog Millionaire on the way home, but both John and I fell asleep. I felt as old as them (that’s a joke, if they’re reading this; they are very young and not obese at all).

Sunday morning Dempsi has so much energy, he had to run on the treadmill to “take the edge off”!!!! While Val and I watched Dempsi, John cooked us all breakfast…we had scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage and salsa as well as hash browns and yummy mimosas. We then all took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, ran a few errands in town, and then sat outside to enjoy the day. That afternoon my cousin Peter (my dad’s sister’s son), came over; unfortunately his wife is having morning sickness and couldn’t join us. We had a clam bake: lots of clams, lobster, sweet potatoes, broccoli salad and bread. My aunt and uncle have great taste in food… I think I’m in love with old bay now. It seems to go on everything! We even ate the almond cookies for dessert.

All too soon, it was time to drive back to Philadelphia to catch my train back to D.C. I asked my uncle where I could get some authentic Philly Cheese Steaks to take back with me, and we stopped by a restaurant near University of Pennsylvania that was his favorite place in College. I bought 2 Philly Cheese Steaks with provolone cheese and carried them in by backpack home.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend—full of fun and food, my favorite combination. The Cheese Steaks even reheated quite well in the oven. Who could ask for more?

Video of Dempsi on the treadmill

Uncle John cooking breakfast in the kitchen Sunday Morning

Cooking Seafood

I found a seafood marina in Downtown D.C. online and walked there after work. It was about a half mile there... but I accidentally took a long walk back. IT WAS STILL WAY WORTH THE WALK!!!

I bought 12 Maryland Blue Medium Crabs for $12, and they threw in 2 extra crabs as well as a bag full of old bay seasoning. I also bought 3 mallets for $2, and 4lbs of Mussels for $7.50. YUM.

The cooking and cleaning of the crabs turned out to be quite an adventure. I'd never cooked fresh crab before, and several of the crabs did not want to go into my VERY SMALL pot. I dropped two in the process of avoiding getting pinched, but they got rinsed and thrown in anyways. I had to cook the crabs in intervals since my pot wouldn't hold more than 3 or 4 crabs at a time.

Here are some of the live crabs

The bag full of seasoning

The only time I felt guilty steaming them was when they would claw at the lid

I cooked the mussels similar to how Uncle John cooked the clams this weekend--olive oil, garlic, bacon, cilantro, onion powder and white wine... with bread to dip in the sauce. MMMM

Thanks for Reading!!!!

Rain, Rain... PLEASE stay

2009-06-18T15:11:00.004-04:00

Again, it has been too long since I’ve written, but let me see if I can summarize all the ways I have been spending my time.

Internship

Last Friday, I had the privilege of sitting in on the ‘Defense Helping Professional Council’ meeting at the Pentagon. There were representatives from many different branches of the military as well as service areas within the branches. This meeting consisted of several presenters on military family related topics as well as an update from each attendee on current projects their office is working on. Of the presenters, I found Douglas Lehman’s to be the most interesting. Mr. Lehman is an LCSW and spoke about military families with high risk indicators; I took about six pages worth of notes.

This past week in MC&FP has gone by rather quickly. Monday I had to leave work at 1:45 (I still worked almost 7 hours that day since I arrive at work at 6:30am) to go to TWC’s ‘President’s Lecture Series’. Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader spoke, and although I don’t agree with several of his political stances, it was very generous of him to take time out of his schedule to speak to us. Tuesday and Wednesday were good days at the office, and there were several more meetings to attend. Today went a little slower. Even though I feel like I am doing meaningful work in the office, I believe my favorite part of my internship is listening in on meetings. Not only do I learn a lot in the meeting, but I usually write down several acronyms or other questions to later look up online or ask my supervisor.

It seems amazing that tomorrow will be the end of three weeks, and that I’ll only be here seven more. There is a lot of planning and work to do before I go, in order to adequately help prepare for the Family Readiness Conference at the end of August.

Civic Engagement

Part of the requirement for receiving course credit from TWC for my time here in Washington, is to actively participate in a civic engagement project. According to my syllabus,

“The purpose of this assignment is for you to demonstrate your involvement in helping to bring about positive change at the local, national, or global level through an activity with an organization. You should identify a social, political or community cause that interests you and plan to dedicate some of your free time to advocate, volunteer or serve this cause.”

