Is this really a fortune?

So tonight we went to a Chinese restaurant that has been voted best in DC. It was pretty good, however after the waitress brought our drinks, we didn't see her again. We were served by 3 people tonight. Anyway, this is the fortune that Kerri got: You may be hungry soon: order a takeout now. Now, really, is this a fortune? I guess so. But really, trying to get people to buy more of your food, come on. We got a good laugh.

I realized today while I was researching various health related issues that I failed to post about my trip to the Supreme Court. We were the "personal guests" of Justice Thomas. That sounds impressive but I bet there were 20 personal guests of the Justice's. We sat in the gallery for a while, when all of the sudden the clerk banged the gavel, everyone stood up, curtains opened, and voila! 9 Justices appeared. They read 2 decisions. Neither of which I understood, but did find it amazing that the 7 Justices that did not read the decisions were really bored, and not paying attention. After they handed down there decision a ton of people were admitted to the Supreme Court Bar. Immediately after that, the clerk banged her gavel, we all stood up, curtains parted, and the 9 justices disappeared. And then we were quietly and quickly escorted out of the building. If you ever get a chance to see the Supreme Court it is worth it. The building is pretty cool, but keep in mind the Justices have only been meeting there since 1930. Before that, they were on the 1st and 2nd floor of the Capitol.

So this weekend we went the temple, and spent Saturday Night with Kerri's friends from High School. It was nice. We went to Vin. It was pretty good, but the service was lousy. we waited for thirty minutes for our desserts. which were "The worlds smallest desserts" as labeled by the menu, and they were small.

This week has been pretty slow. Yesterday I went to a HELP Committee meeting. Just so you know, HELP stands for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The hearing was on superbugs like MRSA. Did you know that antimicrobial soaps are no more effective than regular soap? That is what the CDC testified.

Today we were all surprised by Cannon's lost. He really should have won. Now, I don't like the guy a whole lot, but one thing I have learned is that seniority does matter on the hill. Chaffetz will have a tough time getting anyone to listen, because he is a nobody.

This brings me to a topic posted on Rob's blog. Can 1 member change gas prices? Absolutely not. The sign Rob saw was completely wrong, and how anyone could believe that sign is amazing to me. The problem we have on Capitol Hill is 535 people trying to do what they want, and then throw in a 2 party system, and you get gridlock. It doesn't matter what house the legislation starts in, the other won't pass it. If the senate finally passes a law, after years of debate, the house will change it so much, it has to go to the senate. If the House finally gets there act together to agree on something, the senate will take forever before hearing it, and then they will change it. How to we change gas prices? The answer is simple. Change either demand, or supply. Since supply is hard to control because of our friends at OPEC, bless their hearts, we should be focusing on changing demand. That will happen when we change our habits, offer incentives to develop alternative fuel, and actually use that fuel. Now, I do think that we should develop oil shale, or drill in the remotest parts of ANWR because it just makes sense that we produce more than 50% of the oil we consume, but more oil cannot be the answer. I know that this isn't the point of Rob's post, but it got me going.

Well, I have to write a paper on how groups influence government. Want to know my thesis? It is simple. They don't. I guess I have gotten a bit jaded over the past 7 weeks, but I have come to learn that party politics are such that groups just don't do a whole lot. The Majority party has so much control on what legislation is brought to the floor that it really doesn't matter what it is, if the Majority leader doesn't like it it doesn't have to get scheduled.

I know that groups are more influential than I just gave them credit for, but not by much. We'll see how I stretch it out into 4 pages.

Check back soon. We are going to a Nationals game on Friday, and perhaps a Caribbean on Georgia Avenue on Saturday, not to mention the Smithsonian Folklife festival which will allow us to explore 3 cultures: Bhutan, Texas, and NASA. I can understand Bhutan, Texans will argue for Texas, but NASA? is that really a culture?

Can't think of a title for this one

Kerri decided to go to the marriage prep class tonight while I did my reading for this weeks class, but now I am done, so I thought I would write a bit. I still have a paper to write that is due on Friday, but procrastination is what I am good at.

