Crazy Long Update: Part 2

This week I got my first major project and I’ve been working really hard on it. Doug came to me on Monday and told me he had a special research project for me regarding a defense/military issue. After briefing me on the details of what he was looking for, he asked me to do some research on the topic and create a one page brief containing background and analysis of the issue. He then asked me to formulate some policy recommendations and said that if I did a good job, my recommendations might be presented to the senator, to help form his opinion on what position he should take. I was very excited to have the opportunity to do some real work and especially interested in the topic I was researching. Doug asked me to have a rough draft ready by the end of the week, but I was extra vigilant and turned in my first copy on Wednesday morning. After looking it over, he said it looked good and that we would discuss it in more detail next week. Then he gave me another project, telling me that if I wanted to be a lawyer, especially a Navy lawyer, I needed to get used to balancing multiple assignments at the same time. Working on these two assignments with Doug and the rest of the defense team has proven to be time consuming, especially since I have to keep up with my regular intern duties as well. I don’t mind the extra work though, because it is interesting to me and it makes the days go by faster. Also, I agree with Doug that its good practice for the real world if I want to be an attorney. I really want to do well on this project because it's an opportunity to show Doug and Dave what I can do. Since Dave is a former JAG officer and Doug is a currently an active duty Naval officer, I will very likely be asking these guys to write letters of recommendation for me when I apply to the JAG Corps in the next couple of years. Now is my opportunity to earn those letters and convince them that I am a quality student and employee. I’m also really glad to see that they trust me with so much responsibility, though, and it’s really cool that the work I’m doing on this project will actually reach the senator’s desk and be used by him to formulate an opinion on the issue in the future!

Monday I spent most of the day out of the office doing another signature run. This one was particularly interesting, because on Tuesday morning I saw a news story on CNN about a letter that a group of Republican senators had sent to the White House. The story talked about the senators who had signed onto the letter and the fact that Senator Cornyn was the lead author. I soon realized that the letter they were talking about was the one that I had spent all day Monday collecting signatures for! I have to say that it felt pretty awesome to know I had helped work on something that was now being discussed on national news!

Tuesday morning, we had another Texas Tuesday Coffee, the event where constituents visiting D.C. have the opportunity to meet Senator Cornyn and get their picture taken with him. This coffee was the largest one we’ve done so far, with around 200 people in attendance. Needless to say, it took a large part of the staff to keep the event running smoothly and organize all of those people to get their photos done in a timely fashion and allow the senator to get on with his day. It was cool to see so many people in one place, so far from home. Right after the coffee event, I had a another tour scheduled, then it was back to work on my special projects.

Wednesday after work, Mercedes and I attended a reception for National Pi Day (March 13 = 3.14), being hosted by a nonprofit educational organization. Our Education LA, Michelle Chin, had been invited to attend and invited the interns to accompany her. Cash and Kris had other plans already, but I agreed to go because I was told there would be free food and I’m always up for a free dinner. At the last minute, Michelle was unable to attend, but told me to go anyway. I called Mercedes, who was just getting off work as well, and invited her to attend with me since it was an event for Congressional staff and she works for Congressman Burgess. I figured that since Michelle had RSVP’d a spot and was not attending now, it wouldn’t do anything to upset the number of people scheduled to attend. Mercedes and I arrived at the lounge to find the event packed with people. It was a relatively small room to begin with, and I believe the offer of free food attracted quite a few Hill staffers. Still, we got to enjoy some great pizza from a place in Georgetown and then had some chocolate silk and pecan pie that was excellent. I think receptions like these are one of the best parts about working on the Hill.

On Thursday I gave another tour, this time to a group of women from Houston. This was our 5^th tour of the week, which is equal to the combined number of tours we’ve given in the last few months since I’ve been here. You can tell it’s Spring Break and the tourism has picked up significantly around D.C. I don’t mind because tours are definitely my favorite part about the job and I really enjoy sharing the history of the Capitol and teaching Texans a little about how Congress works. I feel like I always do a good job, because I want to represent Senator Cornyn well and genuinely enjoy what I’m doing. On this particular tour, however, I had a lady who has taken several tours of the Capitol during her life. She told me at the end that this one was much more generous and comprehensive than any other that she’s ever been on and thanked me for taking the time to do a really thorough tour and make sure that they got to see everything they wanted to. She also said that I did an excellent job explaining the history and told me that she was going to write to the senator’s office to tell them how great their tour was. I really appreciated that and it made me feel great to know that I was doing a good job with these tours.