I appreciate that TWC gave us so much freedom and liberty to choose how to spend our time, and so this last Sunday I began my project by volunteering at Capital Pride. You can check out more specific details here, but I have to say that I had a great time. I volunteered at the Pride Festival on the 14^th and worked the main entrance greeting people and helping ask for donations. My legs got tired and I was hot, but none of that really mattered—I couldn't stop smiling. By working in the front, I got to see almost every single person who came, and anyone who tries to stereotype LGBT should have been there to see the diversity. As I thanked people for coming and donating to Capital Pride (there was no entrance fee, just a suggested donation of $2-$5) I heard many words of encouragement and appreciation. People were continually thanking me for volunteering my time and I can’t tell you how many genuine smiles or “happy pride” comments I received. When there were not mass waves of people arriving, I got to talk to many of the visitors and other volunteers as well. People were very happy to be there and there were varying degrees of pride outfits I saw.

After 3 hours of volunteering, I went and walked around the festival—seeing the many different exhibits, food options, and displays. The food was very similar to a fair (I had 2 cups of fresh-squeezed lemonade, a funnel cake, and almost a smoked turkey leg but it was too expensive), but the exhibits were very different. While some were selling shirts, hats, pins, ect…, most of the vendors were for social services. They had free immediate result HIV testing (using either an oral test or a blood test), resources on cancer specifically designed for LGBT men and women, quit smoking programs, anti-violence programs, safe spots, and the list goes on and on. From a social services stand point, it was amazing how they combined the celebration with important resources.

I was also happy to see that there were probably close to twenty different churches represented with booths stating there church’s stance on accepting and loving everyone. Their pamphlets’ messages were not stating conditional inclusion or an agenda to ‘fix’ people, but merely that God loves ALL of his creations.

Class

Every Tuesday night I attend a class on ‘Ethics in International Affairs’ through TWC. The course physically takes place at Catholic University of America (although not affiliated with them, or religious based) which is right off of the red metro stop Brooklyn—CUA. My course runs from 6pm-9pm, which since I don’t go back to the apartment before class, makes for a very long day. The course is based mostly on discussion and a large amount of reading. There are eleven of us in the class, which creates a very intimate setting and allows for plenty of individual input.

Fun

Of course there has also a lot of fun squeezed in-between all of these other activities, including seeing the movie ‘Night at the Museum’, eating good food, and riding an interactive fighter-pilot simulator at the Air & Space Museum. The simulator was a recommendation Danny made, and while I can honestly say I make a horrible pilot (even in a simulator) I had an amazing amount of fun doing barrel rolls and flying upside-down since the simulator spun 360 degrees. Since last Thursday I’ve also eaten a fair amount of Chinese food and even some yummy Thai food. I also cooked Beer Bratwursts and Macaroni and Cheese last night, which I am eating leftovers from. Saturday morning I am taking the Amtrak to Philadelphia to see my Aunt Val and Uncle John—I’m looking forward to having a fun relaxing weekend with them. Also, my Aunt Val got me in contact with her cousin who is the U.S. Representative for Florida. Ms. Kathy Castor, agreed to meet with me next Tuesday, so that I can interview her for another TWC assignment. I’m excited that I will get to talk to such a successful woman.

The Weather

Yesterday was an amazing 65 degrees, overcast and windy. I felt like it was Arizona in winter :0)

Today I experienced the wettest rain ever. If that statement sounds a little silly to you, let me explain. After I left work I took the metro one stop past Braddock (where I live) to King Street. I was planning on picking up a skirt I had dropped off to get the zipper replaced and going to Ross to look for a cheap pair of brown shoes. Keep in mind that Ross is only .8 miles or a 15 minute walk from the Metro stop (according to Google Maps). When I stepped off the metro it was not raining. Within a few steps there were big fat rain drops, but only sprinkling; I didn't even pull out my umbrella. Within a minute it had started to rain hard, to the point where I have had showers with less water pressure. Within another two minutes it was literally raining harder than I thought possible. It was straight down, with no wind, but just pouring. I wasn't even half way to Ross and the streets were literally over-flowing. I took off my backpack and moved all my electronics from the outer pockets into the inner pockets. My backpack was still getting soak, so I turned it around and wore it over my chest to be more under the umbrella with me. When I got to Ross, my pants were wet up to my knees from plashing through the flooded sidewalk, and my shoes and socks were heavy with rain. My toes are now wrinkled like raisins. Don't get me wrong, it was wet--but not in a bad way. I was looking around just laughing at this incredible rain. Like I said, the wettest rain I have ever experienced.

