Big Al

Hello people! Life is good right now! We are going into recess next week, so everyone is in a good mood. Since Congress won’t be in session, it means we can all dress down and relax. There will be a lot less work and a lot of people will be going back to Wyoming.
I have been having a blast, lately. This place is so full of random surprises...Last week, I got called over to Barasso(the other Wyoming Senator)’s office to help with a tour. They told me that had an experienced person leading the tour and I just had to go along and make sure everyone stayed together. I was a little anxious until I met up with the group and saw that the ‘experienced’ person was none other than Wyoming’s prominent former Senator Al Simpson! I had briefly met him before since I took many of his brother (Pete Simpson)’s classes at UW. I knew him to be a great and friendly person. He and his entourage (which included candidate for Congress Mark Gordon) were extremely nice and asked me about myself (most people in DC would not give a crap about getting to know interns). It was harder than I thought to keep the group together because Al has no problem going into restricted areas. At various points, we all walked into the background of an interview with a Representative and barged into the Vice President’s office. Al stopped to talk with just about everybody, and told us all kinds of interesting stories. I had a great time and all of them shook my hand and thanked me for accompanying them. That is what I love about Wyoming people, they are so friendly and take the time to get to know people. More often than not, you have some connection to the people you meet. Most of them, for example, were big CJ Box fans.

Bonjour...?

Hello my loyal readers (aka Jeff)! Just kidding, I know there are many readers out there, but Jeff is currently my favorite family member for all his comments, even if they are Republican and PC-loving ones.
Well, I had another fun-filled DC weekend! It started with a trip to the National Zoo on Saturday with Mackenzie, Darren Mindi (Enzi interns) and Tony, my uber conservative friend from Heritage. We saw some cool things including this crazy orangutan swinging through the air over our heads, sea lion training and octopus feeding. We also went to see the giant pandas (this is apparently only one of 4 zoos in the US that has them). If you didn’t know, I have a personal vendetta against pandas, but still
wanted to go see them anyway. We walked past what seemed like miles of empty panda enclosures in the baking heat and crowds before we finally found the animals. One was sleeping, but we got all excited when the other panda walked past all the other people directly up to where me and my friends we standing. Then, he proceeded to turn around and poop right at our feet. Priceless.
Later that evening, I went to the Fete de la Musique at the French Embassy. I got a ticket earlier that week and went with a couple friends. There, we got wine, pain chocolat, baguettes and all those other little things I miss about France. There were also various stations through out the park surrounding the embassy that had things like face painting and raffles. They also had different bands playing at various times and places (hence the Musique part) throughout the park. The bands were all totally different and played everything from French/African tribal songs to Jack Johnson covers. They also had a random guy who did tricks with fire and a giant balloon woman walking around. In typical French style it was eclectic, disorganized and incredibly fun.
On Sunday, I continued my solo museum excursions with a trip to the National Portrait/American Art Museum. It was gigantic, and I barely got through it. It had tons of various things, but most interestingly has the originals of all those portraits you see of the Founding Fathers in textbooks and such.
Not bad…

Scalia!!!

Hey there! So much stuff has been happening that it is hard for me to keep up recording it! For starters, this last weekend I went with a bunch of office people to a DC United soccer game. Apparently they were playing their rivals, the New York RedBulls. It rained in a bone-soaking downpour for almost the entire game, which wasn’t too bad because then I hardly noticed all the beer being thrown into the air (which is DC United traditional whenever they score a goal). I also realized that the raincoat I have had for three years has never actually been in the rain before. Good ole Wyoming. It was a pretty wild game, but a really fun experience too!
I also hit up the Smithsonian American Indian Museum, walked through the Gay Pride Festivities going on in front of the Gallery (getting a couple sweet pictures of a drag queen and a concert in front of the Capitol in the process) and did a few sketches of Degas and Rodin sculptures. I am creating my own little tradition of going to museums by myself on Sundays. In my busy and crowded work and living environment, the few hours I get to myself are wonderful. Plus, I get to go see what I want for as long as I want. I'm a nerd, I know, but I like that about myself.
This week, the highlight was a private lecture by none other than Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He spoke to a small group of interns (Mackenzie and I managed to sign up before it filled up in less than 20 minutes!) in the actual Supreme Court. The security and restrictions were, of course, incredible, so pictures where out of the question. However, it was well worth it. The Justice set it up like a Q&A session, covering topics from interpreting the Constitution to water-boarding. I was blown away by two things: 1) that he was operating on a level of intelligence I think I have never even encountered before and 2) that he was very good at conveying that intelligence in a way that was easy to understand. He was also a great speaker on top of that, and even cracked up the audience several times. It was a once in a lifetime experience! This internship is so amazing because I am working a full-time job, but I get to regularly go on “field-trips” and have a front row seat to all the Washington goings-on.
Oh, and Matt called me this week and he is going to be able to come visit next month! I am uber excited!!!

