There is Treasure Everywhere

T-minus 10 days

2011-02-08T19:35:00.003-07:00

[Picture Lynne's shocked, terrified, excited, relieved face.]

Yes. All of those emotions at once. Weddings do that to people.

Everything's done. Kind of. A few errands to run this weekend. A few pictures to print. A few details to iron out and then this show will be on the road!

The past month has positively FLOWN by. Not getting to my home until around 9:30 p.m. every night (after work and visiting Kit) certainly helps the strange distortion of time.

Today we went and got a wedding license from the county clerk. It was a nice seamless experience and then all of a sudden we had a wedding license! Next Saturday around 9:40 a.m. we will walk into a room, kneel down, and then a few minutes later, we will be married! Just like that! Very, very strange. Marriage has always been this distant, other-worldly institution that I have imagined, but never experienced.

Strange as it is though, there is no one that I would rather embark on this grand adventure with than the man I am sitting next to. And that is a wonderful feeling.

The DI is a gold mine

2011-01-17T18:19:00.003-07:00

I just saved literally hundreds of dollars at the D.I. today. My mom and I bought dozens of perfectly good frames and perfectly good vases for the wedding. Perfectly good. Every time you get flowers, you get a nice vase with it. Nobody needs more than a handful of vases. Every time you move or if you ever have to clean out someone's house, what are you going to do with all of the frames they had? Give them to the D.I.

I highly recommend it.

I love being engaged

2010-12-27T23:09:00.003-07:00

Everyone says that being engaged is the pits, which I can understand, I guess. You are stuck between two phases of your life--a terrible limbo in which you fall more in love with a person everyday and would LOVE to be married to them, but aren't. Yet. You have a million decisions to make, some of which involve quite a bit of money. You are trying to negotiate making several parties happy about all of the said decisions, and you are doing this all whilst trying to maintain and build relationships with your fiance and family and friends.

But, all of the drawbacks aside, I absolutely LOVE being engaged. (Wow. I accidentally typed 'married' instead of 'engaged' just then. Freudian? . . . ) I am positively thrilled when I introduce Cute Boy as my fiance. I love telling everyone I know how important he is to me and how excited I am to build a life together. I love making wedding decisions and I love deciding when something for the wedding simply isn't worth worrying about.

And I love being somebody's future wife. Especially because it's Cute Boy. I love him and I'm just ecstatic that in a little under 8 weeks he will be my husband. Is there anything better?

(P.S. I will answer my own question here. Yes, there is something better. Being married! ;-)

wedding, wedding, wedding

2010-12-22T15:52:00.003-07:00

I'm getting married, did you hear?!

I have the sparkly proof on my finger.

The day is February 19, 2011. What a great day.

In the meantime, there's lots still to do! I don't know how girls plan weddings while they are working or in school. For example, today I got a bracelet and some little thingys to go in my hair. Still need to find shoes to wear (looking for 1-2" beige or tan heels, any ideas?). Still need to figure out the make-up situation... (Dan? Sephora? You and me?) Still need to gather addresses and figure out how we are doing invitations (this is a priority). Still need to find a photographer, although we have a few good leads. (This is also a priority). Still need to schedule other stuff (like when to take pictures) and when to go apartment shopping. Still need to answer the question, "To have a car, or not to have a car?" A few reception details to plan out . . . etc. etc. (What are we going to eat? Should we have the silly ribbons on the chairs? Would it look silly?) Still need to learn about and order a cake from someone or somewhere.

Man, it's totally do-able, but takes work and prioritization. And keeping your eyes on the things that are most pressing, the soonest. For example, right now, making a decision about announcements and picking a photographer are deadlines that are coming up PRONTO. I have to make sure not to spend too much time looking for shoes (it's SO much fun to look for shoes! . . . but I guess it can wait . . . ) or looking for a get-away dress (again, very fun. But in a pinch, if I run out of time, I can wear some stuff I already own) instead of focusing on the things that really have the longest lead times.

When all is said and done, I will still be married and none of this will matter anymore! And that is the GREAT news!

Finals week, winding down

2010-12-14T15:59:00.003-07:00

1. I painted my nails red. They are supposed to be red for Christmas, but they ended up a deep beautiful red. Red like blood. They are so fun! I love looking at them and typing with them and picking things up with them.

2. My finals week is pretty anti-climactic. I only had four finals to begin with, two are already done, and I can probably get another one mostly done during work tonight. My brain graduated weeks ago and I'm in the process of purging the classes for which I have already completed the final.

3. Having a wonderful job in which you get to work on homework is AWESOME . . . until you don't have homework to work on. Then it becomes very boring. Luckily I have a long "to do" list, but I still have to occasionally remind myself not to waste my life mindlessly surfing the Internet.

4. In celebration of a relaxed finals week, I started a new book. "Spoken from the Heart" by Laura Bush. I've mentioned before that I really enjoy biographies and this is no exception. I find her life fascinating. And I also very much enjoy reading the biographies of great women who married great men. Because, I have a suspicion that I will be married to a great man and I want to know what to do.

5. Speaking of said great man, I am patiently (and by patiently, I mean anxiously. And by anxiously, I mean really really anxiously.) waiting for him to, I don't know, make things official by putting a pretty, sparkly thing on my red, blood hands.

Man, my hands would look SO good . . .

Dear life

2010-12-06T22:34:00.002-07:00

Dear Life,

I know you enjoy watching me squirm, but would you mind not being so unpredictable?

You know how I love to plan, how I love to have a pretty solid idea of where I will be in six months, and how I love, love, love to spend time developing things that I know will turn out to be a good investment?

Up to this point in my life, I have done a superb job of planning my existence. Don't you think? I planned out my major, I planned out internships, I planned out a study abroad, I balanced this all with jobs and relationships (which I also, sometimes, planned out). I did this to maximize my happiness and minimize the anxiety that comes from rampant uncertainty. And I think I have done a pretty good job so far.

Life, why won't you let me do the same now? Would you please settle down so that I can emotionally invest in a future? I don't want to become too fixated on a single idea, only to have it changed tomorrow.

It's hard for my heart.

Thank you.

Best,

Lynne

T-minus two weeks

2010-11-30T11:16:00.002-07:00

I am in the final stretch of my undergraduate college career. This is it. The great tamale. The green mile. The end that I needed to endure to.

My computer is covered with star-shaped post-it notes that have tasks (things to do for school and things to do for work) and lists (grocery list, pre-move out list).

Then, without any pomp and circumstance, I will wake up one--probably snowy--day, eat some breakfast, look out the window, and realize over my unholy bowl of yogurt and granola that I AM a college graduate.

After probably choking on my foodstuffs from the suddenness of the realization, I will proceed to structure the remainder of my life.

What does one even do without school? Hobbies, you say? I'm not quite sure what that word even means, but I hope to discover very soon.

Photo booth: creating much needed diversions from studying since 2008

2010-11-15T22:38:00.002-07:00

Computer eyes and study buddy.

Addendum

2010-11-10T13:41:00.002-07:00

Addition to post below:

Sitting around the kitchen table using "Jimmer" as every form of speech and trying to disguise our voices so the BYU-Info lady doesn't realize we called her at 11:50 p.m. AND 11:55 p.m.

I have the great privilege of being a friend

2010-11-08T20:24:00.006-07:00

I have the great privilege of being a friend.

As I prepare for graduation and reflect on my experience at BYU, I am staggered by the positive influence of hundreds of great people I have met here.

I guess I took some classes, got some grades, and "learned stuff" in college, but my academic experience pales in comparison to the experiences I have had with scores of decent, generous people.

I'm lucky to have many friends, but I am decidedly blessed to have a handful of very very close friends. Jerusalem. Choice apartments with excellent roommates. Washington Seminar. Writing Fellows. OACL. Group projects. Elms Ward. Colony Ward. Banbridge Ward.

I know this post is effusive and overly gushy, but as I look forward to a post-BYU life, I find myself emotionally overwhelmed! I have tremendous examples in my life. And they have changed me.

I'm excited to meet and become friends with many more people in the future, but I pause to remember all of the happy seasons I have seen, so far. And I have enjoyed them so immensely, that I'm hesitant to let them go.

But, then I look around and I realize I already have. Many of my closest friends are on missions right now. Many have moved away. Sometimes I hurt because I miss their uplifting presence in my life. But as I hesitantly leave one period of life, I find myself making deep friendships in the next as well. Steph in high school. Charlie and Allie my freshman year. Rachel, Jenessa, Erin, Holly and Sarah Jane in Jerusalem. Nicole, Jackie, Lindsey, Lana, Rachel, Andrea, Kelly, Abby and Emily in the Elms. Alyse in Writing Fellows. Abby, Rachel, and Kelli in Washington. Audrey, Dani, Rachelle in Banbridge. And I know the pattern will continue.

But I very much enjoy the memories! And they always make me smile. And usually laugh.

I don't even know where to begin. Road trip with Jenessa, Erin, and Holly. Sarah Jane cracking me up, pretty much with every word. Lana pantsing Lindsey. Getting lost in the Old City with Ness and Erin. Jenessa changing into a black shirt so I could cry on her shoulder. Emily spilling the contents of the blender all over the floor. Laughing so hard I cry. Andrea teaching me about testimony and kindness. Nicole teaching me about listening. Jenessa teaching me about caring. Erin, about fearlessness. Charlie reminding me not to take life too seriously. Allie teaching me about fashion. Liz, about reading. Lana, about mangoes. Walking into Abby's room like it was mine. Road trip with Rachel. Getting lost, yelling at the GPS, laughing, running, climbing up a waterfall, trying on wigs with Abby and Rachel. Pretending to be an english major with Alyse. Racquetball with Rachel. Running and running and running with Dani. Conversations about cupcakes turning into existential discussions. Sharing imperfections/insecurities. Nails with Audrey. RDJ with Audrey. Running from the parking lot to 8 a.m. logistics with Rachelle. Rachelle, Audrey, and Dani about laughing at life/laughing through life and that it's okay to be obsessed with HSM3. Talking for hours at the kitchen table. Kelli always encouraging me. Cupcakes and basketball with Kelli. Andrea teaching me about service and working hard. Encouraging notes left on my bed when I needed an encouraging word. Laughing and crying with every single person mentioned above.

Unfailing love.

I have the great privilege of being a friend.

0-13.1 miles in less than a year

2010-10-30T15:23:00.003-06:00

Dani and I are now officially half-marathoners!

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5:30 a.m., rolled to the shuttle bus, napped to aspen grove and then huddled in the heated tent. I forced myself to eat a cliff bar and most of that carbohydrate goo they gave us in our packet. Searching for porta-potties under a starry night sky and trying to nap on asphalt both sent Dani and I reeling back to our Red Rock Relay days...[nostalgic gaze into the distance]...

At 9:00 a.m. we lined up with approximately 2,300 other costume-bedeckt crazy people and started down the canyon. The first few miles were chaos. People everywhere! One girl fell early on and broke her wrist. A few people here and there started walking after about two miles.

I ran with Dani for about 5-6 miles. Neither of us ran with an iPod. It was a beautiful fall day and there were a lot of entertaining people/costumes to look at and think about.

2 hours and five minutes after taking off from the Stewart Falls parking lot, Dani finished. Ten minutes after that I finished. My legs felt really good, my lungs/heart felt really good, but my right ankle really hurt. I didn't sprain it, but it seems like some sort of deep tendon bruise.

At the end, Kit, Rachel, and Dani were waiting and cheering for me! It felt great! Then we went to celebrate at Five Guys. There's nothing like burning 1500 calories and then gaining them back again in one sitting. :-)

yes. YES.

2010-10-25T23:37:00.004-06:00

Excerpt from the book on entrepreneurship that I am reading:

"Individuals need life structure. A life lacking in comprehensive structure is an aimless wreck. The absence of structure breeds breakdown. Structure provides the relatively fixed points of reference we need."

This is key. This is why school is so comforting. This is why busy days are better than lazy days. This is why not being in school is so ominous--the structure disappears into nebulous "intentions" to accomplish life goals. Transition is hard because structures change.

I identify with this because I find great comfort in consistent processes and try to implement them in my life wherever possible.

And while structure is something I need, the good news is it is also something that I know how to create. (You should see my google calendar...)

Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave. Quoted in The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber.

a snippet of my thoughts on a normal day

2010-10-24T23:47:00.003-06:00

Oh. my. days.

Cute Boy is so stinkin cute.

It's ridic-a-lous.
He makes me smile. A lot.

That is all.

I want to start a business

2010-10-20T15:56:00.003-06:00

I am sitting in my women entrepreneur lecture series class, thinking, "I could do that. I could do this."

Details to come of course.

Sunday blog on faith

2010-10-17T15:14:00.006-06:00

One of my favorite things to do on Sunday is write in my journal or write on my blog. A la "Harry Potter," it's very peaceful for me to extract my thoughts and capture them in writing.

We had a wonderful church block today, kicked off with a talk by my former roommate Rachelle on faith--one of my favorite topics! She said a lot of very insightful things, but her comparison of her experience learning new, scary moves as a young gymnast to taking leaps of faith in our lives really stuck with me.

She described preparing to do a back handspring on the balance beam and being absolutely terrified. It was difficult for her to even comprehend literally throwing herself backwards into the unknown, not knowing if her hands would find the beam, worried about being off balance; wondering if her hands would buckle and not support her. It was quite literally a leap of faith. And it was terrifying.

But she related another gymnastic experience that taught her something else. She was learning a new flip on the floor. As soon as she bounced off the floor she knew something was wrong--her rotation speed made it impossible for her feet to find the floor before her head did. She was headed for certain disaster.

Then, before she knew it, she had stopped moving. Her feet were still up and her head was close to the floor, but she wasn't flying through the air anymore. Her coach, who was spotting her while she learned something new, recognized that she wasn't going to make it and caught her midair before she could get hurt.

Heavenly Father is our coach. Rachelle understood intellectually the gymnastic moves she was trying to learn, but she couldn't fully understand until she experienced them. And she couldn't learn what she needed to until she decided to take a literal leap of faith. Then, before she could fall, her coach caught her and helped her so she could try again.

She shared a myriad of other helpful ideas: faith is a decision; the direction you are going is more important than the size of your leap of faith; life is the sum of many, many leaps.

Then in Sunday School, Dallin used the book of Isaiah to teach us about what Christ has done for us, what He is now doing for us, and what He has promised in the future. It was wonderful to review all that is in store for us as God's children. Dallin ended with a very appropriate, very cute video clip about being actively patient while waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled.

Rachel rounded out the meeting block with a great lesson on the Restoration. We learned about dates and times, but one of her points was that we avoid distancing ourselves from the Spirit (personal apostacy) by continually experiencing personal restoration.

It was a wonderful three hours that renewed my resolve to have more faith, have more patience, and to continually restore and renew my personal spirituality.

Dear women who sit on the couches in the restroom and eat lunch,

2010-10-15T18:32:00.002-06:00

Do you really find it appetizing to sit in a small room whilst tons of people traipse past you to use the facilities?

If you're trying to find a quiet place to eat, I suggest . . . anywhere else.

If you're trying to get away from people, maybe you should just eat in the corner.

If you're lonely, let me know. We'll sit down and chat. OUTside the restroom.

If you're trying to gross me out and make me self-conscious, you're doing a great job.

Sincerely,

Lynne

Fall is for football

2010-10-12T20:30:00.002-06:00

[contented sigh]

I love this.

