Trip Home and Museums

This week was really short in terms of work, but was very eventful. As I mentioned last time, our office was closed Monday for President’s Day and I used the long weekend to travel home and visit family. I took off on Tuesday because the flights were too heavy on Monday and I needed the extra time to get back to DC. Coincidentally, this gave me an extra day to visit and I made the most of my long weekend. I flew back to DFW Friday night after work, and was picked up by my best friend at the airport. We drove up to Denton, saw the movie “Safe House” (which was great), and then spent most of the night hanging out with brothers at the Theta Chi House. Early Saturday morning, I returned to the airport to catch a flight to Louisiana, where my mom and Danny moved after Christmas. I hadn’t seen them since they moved, and was very happy to be able to spend time with them and see their new house. My dog was overjoyed to see me, and I was worried initially that he wasn’t going to let me spend time with anyone else, though he quickly lost interest in me after I quit throwing his toys. My grandpa took me to a casino for the first time in my life and this was great experience, despite the fact that I lost $60. Turns out I’m not a great gambler. After the weekend in Louisiana, I flew back to DFW Tuesday morning and spent all day Tuesday with my dad and sister in Fort Worth. I had lunch with my grandparents there (my dad’s parents) and got to catch up with everyone, which was really nice. Before heading back to the airport, I insisted that we go to Cousin’s Barbecue for dinner (where I used to work) and I got to experience real Texas barbecue, which I had so badly missed. Then it was back to the airport, where I boarded another flight back to DC. I got in around 11:45 and was back at my apartment around 12:30 in the morning.

    

At work on Wednesday morning, I was asked by our Education LA, Michelle Chin, to come downstairs for a meeting with UNT officials at 10:30. I was excited to meet some people from UNT and eagerly went down to the greet them. The meeting was with Dr. Richard Nader, the Interim Vice Provost for International Affairs and Dr. Gabriel Carranza, the Assistant Vice Provost for International Cooperation and a Research Professor in Biological Sciences. There was another man present as well, but he didn’t speak much at all and I didn’t get his business card. Dr. Nader and Dr. Carranza were here to discuss funding and grants for international programs and talked with Michelle about the current status of UNT’s international programs and international students. They were excited to meet an intern from UNT and wanted to hear about what I was studying and what I was doing with the NTDC program. I really enjoyed getting to talk to them and was glad Michelle invited me along to the meeting.

Wednesday afternoon, Doug asked me to attend a lunch briefing on his behalf with the Foreign Policy Initiative. The briefing was titled “Assessing Progress in Afghanistan” and was a look at the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and the success of international efforts to combat terrorism and establish a lasting democracy. The speakers giving the briefing were General Jack Keane, a retired Army 4-star General and expert on the Middle East, and Major Fernando Lujan, an Army Special Forces officer who had recently returned from extended tours in Afghanistan. Not only was this another free lunch, but it was also a really informative briefing on a topic of interest to me and I learned a lot. After the luncheon, I typed up a summary of the remarks made by the General and the Major, noting the highlights of their speeches and the conclusions that they and the FPI had reached concerning Afghanistan. Then I met with Doug later in the afternoon to give him my account of the meeting and brief him on what was said.

Thursday and Friday were pretty routine and uneventful and the weekend came quickly, especially considering that I only had three days of work this week!  On Friday, I had dinner with a fraternity brother from Denton who is now attending law school at the University of Pittsburgh. He called to tell me he would be in town for a conference and I was happy to meet him for dinner and spend some time catching up and hearing about how law school was going for him.

