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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

New website

www.fairtradefocus.com. It's still in its infancy and more of an idea than an actual site, but I've got a little bit of content up...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ah, Life...

To start off, I think I fixed the comment problem that I heard from a few people. Hopefully that will work now.

This is just meant to be a bit of an update. One born out of boredom rather than necessity.

First update, I am officially an applicant of the U of U graduate school. I applied to the social work program with the intent to get an international social work certificate. I'm all sorts of nervous. Especially since I won't hear back from them for another six months or so. In the meantime I'll be applying to at least two other schools: Tulane University in New Orleans and University of Connecticut. Tulane has a program similar to the U's in that it's a social work degree with an international social work certificate. U Conn is purely international social work. I'd honestly be happy with either option. Of course, these other two schools are exponentially more expensive than the U, so unless I get some massive scholarships and/or federal grants, neither of those will be options. I'm putting a lot of my hopes into the U right now. They accept about 50% of their applicants and with zero social work experience, I'm thinking it might be a bit of a long shot for me. I'm still looking for programs in the states or abroad with international social work so if anyone hears of anything, please let me know. As of now I have very slim pickings.

Second update, I finally went to the state of Washington. This last weekend I went on a little road trip with my friends Angela and Ben to Spokane where Ben had a conference. We drove up Friday, checked into the hotel around 8, and just chilled there before going to bed (I'm getting so old). Saturday Ben went to his conference while Angela and I walked around downtown and an amazing park with the Columbia running right through the middle. It was amazing. I've really never seen anything like it. A huge river (compared to what we have in Utah at least. Nothing to the Mississippi) right in the middle of a city not all that bigger than Salt Lake. After that and eating lunch we went to this vintage clothing and jewelry shop called Finders Keepers. I spent WAY too much money on the two rings I bought there, but they're unique, won't go out of style, and are pretty much awesome. We spent probably 2 or 3 hours there and by the time we were done, Ben was finished with his conference. The three of us then went to dinner at this fancy, urban, contemporary restaurant called Scratch. I really have nothing to compare it to. It reminded me of New York City, but anything urban and chic reminds me of New York. After dinner we went to this comedy club where I heard one of the funniest comedians I've ever come across. His name is Chris Mullineaux (I hope I spelled that right) and I have yet to find him on google or youtube. There were a few bits there where I couldn't breathe he was so hilarious. After that we went back to the hotel and chilled/wrestled/walked across the bridge Angela had become/did all those things weird kids do when they're drunk on a lack of sleep. The next morning our friend Bryan came over from Moscow, Idaho to chill for a bit before we left. We just walked around Gonzaga and took lots of pictures. It was like we were back in DC... totally awesome.

Those are really the only updates in my life right now. Maybe not all of them, but I'm too tired to continue on for now. Enjoy the pictures of pretty Washington!

This was actually in Idaho. Still worth posting cause this was one of the best parts of the drive.

I know these two are crooked, but see what I mean by massive river in the middle of the city?


Ben, Angela, me, and Bryan at Gonzaga. I love these guys...

Friday, September 4, 2009

My beef with health care

I know no one really reads this, but I need to vent. I've been trying to figure out how to organize my thoughts and this is how it will be: I'll start out by giving my thoughts on what changes I would like to see in our health care system and then continue with a probably less coherent babble of my frustrations about the health care debate.

At this point I really don't care if there is a public option or not. I would even be fine if we did implement a purely government run system as long as it worked. But obviously, this being the America with (in my own opinion) an irrational fear of Socialism, that won't happen. Personally, even though I am crazy liberal, I would like to see a system not unlike Switzerland's system and Senator Wyden's proposal. Everyone is required to buy health insurance and insurance companies aren't allowed to turn anyone away. Insurance companies all non-profits so prices are significantly lower and everyone pays the same price with the government picking up a certain amount (the whole thing or just a little) depending on your income. Of course there are ridiculous amounts of details that I won't get into (and frankly, I don't want to) but that's the basic gist. Everyone is insured, prices are kept under control, and no one goes without care when they need it. And really, I will be happy with any plan that does this whether it's with a public option or not.

Now to my frustrations. First, my frustrations with the President. He hasn't been specific enough. With the whole HillaryCare thing the language from the White House was way too specific and the Obama Administration has learned a little too much from that in my opinion. Hopefully with his speech to Congress on Wednesday he'll find a happy medium and lay out guidelines for what needs to be done.

Second, legislators. The left wing is saying they won't vote for anything without a public option, blue dogs are saying they won't pass anything with one, and the right wing just isn't even trying to be helpful at all. Keep in mind, I'm generalizing. But really I'm upset with Congress's inability to compromise. Compromise is rarely done anyway, but it can be done during a crisis and this is a crisis. We have a representative government. As much as some people like to think it's a fairly direct democracy, it's representative. That means I trust the person I elect to make decisions for me. Theoretically at least but that's a whole different argument. My point is no one is going to be totally happy with anything that comes out of Congress - not even Congress members. But they have the responsibility to take into account what Americans want, what works in other countries, and what they think will work for us to come up with the best option. It's a balance and in order to balance you need to compromise and give certain things up recognizing that you can't enact meaningful change and get everything you want. If each politician refuses to give things up, no change will take place and we'll be left in the crack pot mess we're in now.

Third, political pundits. Especially certain ones on Fox News (Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck...) and MSNBC (Keith Olbermann). Basically anyone who is skewing the facts for their own agenda. People who either kiss up to anything the Democrats do or use irrational fear to scare people into distrusting everything Democrats do. I get that with the boom of 24/7 cable news stations had to come up with their own way to get viewers, but it's just to the point of being totally ridiculous. Some of these people, including ones I haven't listed, are doing more harm than good.

Last, but in no way least, the American people. Anyone who gets their information from a single source, or even a couple of sources that tell the same story, aren't getting all the facts. People need to start researching the problems and the different viewpoints and stop accepting everything they're spoon fed. Mark Twain said something that I've always loved: "In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination." It doesn't have to be that way. After people educate themselves more, I really do think that they'll be able to have civilized conversations about politics. At the very least that will calm our town meetings down a bit. But hopefully something else will come from this. It seems the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know. Yes, I do think that I am fairly knowledgeable about certain things and that could be based on my own pride or on actual knowledge, but hopefully people will be able to at least see that they can't become experts in everything and leave decisions regarding some issues to experts. Call me an elitist, but I would much rather have a few people who know their stuff make big decisions than a bunch of fanatics who can yell very loud. So to sum it up, Americans should educate themselves more and realize that some people (even if it is politicians sometimes) know more than they do.

