News and Nader

First, some news: I PASSED THE FE!!!

Maybe I can convince my dad to take the PE exam with me in a few years (good old dad passed the FE waaay back in 1974)...

Anyway, on to my latest and greatest Washington, DC adventures!

Wednesday, June 13

I began my day by attending the "Change the Way America Runs Its Elections" conference sponsored by the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University and the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform. (What a mouthful.) The conference was held at the National Press Club. I had quite a surprise as I neared the building entrance:


The building was having its windows washed; for whatever reason, the ropes attached to the platform pulleys were dangling right at Sarah-head level. I was not expecting to dodge heavy, swinging ropes on my way to the conference!


The conference itself proved to be quite informative. Representatives Susan Davis and Rush Holt spoke, and there were two panels. The above photo is of the first panel, "What's Wrong with America's Elections and How to Fix Them: New Proposals from the States." Pictured left to right are Dr. Robert A. Pastor (Director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management at AU), Jamin Raskin (Maryland State Senator and Professor of Law at AU), Kevin Kennedy (Executive Director of the Wisconsin State Elections Board), Susan Molinari (former Member of Congress), Thomas Mann (Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution), and Mary Margaret Oliver (Member of the Georgia General Assembly).

The WISE gang visited the World Bank in the afternoon. Not quite my cup of tea, but still very interesting to learn about. We all stayed in for the evening due to severe thunderstorms and a general lack of motivation.

Wednesday spending total: $0.00 (YAY!)

Thursday, June 14

The WISE gang had a speaker in the morning, and I spent the afternoon working on my policy proposal. After work Emily, Erica, Dave, and myself journeyed to Busboys and Poets to see none other than RALPH NADER himself:



Mr. Nader spoke for about 45 minutes on his new book, The Seventeen Traditions. I enjoyed listening to him; he talked of his eccentric childhood as the son of two Lebanese immigrants in small-town Connecticut, not of the 2000 or 2004 elections.

Thursday spending total: $31.55 (postage, amazon.com order, and dinner)

Friday, June 15

Our early morning meeting got cancelled, so I spent the morning finishing my proposal at home. I still get the WORST glare on my computer at the IEEE office and prefer the solitude of empty Guthridge Hall.

I rolled into the office at noon for free food and did some work before our 3pm meeting. We all presented our proposals and went to the Town and Country Lounge to celebrate. Afterward, Emily and I went on a little adventure to the Wachovia ATM and liquor store, where we got a free tasting of Imperial vodka.

The WISE gang came home and ate dinner before embarking on even more evening revelry. Tonight our destination was Chinatown:



All of the bars were carding at the early hour of 8pm, so we were stuck going to Hooters. The atmosphere was totally dead; Saurabh and I eventually moved on to the Fado Irish Pub:


He thought it was hilarious that my Blue Moon glass was almost bigger than my face:


Ano, his friend, and Andrew joined us (and Chris and his 80 billion friends) at the bar, too:


Friday spending total: $19.00 (assorted alcoholic beverages)

Case Connections

A mid-week update live from the District of Columbia!

Saturday, June 9

I worked on my prior blog entry until 3:30am and consequently woke up at 11am on Saturday morning. I bummed around Guthridge 409 for some time before deciding to abandon my original plans (Kennedy Center and Arlington Cemetery).

I instead spent the afternoon wandering around what is known as West Potomac Park. First, I met this friendly squirrel:


I then walked past the Vietnam Women's Memorial:


Next up on the monument list was the Three Servicemen Statue:


Finally, I made it to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial:


The granite has reflective qualities that allow the Washington Monument to be seen when the sun hits just right.

I took this picture of the Reflecting Pool before moving on to the Lincoln Memorial:



The Gettysburg Address is carved into the left wall of the memorial. I never realized that the following lyric from Believe (a song about September 11th) by Yellowcard was taken from the speech:

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

I took in the Korean War Veterans Memorial next:


My grandpa fought in the Korean War. He was on the "wrong" side of the ocean, though.

I wandered the banks of the Potomac River for a while:


I eventually found the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and visited that as well:


I liked the FDR Memorial. Famous quotes by FDR were carved into the walls next to waterfalls, copper statues, rocks, and trees. The memorial is quite expansive and contains four "rooms," one for each of Roosevelt's terms in office.

I continued walking around the Tidal Basin (so pretty) until I came to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial:




I walked back to the dorm, where Chris, Saurabh, and Jason convinced me to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean with them. The most exciting part for me was running into my friend Ariel at Metro Center! She and I had linear algebra and journalism together at Case; her boyfriend (also a Case grad) recognized me as I ran to catch a nonexistent red line train to Glenmont. Once the two of them flagged my attention, we had a most lovely chat.