Christopher’s friend came into town Wednesday and they left together to spend an extended weekend in New York City for St. Patrick’s Day. As a result, I’ve had the apartment to myself and it’s been pretty quiet around here for the last few days. I’ve spent some of the weekend hanging out with Chris and Mercedes, but have basically just had a relaxing weekend to myself. After working hard on these research projects all week, I definitely needed the down time and have tried to make the most of it. I called mom on St. Patrick’s Day to wish her a happy birthday (I have never once forgotten mom’s birthday because it falls on a national holiday) and I made sure to wear green all day in honor of the event.

Oh, I also found out this week that I got accepted to Baylor Law School. I was ecstatic about that considering that I never thought I stood a serious chance there and I now have an important decision to make about where I will attend law school. I’m still waiting on one more school to get their decision to me and then I should make up my mind in the next few weeks.

Sorry for the length of these posts and I promise I’ll try to keep the updates a little more frequent in the future to keep this from happening again! Hope all is well back home!

Crazy Long Update: Part 1

Ok everyone, I just realized that I haven’t updated this thing in like three weeks! Sorry for the delay, it’s just been pretty busy around here and I completely forgot about blogging for a while. At the risk of making this post incredibly long, I’ll try to hit the highlights of the last few weeks and bring you all up to speed on what’s been going on. I’m going to split this post into two to help with the length, so be sure to read Part 1 before reading Part 2. Here it goes: 
 

Well, it’s now March and I’m finding that the excitement of the job has started to wear off a little bit in some ways. We’ve been at work for 2 months now and the internship is in some ways starting to just feel like work. I’ve noticed that it I no longer take time to stare at things like the Capitol Dome or the Supreme Court during my morning walk to the office and I’m starting to adapt to working in the Senate like it’s just a normal part of life. I even found myself impatiently waiting in a security line at the office building one day, thinking about how annoying it was that the “tourists” didn’t know how to keep the line moving efficiently. This is, of course, rather ridiculous considering that I’ve only been here two months myself and am in no way a local. Still, I am adjusting to routine life in DC and am no longer overwhelmed by everything around me. I’m not really sure how I feel about that.

As for work itself, the job is also becoming a little routine. Most of our responsibility revolves around entering scheduling requests into a database and sorting mail. While there are occasional research projects and briefings to provide some excitement, the everyday parts of the job do get a little old sometimes and I find that I have to remind myself of why I wanted to be here. While interning for the Senate really is a great opportunity and I am learning a lot, sometimes it does just feel like work.

The longer I’m in DC, the more I realize just how much I love living in the south. A couple of weeks ago, I attended a briefing for our Health Care LC. She couldn’t attend the briefing, but needed someone to go and bring the information back to her. The briefing happened to include another free lunch, so I of course didn’t mind going. When I got to the room, I took a seat and ate my box lunch while waiting for the briefing to start. People continued flowing in until it became obvious that there were going to be a lot more people than there were seats. As I realized this, an older lady came over to stand in the back of the room next to my seat. I immediately rose and offered it to her, volunteering to stand and let her have the chair. She looked at me like she was surprised, then thanked me and took a seat. I noticed a moment later that she was staring at me, so I smiled back at her. She then asked me, “Son, where are you from?” I replied, “Texas, ma’am.” Much to my humor, she responded “Oh, well that explains it. We have so few gentlemen left up here.” I couldn’t help but be amused by this and it really made me think about the differences between Texas and DC culture. It’s nice to see that Texas still has a reputation for producing gentlemen and I’m glad I could help continue this tradition. Still, it just seems sad to me that an old lady would find it strange for a male youth to give up his chair for her. I guess I think that should just be common behavior no matter what part of the country you’re in.