These thoughts are in no way comprehensive and probably go back to frustrations before health care, but there it is.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Coming to terms

So I'm slowly coming to terms with my situation in life. I'm not going to lie - it has been (and will continue to be) a very slow and somewhat painful transition from college and independence to work and home life. However, with the promise (or at least the possibility) of graduate school next year, frequent trips to Logan, and reconnecting with old friends and slowly making new ones in Utah Valley, I am beginning to enjoy life on a more regular basis. I decided that probably the hardest thing moving back home and graduating was the fact that I wasn't working toward anything. My whole life I've been working towards some longish or short term goal whether it be a tournament somewhere, a music festival or concert, high school graduation, college, internship, and eventually college graduation. I've always had something ahead of me to look forward to. When I came back I didn't really have that and I found it extremely frustrating. I have however, remedied that lack of...let's say a path towards accomplishment. I have plenty of things to accomplish while I'm living at home. Paying off loans by next fall, applying for and hopefully getting into graduate school, volunteer work, and now perhaps a car payment (as of Saturday my car is totaled. Not by me though. I actually don't know why I put this in the list of things I have to look forward to. Let's say a new car then). Plus there are little things too, like I want to knit and/or crochet something besides a scarf and a baby hat that my mom starts and finishes. I also am learning how to drive a stick. I made it all the way from the Century 16 theater on 3300 South to Orem only stalling once in the parking lot (I was actually so excited that I didn't stall on 33rd that I blasted the music on the freeway and sang at the top of my lungs).

So there you have it. I still would rather be in DC or Logan (or Portland, Seattle, New York, Boston...), but I'm ok with Utah Valley for now. I think especially since I'm actively applying for graduate school and looking for jobs back east. But it's not just the promise of leaving that I feel good about (although I am looking forward to that part). I am ok with living here...and that's a huge step for me :)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

1984

So I'm reading 1984 again. It's one of the greatest novels I've ever read, if not ever written. It's by far my favorite book of all time and I think it should be required reading for every person everywhere. That being said, and bearing in mind that I am a movie snob, As I'm reading the first few pages I can't help but think of a new and better adaptation of a 1984 film. I never saw the first one mainly because I've heard only horrible things about it. Anyway, I'm just trying to think of who would play what character and I'm just having trouble thinking of the right people. Right now I'm thinking a less attractive Aaron Eckhart for Winston, A slightly younger Anthony Hopkins for O'Brien, and maybe Milla Jovovich for Julia. Morgan Freeman I think might also make a good O'Brien but I have a hard time picturing 1984's London as a hub of diversity. Or maybe this novel just brings out racism in me. Who knows? Anyway, if anyone has any ideas for people to play these characters you should share those ideas.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Random photos

So I'm giving in. I'm posting some of my photos on my blog. I'll probably continue to do so. Some of my very favorites aren't on my computer since I live in the stone ages and my SLR is a film camera and I don't have everything on CD yet, but I'll post what I can. And for those photographically inclined friends/family that read this, I'd appreciate some input since I haven't had my photos really critiqued in over 4 years. I may or may not have gotten lazy when it comes to photography.

I don't know why, but I like the sun spot or whatever that purple thing is.


This is probably one of my favorites that I have on my computer.


I realize this one needs some work, but this was just an amazingly cool tree. I wish I could draw so I could draw this so the focus would be more on the texture and less on the lighting.


I just like the lighting in this one.


This is for sure a favorite. This day at Arlington was really foggy and gloomy and I just love the way this turned out.


I don't know why I like this one so much. I just do.


This is another one where I don't know why I like it. Maybe I'm just really attracted to James' hands...

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Back in Utah

It's true. I've been in Utah for 5 days now. I flew in at 10 on Friday night and the next morning drove up to Logan to see one of my best friends be baptized. I can't even describe how incredible an experience that was. When he was confirmed and was told to receive the holy ghost, I've never felt the spirit so strongly before. I was surprised there was still room for everyone there with the spirit so strong. It was an experience I won't forget. It was also way cool because not only did I get to hang out with friends I hadn't seen in 4 months, I got to hang out with Nate (who I haven't seen in over two years) and Jesse (who I hadn't seen in almost 3 years). It was so great hanging out with them again.

I stayed in Logan that night and on my way back home I went to my friend Aaron's farewell in Ogden. Just as all of my friends were coming home, I meet Aaron who is just going out. Ben came as well on his way back to DC (he's installing security systems out there this summer). I had seen Ben on Friday and said goodbye to him then, but it was great to see him one last time before he left. We had a few more good laughs in church. Inappropriate, yes but oh so funny. Aaron's talk was fantastic though. Towards the end he went into this long elaborate story about the bed bugs and Ben turned to me and said, "I wonder how he'll tie this into the gospel." I wondered the same thing myself. The story was long and I was beginning to think it was just a random story to end with. But then Aaron's genius kicked in. He said that Japan (where he is going on his mission) is totally infested with bed bugs and that the Lord prepares us in even the smallest of things. It was hilarious. Not just the ending, but the whole story. Ben and I were cracking up the whole time. Saying goodbye again to the two of them sucked. I'll hopefully see Aaron one more time before he takes off but then it'll be 2 years... Boo! At least I'll see Ben in just a few months.

Being home is weird. I'll most likely be living with my parents for a while. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine living with my family. It's just Orem that I'm not so much a fan of anymore. I've always been in a hurry with everything I do. When I drive, when I eat... life in general is no different. When I know what big event is coming next, I just want to get there. Towards the end of high school, I just wanted to go to college. When I got an internship in DC, I just wanted to go. Now that I'm home and applying to grad school for 2010, I just want to be in school and living in Salt Lake. I'm not a fan of this whole waiting around thing.

Random side note - I'm watching the end of Becoming Jane. It ALWAYS makes me cry when you find out Tom LeFroy names is daughter Jane.

Anyway, I'm just living in Orem now, looking for a job, going up to Logan often, and waiting till I can apply to the U later this summer. Also, graduating on Saturday. That's a little strange to me. Although as of now I'm feeling pretty apathetic to the idea. We'll see if I have a little more feeling about it on Saturday.

