Executive compensation, Desperate Housewives and Rock Band

The four day week after a long weekend was nice but I was still exhausted by the end of it. I had a lot of busy work to do this week because there weren't any really big projects for interns to do. I spent most of my time deduping (making sure there aren't duplicate constituent records) or routing email which is really boring. However I did ask to go to a Financial Services Committee hearing about executive compensation. It was very interesting and exciting to watch but most of what they talked about what way over my head. Basically, I learned that big banks and corporations give ridiculous bonuses at a time when the average person is really struggling because of those corporations' greediness. I came in and couldn't find a seat so I was just going to stand by the door but a guy to the right moved some stuff so I could sit down. I didn't realized until later that I was sitting in a seat reserved for press. Oops! When they started giving me pieces of paper that said "For immediate release" I realized that I had made a bit of a mistake. When I got back to my office I told my scheduler what happened and she laughed but told me that the papers I got might be useful to the press secretary so I gave them to her and she laughed too when I told her what happened. I felt pretty good after that because I had done something interesting and gotten out of the office for a little while but then my chief of staff gave me a project and as I went to give it back to him he gave me a whole bunch of little changes to make and over and over again it was the same thing. I guess I wasn't looking closely enough at some of the littlest details so I understand but after a few times of this I was starting to get extremely discouraged. The last one was to capitalize a letter in the middle of an organization title so it would look the same as the others of that organization but the system we use is not even case sensitive. Hopefully this upcoming week goes better so I can make up for the one bad day I had. On Tuesday night I went to Best Buy to get a camera to replace the one I broke and to Target to get some groceries. My new camera is just a newer version of my old one and unfortunately I haven't really gotten to use it much yet. I have a roommate who watches Desperate Housewives and I have been trying to catch up online but it's just not available so I got the fifth season at Target and then I'll watch the sixth one online. I also went to Marshalls to get some bowls and silverware because there isn't enough in the house and found some really cute ones for really cheap. When I got home I decided to start watching Desperate Housewives which was the biggest mistake. I cannot stop watching and it's starting to effect my sleeping. I keep telling myself I'll just watch one more episode, and then one more, and then one more and the next thing I know it's two in the morning...eek! Yesterday we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and American History Museum. I had forgotten to charge the battery for my new camera so I had to take my old one and hope I got some decent pictures. The lens is okay so it will take a picture but the screen is so messed up that I couldn't see if I actually got what I wanted to take a picture of in the screen. I haven't gotten them off the memory card yet so I'll have to just wait and see. I didn't get to see as much of the museum as I would have liked so I'll probably have to go another day to see the rest because it's huge. When we went to the American History Smithsonian the first thing I wanted to see was the American flag that Francis Scott Key had written the national anthem about. It is a huge flag (32 by 34 feet) but still smaller than it had been because in the 1900's people took pieces of it for keepsakes. It's missing a star too but it's still an amazing sight. The museum has done a great job preserving it since they got it but you aren't allowed to take pictures so I don't have any to show. After we left we got some food at the "tex-mex" place next door and then I headed to a party at a coworkers house. The other intern and I were going to meet at the metro stop and head over there and she said she knew a stop that might be easier than the stop I had looked up so I said ok. Unfortunately it took us through a sketchy part of town and we were a little freaked out but we made it there (after witnessing a drug deal). When we told them the way we had came they all said it was kind of shady over there and gave us a better way to get home. We played rock band the whole time and it was really nice to hang out with work people outside of the office. Today is pretty much a lazy day getting ready for another week of work so there isn't much going on in the house. Some roommates are going to see a movie but it's not one I'm interested in seeing so I think I'm going to try to catch up on Desperate Housewives so I might be able to make it to bed at a reasonable time this week.

