Another lapse...

It's been another lapse in my blog. Not much has been going on besides working and playing. I bought some running shoes yesterday and went on a little jog, was very nice! Hmm what else. My sister was in town last weekend and Lou and Broc are coming this weekend.

Last nights events are note worthy though. I went to buy my shoes and stopped in the starbucks to get some legal crack, there were already a lot of cops outside at this point. So I grabbed my coffee and attempted to leave upon which a cop told me to stay inside and then there were yells about bomb squad. There were also like 12 cop dog cars. So that was fun.

Secret Service

So there were 2 suv's and three secret service guys outside our apartment just chilling for a bit... nothing good happened, but was kinda cool.

Was praying for a gun battle or something. Damn it.

Drugs hit home

This is a repost from my blog at campusprogress.org:

I sat here debating if this was blog worthy, and I decided it was. Then I sat here and tried to figure out if this was the right blog for this, I decide it was. This wont be as politically charged as most posts but it will mean something to someone, I'm sure. Today has been a rough day for the mind.

Being the hard worker I am the first thing I did when arriving at work this morning was to log into my MySpace account. Upon each I see a massive amounts of RIP bulletins along with an acquaintances name. After a few quick messages and reading comments left, I find that it is true. Utah socialite Scott aka “Scott!...From Myspace!…Right?” passed away Friday night, from what I can tell it was an overdose.

This isn’t another post on how cool Scott was, everyone who knew him knows. This is just a wake up post. Almost two years ago Scott wrote a blog about the need to calm down and return to a normal lifestyle, kind of an ironic fate to meet.

All of us in school probably know someone capable of great things but heading somewhere you can’t come back from. I guess it is just time to reach out to those around us before it’s too late.

This Sunday...

This Sunday I rolled out of bed with no plans, started getting ready and suddenly get told that we are leaving in 15 minutes for the Naval Academy and Philly So we load into the rental car and off we go. We arrive in Annapolis and it is some fair thing going on, so a lot of people just walking around and enjoy the awesome weather. Annapolis is not what I thought it would be at all. It's a small little town, with awesome buildings and just that comfy little town feeling to it. We walked around and checked out the shops and fair, walked around the campus of the Naval Academy and ate some wonderful fish and chips in the harbor. We then partake in some awesome ice cream eating (I had Rum and raisin, so yummy) and bought a really killer hat (Fedora style..). We load back into the car and hit the freeway towards Philly. We arrive in Philly about 6 so we only have a couple hours to check out the city. Overall it's a dirty city. But we did get to see Independence Hall, where the constitution was signed, the liberty bell. We also saw that house of that one lady who made the flag or something. We also stopped by the most American, red neck, racist fast good joint to partake in eating some REAL Philly cheese steak sandwiches. OMG, they are so good. At the time I didn't think they were that good, but after I ate it -- the truth set in, freaking good. Oh they also sold this wonderful shirts:

This Saturday...

Saturday we loaded up and headed out to Gettysburg to enjoy the afternoon walking around. I really enjoyed this little trip. It truly puts the battle into scope. There's a little loop you can drive on and get all the major point and be able to see exactly what each side would have seen with each day of the battle. Just imaging a line of guys a mile long charging the hill we were on was very amazing and connected everything I learned in history class.

You have to imagine it... this is a TINY TINY town now, back then it was even smaller. And coming from each side we have 90,000 Union troops and 70,000 Confederate troops. After three days of fighting there were 7,000 dead, nearly 30,000 wounded and close to 12,000 missing. We were told by the tour guide that after the battle all the dead troops and horses (roughly 6,000 dead horses) were left scattered all about the town and surrounding hills, leaving the clean up to the 2,000 residents.

This battle serves as a very important turning point in the war.. the Union Army chases the Confederate Army to the south. Lincoln will later give his famous Emancipation Proclamation from here. In all honesty we owe who we are now to this little town.

Obama '08

Okay got a few updates to add :) I'll do each one as a new post.

So I forget which day this was exactly but we few Utah interns and myself ventured on over to an outdoor park type thing to listen to Mr. Obama give a little speech. He is a very strong speaker and knows how to work a crowd. So yeah to the side is a pic of me and the girls after and a video of his speech.

