2 Weeks Left

Suddenly, it has finally dawned on me that my days in DC are numbered. Its been 2 months since I left the Bay Area and arrived at the UC Washington Center but it definitely does not seem like that long. I arrived when it was still summer and the days were hot and humid. Now its cold everyday and Christmas music is playing in nearly all of Washington's stores and Subway Restaurants.

Back at the office; Hope Mizelle, the office's Administrative Assistant, was off to begin her well-deserved vacation and would not return to the office before December 4th. We exchanged goodbyes and wished each other well. She is a great co-worker and fun to be around. Her absence at the front desk meant that all of the interns, including myself will fill her duties as. Neil, Drew, and I will rotate sitting at the front desk and handling the basic administrative functions of the office. I get to sign for packages that are sent to The Raben Group, answer the office's main phone lines, and transfer incoming phone calls to Principals and Associates.

On Thursday I helped setup a policy breakfast for the fifth time this quarter. This one was held for the CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The discussion about the growth of Hispanic-owned businesses continuing to grown, even in the middle of this economic environment, was stunning to hear.

During my Washington Media Seminar, our class listened in as our Instructor, Marc Sandalow, gave one of his many interview to KCBS at 7:30 AM Bay Area time. Following his radio interview, he led the discussion regarding Jon Stewart and his role in American media today. The discussion of how his show and other show/news outlets have blurred the line between real journalism and entertainment-news was both interesting and a little depressing. Its too bad that Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck are taking seriously by tens of millions of Americans. On the bright side, we did get to watch classic Daily Show segments throughout the Seminar.

As promised here are some pictures I have taken in the past weeks.

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.

A week full of stuff

Well I fly 3,000 miles for an internship and the Giants win the World Series. Go figure. It was great to see them finally win it all for the first time in more than half a century. I watched the last game at a bar with other Giants fans from the UC Center at a bar that was located next door to the a strip club called "Camelot." However, we did not go inside after the game was over.

Election Night was of course a blood bath for Democrats all over the nation with the exception of California. From my end most of my Election Night and Morning was spent keeping track of every governors congressional race that took place east of the Mississippi River and identify every winner's stance on particular issues. This was done for a client and took me until 4 AM in the morning to complete the entire assignment. In addition, I had to write a news article that summarized all of Election Night's results. I started the assignment at 9:30 AM and turned it in at 10:28 AM, two minutes before the deadline.

On Wednesday, The Raben Group held a meeting regarding about who lost and how certain congressional committees the firm continuously monitors will change. Discussions mostly revolved around who will become the new Chairman of House and Senate Committees.

I spent all of Thursday at The Reagan Building and International Trade Center to attend a CQ-Roll Call post election analysis. There were more than four sessions that discussed whether there was a mandate, what Republicans will do in Congress, how Obama may respond, and how the internal struggles from both parties might play out.

Today, I spent the morning in the Rayburn House Office Building to attend an event put on by Principle of The Raben Group's and featured congressional staffers from from both parties and both houses of Congress and how the election will impact education legislation/spending. After that two major political strategists discussed the election and why they thought what happened happened. Later in the day my two bosses took me and the two other interns to get cupcakes at Farragut Square.

Pictures from Rally to Restore Sanity

Halfway

I cannot believe that it has been more than 5 weeks since I first arrived. It does not seem like it was that long ago when I first arrived at Dulles International but time has flown by so far.

At work, I have finished with the longest assignment I have dealt with so far. After updating all of MALDEF's contact listings for various journalists all over the LA area and the nation it was nice to get into a different assignment and rhythm today. For a few hours I attended a speech/discussion held by the American Constitution Society's Washington chapter that discussed the use of the filibuster in the Senate and how the unwritten rules of using the filibuster have been completely shattered over the past 5 years. Not the most interesting topic for about 99.5% of the public but for a political junkie like me it was not bad. One of the coolest things about the discussion was where it was located, on the top floor of what has to be one of the biggest law firms in DC. When you walk into the lobby building its as if you walked into a half office building-half greenhouse, without the plants. At least half of the building's area was open spaces, filled a pond, nice seating area, and a glass roof that let in the sunlight.

Tomorrow for my Media seminar I am to practice being a television political analyst for a local television statement. I will have three minutes to try and answer four questions that I have been given in advance in a manner similar to what you may see on a local news broadcast. We shall see how I do.

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!!!!!

Well its been 8 years but we are back. The World Series is heading back to the Bay Area and I could not be more happier. The nervousness I felt throughout Game 6 gave way to unadulterated joy and shots of Captain Morgan rum. Anyway, the World Series is upon us and the eyes of the baseball world will fall upon the San Francisco Giants.

