Surprises

Good Evening, America--

Where to begin? Sunday night I returned from an epic road trip. The journey was filled with amazing adventures...let me describe them, systematically:

First stop on the journey was Delaware. There's not a whole lot to say about Delaware. Joe Biden was one of their Senators for a while. Liquor stores are open till 10 PM. They have lots of affordable, random hotels. Other than that, it's a pretty modest and industrial area. Industrial was one of the big themes of the road trip. Many of the cities, i.e. Baltimore, Philly, and the state of Del., are inundated with factories, smoke stacks, and the like. You can tell that the urban economy is significantly different than cities in Tejas. It's much more blue collar and rough than one might imagine. Some may cite this as a negative quality, but I like to think it shows character.

Then, we stayed in the outskirts of Philly at this shady (kind of a reoccurring theme) road side inn. We woke up and went to this really good breakfast place (another reoccurring theme) dubbed "the cafe." Not very original in rural Pennsylvania, I suppose. Anyhow, we then went on a tour at independence hall, saw the lib. bell, Ben Franklin's grave, and the American Philosophical Society. The APS was weird because we were accosted by two random old ladies as soon as we walked in. Ironically, one of the ladies was named "Ursula." Self described as feisty, Ursula stopped Joe and I asked us lots of questions about philosophy and why we were interested in the APS. The irony here is that it was one day before Ursula and I's anniversary (Ursula James, not Ursula philosophy lady). Small world, I suppose. The APS had a pretty cool Darwin exhibit. FYI, he has horrible handwriting. Pretty cool guy overall. I learned that he only used the word "evolve" once in his entire "Origin of the Species." And it was the last word of the entire book. Funny how things turn out, no?

After that we drove to New Haven, CT--home of Yale. Of course, we drove and walked around the campus. Really interesting architecture, lots of bourgeois students, and a TON of pizza places. Apparently, ivy league snobs can't get enough of that stuff. We went to this one pizza and beer joint, and were served by the sweetest lady ever. Her name was Linda. Linda was pushin 70, lacking front teeth, and serving us food with an attitude. Funny how you go to an Ivy League University and stumble on people that you wouldn't think would "belong" in such an area. However, New Haven is kind of shit-hole. Lots of poverty...it looks like Yale is the only thing going for it. More irony, I suppose.

Another surprise of my adventure came when we found my Grandmother's childhood home in West Haven, CT. A little blue house--very quaint, and homey--located just north of main street. I got some pictures, which I still need to email to my mom.

After CT, we went into Providence. By this time, it's Saturday morning. Providence was wonnndeful. Very cute, clean, fun looking town with an AWESOME capital building. I totally got the feeling that I could live there one day. It's very centrally located too. Not too far from NY or Boston, or any of New England for that matter. It's a great little place, I would recommend anyone touring the area to make a stop there.

After that, we passed through Boston. We toured a couple of streets and went to lunch at the Cheers Bar. DONT EVER GO THERE. We were starving and it happened to be right there. But it's a tourist trap rip off with no soul. Don't go there...

Then, it was on to Maine. Ahhh, Maine. Home of lobsters, cottages, Mountains, Beaches, and postcard towns. It was almost too adorable. Everything was so put together, everyone seemed so happy, and my God it was so gorgeous. I posted dozens of pics on my FB, so check em out if you can.

After hanging out in Maine for several hours (because it was so awesome), we went to Portland to get some fresh seafood. Hmmmm was it tasty--lobster caught fresh daily. Only problem was that it got incredibly cold. We had to head down south around 7 Pm...but little did we know our journey was only just beginning.

Driving through southern New Hampshire and Vermont at night can be a little surreal. Forests were fairly dense, hills and mountains surrounded us. The night sky was gorgeous--completely clear. A very isolated, surreal, and relaxing area. When we decided to turn on "The Doors" and listen to the band's most creepy tunes, things seemed to be completely in place.

We drove all the way to Wilmington, VT. Wilmington is on the southern tip of the Green Mountains/ green Mountain National Forest. Very cute town (another theme), with a couple of fun pubs, lodges, and diners. Saturday night we went to this dive bar called the "village pub." The village pub reminded me of a dive bar in Texas--floors and bar were made out of wood, the people were a bit tired and run down looking. Overall, it seemed like a rough place at first.