General Conference is like the Superbowl for Mormons

2010-10-03T20:58:00.003-06:00

1. We anticipate it for days, weeks, months

2. We try to find a really big TV to watch it on, and turn it up really loud

3. It takes over our weekend and even after experiencing it want to relive it over and over

4. We invite all our friends over to enjoy it together

5. Some people get a little too emotional

6. We prepare by assembling treats and other delicious concoctions

7. We consider it a great experience, embroiled in tradition and emotion

and, last but not least . . .

7. Everyone's facebook statuses reflect something about it for three days before and three days after

Stay-at-home moms

2010-10-02T09:20:00.005-06:00

(How can you resist these cute little girls? Speaking of little girls . . . can't wait for Alice's arrival this week!)

I recently read my friend's blog on this topic (it's about halfway down the page), and he said something that was really interested to me:

"If I expect my wife to stay at home all day with the kids, would I be willing to do the same? If not, how could I expect that of her?

"And why couldn’t I stay at home with the kids? Isn’t raising a family the most important part of this life? Isn’t fatherhood a divine calling? Well, honestly, I just wouldn’t feel fulfilled! Being at home ALL DAY - I have never imagined myself in that position. I have built up this expectation of myself as a working man; staying at home all day just seems crazy! I need the intellectual stimulus that comes from working or studying (or at least my culture has programmed me to think that I do)."

First, thank you Jeff for recognizing that it might not be easy for a smart, independent, social individual to make such a huge lifestyle change overnight. That being said, I think Swindle hit one of my greatest fears on the head: I'm terrified that staying at home all day will make me crazy. No social interaction with anyone above the age of three (except for husband) for days in a row? Just thinking about that makes me batty. What if I don't get dressed until noon everyday? What if I constantly have the television on in the background because I need the companionship it provides? What if I get so comfortable in my hermit, safe from the critical judgments of the world that I'm a wall-flower when I finally emerge? What if I grow my nails out really long, use tissue boxes for shoes and collect my own urine?!?! (Okay, okay . . . implying that I'll become Howard Hughes might be a step too far . . . )

But then again, working full-time while trying to be a mom and keep a household together sounds worse. I can't imagine missing such a large part of my children's development and learning process. I want them to know, as I knew in my youth, that their mom puts them first no matter what. Their mom will be there to drive them to soccer practice, make them a snack, be a shoulder to cry on, launder their dirty clothes etc. etc. A life of a mother working full-time seems very frenetic. The image in my mind's eye is a woman who is barely holding it together. Just trying to get from day to day; reigning the chaos in as best as possible.

So what's the solution? Transition from being in an environment of intellectual stimulation and social support to isolation and boredom? Yuck. Hopefully not. There must be a balance. And because of my natural aversions to being alone, I think one my greatest challenges will be to actively seek and adjust this balance in my life.

Some ideas that I can experiment with:

-Make my home a refuge. As nerdy as it sounds, one of the things I am most excited about is organizing the cleaning closet in my future home. I've waited my whole life to have a space that I can create and maintain my own "systems" in.

-Cultivate adult friendships (just having kids doesn't mean you don't get to be an adult). One of the greatest characteristics of cute boy is his friendliness and affability. I know that we'll always have a lot of friends.

-Serve in the community. I think I am going to have a lot of latent energy that I will need to direct toward productive channels. City council meetings. School board. Ward callings. ANYTHING that I can sign up for, I think I will.

-Pursue part-time opportunities. My mom taught one night a week. It was perfect. There's got to be something I can teach the world. Or, maybe I could start my own business from home. If the right business opportunity comes up, I fully expect myself to jump on it.

-Learn, learn, learn. And learn some more. My mom set the good example of listening to book tapes when doing things around the house. While I will probably need some Rihanna or Lee DeWyze to get me in the groove occasionally, I think this is a good habit. Even though I'm not actively in the workforce full-time, I can still read business books, biographies, fiction--whatever I want. When we put in a garden, I can use the research and synthesis skills that I have developed in college to put in the best darn garden you've ever seen.

Mostly I worry that I will be "the time-traveler's wife" and spend the majority of my life waiting for my husband to come home. But ultimately, I think I'm going to be okay. I'll find a rhythm and I'm sure the seasons of my life will come and go more quickly than I am ready.

The search

2010-09-29T23:14:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting in my bed. I can see my USB-pen from one of the big-four accounting firms poking out of the pocket of a backpack from a large supply-chain-related company. The superglue and post-its I received from the competitor of the first supply-chain-related company are across the room.

I'm drowning in free loot from recruiters. But in my head, I'm desperately trying to figure out a way to sabotage my performance in my last required classes so I don't have to graduate in December. That way I could stop this job hunting madness.

I think they must have to bribe us to apply for jobs because it's such a stinky process. It takes a lot of effort and time, and most of the work/applications you complete won't mean anything when it's all over. You spend a lot of time researching companies and positions, but it's very difficult to actually get a feel for what you're signing up for when you take a salaried position. . . you can easily gauge if you like the recruiter or not, but what does that have to do with anything?

Interviews are like first dates. Both parties have showed at least nominal interest and passed baseline compatibility requirements. Then, you try to impress each other--sometimes by showing more interest than actually exists. Both parties posture endlessly because they want to "hook" the other one, so they can possess the higher ground in the relationship.

The goal of the first date (I mean, interview) is to lead to a second date. And the goal of a second date is to lead to a fly-back (meeting the family) or an offer (this term applies in dating too). This continues until either party decides they're not interested anymore. When that happens, either by direct notification or by tacit silence, one party might feel hurt, misled even. But they have to understand that accepting a job that isn't a good fit won't benefit anyone involved.

Unlike dating, at least interviews go through this emotional rollercoaster within a time period of a few weeks--if you're going to rip off a band-aid, do it quick. If you're going to "make an offer" just do it so both of you can move on.

One last thought: not only is job hunting a pain, it's a time-intensive pain. It takes me away from school, from cute boy, from work and from many other activities that are worth my time. The crazy thing is, when considering the amount of happiness/effect on my life that these various activities have, the priorities are clear. Said cute boy is without a doubt the most important, because he will have the greatest impact on my life and my happiness in the future. Job hunting comes next. School and work come last. (Who's going to remember bombing one measly midterm during my last semester?) However, those priorities are not always accurately represented in the way I spend my time.

Sigh. I think I'll go relax by estimating the cost-benefit analysis using my external ten-key so thoughtfully donated by the accounting firm mentioned above.

mlia

2010-09-23T22:46:00.002-06:00

Again. A gem from the Great Gmail Inbox Purge of 2010.

Compliments of my life is average (mlia).com

"Today my boyfriend asked me what I was thinking about. I told him I was thinking about health care plans.

But I was really thinking about what it would be like to be an octopus...

It would be AWEsome."

I think this was written by my alternate personality somewhere out there. Because, I may or may not have actually thought about what it would be like to be an octopus... [cut to image of Lynne making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, while reading a book, while drinking a soda, while stirring pasta on the stove, WHILE braiding her hair. Awesome indeed!]

blog, blog, bloggity blog

2010-09-21T22:18:00.001-06:00

I was cleaning out my inbox at work today and found a quote my mom sent me a few months ago:

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."

amen.

So it's been awhile

2010-08-28T11:19:00.004-06:00

For some reason, all of my introspection this summer went into my journal. Sorry, blog! I promise that you will not be my neglected ugly step-sister for long! I will reach down into the recesses of my soul and try to regurgitate something worthwhile to self-publish for no one (and everyone) to read.

Let's catch up:

-My last semester of my undergraduate college education begins on Monday. I'm mostly excited, but a little overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to structure a life around something beyond school.

-My new favorite thing is "30 Rock"

-I recently bought some cowboy boots. I haven't worn them yet, but I have a feeling they are a good development in my life.

-I saw my high school band teacher last night. He reminded me of my potential to be a "whiz kid." And of my perfect form on the piano.

-I spent 10 weeks working for the largest retail corporation in the world. I learned that I mostly like retailing, that people steal lots of stuff, and that I can make friends with most anybody.

-I moved into a new apartment and, four years later, I am living with freshmen again. It's the circle of life.

-I finally quit one of my jobs. They are short-staffed and I was this close to being guilted into working part-time for them after they asked me three times, but I stuck to my guns. Finding a job/recruiting is going to be my second job this semester.

-As a reward to myself, I am enrolled in beginning racquetball and beginning swimming. All corporate finance and no racquetball makes Lynne, something something.

-Oh, and I recently bought a wig at a little shop in Chinatown in L.A. You know, for Halloween, and skits and stuff. Every girl needs a good wig. And purple shoes.

-Cute Boy came back from a little sojourn to back east. I'm not quite sure words can express how happy I am about this fact.

-Lastly, my valiant car finally went to car heaven. I am about to take off to test drive new cars! (By "new" I really mean "new old" cars.)

Tell me about your life. Really. I want to know.

2010-05-30T13:42:00.006-06:00

My new book is the biography of Ezra Taft Benson, the 13th President of the Church. I LOVE it.

I have said that I love biographies before, but I always wonder if one day I will become bored with reading about what someone's childhood was like or how they decided to marry the person they did.

But it's confirmed. I love reading about people's lives. It absolutely fascinates me. I love reading about their family life, their "coming of age", their friends, the process in which they made important decisions, and about the turning points in their lives.

Maybe I enjoy reading about lives because my life is mostly still ahead of me and I have no idea what is in store. What would my biography be like? How will I make those critical decisions? Looking back, what will be the turning points in my life? How am I making the most of every opportunity?

Whatever it is, I am hooked. And it feels so good. My next biography is going to be of Sandra Day O'Connor.

Has anyone else read any good ones? (except for Pres. Hinckley, John Adams, and Queen Noor)

One of the many reasons why I love "Gilead"

2010-05-12T12:31:00.003-06:00

pg 9

"I saw a bubble float past my window, fat and wobbly and ripening toward that dragonfly blue they turn just before they burst.

"So I looked down at the yard and there you were, you and your mother, blowing bubbles at the cat, such a barrage of them that the poor beast was beside herself at the glut of opportunity. She was actually leaping in the air, our insouciant Soapy!

"Some of the bubbles drifted up through the branches, even above the trees. You two were too intent on the cat to see the celestial consequences of your worldly endeavors. They were very lovely.

"Your mother is wearing her blue dress and you are wearing your red shirt and you were kneeling on the ground together with Soapy between and that effulgence of bubbles rising, and so much laughter.

Ah, this life, this world."

I am a serial blogger

2010-04-29T15:43:00.000-06:00

For reals.

http://diaries-of-a-non-runner.blogspot.com/

I love Women's Conference

2010-04-29T15:03:00.005-06:00

There is nothing like walking into the Wilk only to be overcome by a Cougareat teeming with middle-aged mormon moms.

It's a heart-warming sight. Where else can you find hordes of name-tag wearing ladies armed with subway sandwiches, ice cream, and halfway-crocheted periwinkle booties?

Every spring, approximately 15,000 women flock to Provo for a weekend of friends, service projects, and "sharpening the saw" (as Stephen Covey would call it). Groups of women wander around campus trying to find the "swicket" or the conference center. It's cute that they are so clueless.

Sometimes they gaggle around a headstrong leader and follow her, oblivious to where they are headed, like a flock of newly hatched chicks. (Speaking of newly hatched chicks, everyone should stop by the duck pond in the next few weeks--DOZENS of little puff balls are cheeping and following around their mom. It's adorable.)

Basically, Women's Conference is EFY for moms. But, as a veteran of many spring/summer semesters, I can testify that it's much more enjoyable to have thousands of wide-eyed mormon moms than hormonally crazed teenagers palling around campus. Plus, EFY histrionics just don't make me smile like a huddle of Relief Society sisters examining the hem on a pioneer-style bonnet in the bookstore.

Ice cream in hand, of course.

My new book

2010-04-28T11:37:00.002-06:00

I am starting a new book today based on several recommendations from avid readers.

I have heard from some that it is a little slow, but a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize winner can't be that bad, eh?

Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic

2010-04-27T23:14:00.008-06:00

I finished Leif Enger's most recent book, "So Brave, Young, and Handsome" in just under 72 hours.

It took me a little longer to get into than "Peace Like a River," but it was well worth it once I was sucked in.

Something about this man's words just get me. I feel so much when I read his books. It's like he takes my thoughts and weaves them into a story about bandits and outlaws, hunting, or just plain youth.

To illustrate my point, here is the "Acknowledgments" from SBYH. Mind you, this is normally the dullest part of an entire novel. But again, Leif Enger wrote it in a way that touched me. His words are so precise and gentle. It's as simple as that.

I think you'll understand why.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

"I am surrounded by friends, kept safe by generous people. So it has been for as long as I can remember. Maybe being the youngest of four acclimated me early to a pattern of kindness; whatever the reasons, a surprising number of people have given me the benefit of the doubt.

"Therefore let me thank E., who saw instantly to the soul of this story, and whose questions, confidence, and wit helped me do the same; and M., who welcomed an outlaw tale and saved a spot for me in the lineup. Thanks also to P. and M., whose counsel is reliably clear-eyed and practical.

"Mom and Dad used to put me to bed accompanied by an album called Songs of the West, a loving thing to do. There is no sweeter sorrow that "The Cowboy's Lament." Moreover, Dad's friend Hood Roberts allowed me to borrow his name; I wish he was here to judge the result.

"T. and J. spent hundreds of hours in my writing loft, talking, listening, making me laugh--without their vigorous distraction, I might never have finished.

"Finally, thanks to Robin, for hearing my pages with persistent grace. Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic."

Confessions

2010-04-17T19:51:00.003-06:00

(1) One of my favorite things to do is floss. Seriously.

(2) Studying, sch-mudying. Have you SEEN what it looks like outside?

(3) A perennially favorite snack of mine is bread with melted cheese on it. (The type of cheese varies.)

(4) I cry very easily in movies. But I try very hard not to show it. And then I get a headache.

(5) I really like loading the dishwasher.

Epiphany!! (courtesy of Robert Frost)

2010-03-09T18:03:00.006-07:00

Yesterday I had a most triumphant run in southern Provo.

After hearing Kit talk about the Splash and Dash next week (and try to convince anyone who crossed his path to sign up with him), I got super antsy sitting in Econ.

So, in a rash (and slightly irresponsible) move, I went home after my Econ class. I had two hours before I had to be back on campus for biology, a work meeting, and work.

I quickly changed. Put on my tennis shoes, borrowed a Nike ear cover-er (thanks Dani!) and was about to grab my iPod as I bounded out the door. Instead, I ripped two pieces of paper out of one of my notebooks, folded them up and stuck them in my pocket.

Rather than blasting my brain with Chris Brown, Jason Derulo, and Miley Cyrus, I ran alone, in the quiet. To occupy my mind, I began reciting poems. Poems are perfect because they have a rhythm, they are easy to remember, and often have multiple levels of meaning. I started with "The Road Less Traveled" by Robert Frost and "Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree" by Elizabeth Poston (?)

Halfway through my run, it started to hail. Didn't phase me.
I had several successful "spitting incidents" and one unsuccessful one. Girls just don't know how to spit. Didn't phase me.
I went about 2.4 miles (which I know exactly because of mapmyrun.com). Didn't phase me.
I was tired-ish, but I could have kept going.

Giving my brain something productive and uplifting to focus on (scriptures, poems) is probably the best thing that happened to my running career. How did I not see this? Not only do I feel good physically after I've run, but I think about things that I enjoy thinking about.

I mean, there is a place for Miley, Chris, and Rihanna, but not always. If I'm not careful, I'll blast out my own thoughts.

By the time I run the Red Rock Relay, I should have a whole repertoire of memorized verses and scriptures.

I dare you to test me.

