9:30 club, J Street, Ricky, and Romania

I started out this weekend quite nicely I think. On Friday I rehashed my memories of Thursday morning running an errand involving a stroll to the NRCC and who do you think I just happen to see? Mitt Romney. Oh yea totally not expecting that one.

Thursday was also a perfect day to remember since it was beautiful with all the cherry blossoms full and flowers everywhere surrounding the Hill, (sigh). I took some pictures of the event as shown below:

Saturday was a somewhat productive day despite the rain. I wanted to go out to the Smithsonian since it was a cloudy day and I prefer to be indoors where I don't have to be wet. Well to my surprise I was welcomed to the National Mall by heards of people, huge concert-type speakers and a stage. I began to listen to the words, "I'm an atheist and I'm proud that we made this sh&$* happen!" It was thoroughly amusing to say the least. I couldn't help but stay a few minutes longer to observe the people and watch the festivities. It was quite a unique crowd of people which was very intriguing to me. I guess thats why atheism is so popular among the youth, the hippies, and other people who didn't found the idea of God annoying and wanted to try something new. I get it I do but it was just so odd that the rally was being conducted by atheists that made the whole event sound like a miracle.

Understood: atheists don't believe in God nor do they think its right or legally fair for believers in God should shove their values, beliefs, and ideas down an atheist's throat. But my confusion asteamed from the idea that the atheist activists there at the National Mall where in favor of changing the law to accomodate them but they make claims that they don't respect the law. My question would be how do you perceive to fulfill your objectives as a group of American citizens when you don't respect the fundamental values of our system? No Congressional member wants to listen to someone uninterested in the "job" that he or she does in government and for the country which ties into the atheists fight against "Under God," being used in the country's most valued legal document next to the Bill of Rights. I'm not saying what they "do" as Congressman and women is right or wrong and shouldn't be judged like everyone else, however, in order to make changes to the legal system one must convince the judicary system and the legislative system that you understand and respect the freedoms you have to do so.  I dunno maybe its too complicated for me.

Change in plans for the daytime I decided to go back to the apartment. I chilled around until about 7 then heading to the Metro to U St. It was a bit intimidating to walk around U St when I didn't really know which direction to go off of U. Ducking into a CVS to ask was no help until a local biker guided me towards Howard University. V St was literally around the freakin' corner from the Metro station...ughh. After almost having a heart attack (recipt in hand NOT the ticket!) I was releaved when the will call guy reprinted my ticket....victory! And it was an awesome show - well Band of Skulls were awesome and British (no idea)! Horrorible pics of the place but you get the idea:

Note to self: NEVER where those F*#%@ heels to a show or event ever again, especially when you know the procedure is standing for long periods of time!

All-day Sunday I went to the J Street conference to get a clearer understanding of the Jewish/Israeli side of the Israeli-Palestinian Two-State solution argument. It was very interesting. I met some students from Dartmouth who I gave my business card to during a free and edible breakfast. I tried to take as many notes and got to as many sessions that I could. I stayed until about 430pm then headed back to the apt to await Ricardo's visit. He arrived around 7pm and we walked around the neighborhood. We picked up some items for our pork chops, salad, and quesadilla dinner. It was so nice to have him stay over and to talk awhile about his family, travels, future plans, etc. I wish he had more time to spend in DC since he seemed to love it so much. Next time maybe...

Today was yet another LOOOONNG day. 530am wake up to go to the gym (yea I know I'm crazy). Then out the door at 7ish. Metro to Gallery/Chinatown and then departed from Ricardo :(
Green line to Convention center and another free breakfast with a additional session on Women in Israel. Another few sessions and I was heading back on the Metro to New York Ave to the RAF for another programming session. It was a interview/Q&A session with Jim Lear and his wife Kim Lear. All repetitive information until some of the questions from the students but at that time I was struggling not to tip over out of my seat. Lack of sleep = not good. Rushing out of the RAF to catch the next shady grove train, to chinatown, running to the green line downstairs, then running (literally) through the convention halls up the escalators to the room where my next session were to take place. A little stressful but I made it.