That Friday, Duncan Currie took all three of the interns to lunch. Duncan is Senator Cornyn’s speechwriter and is a really cool guy. He has a degree in History from Harvard and is a life-long soccer player (even having traveled to Europe to play in school tournaments), so we have plenty in common to talk about. Duncan took us to We the Pizza, which is a great local place that is extremely popular (and it deserves its reputation). During lunch, we got a chance to ask Duncan about his job and get a lot of general questions answered. He told us about his background, how he came to work for the senator and his impressions of the job so far. He’s only worked for Senator Cornyn since December and this is his first job on Capitol Hill, so he’s kind of similar to us interns in some ways. Our office manager told us that every member of the senior staff will be meeting with us at some point during the semester to explain what their job responsibilities are and answer our questions about specific jobs or issues. I’m really impressed that they take time to do this for each class of interns and I think that really says a lot about the quality of the people on Senator Cornyn’s staff. Duncan chose to do his meeting with us over lunch and was even generous enough to pay for us all. Everyone is so nice and helpful in our office and I really like everyone that I work with. I think we probably have one of the best offices on the Hill when it comes to people.

Last Wednesday morning I went with Senator Cornyn to a hearing being held by the Senate Armed Service Committee. The topic of the hearing was an update on the current situation in Syria and the possibilities for U.S. intervention. Testifying before the committee were Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey. I was so excited to be in the same room with two of the most influential people in the armed services and found the discussion on Syria to be very informative and interesting. I learned several things that I did not know before about the ongoing crisis there. I also learned a lot about the possibilities for US intervention, including an assessment of the different options we have on the table and the cost/benefit of each option from a strategic viewpoint. For someone like myself, interested in foreign affairs and international relations, this was really a great opportunity and I’m very glad I was invited to attend.

 Then on Thursday morning, I went with Kris (another Cornyn intern) to the Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting. Judiciary is the other major committee that Senator Cornyn sits on, so we got to sit up front with the senator’s judiciary staff, right behind the table where the senator’s sit! I have to admit, it does feel pretty cool to be able to sit at the front of the room like that and you definitely feel a lot more important than you are! The purpose of the business meeting was to markup some pending legislation and vote on whether or not to send some judicial nominees to the senate floor for a full vote. There were no witnesses or testimony for a change, just twelve senators sitting around a table talking to each other about legislation (while a room full of staff, camera crews, and interested bystanders observed quietly). This was a pretty cool look at a part of the legislative process that you don’t normally get to witness from the outside and I found it to be very interesting and informative.

 Last Friday, Dave Hanke took me out to lunch, along with Doug Ivanac. Dave is our Military Affairs Legislative Assistant and Doug is our Military Fellow from the Navy. We walked down the street to a Mexican food restaurant and spent the lunch talking about my career goals and life in the JAG Corps. Dave was an Army JAG prior to coming to work on Capitol Hill and he had a lot of really great information for me about what life as a JAG is like and what to expect during the interview process. Being a naval officer, Doug was able to weigh in with specifics about the Navy and what the interview and application process is like when it comes to getting a commission. I was very excited to have the opportunity to speak to both of them and hear their input on my career goals. Also, when I asked Dave if he was glad that he went to law school, I was happy to hear him say that it was one of the best decisions he made. So many lawyers I have talked to have said that they regretted going or would have done something different if they could do it over again. A few have even tried to talk me out of going to law school by telling me depressing tales of the horrors of law school and the miserable lives of attorneys. Dave said that the law isn’t for everyone and you have to really know that you want to do it. He said not to be disillusioned by what you see on tv or in the movies and don’t expect to make a lot of money or be a star in the courtroom. But if you have a passion for practicing law and a desire to use it in a positive way, than it can be a very rewarding career and can provide you with a lot of great opportunities, specifically in the JAG Corps. I was really encouraged to hear him say that and I think it did a lot for my confidence level going into law school this fall. Overall, it was a great lunch and they even paid for me! I can’t say enough how fortunate I am to have landed in an office with great people who have been where I want to go, and care enough about my future to take time to talk with me about it. This is definitely the most rewarding part of this internship experience!

 Last weekend was pretty relaxed, with a few new experiences. Throughout the last couple of months, we have made friends with the interns from Ohio State who are living in the same hall in our apartment building. They’re a bunch of really fun people and we’ve all enjoyed getting to hang out with them during the evenings and weekends. Unfortunately, Ohio State operates on a quarter system meaning that they have four quarters a year instead of two semesters. Because of this, they’re internships only last for the first quarter and they have to go home mid-semester to begin a new quarter. This Friday was their last day in DC, so we spend most of Friday afternoon and evening hanging out with them and enjoying our last day together. Saturday morning we said our final goodbyes to our Ohio State friends as they packed up their bags and moved out of the building, exchanging contact information and assuring them that we would continue to hate Michigan our entire lives (animosity for the State of Michigan was one of the first things they taught us, and we in turn taught them to hate the University of Oklahoma). After they were packed up, I decided to cook brunch and I must say that I did a great job with it. I made a great meal, consisting of a cheese omelet, sausage, toast, and even cooked bacon successfully for the first time on my own; though I burnt it to an inedible crisp on my first attempt and had to open the windows to ventilate the smell.