Homage to Sarah Jane

2010-03-09T10:15:00.002-07:00

My friend SJ posted a quote on her blog a few months ago and I've been thinking about it ever since. Here it is, reposted:

"Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers.
They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything.

At present you need to live the question.

Perhaps you will gradually,
without even noticing it,
find yourself experiencing the answer,
some distant day."

-Rilke

Fun with Photobooth

2010-03-08T15:20:00.003-07:00

This is what I would look like if my face were exactly symmetrical.

Perfectly even eyebrows!

Matching freckles...strange looking hair...all in all, pretty cool.

P.S. This is also what I look like when I'm bored.
But you probably already guessed that much.

What must be a world record

2010-03-02T16:21:00.003-07:00

My apprehensive face. Charlie mocks my pain. ;)

Thanks to my two jobs I will be on campus today for 17 hours.

Seriously.

I had a 7:00 a.m. meeting and I work until midnight in the library.

There are twelve hours between those two appointments, you say. You can't possibly have class during all of that time.

Oh, but my schedule is just spread out enough that going home wouldn't really make sense either. (i.e. class from 9:30-11:00, devotional, class from 1:30-3:00, class from 5:00-6:15.)

Oh well. In a few years/months I won't be a college student anymore. I gotta to soak it in while I can I guess...

Plus, who needs sleep? I have dried mangoes, a bunch of vitamin C, a nalgene waterbottle, and mika on my itunes. (Don't worry mom, I buy dinner before I clock in...) Not to mention all of the friends I have on campus.

Staying late is never too bad when there are so many smiling faces.

Overheard at BYU

2010-02-18T17:27:00.001-07:00

[walking in the library]

"but the whole class got a lot better when I stopped thinking about him as a rational human being..."

Things that never fail to put me in a better mood

2010-02-16T11:46:00.006-07:00

1. Reading the scriptures. I haven't always gotten so much out of my personal study, but especially since I came to college, there is rarely a melancholy mood that isn't smashed by putting in my earplugs, grabbing a pen, and really reading the Book of Mormon.

2. Listening to music. Music has been inextricably tied to my emotions ever since I can remember. There are a few songs that literally never fail to lift my spirits. It's classical conditioning. I am a rat and Jay Sean or Mika or Sara Bareilles or Colors or Owl City is the bell. (I guess that makes my mood like my saliva.)

3. Exercising. I love how alive I feel after I have jogged around the block or put my healthy, young body to use somehow. There is something inherently rewarding about physical work.

4. Friends and family. I am blessed to have literally hundreds of friends on campus and family only a phone call away.

5. Cuddling. Hm. Not much to say about this one. But since we're sharing, I thought I'd be honest.

My five minutes of fame

2010-02-13T20:37:00.003-07:00

Did you know February was black history month? I'll be honest, I didn't know that until last December (2008) when my roommate Andrea told me she'd give me a jamba juice certificate if she could photograph me for her job (she worked at multi-cultural services).

A few weeks later, I was walking through the Wilk, eyeing the waffle cones at Sugar and Spice (as I normally do) and I suddenly come face to face with myself.

An almost life-size version of myself entreating those passers-by to become involved in black history month.

For a month, the most common comment I got about it was, " . . . but . . . [confused look] . . . you're white . . ."

Really?! Shoot, I hadn't noticed . . .

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2010-02-03T21:52:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Vintage pictures - Family research

Attempt to improve the world, part 1

2010-01-28T12:03:00.003-07:00

Dear Steve,

I'm worried that you've lost your touch.
"iPad"?
Seriously?

Please rethink the name of your newest "fad" product. Here are some suggestions to help you out:

iTab
iTap
iFad
iTad
iThink
iNeed
iNew
iName

Sincerely,
A concerned Apple fan

Scholarship application question #2

2010-01-27T11:22:00.002-07:00

"Please describe your educational, professional, and other goals."

Easy: change the world.

...too much?

I think not.

That white stuff

2010-01-26T10:24:00.004-07:00

Sing it with me now:

Snow!-----Snow!----Snow!----Snow!

Okay, you're no Bing Crosby or Rosemary Clooney, but I appreciate the effort.

This morning, after getting four hours of sleep (and accidentally waking up and partially getting ready before I realized it was 4:00 a.m.) I stepped outside my apartment to a serene, gentle, quiet blanket of snow. (At 6:45 a.m., even without snow, Provo is pretty calm.)

I brushed off my car and was almost in disbelief at how beautiful the snow was. It was perfectly powdery. Like brushing off glitter from my windshield.

What I would've given to not be in school today...

I love my job(s)

2010-01-14T11:41:00.003-07:00

I love working. I love helping people. I love talking to people at work. I love finding creative solutions to problems that I've never encountered before. I love discovering things about computers that I never knew, but which are, nevertheless, indisputably awesome. I love being busy. I love teaching new skills. I love discussing writing and argumentation.

Have I mentioned that I love helping people?

Comfort their souls in Christ. Grant unto them that they may have strength.

2010-01-10T16:52:00.005-07:00

Many of my close friends/former roommates are currently serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In my personal scripture study I have been reading in the book of Alma. Much of Alma details the missionary efforts of Alma, Ammon, Amulek, Zeezrom and others. The other night I read Alma's prayer for his brethren and felt a similar feeling of love for my sisters scattered across the world.

Alma 31: 32-33

"O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me--yea, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also Amulek and Zeezrom [and Sister Meyers and Sister Simmons and Sister Kinghorn and Sister LaSeuer and Sister Bangerter and Sister Roerig and many other sisters], ... yea, even all these wilt thou comfort, O Lord. Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ. Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them..."

The second/first day of school

2010-01-05T23:17:00.002-07:00

(Since I only went to half of my classes yesterday, we'll count today (truly the second day of school) as an extended version of the first.

Some thoughts:

-Ice is slippery and has a strange ability to form under my feet at the most inopportune times.
-When I am in school, I go into efficiency mode. I receive tasks and I accomplish those tasks...which is why I sometimes have to remind myself that people are not tasks.
-I love working. I get to work with fun people and help new people in my job. It's the besht.
-I love love getting paid to work.
-I have had easy mac for three out of the last five meals. (Don't worry mom, I braved the crowds and went to Smith's last night, at my own peril. I had to park at RC Willey and I almost died of shopping-cart-congestion, but I have real food now.)
-I run into someone I know about every ten minutes. I am not exaggerating. (I saw someone I knew and had a brief conversation whilst writing this blog. Ironic? Yes. Out of the ordinary? Not in the least.] It makes me feel very at home. And very "seasoned."
-I have been in Provo for two days and my car is already stuck in the ice on the side of the road. Might have to wait until spring before I'm mobile again...
-Since I am now the ripe-old age of 21, every day is like a high school/freshman year reunion. It's weird.
-Work and school both take time, but with school, the more efficient you are, the more time you have to yourself. I am a strong proponent of personal responsibility and free market incentives.
-I am an efficiency geek. I like planning and improving systems. My household will be a well-oiled machine...until I realize that children are pretty much by definition, not efficient...
-I plan my breaks between classes hours before they happen, taking into account walking time, weather, available microwaves, bathrooms, and seating availability before actually going anywhere.
-When my econ teacher started reviewing calculus on the whiteboard, I felt a wave of relief. It's very scary that calculus calms me.

My thoughts are multiplying too quickly! It's hard to shut the monster down...this is what happens when you leave me on my own to reflect....

-One last thought: The "tasks" application in my gmail account has been dormant for the past four months. It has been lovely. Now that I am back balancing school, work, church and personal responsibilities, my brain begins to fall out if I don't write down things as I think of them. Hence, the epic resurrection of "tasks." And now the "tasks" application is one of my favorite things. And quite possibly a horcrux.

The pictures speak for themselves

2009-12-15T19:37:00.002-07:00

NOTE: These pictures are completely candid.
No items within them were manipulated in any way.

This is my dad's office.

This is my mom's office.

Dad's office, view 2. (Notice the neatly arranged santa hats on the window seat.)

Mom's office, view 2.

Dad's closet. Every shoe in place.

Mom's closet. I think a few of the shoes found their matches.

And then there's me: the product of order and chaos.

I certainly have the clutter angel on my left shoulder and the tidy angel on my right.

This begs the question: What will my closet look like in twenty years?
Will all of my santa hats be in a row? Or will my spouse mistake my office for an area under FEMA's jurisdiction?

Only time will tell.

Dear Pandora

2009-12-08T21:30:00.005-07:00

Dear Pandora,

The way you bring David Archuleta's Christmas tunes into my home is delightful. What would I do without you (and David)?

After seeing "A Christmas Carol" at Ford's theater, my heart is filled with Christmas spirit. But you Pandora, only you, maketh my heart overfloweth.

God bless us, everyone.
(But especially you, Pandora.)

Love,
Lynne

The National Christmas tree outside the White House

Confession: TJ

2009-12-02T18:28:00.003-07:00

I would move back to D.C. just to buy my groceries at Trader Joe's.

2009-11-30T19:44:00.003-07:00

I am torn between two worlds.

I know that I will be going home soon, packing, cleaning.
But I can't go home yet.

I know that I can't go home yet, so I try to nest and feel at home here, but I know I'm leaving soon.
So it doesn't really work.

I know that I need to plan for next semester, but it causes me to worry about things not part of my life right now. Forces me away from the comfort I feel now.

I know change is coming, so I (like any rational person) just want the change to come so I can deal with it.

But it's still distant. And I am still torn.

A Norwegian at the Greek Festival

2009-11-24T16:15:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago my friends and I roadtripped it down to Richmond, VA to see a friend run a marathon. Of course, while she was out there running 26.2 miles, we were stuffing our faces at the Greek festival. [mmmm...]

Since we left really early in the morning, I did my makeup in the car and threw on a hat for the day. Standing in line to receive my decadent spankopita and pork souvlaki, the woman serving mentioned that she liked my hat. It looked very European.

She thought for a moment more and said, "Norway, you look like you're from Norway."

I'm not sure all my relatives can boast such a striking Norwegian resemblance as to elicit comments from total strangers (this has happened more than once), but I certainly do my part.

My ancestors would be proud.

For a little laugh

2009-11-23T21:34:00.001-07:00

http://www.bestofthe2000s.com/creative1.html

Watch "Swear Jar." I almost fell off my chair it's so funny.

My new obsession

2009-11-21T18:34:00.001-07:00

iMovie.

I can't get enough.

My op-ed about gun control

2009-11-17T16:21:00.002-07:00

Being in Washington you get used to disagreeing with people. This is one issue that makes complete sense to me and I am perfectly fine disagreeing with whomever wishes to disagree.

http://universe.byu.edu/node/4151

IT'S HERE

2009-11-11T18:53:00.004-07:00

The Swine Flu has arrived at the Barlow Center. The nerve.

So far it's two doors down from my apartment and isn't allowed to come out for a week. But it's only a matter of time.

Meanwhile, every fifteen minutes I attack light switches, door knobs, and people with my Lysol wipes.

I will never surrender! I will defeat this yet!

Leaf peeping at the Shenendoah with the Summerhays

2009-11-08T15:40:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago, Steph, Jake and I drove up to Shenendoah National Park for the afternoon to see the fall foliage. The fact that Stephanie and Jake have a car now, combined with my desire to go "leaf-peeping" (and having my life practically threatened by my native-Virginian friend), made a trip inevitable.

We had many adventures, including red-knuckle driving through pouring rain and wall-like fog. But ultimately, the colors (as you can see below) were definitely worth it.

Issue of the week

2009-11-07T07:58:00.003-07:00

Gun control has been bumping around my head recently in light of the recent shootings and two Second Amendment briefings we had on Friday. Post to come.

Wastebasket Writing

2009-11-06T14:33:00.006-07:00

This week at work, I got the chance to write our weekly editorial-style article called the "Wastebasket." It was really fun, mildly stressful, and an overall good experience. I think my bosses were pleased with my work. Just so you know, it's not a white paper, it's not a scholastic essay (although I do have reliable sources), it's a snarky editorial. So don't be surprised if it's slightly (read: heavily) stilted.

(You can link to the website here. The Wastebasket is on the right side, and the related factsheet that I also spent a lot of time on is in the center section called, "The Amazing Waste: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Funding" Also, if you feel like commenting on anything relating to me, please do so on my blog, not on the website.)

Trivia about Lynne

2009-11-01T19:26:00.003-07:00

Thanks to my Gabrielsen genes, every Sunday night I have a mini-panic attack about going back to work/school.

Lucy and Ethel went to D.C.... in the rain.

2009-10-27T19:14:00.003-06:00

My mom, my aunt, and my cousin came out to visit me in D.C. a little over a week ago. They happened to bring with them rain, sleet, wind and temperatures in the forties. Let's see, humidity + wind chill + temps in the 40s = DANG COLD.

We had many adventures and ended up losing/breaking/demagnetizing two umbrellas, a camera, two metro cards, and quite nearly our sanity.

But it was really great to see my family and show them around the city I love, even if it was colder than spit.

In the Capitol rotunda. Dayna inspecting her camera after a mishap with...dropping it on the floor.

Good ol' Brigham Young

The cool little train-ish thing we got to take under the Capitol. (We didn't want to walk outside, it was cold and wet!)

Trying to manage umbrellas, cameras, blankets in the wind and rain.

Confession: HSM

2009-10-25T21:02:00.003-06:00

There I said it. It's out in the open. I like the High School Musical (HSM) movies.

No, you don't understand. I really like the HSM movies.

I like the energy, I like the dancing, I like the music, I like the cheesy jokes, I like the you-are-not-locked-into-your-stereotype theme, I like that it's fun, and I think Zac Efron* is dreamy.

For those of you scoffing right now, my defense is this:

There are worse things to be obsessed with (e.g. Halo, Facebook, RPGs).

High school IS overly dramatic, cheesy, contrived, fun and ridiculous, remember?

If I lived my life solely to please others( i.e. pretend not to like HSM as much as I really do), I would deprive the world of the many refreshing quirks in my personality.

*For the record, Zac Efron is older than me.

Even I'm flabbergasted

2009-10-24T17:13:00.003-06:00

I have 167.5 credits at BYU.

I still have three semesters left.

HOLY. COW.

On looking Scandinavian

2009-10-23T14:36:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago someone asked me where my family was from. After replying that I grew up in Utah, he asked where my ancestors were from. I told him my dad's side comes from Norway. He looked pleased and started nodding, "ah, that's where the eyes are from."

I was surprised by our conversation because I don't look tremendously like anyone in my family. How could I look like my great-grandpa was born in Norway?

Then, after weeks of arranging schedules and one random run-in on the metro, I found (or rather, re-found) a cousin who proved that I wasn't adopted from Norway and shipped to the U.S. as a child.

Ahem. I present to you--the nebulous, expansive internet--Jenna and Lynne, the floaters in the Gabrielsen gene pool:

Ice cream in Annapolis (bless the person who invented chocolate fudge)

Okay, I'm not related to this guy, but I was drawn to him all the same...

In front of the Nited States Aval Academy.

The little things

2009-10-20T19:15:00.002-06:00

It's official: the starbursts (tropical, of course) that I keep at work have gone stale.

This is great news because it means I didn't consume the entire bag in 48 hours, like I did with my last candy purchase (mini-heath bars).

It's the little things in life that make you happy.

My favorite street performers

2009-10-14T20:45:00.002-06:00

Like most big cities, D.C. has a few street performers. Some play jazz on a trumpet or saxophone with a back track, one guy plays his steel drum, and as you saw in a previous post, some play crystal glasses.

But these guys are my favorite. Everytime I come across them, I want to buy their album, but I never have any cash!

At least this time I had a camera. Here is a glimpse of their genius.