Week

Hello All! I can’t believe this week has flown by, and what an eventful one it has been. While I did nothing but work, that in itself was pretty interesting. To start the week, the fire alarms at my Heritage dorm went off at 6:30am and I had to stand on the lawn in busy, downtown DC in my pajamas, glasses and scary slept-on-humidity hair. Oh, and lost my last hour of sleep. I was pretty grouchy that morning. Then, the very next day my building actually did catch on fire! I wasn’t home at the time, and one of my friends from down the hall in Heritage actually came all the way to Enzi’s office to tell me. Fortunately, the dorms weren’t damaged, and the Heritage Interns even got the day off (hence the visit over in the Senate offices).
The highlight of the week was a lunch with Senator Enzi, his wife Diana and the interns from his office and the HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, of which he is the chair) Committee. Everyone was a little nervous eating with our big boss, but he and Diana are such great people that we all relaxed pretty soon. They took us to the expensive Senate Restaurant, and I ended up sitting next to the Senator. Believe it or not, we spent a good amount of time talking about fly-fishing! What a guy, huh? Also, they told us amazing stories about all their travels and experiences, especially in Africa. I respect him to no end for the job he is doing. If only all Senators and Reps were like him, I think this whole country would work a lot better! Oh, and sitting at the next table over was Joe Lieberman. This is certainly a crazy job.
The week has been one of settling in. I have been getting assigned bigger and more interesting tasks (researching legislation, reading and responding to constituent mail) as well as continuing with the grunt work (answering phones, running errands, Capitol tours). I am getting to know the people in the office better and am getting more comfortable everyday. So far, I haven’t screwed up anything!

Art!

Hello again!
I have been doing lots of blogging lately, because I have been doing lots of stuff. This Sunday (despite the oppressive +100 degree weather) I went to the National Art Gallery, which, being the nerd that I am, is like crack to me. I figured out that it is within walking distance, so I fired up the iPod and headed out. I wanted to go by myself so I could spend as much time as I wanted. It was awesome! The gallery is two different buildings. The West building is three times bigger, but full of pre- and post- Renaissance paintings that are a dime a dozen and done by largely unknown artists, unless you are into that. I navigated up to the 19th Century Frenchies (think Monet, Cezanne and van Gogh), which is my personal favorite. Then, I swung by Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec on the way out. My family should remember all these guys from the Musee D’Orsay. The East Building, while much smaller, was way cooler in my opinion. There, I ran across O’Keefe, Warhol, Pollock, and Picasso
just to name a few. I looked at every piece in the place, even a cool exhibit on loan from Kabul, Afghanistan. The only thing I don’t love about Washington museums so far is the number of people. But I’m realizing how to escape the crowds or just ignore them to see what I want to see.
Oh, and outside the museum they had these odd slate sculptures. Apparently, the artist put black fabric on top so they look hollow, even though they aren't.
The reason I am here is to experience this city and do my internship. So I figure I should soak in as much culture as possibly in the next 2 and a half months!

White House and Natural History

Thanks for making some comments. It is no fun to write when I feel like no one is reading.