Decided to go to Tidal Basin to see what was left rather gone from this past week's peak of cherry blossoms. Stupid! I should've come earlier. Oh well I saw a bunch everywhere during the week. I decided to walk to the Kennedy Center. Glad I did, I walked through GW - Elon in the city equivalent - then to the center where I watched and listened to the most eclectic and original quartet of musicians playing music inspired by Eastern Europe, among other places around the world. Check out The Kennedy Center's live streaming of each show everynight at 6pm (kennedy-center.org/millenium)

 Watergate 

 Sculpture outside The Kennedy Center

 Side view of The Kennedy Center

 George Washington Monument

 Pearl Harbor Memorial looking onward to the Lincoln Memorial

What was left of the cherry blossoms on Monday

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Week Off and Sunny Days

Last week was my freebie week. Kevin and Mike were away in far off sunny places and I stayed here in the lovely spring-like weather exploring the city. Monday was the usual programming (annoyance) day with a Roundtable Philanthropy Panel at the RAF (thank God). Even though I respect the panelists and the work that they do in the non-profits sector the whole seminar seemed to be a Q&A between the TWC Vice President and the panelist instead of most of the questions coming from students. I mean if you are going to pack us all in the auditorium for almost 2hrs and expect us not to chit chat, sleep, or get bored than make it more interactive. I also found it hilarious that the mediator told all of the students to rush out of the auditorium so that they could quickly set up for the CSPAN class. I mean really? You all couldn't find another location for this one day?

Below: Dirty Chai cupcake with Iced Coffee

Tuesday and Wednesday were the best weather days (even though I started feeling out of sorts on Wednesday). I went out and about on Tuesday to Georgetown (again) to study a bit. The apartment is stark white and not very entertaining or stimulating for working longer periods of time. So I ducked into Baked & Wired (bakedandwired.com/) as referred to by my new friend here in DC, Kristi. It took me about 5 mins to figure it out but I got the title's relavance: 1/2 of the shop is a cupcake shop and the other 1/2 is a coffeeshop. LOL Took the Circulator there and back. Wednesday before I started to feel dizzy around noon-ish while on L2 going north towards Tenleytown, I went to Farragut Square to taste the
fresh, healthy and scrumcious bites at Basil Thyme food truck (basilthyme.com/). Ordered the black truffle and cheese lasagna. YUMMY!

Stream behind M St in Georgetown

In the afternoon I headed up north to visit Elo's favorite bookstore, Politics and Prose. It was very indie and busy which is always nice to see in a bookstore (not giving money to the bookstore giants like Barnes & Noble or Amazon). They even had a seminar with an author going on while I browsed the American history and politics sections. I didn't stay too long and then went back on L2 to Van Ness for the Metro back home. Ugh....head...ached. At least I got two beautiful days to go out.

Doesn't this look tasty?!?!?

Thursday was soup and rest in front of TV day. Ugh not feeling well at all. I so hoped to get more work done but that's life right! I was happy that my interview scheduled with Theola Labbe-DeBose, Staff Writer for The Washington Post, was the following day and not Thursday. It would have been a disaster. Friday comes along and I'm trying to recoop. I met up with Theola at the office around 1030 more like 1045am. I got a first time tour of the offices and met some nice people. I also chatted with Theola's editor Eli Reyes. Can you say network, network, NETWORK! I was so happy that the interview lasted almost an hour! It was so carfree and easy to talk to Theola.

Friday night was exciting more so than I originally planned. TWC hosted the International Festival in P1 (basement level in apt). Students from around the world brought materials, decorations, food and high energy to show people what their country is all about. So many of them were so proud of their roots it was inspiring. Stupid moment: why the hell would Student Services decide to cater food to be served for an hour right after everyone went to all 8 classrooms to eat food from around the world and are so full they can't eat anymore? How does that make sense? So instead of the event lasting 2 hrs it ended up whining down 4hrs later. It was nice and interesting, however, I was sick and wanted to sleep or do work or something productive. Ugh...I hate when people don't think. But all in all it was fun.

Here are some pics from that night:

 My friend Sandra and colleague from Taiwan

 Beautiful isn't she!

 Bienvienos de Puerto Rico!!!

 My friend Sonyi dancing with the Puerto Ricans!!!