This weekend was a blast. I am still very tired from all the running around but it was worth it. We took MARC up to Baltimore on Friday night where Kerri's parents picked us up and we drove to Camden Yards for the Orioles vs. Pirates. It was a lot of fun. The park is really nice and we had perfect weather and perfect seats. I can't wait until next week when I can compare Camden Yards to the Nationals' stadium. What's even better is the the O's made a comeback and won. The picture up top is the few from our seats.

Saturday we went to HonFest. It was really weird. Think of Hairspray and then times it by 100. 7 year olds were walking around in beehives! We braved the 90 degree heat with no shade while sitting on black chairs on black asphalt just to witness the Hon pageant. And yes number 37 is Robert, or Roberta, whichever one you prefer.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We went to church and then to Bonnie and Vaughn's for a BBQ. The food was great, and so was the weather. It was nice to be able to spend some time sitting on the grass.

This week has been a slow week. Last week the democrats failed to get cloture on their medicare bill, and today the republican's introduced theirs. Something has to be passed by the recess in a week and a half or else funding will be cut. My supervisor has been keeping the schedule pretty free in case meetings come up. Which means I don't have a lot to do.

Before I go, congrats to Chelsea and Rob. Both Kerri and I wish we could see Max in person, but we'll have to wait.

GOOD MORNING BALTIMORE

Ok, so it might not sound like it, but the title (and the song that I know a few of you are singing right now) do have something to do with the post. What is that? you might ask. Well, we are going to Baltimore for the weekend. Our train leaves at 2:15ish and we are way excited. I have two briefings on the Hill tomorrow that I have to go to, one with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and one with Senator Bennett. After the briefings I might be giving a tour of the Capitol to a group of BYU students, but then it is off.

What takes us to Baltimore this weekend? For one it is Father's day, so happy father's day dad and pop; Two, the Orioles are playing the Pirates on Friday night which means I get to go to my first MLB game, in Camden Yards no less; and third, Saturday and Sunday is the HonFest (cue hairspray) and we hope to be able to go and get pictures.

Take a look!



So this week has actually been pretty mediocre until today. We had a pretty good idea that S.3101 was going to the floor for a cloture vote this week but we weren't sure when. We found out yesterday that S.3101 was scheduled for today, and the democrats were trying to get cloture, so that meant that yesterday afternoon and this morning we were preparing a floor speech for the senator. So this morning I was getting posters made, and my supervisor asked me to write a part of the speech, so in the 15 minutes I had before mail duty I wrote like made, and a part of my portion was used. It was really fun to be sitting in the gallery and hear what I wrote word for word. Thankfully the cloture vote did not pass, which means that it is back to the negotiating table. After the vote this afternoon, we all relaxed and finished the day out slow.

So that is about it for now. I really just wanted to brag that I wrote part of a speech. I do have a pretty good story about getting to the gallery but I am tired and don't want to write it all out right now, let me just say that women really should trust us when we say purses should be left at the office, because they will be searched, and items will be confiscated. I had to play the negotiator with Capitol Police to get them not to throw away a constants makeup. So remind me to write about the experience.

I heard Alta reopened. you must be cold in Utah. Thankfully the heat wave snapped, and yesterday was actually quite nice. Tuesday Kerri and I did go to a play at Folger's Theatre called School of Scandal. The second half was great, the first half I felt was too slow, and the actors could have picked up the pace, or the director could have put the intermission earlier because it was dull, but I am glad we saw it.

Check back next week and we'll report on our findings in Baltimore.

Its feeling hot, hot, hot!

The weather has gone crazy. Utah is cold, and we are having a heat index of 105+. It started yesterday and is going to continue for the next little while. It was so warm today that instead of going out to look at things, I decided it would be more beneficial if I stayed inside and slept, so we have spent the day inside taking a nap. Tonight we are going to do one of our 50 walking tours of DC when instead of it feeling 105 degrees, it will only feel like 95 degrees.

This week at work was nice. I don't really know what all I did. I think it would be safe to say that I spent the week filing things, preparing briefing books, and giving tours of the Capitol. I like my job, but some tours are very difficult. This week I had a tour with only 5 people. 2 adults, and 3 children. They were the most awfully behaved children in the world. They kept touching the artwork, they almost set of the alarm when they ran into the crashbar on a door, they laid down in the middle of the rotunda, all the while the parents were oblivious, or trying to lobby me for better medicare benefits, the dad is a doctor in Bountiful and wanted to register his complaints about medicare.