However, this was Vermont, and we knew something had to be different. I struck up a conversation with our bartender; who eventually mentioned that "he was a gay man" and wondering who to vote for in the upcoming primary election. That's what you can't get in most places--a bartender feeling comfortable enough to tell you he's gay. In Texas, that could get a bartender killed (not kidding). Nice guy, nice place, nice conversation. Then we went to the bar across the street, where we met this awesome/crazy/very drunk man named "Dove." Dove was a half irish catholic half jewish man; in his own words, "a tough mix." Judging by the McCormick brand Brandy he kept feeding himself, Dove had lived through some tough experiences himself. Dove excoriated me for temporarily forgetting the last name of George Harrison, and almost punched my friend in the face for "being a wise guy." However, we ended up winning his heart over, and he bought us all a round. Good guy. Before we left he said something to effect of "people should be respected for no matter what there heritage is." Profound words for a man whose seemingly had his share of rotten luck. Ah, the surprises of life.

We returned the next day, only to find that life goes on as normal. This week has been horrible but great at the same time. I'm so inundated with work for my job, registration, and filling out paper work for summer job/housing. I don't know how I can handle it though. My job has been treating me well though. Another intern was hired today. He seems like a really nice guy, and I'm glad to have him working with me. Also, I've told some pretty good office jokes. Not to mention, I've got a lunch planned this Thursday, where I will talk to a "senior colleague" about how he got to this position and what it's like working in politics.

Should be a good work. Pray I get all this stuff done, it's driving me crazy.


Tim Clark

Good evening,

I just completed my first paper of the semester. First real, written assignment since December. I felt incredibly rusty, but after several revisions, I feel a little bit more comfortable with it.

Tomorrow is the last day of the week and day 1 of my road trip extravaganza. Work has been up and down this week, but today was better. We had a meeting with the Chairman's Chief of Staff. Really interesting guy, and I could see myself living a similar life.

I'd love to write more, but my fingers are just too tired. I'll try to blog from NE this weekend, if we get the chance.


Tim

Geez, where to start.

I suppose I'll begin by telling you about my Friday. I woke up at 6 a.m., put on my shoes, drank the morning joe, and walked over to the DNC. The walk was extra inspired because I knew I was on my way to President Obama's final health care rally at George Mason. If you're a huge political nerd, you'll know that Obama's first campaign rally took place at GMU over 3 years ago. Lucky university, I do believe.

When we got to the rally, some really intense people surprised us by slapping volunteer badges on us. I didn't mind though...I considered myself a volunteer for the Commander in Chief, so I took it with a good attitude. Basically, our job was to walk around the massive line and make sure no one had large bags, food, and were prepared for the metal detector. Only hard part was the standing up for 3 straight hours after a breakfast of cinnamon oats.

So then, we the rally commenced. I got down on the second level in the floor section. Not bad view, and I didn't mind standing for another 2 hours. You don't really mind anything when you're listening to the most influential person in recent history give a motivating speech.

Many say that it was his most motivating speech on health care yet. I was certainly excited for the weekend after Obama's rally. Despite all my anticipation, there is no way I could have fully understood what I was in store for.

Saturday brought all kinds of insanity my way. My friends (all fairly liberal) and I decided to check out the inevitable protests going on at the Capital. For those of you who didn't already know, going to a tea-party is like stepping into another dimension. The dimension is filled with hate, paranoia, ignorance, and pictures of aborted fetuses. What my roommates and I stepped into was the most despicable aspect of American culture. I saw children in camo outfits, carrying signs that said "McCarthy was Right." I walked by a mom telling her 7 year old child that "Nancy Pelosi is the leader of congress who gets to decide that we have to pay for other people to have abortions." These are the people who assasinate doctors, world leaders, and fly planes into IRS buildings. The event was total sensory overload, and left me feeling really ashamed of a large portion of our American culture.

After the whole event, I had to decompress a bit by going to work out/jog. While I was jogging, I realized that these tea-partiers were the same wing nuts who actually approved of the job George W. Bush was doing when he left office. Did you know many people who approved of George W. Bush's job performance in fall 2008? Ya, neither did I. I think the best way to approach these people is to admit what they are--fucking wack-jobs--and then quickly dismiss them.

Saturday night I was served a milk shake by top-chef (a food network hit show) hero, Spike (don't know his last name). Anyhow, it was a bad ass milkshake. That was the highlight of my Saturday, night. Not much else happened, just wanted to mention that little part.

Sunday brought another trip to the hill. After being accosted by some tea-baggers who thought all modern day legislation should be as long as the Constitution (about 10 pages); me and my friend Hayley decided the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere very good. So we took off and walked into a WONDERFUL celebration of solidarity. We decided to call it a celebration instead of a protest because it made us feel really awesome.