Mostly what's going on right now is my withdrawals. It kind of sucks going from seeing people every day for four months to not seeing them at all. I miss looking at Ben with our "that's what she said" look when an obvious moment presents itself and actually saing "that's what she said" when it makes no sense at all. I miss laughing my head off with Angela over stupid, stupid things. I miss Aaron's Arnold laughing impersonation and hearing him say "damnit, Bobby" exactly like the guy from King of the Hill. I miss Mike turning everything into a Senate floor discussion and listening to his premium story telling. I miss being pleasantly surprised when I find out Kari loves something random like the Labyrinth or the Smiths as much as I do. I miss Bryan singing and putting my name randomly into the songs. I miss Krista getting excited about everything and being happy about everything. I even miss arguing politics with Sara. But it's ok, cause that's life. I miss my friends but at least I had the chance to get to know them all. I'm REALLY glad that some of them will be within a couple hours in a few days. I'm also glad I have old friends and family that are helping me get through this transition without even realizing it. My family (especially Sara) listens patiently as I talk about people they don't know and visiting my friends up in Logan this last weekend was like no time at all had passed between us. Even the friends I hadn't seen in years.

Wow, sorry for that random sap. Two things are guaranteed to make me feel sappy: late night, and a chick flick. This is the result of mixing those two together for me.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Living situations

So this story has its beginnings a while ago. Towards the beginning of the semester a couple of the guys got what we all thought were rashes. After a few days they figured out it was actually bed bugs. The exterminator came and long story short, bed bugs didn't disappear, guys kept getting bit (I didn't even though I slept there a few times - I fear no bed bugs), and the last few weeks they had to move out of their apartment and disperse into others. Aaron, Jed, and Mike went to the 6th floor with the other guys, and Ben and Bryan moved to the 9th floor with Angela, Krista, Kari, Alyssa, and Sara. Ben had actually been sleeping there already cause he kept getting bit. So lately it's just been a big ol' party on the 9th floor. I actually moved in as well on Monday. Alyssa left and most of my friends are down there anyway so I packed clothes for 5 days and dragged my shower and bedding stuff down two flights of stairs and moved into Angela's room. The bed is 100 times comfortable and plus I don't have to go upstairs to sleep. It's awesome living here even if it only is for 4 nights. Angela, Ben, Bryan, Kari, Krista, and Sara (alphabetical order...I'm such a freak) are some of the best roommies ever!! I wish I had been living here all semester. Oh well. I practically lived on the 9th and 3rd floors anyway...

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Prank wars pt. III, West Virginia pt. III, Mount Vernon/Easter, and Baseball (take two)

Alright, I'll finally finish up (and correct) the post I tried to make but my friend got to first.

I did get Ben back. I bought 14 bags of Easter grass (not enough) and spread it all over his closet and stuffed it in his clothes. It didn't even compare to how he got me, but it worked. It kind of looked like someone threw up in his closet. And I say closet because he doesn't have a bedroom. He sleeps on the couch. My goal is to have him find grass in places he forgot to check in a few weeks or even months from now. If that happens, I will consider it a success.

I went to West Virginia for the third time last weekend. This time I rented the car and it was so amazing to drive. It made me really want to buy a car as soon as I can. Not a crappy one either. Not brand new, but you know. A nice and newish one. Anyway, this was a great trip. Ben, Aaron, Krista, and Angela came along. We won some, we lost some, we ate a lot, and we had a blast (as always). They had the crepes again and after just one plate of real food I just loaded up on the crepes. Oh so good. The guy has the actual crepes pre made and you just decide what kind you want. He puts a ton of butter in a frying pan along with brown sugar then pours in the berries. He has a big bowl of oranges cut in half and squeezes a little orange juice into the pan for a bit of extra flavor then tops it all off with some sort of Brandy (I think...maybe it's port. I don't know my alcohols). Then he throws in the crepe and lets it soak in the juices for a bit before taking it out, placing it on the plate, and pouring the contents of the frying pan on top. As soon as I get home I'm going to cook crepes like that. Minus the alcohol. It added a bit of flavor, but not enough to buy something expensive like that.

The next day was Easter Sunday and we still had the rental car so we drove ourselves to church. A few of us were naughty and left after Sacrament meeting to go to Mount Vernon. But in our defense we aren't here very much longer and you can't get to Mount Vernon from the metro. You have to have a car so we took the opportunity to have a nice relaxing Sunday activity. It was absolutely beautiful. Pretty chilly, but amazing. We waited in line forever to get into the mansion and while we were waiting one of the guys dressed in colonial garb came over and started talking to us (Christian, Angela, Kari, Krista, and me). He was absolutely hilarious. He talked to us pretty much the whole time and we were laughing our heads off. It made the line go by a lot faster I think. The mansion itself was really cool. The only other time I've been there it was being renovated so there wasn't any furniture in it. This time it for sure had furniture. Washinton's chair, and even the bed he died it. Amazing! The grounds were the best part. First stop we made was to the baby lambs. They were SO CUTE!!! It made me decide that I'm for sure getting a pigmy goat when I get my own house. Even better than a sheep (cause it's a goat) and better than a normal goat cause it stays little. Anyway, after the lambs we just spend a couple hours wandering around and looking at the amazingness that is Mount Vernon. It made me sad that I didn't make it out to Montecello this trip. Next time.

The next day (Monday) was the opening game for the Nationals. I was convinced to go on Monday morning - very last minute. I met Ben down there cause he had my ticket and we went to find everyone else (Mike, Crystal, Aaron, and Angela) since Crystal had my clothes. We told the ticket lady we were just grabbing something and would be right back and had every intention of doing just that. But when we got up to where they were sitting there were two seats just right there so we stayed. No one came to kick out out so obviously those seats weren't filled. Plus they were better than our seats anyway. It was way more fun since we all got to sit together. It was a good game. The Nats came SO close to winning. It was intense at the end. It was the first baseball game I had been to and it was a lot more fun than I was expecting. Granted, I got bored in the middle there for a bit, but it was cool. I don't know if a not major league game would be quite as fun, but I'd go to one of those again.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Explanation

Alright, the post right below this one is part me, part Angela. I had started writing it and Angela got ahold of my computer while I was downstairs and changed it up a bit and posted it. It made me laugh so hard I just had to keep it. I promise I'll write about prank wars, WV, Mount Vernon, and baseball in the next day or two.