On Saturday, I slept in then headed out to the National Mall for an afternoon at the museums. I spent close to three hours in the National Air and Space Museum, checking out all kinds of aircraft and space vehicles. Coming from a family of pilots, I have some natural interest in this subject, but I really wished my dad and grandpa were with me because they would have absolutely loved the place! Actually, if they were with me I might never have gotten them out of there now that I think about it. I flew a full motion F-4 Phantom simulator and honestly have to say that it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. The thing actually spins, climbs, banks, turns, and rolls, responding to whatever you tell it to do with the joystick. The first time I stood it on its left wing and pulled back to execute a sharp turn, I found myself actually on my left side trying to hold myself in the seat as the horizon zipped past me in a blur. I was held into the seat only by the restraints and could actually feel myself lifting as if I were in a real plane. There are no G-forces, obviously, because the simulator is not zero gravity or pressurized, but you do get to experience a full range of motions, including vertical climbs, turns, and barrel rolls (which I couldn’t get enough of). And yes, you actually can start to get lightheaded if you fly upside down for too long. During the six and a half minute ride, I managed not to crash and successfully eliminated 6 of 6 enemy fighters during dogfighting, making myself an instant ace. When I attempted my skill at landing an F-18 on a carrier at night, however, my luck ran out. After a quick tutorial on how to read the ball, control pitch and elevation, and follow the instructions of the LSO, I made my first carrier landing attempt. I completely missed the deck and flew right overhead, buzzing the carrier and never getting wheels down. My second attempt saw me put the tail of the fighter into the deck and go up in a ball of fire. The next several weren’t pretty either, but I finally managed to catch the emergency #3 cable and successfully land the fighter on my sixth attempt. Needless to say, I won’t be going to Top Gun anytime soon.

After the Air and Space Museum, I headed over to the National Museum of Natural History and proceeded to get myself lost in the exhibits there. I spent the rest of the day wandering around from hall to hall, examining the fossil structures of giant whales, dinosaurs, and various extinct animals. I checked out skulls and remains of early humans, looked at telescopic imagery of distant galaxies and nebulas, and even stood within an arms-length of a 45.5 carat diamond in the geology section. This diamond is well guarded, as you can imagine, but the sight of it was awe-inspiring. And I have to say that I began to think of all the heist movies I had ever seen, searching for a likely way to grab it. Fortunately, I’ve watched enough movies and read enough books to know that this particular diamond would be impossible to take without an experienced crew, a small fortune worth of equipment, and a few people cooperating on the inside. Also, I concluded that trying to sell the diamond on the black market would be near impossible without cutting it up, considering its size and original characteristics. All of this, combined with the thought of life in prison, encouraged me to abandon my diamond heist planning and continue exploring the museum. By closing time, I had to be told to leave, because I was still caught up in the ancient oceans display hall and had lost track of time. I still have a lot more museum exploring to do and I just hope I have enough weekends left to see it all! Fortunately, everything is paid for thanks to all of you working adults out of college who pay taxes. I appreciate it!

After the museums, I met up with my friend again and we saw Amanda Seyfried’s new thriller, “Gone”, over at the movie theater in Chinatown. The film was a pretty good thriller with enough plot to keep you interested and was a good end to the day. Sunday I slept in again, and then went to Silver Spring, Maryland for a meeting with Mike Kelsey, the pastor of Frontline, before the evening service. He wanted to meet with me to see how I liked the church and hear about my background and experience in DC so far. We met for about 45 minutes and had a great conversation. Mike is really a great guy with a great church and I’m very glad I found this place. After another excellent service, I met some more of the church members, including Matt and his wife Lisa, who sat next to me. Matt is a doctor and an Army Captain, stationed at Bethesda. I was excited to meet him and am quickly finding that DC is a great place to make contacts in the military! After church, it was home to watch the Oscars. Another great week in DC with many more exciting opportunities! I’m quickly getting used to life out here and finding that I’m adjusting really well. Though I still don’t see myself being out here permanently because I just miss Texas culture too much!

Work in the Senate

Life continues to go well in D.C. Work isn’t too difficult and is actually becoming more and more interesting as I get to learn and experience more. Cold weather set in this weekend, with a little bit of snow, but nothing too terrible.

Last Wednesday we attended a Texas State Society event after work, the Annual Salute to Congress. Texas Representatives were there along with Senator Hutchison and a lot of staff and interns. The event was very Texas themed, featuring free Tex-mex, Blue Bell, and Shiner Bock. The Representatives present each gave a short speech, as did Senator Hutchison, and it was a good way to mingle with Texans. Kay Bailey made a joke about Governor Perry during her speech that was a little shocking, but also pretty funny. The joke went something like this: “Every year I love coming to the Texas State Society Salute to Congress. This is really a wonderful event for 3 reasons. First, it’s a chance for us to come together and interact as Texans. Second, it’s a great excuse to enjoy some wonderful Texas libations. And third…..” (Here she paused for a long time until everyone started laughing; obviously mocking Governor Perry’s inability to recall the 3^rd executive agency he would cut during a presidential debate earlier in his campaign). After everyone got over the initial shock, the room burst into laughter. I personally couldn’t believe that a sitting senator would make such a public mockery of their governor, but I guess that’s what happens when you lose a bitter primary campaign.  