Ariel (who hails from in between Erie and Pittsburgh) and I randomly decided that we are Great Lakes Girls. We are too eastern to be Midwestern and both have quirks only found in young women from western Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, and maybe Michigan. Economists and engineers can take stabs at sociology ;)

The boys and I got into the 7:15pm viewing of Pirates at the last possible minute. After the show, Chris, Saurabh, and I set out to meet Chris's friends in Dupont Circle.

The first bar we went to was Big Hunt. We enjoyed lively conversation on the patio along with delicious cajun fries. I tried a Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat, officially my new favorite beer. We did some shots and dancing at The Front Page before winding down at Buffalo Bill's and heading home for the night. Definitely a super, super fun time!

Saturday spending total: $28.50 (movie ticket and assorted alcoholic beverages)

Sunday, June 10

I slept in a great deal following the festivities of Saturday night. Luckily, I wasn't late for my 1pm lunch date at Oriental East in Silver Spring. I met up with signal processing James and his friends (some of whom were also Case alumns) for the most amazing dim sum ever:


Afterward, a bunch of us walked around downtown Silver Spring and went to the Whole Foods. I bought some delicious blueberries and strawberries :)

I came back to GWU for a bit and snapped this picture of WISE guy Travis:


I went to church later in the evening before stopping in at Paper Source in Georgetown. Pure nirvana. I could easily spend hundreds of dollars at this stationery store.

Sunday spending total: $18.35 (lunch and Whole Foods run)

Monday, June 11

Another mostly uneventful day at the office. We had a speaker from the Department of Energy and then had free time to work on our papers.

Emily, her friend Celine, myself, Erica, and others hit up Madam's Organ for dinner:



I really wanted to get the Bill Clinton Burger, $1.00 off for all women who have slept with the President. The waitress could not guarantee that this would be Sarah-safe, so I passed :(

Monday spending total: $5.00 (fries at Madam Organ's)

Tuesday, June 12

I started my morning off with a visit to the GW Student Health Clinic. A nurse practitioner confirmed my thoughts regarding my knee and made me agree to the following:

1. No more running
2. No more swimming
3. I will take lots of ibuprofen
4. I will wear an ACE bandage
5. I will walk less than 10 miles a day

Gahhh. I am so stubborn that I had to hear it from a medical professional, though.

I surfed the internet/did work at the IEEE office for the remainder of the morning. I actually did have two phone interviews, one with a professor at MIT and the other with a local activist.

The WISE gang traveled to NIST in the afternoon for a lecture on fire prevention engineering. I never knew that preventing, fighting, and modeling fires could be so complicated.

I stopped into GW's Gelman Library later on in the evening. I had wanted to check out three books for my research, and the person with whom I spoke over the phone assured me that I could get a GW library card. Oh no, NOT MINE. That's ok, because the Gelman Library doesn't have movable shelving:


Tuesday spending total: $202.89 (GW Student Health Clinic visit, CVS run, AMTRAK tickets, Safeway run)

First Week in Washington

Welcome to the inaugural post of Sarah, Plain and Short!

I am spending the summer in Washington, DC participating in the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) Program. Somebody somewhere decided that it was time (finally) for me to leave Cleveland and mingle with our nation's lawmakers for a little bit. As of right now, I plan to write a policy paper dealing with electronic voting machines.

I promised my mom I would keep a blog. I plan to update semi-weekly.

I apologize in advance for what will be an incredibly long entry.

Now on to the exciting stuff ;)

Sunday, June 3

Mom, Dad, RJ, and Tom dropped me off at Cleveland Hopkins airport right after church. Meine Familie was sad to see me (and my mad basement bathroom cleaning skills) go. Dad helped me get my luggage out of the car, and I proceeded to the Continental curbside check-in station. After the silver car pulled away, I discovered that the larger of my two bags was precisely two pounds overweight. I threw my AS-SEEN-ON-TV foldable colander in my other bag and stuffed a half-dozen pairs of socks in my backpack. 51 pounds, but the check-in man took my bag.

I entered the airport and accidentally went into the first-class line to go through security. (No one noticed or told me to leave. I still am an awkward traveler when I am without my 40 brothers and sisters.) Getting through security was a breeze, although finding a Plain Dealer proved to be more difficult. I finally snagged a copy of the paper and headed off to the D terminal.

My flight was truly unremarkable. No turbulence, no annoying babies or businessmen, nothing to write home about. We touched down in DC roughly an hour after leaving Cleveland.

I think that the real fun begins upon arrival in the destination city. I got off of the plane and followed my fellow travelers to the baggage claim. My frog luggage came out right away, and I managed to navigate my two bags all the way to the Metro station. I bought a $2 Metro farecard and got on the train to Foggy Bottom.