First full week of work

I've been told I don't update this enough so I'll make sure this is a long post. The first full week of work was exhausting but I also enjoyed a lot of the work I did. The email routing and cleaning up of files is kind of tedious and mind numbing but I also got to do some interesting jobs. I ran around to 27 other offices and got to go to a what would MLK do forum discussion where the representative from D.C. spoke and she gave a great speech. Unfortunately my chief of staff needed me to leave early to brief him on it so I had to get up early and walk out which was so embarrassing but I had to do what he told me to. Answering the phones is probably the least fun part of my job and I really wonder how people can be so angry yet so dumb. Luckily this week I received a lot of calls about people supporting him and that they stand behind him and that was really nice to hear. I have to say I was ecstatic when it was finally the weekend though. Friday night we went to an Tech alumni's house who had done the internship and met a lot of people who had done the internship before and were currently working here so that was nice to hear. Hopefully any connections I make here will help me find a job here after I graduate. Then we went out with the first floor people to hang out which was a lot of fun. Normally the first and third floors are so separated and we don't really hang out with eachother so I really enjoyed getting to hang out with them. Yesterday we went to the National Art Gallery and the art there was amazing. Unfortunately we got there a little later than planned because everyone had slept in so we only had about an hour there and that was not enough time to see everything. We decided to go to the National Portrait Gallery so we walked down to Chinatown and luckily they were open until 7 so we had more time there. The portraits were great and I would have loved to spend more time in there reading about each person depicted but we started to get hungry and so we left to find some food. I think with some of these museums we're going to need a whole day there to see everything because they are so huge. We were walking around in Chinatown and ended up eating at this place we had seen before called Texas BBQ and it was actually really good. It made me think of home except the people working there certainly did not have the Texas hospitality you get at BBQ places in Texas. We came home and watched the Colts/Ravens game and played some games until we went to bed. For a Saturday night it was pretty relaxing but after the long week at work I think that's what everyone wanted. With the extra day tomorrow we are planning on going to Mt. Vernon and exploring that so I'm really excited about that. This city is so beautiful and there is so much to do so I am loving being here for an entire semester. Hopefully that was enough of an entry to make up for the fact that I haven't written in a week.

First weekend in DC

I had a good first few days at work but I'm definitely glad it's the weekend. Yesterday at work was great and made up for a bit of a bad day on Thursday. I got to go to other Congressman's offices and get signatures on a letter which meant going between Congressional office buildings in underground tunnels! I also got a pretty cool project to research a legislation topic that is probably going to be introduced fairly soon and formulate a letter responding to constituents on the Congressman's stance on the issue. I know they are going to have to revise it and it's just practice but it's still exciting to be given a better project than just sorting mail. We went out yesterday and spent way too much money the first night out, so I will have to work on finding better drink specials. I finally got a chance to go walking around today because I had been working all week while the other interns, who dont start until Monday, got to see some of the sights. We went and got groceries, which was exciting because it was my first ride on the metro, and of course I didn't know which one to get on and which way to go but luckily some of the other interns knew how to get there. The big grocery store here is Harris Teeter, and it was nice to be able to finally get groceries but it was kind of a confusing store. I was the only one in the house who still didn't have food so I had been living off of the ramen that had been stocked for use when we got here and that was getting old quickly. We also went to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. It was amazing to see all of these landmarks in person rather than on TV or in pictures and it was a great time. The reflection pool was frozen over and one of the roommates stood on it to take a picture and we were all a little worried that the first thing we would have to tell our internship coordinator is that one of the interns was in the hospital bc they fell into the reflection pool. It was great to walk around but it was so cold! It was in the 20's but it felt like it was 10 degrees and the wind was blowing so bad. My legs were completely numb and I have no idea how I could still walk because I couldn't feel anything below my waist. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and hopefully getting well rested for my first full week of work.

First day of work!

When people say wear comfy shoes and then change when you get to the office, they aren't kidding. I didn't think the first day would be too bad because it's only a couple blocks away but what I didn't know was that I had to go to training that was about 6 blocks away. Luckily I made it but next time I will listen to other's advice the first time. I got to work early and in my nice black suit only to find out that because Congress isn't in session and the Congressman isn't in the office we can wear jeans. Everyone in the office was really nice and helpful and made me a little less nervous. Routing emails to the right staffers was easy and organizing people in the system was also, but the phone really had me worried. I only answered it a couple of times but I was so nervous the whole time that I almost hung up on someone. I got home after work and was pretty tired but went to dinner with some of the girls from the house and had a lot of fun. All my roommates are really nice and I'm so happy that everyone already gets along so well. I wish I had waited to start work so I could have gone exploring with them today but I'll have the whole weekend to get around and see the sights. Me and my roommate Lori did walk around a little bit last night but it was so cold! We had been getting ready to go and she asked me if she thought we needed gloves and hats and have our feet completely covered. It hadn't been too cold when I had got in that day so I told her I thought we would be okay.... Apparently I was wrong, but now she knows that I am not a very reliable source, hehe. Hopefully I'll have more energy tomorrow when I get done with work to go get a metro pass, buy groceries and walk around a little bit.