Prank wars pt. III, West Virginia pt. III, Mount Vernon/Easter, and Baseball

So I finally got Ben back. The next step is to make him my boyfriend. I haven't put my pictures on the computer yet, but I'll post a couple when I do. I got 14 bags of Easter grass (should have gotten more) and put it all over his closet since he doesn't have a bedroom. I stuffed my bra with the grass too. I washed his clean clothes as well as his dirty ones and just dumped all the rest around. My goal is to have him out back in the barn, and find some grass in some random place in his clothes in a couple weeks or months to save as a souvenir. It isn't fantastically great like the tin foil, but it's the best I could do without being able to attack a bedroom, a neck, a third world country, or a car. I did it at night so when he woke up in the morning for work it was like that. Although Ben had a rough night with me making sexual advances, I guess the night before was worse when he found his closet like that. I felt bad and he cleaned it up before I could help him out with his leprosy. That's why I shouldn't get too involved in prank wars. I touched Ben Solari's butt yesterday. It was firm and delicious. I want to do it again. I feel too bad when I prank people, but I feel even worse when I fling hot dogs at pigeons in the park.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Ben's blog

Ben is a fellow intern here and he just started a blog. So far he's only written good things about the people here so check it out - for sure worth reading. Ben is such a stud and one of my favorites.

bkolendar.blogspot.com

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Random day trip to New York City

So this last week two of Bryan's siblings, Lindsey and Michael (totally awesome people by the way), were visiting and they decided to go to NYC on Sunday. Lindsey had invited me to go and at 11:30 I decided to tag along with them. So at 6 AM Bryan, Michael, Lindsey, and I left Crystal City and headed over to China to take the Chinatown bus to New York. The bus left at 6:45 and I won't lie, it was pretty uncomfortable. Not life alteringly terrible like I had heard, but not that great. I got about 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before so I slept almost the whole way. I did wake up towards the end there as we drove into the city. While we were still a long way off I could see the skyline and one of the skyscrapers was relfecting the sun really brightly and it reminded me of that quote from Annie when Miss Hannigan tells them to "clean this dump till it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building!" My mom used to always say that so it reminded me of her.

Once we got in to NY it made me laugh because Michael and Bryan both were immediately blown away at how many people were there and how huge it was. First thing we did was cross the street to McDonalds to use the bathroom. None of us dared to use the one on the bus. We then headed over to the subway to get a map and figure out what we were doing. They didn't have any maps left at that stop so we just used the one on the wall. We ended up going to the natural history museum, Strawberry Fields/Imagine memorial, the Statue of Liberty (we didn't ferry over), Chinatown, and Times Square that night. All day I could never find a map. That town is now worthless in my mind because I couldn't find a map. I could have done such an amazing job navigating if only I had a map... But that's ok cause it was still fun. At the Imagine memorial there were a few guys singing Beatle's songs and it was just fun to walk and chill around the city for a day. Lindsey is the hot one on the left, I'm upside down, Michael is the one in the hat, and Bryan has the funky smile.

All in all it was a super fun day. Lots of food, lots of spending money, and lots of walking. The ride home was a little less awesome. The ticket said the bus would leave at 10:30 so we got there a bit after 10 to make sure we got good seats only to find that the bus wasn't going to leave till 11. After everyone was loaded we looked around and it wasn't full so all 4 of us got our own 2 seats. Then a few stragglers hopped on and even though I was sitting in the isle one of the guys asked me if the seat next to me was taken. I scooted over and he sat down next to me. Of all the seats that were there, he picked the one next to me. BOO! We drove an hour to Newark and changed buses there for some reason. That was lame cause I was totally asleep. On the way back I sat in the isle next to Bryan. Aisle = bad, but aisle = bad so it evened out. We stopped again in Baltimore and people got off so I took my own row for the last hour of the drive. We got back to Chinatown a bit after 3 and grabbed a cab (yes, cabs were running at 3 AM) back to the apartment since the metro wasn't running. I was in bed by 3:30 and up at 7:15 to get ready for work. It was pretty intense. The next night I started watching Letters from Iwo Jima but around 10:30 I realized that I got about 4 hours of sleep and decided to go to bed. I was very happy I did. I was asleep by 11 - that hasn't happened for a while.

Friday, April 3, 2009

What I will miss...

A few things that I will miss about Washington, D.C.

1. MY FRIENDS. I couldn't have come out with a better group of interns. I could go through each person and tell you why I'll miss them and what I love about them, but that would take WAY too long. Suffice it to say that my friends out here made my transition way easier and have helped me through hard times and celebrated with me in the good. We have had some amazing times and I really hope we stay in contact after we all disperse.

2. MY COWORKERS. They are so much fun. I can't tell you how many hilarious and super insightful conversations I've had with these people. It's been awesome working with them even though I'm just a lowly intern.

3. WALKING EVERYWHERE. I like driving, but it's been refreshing not worrying about a car. It's awesome out here - you can walk a mile without even noticing it whereas in Utah, walking from my apartment on 800 North to Lee's on 1400 North just isn't done. I want to make it a goal to walk more when I get back to Utah. I love walking but for some reason it's harder for me to walk a mile in Utah than in D.C.

4. THE SITES. The city really is rich with history and I love it. I love the Capitol, I love the monuments, I love the museums, I love the Potomac, and I love the cherry blossoms. If I did have to live in a big city, it probably would be this one. There's nothing more awe inspiring (or few things at least) than walking up and down the Mall at night looking at all the monuments lit up. Sometimes when I'm walking around the Capitol I'll think about the men and women who walked where I'm walking. It really is fantastic.

5. PLAYING GAMES AT THE PARK. There's a soccer field (turf, not grass) about 4 blocks away from our complex and we walk over there a few times a weeks to play ultimate, football, or just to throw a baseball around. It's SO much fun. It's great to get outside and run around and pretend I'm not in a big city for a couple hours. The only lame part is the lights shut off at 10 and soccer games are usually going on until almost 9. It's still tons of fun though.

6. THE HUMPTAGON. There's a long story about where that name came from, but here it is in a nutshell: some of us started talking about doing a wrestle mania type thing, Mike called it the Hexagon cause that's what shape the ring is, Angela said that's a dumb name, I said heptagon to throw everyone off, and Angela came up with Humptagon to make it more interesting. We came up with names and created alliances and tag teams (Angela and I are The Lamanites since she's half Mexican and I'm Quarter Rican) and every now and then we'll all (or a couple of us will) get into a big ol' wrestling match. Also, we may or may not cheat *coughbryan-kneeling-on-my-lungscough*.

7. NOT PAYING TAXES ON THE HILL. While it's really expensive, I'm a fan of seeing something that says it's $2.50 and paying exactly $2.50. I could get used to this whole no sales tax thing.