 Saturday evening, Chris Wilkes and I decided to head over to Georgetown and see that part of DC for the first time. We took a $1 bus from Union Station to Georgetown, enjoying the view of the city during the ride. After eating dinner at Five Guys for my first time (not great, I think I’ll stick with Whataburger), we proceeded to walk around the area and take a look at all of the shops and nightlife. There are a lot of shopping a restaurants to take in around that area and the place was definitely alive with weekend nightlife. Overall, it was a really neat area with a lot to experience, including some incredible musicians playing for tips on the street corner. The style of the roads and architecture reminded me a lot of New Orleans in some ways or maybe images that I’ve seen of France and other European cities. You can definitely see the European influence in the design and layout of the streets and buildings. We tried to stop by the world-famous Georgetown Cupcakes, but found the line wrapped around two corners of the building and decided that no one needs a cupcake that badly. We then walked through the campus of Georgetown University, which is incredibly impressive! The architecture is very old and very intimidating and it definitely has the feel of an elite university with an incredible amount of prestige. The area was very nice and a lot different than Capitol Hill, and I can see why a lot of people like to live over there. Though, I have to say that I still prefer UNT’s campus and our abundance of trees and grass, which seems to be in short supply up here. After leaving Georgetown, we walked back over to the metro stop, passing by the Embassy of Sweden on the way. Sweden has a beautiful, modern building, right on the waterfront and we decided that our relations with the Swedes must be pretty good for them to deserve such premium real estate. We finally caught the train home after an eventful sightseeing trip, passing by an Exxon on the way which was selling gas for $5.09 a gallon! I’m glad I live in Texas and don’t have to drive in DC!

 On Sunday, I slept until 12:30 pm and didn’t feel bad about it one bit! I needed the rest, especially after the clocks unfortunately rolled forward an hour. On a side note, I really hate daylight savings time, especially the part where the clocks go forward instead of back. Luckily I didn’t have to get up early on the day that it changed. Sunday afternoon, I was pleased to find that the FC Dallas (soccer) season opener against the New York Red Bulls was being broadcast on a tv station that we get here in DC. I was able to watch my team pull off a thrilling 2-1 win over New York to start the season on a positive note. FC Dallas happens to have DC United as an away game this year and will be coming to DC on March 30^th! Even better, the 30^th happens to be college night for DC United and college students can get sideline tickets to the game for only $20 each. Chris Wilkes and I have already bought tickets and my best friend from UNT is coming up to DC that weekend, so we’ll all be going to the game together. I’m excited that I’ll get to see Dallas play at least one live game this spring, even while I’m away from Texas! Another great service at Frontline Church wrapped up Sunday evening and completed another great week in DC!

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. ; )

The First Month

This was the last full week of January and it was a pretty busy one with a lot of great opportunities.

On Monday, I got to attend a luncheon/briefing on the current situation in Haiti, two years after the earthquake disaster. The briefing was done by several key members of the UN and the US, including the Under Secretary General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the United States Department of State Special Coordinator for Haiti, and the United States Department of State Deputy Undersecretary for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs. The briefing was very informative and eye-opening. I knew the situation in Haiti was a terrible one, but had no idea just how bad things were until I got all the facts from these officials. I can't imagine living through a situation like the one that shook that state two years ago. Still, I was equally impressed with just how much the UN, working with the US State Department and Marine Corps, have accomplished in the rebuilding effort. There truly are some remarkable people doing great work in Haiti and it was very encouraging to see the extraordinary progress there.