Older men hit on younger women here. And it's weird.

2009-10-13T16:55:00.004-06:00

For your enjoyment, an anecdote to illustrate my small-town, Utah naivety:

It was my second week in D.C. I had just gone to my first hearing on the Hill and was riding home on the metro. I was wearing a fantastic suit from Calvin Klein and carrying my laptop, so I imagine I looked a few years older than 21.

I stood up because my stop was coming up, and as I did so, a man stood up to give me something. At first I thought he was just being nice and trying to give me his old metro pass, because he said, "I think you should take this." He had a weird look on his face. Enough to make me wonder if he was all the way "there" mentally, even though he looked well enough put together.

I realized that he was handing me a business card, not a metro pass.

I stupidly said something like, "are you sure don't need this?"

He replied, "take it if you ever need a contact in the military". And then smiled a weird smile. Yep, I thought, lost his marbles.

As I was riding the escalator up to the surface, staring at this business card, "Dept. of Defense, Saudi Arabia Program Director," I realized what had just happened and gasped out loud.

And then I laughed, because it's not every day that I get hit on by a military officer in his 40s.

Superman: Ride of Steel

2009-10-12T20:12:00.004-06:00

At our half-priced, frightmares, Six Flags extravaganza on Saturday, my favorite ride was "Superman: Ride of Steel."

The only thing that was more unsettling than the sharp drops and completely horizontal loop-de-loops is the fact that the rollercoaster kept breaking down. Not what you want to hear whilst cheating death at 50 mph.

Oh, and the only thing cooler than this ride? Riding this ride at night! Zooming along the track with the g-forces pushing at your head and the wind pushing tears out of your eyes in the pitch black is like Space Mountain on steroids.

Needless to say, we went four times.

I also enjoyed "Batwing," a roller coaster where you are lying down and flying face down along the track.

It was AWESOME.

I was disappointed not to see a Spiderman ride, but Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne were definitely good to us at Six Flags America.

I met Jim Matheson

2009-10-08T18:45:00.004-06:00

It was a Tuesday.

I sat there in a white plastic chair shivering in the Great Room of the Barlow Center. I did have on a pink cardigan, but every time I best the air conditioning machine by wearing appropriate clothing it has to show me up and turn itself a few degrees colder.

But nevermind, I looked around the crowded room. You could tell most people were students and you could tell most people were LDS. The few who didn't fit the mold were probably also people of religion, come to hear a Congressman discuss how his faith affects his public service.

The Congressman was late, as he was voting in the Capitol building moments before arriving.

He flashed a 100-watt, billboard-quality smile at everyone in the room and sat down in the front.

After a prayer, song, intro etc, the Congressman gave about a 20-minute address on the importance of giving back to the community, in whatever capacity possible.

He opened it up for questions. Within five seconds, someone asked him about the role of government in regards to health care. Later on, he would get questions about social issues (someone essentially asked how he could be a democrat and reconcile himself with the Church), gerrymandering, more health care, and the sensational partisanship that pervades elections. Someone even gave him a chance to publicly criticize the Obama administration. (He didn't take it.)

Being a skillful politician, he handled every question well. He answered intelligently, clearly, and with a minimal amount of corny jokes. He avoided the questions he didn't want to answer. He used charming anecdotes to support his points. He gave enlightening responses to the health care questions, expressed his frustration with the extreme talking heads on cable "political" shows, and suggested that we won't see truly moderate candidates (and he feels that most Americans are truly moderate) until state legislatures stop drawing mostly-partisan district lines in order to encourage real competition after the primary.

He seemed to understand that, being a politician, you can't please everyone, and that a lot of the people there walked into the room with their minds made up. He handled even the most provocative questions with grace. As I mentioned before, there were a few bad jokes, but as I've learned, politicians are very good at self-deprecating jokes even when they're yelling ar each other. They wouldn't get anywhere if they lost their marbles every time they disagreed with someone.

After the closing prayer, I aggressively went up to shake his hand and to ask for a picture before anyone else. (And I was the first.)

Being a politician, I knew he would agree.

Note: I didn't feel like this picture was particularly flattering, so I changed it to sepia. Everything looks better in sepia.

At the end of the night, I felt confident that Rep. Matheson was very smart, very articulate, and mostly a good guy.

I hope I can volunteer next fall to help him get re-elected. (Since I can't even vote for him--I'm not in his district!)

"Saying it looked good for a Communist building is like saying, 'you don't sweat much for a chubby girl"

2009-10-01T21:09:00.003-06:00

I just got on facebook and saw that one of my most entertaining and engaging professors is retiring in December. I took an honors lit class from Prof. Alan Keele the semester after I got back from Jerusalem. I wish I had written down all of the things he said that made me laugh or that made me think. He is a different "breed" of professor at BYU, but because he is different, he is invaluable. I think BYU's students were lucky to learn from him over the past few decades.

Here are some of the quotes in the facebook group I just joined ("Alan Keele was my professor)

(Btw, there are many more where these came from, but I simply can't remember them! Just imagine every single class full of definitely biased commentary from a center-left professor at an extremely conservative school. It was fun.)

"The only thing [the TA] said that I disagree with is that the papers look pretty good."
"Here the logic slides sideways off the page."
"One time this actually made sense; forget about it now."
"My brother who is a retired religion professor and is suspicious of me gave me his usual lecture…"
"It’s actually a real accident of history that we aren’t all speaking Turkish right now."
"Can you see the problem with damning people to hell for old times?"
"Mormons need to be inoculated against believing the wrong things."
"There’s an infinite number of things you can do wrong in this class."
"My son and I spent two weeks in Spain randomly riding trains from one mosque to another and also admiring the beautiful women."

and my personal favorite...

"Saying it looked good for a communist building is like saying, 'You don't sweat much for a chubby girl.'"

Five Minutes of Fame

2009-09-29T20:30:00.003-06:00

Today there was an article in the Washington Post about the database I've been working on at work on and off the past few weeks. Check it out:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092803862.html

This is cool because I specifically looked up and documented all of the earmark requests and campaign contributions for Senator Cochran, and now it's NEWS! Our office was really buzzing because of the publicity as well. I talked to CNN, Reuters, Huffington Post, NPR, and a few other random reporters. By "talked to" I mean I answered the phone and transferred them to someone who could really talk to them. But it was still cool.

(If the link doesn't work look it up by the title, "Defense Bill, Lauded by White House, Contains Billions in Earmarks" by R. Jeffrey Smith)

Two sayings to help you be brave

2009-09-28T21:01:00.001-06:00

"Defeat appears to me preferable to total inaction."
-John Adams

"Go Forward"
-My superman keychain

What I Love About Fasting

2009-09-27T13:39:00.003-06:00

Today is Fast Sunday.* Irony of ironies, Fast Sundays are anything but fast, as most of you know. Since we do not eat or drink anything for the equivalent of two meals on Fast Sundays, every minute is unnaturally long. If you listen carefully in church you’ll hear a choir of rumbling stomachs at any given moment in the congregation.

So, in light of the constant thoughts of food and hollow bellies on Fast Sunday, why do we fast? Why do we participate in something borderline masochistic on the first Sunday of every month?

The simple answer is, we weaken our bodies to strengthen our spirits. I love fasting because of (1) the reminder to pay fast offerings, (2) the opportunity to practice physical restraint in the name of something higher, and (3) the symbolic role of Christ as our Nourisher, or the Bread of Life.

Fast Offerings. Fast offerings are donations specifically to the poor or needy of the community. We choose to give the money we would have spend on two meals on Fast Sunday and donate it to the church to distribute locally and internationally. This conscientious sacrifice helps remind us every month that we have enough to give to others. We are testifying that we have enough bounty; we are content.

Fast offerings also recognize the Lord as our ultimate provider. I have food everyday. The fact that I have food and clean water sets me apart from a good portion of humankind. Committing to recognize the bounty in my life—even minimally—is something that turns my mind to those around me.

However, I could also donate money to the needy without fasting. Writing checks is not difficult. But, the personal sacrifice that I make by actually going without food consecrates my heart and mind to my donations. I am not just donating to placate my conscience. I am making a sacrifice right now, by going without food, and in the future, by going without money, to help others.

Mind Over Body. The most significant lesson I learn every month from fasting is that my spirit has power over my body. On Fast Sunday, my body needs food. My body is weakened and naturally inclined to sneaking a dorito or string cheese. However, when I fast, I choose to do so knowingly. I know that my body will be weakened, and I know that I will feel pain. I choose to fast anyway. My body wants to eat, but my mind chooses to overcome that desire. As a human, many of my actions are self-preserving and influenced by bodily needs (I need to sleep to be healthy, exercise and eat well) to keep my strength up. However, fasting reminds me every month that my actions are not controlled by my body. I choose my actions; I am not victim to natural instinct.

This reminder strengthens me. I become more confident in my ability to control and triumph over other weaknesses. If I can pass up a delectable brownie when I am extremely hungry, then I can do anything! It becomes easier to keep the law of chastity. I find myself more willing to exercise and less willing to oversleep.

The Sacrament Symbolism. The only food and water that we ingest during our fast is the bread and water of the Sacrament. Because I’m hungry, I usually try to grab the biggest piece of bread so that my stomach doesn’t howl and gargle as loudly as it can (and sometimes does) during Sacrament meeting. But I also love the symbolism that Christ is truly the Bread of Life and nourishes us always. It is to Him we owe everything. Fasting seems insignificant, compared to His sacrifice for me.

Ultimately, I enjoy fasting, not because I enjoy starving myself (I don’t), but because of the blessings for doing so. I am grateful for the opportunity to fast as a church every month.

*I understand that it might not be Fast Sunday for everyone, but we have stake conference the week after general conference, so there you go.

A look inside the mind of a typical Washingtonian (as observed by me--a reliable witness and diligent student of human behavior)

2009-09-25T20:00:00.005-06:00

If you're only on the metro escalator for a minute, you don't notice. But if you're emerging from the depths of the earth where some of the trains operate (cough cough red line cough cough), and you have to entertain yourself to avoid falling asleep before reaching ground level, you notice that your hand is slowly moving away from your body.

And, since it's a new-fangled-moving-staircase escalator machine (and you are still disoriented from the metro ride), it takes you a moment to figure out what the problem is, regardless of how many college degrees you have.

Am I getting an ear infection? Is my sense of balance off? Am I still dizzy from the train and simply imagining my hand is getting away from me? Is my hand self-aware? Audaciously trying to escape from my body in broad daylight, ninja-like?

After staring at your hand for several moments as it continues to stretch away from you, it hits you:

The moving railing of the escalator to get on the metro is moving ever-so-slightly faster than the actual escalator.

Ha! The triumph of a logical solution! Yes! That is the solution to your spatial disorientation for the past 30 seconds! A wave of self-satisfaction washes over you. But, as quickly as it came, another thought hits you:

Why in the world can't the escalator keep up with the handrail?! I mean, I would have been able to think about the mini cilantro dumplings waiting for me at home for at least 30 more seconds...sigh.

How annoying.

Homeless

2009-09-24T17:11:00.002-06:00

I did it. I gave in.

There was a man outside Trader Joes selling a newspaper called "Street Sense" for $1. He asked every person if they could spare a dollar for the homeless and when they avoided eye contact or just ignored him completely, he would still say thank you, in a non-bitter way.

So, I gave him a dollar. I had just finished buying food, for goodness' sakes, the least I could do was give a dollar.

Random Observations Concerning Work

2009-09-23T16:29:00.005-06:00

A particularly entertaining earmark I came across at work today..."The Operating Room of the Future"

I came across an earmark destined for none other than Socorro, New Mexico! Say hi to the $2 mil we sent there, Paul!

I saw that Hackensack is an actual town in New Jersey! (An unintended consequence: I had "Movin' Out" stuck in my head for three hours.)

I came across a company called "Moog Inc. - FloTork." You can't make up a more ridiculous name.

I sat in on a quarterly planning meeting today and figured out how non-profits work: proposals, grants, and results. And the cycle never ends, by the time you find out if you got a grant or not, you have to start writing a proposal to apply for the next year.

Sometimes we put C-SPAN on in the background at work, and today the woman taking votes sounded just like Katharine Hepburn! It was strangely comforting...

Doing the Washington Walk

2009-09-22T21:08:00.003-06:00

People walk quickly here.

Even if you're just walking to the washroom, you need to walk with purpose.

This might be partly because time in transit is time wasted. The sooner you get to your destination the sooner you can get on with your life/your goals/your dreams.

Don't know where you're going? You'd better figure it out, because the people behind you do know where they're going and they are not going to slow up for you.

Random Thoughts About D.C. Not Having to Do with Politics (That would have to be a completely separate post)

2009-09-21T20:36:00.003-06:00

I get motion sick on the Metro sometimes. I don’t know if some of the drivers just really like playing with the brakes, but I get pretty woozy after 20 minutes.

It would take you twice as long to get anywhere if you strictly follow the pedestrian traffic signals. For those of you who are wary of my moral character for admitting that I jay walk every day, all the time (cough cough Charlie cough cough), let me ‘splain.

If the streets in Salt Lake are laid out like a grid, the streets in D.C. are laid out like a toddler took a crayon and drew a picture of “spaghetti” all over your neat graph paper. The streets in Salt Lake are often four/five lanes and cars are coming from both directions. Here most of the streets I cross are about ten feet wide and only one way. So, rest assured that I never jaywalk across a busy intersection, and rarely across a street that has cars coming from both directions. I have only gotten honked at a few times, and I like to think that was because of my girlish charm, not my reckless, lawless jaywalking.

The homeless people fascinate and distress me. It’s the ones who don’t beg for money that really seize my heart with a rigid fist until I can turn the corner and distract myself with everyday events. What can I do? We are not encouraged to give to them. And like I said, it’s the ones who don’t even ask for money that I am compelled to help. There is one man in particular, probably about 45 years old that sits on the same street corner 6 out of 7 days. It’s interesting. You’d think he’d sit on a bench, or in a park, but he sits at the same intersection. He sits crosslegged with his white hair sticking straight up and his back to traffic. He never looks unhappy. I rarely see emotion on his face. It’s pretty clear that he has some kind of mental disability. But I wonder what his life is like. What he does all day on his corner. What he sees, where he goes when it gets colder.

I always seem to get caught walking behind someone who is smoking. It also always seems to happen when the wind blows the smoke right in my face. It’s disgusting. Especially cigars.

I have to be careful about my typing technique or else I will injure myself. Seriously. I actually type that much. And if I get lazy, my wrists and tendons will start to tingle.

We played two ridiculous but ridiculously hilarious games at FHE tonight. One called duck fighting and one called ninja war or something like that. I haven’t laughed so hard playing an EFY game in a long time.

Days go quickly here! No time for frivolities. If you hesitate for a moment, this town will leave you in the dust.

Saturday Sept. 19 or the National Zoo

2009-09-21T20:06:00.003-06:00

After a luscious morning of sleeping in, we went to Eastern Market this morning around 10:30.

Eastern Market is a fabulous outdoor market about three blocks east of the Capitol. The normal jewelry, painting, and art booths are there, as well as several West Virginia farm stands with fresh fruit and vegetables. The best part about Eastern Market? The samples. Crisp, fresh fruits, salsas, and hummus out to taste in the beautiful fall morning. I even found fresh figs! (Ever since my roommate Lana gave me some fresh figs last summer, I’ve been looking for them in stores. But, alas, they are exceptionally uncommon. They were obscenely expensive, but worth every dollar.)

I found a good souvenir for myself and a good Christmas present for mom. I would love to go to Eastern Market again.