Last Thursday was Senator Cornyn’s birthday. The Chief of Staff closed the office a half hour early and we all went over to the NRSC office where we had a surprise birthday party set up. The senator arrived thinking that he was coming to a meeting and instead found all of his staff waiting to wish him happy birthday. In addition to cake and drinks, the staff had gone around getting some of the senator’s colleagues to record short messages for him and compiled a video that was very funny. Everyone’s been mocking Senator Cornyn recently for saying that 60 is the new 40 and several of his fellow senators joined in the humor. Their messages were all very good and inspired a good laugh for the staff. Overall the party was a great success and I think it really made the senator’s day.

One great thing about being an intern for the senate is the amount of free lunches that you get. There a crazy amount of luncheon briefings that take place on the Hill every week. A lot of these have important information for the staff, but a lot of times the appropriate staff members either can’t or don’t want to attend them. As a result, interns usually get invited to attend the luncheons in their place and bring back a summary of the information. Last Friday, Cash and I went to a briefing on entrepreneurial jobs in science and technology. Then Wednesday we attended one on nuclear power and the future of nuclear energy in the United States. Usually these briefings are done by scientists and they aren’t incredibly interesting (you can see why the staff doesn’t normally care to attend). However, any good college student can sit through an hour long briefing on ANYTHING if there’s a free lunch involved. We’re quickly finding that being an intern willing to volunteer for lunch briefings is a great way to eat every week while keeping your food costs down. And the food isn’t bad either!

This Thursday, we got a little bit of a surprise. While doing our morning work entering scheduling requests into our database, we suddenly heard a voice behind us say “Howdy!” Turning around we saw Senator Cornyn standing behind our desk (the 3 interns each have a computer and work station at a long, shared desk. We had been so busy working that none of us had even noticed the senator walking around upstairs (our office takes up 2 floors with an interior staircase) and talking to staff. We were pleasantly surprised by his improvisational visit and got to spend a few minutes talking to him. He was interested in where we were going to school, what we were studying, what our career plans were, and how we were liking the internship so far. I was impressed to see that he was willing to take time out of his day to talk to his interns and get to know us a little better. Definitely says a lot about Senator Cornyn and the type of guy he is. Honestly, I’ve really been overly impressed by his attitude towards his office and the effort he puts into his job. Senator Cornyn has a policy in his office that every constituent who writes to us receives a response, regardless of whether their letter is supportive or condemning. If you contact the senator’s office and include a return address, you WILL get a response from us. That’s really impressive considering the sheer volume of mail that comes in to the office. Our Legislative Correspondents do a great job working very hard to make sure that happens, and it’s just nice to see a senator who values his constituents that much. Senator Cornyn really understands why he’s in D.C. and who he’s working for.

On Friday, I got a really great experience. Dave Hanke is our Legislative Assistant for military and defense issues and is a former Army JAG. I told him the first week of the internship that I was interested in defense issues and was willing to help with any projects he had during the semester. This week he told me that some researchers from the Center for Security Policy would be coming into the office to present a report they had done on defense cuts and the upcoming military budget. He invited me to sit in on this meeting with him and our military fellow and I was really excited to be included in something like that. I got to sit at the table with these people as part of the Senator’s staff and listen to the researchers present their report, then listen to our staff ask questions and study the report. It was interesting information in a field that really interests me, so I was grateful for the opportunity.

The weekend was pretty lazy, due to the snow and extremely cold weather. I pretty much stayed indoors all weekend and watched Netflix, with one exception to go to church. The service was really good tonight and very fulfilling. John McGowan is a very passionate, gifted speaker and the current series on Jonah has been very informative and spiritually beneficial. There were 3 baptisms done tonight and it was great to be able to celebrate three new additions to the church family.

That’s about all I have for now. Hope all is well in Texas! I hear it’s “snowing” down there tonight, but I doubt it’s as cold or overcast as it is here. ; )