The cutest kid

I fought the law and the law won..

Today I shall tell you about all the possible legal officers you may encounter in DC.

Okay first off you get you typical DC Metro police officers... just normal run of the mill cops. The picture on the left is what they typically look like. But you must remember that there are probably like four or five different police departments within DC itself. You'll have metro, white house, US capital and whatever else I haven't encountered yet.

Okay throughout your stay you will see cop cars that look different then the above picture... these "cops" are really US Secret Service patrol cars. There cop cars will have their very ugly badge/logo on it. As to what they can do to normal people breaking normal laws, I don't know yet. They seem pretty serious though.

The next on the list are even more mysterious! We have the U.S. Marshals. They seem to only be engaged in federal related crimes and track down big bad guys. These guys are really hard to spot sometimes. They typically drive big black boat cars like the Crown Vic, super tinted windows and then if you look in their window, on the dash is usually a US Marshals sticker and one of those lights they reach out and stick on the roof of the car. Very cool stuff.

And you may run into officers of the following organizations: CIA, DIA, FBI, Military Police and really big guys with necks the size of trees holding equally big automatic rifles.

So there you go.

Okay So..

Okay so you may see a sign and be like: OMG $2 Corona night!

But do not listen to that voice in your head. I listened to that voice, and now I sit here writing you with a terrible case of the whiskey flu.

Now I urge you, please for science sake, think about the children!

Again on the battle lines of Darfur...

We watched another video on Darfur. This one was created by an ex Marine Capitan who joined some company and was sent to be an observer in Sudan to watch the ceasefire between the North and South. While there he kept hearing reports of bloodshed in Darfur and asked to be reassigned to that area. While there he photographed and sent reports up the chain of command. Upon coming home we found a somber state of affairs. A government that doesn't do shit to stop anything, people of America who don't care to make their government do something. A state of America that still exist today. It is something to see me cry, or refugees cry but it was odd to see this Ex-Marine crying because while he was there for six months he could do nothing to help...

ouch.

So I did some research there's some stuff we can do.

Ask your congress to co-sponsor H.R. 2489: Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 same as (S 888).

Also:

On July 31st, the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act, H.R. 180, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 418 to 1. But, before it can become law the Senate must take action. This bill:
* Protects state and local divestment
* Prohibits U.S. government contracts with companies fueling the genocide
* Authorizes states to prohibit contracts with companies fueling the genocide

Ask your Senator to support the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act, House Bill 180.

I ask that if you care about Darfur, and do not want to see another Genocide like that of Rwanda, and also if you support me in what I am becoming passionate about call:

1800-GENOCIDE :-) It's actually a good call and painless. DO IT NOW!

And Remember that 2,400 people are killed weekly.

Women Raped, Babies Smashed Against The Ground, Men Killed for Trying to Make Them Stop. All supported by the government of Sudan... our president and those around him have even labeled this as Genocide and has failed to do anything.

grr

so the girl next to me eats gum like a cow.

A horrible Monday!

So yesterday started as just a normal hum-dum Monday... well it get bad. I, being so smart, decided to set my phone on top of my cubicle wall in order to get a signal and get text messages... well within 2 minutes I bumped the my desk and my phone fell in between my cubicle and the wall. Lets paint this a little better...

There's probably a cap of less then an inch and a half between the two walls. The cubicle is not able to move as it's massive. There are many wires between the two walls... and my phone.

I tried everything... made contraptions and ended up just scratching up the nice blue paint.

My phone was recovered after probably what amounts to 18 man hours, took two maintenance guys, duck tape, a hose and a hanger.... but at about 6:18 Plan H was a success.

Stupid intern.

The World According to Americans...

My life thus far

Sorry for not updating :) Just been busy and the internet at my house is rather shitty.

So as most know I'm now working for The Center for American Progress, we are a progress think tank working to make progress changes on all levels. I work for the Campus Progress department and run their website now. Mostly just fixing old stuff and uploading new files. Nothing to cool yet, but things are getting better and better. Work is way liberal with allowing me to do what I want to expand my experience while here.