Here I must make two brief asides:
1. I could NOT believe how smoothly things were going at this point, and
2. The Metro is SOOOOOO cool. Did I mention that I like trains?

I got off at Foggy Bottom and didn't know where to go. I asked a cabbie to take me to New Hall; he had no idea where it was. I ventured into the GW Hospital reception area (luggage and all) and asked a security guard how to get to my destination. She wasn't exceptionally helpful, but her directions were good enough.

I arrived at New Hall just as it began to pour. I had to stand in the rain for some time; don't get me started about pushy parents and finite poncho supplies.

I eventually got my key and ventured to my new home, Guthridge Hall:


My roommate Erica had already arrived, along with Ano (another WISE guy). I unpacked a little, and soon our room looked like this:


Well, actually our room looked like that after a trip to Macy's at Pentagon City for pillows. I spent the remainder of Sunday meeting the rest of the WISE guys and gals as they trickled into DC. We had a pizza party with Erica from IEEE later in the evening, and my three roomies and I conversed well into the night. Just random, sometimes girly, getting-to-know-you things ;)

Sunday spending total: $29.82 (Plain Dealer, Metro farecards, CVS run, and a pillow)

Monday, June 4

My three roomies and I began the morning with a run around the Washington Monument, Capitol, and White House. Definitely a monumentous way to start our first day in DC! (Get it?) We came back to the dorm and showered before venturing to the IEEE office. We did orientation-type activities and met representatives from several of the sponsoring societies. I spent a little bit of time at my desk before calling it quits for the day. I went food shopping and set up internetz for myself and fellow WISE guys after work. Six of us hit up the 51st State later in the evening; while this bar wasn't particularly amazing, it did have Yuengling.

Monday spending total: $45.22 (CVS run, Safeway run, and one glass of Yuengling)

Tuesday, June 5

My three roomies and I again began the day with a run (same route). We then went to the IEEE office for more briefings, lectures, and such. Afterward, most of us (there are 11 WISE guys total) went with IEEE Erica to Metro Center to pick up our Metro farecards. We had a lovely walk around the city and stopped at Five Guys for lunch. On the way back to the office, Chris, Saurabh, Dave, and I spied this:


Only in Washington, DC! I spent a few hours at the office and made a brief stop at Trader Joe's before coming home. Oh dorm, sweet dorm.

Almost all of the WISE guys spent Tuesday evening at RFK Stadium watching the Washington Nationals battle the Pittsburgh Pirates. RFK, one of the last big old stadiums, was bland and characterless. Nevertheless, I climbed to the top of our section and took some pretty sweet photos:





Dave, Chris, and Saurabh are in the last photo. I guess I hang out with them a lot.

Oh, and I got to watch the Pirates triumph for the second consecutive Tuesday. (I caught the Bucs at PNC with Jim on May 29.) They topped the Nationals 7 to 6.

Tuesday spending total: $44.80 (lunch, Trader Joe's run, and a Nationals ticket)

Wednesday, June 6

I opted out of running this morning and got some well-deserved extra sleep. IEEE Erica gave us the opportunity of joining her in the morning for a patent hearing at the Dirksen Senate Building; several WISE guys, including myself, tagged along. We made it through the metal detectors and into Dirksen before encountering an absurdly long line to get into the hearing room. (Did you know that you can hire someone to stand in line for you? This was news to me.)

Destined for the overflow room, we decided to leave. We walked past Hart and Russell (the other two Senate buildings) before entering one of the three Library of Congress buildings. Each of us got a reader card, and we spent some time wandering around. We got to see the actual articles that Lincoln had in his pocket when he was assassinated (two pairs of spectacles, a little knife, some coins, and more) as well as a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. (The Mainz Bible was also on display.)

The Library of Congress is GORGEOUS. Check out these photos:



We saw Charles Rangel on our way out of the Library of Congress. (Our first politician sighting!!!) We then ate lunch at a cafe near the Capitol before taking the Metro back to the office.

I really was planning to do work. Then I found out about Club 44.

Geraldine Ferraro. Madeleine Albright. Hillary Clinton.

How could I not go???

A bunch of us snagged free tickets and ventured to 11th and H. The event was jam-packed, and we could barely see the stage:


Still, we had fun and got to hear some fabulous females speak. We hit up the Capitol City Brewing Company afterward. Interestingly enough, the six of us at the restaurant decided that we were too cheap to try the custom-brewed beer. Not to be deprived, however, Chris, Ano, Jason, and I hit up McFadden's later in the night:


Wednesday spending total: $23.00 (lunch, dinner, and one glass of Blue Moon)

Thursday, June 7

My acutely sore left knee kept me from running with my roomies. But I still got up bright and early to go see SHERROD!!! I took the Metro to Union Station all by myself and made it to the Capitol for 8:30 am Constituent Coffee. I had a blast saying hello to Senator Brown and meeting all sorts of interesting people from the Great State of Ohio. I also ran into two Case nursing professors visiting the Hill for a conference. What a small world!