Tuesday morning I met the boss for the very first time. Every Tuesday morning, Senator Cornyn hosts an event called Constituent Coffee, where Texans visiting DC can stop by the Capitol and have their picture taken with the senator. Coffee is provided and the senator likes to spend a few minutes talking with each constituent about where they're from in Texas and what they're doing in DC. I arrived early with the other interns to set up and was just as excited as the constituents to see the senator walk into the room. We got to say hi to him briefly and it was a cool experience to finally meet the person I'm working for. Tuesday was a busy day on the floor, however, so he didn't stay long and we didn't get to have any extended conversation. Tuesday night, my fellow interns and I went to a reception for the Texas State Society, an organization of Texans working on Capitol Hill. We got to enjoy free drinks courtesy of the organization and spend some time socializing with other interns and staff members from Texas. There was a good turnout at the event and we learned all about the activities and programs the TSS hosts throughout the year. I think this will be a good way to stay connected to Texas while I'm here and certainly a great way to network with fellow Texans on the Hill.

Wednesday went by pretty uneventfully until a constituent showed up at 3:00 pm requesting a tour of the Capitol. The staff assistant at the front desk sent an email back to the interns and asked who wanted to conduct the tour last minute. I felt the most comfortable with the tour route and information so I stepped up and volunteered. The lady was from Austin and was very nice. It turns out her daughter graduated from UNT, and she was interested to hear how the school was doing and what I was studying there. We toured the Capitol building for about 2 hours (my first solo tour) and she said that I was very pleasant and informative. It felt good to successfully make it through all the information without forgetting anything and my confidence in conducting tours was heavily strengthened after the positive experience. I'm finding that I really enjoy giving the tours and sharing the fascinating history of the Capitol with visitors (probably the history major part of me coming out).

Thursday was one of the best days of my time here to date. Early in the day, I unexpectedly ran into the senator in the office, and I mean literally almost ran into him. I was coming down the staircase in the back (our office is two floors) on my way to deliver some paperwork to one of the legislative assistants downstairs. As I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, I found myself standing face to face with Senator Cornyn and hastily apologized for being in his way and asked him how his day was going. He laughed, said he was doing fine, and introduced himself. I got to talk to him for a second before he had to leave (he was headed out to a meeting) and it was nice to have some personal face time with him. Later in the day, the Senate Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing to approve the nominations of five newly appointed federal judges. One was being nominated for a place on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the other four were up for District Court seats in Arkansas, Illinois, and Maryland. While a lot of you may find that boring, I thought it was extremely interesting. Because Senator Cornyn sits on the Judiciary Committee, I was able to sit with two of his judiciary staff members on the benches behind the senator's table, facing the front of the room and observe all the proceedings from the senator's perspective. It was really cool to sit up front, looking down at the judges testifying before the committee and all the people in the audience and I have to say that I felt kind of important being up there. Best of all, though, I was able to understand all of the language the senators and nominees were using and had a good grasp on the issues, policies, and cases being discussed. It was really a great feeling to know that I was educated enough to follow the proceedings and I have to thank Dr. Bethany Blackstone and Dr. Kimi King for equipping me with that knowledge in their classrooms. Paying attention in class really does have a lot of benefits and it's awesome to be in an environment where I'm getting to use the knowledge and skills I learned at UNT in the real world.

Thursday night we went to a Texas State Society event at Hill Country Barbeque. Hill Country is owned an operated by a couple of people from Texas and looks like a Texas barbeque restaurant, complete with Texas shaped neon signs, Texas flags, wall-mounted longhorns and Shiner. Unfortunately, the food is only decent and comes nowhere close to Cousin's or Risky's. It's the best barbeque I've had yet in DC, but it still just isn't Texas. Despite this, we had a great time eating and hanging out with well over 200 Texas university students and alumni and it was great to talk to so many people from home. After the dinner, I went out with a group of new friends who are all interns from Texas Tech. We checked out an Irish pub with some live music and had a great end to the night. It was a lot of fun to spend the evening with fellow Texans and share stories about college life and the different offices we are working in.

Friday was just another day at the office, but Saturday was pretty cool. Our office set us up with a tour of the White House and that was a really great experience. We had to be there at 8 am, so it made for an early morning wake up, but it was well worth it. The Secret Service personnel who gave us the tour were incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the house and made my Capitol building tours look very amateur. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the West Wing or the Oval Office (which is what I most wanted to see) but we did get to tour the "state level" floors and see the interesting offices, dining rooms, libraries, and ballrooms of the house. We also saw the hallway with pillars and the red carpet where the president speaks to the press during important events (this is where you see the president coming around the corner and walking down the hall to the podium, like when President Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden). We got to walk down that hall and stand where the president gives those press briefings, and that was really awesome. At the end of the tour, I couldn't find the line for rides on Air Force One and when I asked one of the Secret Service agents where that was he laughed and told me to run for president. I really want to go on Air Force One, so everyone mark your calendars for the elections of 2036 and vote Robertson! Lol.