Heavy laden with our purchases, we wandered down to the Folger Shakespeare Library near the Library of Congress. Not the same as the Folger coffee brand, but the FSL possesses the most comprehensive Shakespeare collection in the world. It IS the Folger that publishes the “Folger Shakespeare Edition” To put it in context, FSL possesses 79 original Shakespeare folios, a collection in England possesses 5. We will try to go back there in October when they present “Much Ado About Nothing” in their old-fashioned theater.

In the afternoon we went to the National Zoo. We saw the pandas (and a baby panda!), some cool reptiles, the cheetahs (my favorite), and a bunch of other animals.

By the time we left the zoo, our legs were definitely sore from cavorting all over the city. We made it home just in time to eat dinner, take a breath, and run downstairs for the BYU game.

You never see pay phones anymore! We took a picture of the archaic relic.

Some beautiful "brain" flowers at Eastern Market

Sep 13-19 or Catching up

2009-09-19T21:38:00.004-06:00

Okay. Let's try to review this past week in an organized manner.

Sunday (9/13):We are at church most of the day on Sundays.

And I kind of like it.

I had the luscious opportunity of sleeping without my alarm clock on this morning. I woke up around 8:30 and had a delightful morning until I realized that I was going to be late! I finished my yummy breakfast, hastily finished my hair and ran out of the Barlow to the bus station across the street.

Church was great, dinner was great, and we got to watch the CES fireside with Elaine Dalton. She gave a great talk and I was quite edified.

Monday: Busy, busy, busy. Work and then rush home to cook for dinner group and then rush to FHE to give the lesson and facilitate the game. At 10:30 all of the things I was in charge of--projects at work, dinner, and FHE--were over!

Tuesday: Tuesday was a lot of data basing at work. I had to take breaks from typing so my wrists wouldn’t hurt. Tuesday night my friend Abby asked me to cut her hair. While she has ever reason to trust me personally, she has no reason to trust me cosmetically! But me, being fearless, agreed if she really wanted me to. It looked pretty good, but we have yet to discover if I really did a good job, she hasn’t straightened it yet.

Abby was nervous before she let me at her head with a pair of scissors.

Wednesday: Ten minutes after getting to work, I left for a Natural Resources full committee hearing in the House. Five hours later, I returned.

I will try not to bore you with details about the bill discussed (the CLEAR act, HR 3534), but the Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Salazar testified, so it was a big deal. The hearing was PACKED. Even the overflow room was like Disneyland during spring break.

Sidenote: I ran into one of my friends from the Barlow Center who is interning with Rep. Chaffetz! I got to sit with my friend John during the hearing and it was good to see a familiar face on the Hill.

Probably the most notable thing that happened during the hearing was Sec. Salazar’s announcement of the end of the Royalty-In-Kind (RIK) program. TCS has opposed this program for awhile, and we were thrilled when he announced the end. You can see what we wrote about it here and here. Basically, it’s a program where oil/gas companies can make royalty payments in oil/gas rather than cash, so they play the market and give the U.S. oil/gas when prices are low and delay when prices are high. As a result, taxpayers are out millions of dollars that are rightfully theirs.

I guess another notable thing is that Rep. Bishop (R-UT) literally yelled at the Secretary for not being transparent enough. Salazar joked about his passion, but I'm surprised Bishop didn't have a heart attack.

At around 12:30 the hearing went to recess until 1:00 and I went downstairs to get some lunch at the cafeteria. Who would have imagined the wonders I found in the basement of the Longworth House building! First, the cafeteria was packed and amazing! (What isn't packed on Capitol hill?) You could get anything there and it all looked good! Since it was crowded to the gills, and I thought I’d get weird stares if I actually tried to decide what I wanted by looking around and figuring out the system, I just grabbed the first packaged thing that looked good and went outside (where I had room to breathe) to eat it.

A LOT of people work in the Longworth building. Also, downstairs I found a coffee shop, a creamery (for ice cream), an office supplies store, and the special private Subway track that runs between the Capitol and the Senate and House buildings. It’s a great idea because if you had to walk from the House to the Senate, it could take you awhile. I bet if I had walked around a little bit more I would have found a dry cleaner and an amusement park as well.

Thursday: Another hearing at work and then tons of homework and reading when I got home. Since I had put off my homework all week (in favor of much more fulfilling pursuits: talking to friends, writing in my journal, reading the news, going to bed early), and I finally paid the price. I had to stay up until two to finish a paper for class.

Friday: We had two great briefings. One by some BYU alums working for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and one by Bart Marcois, the president of the Eagle foundation. Both were engaging, thought-provoking briefings, but you'll have to ask me about them if you're interested because this post is already long enough.

However, after Mr. Marcois' presentation I did decide that I watch too much television/movies. I really don't watch that much, but there is so much more to do!

After changing out of our business attire, we hopped on the metro and went to the Old Town area in Alexandria. It was beautiful! We went on a walking tour, window shopped, grabbed dinner (Thai food---yummy!) and ice cream (cherry vanilla with chocolate syrup), and got back on the Metro.

We went to the Air Force and Pentagon memorials on the way home. Beautiful architecture, especially at night.

Reposing on an ancient park bench in Alexandria. Okay, so the bench probably isn't ancient, but it was next to the older house in Alexandria, so it was pretty old by association.

I am reading the tour book that led us on a walking tour of old town!

The tree lined streets of Alexandria are very beautiful.

Looking into the window of the church where George Washington's funeral was held. (Everything closes at five here.)

A common sight for me, but not so common for you! Abby taking Rachel's picture in front of a classic southern-style mansion/house.

Abby taking my picture in front of a classic southern-style mansion/house. (But you can tell it's southern simply by my damsel-in-distress, Scarlet O'Hara pose.)

Most of the girls who went to Alexandria (a few were shopping down the road)

Waiting for the Metro.

I didn't know she took this picture, but it's candid, so I like it.

At the Air Force memorial. It is hard to pose with artistic concrete.

Lynne and Abby tired after a really long day of walking many places.

An AMAZING guy we saw playing crystal glasses in Alexandria! He is very very good. I got his business card, just in case I ever need a man who places crystal glasses.

Second day in Philly or Sep. 12

2009-09-19T21:17:00.007-06:00

We left Valley Forge pretty early and got to Philadelphia before nine. We went over to see the Liberty Bell first of all. It was okay. Mostly just a bell with a crack in it.

We toured the Constitution Center, a new multi-media museum in Philly that is AWESOME. My only complaint is that they didn’t let us take pictures (if we wanted a picture taking the oath of office, you had to pay for it. Lame.) There were videos, touch screens, audio telephones, and many other things chronicling the history of the constitution and how it applies to us individually and as a people. It was very well done. I imagine that more new museums will be structured like this in the future in order to satisfy the A.D.D. video game generation too restless to read paragraphs on the wall.

We toured Independence hall next, the building where they signed the Declaration of Independence and wrote the Constitution. It was cool to see the building even though the only thing that was original is Washington’s famous chair with a “rising sun” on it. And the fact that National Treasure filmed a bunch of scenes there. Our tour guide looked like Benjamin Franklin, but told us that he actually impersonates John Adams. (Apparently there are a lot of Ben Franklin impersonators in Philly. Whoda thunk?)

Then we had a few hours of free time. We went to go get real Philly cheesesteaks at a place called “Jim’s.” We heard that really Philadelphians had their steaks with steaming hot Cheese Whiz instead of slices. Being fearless, I accepted the challenge. It was very good and greasy. See the picture below.

We wandered back and see a few other historical sites. Benjamin Franklin’s grave, the tomb of the unknown soldier of the American Revolution, the old town hall, and the first house of the Supreme Court. We went back to the visitors’ center and leisurely perused the gift shops (something that was actually very refreshing).

As I was ordering a yogurt parfait with fresh raspberries to keep my blood sugar up, (I had almost fallen asleep in the History Channel documentary we went to.) I heard a woman scream behind me. I turned around just in time to see a large black woman face plant on the cement floor and start seizing. She was with a group and it sounded like she has had seizures before, but it was still chaos for a few minutes. I decided to stay out of it. I told the clerk behind the desk to call 9-1-1 and in about four minutes the paramedics were there and she had relaxed a little. I won’t forget the sound of her hitting the floor. The most terrifying part of the whole thing was how powerless and shocked everyone was. It took a second for everyone to figure out what to do. At first we just watched her, and then realized that we needed to help. The question was, how? What is there to do, but call for help and wait for them to come. She already had people around her, holding her on her side, and people directing traffic away. I felt a responsibility, but I also felt that sticking around would have been less helpful. So I left.

After a great, greasy pizza dinner, we got on the bus and our professor’s nine-year-old son announced the movie we would be watching on the ride home with an acre-long grin on his face: “National Treasure.” The bus exploded! We have all been aching to see National Treasure since we got here. N. Cage cavorts all around D.C. and Philadelphia and we have been almost everywhere he goes! We saw independence hall and the liberty bell today, but it was almost cooler to see them on the movie again! Because we’d just been there!

Independence Hall. The building in which they (the founding fathers) signed the Declaration of Independence and wrote the Constitution.

Ind. Hall after messing on my computer.

Abby and I in front of the great American symbol of freedom, the Liberty Bell.

This picture is hilarious, so I left it in. Scroll down to see what it was supposed to look like.

Chatting with the lifesize statues of members of the Constitutional Convention.

Waiting to go into Independence hall. (l-r Mark Williams, Prof. Goodliffe, Elder Ellsworth)

Prof. Goodliffe's adorable son, Ben. He was sharing all of his goldfish with the starving college students.

These two college students decided to reward Ben for being so generous. They ate their goldfish like synchronized raptors/dinosaurs. Ben loved it.

Our tour guide who looked like Benjamin Franklin but actually impersonates John Adams.

In the room where the Constitution was written.

Sepia version of sitting-on-a-bench-in-the-building-where-the-Supreme-Court-first-met

My genuine Philly Whizsteak

My traveling buddies. (l-r Rachel, Jennifer, Leslie, Abby)

Digression

2009-09-15T21:18:00.007-06:00

Today, instead of catching up on my blog/journal, I wrote two lengthy, chatty, deliciously detailed letters to my dear friends on missions.

Even though my conversations with my good friends were, by definition, one-sided, it was still good to spill my thoughts and let them know what is going on in my life. In my mind I could hear their reactions/voices/laughs.

Tomorrow I will come back to the real world, go to work like normal, and catch up on my journal. But today, I am content to listen to the rain patter against my window and proverbially put my head on my friends' shoulders.

Even thousands of miles away (soon to be many more thousands as they leave the MTC), it's good to know that good friends will always be around to lift you up or help you feel loved when all you feel is alone.

September 11, 2009 or Traipsing through Valley Forge (but we had shoes, unlike Washington's troops)

2009-09-12T21:23:00.007-06:00

We just got back from our weekend trip to Philadelphia. It was packed with fun, rain, grease, and George Washington! Don’t worry, I will explain all of those and how they relate in a minute.

First, a travelogue.

We left D.C. around 8:00 a.m. and watched BYU’s “A More Perfect Union” on the way up. Since I didn’t take American Heritage, I have never seen it, and I actually really liked it. It was very appropriate for the weekend and I learned more about the constitutional convention.

When the movie was over (and when I simply wasn’t interested in the movie), I leaned my head against the window and watching the rain fall on the Virginia/Maryland/Pennsylvania countryside. It rained the entire day. When we got to the Freedom Foundation, we got “oriented”, our keys, settled into our dorm/barrack like rooms and immediately set out exploring. It was definitely still raining and about twenty minutes walking around the grounds everything from the knees down was completely soaked.

Here are some pictures from the grounds of where we stayed.

A statue of Washington praying. (Even though we learned later that Washington never knelt when he prayed, I still liked the sentiment.)

I support Washington praying, whether he stood or knelt. If I had 12,000 men quartered in Valley Forge for the winter, I would pray pretty fervently too.

The lamppost makes this picture super artsy.

We had a good lunch (Philly cheesesteaks), then set out for our Valley Forge tour. At this point, I had decided to change to sandals and capris, that way, my pants wouldn’t get soaked and sit against my cold skin. I could go traipsing around in the wet grass, then come back to the bus and actually dry off (skin dries faster than corduroy).

Our tour guide was very animated and very excited to be our tour guide. I was very impressed with his cache of specific, detailed knowledge. It was very interesting. I learned a lot about Valley Forge that I didn’t know before. We couldn’t complain about being cold in September, because we had warm rooms and a very mobile bus to go back to. It just seems like the spirits of the 3,000 men who died there that winter would remind us that we were in Valley Forge and many, many people suffered unimaginably horrible things.

Yet they stayed with Washington. It made me wonder who I would follow to Valley Forge and not abandon. I could probably count on one hand the number of people on this earth that I would trust so completely and so blindly. I imagine that he must have been a very remarkable man to incite such fierce loyalty in the war and then later on in the country. Washington was absolutely instrumental in the forming and success of our country. I don’t know if he was charismatic, imposing, or just a man who commanded the respect of everyone in his company, but people listened to him. And he had the blessing and burden of being the one people listened to. Poor guy, he just wanted to go back to Mount Vernon and live with his wife in peace, but civic duty kept calling him away from his comfortable home. During this trip (and Mt. Vernon earlier in the week) Washington has grown on me tremendously and I am now very interested in his life. And he has won my respect also.

Our Valley Forge tour guide. He led us out of the warm bus to the cold, wet field to teach us a little bit about history. He was great and very entertaining.

This is a good view of the canon (and Malcolm)

Fashion matters most when staying warm is involved.

Artsy rain/statue picture. The guy on the horse (not Washington) has a very strange story. You wouldn't believe it if I told you, but in short, years after his death, his family came to move his bones to their estate a few miles away. His body was remarkably preserved, but the box they were going to put him in was only big enough for his bones. So they had to boil his body in order to cut the flesh away and fit his bones into the box. Weird weird weird.

A real coal train! (As novel a sight as anything else we saw!)

Another artsy fog picture. The trees are beautiful and who knows where the tracks lead? What is around the next bend? The possibilities are endless.

A view of some of the huts that the troops built that winter. They used all of the trees within a couple of miles for housing or firewood.

A cute cute baby that was traveling with us. How can you resist that face?

Some beautiful stained glass windows we saw near Valley Forge.

We had an hour before dinner when we got back. Some people brainwashed by history went back out in the rain, but a bunch of the girls sat around in the lobby with blankets and hair dryers trying to defrost our toes. Guess which group I was in…

After dinner we had the privilege of hearing from General George Washington. He really came and addressed us! It was great! A very entertaining hour and a half. The actor was certainly not a novice. He was not a poser. He was not inexperienced. “George” had a very vast knowledge of his life and was witty to boot. At the end, the actor dropped his façade and addressed us as himself. We got to ask questions about him and his life and about his knowledge of George Washington. This man knows everything there is to know about George Washington. He really was fantastic. For example, he explained where the cherry-tree urban legend started and explain that in his professional opinion, George Washington was not a Deist. Washington was deeply religious, but didn’t go to church. He wasn’t a Deist, because he believed that God has a hand in the lives and destinies of men.

After “the General” we went downstairs and had some ice cream. We stayed downstairs and talked, laughed, and told stories for hours. It was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. I’m grateful to have good friends here. For those who finished their ice cream early, there was a game room upstairs with everything from Trivial Pursuit, ping pong, foosball, guitar hero, and the wii available to us. Before I went to bed I participated in an “around the world” game of ping pong. I’m not sure what it was called, but we rotated and every hit was by a different person. If you missed twice you were out. Our professor even played with us!

