Live from DC

Greetings from rainy Washington, DC!
The locals say the first day you feel the humidity, it's the beginning of the End. Last Sunday was an exceptionally beautiful day, but also the first day that we actually felt the sultry air. Today it rains, and it is still a bit humid, which admittedly puts an enjoyable spin on the whole rain thing.

To bring things up to speed, our 2-week road trip to the East went better than expected. It was long enough to feel like a true adventure (no breakdowns, and luckily we missed all of the bad weather the entire way), though short enough to feel like we weren't vagabonds. I'm still working on some photos of the sojourn, but highlights included crazy times in Vegas (I won $15 on my first roll at the penny slots!), nearly falling off the Grand Canyon, adopting a slight Southern drawl, and having an 80-year-old Cajun man whose technically spoke English as his second language motor us around a swamp pointing out all of the gators.

And finally, we arrive in Alexandria, Virginia. Tired, broke, and disoriented we only had two days to get our barrings and prepare ourselves for the first day of work.

Work, or Observations After Two Weeks of Working in a Congressional Office
On the road trip I received a call from Rep. Brian Baird's office offering me a $2000 stipend. Sen. Maria Cantwell's office couldn't offer me anything, so I decided to intern with Baird (he represents Southwest Washington). The office is old and small (JFK laid the cornerstone to the building in 1961), but at least we have modern computers that don't require hampster wheels to operate. There are six people in my room (mostly policy advisors and letter writers), two people in the front (scheduler and receptionist), two in the back room (cheif of staff and legislative director), and finally the Congressman's office. If you've seen Charlie Wilson's War, it's a similar lay-out and size.

My boss is very nice and so far pleasant to work with. He took us on a tour up the dome of the capitol building and is very candid with a nerdy sense of humour. The staff at the office have been very nice, and most hail from Washington so no, I will not be developing a Virginian accent.

As for the job itself, my main task is to answer phones and log in constituent mail. I get a lot of cranky old people calling in, and a lot of reactionary-Fox News types, which at least gives me a lot of good content to laugh at during the day. One caller today was literally suggesting that we keep tabs on pregnent immigrant women, so that they can be deported before they give birth (with the hope that the child would not be an American citizen). Yes, these are the people I have to deal with!

I also run random errands, delivering bills to the Cloak Room in the Capitol (bills go in the "hoppa" to be read on the House floor), and getting supplies (ooooh). Here's a photo of me at the top of the rotunda on Friday (3/27/09): http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=15mh9vl&s=5

Highlight of the month of March? I rode the elevator with Geraldo. Yes, his hair is as poofy as it looks (Pert Plus?)

Washington, DC, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Public Transit
My typical commute takes about an hour. Each way. The DC metro is amazing - it's modern, safe, fast, and I haven't seen any graffitti anywhere. I've gotten my metro ride down to about 30-40 minutes each way, but I also ride a shuttle to my apartment so the extra 15-20 minutes of my commute is waiting for that thing. My first impressions of DC were very positive. It was clean, had grand boulevards with massive edifices on each block. There are too many statues to count, and plenty of squares, plazas, and parks. I still think I'm in Europe.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=bhkcia&s=5

We have gone out a couple of times at night to explore the hot spots. Here are the general observations thusfar:

• No one is very attractive.
• Everyone is short (is it the water?)
• Drinks are generally expensive.
• There aren't any cool neighborhoods or concentrated night spots, like Fremont or Capital Hill.

We will continue to endeavour out into the nightlife world, and explore the surroundings, and report back. We haven't had a free weekend yet, and museums close at 5:30, so the goal in the next few weeks is to at least get into one or two Smithsonians.

That's all I am able to write now, I'll update a bit more frequently now that we're finally starting to feel settled and at home.

Miss you all!