Well, if you have read this whole post I am impressed. Hope your week has gone well

-Kate

Sunday @ the Zoo and my internship

2009-06-11T20:50:00.006-04:00

Sunday I went to the Smithsonian Zoo-another great free thing to go do. I think my favorite thing was the large Orangutan crossing... It was multiple towers with heavy duty ropes connecting them and going down into the Orangutan exhibit. They can come and go as they please and even cross right over a section of path (but a zoo intern warned people that they sometimes try to aim their excrement's at people so to stand back). They called the course the O-Train, haha

Close up of one of the Orangutangs

It's a very large course for them

These signs are near where their path crosses over the human path

The two waited for eachother... and hugged

PANDA-- the last panda I saw was in Beijing when I was 9

Sleeping Panda

so cute

She looked like she was enjoying sun bathing

I guess everyone was enjoying a lazy, sunny Sunday

Giant Octopus--I watched them feed it a shrimp

This Jellyfish was next to the Octopus in the Invertabrae Exibit

Timon- from the Lion King

Makes me think of Javelina in Sedona

he looks so awkward

The Elephants got a bath at 10:30

My Internship:

It’s Thursday, and I'm pretty tired and busy-but absolutely loving my time here in D.C. I'm not quite used to waking up so early every morning, but this newer office (not the pentagon) has free coffee. I got my cubicle Tuesday morning, which makes getting work done a lot easier, too. I thought Danielle (the other intern in our office) and I would have to share a cubicle, but they gave us our own. Everyone in both offices has gone out of their way to be a resource for Danielle and I. Everyone works really hard and long hours, but they know their doing good work and put in a lot of effort.

Today I got to meet the new Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (or DUSD--which is VERY high up) Tommy Thomas. He is very bright man, but also very friendly. When he heard I was an intern, he told me about his own experience interning as a young man. I felt honored to get to meet someone so high up in the government, and he took about twenty minutes out of his schedule to talk to me and two others.

The chain of command is:

-President

-Secretary of Defense

-Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

- Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

-Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy

At work I spend a lot of time working on an upcoming Family Readiness Conference-I'm enjoying my work more and more as I learn about the programs in depth. I get to draft speeches and concept papers for upcoming programs. I like that I'm getting the chance to do work of value- not just administrative tasks.

The rest of life:

Yesterday I went with an intern to happy hour at a place called Mango Mikes (Danny, Adam and I went there before) and we ate a feast. On Wednesdays, they have assorted seafood plates on sale; we ate steamed clams and oysters, bacon wrapped scallops, fried calamari, coconut shrimp and seared tuna. I also had a delicious margarita to drink, and got to keep the platic shaker as a souveneir :0) After that a bunch of us rented and watched Gran Torino. We all had a lot of fun laughing at some amazing quotes and appreciating what a man’s-man Clint Eastwood is. It was a very nice and relaxing evening.

When you are walking and riding the subway, errands seem to take a lot longer-I need to go pick up a skirt I dropped of at the dry cleaners to get a new zipper on. This weekend I have several fun plans. Saturday I'm going to a barbeque and probably more museums. Sunday I am volunteering for the LGBT rights festival. I'm only volunteering part of the time, then will probably stick around as a guest for the rest. The LGBT parade is Saturday evening, which I might check out as well. D.C.'s gay pride parade is supposed to be amazing.

Father's Day weekend I am planning on going to see my Uncle John and Aunt Val in Pennsilvania. I always enjoy getting to see them, but with them living on the East Coast it doesn't happen as much as I would like.

I also got baseball tickets for Amy and I to the Nationals Vs. Cubs on July 11th.

Danielle, my fellow Military Community and Family Policy (MC & FP) intern

Me in my FIRST cubicle.

It's rather bare, since I didn't bring pictures with me... I've joked about hanging a bunch of Lisa Frank posters... but maybe I'll look for ASU memorabilia to hang

a BUNCH of pictures of my Saturday

2009-06-06T19:28:00.012-04:00

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at the National Mall

A beautiful flower garden...it smelled wonderful

Me with some roses

I wish he was in my room...I'd dress him up in a pink tutu

If I was just a 'smidge' taller I could have leaned in far enough for a kiss

Isn't he cute?