8. CHAPLAIN BLACK'S BIBLE STUDIES. Chaplain Black is the bee's knees and the man who invented the-bomb.com. I don't know what denomination he is, but I don't really care. His lessons are full of beautifully fantastic truths and even though there are a few things I've heard him say that I don't agree with, I still love going and I still feel the spirit testify of a lot of what he says. It's a great way to end the work week.

9. SEEING SENATORS EVERYWHERE. After being in meetings with people I've only seen on C-SPAN and MSNBC it'll be just a little sad to leave that and never see people like that again. But whatevs. I won't miss it that much :P

10. WALKING PAST 'AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY' SIGNS IN THE CAPITOL. Seriously, this has given me a major false sense of superiority. It's awesome. I have almost unlimited access to the Capitol and it totally rocks. Sure, I'll come back, and sure, I'll go to the Capitol, but I'll never be able to walk past those signs and go wherever I want without getting stopped by the Capitol police again.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

What I won't miss...

Alright, I know this is the 4th post in 2 days or something, but I'm flying back to Utah in 28 days and there are a lot of things I'm going to miss about D.C. However, that's another post. This (and probably subsequent posts as the ideas come to me) is going to be dedicated to the things I will not miss about Washington, D.C. (in no particular order).

1. THE HUMIDITY. It hasn't been bad until recently. It us especially bothersome today since I did my hair this morning and miraculously it looked uber hot. I even put on makeup to complete the look. In the 20 minutes it took to walk from the metro to work my hair was flipping in all sorts of directions and my bangs were doing something crazy. There's no fixing it either. Even if I tried to do something with it tonight when I got home, by the time I head over to Bailey's for karaoke it'll be a mess again.

2. TOURISTS. Around inauguration time they flooded in and I couldn't wait till they were gone. There were a couple weeks a bit after the inauguration where I didn't notice them, but since then my tourist spotting has been steadily increasing. I pass them every morning on the escalator from the metro, I walk past them every day in my office building, I see them every time I go to the capitol, and I don't dare go to the Mall anymore for fear of being trampled. It really is insane. The worst part is, it won't ever stop. I thought tourists would only come out for certain holidays and events, but no. They are always here.

3. CIGARETTE BUTTS. They are everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against smokers. I have several friends who are smokers and I have no problem hanging out in bars and breathing it all in. It's the butts I can't handle. The streets and sidewalks of D.C. are incredibly clean except for the hundreds of cigarette butts I see every day.

4. WEARING SLACKS AND DRESS SHOES. I like walking. I like the rain. I like walking in the rain. I don't like having the urge to walk part of the way home from work in the rain but realizing I can't since I'm wearing dress shoes and slacks that I don't want to pay to have dry cleaned just yet. I won't miss trying to figure out if I can wear knee highs or if I should buy those things that just go around your foot (don't get those - they fall off your heel and you're stepping on them in your shoe all freaking day). I'm a fan of sandles and no socks or regular shoes and regular socks. None of this formal stuff.

5. HAVING A DESK JOB. Granted, I may get another desk job when I get back to Utah, but I like to hope that I won't. I hate sitting at a computer.

6. LAUNDRY. Doing laundry here is the biggest pain. The machines are all in the basement and out of the way and it costs $1.75 each for a wash and a dry. I usually do two loads every week and a half or so so it's costing me $7 every time I do laundry. They are making a killing with the whole laundry thing. The machines are long since paid for but it still costs my foot to wash my clothes. Not to mention dry cleaning. I have 5 pairs of pants and a couple shirts that require this service and it's $4.95 before tax for every item. Not bad, but it adds up quickly. I go longer than I probably should before washing my slacks.

7. POLITICS. This probably should have been listed first for emphasis. I love political science, but I hate politics. I hate the partisan bickering, I hate the inability to compromise, and I hate the lack of common sense (or at least the refusal to put it to use). I've met so many brilliant people here and heard brilliant senators give brilliant speeches (mostly improvised), but no one is willing to make concessions or admit that maybe they're asking for a little too much. This happens on both sides of the isle no matter who is in the majority. It frustrates me so much that I don't even read about politics anymore. I've never felt so disconnected with Washington before. I'm excited to get home so I can have interest at least enough to know what is going on.

8. CONCRETE. The city is a great place to visit, but I miss nature. I miss mountains, trees, grass, bushes, flowers, fields, and stars. I see a few stars every now and then and some of the federal buildings have little flower gardens with trees here and there, but it isn't nature. Plus, where I live in Alexandria, everything is concrete. There is a park a few blocks away from us, but other than that I see streets, hotels, apartment complexes, office buildings, and cars. Thank goodness for our day trips on the weekends out of the city. Without them I'd go crazy.

9. MY BED. My bed here is one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever slept on. It's one step up from sleeping on the floor - not exaggerating even a little. I hate this mattress so much. I've gotten used to it now, but on the occasions I sleep on my couch or my friend's couch, I am in heaven.

10. MISSING MY NIECE AND NEPHEW. Yep, I won't miss missing them. I visit Sara and Leith's blogs more often then they are updated and I watch videos and look at pictures and miss Tamsine and Elliott so much it makes me tear up sometimes. For some strange reason they are the only family members I miss enough to come home for. If my siblings didn't have kids it would have been harder to make the decision not to stay out here. I've missed Taz learning to crawl and Elliott learning to laugh, smile, and coo. I really can't wait to see them.

Prank Wars Part II (April Fools' was Part I)

So when I got home, I found my room looking like this. Quite literally everything (except a small pile of clothes that was at the foot of my bed and moved to the closet by the culprit) was wrapped in tin foil. I'm not going to lie - it was amazing. Floor to ceiling - everything in my third of the bedroom was silver. Even shoes I had left under my bed and earrings I had on my dresser were nicely wrapped in tin foil. I went downstairs to confront Ben and ask how he did it but he insisted it wasn't him. He did, however, tell met that the guy who called yesterday did in fact call him, and Ben told him it was an April Fools' joke. Upon hearing this the guy started laughing and said how good of a joke that was. Ben asked if he'd do him a favor and help get me back so Ben gave him my phone number and the guy called me and left an angry voice mail. Amazing :). So anyway, I spent half the night trying to figure out who doused my bedroom in tin foil and I should have just stuck with my original instinct because it was indeed Ben. Don't worry, I'm already plotting my revenge. It's hard cause he sleeps on the couch and doesn't have a bedroom, but I've still got a couple of ideas...