Earlier today I visited the National Portrait Gallery with my roommates and saw several interesting and  well crafted exhibits. There was a section of Presidential Portraits that included a pixelated painting of Bill Clinton, and impressionist portrait of John Kennedy, and the newest Presidential portrait that featured George W. Bush. Another exhibit featured portraits of Americans who are currently alive and are well known in their respected fields including, sports, politics, architecture, science, and entertainment. But the best one was the Norman Rockwell exhibit, which unfortunately forbade me for taking any pictures. The collection will be on display until the end of 2010 and will return to the donors who own all of the paintings, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Among my favorite paintings were "Little Girl Looking Downstairs at Christmas Party" "A Time for Greatness" "Triple Self Portrait" and "Happy Birthday Miss Jones" and the "Four Freedoms" paintings. All of his paintings were very well done and opened my eyes to a painter I barely even hard of before today.

Not much to report about at work but since the elections are coming up soon I believe it will get very interesting at work in the near future. Will keep you posted. And for my honest opinion. I believe that the Democrats will lose the House, the name John Boehner will become very well-known in two monts, the Senate will stay Democratic but barely, and Jerry Brown will once again be California's Governor.

Wild Weekend

Friday at work was the day we got to celebrate my birthday along with three other Raben Group workers, one of which was another intern, who had birthdays in the first half of October. The cake we had was filled with caramel, chocolate, and fudge which made three spoonfuls enough to make me feel full, but I pushed forward and ate an entire slice of cake that kept me full for several hours.  Work was fairly simple. I kept updating the contact list for MALDEF, a client of The Raben Group's and began another small assignment that required me to look at previous paper draft's and type in updates that indicate which Congressmen and Senators should be replaced, due to their not seeking re-election in 2010. Or whether they lost re-election in 2008. Even though they are not the most exciting tasks, my familiarity with Microsoft Excel and use of congressional research skills have improved significantly since late September.

On Saturday I woke up at 5:30 AM headed for Philly with 49 other people at approximately 7:20 AM. We passed Baltimore and caught a glimpse of Camden Yards, stopped for food in northern Maryland, passed Wilmington and finally arrived in Philadelphia at around 10:30. Everyone who had heard that was going to the NLCS was surprised and were fairly jealous that I was able to get a ticket. Some of them thought I was nuts to wear my Giants shirt as we walked though the city but surprisingly I had only a small number of people even comment about my Giants shirt before game time.

My time in the city started off with a tour through old-Philadelphia and included stops at Betsy Ross's House, the location of Ben Franklin's old house (it was demolished in the early 19th Century), Christ Church, a Quaker Church, the location of the 2nd National Bank of the US. Once we finished the tour I went to go see the Liberty Bell which was a bit smaller than I expected but still an awesome thing to see. However, I could not stay to long because of my scheduled tour of Independence Hall was nearing and I had to get though security before I could enter the building. One big letdown was the the main steeple of the building was covered in construction equipment as it was undergoing renovation, meaning the picture I took of Independence Hall are not as good as they would have been if renovations had not been going on. Nonetheless the tour of Independence Hall was relatively quick but ultimately satisfying. After leaving Independence Hall I went to look for the best cheese steaks with a few other UC people and ended going to Geno's on 9th Street. The restaurant's cheese steak was delicious and I don't think it could have been made any better, so I recommend Geno's for anyone who ever visits Philadelphia.

After Geno's I went my own way and hailed a taxi that took me to the "Rocky steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After taking some pictures of the Rocky statue of set my Ipod to the Rocky theme song and sprinted my way up the steps all the way to the top and got harrassed by some drunk guy for wearing my Giants shirt. Once I finished my time with the steps I was off to the NLCS. Once the game started I got into a friendly discussion with the people I sat next to for most of the game and talked about baseball strategy and about how I ended up buying a seat at Game 1. The only real contentious moment was after Cody Ross's 2nd home run when two separate fans told me to sit down, which simply went on and cheered Ross I he rounded the plate. Once that game reached the 9th inning I was ready to run out of the stadium as soon as the last pitch was thrown. Myself and about a hundred other Phillies fans sprinted out of the stadium as the game was over and i was lucky enough to get a cab and get out of the ballpark without taking the brunt of a drunk and pissed of Phillies fan.

I ended up arriving to DC at 2:20 AM on Amtrak and got back to my room at around 3AM. Not bad for a day's worth of adventures. Below are some pictures of my day in Philadelphia.