Anyway, it was great weekend completed by another great service at Frontline and I find that I'm getting to experience a lot of great things already. I've only been here a month and I'm loving everything about it so far. Looks like I'm going to be in for a great semester! I'll try to get some pictures uploaded to facebook soon (I have a ton of them) so be on the lookout for those. Hope you're all doing well in Texas and remember to call or write sometime because I'd love to hear from you!

Working, Exploring, and Learning

Hey everyone, so a lot has happened here since I wrote last and I'm going to try to fit it all in to this update. Sorry in advance for the length of this post. Here it goes.....


Last Tuesday, Christopher, Chris, and I decided we were hungry for Mexican food and decided to try and find some. We looked up the nearest places on line and settled on a place called "Las Placitas" on 8th St. After walking over to find this place, we were satisfied with the location and noticed that there are lots of other restaurants around 8th, including a Popeye’s! The service was good and quick, put the food turned out to be mediocre. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it just tasted bland and very boring. I have a feeling I'm going to miss Texas cuisine while living in this city.


Work continues to go well. I was given my first project from the press secretary Wednesday, and spent most of the day assisting her doing research. In just a short amount of time, I feel like I've learned a lot about the office and have gotten pretty good at putting names with faces. Cash and I are also doing a very good job with our work and have already been recognized for it. One of the schedulers gave us a major project the first day and told us to have it completed by noon on Wednesday. We submitted it to her at 5 pm on Monday and she was very impressed with the speed and quality of our work. Things do get a little boring, however, when you complete your work well ahead of schedule. The office is pretty slow right now since the Senate has been out of session, so we should probably try to drag our work out a little more to keep from getting so bored. Our supervisor does let us use our free time to walk around the office buildings and Capitol to get our bearings and learn our way around, so we've been able to make good use of the down time and have become pretty familiar with our surroundings.


After work on Wednesday, the other UNT interns and I went to a dinner/reception hosted by WISH for all of their intern residents. The food was barbeque, which was decent, but definitely not Texas. Mercedes and Ricky weren't here yet, but the rest of us attended and had a pretty good time. We met other interns from Massachusetts, North Carolina, California, and several other states who are all working for members of Congress. We also met several international students from countries like South Korea, Vietnam, and even Australia. They're here in D.C. working for various firms and companies. Overall, I was really surprised at the number of interns that are housed by WISH.


By the end of week one, I wrapped up the research assignment that was given to me by the press office and was personally thanked by the press secretary, who said that I did a great job with it and found everything she needed. It felt really good to have completed my first major task successfully. I understand that what I researched is going to be a part of Senator Cornyn's next speech, and it was a really good feeling to know that I contributed something valuable which will be read and directly used by him.


Walking back from lunch one day last week, I walked right past the Secretary of the Navy and a 3-star Admiral! They were in a hurry, so I didn't get to speak to them at all, but it was my first "government celebrity" sighting in DC and I thought it was pretty cool. Also, I got to meet our military liaison this week, who is an active duty Navy NCO! His name is Doug and he's on loan to Senator Cornyn for the year from the Navy to answer any questions the senator has about military issues and help him work on any military-related legislation. He's a really great guy interested in talking to me about the Navy and my plans for becoming a JAG and will be yet another great resource for me in that career pursuit. I think Senator Cornyn's office was exactly the right fit for me and where I needed to be! D.C. has been great so far and I really like it here. The office and the people are great and I really have to say that I enjoy my job. I was initially thinking that I would be pretty lonely until Mercedes arrived, since she is the only one I knew before NTDC, but I'm impressed with how quickly I've formed friendships with the other interns and how well we're all getting along.


Last weekend I returned home to pick up the rest of my things and bring everything back to DC with me. The trip was pretty uneventful, but I enjoyed getting to see my family and tell them all about my first week in DC in person. It's weird to think that it was cheaper for me to fly home and get the rest of my things than it would have been for dad to ship them to me with FedEx. Benefits of having a father who's an airline pilot! Coincidentally, I wound up riding next to one of Senator Hutchison’s (the senior senator from Texas) staffers on the flight to DFW, so we got to talk about life in DC and working for Congress.