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Fools'

So let me tell you about the little prank war that is currently going on. On Friday night I was alone in my friends' apartment watching TV and I said to myself, "what am I doing? No one is home! They're expecting me to prank them for April Fools' but they won't be expecting it on the 27th of March!" So I got to work. I put salt on their toothbrushes (they didn't taste that one though. Apparently I didn't use enough), moved their dishes to the cupboard over, moved some of the food to the dish cupboard, switched all of their clothes to different closets, hid random things, and put their underwear in plastic bags and into the freezer. Of course, they figured out it was me and so far only Ben has got me back.

On Monday morning I had a migraine so I stayed home from work. That afternoon as I was reading I got a phone call asking me about the free kittens I had. I told them they had the wrong number. A couple minutes later I got another call asking about kittens. Again, I said you had the wrong number. This girl actually said my name though so I figured someone had posted an ad in my name. I called my sister and asked her to check Craigslist for free kittens from me, but she couldn't find me. A few more people called and I finally answered one and told them I didn't have any kittens and I asked where she saw the ad. She said KSL so I called my sister again and asked her to check KSL.com. Sure enough, there was an ad from me with my phone number saying I had 4 free kittens to give away before the kids get too attached. I couldn't take it off so I changed my answering machine to mention that if you're calling about the kittens, they're already gone. I got about 30 calls and a few texts that day. It was insane.

For a while I didn't know who it was. I had it narrowed down to three (Jed, Bryan, and Ben) simply because none of them denied it was them while Aaron and Mike both swore it wasn't them. So today I wanted to see who it was for sure so I decided to be unoriginal just to find out who it was. I placed an ad for cheap guns from Jed, free office furniture from Bryan, and cheap skis and snowboards from Ben. Based on their reactions, I determined it was Ben. I should have realized that from the beginning (and he was my top suspect) but I didn't want to guess wrong. After I found out who it was I deleted all the ads from the internet but kept Ben's on a bit longer so he went through the same thing I did. Also I posted an awesomely photoshoped picture of him on facebook. Please go to my profile and check it out. Anyway, around 4:20 today I got this call and of course, being at work, I didn't answer it. The caller left a message and it was a very stern sounding guy with a bit of a southern/Texan accent (maybe it was a rural Utah accent, who knows) that said the following:

"Hey Jenna. I understand, I guess you played an April Fool's joke on a man named Ben - just want you to know that I don't appreciate that. It affects a lot more people than just him. I just got cleared off of work to head up to Logan to purchase these fire arms so I don't think it's very funny. I do appreciate a good joke, but this affects a lot more people than just him so you ought to think about that next time you do one."

There are two possibilites to explain this situation. Either this is real and he called Ben and Ben gave him my phone number or it's an elaborate come back from Ben. He knows of a website where you can make calls and it'll show up as any phone number you want no matter what phone you're calling from. He could have gotten a friend or co-worker to make the call and used a 435 number as the display number. The trouble with that is, when I googled the phone number that called me, it was a real guy in Tooele who does all sorts of stuff with fire arms and the Republican party. So for a minute I thouhgt it was real. Then I told Ben about it and he is claiming that he knows nothing. If he knows nothing, that means he couldn't have given a stranger my phone number and it was a prank cause there is no other way that guy could have gotten ahold of my phone number. So either Ben found a legit looking phone number to use and played a pretty elaborate prank on me, or he's just not telling me that he gave my number to a very pissed off potential customer just to mess with me. I won't find out for sure either way cause Ben won't ever break. He literally is the king of pranks. I don't know what I've gotten myself into. I'll keep you posted though if there are any new developments.

Also, if you have ideas for me to get him back, please let me know. He doesn't have a bedroom (he keeps his stuff in a closet and sleeps on the couch) or a car here. He shares food with the rest of the apartment and doesn't have that much stuff here anyway so I'm getting hard pressed to come up with some good pranks.

I'm a moron...

So last week a Utah intern in Rob Bishop's office emailed us and asked if any of us would like to go on a White House tour. I said I would so she squeezed me into a vacant slot they had. I put the appointment in my Outlook calendar and had it remind me an hour before. The tour was at 2 so it reminded me at 1. I usually take lunch at noon so it wouldn't have been a problem. However, my friend Mike emailed me today and said I should go to 1 o'clock lunch with him and Angela and I said I would. By the time I got back at 2, I was WAY too late for the tour. I walked in and our staff assistant said, "Did you not go on your White House tour?" Boo. I suck at life.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Philly

A bunch of us went to Philadelphia on Saturday and it was way fun. 16 of us went in 2 cars and a van. I was in the van with 7 of my good friends out here. It was a 7 seater, but 8 of us ended up squeezing in and it was a blast (I know Mom, I'm irresponsible). The van didn't leave till 9:30ish for various reasons, so we didn't get to Philly till a bit after noon. We went and saw the Liberty Bell before meeting up with everyone to go through Independence Hall. They took us only to two rooms in the building - one was the court room and the other was the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where both the Constitutional Conventions took place. That part was a little emotional for me. It was fantastic. They even had the same chair George Washington sat in at the front of the room. It really was amazing.

After Independence Hall we split up again because the other two cars had already eatten. The 8 of us went down to a place called Jim's but not before stopping in at a place called Condom Kingdom that we happened to park outside of. It was quite possibly the funniest store I've been in. There was a tree near the entrance that was decorated with condoms and the ceiling had giant sperm with smiles on their faces swimming around. It was hilarious. At Jim's we waited in line for about half an hour before getting our Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches which were magically delicious. Mmm...

After lunch we headed over to the art museum where Rocky ran up the steps. We took pictures with his statue (yep - a statue of a movie) before running up the steps and jumping at the top. No worries - we weren't the only ones doing that so we didn't look quite as moronic as we could have. It was pretty funny though. There were two wedding parties taking pictures because the building is amazingly beautiful, art people going in and out of the building all sheek and posh, tourists and school groups running up the steps and jumping/yelling at the top, and real boxers/runners going up and down just like Rocky did. Holy crap, it was awesome. We all hung out there for a bit and waited for another car to meet up with us. We entertained ourselves by looking at the amazing view and lick slapping each other. Alright, the lick slaps were just between Ben and me but it was still entertaining.

After the Rocky steps we headed over to Cape May in New Jersey but by the time we got there is was dark and the water was icey cold. A few of us went in but I didn't stay in the water too long because it was so incredibly painful. Angela completely soaked her pants and played in the water for a while cause she had never been in the Atlantic before. During the ride to dinner she placed Aaron's jacket over her legs and took her pants off because she was so cold. Good times. But Cape May really was beautiful. There was a lighthouse right there and it was all misty and dark and eerie. I love the ocean. I for sure want to go back there during the day before I leave.