General George Washington! He was part actor, part historian. He has definitely made the life of George Washington his life work. He told us later that being George Washington is his full-time job and he loves everything about it but the hair. Hates the hair.

The General teaching Marydawn the Minuet. He was very gentlemenly. Even though he was "appalled" that she wasn't wearing a floor length dress like a "real lady."

September 10 or the Washington D.C. Temple

2009-09-10T21:45:00.002-06:00

This morning I worked on a TCS campaign contribution database. I found out which individuals contributed to Senator Cochran’s (R-MS) campaign and how much it was. It’s actually pretty sweet. If you go to “opensecrets.org” you can look up individual campaign contributions of anyone in the country. I looked up all my professors at BYU (by searching employer) and all of the people in my home ward (by searching zipcode). It’s very interesting to see who donated to whom and how much they spent. I was surprised by what I learned!

Then, I had to look up which PACs donated to Cochran’s PAC. And then I had to look up which individuals donated to Cochran’s PAC. There are campaign finance laws, but there are many ways to get around them. For example, you could directly donate, you could donate to a PAC, and you could donate to a PAC through your employer’s PAC. Some people did all of these things, Senator Cochran received approx $100,000 from individuals/companies to which he later awarded earmarks. Only in this election cycle.

Then, after lunch my supervisor had me go to a markup in the Senate buildings. Thrilled, I quickly walked down to the Capitol.

For those of you who have never seen the House and Senate office buildings, they are

P-A-L-A-C-E-S

Beautiful stone floors, beautiful hallways, beautiful committee rooms, beautiful EVERYTHING.

I got to the building, and waited in line for the meeting. (An observation, when I waited in line for the House hearing, most of the staffers in front of me were women. In the Senate, most of the staffers were men.) Once I got in and sat down, I noticed that the three middle-aged people sitting in front of me were all wearing pink. And they were pulling out sharpies to make signs. * Sigh * I didn’t want to be sitting behind these people, I wouldn’t be able to see anything! So I moved across the aisle.

Remember how I spent the whole morning on Cochran’s campaign? Guess who was the Ranking Member of the defense appropriations committee? I got to see Cochran!

The committee meeting was uneventful, I saw one of my friends with Senator Bennett from afar (he’s TALL). The pink people were actually the most exciting thing happening there. As soon as the meeting adjourned, they all stood up and started shouting “shame! Shame on you!” and “healthcare not warfare” and other infantile remarks. I know that if I want to get someone to pay attention to me, the first thing I do is drape myself in pink and try to guilt them into listening to me. It was very entertaining. They got really worked up.

I went straight from work to meet my ward for a temple trip. Ward temple trips are quite rare (to the baptistery) and I was very, very excited to go. I looked forward to it all day. I was hungry and tired, but it didn’t matter. It was wonderful. We had about 40 people, 10 of which were helping run the baptistery by witnessing and recording etc. The D.C. temple is very beautiful and the baptistery is no exception. I had a wonderful time and even though it took a few hours to travel to and from the temple, and I have a ton to do tonight, I don’ regret going at all.

The Washington, D.C. temple. (Which actually is in Maryland.)

I have a postcard that looks exactly like this!

09-09-09 or Congressional Hearing on H.R. 2227

2009-09-09T20:41:00.001-06:00

Nine years of consecutive digits on at least one day of the year. Where did they go?

I graduated three years ago, on 06-06-06 at 6:00 p.m. If you can believe it, these past nine years have been filled with three years of middle school, three years of high school, and now, three years of college. I wonder what the next nine years hold?

… but… before my thoughts get too nebulous and spacey I will get back to business.

Today was exciting.

Fifteen minutes after I got to work, I left the office the walk down the Longworth House office building, down the road by the Capitol. As I walked down the street carrying my laptop, adorned in my suit, and having a “professional, non-silly” expression on my face, I hope that some people thought that I was a serious Washingtonian with serious business. It was fun to pretend that I was.

I walked back a few people with portable sound systems and cardboard signs protesting abortion and something about the military. I didn’t look too closely.

Something interesting about the House building: there are elevators marked “Members only” that only members of Congress (and I assume their staff) can ride in. I’m sure there must be a better reason than just outright superiority, but I certainly felt like I was less of a person because my representatives in Congress didn’t want to ride with the “plebeians” on the elevator.

I got to the hearing half an hour early and there were already ten people in line. I went to the Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee hearing on H.R. 2227 (The American Conservation and Clean Energy Independence Act). Basically, it is a bill that opens up a lot of now-closed areas for off-shore drilling in order to finance America’s “transition” into clean, renewable energy sources. Decreasing our dependence on oil/gas will be very costly, and we simply don’t have the money right now. One representative called this energy policy “the Apollo of our time.”

The hearing was really interesting. The procedure was very interesting to me. It was very formal and proper (Everyone recognized the chairman for holding the hearing, and “yielding” time to the chairman. The chairman recognized everyone as “the gentleman’s time has expired” or “the gentlewoman’s time has expired.”), but it was very oppositional and antagonistic at times. The Chairman and the Ranking Member (different parties) disagreed in their opening statements, before the hearing had even begun! And I’m surprised the guy from the Sierra Club didn’t run out of the hearing room. He took a beating.

The Ranking Member referred to an article I had just read the day before about the double standard in litigation for windmill and oil/gas companies. (Oil/gas companies have to pay millions because they kill a few hundred birds a year, but each windmill kills approximately one bird a day.) I knew what he was going to say before he said it!

The hearing went for about two hours and eventually declined into a solid thwapping of the Sierra Club. But it was very interesting. I hope I get to go to some more.

Observation about politicians: at least at this level, they are very smart, funny, and charming (most of them). They fight with each other all day everyday, but they’re still friends. I take that back. They don’t fight. They disagree. I think it’s great that our political process is so adversarial. Someone always disagrees and we always get to see the other side of the issue. And wars aren’t started over it. America is one place where you can agree to disagree, and it’s great.

Oh and they’re always promoting their own agenda or their party’s agenda. As you would expect. Half of the time they would “ask a question” when really they just wanted to show that they were right. I expect all of these records are kept and they will always be responsible for what they said, even in committee.

When I got back I had enough work to do to keep my busy for the whole day without getting bored—a first!

I cleaned up my notes from the hearing for my supervisor (she wanted to know about revenue sharing—something that they didn’t really talk about at all). And then worked more on the defense committee appropriations requests for FY10. Today I entered the requests for the Ranking Member, Senator Cochran from MS. I thought Inouye had a lot! Cochran had almost $700 mil and I’m not even done yet! Tomorrow I will match up campaign contributions with earmarked handouts.

I went to dinner group and then seriously debated whether I should go to Institute or watch President Obama’s joint address to Congress. I really had a moral dilemma. I was all set to skip Institute and watch the speech, when social pressure caved in and I decided I should go to Institute. Two hours later (after class and talking with some people about politics), I came back upstairs and I can’t find a video of the speech anywhere! C-span’s website is overloaded and it isn’t loaded on YouTube yet. Curses! I’ll just have to read about it tomorrow….

September 8 or Worked on an Earmark Database

2009-09-08T21:04:00.001-06:00

I know, I know. I couldn’t come up with a better name than that.

But today, like so many other days, I went to work.

In the morning, I worked mostly on the same stuff from last week, but then Laura and Steve gave me something new! Hooray! I was about to volunteer to clean out the fridge downstairs.

I worked on transferring information from Senators’ websites (they are required to disclose the earmarks they request) to our earmark database. I did some data entry and had to interpret the long, adjective-filled description of what exactly the Senator was requesting money for. I worked mostly on Senator Inouye from the defense appropriations committee today. When I finished, he had requested over $330 million dollars for defense related project in Hawaii. And some of the descriptions of the requests sounded like quotes from a defense lobbyist’s mouth. It was like reading a catalog for military equipment. “This state-of-the-art ______” will improve this and that and be absolutely vital to this or that. If warfighters don’t get this technology now, they will regret it in 10 years. Etc. etc.

It’s amazing how you can write an entire paragraph with very specific nouns, but not really say anything. And it’s amazing how little you have to specify to get $10 million. If I want a $2,000 loan I have to sign away my firstborn child, but if you are a ranking member of the right committee you have hundreds of millions at your discretion. And if you assign it all through earmarks, it doesn’t have oversight or any competition. It’s a pretty sweet deal, unless you’re a taxpayer.

But I digress.

Not much else happened. We had a staff meeting at work, and it was cool to hear them talk about news as it happened throughout the day. I read the front page of the Washington Post while I ate breakfast, but if I hadn’t checked it again at lunch I would have been totally behind.

Also on the way home today the metro train in front of mine broke down, so we were at “L’Enfant Plaza” for half an hour. Good thing I had my book. With the combination of staying a little late at work and the metro trouble, I got home a little after seven o’clock. I sat down, took a deep breath, and before I knew it, it was time for dinner group.

I went downstairs, had a lovely dinner with my Barlow Center friends and had a good talk with the ones who stayed a little late. After talking with them, and then talking with the people in the lobby, I finally made it back to my room (still in my work clothes) at ten o’clock. And now I try to catch up on my blog-erific hobby of mine. (If you get behind, it’s hard to catch up.)

Keep your ears tuned for tomorrow. I go to my first hearing on the Hill.

September 7, 2009 or Biking 40 miles to Mt. Vernon. In the Rain.

2009-09-08T20:52:00.003-06:00

After a very fitfull night of sleep (for me), 16 of us departed from the Barlow Center at 8:00 a.m. (That in itself is a feat.)

We went down to the same place we rented kayaks and rented 16 bikes, locks, and helmets. Some people didn’t want to get helmets, but I convinced them because they were only a dollar. I took them by the shoulders, looked them in the eye, and in a half-joking tone said, “isn’t your brain worth $29.95?” When they replied yes, but they don’t cost $29.95, I said, I know isn’t it great, they’re only one dollar. I hope you think your brain is worth that.

Then we were off. It is 18 miles one way to Mt. Vernon from Washington D.C. Why did we decide to bike? Around mile 15 I was asking myself the same question.

Luckily it was delightfully overcast and just the right temperature for strenuous activity.

We took the Mt. Vernon Trail (which is appropriately named because it ends at Mt. Vernon) from the rental place (near Watergate hotel).

Mt. Vernon was very cool. I paid more than I’m used to for entrance (I’m used to free), but the facilities were very nice, and the museum was very interesting. Pictures were rarely allowed (we weren’t allowed to take any pictures in the mansion or the museum), but I can testify that it is a very pretty place. I can see why General Washington (as he was referred to at Mt. Vernon) liked it.

The house itself was very beautiful and just off the banks of the Potomac. They showed a short video about Washington’s contribution to American history that dramatized his courtship of Martha (who was a widow). The whole time I was very impressed with their relationship. They carried lockets with pictures in them and wrote to each other when they were apart, but Martha tried to go with General Washington everywhere she could, including to war.

They never had children, but they raised Martha’s children from her previous marriage. Also, when Martha’s son died in his twenties, they took his children into their home and raised them as their own.

We saw George Washington’s dentures, the original George Washington kneeling in prayer painting, and the tombs of Martha and George.

Also, we learned that General Washington’s greatest legacy to the American people is that he stepped down from office. He refused to be king, and then resigned from the office of the President after two terms. If he hadn’t done that, the political tradition of our country would have been completely different.

Sadly, I didn’t get many pictures because I didn’t want to swerve into oncoming traffic. I mean, I am pretty coordinated, but juggling handlebars, water, and a camera seemed to be a bridge too far.

Also sadly, many many bugs tragically ended their lives today, on my face. It’s not tragic that they died, but it is tragic that they decided to kamikaze into my eyes, nose, or mouth.

Remember the rain from last night? It found us again, but strangely we didn’t care as much. It’s amazing how many things you don’t care about when you’ve biked 34 miles and you only have two to go. Rain, appearance, and general hygiene are all included in the “not important enough” category.

About the bikes. If you pictured us all on fancy ten-speeds with handle bar brakes, think again. Picture us all on bikes with handlebars that could fit a basket (some had baskets), just one gear, and reverse-pedal brakes. Yes, not only did we bike 36 miles to and from Mt. Vernon, we did it on single-speed dinosaurs. Some of them were falling apart. One girl’s chain came off several times, and then her handlebars got loose and turned upside down. My seat gradually sunk down to the base of the bike. At the beginning of the ride, I was able to fully extend my legs when I pedaled. At the end, you might have mistaken me for one of those tall clowns on an oversized mini tricycle. Knees up to my ears.

But I am glad I went. We traveled mostly along the coast of the Potomac, but saw some beautiful Virginia cities in the middle. When you slow down, you are able to see a lot more of the country. Some moments of the bike trail were indescribably beautiful. Albeit, forcing each shaking leg down in a downpour, just focusing on the next pedal, doesn’t help you appreciate the bucolic atmosphere, but those moments were shortlived. Many more beautiful than painful moments came out of our trip. (Although I bet many painful moments are yet to come.)

And I’m proud of us. 16 moderately-fit people did a very athletic thing and we all survived.

And even biking on the single-speeds was fun. I haven’t ridden a bike like that since I was a kid.

When we got home, we peeled ourselves off our bikes, wrung out our clothing, and did our best to learn to walk again. After dinner, we ran around getting things together for FHE. Ben (my co-chair) gave a really good lesson about asking questions, and then I led a round of “get-to-know-you” bingo. Or “bing” as we called it, because there were four columns instead of five (I thought five was too many). I instructed everyone to get up and talk to as many people as possible to get to know them, and then brought everyone back together to play the game. I said a statement (e.g. this person lived in Portuguese foreign language housing and shares a birthday with Dr. Suess) and then they put a skittle/m&m on the square with that person’s name (Marydawn) on it. The prize was toilet paper. We all need it and we all suffer without it, so it couldn’t fail. Afterwards, the Burtons provided many, many donuts for us to partake of.

Now, I am carefully sitting on my bed, trying to avoid the huge bicycle-shaped bruise on my tush. I imagine tomorrow will be fun, gingerly sitting in my seat at work, carefully walking up stairs, and prying myself out of every position held longer than five minutes.

But, it’s okay. I kind of like it. It’s nice that I did something that was hard for me. It was nice to push myself and succeed.

General George Washington (he was 6'2"), Martha (she was 4'11"), and their two grandchildren. And me.

In case we got confused as to which part of the property was historic, the movie theater and pizza hut or 250 year old house...

The beautiful bowling green in front of the mansion. (It reminds me a Pemberley!)

I want porticos when I grow up and have a mansion.

Me and the mansion (no pictures inside at all, but it was very beautiful).

View of the Potomac from the back porch.

An artist's concept of what General Washington would have looked like in his early 30s. Did you know he was a surveyor? I took surveying, and the equipment has changed a lot, but also it hasn't changed that much...

I thought this cartoon was cute.

Washington died unexpectedly at age 67.

I, surprisingly, didn't die on the 18-mile ride home, but I was thoroughly soaked. You can't really see the contrast, but the front half of my body is dripping.

September 6 or Fast Sunday and a Capitol symphony

2009-09-08T20:42:00.003-06:00

See this cloud? Remember it for later.

After a late night cavorting around ESPN Zone, getting up this morning was difficult. I left the Barlow Center at 9:45 in order to get to the church house by 10:30 for an interview. I was successful and I got a calling! Guesses? Anyone?

FHE co-chair for the Barlow Center.

We got sustained during Sacrament meeting and then set apart and trained during Sunday school. I’m glad to have an opportunity to serve and be involved with the ward and here at the Barlow Center.