I returned to DC on Sunday night and Mercedes arrived the same day. I was excited about this because Mercedes is a friend I’ve known for a long time. While I’ve gotten to know the other interns and we’ve gotten along really well, it’s nice to have someone here that I know well and have an established friendship with. Monday was MLK Day and our offices were closed. I used the time to show Mercedes around Capitol Hill and do some shopping for groceries. We toured the National Mall and went over to the National Archives. Inside the archives, we saw a lot of cool stuff, but nothing as incredible as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. It’s really powerful to see these original documents from the 18^thcentury, preserved in pressurized glass cases and guarded around the clock. I can’t describe how incredible it is to stand in front of a document that was written by the hand of Thomas Jefferson in 1776!!! Although, I will say that I was surprised at how faded and worn it is. The Constitution is in relatively good shape, but the Declaration of Independence is hardly legible at all. The display room also looks nothing like the one in National Treasure and I concluded (after some brief surveillance) that it would be much harder to steal this document than Nicolas Cage makes it seem!


On Tuesday, Cash and I spent the entire day in Capitol Tour training. Learning the history of the US Capitol is really interesting, but spending the whole day in tour training gets really old really fast. We did learn a lot and became proficient with the layout and history of the building and I’m now qualified to give guided tours of the building. Wednesday we got quite a surprise when Claire, one of the Staff Assistants for Senator Cornyn, informed us that we would be giving our first tour. A couple of VIPs were in town and Cash and I were asked to give them a tour on behalf of the senator, a day after we did our training (talk about learning fast). Fortunately, the tour went really well and we seemed to remember just about everything. Our guests were very pleased and impressed and we served our office well. What a relief! Haha.


Two other interesting things happened this week. First, our third intern from the University of Texas (Kris) arrived and started work on Tuesday. He’s pretty cool, though he’s a little behind the curve since he’s starting late. Since Cash and I have already established a good working rhythm, we’ve had to work to incorporate him into what we’re doing. We’ve also been given most of the responsibility of training him, since we’re already trained. Also, while Cash graduated in December and I’m graduating this May, Kris is only a junior and has about 2 years left of school. He’s much younger than us, but I’m really impressed that someone so young is doing a Congressional internship already. Also, unlike Cash and I, Kris is taking a full 12 hours of classes at the Georgetown campus in addition to doing his internship. I can’t imagine how difficult that must be and am very glad that I’m not an intern from UT, which apparently makes all of their interns do this. Anyway, I think he’ll fit in just fine once he catches up and having him on board is going to lessen our workload even more. The second thing that happened was watching protesters have a run in with Capitol Police. We happened to be over at the Capitol building as thousands of protesters showed up from the Occupy Movement to try and occupy the Capitol Hill. We knew something was going on when a dozen USCP officers passed us carrying handfuls of flexi-cuffs. Curious, we followed them at a distance outside and saw them start to corral protesters off the sidewalks and streets. The protest didn’t last long and was much less eventful than those that occurred last year, but it was still interesting to see in person.


This weekend, it got pretty cold and we had a decent snow fall. I stayed inside most of the weekend and caught up on TV shows thanks to Hulu and Netflix. Other than one outing to go to church Sunday night, I pretty much spent 48 hours inside the apartment and stayed warm. Fortunately, the heater in our apartment seems to be eternally stuck on “hot” and we have no control over the internal temperature. While this does get annoying when you wake up at night sweating, it was very welcome this weekend.


Speaking of church, we did finally find a place where I think we will be very happy and I'm excited to tell you about it. Let me first back up and explain a bit about my situation. I am very blessed that out of the 5 other interns from UNT, 3 of them are practicing Christians (2 protestant and 1 catholic) It's nice to have fellow believers interning with me and this will be good for my spiritual life while I'm here in a very secular city. Unfortunately, finding a church in this city is not easy. Most of the churches here on the Hill are very old and are either Roman Catholic or very old-school Baptist or Methodist (old-school meaning hymnals only, pews, and long winded sermons). While there's nothing wrong with any of that, it’s just not a worship environment that I'm real comfortable in and not what I'm looking for. Also, these churches also offer nothing in the way of college or young adult ministry, so there is really nothing there for us. The other churches in the area are so "liberal" and "progressive" that they are completely un-Biblical. Danny described them as having a philosophy of "Let us make God in our image" and that about accurately sums it up. Anyway, after much online searching and consulting friends from Southwest Christian Church in Fort Worth (the church I grew up in) and The Village Church in Denton (my current home church), we found out about Frontline.