I am officially finished with my first week of work! I guess because I am so used to crazy waitress jobs, I keep expecting to get overloaded with work. But so far it has been a very nice, fairly relaxed atmosphere. Of note, I took my first group on a tour of the Capitol this week! I had a group of 11 from Sheridan. They were part of a larger group of 70 that we all split up. Amazingly, it went really, really well! I remembered all my facts and answered all their questions (and most importantly, didn’t get lost!). I had one smart-alec kid who kept trying to contradict me, and I wanted to smack him, but then one of the chaperones did so all was good. The hardest part was keeping my group together and moving. It was seriously like herding chickens! But afterwards, when I told them that I had only been here since Saturday and this was my first tour, they were blown away. Besides one weird, spacey woman who wandered away from her group (and was later found by another intern), the whole thing went flawlessly and our intern coordinator even let us go get ice cream afterwards. ;-)
We even finished off the week by an apparently traditional Friday Enzi office competition. Everyone in the office puts in a dollar and then throws a quarter from the back office towards the front door. Whoever gets the quarter the closest to the door wins the money. I really doubt Kerry’s office does this sort of thing. I did alright, and fortunately one of my fellow interns won! The more people I meet, the more I am realizing how much I love Wyoming people.
This morning, Mindi and I took a tour of the White House. The temperature is already in the triple digits and I was dripping sweat by the time we got there. The tour was interesting, but I must say not very impressive. It was really short, and there was virtually no information available. I guess that’s what happens in a still functioning building.
Despite the heat though, we met up with David Crow (a guy I knew from debate back in high school!) and all three of us toured the Smithsonian Natural History museum. Not a bad Saturday, huh?

Work

Hello! If my family does not leave comments so that I know you are reading, I will quit posting! I mean it!

I have had two full days of work. I am very, very tired.
This is my office building. It is the Russell Senate Office Building. There are two more. Our first day was lots of meeting people and orientations. We did get to see Senator Enzi, but only during a staff meeting with Wyoming. They teleconferenced in. They let us sit in on it and introduce ourselves. Later, I got a little desk in one of the offices. The craziest thing was that they sent us on two teams on a scavenger hunt (in which we had to get everything from business cards to pamphlets) of various places through out the Senate Office Buildings, Capitol and House Offices without any clue. It was kind of brilliant though because we ended up learning where everything was all on our own. It is still kind of shocking to actually be in the Senate! I have a big ID card I have to have visible at all times. The only problem is I wore a new pair of high-heeled shoes that literally cut and rubbed my feet until they were bleeding.
I found out that we have to start giving tours of the Capitol on Thursday. The only problem is that I’ve only been in there a couple times! We have to give tours on our own routes with our own research in just a couple days. I spent almost all day though walking around and memorizing facts from websites. Wish me luck, I already have two tours scheduled on Thursday and two on Friday… Also, the people in the office give us various errands to run. Once I get over the initial panic of having no idea where I volunteered to take something, I am pretty good at figuring it out.
The coolest thing though is the environment. I walked around a corner today (after spending all day admiring the Capitol) and very nearly crashed into John Kerry! Being a lowly intern, we are not supposed to run into the Senators. He is as tall and craggy as he appears on TV. I am surrounded by so much history, I have to stop rushing and take it in. I get to walk the halls that many of the most influential people in our history walked!

Sightseeing

Hey all, Today ended up being a random sightseeing day! I met up with Mindi and Tony (a guy who lives on our floor and knows the DC area well) and went out to see the major monuments. We found the office I will be working in (the Russell Senate Building), which is only two blocks away!
Then, we ended up walking and metro-ing around to the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memorial. I saw the Capitol and the White House from a distance (I will be getting tours of those later on), as well as the various parts of the Smithsonian and the National Archives. So much history in one day! The best part is that I figured out the metro, as well as the closest stop (Union Station) to my dorm. Now, nothing is stopping me from touring all the museums I can stand. What a fabulous day! Then, I came back for a mandatory dorm meeting. Living in a conservative dorm, I don’t think I have ever seen so many polo shirts and khakis (with belts!) in my life…