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.