 Viva Mexico!

First buds of the season and a hip new coffee joint

I decided to venture outside on another gorgeous day. I am glad the weather has cooperated this weekend despite my lack to truly explore the city like my roommates. However, I have shared in the same awe of the outdoors. I walked down 3rd to a coffee shop I had seen on one of my trip on the TWC shuttle from Union Station. Depending on who drives the bus you might get lucky and have new sites to see as I did. The place is called Ebenezers. Recently opened in 2006 this quint coffee shop caters to everything from coffee classics to trendy new specials while giving customers a chance to experience a calm, bohemian atmosphere. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay on street level to hear the local artist perform (which was a nice surprise), however, I did get to explore downstairs where I assume is the area the shop hosts bigger event artists/bands. I assume this because of the lights/sound system along the back wall and the drum set on a stage in the front. It was really nice to spend some down time reading there until the blower came on and chilled my arms and these homeless guys asked me a few questions (I don't mind that but personal space man).

On my walk there I noticed a cherry blossom tree in bloom. I smiled knowing that its a matter of time before the entire city is fully bloomed with flowers (and for allergy ppl pollen...womp womp). I am excited for the centennial festival. Its incredibly ironic that this is the 100th year anniversary while I'm living here. So spoiled I know....

The area I walked through was very sweet and antique looking too. Reminded me of my walk around Dupont Circle the other night. I do love the differences in architecture here. It gives the city more character and diverse art history. Stay tuned for more posts!

*Please comment!!!!*

Tom Tauke and the Megabus

Tom Tauke, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, Policy and Communications for Verizon, came to speak at TWC early on Wednesday morning. The bonus and incentive for some to go was a catered breakfast by Au Bon Pain (too sweet and heavy for my taste but it was nice). He brought up a lot of useful information about his time in the Iowa Legislature and discussed his experience in Congress and how its changed. One of the topics I found very helpful in my understanding of the present atmosphere in Congress was his opinion on what it would take for each side to come together to make decisions as one body. He said that only a crisis would force a very divided, polarized Congress to come to a solid and collective consensus about how to overcome the crisis and make plans to prevent any further crisis. The national debt of our country is suspected to be the next crisis that Congress cannot avoid therefore will eventually force them to put away their pride and differences of opinions to get the job done.

He also tried to incorporate his role with Verizon and the importance of communications. I thought it was particularly interesting that he brought up the necessity for laws that address privacy and implementation of the Internet for its users and most importantly corporations like Verizon that struggle to abide to constitutional liberties and restrictions making it impossible to do business or protect its consumers from attack. Did you know our Internet systems (in America) get over 3 billion attacks every day??? Granted some are from China and outside sources but some are domestic attacks. These attacks could have the potential to effect our daily lives very dramatically if they are successful and shut down certain sources of energy (i.e. nuclear power plants), natural resources (i.e. water plants), and other necessary system used to function.

I wasn't expecting to receive much insight from this session but as it turns out Mr. Tauke inspired me to investigate Public Services. Mr. Tauke's presentation stuck with me throughout the entire day and was a topic of discussion in a meeting with Mike later that afternoon. It wasn't such a crazy day at work after all since my laptop's battery could be replaced in the store (the night before which was hell) I didn't need to worry about using my roommate's computer (going back to the apt to drop it off before I left for NYC). It worked out pretty well.

The best and most comical moment of the day was waiting in line to board the Megabus. I was behind a stream of Asians. Most of their bags were bigger than them! As some of you might have guessed the group of about twenty or so could not go on the buss with all that baggage. The amount of bags per person equated to one huge body bag, one mini body bag and some shopping bag(s). I felt a bit bad for them because they had to figure out how to take all their stuff on another bus. At the same time you know when you sign up that the policy says what you can and can't bring.

My first Megabus trip was great! It was a smooth 4 1/2 hrs exactly. I had a nice full Chop't salad I got from Union Station in D.C. and my foodie guilty pleasure wheat thins :) I slept most of the trip which was entirely necessary. When I arrived in the Big Apple my mom was there to greet me. Wonderful sleep-full night in our comfy queen sized bed...sweet dreams