Frontline is a split off church of McLean Bible Church designed specifically to target young adults and college students. They are a multi-campus congregation with locations all over northern Virginia and southern Maryland. The campus closest to us is Frontline Silver Spring in Silver Spring, Maryland. It's about a 15 minute subway ride combined with about 15 minutes of walking, making the total commute about a half hour each way. While this is not real convenient, it's not bad at all and totally worth it. We fell in love with the place right away and just felt like it was where we needed to be. The church meets in an old theatre downtown, which gives it a feel very unlike any other church I’ve been in. The campus pastor's name is Mike and he's a very friendly, funny, knowledgeable, and spiritual young man with a passion for teaching God's word and reaching the southern Maryland and DC communities. I got to talk to him a little while after the service and was very impressed. As for the service itself, it's almost exactly like the Village and made me feel very at home. The music is all contemporary (mostly Hillsong) and the same songs we sing in Denton. I would say around 80% of the congregation is under the age of 30 (exactly like the Village), so I felt very comfortable being around people my age who are in the same life stage as me. What I really like is that the Silver Spring campus is small (only around 150 people), making it easy to meet and engage people. You don't feel like you're lost in a large crowd or fading into the background and everyone was very friendly and inviting. Their theology and teaching is solid and Biblically based and the church just feels like a very welcoming, comfortable place. I'm very glad to have found the Frontline Silver Spring community and I think the other interns and I are going to really enjoy worshipping and serving with them this semester while we're away from our home church. (Though I'm still podcasting Matt Chandler every week on iTunes, haha).

First Day

So today was my first official day of work. I reported to the Senator's office at 8:45 am and waited with the other intern to be let in at 9, when the first staff members showed up. There are 2 other interns for Senator Cornyn this semester (3 of us total). Cash, who I met today, just graduated from Texas Tech and will be attending grad school at A&M in the fall. The other is from UT, but he won't be starting until January 17th. After meeting the first two staffers in the front office, we were given binders of information concerning office policies, practices, and resources to assist us with the jobs we will be doing. We studied these for about a half hour and filled out some basic paperwork until our intern supervisor arrived to collect us.

Alisa, our intern supervisor, met us in the front office and escorted us down to the Sergeant at Arms to receive our ID badges, which get us access to the various Capitol offices and buildings. We then had an orientation and overview of expectations before being led around the office and introduced to the staff. Senator Cornyn has about 60 people on his full time staff, which means there are a lot of names to learn. Only about half of those are here in the D.C. office, with the rest back in Texas, but 30 faces is still a lot to remember, especially when you have to learn who is responsible for what so you can direct information and inquiries accordingly.

After the introductions, we were shown to our desks (we actually have our own desk with a computer, and telephone which is really nice) and set to work on our first task. The office is pretty strict with security policies and desires that all business remain inside the office. We aren't allowed to discuss what we work on with anyone outside the Senator's staff, so I can't talk a lot about the specifics of the job. Suffice it to say that we have responsibilities in different areas of the office and will get to work on a range of different projects during the semester, which are designed to expose us to the various issues and policies dealt with by the Senate on a daily basis. The work isn't that hard and some of it is actually interesting and informative.

As for the staff, everyone is very nice and friendly (typical Texans) and they were very willing to answer questions and assist us whenever we needed. The Senator sits on the Armed Services Committee for the Senate and I was excited to learn that one of his staffers is a former Army Judge Advocate. I was even more excited to learn that another junior staffer is currently attending law school and going through the application process to become a JAG. These people should be great resources for me and I look forward to developing relationships with them both.

As we were leaving for the day, we discovered that it was snowing for my first time since being here. The flakes are huge and accumulate (nothing like Texas "snow") and the scene was really pretty. Overall, it was a great first day and I think I'm really going to like it here. Now it's off to make dinner and get ready for the BCS National Championship tonight. GEAUX TIGERS!!!

-Drew