Testimony meeting was great, and the game actually did get mentioned by one person. My co-FHE-co-chair Ben said that his brother messaged him early this morning from Hong Kong. Ben’s brother’s ward got out at about the same time the game ended, so the young men in the ward developed a code for getting the score out. He said that one young man got up with the biggest smile and said, “I really really like Alma 14:13,” which is actually a pretty appropriate scripture for the situation.

Have I mentioned that I really like the bishopric in this ward? They are very kind, very smart, and very welcoming. I met Brother Burton’s wife today, and she is just the bee’s knees as well. It makes such a difference to have a bishopric who cares and serves so selflessly. I have been very impressed.

After church we took the bus home (cheaper and prettier than the metro) and met in the lobby for a dinner group discussion. Turned into more of a dinner group constitutional congress. Rival factions pushing their own agendas! We should have an early group! Cook for 8! Cook for 12! Cook for 20! (At this point I asked him, have you ever cooked for twenty people in a 5 x 8 kitchen?) Cook organically! Must have fruit and vegetable! Can’t be from a box! Drama, drama, drama.

After a short little break we went down to the west lawn of the Capitol building to watch the national orchestra play. It was a beautiful day and I got some great pictures of the sunset (pollution helps makes sunsets beautiful). It started to rain a little bit before the show, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We stuck it out and heard some good music. About an hour into their playing, it began raining again. HARD. I don’t believe that I have ever seen rain like this. That thing we have in Utah where water falls from the sky? Not rain. More like…..mist. This was RAIN. We ran to the Metro station and by the time we got there we were completely soaked. When we got off it was raining even harder! The water was coursing into the station! We decided just to go for it and rain home. By the time we got there, everything that could be wet, was wet. All layers were soaked. My hair completely soaked. Water running down my face, my legs. Luckily, it wasn’t that cold, so we won’t all get sick. But it was a fun little adventure!

Now, sitting at home I get to enjoy the sound of the rain hitting the pavement rather than the sound of it hitting my head. It’s nice.

Playing games waiting for the symphony to start. We tried playing poker, but we had nothing to fake bet with, and it was really pointless.

You know how I love sunsets.

I just couldn't get enough.

And it kept getting better!

The capitol, on fire!

Meant to be a group portrait, but ended up just being Melissa!

Remember that innocent looking cloud? We are cowering under a blanket trying to avoid the rain.

It cleared up enough for the symphony to play for about an hour.

Once it started raining enough, we decided to run for the Metro station.

Slippery flats+wet streets= no fun.

Remember, this is only part of the way home. It was raining harder when we got off the Metro!

Jeff Swindle's orange shirt shows the rain pretty well. When we got back to the Barlow, there were no dry parts anywhere, so you couldn't tell that he was wet from a picture!

September 5 or Kayaking on the Potomac

2009-09-06T15:26:00.005-06:00

Something that is unique about a big city is that it never gets dark. When I turn the lights off at night, orange city light still streams in from my windows. In the morning, the light streams in and hits my face at about 8:30 (we have west-facing windows). So even if I wanted to sleep in, the city forbids it. The city demands my full attention and the sun slaps me across the face if I try to sleep through my obligation to explore it.

The good news is, despite all of the forces of the universe being against us, we did actually get to sleep in today until about 8:30.

About an hour later we walked down to the Watergate, turned right at Rock Creek Park and went kayaking on the Potomac! (Thanks for the tip Andrea!)

It was so fun! It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too crowded, the water wasn’t too cold, and we weren’t too stupid to figure out the kayak! It was great to see all of the rowers and the rest of the tourists out there. It was only $5 a person and we had a great time.

Afterward, a bunch of people went to the flea market, but I stayed home. I relaxed, ate a nice lunch and took a shower to wash off the splashes of Potomac before they burned away my skin (the Potomac is pretty polluted).

When I was nice and ready, I walked down to the Metro and went to the Smithsonian museum of American History.

I really like the Smithsonians. Now that I’m older, I can really appreciate the quality exhibits. And I have been very impressed.

Today I went to an exhibit about the office of President of the United States (or POTUS). It was fascinating. I read everything I was interested in and enjoyed every second. One of my favorite exhibits so far.

Stephanie met up with me in the museum because her husband had to come to the city to work overtime for a trial next week. We also went to an exhibit about all of the wars the U.S. has fought in (not as cool as the presidents), and a small exhibit about Abraham Lincoln. That one was interesting. I bet my brother would have really liked it.

We wandered the mall for a little while, went inside the Smithsonian castle (much prettier on the outside), and then went to the museum of natural history.

Now, I was prepared to be unimpressed with the museum of natural history. Usually it’s a bunch of stuffed animals and wax figures hunched over building fires.

What a silly thing to think. I should have known better.

It was great! There was a cool exhibit on forensic anthropology, or basically solving mysteries based on skeletons. They excavated one of the first colonial towns (started in the early 1600s) and had many of the skeletons there to look at and “interpret.” It was so cool!

I thought that I would just walk through the museum and be satisfied. But I only saw one exhibit, and I have got to go back. The Smithsonian is great because there is so much to do. There are interactive exhibits, movie clips, songs from the time period, touch screens, and other activities to keep all ages happy and interested.

The best thing about my Smithsonian experience is that I’m in no hurry. I don’t have to see all of the museums in one day, I can take weeks. And I have. I do each museum in stages and I love it. I spend quality time with one exhibit and then I leave and do something else.

After the Smithsonian, Steph and Jake went home and I went to meet some friends from the Barlow at ESPN zone to watch the BYU/Oklahoma game.

The customer service was fantastic and they didn’t kick us out even when more and more people came who just wanted to watch without buying anything. None of us expected to win so we were all thrilled when we did. What an upset! Granted, their star quarterback got injured early on and that definitely helped our chances, but it was still a big deal. When we got possession in the last minute all twenty of us stood up and sung the BYU fight song. We all knew it and we were all clapping. We got some weird looks, but some people told us that they admired our enthusiasm. The funny thing is, none of us were drunk, although I think most of the people thought we were.

A BYU dad and his son came and found us after we finished the song. The little kid looked like he was on cloud nine. Heck, we were on cloud nine. We practically floated home.

Since tomorrow is Fast Sunday, I bet two guys in our group that the game will be mentioned over the pulpit at least once. I bet it will be mentioned in your wards, too… it was nothing short of a miracle…

Near Key bridge. Georgetown university peeking over the trees.

Attempted self-portrait. I didn't realize the camera was zoomed in so much, but it turned out to be cool anyway (look at the reflection in my sunglasses)

Real self-portrait, kayaking on the Potomac.

The tree-lined banks are BEAUTIFUL. The trees simply don't grow like that in Utah.

Abby and Rachel with Virginia (I think... it actually might be Maryland. I'm not sure...) in the background.

Addressing the American people at the Smithsonian. I was giving FDR's "nothing to fear but fear itself" speech

Wow. That's all I can say.

Caution. Pfft. We don't need no stinkin caution.

The Smithsonian actually has two buckled steel columns from the World Trade Center. I couldn't believe it.

My hand next to a molding of Abraham Lincoln's. We are pretty close!

This picture is for my brother. Lincoln looked like he aged a lot when he got into office.

The famous Smithsonian castle. Nothing much inside but the 3-judge American Idol desk and a pile of rubble that was used in the Night at the Museum movie.

Creepy.

The beautiful old post office building at sunset.

Watching the game at ESPN zone.

Hard to see, but the BYU fan section was packed! Standing room only. I'm surprised they treated us so well, I'm sure some people thought we were annoying.

I think this was right when OK missed the 50-yard field goal.

September 4 or Jazz in the Park

2009-09-05T10:29:00.007-06:00

DISCLAIMER: This post (and as you've noticed, other posts) is ridiculously long. I won't be offended if you don't read all of it. In fact, I won't even know. So don't feel guilty if you don't want to read all of it or fall asleep in the middle. I mostly write such a detailed travelogue for myself and my parents. If you are not me or them, you are certainly not required to read everything.)

Since today is Friday, none of us had to go to our internships. This is consistent with how Washington Seminar is set up—we work full time Monday-Thursday and then have Friday for briefings and class with Professor Goodliffe. Today our briefer was Lou Hampton, a really nice guy who has set up a very successful PR firm in D.C. He briefed us on what he called “messaging,” or how to effectively communicate verbally, especially to the media. Mr. Hampton works with candidates, politicians, businesspeople, or anyone else who has to deal with interviews. What he had to say was very interesting and very helpful. I doubt I will ever have to carefully construct a message for a television interview, but I will certainly have many job interviews in the future. (And he showed us a tremendously terrible interview with Bob Dole and Katie Couric. It wasn’t supposed to be funny, but we were all laughing. And even though he didn’t explicitly draw the connection, many of the principles he taught apply to effective written communication as well. Anyway, enough about that.

Let me get to the meat… or what we did AFTER the briefing was over.

We all ran upstairs to change and stuff food in our mouths before we headed out on the town. Since we were done by 1 o’clock on a weekday, we had to choose our activity carefully. There are some things in Washington that are only open from 10-5 Mon-Fri. We have very little time available between 10-5 Mon-Fri, so every hour we are available is very valuable.

The Supreme Court of the United States (or SCOTUS) is one of those activities.

And the Supreme Court was even cooler than I remembered.

We went downstairs and saw some interesting exhibits, admired the beautiful building (even the cover for the fire hose was breathtaking), and talked to the very nice and very helpful docents. They answered all of our questions and then some. We actually learned a lot about the Supreme Court. When we went in the chambers (no pictures allowed), we learned about where each justice sits, where the press sits, where the public sits, where the court artist sits, etc. etc. We learned that the building was built in 1931-1935 and only cost approx 9 million dollars. Did you know that President Taft was the chief justice of the Supreme Court for nine years after he was President?

The justices come back next week, and Justice Sotomayor will formally join them on Wednesday. The public is welcome to hear oral arguments when the court is sitting, but they only hold them Mon-Wed during business hours, and sadly, we have to work.

Also, the gift shop at the Supreme Court is fantastic. I was almost persuaded to spend a lot of money, but ultimately spent nothing. It’s all kitschy, but I still wanted it. Who doesn’t want a mini gavel to put on your keychain? It’s got to come in handy whenever you have to call someone to order. Or a Supreme Court Christmas ornament? How have my Christmases been complete without them?

The Library of Congress is also one of those select activities that is only open during the week, during business hours.

It also happens to be right next to the Supreme Court.

A veritable temple of learning, the Library of Congress is covered in murals and mosaics, positively bedecked with statutes and moldings, and absolutely teeming with wide-eyed, crane-necked tourists.

We got there an hour before it closed and it was not nearly enough time. We hitched on to the last tour of the day with a wonderful tour guide who vaguely reminded me of Nancy Reagan (I think it was the hair). She had a soft voice, but interesting facts about the LoC. We learned that the library receives an average of 22,000 books a day and keeps 10,000 of them. The rest they donate to schools/other countries etc. Also, the gold moldings above the front doors are 23 karat gold. And speaking of the doors, they weigh one and a half tons each!

In the main hall, all of the moldings on the ceiling are aluminum because they thought that aluminum would be more valuable than gold back then…except there is one rose, just one, that is gold. It is fun to find.

Also, did you know that the shell is a symbol for a pilgrim? There are shells all over the LoC because we are all pilgrims finding our way to knowledge and learning.

We saw the main reading room from above, and I will try to go inside before I leave. It will be difficult finding a time during working hours when I can go, but I will try my darnedest to get in there. Pictures aren’t allowed, but I’m sure my memories will be vivid enough.

We also saw a map drawn in 1507 (very cool), and Jefferson’s library (no pictures allowed, but also very cool).

The architect/designer of the Library of Congress said that he wanted to create a building so majestic and beautiful that everyone in the country would want to come see it with their own eyes at least once in their life. I think he might have accomplished his goal. The building is monumental, indeed.

After they kicked us out (it was 5 o’clock), we wandered down Pennsylvania Avenue (close to where I work) and found a Pakistani Tandoori restaurant. We got some interesting and very good food. I enjoyed my meal, but the heat/spiciness was a little bit too much for some of the girls I was with. It was also a little pricey, but I did get two meals out of it.

Now, keep in mind, we are about a 25-minute metro ride from the Barlow Center at this point.

Being overly ambitious, we decide to walk down to the mall.

We make it to the sculpture garden by the Smithsonians for Jazz in the Park. Every Friday they host a jazz combo in the garden, hook up some sound equipment, set up some wine/beer stands and prepare for the onslaught of young, hip people to come.

They didn’t build anything, but they set up speakers, and the people came.

And a lot of them came. We ran into some friends from the Barlow Center and just enjoyed the music and the atmosphere.

We were in the shadow of the National Archives, and decided to lie down on the grass. We stayed there, completely surrounded by people, until the sun went down. We left around 9 o’clock and again, being overly ambitious, decided to walk home.

After all, the mall didn’t look that long. (Ha!)

We did have a delightful moonlit stroll though, and got some great nighttime pictures of the monuments lit up. See for yourself, but the monuments are even more stunning at night.

We swung by the Vietnam memorial (the girls I was with hadn’t seen it yet), and then Safeway (we were all out of produce) on the way back.

We walked in the Barlow Center at 10 o’clock, weighed down by grocery sacks, and exciting memories, and stepped into the elevator, legs throbbing.

My legs are still throbbing as I write this, but I don’t regret a single step.

The magnanimous Abby Rich in front of the Supreme Court (Jared, any relation?...)

On the steps of the Supreme Court with the Capitol in the background.

Huge pillars remind me of Egypt!

Me and John Marshall.

This is what my head would look like if I was on The Bench.

Looking up at the famous elliptical staircase in the Supreme Court.

The beautiful Library of Congress. (Can you see me? I'm the small insignificant one in the middle.)

Close up if you need a little help.

Rachel and Abby in the LoC.

A statue representing the light that knowledge brings to our lives.

Some of the ceiling and Nancy Reag---I mean our tour guide.

Our Pakistani feast. (The rice was amazing!)

Rachel and Abby in the sculpture garden at Jazz in the Park.

I was there too. This is proof. (Notice my delicious leftovers from the restaurant above my head.)

WWII memorial.

I can't believe this picture turned out so good! (My camera has a really great zoom capacity.)

The all seeing eye.

You can actually see Lincoln when the memorial is lit up at night. This picture was taken a short distance from the Washington Monument which illustrates how amazing the zoom on my camera is.

September 3 or Sunset at the Lincoln Memorial

2009-09-04T20:29:00.005-06:00

As I walked home from work today I watched the geese flap around the Mall in an oval, as if they were flying laps to keep in shape. (They must have felt guilty watching all of the bronze body-builders bounce around the perimeter…Oh wait, that was me.) I tilted my face up toward the sun, watching the birds and basking in the perfectly warm air, and only one word could describe my state of being: contentment.

But, wait. Let me back up a bit.

Today began like most other days. I got up earlier than I wanted and had to force my west-coast-time body into submission in order to function. I got to work, and started researching Tesla Motors new all-electric sedan. (It’s pretty sweet. It’s called the Model S, and is obscenely expensive, but definitely cool.) Then at 9:45 I walked ten minutes down the road to the Library. The Library of Congress, that is. I went to a legal research seminar for a few hours. It was interesting, but mostly an exercise in not falling asleep.

I after going back to work for a few hours (more alternative energy stuff), I took my “lunch” break. Since I eat lunch at my desk, my “lunch” break is 30 minutes of “me” time. I can leave the office, walk around the city, and do whatever I want. The past few days I just picked a direction and walked for 15 minutes. Today, I walked for a few minutes, and then found a park bench in the sun and read for 20 minutes. “Mere Christianity.” I have read M.C. twice in the past two years, and I still can’t wait to read it again. It’s nice to have a deeply personal, spiritual book as a break from the world in the middle of the day.