Anyway, the "celebration" was an immigration reform rally. Tens of thousands of supporters were there, which dwarfed the tea-baggers numbers. There was so much positive energy in the air, so much love as opposed the antithesis displayed at the tea party rally. Everyone together, marching so they can help their families and friends stay together, earn amnesty, and prevent damaging/unjust deportations. Ahh, so refreshing. On our way back, we walked by an group of protesting hippies/anarchists. They were dancing to rap/funk music that no one but them had probably heard of, while holding anti-flag and "fuck capitalism" signs. Don't worry, I took pictures. I think it was the best moment of the day.

Today was a good, but stressful day at work. Most people seemed refreshed that Health Care had finally gotten done. By the way, HECK YEAH HEALTH CARE!

That's all I got for now. Will write more soon



Tim

Hello People,

Today is Thursday, a.k.a Friday for people in my program. But it's not exactly Friday, because tomorrow I need to be at the office at 7 A.M. Then, myself and some fellow interns will hop on a bus and head to see the Obama health care rally at George Mason University! Very excited, this will be my second time to see Obama speak in as many months. Very badass.

This week was good, it flew by faster than any other week yet. The weather is beginning to get beautiful--around 70 degrees today. I even saw a few cherry blossoms on my way home from the office. The best part of my week was reading some letters from people across America who desperately needed a reformed health insurance industry. I swear, some of those stories made me think I was living in a third world country instead of the "richest" in the world. Our system has some glaring flaws that need to be fixed, no one can deny that anymore.

This weekend could be a once in a lifetime experience. Saturday there is a fairly large war protest planned by Answercoallition.org. On top of that, there will certainly be a great deal of protests for and against Health Reform The tea-baggers should be out in full force, making fun of people with terminal illnesses, mis-spelling words on signs, and trying not to feel too uncomfortable around all the non-white people living in the District.

Until Later,

Tim

Good Day All,

Tomorrow is Saint Patricks day. I think I'll be going to a meeting hosted by Tim Kaine...pretty good way to celebrate the holiday. Today was an interesting day at the office. The morning didn't involve a whole lot of working, overall a pretty sluggish. Mostly just aim chatting and surfing news sites. In the afternoon, things got more hectic though. I got to work on a project related to health care on top of my usual stuff.

I've been thinking a lot about the future lately. What's gonna happen? Every time I get really deep in thought, a song comes on my pandora account that describes exactly how I'm feeling. It's kind of getting eerie. I will try to describe what I'm feeling in more depth later--most likely this weekend when I have more time and energy.

Keep your eyes on the health care debate. It could move from debate to reality in the next days/weeks.

10 days till the Cherry Blossoms Festival Starts. 10 days till my epic road trip. It's going to be an epic day in 10 days


Until Next Time,


Tim

Hello blogosphere and fans of blogosphere,

Allow me to describe the past few days. Friday was our trip to the city of brotherly love. It was a fun time, we got to tour the birthplace of America. I was in the very room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where our founders ratified the Constitution. I got a picture of George Washington's chair! Also, we toured the Senate and supreme court. After independence hall ,we toured around china town and ate a cheese steak at Jim's Steak. The only bad part was the ride home, where we suffered through hours of traffic and whiny/negative people.

On Friday we went to a lounge called "the Science club." The lounge is a vegan restaurant by day and hip 3 story bar w/dj by night. It's basically the hipster mecca. Lot's of hip places over in that area, I will probably go back soon.

Saturday we hosted the first (of hopefully many) CHIP House BBQ extravaganza. I bought a bison sirloin from the Eastern Market down the street. I grilled it up after marinating it in teriyaki, pepper, and green onions. Along with the steak, I bbq'd some mushrooms, onions, and asparagus. Needless to say, my dish was very well received. I think it actually earned the most praise of any piece of meat.

Today was a pretty lazy day overall. Woke up late, adjusted to the time change, went to the gym, and ate lunch with John and Joe at this pub called "Mr. Henry's." That was about it. Now we're having movie night--watching "forgetting sarah marshall." Fun stuff.

Tomorrow week 7 of work begins. Wish me luck, I will write more on it soon


Tim

Hey guys,

This week has been good! I took my first sick day on Monday, and it helped me out considerably. I was a bit apprehensive at first though, because I didn't know how my boss/supervisor would react. To my relief, she was fine with and gave my day off her blessing.

So on Monday I rested and cleaned up a lot around the apartment. The apt. really needed a good delousing of sorts, so I'm glad I got to scrub it down and vacuum up all the allergens and bacteria. By the way, I'm getting really good (not just competent) at keeping my living space tidy. Living in a co-op this summer will be a walk in the park.