I took some pretty snapshots:




I ventured back to the IEEE office later in the morning to hear a speaker from the National Cancer Institute. She was alright, although greatly irrelevant (at least to me and my research).

I didn't feel like sitting at my desk all afternoon, so I decided to go back to the Hill for a hearing on Election Fraud Legislation in Dirksen. The line was much shorter than on Wednesday, although I was the last person they let in the room. Little did I know that I would nearly brush elbows with Barack Obama as he entered through the door!

Senators Cardin, Schumer, and Hatch were also at the hearing. How cool!

After the hearing was over, I went back to the Library of Congress to hit up the gift shop. (I missed it the first time around.) I then took some more photographs:



FYI, the top photo is of the Supreme Court.

I then checked out Union Station for a few minutes. I GOT TO SEE WHERE THE AMTRAK TRAINS LIVE AND WHERE PEOPLE GO TO GO ON THE AMTRAK. This was very exciting to me.

I also went to the Union Station Ann Taylor. People in Washington are perfectly coiffed and dress to the nines. To the point where I have felt underdressed all week. I scanned the sale racks and picked up a black cardigan and checkered dress pants. (I found the matching shell to the cardigan online and bought that, too.) Cousin Susie would have been proud of me!

To reinforce the above point, I struck up a conversation with my cashier. She told me that it is not uncommon at this time of the year for Congressional interns to come into the store crying and tell the clerk in between sobs that "Senator so and so sent them to get a more appropriate wardrobe." How wild.

I also have noticed what the women of Washington put their feet through: pure torture. While many are smart and interchange their heels with walking shoes whenever possible, band-aid sales in the District of Columbia must be at unprecedented levels. At what price fashion?

Anyway, I made it back to the dorm in time to cook dinner and go for a swim. The snotty issue desk attendant would not tell me where the pool was, so I got lost in GW's rec center. I stumbled into the main gym at one point, where I noticed/remembered that GW is in the same conference as Duquesne.

That got me to thinking, and I reached the conclusion that GW's rec center (and sports in general) are very similar to that at my bro's school. For instance, Duquesne has a puny 6-lane pool (no diving well) with little seating space in the basement of a dorm. GW has an unimpressive 8-lane pool (no diving well) with no seating whatsoever in the basement of the rec center. I guess the pool would be alright for DIII, but for DI it is rather pathetic.

I swam for the first time in a month (gahhhh) and lasted about 50 minutes. I'll take that.

I then put on RJ's LeBron jersey (thanks bro) and went out with Ano, Chris, and Saurabh. We went back to the 51st State for the first half of the game before walking to Georgetown. We stumbled into Mr. Smith's and stayed for the remainder of the game. This bar has the most beautiful patio in the back as well as a pianist next to the indoor bar. At first, people just gave the pianist requests, which he obligingly played. As the night went on, more and more [tipsy] people entered the bar, and group sing-a-long commenced. I seem to remember singing/screaming "Lean on Me" with Chris toward the end of the Cavs game...

King James only had 14 points. The Cavs lost :(

Next time, we need to mess more with Texas.

Thursday spending total: $116.00 (Library of Congress gift shop, Ann Taylor splurge, glass of Yuengling, and a bottle of Sam Adams)

Friday, June 8

Left knee = Achilles' heel = no running. I walked to the IEEE office early with my roomie Emily. I read the Washington Post equivalent of the Plain Dealer's FRIDAY! section before boring lectures...nothing super fun to do in this city over the weekend. (I do have tons of monuments to hit and am quite competent at occupying myself, however.)

A bunch of us went to a lunch sponsored by Student Pugwash. We concluded that the event, which focused on the public understanding of science, wasn't worth the free pizza. I spent the rest of the afternoon surfing the web at the office.

After work, I did some more laps at the GW rec center and stopped at Safeway. Safeway disappoints me. I did pick up a lot of sale items and save some serious dough, though.

Friday spending total: $40.32 (CVS run, Safeway run, and 6 postcards at Borders)

***

I made chicken tacos for dinner and have been enjoying the quiet. I have one roomie in Baltimore, one roomie in NYC, and one roomie out on a hot date. I have no idea what the guys are doing, which leaves me to blog.

Speaking of, I think I am caught up :)

I really am enjoying my time in DC so far. I can't believe I've spied so many politicians and seen so much in one week. I think there are greater things to come, too, so stay tuned!