So far seen a panel on terror, one on leaving Iraq and one on Darfur.

All have been very good and the worse was Darfur. Two refugees came in and told their horror stories of running and surviving during attacks. This one pissed me off and made me want to do something :) So those who I have called, we will be doing something!

I got to meet Ted Kennedy at a press conference for new legislation on student lending and grants from the government. The you tube of part of it is here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=He9w_mBcvTw
But I'm in the left side behind Congressmen Miller and can't be seen :( I hope other pictures come up soon.

Hmm. What else?!

Screened a movie about the 50th anniversary of the little rock school allowing black children into the white schools. If things go right one of the nine students will be coming into the center.

Bought a couple books to keep me busy :)

Think that's about it for now.

I also have to keep a blog at work so you can monitor that: http://www.campusprogress.org/page/community/blog/Guy

McDonalds

ate at my first old school fastfood joint today. It was everything I remembered. We arrived at McD's shortly before one. We entered and checked the place it out... all was well. I approach the counter, order a number three large. I fill my DrP up while waiting for my order....

They call my number, I grab my tray. I stuff my face, enjoying each fry and each bite. My stomach hurts from being so full, but I'm not a wuss. I finish most of it... all is good.

We had to the metro, ride home.

2 hours later... all is over. Never again.

Two Interviews

About to head off to two interviews. Again with CAP and a new one with ConSource.

ConSource is working on putting all the original legal documents of America and put them online for law dogs and teachers to have access to them. the best part is they are having a huge party for the launch of it with a few of the Chief Justices, Hillary Clinton and a few other big wigs.... oh man.

Smithsonian

I had another day off because the lady who was suppose to interview me left for the day and I still haven't heard from here again today. It's really stressing being out here and not having the internship yet, while all the other kids are going and telling stories about their jobs... makes me jealous.

But yesterday I went and got my hair did. Shaved and put on some of my good clothes, even though I wasn't going to work I was going to freaking look good!

I went to the Aeronautics Smithsonian first. Was really cool to see all the Apollo stuff along with the lunar lander. It's massive, way freaking big. I best was the mirror setup of the Saturn V rocket. They only had one and a half rockets, but with with mirrors they could make it look like there were the 5 rockets... and it was enormous! No wonder we are out of money, it'd take so much fuel to make those suckers go. They had an interesting setup of the 70's Soyez Russian space station docking with an American thinger... way cool.

Okay I lied. The best part was the Flight Simulator in there. I got to be the gunner and this young kid I let be the pilot. So off we went, rolling and diving... so fun. Trying to shoot upside down was way hard. We got a high score though, we got 12 kills within 6 minutes. And somehow I ended up with quarters inside my shirt, and it was a long sleeved shirt tucked in... I have no idea how it happened.

From there went to the fine arts building and saw a bunch of old art, the whole time I was looking for the modern art area and by the time I found it in the East building I was so tired of walking that I didn't care and left. So I have to go back sometime here and check it all out.

Umm as for living. It's been fun! We met our neighbors upstairs and they've been helping us out with the City and we're all going out on Thursday to some bar. Hmm, evenings are rather boring. Thinking of going and buying an Xbox 360... heh, just because it's so boring watching fox tv! lol.

Right now it's very cloudy outside. The news said it is left over moisture from Tropical Storm Erin. I hope a small little hurricane hits up around here, be a good story :)

The Zoo

The zoo was really kick ass. It really doesn't have that many animals but the cages they are in are really really well done. Probably the best exhibit was the Giant Panda. There were two younger ones and they were both way playful. One scaled a tree and sat in a branch then started humping the tree... most people laughed about it some parents covered their kids eyes... but needless to say it was damn funny.

I couldn't find any monkeys, so I was bummed about that :(

But they had a cool Gorilla set up, this is a picture of a young male.

Hmm what next... oh the Orang utan kept throwing up and re-eating it. Was really funny stuff!! He'd eat some of it up then kiss the window and gross out all the kids that were near by. It was great! The other guy in the cage I guess had been eating soap bubbles for over an hour. The tour guide said they like the feel of the bubbles and that they are nontoxic for him.