The day trips we take are probably my favorite part of being out here. I've been to West Virginia a couple times, Cape May, Philly, Williamsburg, and North Carolina. Although I still need to get to Gettysburgh, Monticello, Amish country, Scranton, and NYC. We've got NYC planned out and it won't be too hard to make it out to everywhere else I want to go. Exept maybe Savanna, GA. I do want to go down there but that'd take some convincing of others on my part and I don't know if I care that much.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Life Plans!

It's official. I'm going into social work. At least I hope so. I still need to get into the program at the U and that won't be decided for a while, but that's what I'm planning on. The U is really the only place I'd want to go. Utah State's program isn't credited yet, I have absolutely no desire to go to BYU, UVU, or SUU, and none of the other programs in neighboring states look that appealing. My friend Bryan has a couple friends visiting out here right now and one of them is finishing up her second year in the program at the U. She said as long as I write a good sob story and have good grades I shouldn't have a problem getting in so hopefully that happens. So yeah, right now I'm just trying to figure out if I can save enough money while working and living in Logan or if I should just move back in with my parents. Moving in with my parents makes a lot of financial sense since I want to pay off my loans before I go back to school, but Logan is just so much fun and all my friends are there. I'll probably just end up living in Orem but going up to Logan 3 out of 4 weekends...

On a random note, I finally bought my cap and gown for graduatin. $37ish, but whatev. Weird taht in just over a month I'll be a college graduate. I don't feel old enough for this stuff...

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Life plans?

So I may or may not have decided to do with my life. I think I'm going to be a social worker. My friend John has on occasion mentioned that I should look into it so it's always been in the back of my head. It was moved to the forefront recently when I was talking to my friend Bryan about not knowing what I want to do. I told him that when it comes right down to it, I just want to help people. As long as I feel like I'm helping people I can be happy in my choice of career. He asked me if I had considered social work and I told him that I kind of had. I started thinking about it and reading my patriarchal blessing and it just makes sense. More sense than anything I've come up with so far at least. The U has a master's program where I could get a MSW with an emphasis in international social work. With that emphasis I could work with refugees or even work abroad if I ever wanted to. At the same time, with the master's in social work, I could be a regular social worker anywhere. Seriously, anywhere I go I can be a social worker. With the jobs I was looking into previously, it wasn't like that at all. So I'm getting pretty excited. I think I'm going to go home after my internship, find a job related to social work, work for about a year and pay off my student loans (easy to do if I maybe move back home - are you down with that, Mom?) then start school in the fall of 2010. I just need to make sure I apply other places too cause the program at the U had 300 applicants this last year for 120 spots. Kind of intense, but that would be my first pick at this point. The more I think about this, the more I like it.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hilarity

http://13.media.tumblr.com/GZbqLZ3AXjukb4n6IYrha3Olo1_500.jpg

Updates and Struggles

The last couple of weeks I've been going to Bible Study on Fridays during lunch with my friends. The Senate Chaplain, Chaplain Black, teaches it and it's totally awesome. There have only been a couple of things I haven't agreed with that he's said and everything else is amazing. I took notes today and will from now on because he is just so fantastic. Plus, they feed us which is why I was convinced to go in the first place. There's an institute at 12:30 but apparently Chaplain Black is better. I still feel like I'm getting spiritual nourishment.

I had a friend visit from Saturday to Wednesday. Kayla (who I know from Utah State) came with her friend Fish (Felisha) and it was so totally fun. I wasn't able to get much work off - just Tuesday afternoon - but it was still awesome. We played frisbee with everyone, went shopping, ate out, and I stayed home while they saw all the monuments (I'm experiencing some monument fatigue). It really was awesome having them here. It's always a lot of fun when old friends get along well with new ones :)

So I'm having a struggle and if any of you want to give me some advice I will more than appreciate it. I've been trying to figure out if I want to go back to Utah and get a job in Salt Lake or stay here. Or even go somewhere like Colorado or California. Here is my dilemma. I do love it out here and I think as long as I could buy or rent a car and travel over to West Virginia or something every now and then I could handle the big city. However, I really don't think I'll enjoy this place NEARLY as much without the people who are here now. And granted, I'll meet more people, but it seems weird that I'd get along with them as well as I get along with some of the interns here. I feel like I really lucked out with this group. Plus, another strike against here, I really like my family and I'm missing my nephew and niece a ton. Not that I don't miss the rest of my family, cause I totally do, but for some reason it's harder with Taz and Elliott. I look at pictures of them posted by my sister and sister-in-law and I just want to go home for those few minutes. And as for the rest of my family, I get along with all of them really well and I consider some of them my best friends. I miss hanging out, watching movies, and eating Sunday dinner. But then I remember what I want to do for a job and possibly a career and I realize that the only opportunities for me are in big cities like DC or NYC. Places closer to home like Denver and San Diego are options too, but I feel like if I get a job not in Utah, it's going to be here since I'm here now and making contacts here. Boo. I just hate making decisions.

I'll end on a happy note. I might to to West Virginia again tomorrow! WOOT!!!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Best Birthday Eve Ever!

Two very exciting things happened to me today. The first is I got to talk to my friend Nate Nash who just got home from his mission in New Jersey. He was one of my closest friends the first couple years of college and it was SO good to talk to him. He didn't seem awkward at all which was a bonus. Doesn't mean he isn't awkward, but our conversation was a good one. I'm so crazy excited to see him in April.

Second thing. Wait for it... I FREAKING SAW BRAD PITT IN PERSON!!! He was on The Hill today meeting with Reid, Murray, and Pelosi to talk about his organization that builds low income and sustainable houses in New Orleans. All day long I was joking with a few people about stalking him then one of my friends over on the house side found out that he had a meeting with Pelosi in her Capitol office at 3:30. I left my office at 2:40 to meet a few friends in the Crypt and figure out where to go from there. I didn't tell anyone in my office where I was going because, let's face it, going over to the Capitol to see Brad Pitt is a little stalkerish/creepy/something a teenager would do. Anyway, we made our way up to the Rotunda which is close to Pelosi's office. We were standing around for about 10 minutes figuring out the best place to be to see him when all of a sudden he walks into the Rotunda from one end (surrounded by his entourage) and out the other and into the corridor leading to Pelosi's office. He was about 20 feet away from me and I stared at him for about 30 seconds. Unfortunately we weren't expecting him so soon so none of us had our cameras ready which sucks. But holy crap was he attractive. He was shorter than I expected him to be (which, let's face it, I was more than ok with - I'm a fan of shorter guys) and just so incredibly good looking. He had a goatee (we all know I love facial hair) and was wearing a very expensive looking suite that was extremely well tailored and a vest under his jacket. I swooned. He was walking briskly so I didn't have the guts to go ask for a picture or an autograph but that's ok because I still saw him. I was shaking for a good minute afterwards as well. Oh so fantastic. I've had great birthdays the last couple of years. Last year I met Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords on my birthday and this year I see Brad Pitt the day before my birthday! Can life get any better!?