The 1st Washington monument EVER

an artistic representation of the Star Spangled Banner

One of many old fashioned posters encouraging voting that were on display

The whole wall of voting posters

This was recovered from the Twin Towers rubble-it used to be part of the 87th floor

Other recovered debris after the September 11th attack

A piece of the Berlin wall set into a representation

Helicopter from the Vietnam War

A jeep from WWII

Same Jeep, different angle

Poster from WWI encouraging rationing

Fr0m George Washington's Uniform

THE Oscar the Grouch

THE ruby-red slippers from the Wizard of Oz

Archie Bunker's Chair

Me with the famous Stephen Colbert portrait formerly featured on his set

An original Dumbo Disneyland ride from the 1950's

Street juggler-SO cool

rescue gear from an aircraft carrier

An original Wright Brother's Plane

Lunar Command Module

Multiple Missiles and Rockets

Sky Lab Orbital Workshop

Me with a replica of man landing on the moon

Hubble Telescope Lens

The Capital

Race for the Cure at the National Mall

The Apartment and Internship

2009-06-03T20:40:00.006-04:00

At long last I am posting some pictures of my apartment in Alexandria. I am less than a block from the Braddock metro station stop--on both the blue and yellow line in Northern Virginia. I have three roommates: Amy and Kristina share one room and Dylan and I share another.

This is Dylan's and my room-believe it or not, the clean half is mine

Here is my half of the closet, which leads into our bathroom

Here is our living room and straight forward our sun room. Off to the left is the

beginning of the kitchen.

Here is Kristina in our Kitchen-she's making easy mac for dinner

Internship:

So I am interning with the Department of Defense (DoD) in the Military Community and Family Policy Department. Within that, I am more specifically working with Military OneSource, which provides many different resources for military personnel and their immediate family. Several of their programs include 'Troop Tube' which is similar to YouTube but allows deployed military to safely send messages back and forth with family, helping families with all sorts of moving issues, counseling for life stress and the list goes on and on. They even have a 24/7 phone line that is always answered by a trained professional and can help connect families with every other service. I split my work time between an office in the Pentagon and an office just a few stops further away. The Pentagon is an amazing building to work in...half the time it seems like a typical large office, but the heavily armed guards and security remind you where you are. I really like the layout of the Pentagon, the plan makes sense, and there are displays spread out all over of flags, military personnel, military gear and all sorts of things. Like one of my bosses said, 'its like a museum'. My other office is in a very nice part of town in Northern Virginia past Arlington. We are up on the 6th floor, and until I get a cubicle--me an another intern are sitting in an empty corner office with a beautiful view. I've been working on several different items-writing meeting agendas, putting together a concept paper for a symposium and getting to sit in on a few meetings. Everyone I've met has been friendly and helpful; I think I will really enjoy my summer internship. I can't take any pictures in or around the pentagon, but I will try to take a picture of my work spaces soon.

Thanks for reading!

4 Very Busy Days

2009-06-01T21:50:00.000-04:00

It's been four days since my last blog, and those days were FULL of activities. Lets see if I can re-cap.

Friday Morning I went to the Department of the Interior for another day of TWC orientation. I left around 7:30 and got to walk all over downtown D.C. Orientation ended around 12:15, so I grabbed a sandwich to eat while walking to the metro. I found out that all food and drinks (even water) are banned from the metro station and trains...apparently the even have under cover people looking for offenders! I didn't know that on Thursday when I ate a cereal bar and a drink on the train, oops.

Friday night Danny flew into BWI. I took the train down to meet up with him, and we both traveled to Adam's stop, two farther south than mine. He picked us up at the stop and we went to Mango Mikes (it was about midnight when we got there) and ate yummy shrimp and calamari appetizers.

Saturday day I saw some wild mushrooms growing on my short walk to the metro; there were four different kinds growing and it made me realize how moist of a place I'm living.

Then I headed down to the mall. Danny was out exercising, so I went into the Museum of American History. I went on half of one floor, but was in there for almost an hour. I loved getting to see the timeline of American inventions.

Julia Child's Kitchen

Then Adam and Danny met me at the American Natives Museum. There were pictures of many dolls, some very intricate and beautiful, and in the same display was the 'corny' doll. I laughed so hard. Then we all had a nice meal. Danny even beat up a door (on accident).

Corn Doll

Saturday evening Danny and I joined Adam at a party on a roof in downtown D.C. The view was beautiful, but I forgot to take a picture. After several hours I was ready to head home, and Danny rode with me all the way back to the apartment. On our way, my roommate Amy texted me and invited me out to Adams Morgan for a few drinks. So two of my roommates: Amy and Dylan, two other interns: Zach and Jon, and Danny and I went to this Lebanese Bar. It took over an hour to get to Adams Morgan and drinking is fairly expensive, so I don't know if I'll go back soon--but it sure nice to get to hang out all together. By the time we got back to our side of town it was 2 am and time for bed.