The lion kicked ass, Allen would have loved it! The zoo keeper over there tossed a big bone into his cage... the cage is setup in a three tier section and be bolted down the three tiers to the water where the bone accidentally went. He then spent the better part of 30 minutes pacing the pond, getting real close to the water and growling at it. But he would not get wet. Unlike the tigers who after their nap were all swimming and having fun. The best part of the tigers was they were practicing stalking each other. One would get way low, and move slowly towards the other one then suddenly just spring in action and chase the other around. Mom was not happy, she kept growling and trying to swat any of the cubs that came close... what a jerk.


Oh and then there was this scary bird!! It was shaped like an ostrich but then it's head was bright blue and red and it had this weird skull fin type thing on top. It more reminded me of one of those mean dino's off Jurassic Park.

Our Apartment

Took some quick pictures of the apartment to test out the camera

Here's my room:



Our living Room:


All my roommates are in, only one is LDS so thats awesome :) heh

Another day

Today started off with a yummy sandwich at Potbellies and a trip to the mall near the pentagon to buy some makeup to cover up my tattoo.

Our tourist thing of the day was Arlington Cemetery. Really interesting experience. First we walked up the big hill past the miles and rows of white tombstones and found ourselves at the Kennedy Memorial. The flame is still burning on. From there we continued up the hill and visited Robert E. Lee's former house. Arlington belonged to the Lee's until he resign from the US Army and joined the Confederacy. The house is massive and has the best wine cellar I've ever seen. From there we stumbled along reading the old graves from the Civil war era. We made it to the Tomb of the Unknown Solider right on time to see the changing of the guards. They are more machine then humans. Their movements were so precise and perfect. Probably about a 100 people there all silent and watching the guards change.

It really was weird seeing all those graves. Makes the point of how worthless wars are.

The visitors center had a computer to look up surnames. There were like 30 Warner's and only like 3 of my roommates last name. Warner's must just be bad at ducking!

Oh and I forgot yesterday evening we left DuPont Circle and walked down Embassy Row. I was rather sad with the whole thing. I was expecting each one to be guarded by each countries army/marines... but no, most didn't even have gates! Grr.

tonight... who knows, I hope to eat some yummy food though.

Being a tourist...

Well yesterday was our big tourist day. Went to the mall, wandered around the Smithsonian Castle, National Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WW2 and the Korean/Vietnam memorials. The best part about it was there were two men protesting at the Lincoln and they had it roped off and tons and tons of police there. Dressed as Captain America and Batman they were getting the awareness out for their group that fights for mens rights after divorces with their children. Watch their YouTube video, so guess their gag worked eh? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ75BpWVXFU

After that we came home and went to dinner, ate some really good Mexican food. Who'd have thought clear out here would have good Mexican?! Oh and you can order whole pitchers of margs :) Met most of the group afterwards and went to Du Pont circle and found a few cool bars down there and just had a lot of fun with our specialty: being from Utah.

I was suppose to have a phone interview at 2pm but my potential supervisor was using a different computer and didn't see the alert come up. I emailed her and rescheduled for Monday at 11am. So at least I get on more day off before I start working!! Now it is time to go find a place for a hair cut. I look like a mangy dog.

Well made it!

Made it to DC! My luggage didn't make it with me, but it is on it's way, I'll be picking it up tomorrow. So far I've met two of the girls and one of the guys who are interning and one of the girls from the summer semester. She's my room mate for the evening and will be departing at 6am tomorrow for SLC.

So far haven't seen much of DC. Flew in and was able to see the national monument and also see the White House. Really cool to finally see it other then in movies and books. Rode the metro to my apartment which was a little nerve racking but easy like all the other subways. The first line I was on was so clean and new, put TRAX to shame. But the 2nd line was the orange from the 70's and had trash in it. So averages out to OKAY.

I have what should be my final phone interview tomorrow with Center for American Progress.

The weirdest thing is to be sitting here in D.C. and having Utah be one of the top stories on the news right now for those miners. Odd.

Wohoo

Okay I'm going to be lame and use this for my DC trip. I'll attempt to blog here everyday and post pictures of what's going on. But knowing me it'll probably be like a once a week type deal.

:)