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Mardi Gras and Other Adventures

Mardi Gras this year was super fun. Granted, it wasn't an amazingly awesome time at Utah State, but it was cool for the short notice we had. We decided to have purple, gold, and green food since we didn't really prepare anything else. On our way home from work Mike, Bryan, and I stopped off at Rite Aid to see what we could find. I didn't get any inspiration since the Rite Aid in our basement sucks so I took comfort in the fact that the guys had food coloring. When I got to their apartment and started looking around, I found that they only had blue dye. I put it in the lemonade which turned it green. The pancakes I made turned out to be a very pretty blue that we ended up calling purple. When the pancakes got cooked they turned that golden-brown color pancakes turn so there was the gold. I still wasn't 100% satisfied, so I added more to my milk and called that gold as well. We ate pancakes and bacon and watched Arrested Development. It was awesome.

Another adventure I had recently was a trip down to Williamsburg and Jamestown. It was all pretty and colonial. We rented a car again (Prius upgrade for $7) and left DC around 7:30. Williamsburg took a couple of hours to get to so by the time we left there it was about lunch. After eating we took the ferry (Prius and all) over to Scottland island. Even though it was all cold and rainy, it was way super pretty. We just drove around for hours enjoying the scenery and the company. After a while we decided to head down to North Carolina for some dinner for the heck of it. We wend just over the border to Rowanoke and ate at this really crappy road house place. After dinner we just headed back up to D.C. cause it was pretty late by then. All in all though, it was a really fun trip.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Countdown Races Sing This Song...

So this Saturday was a great day. My friends Bryan, Mike, Jed, and I drove to Charles Town, West Virginia and went to the Race Track. We got a reservation for the high class buffet and pretty much stayed there from 5:30 to 10ish. So much food equals awesome. We also made a few bucks so that was sweet. I can see how betting at the race tracks can get super addicting. The only lame part was during the last race one of the horses stumbled and broke its legs and they had to put it down right there on the track. That was kind of a downer.

The ride to the race tracks was the best part. West Virginia is just like John Denver said - almost heaven. The only way it would have been more perfect is if the "mountains" were really mountains. I could so totally live there. I don't know if West Virginia really was exceptionally beautiful or if I really, really, really miss the mountains and open spaces, but I loved West Virginia so crazy much.

We rented a car and the guy upgraded us to a hybrid so we went well over 200 miles on 5.8 gallons of gas. It would have been more if I had driven since Mack taught me well in the ways of hypermiling. It actually bothered me a little how fast Mike was accelerating and braking.

It took us a while to get out of the city because we only had google's very un-specific directions on Bryans BlackBerry but once we did it was beautiful. We got out at one point and wandered around this little river and took pictures on the bridge. This place really was great. Beautiful, open, quiet, but within an hour drive of DC. I'm totally going back.

We also went to Harper's Ferry on the way there and wandered around. There were some awesome shops and it was just a fantastically quaint little town even though most of the town was little museums and historically preserved exteriors that changed their interiors into bathrooms and stuff. I did get a fantastic hand made mug. Their website is www.westwindpotters.com. It's a crappy website, but I'm pretty sure you can buy stuff online.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Glories of the Flea Market


So a few of us went to the flea market this past Saturday in Eastern Market. It was one of the most incredible places I've ever been. I got a few cheap things and one pretty expensive one that is hanging above my bed right now and that I'm going to love forever. This guy's paintings were so amazing - totally knocking off Van Gough but putting fantastic scenes in the art. Starry Night is my favorite painting of all time and DC is one of my favorite places of all time, so this was something I just couldn't pass up. Although because of that purchase I won't be able to get anything else for a while even though my friend and I decided that going to the flea market for breakfast every Saturday was going to be a ritual (apparently they have great breakfasts).

On a more random note, I'm going to the airport in a bit to go pick up my friend James. He's staying with me till Tuesday and I'm totally stoked. We get work off on Monday and I got Tuesday off as well so this will be a nice long weekend.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Life in D.C.

Sorry about the lack of posts. Hopefully I'll be better from now on - especially now that I have more to write about than just college life in Logan.

I've been here in D.C. for over a month now, and I'm loving it. I'm living in Arlington, Virigina in Crystal City. The metro is just about a 7 minute walk from my apartment and from walking out of my apartment to walking into my office is about a 40 minute commute. The apartments are the nicest I've lived in as a college student. I have a freaking dishwasher again!! That has been one of the best things. The apartments are really big and we don't have to pay utilities. It's awesome.

So here is a day in the life of Jenna: I wake up M-F at 7. Take a shower, get ready, and leave by about 8:15. I usually have to wait a bit for the yellow line to get there and while I wait I usually bump into someone else I know who is going to work. I used to take the metro to Union Station because that's closer to the Senate side, but it turns out that even though the Capitol South stop is a longer walk, it's a prettier walk, faster all around, and 30 cents cheaper. On my way to work I pass all of the House buildings, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. I get to work around 9, take an hour lunch around noon, and get off for the night at 6. I come home, eat a little dinner, and go downstairs to the guys apartment (I still enjoy the company of guys better). Mondays we'll go to FHE and/or half price burgers at the sports pub, Tuesdays have become pupusa night at the Salvadorean resaurant close by, Wednesdays are Costco night, Thursdays are karaoke at Bailey's, and Friday we usually go out. But I generally don't go back upstairs to my apartment until I go to bed, even if we don't do anything. Saturdays we generally spend all day and most of the night out and Sundays are generally spent relaxing at home (or downstairs in my case) or at a museum or something. All in all I have a pretty busy schedule and it's awesome. I'm loving it.

For sure the best thing here are my fellow interns which is why I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as I am if I stayed out here. There are 5 apartments of interns here from USU, ISU, Weber, SUU, and UVU (all of which rent the apartments from Utah State) and I spend most of my time hanging out with 2 of the apartments (neither of which are mine for some reason). It really has been great.

Alright. That'll be all for now, but I'll try and keep this more updated with my life here back east.