*ALERT*

While I was writing this last post, one of the girls started choking on water. She claims none of us did anything to help, but in actuality I was attentively making sure she started coughing as per my life guard training.

Anywho, I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Second Week of Work

Hello All,

I'm back on an actual computer for the first time after a week of phone updates. Back to the grind today. Actually, it really wasn't that bad. Lots of mail and phone calls. I got to start researching for mail responses today as well. Today was also an important day for me starting to develop realistic habits for work. I installed my gel insoles this morning. It was literally like walking on air. I can't imagine having to walk without them ever again. I also finally packed a lunch for work. It probably saved me two or three dollars, which will really add up over time. I'm really starting to feel like an actual part of the office, and I feel like I fit in pretty well. When I got home I had to study for my class for tomorrow, which is really less than ideal. I think that the professors forget that we have close to full time jobs in addition to our classes this semester. In addition to having to read, I had to make my own dinner, since a lot of the other guys and the girls had a class. Surprisingly, I did not end up having a very sophisticated dinner. I ordered the last of my books today, as well. In addition, I ordered rolls of white paper, which we are going to use to cover one of the walls of our living room/dining room/kitchen to use as a means to write things to do, places to go, etc. Now that everyone is back, we're relaxing and watching MNF. Btw, Michael, I am in the process of a major overhaul of the full site, which it says on the site. I address this to you because you are the only one who I know regularly visits the blog or the site. That pretty much takes care of the news for today. As my time here moves forward, I may stop writing daily and instead only write when interesting things happen, we'll just have to see.

Until we next speak,

Jes

Just a Lazy Sunday

Nice lazy weekend day again today. Slept in nice and late after our late night trek to the monuments last night. After getting myself awake and moving, I went to the grocery store to get some food for lunch over the next week. It was a nice refreshing walk on the way to the store. Unfortunately, when I rode the train back with my groceries, I seem to have caught a train with no air conditioning or possibly with its heating on. Other than that slightly uncomfortable metro ride, my trip to the store was a success. When I got back, I took some time to get the Senior Swimming site updated (I'll throw a link up some time in the future, along with a link to the DASH site which I also maintain). I then put together a Google map of the remaining monuments so that we can be sure to get to all of them before the end of the semester. I've recently realized that I refer to "us" and "we" and things like that a lot, but I've never really talked about who that refers to. Generally speaking, its safe to say that I'm talking about the four other ND guys and two of the ND girls when I say things like "We went to the monuments." There are a few other people who may, from time to time also hang out with us, but the 7 of us are pretty well always together. Speaking of group activities, the 7 of us all worked together on dinner for tonight. We had BLT's, potato salad, and eggplant fries. I fried the bacon, go me! It was really good and a lot of fun working all together. Now I'm watching the Bears and Broncos on Sunday Night (pre-season) Football and debating when I'm going to bed. I'll probably stay up til midnight because tomorrow is one of the guys' birthday and I'd like to stay up to wish him a happy birthday. Anyway, back to work tomorrow morning, which I'm kind of looking forward too.

Eagerly awaiting "real" football,

Jes

Monuments at Night

Today was a good day. I slept in real late, almost til noon. Just kinda laid around the apartment for a while. Sometimes its nice to be kind of lazy. Then we walked to Target. It was a much more successful trek than the last time we tried to walk there (see first DC post). After some more lazing around and watching "The Breakup", we got some dinner. After that we waited until it got dark and took the metro down to the National Mall to see the monuments. It took us a couple of hours, but we managed to see the Washington Monument (outside only), the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, the FDR Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. It was really cool seeing all of them at night. I'll post some pictures of them tomorrow. By the time we were done with all of that we had walked quite a bit and I was getting tired. So now we're back at the apartment watching YouTube videos. All in all it was a good day.

More tomorrow,

Jes

End of the First Week

Well, I made it to the end of the week. This whole hot weather nonsense needs to subside or I'm never gonna survive. On the plus side, I did get to take a hot shower this morning. Today was a little busier at work. I finally felt comfortable enough to start answering the phones. Most of the calls I answered were misdirected faxes though. I did get my ID today, which was nice. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. It stopped by Target on the way back to get gel insoles for my shoes so that my feet don't fall off. I'm definitely looking forward to having the weekend off and getting some well deserved r & r. I probably won't get up til mid day tomorrow, which will be awesome.

Later
Jes

Public Policy on Capitol Hill

Today was our first day of our big class, Foundations in Public Policy. The morning session consisted of a lively debate over the "enhanced interrogation" techniques used by CIA operatives at Guantanamo Bay. It was interesting to hear the widely varied opinions held by the students in our class. In the afternoon we had a visit to Capitol Hill. We started at the office of Joe Donnelly (D-IN), the congressman for the district ND is in. Two of his staffers then took us on a tour of the Capitol. We got to go through the tunnels under the office buildings to get into there. Since the last time I was there, they have added a new visitors' center with a movie. We were also able to go up to the rotunda and view the old senate and house chambers. It was really hot today, so wandering around the Hill in our business clothes kinda sucked. It was still a fun experience in all. We decided to go out for dinner tonight. We walked over to the Adams Morgan neighborhood to a 24 hour diner. I had a Monte Cristo and it was really good. Now we're back in the room just kinda hanging out. I've got to work again in the morning so I'm not gonna be staying up too late. I'm definitely looking forward to my first real weekend in DC.

