This Week

It was a busy week at work. Between budget proposals, gearing up for the Supreme Court case on the healthcare bill, and the Pope's visit to Cuba, we had a lot of stuff going on. One of the perks at work is being able to attend lectures from a wide variety of people on a wide variety of topics.
I thought I would share some information with you on what I learned this week.
On Wednesday, I went to a talk by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. As the son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio came to talk about the impact technology would have on the regime in Cuba. His assertion was that if wifi access were available to the people of Cuba, the regime would topple in days because the Cuban people would be able to communicate with each other.
If you want to watch Sen. Rubio's speech, here's the link to the entire program: http://bcove.me/h3g64n1j.
On Thursday, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin came to talk about his budget proposal. Not knowing a whole lot about the budget, I learned a lot. The Ryan Budget cuts spending and works to decrease the debt. A big part of decreasing the debt is reforming entitlements-Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as well as welfare reform. Ryan has also proposed reforming the tax code. His plan would simplified the tax code by creating two tax brackets and not raising taxes on small businesses. The most insightful comment, in my opinion, that Rep. Ryan made had to do with rethinking the safety net that the federal government provides to help people that fall into poverty. He said, "...is the goal here to treat the symptoms of poverty--to make it easier to live with or is the goal here to go to the root causes of poverty and eradicate it? I deeply believe in the preferential option for the poor, but what that means to me is that getting people out of poverty and coming up with ideas and solutions that put them on a path to self-sufficiency." Overall, it was a very thought-provoking discussion. If you want to watch the whole discussion, here's the link http://bcove.me/nbvzn0c9
If you are like my some-what skeptical brother, and want specifics on what these reforms look like I encourage you to check out the YouTube videos the House Budget Committee put together. The first one can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwv5EbxXSmE&feature=relmfu
My last event of the week was a speech by Sen. John Barrasso on Obamacare and the Supreme Court case that will begin tomorrow. As an orthopedic surgeon, Sen. Barrasso has a unique perspective on the impact Obamacare will have, and already has had on the healthcare system in this country. Obamacare will be especially bad for rural areas, like Wyoming, where Barrasso is from, because it many doctors will no longer be able to afford to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients. In rural areas, this would place a huge hardship on those patients because they will have to drive long distances to see a doctor.
There were many other things that Sen. Barrasso discussed. If you want to watch the whole speech, here's the link http://bcove.me/s8wsdpvt
Hopefully you'll find these just as interesting and informational as I did!
Also, here's some more pictures of cherry blossoms. We have had rain of and on all week so everything is green and blooming!

Cherry Blossoms

Hordes of people have descended upon the capitol to see the cherry blossoms bloom. It is really beautiful here right now. Everything is green and the flowers are coming up.
This weekend was somewhat laid back. Saturday we made homemade pizza, which was a huge hit here. Then Caitlin, Laura, Kate and some of her friends and I went shopping. Then we went to a movie. It was a thoroughly relaxing day.
On Sunday I went into the city and Caitlin and I biked down to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. There were people everywhere (and the festival has not even started yet)! We got some good pictures and then moved on to less exciting places. :) I then met up with Theresa, John Paul and Michael for Vespers at the Basilica. Theresa then gave me a tour of the Basilica and we went to dinner at the seminary. It was great to see  and catch up with some great South Dakota people!
I've been really busy at work. Both the President's budget and the Republican response came out this week so I have spent some time reading up on these proposals. I have also been doing some research on health care and education.

The Basilica

Some pictures from the American History Museum. This is President Washington--or god-Washington--whichever you prefer. 

We all got a feel for the presidential podium. 

This colorful shirt belonged to one of the 20th century presidents. Can you guess who?

Cherry blossoms and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Gaston's chair--at the Portrait Gallery. 

the Basilica and cherry trees

I have a job!!

Big news this week! I was offered the staff assistant position with Sen. Thune's office and I took it. I will start in May after graduation. I will be responsible for constituent relations, overseeing the interns, giving tours, researching and writing.
On top of that great news, I had a great weekend! We visited the Old Post Office and checked out the view from the tour. You can see the whole city from there! Then we walked over to the American History Museum. We saw some pretty neat stuff there! They have dresses from every First Lady. We saw several examples--including Michelle Obama's entire inaugural outfit! We also went through the Presidency Exhibit, saw the Jefferson Bible and the flag from Ft. McHenry that inspired the Star Spangled Banner.
Saturday evening Laura, Katie and I went to a concert at the National Cathedral. They performed Mozart's Requiem. It was beautiful. The Cathedral is beautiful too. It looks like it belongs in medieval Europe, not the US! The Cathedral also has beautiful grounds. We are planning on going back to visit and take pictures!

