Tours, Papers, Ice Skating

Last weekend I visited to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. It was great to return to what is arguably the Smithsonian's best museum. My favorite parts of the museum included the sections about the American Presidency, Abraham Lincoln, and the previous wars America has fought in. I will upload the photos I took soon which will include photos of Abraham Lincoln's hat, a pair of  ruby slippers used in The Wizard of Oz, Apollo Ohno's skates, and one of George Washington's military uniforms.

The best part of the week was taking a tour of the Capitol  which was lead by another UC student who works on Capitol Hill. She was a friend of one of my roommates and luckily the day she was available to give a tour was my day off. Whether it was touring the old Supreme Court Chamber, the Capitol Rotunda, the room that used to house the House of Representatives, the Capitol Crypt, or the current chamber of the House of Representatives there was not a moment that I took for granted. The best part about this tour was that since it was late in the day, there were fewer people to make noise and fewer people in line making the relatively the tour relatively short compared to the last time I toured the Capitol

As the week went on it became apparent that I was beginning to fall behind on the assigned papers in both of my classes. I had not yet started on either of my ten-page papers or on my two-page short paper. Unfortunately, this kept me from leaving my apartment for most of the weekend. However, I am glad to say that I was very productive this weekend and finished my first drafts for one of my ten-page papers and my two-page paper.

Fortunately, the few hours I did spend outside my apartment were well spent. My roommates, friends from our floor, and myself began our Saturday night eating delicious and spicy Indian food. Following our delicious dinner we headed for the skating rink located at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and skated for nearly two hours. For someone who only ice skated once before in his life, I believe I did a pretty good job skating this time. There were times when I almost fell to the ice but I was able to regain my balance every time. I look forward to go ice skating again, whether it is in Washington or back in California.

My week at The Raben Group consisted of several assignments that dealt mostly with researching information for various clients and typing all of the information I found into concise summaries. I believe that my research skills, particularly my researching skills toward federal legislation has improved a lot over the past month and a half. Another assignment required me to call approximately fifty congressional offices. One good surprise at the office was the Popeye's Louisiana Chicken we had on Veteran's Day, which was astonishingly more delicious than KFC. Now that I have only a short time left with The Raben Group it should be  interesting to see what kind of assignments I may be given. Also, with the the lame-duck session of Congress about to begin, things around the office will likely be busier than in previous weeks.