Sunday I met Danny, Adam, and Adam's roommate (I forgot his name) down in Old Town Alexandria where we walked up and down King Street. We got yummy tapioca drinks and got all the way to the Potomac River.

Me on the King Street Dock @ the Potomac River

Then Danny and I went to Pentagon City Mall and eventually to China Town. We saw the movie 'Up', which was super cute, and ate delicious lo mein, hunan beef, and hot and sour soup.

I had to say good bye to Danny, which was a little tough but I had a great time seeing him. I'm so glad that he flew into D.C. and I had a blast hanging out with him so much.

....I started my internship today, but it's getting late. I'll write about it later (and I still want to post pictures of the apartment). Tomorrow night I have class, so I wont be home until late, but we'll see. Thanks for reading

Orientation, The Mall, & Butterflies

2009-05-28T19:51:00.010-04:00

Today was the first day of orientation with the Department of Defense (DoD). I found two other individuals in my apartment building who had orientation at the same hotel as me, so we all met in our apartment lobby at 8:15 and went together. We started with an ice breaker, had a brief security briefing, and had several lectures on strategies to get the most out of the internship. Overall, it was pretty good-they did there best to present some very dry information in an intersting and enjoyable way. The Department of Transportation was having an orientation next door to us, and they supplied Papa John's pizza for both groups. I was able to get to meet almost all of the other DoD students and speak more with those students from my apartment building. There are several students at TWC for the second or third time, and they had some good tips too.

Orientation ended around 2:45 (originally, we were supposed to meet until 4), so I said good bye and headed towards the Mall.

The Smithsonian information center-I love that it looks like a castle

The Capital

This Buddhist Monk was examining the map for several minutes...I pulled out my camera, because I wanted to caption his picture 'A buddhist monk looking for the path to enlightenment', but as soon as I pulled out my camera he started to walk away :-(

After walking around for about an hour (I turned around when I ran into the river), I went back to the Mall and went into the Museum of Natural History. I absolutely love that the museums are free. Here is a buffalo skelaton (I thought of Rachel)... and a picture of me in the butterfly jungle. I was sweaty.

The Washington Monument

I did however pay extra to go into the butterfly jungle, where they had over 500 butterflies and 50+ differnt varieties. It was like a swamp in there, but beautiful. Here are a bunch of butterfly pictures that I took.

1st Day in D.C. (ok...technically Alexandria)

2009-05-27T15:25:00.000-04:00

I got into Baltimore International Airport this morning at 9:45am. I've decided that both Continental Airlines and Newark Airport suck; my gate changed 5 different times (and to far gates that required me to keep getting on shuttles). Regardless, I got to Baltimore barely late and proceeded to take the most expensive cab ride of my life. Graon. Never Again.

After quickly unpacking, I decided it was time to go eat and find the grocery store. There is a little convenience store in the apartment complex, but it is kinda expensive. I asked the security guard how to get to the 'Giant' Grocery Store, which is supposed to be only 5 blocks away... but isn't (and he told me the wrong direction).

I left at 12:00 and didn't return until 2:30. I did spend 30 minutes in there eating a yummy swiss mushroom burger, but the rest of the time I just was walking--but it wasn't at all bad. It was around 70 degrees outside, muggy, but absolutely gorgeous. I had so much fun just getting a little lost (ok, REALLY lost) in old town Alexandria. It was mid-day, and lots of people were out walking. I just kept asking directions and eventually found the store. Then it was another 45 minutes finding my way home, but I figured I would have trouble and didn't buy anything too perishable.

It's only 3 now, but I'm going to sign off. I'll try to post some pictures of the apartment tomorrow. I'm on the ground floor, which I don't really like, but at least I'm not higher than the 6th floor (where the ladders can't reach).

A lovely park not too far from my apartment.... it's called a park, but is mostly just pretty, green, and tranquil.

Old Town Alexandria is beautiful. Red brick sidewalks, big lush trees, plants on the patio---it's just so pretty!

I couldn't resist taking another picture.

The little diner that I ate in. Mmmmm :0)

Tomorrow

2009-05-25T12:30:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow night I leave for Washington D.C. for the next ten weeks; I am so excited. I am going with The Washington Center (TWC) where I will be interning, taking a class, and doing a lot of exploring. Tomorrow has been a long time coming--I started working on my application to TWC back in October. My flight leaves at 10:30pm and after layovers and switching flights, I'll arrive in Washington International Airport around 9:30am.

I'll be staying in a two bedroom apartment with three other girls (I don't know their names yet) in Arlington Virginia.

I'll post more when I get there!