Patriot Day

It has been far too long since I have posted anything, though I don't know if anyone actually reads this thing...

Question: Does anyone else find it hard to think of things to write about on their blog? Washington is a pretty eventful place and I typically have the opportunity to do some neat things, yet I have a hard time putting these events down on paper.

Almost everyone over the age of 11 or 12 can tell you where they were and what they were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001. I will not bore you with all of the details but I was at the University of Oklahoma in my first semester of Freshman year. It has already been 7 years and that is shocking to me.

Yesterday Michael and I had the privilege to go to the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Dedication ceremony. To sit next to the families, friends, and co-workers of people that lost their lives was overwhelming. A few of the victims' stories were read and it was heart-breaking to hear about a little boy who won a trip through National Geographic, only to never make it to his final destination. Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush gave heart felt remarks. Two fine men who have made sure that no attack like that will happen on their watch.

We are blessed as Americans to have strong leaders of faith and to be able to brush ourselves off from tragedy only to be made stronger.

To all of the patriots out there who have volunteered to fight in honor of those who have been lost and those who shall remain free, you are in my prayers.

Around the World!

Here's a really, really cool video of a guy that traveled to 39 (quite remote, in some cases!) countries in 6 months - he has seen some AMAZING things. Clearly he is cool because he got all the way to Antarctica. Awesome dancing skills and be sure to checkout the blooper reel!What a world there is to see!

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/

Retirement

Good grief it has been a while! I took a short two week hiatus from work in between leaving the RNC and moving over to the US Agency for International Development. In those two weeks I accomplished some things while also doing nothing at all. Saw a few museums, caught up with friends, caught up on laundry, and walked many miles around the city.
You notice strange things when you don't have to be inside an office for 12 hours a day. For instance: I saw the same Italian gold VW every single day all over the city, there are always people lounging around the coffee shops (no jobs? or are they all students and free lance photographers/writers?), and it feels much better to go to work than not (surprise!).

New Job: Outreach Coordinator
I love my new job. It is wonderful to be in a place that soley exists to make the world a better place. This position has opened my eyes to more suffering, violence, and compassion than I could have ever imagined. Wherever there is heart-break and need, there is twice as much love and generosity waiting to be distributed. My prayers go out to all of those in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Haiti...on and on. But it is a blessing to see that there are so many in the world who dedicate their time, gifts, and money to help. Suffice to say, I love my new job. Plus I get to serve the President and his FBCI Initiative.

For more info on Zimbabwe, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78916

The Simple Life...

The Simple Pleasures in Life-

• Watching little birds taking dirt baths
• Getting to a Metro stop to find a train waiting an empty seat
• Being outside at 6:30 a.m. when the city is just a little more quite
• Thaitanic for the best Chicken Pad Thai of ever
• The relief and self-satisfaction you experience after wrapping up a successful interview
• A dewy golf course at 8:00 a.m. shot gun
• Having the luxury of dozens of the world's top museums at your fingertips
• Michael's hugs
• The smell of toast

Pope Town

As most of you probably know (and if you don't you should seriously consider reading a paper or turning on the news) the Pope was in Washington last week. It is pretty amazing when you realize that THE Pope is in your proverbial 'hood. Granted the visit made the traffic horrendous and practically brought the Metro to a crawl- it was still a success!

This was also quite momentous because the President met the Pope at Andrew's which he has never done before for any other visiting State Head. It was hilarious watching the coverage on Fox News because they literally had a split screen of the blank sky for 45 minutes.

Eventually Sheperd One landed and taxied to the red carpet. The Pope was then greeted first by Nancy Brinker (Ambassador of State Protocol- lovely woman but I will talk about her later). She is always the first to greet visiting heads of state.

The next event was the State Arrival on the South Lawn of the WH- the largest in history w/ 12,000 attendees. When I attended the Queen's arrival last year it was pretty crowded and that was only around 5,000 people (lucky for me I had a front row spot).

Mega Mass was conducted on Thursday and was completely breath-taking to see. My buddy Blayne owns a production company and put together all of the lighting/sound/staging for the event. Here are some great buildout pics. The mass was held at the brand new Nat's Stadium which, while being a great improvement on RFK Stadium, is still a bit of an architectual let down. These show the stages of buildout.

Next thing you know, it is game day and the Pope is arriving.

Interesting facts...the Pope Mobile is constructed on a Mercedes SUV chasie and is bullet- and bomb-proof.

You may know him as, The Pope (BF's mom actually got to touch him, but received a slap on the wrist from his guards. Oops.)

Common sitings

These are the things that I randomly see (fairly often) on the streets of DC.

1. chunks of people's polyester weaves
2. folks commuting to work via uni-cycle
3. people riding segways around the park while rocking out to Poison
4. an obese homeless woman who chases me down the street telling me she is pregnant and huuungry- she has been pregnant for about 3 years
5. tourists decked out in their new DC gear (I heart DC) aimlessly, loudly wandering around the metro, sidewalks, restaurants (these people don't really "bother" me because they are so entertaining and usually ask me for directions- guess I look like I know where I'm going...suckers)
6. protesters- usually wearing ridiculous outfits and shouting that you're a war-monger
7. pickles, oddly enough there are a great number of them out there just waiting for you to slip on them on the sidewalk

DC is pretty fun and pretty entertaining.

The First...

these things are kind of hard to start...

where does one begin a blog about themself or about what one experiences in their day to day existence? i guess we just jump right in!

i live in the nation's capitol and it is an interesting place. dc is a very transient city- almost everyone here is on a mission. there are very few people who move to washington just to settle down and raise a family. unheard of. people come here to save the world. i don't know if i fall into that category of folks but i'm trying my best to do good.

the museum arena of dc seems like it would be pretty vast, full of opportunities for a young art historian. but that isn't the case. there are something like 20 smithsonian museums and they all hire through the same hr department making it quite difficult to ever work for them- that is if you want to get paid. this led me to take a different path and venture outside the umbrella of smithsonian museums. i started my career at the phillip's collection and the decatur house museum. both great museums- i highly recommend them on your next trip to washington.

museums are fantastic places to people watch.

anyway, i left the museum world to experience the wild and wacky political realm. it is intense but more interesting than i could have imagined.

my job has given me opportunities to do some pretty cool things. maybe i will share a bit about some of these events and experiences.

that is all i have for now.