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.