Sometime this week, I think it was Wednesday, we had a tornado touch down around the Capitol so no one was allowed outside of the building while crazy weather passed by. It was really crazy. We had horizontal rain, high winds, lightning, thunder, swirling clouds. It reminded me of Tennessee. The storm actually killed a person in VA, when a tree landed on his car. There were huge power outages, the orange line on the metro had problems, MARC had problems, and traffic was horrible.

Because of the rain, Thursday was really humid, which meant that I utilized the tunnel system at the Capitol. Friday we went to Old Town Alexandria where we toured a coal powered power plant, and then heard a community activist speak about why the plant should be torn down, and the problems the residential neighborhood that was built right next to the plant, after the plant was already there have. I had no sympathy for the activist, but did suggest they try to lobby the city and state to pay to move the plant. It worked with Khuni's so it might work here.

Friday night we went to a play in Arlington called "The Mystery of Imra Vep" the theatre is located in the mall, and it is a two man show with 6 characters. Most of the lines in the play are borrowed from books, movies, and TV shows. Rob and Chelsea would love it. Because it is a two man show with 6 characters, they have to change really fast. One of the quick changes takes as little as 9 seconds. It was pretty cool. If anyone ever gets a chance to see it they should. It is really funny.

Yesterday was spent inside museums because it was so hot. My friend Anna was out here looking at graduate programs, so we met up with her in the afternoon. It was nice to see her. Last night we went to an IMAX production at the Museum of Natural History. We saw a U2 concert in 3d. It was fun. When we walked outside after the production, we looked into the air and saw a ton of heat lightning. About every 2 seconds there would be a flash. It was very ominous.

Today was church. All the tutors sang a song in sacrament meeting because the tutoring program is over for the year, and I gave a lesson in elders quorum. It went bad but that's OK.

This week is sure to be busy. I don't know with what, but we are spending the weekend in Maryland to go to an Orioles game, and spend Fathers day with Pop. So check back, I am sure we'll have stuff to tell all y'all about.

Best franks ever

So when it comes to hot dogs they all taste pretty much the same. Except for Hebrew National kosher beef franks. Which, oddly enough come in packages of 7. Or is it that odd? 7 is a pretty important number.They are hands down the best hot dogs in the world. Even the 94% fat free taste normal. I can't wait to to try their new breakfast sausage.

White House Trip #2

So I am not going to the lie, this trip to the White House was not as cool as the last one. It was great that our office was able to get Kerri and me on a tour because with the new security precautions it is near impossible, even if it was 7:30 AM on a Saturday.

The tour was self guided, which would have been nice, but there was no one in the room to ask questions to, so we basically looked at all the pretty furniture and left. After the tour, we went to the visitor's center and watched a 30 minute film, that was almost better than tour itself because they actually pointed out cool facts about the different rooms.

Since we were already out and about, we went to eat breakfast at Old Ebbitts Grill. Apparently it was a very popular saloon in the 19th century. It was very nice, and their signature breakfast dish is eggs Chesapeake, which from what I gathered was like eggs benedict, except instead of bacon, they use crab cake. 9 AM is a bit early for me to eat a crab cake, so I opted for strawberry french toast, and it was amazing.

Yesterday we also went to Eastern Market. It is a big farmers market that is held every Saturday, it puts Provo's to shame. We got some really good peaches, strawberries, and green beans for cheap, and then we went to the meat section and their meat is way cheaper than in the store, so we are going back to buy some next week. While in the meat building it started to rain cats and dogs. We were under a tornado watch, so I knew severe weather would be moving through, it was just 2 hours a head of schedule. We didn't have our umbrellas so we stayed inside for a good 20 minutes before the rain let up enough to get back on the metro.

Last night we went to the movies. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie. It was fun. We liked it. That's all I will say in case you have yet to see it.

So that is about it since I last wrote. In the spirit of competitiveness between me and Lauren, I must clarify that the copy of the Magna Carta we saw at the National Archives is one of the originals that dates back to the 13th century.

Stay tuned, we're not sure what this week will bring but it will probably be fun. We are going to Old Town Alexandria on Friday, and who knows what we will do the rest of the week.