Sorry it's been a while

I realized I haven't posted a whole lot about my adventures these past couple of weeks. Sorry!!
Here's what I have been up to:
Last week Laura and I went to an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on education research and development that featured Sen. Bennett from Colorado. While the event was not particularly exciting, the trip there was. It was pouring rain and we took the metro up to the general area of AEI. Neither Laura nor I had been to that part of town before so we got lost, and wet, and cold. Let me just explain the roads in DC for a minute to help you appreciate the dilemma we were in when we ventured into this new territory. The streets are laid out in a grid pattern like most cities, with the Capitol in the middle. All the North/South roads are numbered and the East/West are (for the most part) letters. Here's the first trick. There are two 1st streets. One on the north side of the Capitol and one on the south,  and the same is true for all the lettered streets, so you always have to know which quadrant you are in. The second trick is that in addition to the grid pattern, there are diagonal roads that cut across. These are all named after states. Where two diagonals cross they interrupt the road and put a circle in that is usually a park or a shopping center. So you have to know where you are in relation to the Capitol and be able to find the road around the diagonals. Naturally, AEI was by a diagonal so some of the streets disappear and reappear at random (or so it seems). After about 20 minutes of walking around in the downpour and becoming well acquainted with the area, we found AEI and learned a little bit about researching innovations in education.
Last week I also had an interview for a staff position in Sen. Thune's office. The interview went really well. I'm very excited about the possibility of working for Thune. I should hear back by next week.
This weekend was Caitlin's birthday so we celebrated by going to dinner at this really nice Thai restaurant in Clarendon. Then we met some of Caitlin's friends and went to a club to hang out and dance. It was a lot of fun. Clarendon is a really nice part Arlington with lots of shopping, food and fun! It's going to be a great place to hang out when it gets warmer.
Ok..here's a contest. The prize is a super fabulous souvenir. 
On Sunday Caitlin, Laura and I visited one place in DC. From that place we saw the following things: the jungle, a dinosaur, a saguaro, coffee, bananas, a Japanese hut and chocolate. Post where you think we went and whoever gets it right wins the fabulous prize!
Yesterday, we took a field trip to the Pentagon and got a super sweet tour! Random facts from the Pentagon tour:

• The tour guides are active military who have 10 days to memorize the 600,000 word script-verbatim. If you add an if, and or but, you're out. 
• They also have 10 days to memorize the entire tour route--backwards. They have to give the entire tour facing the audience--so walking backwards. It's quite impressive!
• They have a candy store, banks, hair and nail salon, and four redboxes in the Pentagon. They also have every fast food under the sun. You could work at the Pentagon and never have to leave! 
• The Starbucks in the Pentagon sells about twice as many cups of coffee a day as people who work in there.
• There's a hot dog stand in the courtyard of the Pentagon that the Soviets thought held the US' nuclear missiles because of all the foot traffic in and out of it everyday. 

We also visited the Pentagon memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. The memorial is beautiful and sobering. They built benches for everyone who died and inscribed their names on the bench. They grouped the benches by birth year so that you can see the wide range of ages of those who died. Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow us to bring cameras on the tour so I don't have any super cool pictures of the Pentagon. 

Yesterday was also Super Tuesday for those of you who are not as politically in-tuned as those of us nerds here in DC. I spent the evening hanging out with some friends and watching the polls come in. By far the most interesting? Listening to the speeches and then googling random facts about the candidates. For example, did you know that Gingrich has compared himself to Moses, Ho Chi Mihn, and polar bears? Yup. And Santorum's wife is one of 11 children. And Romney's oldest son is four years younger than Newt's wife. And Ron Paul is old enough to have memories of WWII.

We had a great time! It was also great to have people who were excited about Super Tuesday as me!!

Tomorrow I'm attending a Senate hearing on education, my first hearing. I hear they are very long and boring. I'll let you know if that is the case!  

Here are some pictures from this week!

Me, Caitlin, and Laura hanging out in Clarendon

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 Laura and I 

 and pictures from earlier as promised! The President's Day parade in Alexandria. Stars and Bars...really?

 The Kennedy Center

 The church where the Washington's attended.

Caitlin and Laura up to shenanigans.