Later
Jes

*A Quick Update*

I felt it bore mentioning that Sen. Ted Kennedy died overnight last night, which made for a somewhat somber mood in the office today. To anyone who reads this, consider observing a moment of silence for the passing of one of our great legislators of the last half century.

New Responsibilities, New Classes

Second day of work. Fortunately, no issues with the train on the way into work today. I mostly just filed mail today. However, I did sort snail mail which meant I had to scan the letters into the system. Also, I answered the phone today, something I'm going to be doing more and more of. I got lunch from the Cannon House Office Building cafeteria. It was nice, but I really need to start bringing a lunch if I want to make it through the semester with any money left. So, on my way back from work I stopped at Giant and got some lunch foods for the next week. There was a short delay, but nothing too serious. I came back to the apartment and managed to change clothes and even rest a little before heading to my history class. It's a class on race and American politics, and I think it should be really interesting. After class, we went and explored some more of the city. We walked to Dupont Circle. While there, we met some Canadians who were studying law at American University. One of the most interesting things about them was that they were actually on an exchange program from a college in Australia. They seemed like pretty cool people. We talked to them for about an hour before heading back to the apartment. Since we have class tomorrow, I'm able to stay up a little later because I can sleep an extra hour and a half. Still, its getting pretty late, so I'm gonna hit the hay.

Until tomorrow,
Jes

First Day of Internship

I'm blogging from my phone tonight more because I can than out of necessity. I started my internship in Congressman Braley's office today. My trip there was, unfortunately, less than ideal. Just after switching lines in the metro, I learned that the line I needed to take to get to the Capitol was delayed due to a train that had to break in emergency and unload ahead of us somewhere. I ultimately got off three stops early and walked across the national mall, getting to my office just barely on time. Fortunately, I guess, my supervisor was also caught up in the mess. After getting a general orientation to the office, I got to work filing incoming mail into the computer. Aside from a lunch break, that was what I did for the rest of the day. Since Congress is on recess, there's not much going on in the office. On the plus side, we get to wear reasonably casual clothes. I took my lunch with another intern, a legislative assistant in Braley's office and an aide in another office in the same building. We went to a burger joint that was evidently started by someone who was on "Top Chef". It was really good. On the way back I stopped to get some more brown socks. After getting the socks I once again got stuck on the metro, this time due to a fire somewhere ahead of us. When I finally got back to the apartment, I had just enough time to change and grab my laptop and notebook before my Philosophy of Law class. The class was dense to say the least, as we discussed the two major schools of thought behind legal philosophy. After walking to the 7-11 for some food, I finally got back to my apartment for a meaningful amount of time at about 10:15 after leaving at about 8:15 AM. Hopefully tomorrow isn't quite so hectic.

Now I'm off to get some rest!
Jes

First Weekend in DC Recap

Hi All,

While I'm sure everyone has given up on this blog (to be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure I'd ever post anything more), I've decided to use it to keep track of my experiences in DC. I'm doing this as much for myself as for others, so bear with me if some things seem unnecessary. I arrived in DC on Saturday the 22 and made my way from BWI airport to the Boston University Center in DC, which is where ND students stay, via DC Metro. This was an excellent idea from a financial point of view, the trip from the airport was only about $6 rather than $30 for a shuttle or $60 for a cab, but kind of a pain in the but from a convenience standpoint. After getting checked in at the BU Center, my four suite-mates and I decided to take a look around the area we'd be living in for the next four months. We live in the Woodley Park neighborhood of DC, about a block or two from the National Zoo. It's a pretty nice neighborhood. Unfortunately, it was raining while we did our exploring, which made the whole experience a little less fun. We did manage to find several restaurants and a CVS, which more or less took care of our needs. We then came back and said hi to some of the other ND students in the building before trying to walk to a target about a mile away in the rain. Needless to say we got hopelessly off track and wound up taking the metro instead. After that excursion we pretty much called it a night on Saturday.

Sunday we were able to sleep in before setting out on another day of exploration. Being the bold Domers we are, we decided to turn right out of the front of the building, which I had not yet done at that point. We walked past the zoo, and up two or three more metro stops, finding shops and restaurants along the way. We then hopped the metro down to union station for lunch and sight-seeing. After lunch we went to the US Postal Museum, which was actually pretty cool. It talked about the early formation of the US Postal Service and had some interactive, although kid themed, exhibits/games. From there we headed back to the BU Center for our ND orientation and some pizza. We hung out with some of the other students on our floor that night (last night), which include students from ND, Grinnell, and Ithaca College, before calling it a night.

This morning, I decided I should bite the bullet and go figure out where my internship office actually is. Fortunately, its only a short metro ride away and then about 2 blocks from the metro station. I start work tomorrow at 9:30 AM, so I'm looking forward to that. Besides finding Congressman Braley's Office, I pretty much just hung around the apartment the rest of the afternoon. We're having dinner with a couple of the girls from down the hall later tonight and then I've got to take a look at some readings for my class tomorrow night. Hopefully all goes according to plan and I am able to update this reasonably frequently.

Later,
Jes