In addition to cleaning I was able to take a stroll in the park because it was a gorgeous day. The weather has been fabulous all week, and I'm incredibly grateful for it. Torrential rains will occur for the next few days, but the temp will remain in the 60s-70s. I can live with that.

Tuesday and Wednesday were good days at work. As you non DC-er's may know, health care is a pretty big issue around here. No doubt, it's been dominating a lot of the conversation. A lot of our attention has gone to that at the office, which is cool because I get to hear all the information on it and what the exact democratic position is on the subject. And as always, they're keeping me busy.

Today we, the interns, attended a meeting with the head of the new media department. She gave us a digital tour of the organizing for america facebook page, the party website, and some of the blogs. Pretty cool lady. After partaking in some discussion with a few of the other interns, I learned what an advantage working in the Communications dept. is. A lot of the other departmetns are slower and don't deal with up to the minute, detailed news and policy. I ended up explaining a few integral issues to them, i.e. what reconciliation means and how many times it's been used in the past several years. If you're curious, reconciliation is a filibuster proof, majority vote, which has been used 22 times in 21 years (15 by Republicans).

Tomorrow is Thursday, a.k.a the last workday of the week. On Friday, I travel to Philly with my program to see independence hall and eat a cheesesteak. I plan on going out as much as possible this weekend and have a little fun...I've been sick/cooped up too long.

Shitty thing about going to Philly on Friday is that I miss another intern meeting, which will be hosted by college democrats. But it's not that shitty, because I talked to the intern coordinator today and expressed my interest in possibly getting a college dems chapter started at SU. She said she would set up a meeting with someone from College Dems for sometime next week!

So, all is well right now. I'm healthy, energized, and wanting to rock and roll. I even got to skype with Ursula the other day. Like see her face and everything! Made my day!!!


Will write more soon


Tim

Good evening,

Watching the Academy Awards/trying to fight through a sore throat and cough. I don't know what is wrong with my immune system, but it can't quite fight off this virus. So, it looks like I'm making a trip to the Doctor tomorrow. Do I know where the Doc's office is? Nope. Will I find out soon? Hopefully. I'm a bit apprehensive about telling my supervisor that making it to work tomorrow will be tough. I hope they do not get frustrated with me.

During the day I feel decent enough. Yesterday afternoon I went to the botanical gardens, then I toured the area of farragut north. Farrugut is pretty a interesting place-- dozens of Asian/ethnic food restaurants, good bars, weird clubs, etc. I'll head over there very soon.

This week is my 6th week of work (I think). I'm getting in the groove, and if I wasn't sick I'd be really rollin into it.

I will write more soon

Peace

Hey everyone (all 6 of you),

Being sick sucks. I'm taking this medicine called "Buckley's," which is kind of like Mucinex in liquid form. Mucinex, of course, loosens your cough and gets phlegm/mucus out of your chest. It's working OK, but it tastes awful. I've never seen a medicine with the tagline, "tastes awful, but it works!", until now.

The cough and sore throat have left me pretty incapacitated. I haven't been able to see any sights or go out anywhere in a few days, and that sucks because it's FINALLY nice outside. Also, I can't exercise any, which makes me stir crazy. Blerrrg, I despise illness. I did go to work this week though, because I am the most dedicated employee in the history of employees. Except for the sickness, work was great this week. By the end of each day though (esp. Wed. and Th.) I was really really out of it.

The next few weeks should be cool though. Next Friday I'm going to Philly, and two weeks after that I am going on a road trip with a couple of guys.

OK, I would write more but I am too sick and tired to focus much. I'll leave it here.

To be continued

Tim

Geeeezz I am sick. I thought I recovered, but Tuesday it only started to get worse--especially in my chest. Awful. And the weekend is about to start...double awful. At least I have chamomile tea and Tylenol PM to ameliorate symptoms; hopefully problems will ease up by tomorrow or Friday.

Work has been tough due to sickness, but I keep getting new tasks and challenges and they keep me on my toes. For fun, I helped decorate the office today by taping shamrocks to the walls (the theme for March). After that there was an intern meeting with the DNC Secretary, which is a pretty important title because she has a huge hand in planning the convention. It was an informative meeting (as they all are) and I look forward to the next one on Friday, hosted by Congressman Mike Honda.

Speaking of meetings, I get to sit in on the Comm. Department morning meeting. Really interesting and priviliged information gets disucussed. The type of projects I'm doing are similar in nature, but more imperative for office function. So that's a positive. Some relatively important people could be in the office next week, which I am excited about. Hopefully, I will be able to meet them after having a long and illness free weekend.

Will write more soon

Tim