Then, more work… and then, magically, I left the office around 5:40. Again, I was an agent unto myself. A free bird. A lone wolf. I could go anywhere (as long as it wasn’t Anacostia), and do anything (as long as it was open…most things aren’t after 5:30) I wanted to!

Almost overwhelmed with opportunities, I got on the metro to contemplate my options. Before I knew it I got off at the Smithsonian stop. I wandered up to ground level and found myself in front of the Museum of American History. I looked at my watch. 6:00 p.m. The museum closed at 6:30, so that gave me at least one medium-sized exhibit.

I went in and found an exhibit about a house that was built during colonial America (ca. 1770) and stood until the 1960s when it was almost demolished. The community rallied and offered the house to the Smithsonian. They took it, and reassembled it—fully—in the Smithsonian. Now there is a cool exhibit that surrounds the house and tells the stories of all of the families who lived there over the years—revolutionaries, abolitionists, immigrant laborers, and a widow with two sons fighting in WWII to name a few. Then, I popped over to the first lady exhibit (which was very crowded when I went before; I had to wait in line) to look at the dresses I liked. It was even better than before because no one was there! I was the only one in the room. Just me and Mary Lincoln’s dress and slippers. Then they turned off the power and kicked me out.

So there I was, back on the mall. Sauntering home on a beautiful September day. I was in no rush. I had nowhere to be. No one to see. I saw/heard the geese flying overhead, almost got hit by a stray baseball, and was passed by an average of 5 runners a minute.

It was approaching 7:00 p.m., so the sun was dyeing the white granite on all of the monuments orange. Finally, the photo conditions I’ve been waiting for! No drab white light! Brilliant gold, amber, and honey hues highlighting every corner of every stone!

The front of the Lincoln was packed as always, so I went around to the back. Success! No one was back there. I sat down and took pictures for about half an hour. My feet dangling over the huge golden stones, watching the city commuters cross the Potomac back home to Virginia.

Then, since I figured the security guards would kick me out if I trying to stay there forever (like I wanted to), I walked home. I soaked in every beautiful sunset-kissed sight on the way.

When I got home, I assembled a quick dinner, threw on some music, did my homework, read the news, and fantasized about a long weekend of sightseeing.

As much as I like walking home alone, in silence, the only thing that could have improved the situation was a good friend to share it with.

Oh wait… I guess I just shared it with you…. *wink*

The aforementioned geese flying (and honking) over the Smithsonian.

This quality of light made me feel like I was in a Jane Austen movie.

Nope, still in the 21st century.

Duck butts!

A view of the mall with better light.

The sun setting behind the Lincoln memorial. (It was beckoning to me. I had to take more pictures...)

This is what I found at the back of the Lincoln Memorial. Travel tip: no one ever goes to the back of the Lincoln Memorial. All the tourists stay up by where they can see the guy in the chair. But look what they're missing--a gorgeous sunset over the Potomac.

The view from where I was sitting (the first of many self-portraits)

I am so cool with my sunglasses.

I am a very talented self-portrait taker.

I can ever take pictures of myself without touching the camera. I know. You're jealous.

A good profile. (This nose profile is for you Charlie, I know how you strangely like my nose.)

Such great light! Light makes all the difference!

Did I mention how cool I am in these white sunglasses (thanks to Charlie for convincing me to buy them).

My shadow is huge! I mean, I know people have long shadows, but mine seems really, really long.

Peace.

Beauteous light, yet again. Why do I even take pictures at any other time of day?

September 2 or I have a library card to the Library of Congress

2009-09-02T20:12:00.003-06:00

I am not going to write a lot because my eyes are killing me (staring at a computer screen for eight hours is hard!), but I wanted to announce that I now have a library card to the Library of Congress. Yes. It has my picture on it, my name, and an official looking barcode.

The best part? I actually had to get it for my job. I wasn't just pretending that I needed it for "research" because I was a student; I actually had to get one. I am going to a Library of Congress research seminar tomorrow during work. Righteous!

Today I did some research for one of my supervisors, Autumn. (She is nice and pretty and has nice and pretty red hair.) I researched loan guarantees for alternative energy sources and electric cars for the first half of the day and then thorium as an alternate fuel (as opposed to uranium) for nuclear power the second half of the day. So, in sum, I learned a lot. I even had to reach back into the recesses of my mind and dust off that Chem 105 and 106 knowledge. Who ever thought that knowing the difference between fission and fusion would matter in a setting other than nuclear physics?

Plus I know that the secretary of the Department of Energy is Secretary Chu, and cylindrical receptors are all the rage in solar technology. At least, the U.S. guaranteed 450 million dollars banking on the fact that they are...

If you want to know more about the place where I work, go to our website at www.taxpayer.net

September 1 or My First Day of Work

2009-09-01T19:21:00.004-06:00

After not sleeping very well, I woke up and made it to work on time. I liked waiting for the Metro in my professional attire. I could feel the tourists looking at me.

I hope they thought I was a native Washingtonian.

I like pretending like I have serious business here. And the professional dress helps a lot.

I was a little overdressed for my office (which is fine, I’d rather be overdressed than underdressed), but I didn’t get lost and I got there in time. The office is small, less than ten people work there. It made learning everyone’s name pretty easy.

They were pretty busy today, so I didn’t get very much training, but I did learn a lot about the organization itself. They are in the process of redoing the website and I am helping with the issue summaries. In order to write the summary of the position TCS has on a topic, I have to KNOW the position TCS has on a topic. So I read a lot today.

I work in the back office with two other senior staff members named Autumn and Erich (yes, with an “h”). I’m still trying to figure out the balance between letting other people work on their projects and chatting with them. We usually talk while we’re looking at our respective computers, which is hard for me to handle because I like to see someone’s face when we talk.

So far it seems like a nice office to work in. Since it is so small, I expect I will have significant responsibility over my projects. Congress is back in session next week, so I’ll get to do hill drops and go to some hearings then.

After work I decided I would get off at the Smithsonian metro stop and go to one of the museums for half an hour before it closed. My plan was perfect, except it didn’t work. The museums closed early today.

So I decided to walk home from the mall. It was a beautiful day (great temp, low humidity) and my shoes (1 ½ inch heels) were surprisingly comfortable. Not, chaco/gator/tennis shoe comfortable, but for formal shoes, they are pretty good.

I had about three miles to go and I knew the general direction home, so I took streets home I’d never taken before. As I was walking along Virginia St with the warm wind at my back, the Watergate in front of me, and a tree-lined street above me I realized something—I really like walking alone.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to go wandering around the streets of D.C. late at night, but I really enjoy exploring the tree-covered streets when I walk home from work.

I also was able to see more of the city. I found the huge statute of Albert Einstein that Paul took a picture by last time we were here. It’s on my way home, just off the mall.

I finally found my way back to the Barlow, changed my shoes and went to the CVS pharmacy to buy toilet paper and some candy. Remind me not to buy TP there. Four dollars for four rolls was the best deal.

Highlight of the day: I got some candy at CVS to get me through the afternoon “blahs” at work.

Highlight of the highlight: They had mini-Heath bars.

A close-up of the heavenly creation known as peanut M&Ms

All of my loot. It's amazing how many ills/sins/undesirables chocolate evaporates. It is simply amazing.

August 31 or My Legs Hurt

2009-09-01T18:36:00.004-06:00

Monday

Today was my last day as a completely free agent. I might be spoiled, but I really like this, wake up, eat leisurely, and wander the city as much as you like kind of day. Why does it have to change?

This morning we had our last orientation meeting with the Washington Seminar director Dr. Goss. He flew in from Utah and talked at us for three hours. We got good tips about how to be a successful intern (who would of thought that so much good came from simply working hard and being nice…?), instructions for maintaining the Barlow Center, and safety tips (kind of) from one really helpful GW counselor and one very unhelpful GW cop. Also, the AC is really wonky in this building and the great room was FREEZING. Even the guys with long sleeves and long pants were shivering… so you can imagine what the girls with short sleeves and skirts felt like.

Then, for lunch we were divided into groups and we all went to find the places of our internships so we would know where to go tomorrow morning. We ate lunch and then wandered around the city until we had completed our task.

Afterwards, it was still pretty early and the day was bea-YOO-tiful, we decided to do something outdoorsy. We pulled my oh-so-handy map out of my bag, scanned it for green-ish areas and hopped on the metro. We came up somewhere completely blocked by buildings and started heading toward the sun (that how the ancients used to do it). After asking two cops for directions, and photo ops by the FCC, Dept. of Agriculture, the Holocaust museum, we finally arrived at the Jefferson memorial. It was (as we expected) completely empty compared to the Lincoln memorial. I guess people don’t like to walk the short distance to get there…? We also saw that there is a direct line of sight from the Jefferson memorial to the center of the White House. I wonder how often President Obama or any of his staff look out the window at the Jefferson memorial.

After that we walked back to the mall and through the WWII and Vietnam memorials. By this point, we had walked probably five miles at this point and my legs were killing me. I split from the group and walked back because taking the metro over and over is actually kind of expensive. I went to Trader Joes and got some samples (Havarti Cheese) and other groceries. In general the store was completely packed and very small. There were no non-food items, but an extensive wine selection and very “me” food items. I could be a purchaser for Trader Joes methinks.

But I’d have to get their name right. I always mess up and call it Pirate O’s….

Walking near the Senate and House offices.

After going from heck to breakfast, we found the Jefferson Memorial. Here is a spontaneous self-portrait.

Then Mark felt bad for me and offered to take my picture. (I just realized I have long legs. Strange.)

The obligatory "I've got the whole world in my hands" picture.

Jefferson is huge. (And kind of lonely. Very few tourists come all the way out here.)

We Americans love that neo-classical style.

Artsy. Tilt your head to the right. (If you look close you can see the Capitol and the Smithsonian.)

I really like this memorial. It is for the Women in Vietnam. There are three women, one trying to save an injured soldier, one lifting her eyes to the sky in search of hope, and one mourning the life of a soldier she could not save.

This memorial really touched me.

The Vietnam War Memorial. The name are arranged (l-r) in the order they died. It starts with only a few names on the far left and then the lists swells into the thousands in the middle of the war (and memorial), then the names dwindle off at the end as well.

Almost everyone there was looking for a specific name. A brother, a friend, an uncle etc. The Vietnam war affected many people.

I found that I could take a picture of my reflection amidst the thousands of names inscribed in the wall.

August 30th or Church and Airplanes

2009-08-31T18:31:00.004-06:00

Sunday

One of the downsides of traveling quite a ways to church (which I’ve never had to do since I’m a Utahn), is that you have to get up at 7:30 to make an 11:00 church meeting. And then, if you stay for ward choir afterwards, you don’t get home until 4:30. Church is really an all day affair. But, church was the highlight of my day today. My ward (the D.C. 2^nd ward) is one of the nicest singles wards I have ever been to, if not THE nicest. Everyone was very welcoming, energetic and interested in getting to know everyone. All of the talks given were well-prepared and lifted my spirits. They took everyone’s pictures, introduced everyone after Sacrament meeting, and we had a mix and mingle event instead of a Relief Society lesson. I met a lot of people and felt very at home. After church I stayed for ward choir and then caught a ride home with one of the ward members who has a car. It was so nice to see beautiful Maryland (where the church is) and NW D.C. above ground! Not that the gray cement outside of the metro windows isn’t interesting, but the old historic buildings in Georgetown and the beautiful trees in Maryland take the cake.

When we finally got back from a long day of church, a bunch of people went to go visit the National Zoological Garden, another great free event in the D.C. area, known for their giant pandas. I went with them, only to realize in the Metro station that we wouldn’t make it before the zoo closed (a lot of things close at 6:00 p.m.). So the group decided to wander around the mall. Since I did that yesterday, I decided to go back to the Barlow. I came back and rounded up some friends willing to take a chance and have an adventure with me. Andrea told me about a park just above the Reagan airport where people go to watch the planes take off or simply admire the beautiful D.C. cityscape. After not knowing if we would really make it in time, and almost aborting the mission when the metro train didn’t come for half an hour, we finally made it to the airport. We found the little path and made it to Gravelly Point just in time for the sunset. Success!! It was worth the effort. All eight of us crammed on to my little fleece blanket with stars and we chatted about life, planes, and some more life. We could see the Washington Monument and the Capitol building, and the park overlooked the Potomac river. We made it back to the Barlow center around 9:15 p.m.

Now, I am sitting at my desk, sucking on the giant pixie stik that the Comcast people gave me yesterday and listening to good music. Life is good.

Waiting for ward choir to start. Sierra looks angelic.

(We were sitting in the sun because the church has over active AC like the Barlow and all the Smithsonians.)

Despite many obstacles, we made it to Gravelly Point.

Before I figured out "sunset mode" on my camera.

After I figured out how to use the "sunset mode" on my camera. (The Washington Monument looks like Big Brother. Or the all-seeing eye from the Two Towers. We'll just generalize by saying some authoritarian symbol from a science fiction novel.)

August 29th or Petruchio and Old Glory

2009-08-30T21:13:00.007-06:00

August 29, 2009

After sleeping in (my excuse: I’m still adjusting to east coast time), and eating my delicious leftovers for lunch, a bunch of us headed out exploring.

We walked toward the mall and, after being handed free pixie sticks and a “veg-fest” brochure, arrived at the Lincoln memorial. It is big and white and awe-some like I remember. Oh, and cram packed with tourists. However, miracle of miracles, I got a picture of me and Abe with no one else. (Thanks, Abby!) I would love to go back there and take some pictures at sunset.

We started wandering toward the Washington Monument. Travel hint: the mall looks a lot shorter than it is. But. It is not short. It is long. They sprinkle park benches here and there for those with weak constitutions (I will refrain from putting a political joke here.), and steadfast determination and scary geese spur everyone else on. We stumbled across a WWII memorial with a nice fountain and cool picture opportunities. We finally made it to the Washington Monument only to find that all of the tickets for today were already distributed: A downside of not planning.

At this point we were swimming. Swimming in what? You might ask. A valid question, and to those of you who haven’t had the opportunity of walking around D.C. on a very warm, extremely humid (it was overcast) day, I’m not sure if an appropriate metaphor exists. All I can say is that I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to live under the sea, and now I know. In order to dry off, we popped into the nearest air-conditioned building. It happened to be the Smithsonian museum of American history. We saw the original flag that inspired “The Star-spangled Banner” in 1814 and a cool exhibit on the history of water transportation. I didn’t realize how many movies about boats there are: Pirates, The Hunt for Red October, Titanic etc. I relived all of them in that exhibit. We also saw a replica of a 1950s suburban household and learned about the history of the atomic bomb. The Smithsonian is well-put together. The exhibits are very visual and the writing is informative but not overly heavy. And I learned cool stuff! For example, pirates didn’t really make people walk off planks (they got that reputation from Peter Pan), and Julia Child got in a car accident the day before she got married (she was okay, obviously).

I really enjoyed the “First Ladies” exhibit with the gowns donated by all of the first ladies (Mrs. Lincoln had a ridiculously small waist), and the replica of Julia Child’s kitchen. It was packed, of course, but well worth the wait.

At this point some of the people in my group headed back to the Barlow Center. I was meeting Stephanie and Jake at 5:00, so I stayed behind alone.

And it felt great.

We’re not in Jerusalem any more, folks. No, “three people at all times” rule. I love America.

I wandered along the mall, saw a flock of tourists on segways, listened to the birds/bugs in the trees (trees are loud here), and made my way to meet Steph and Jake.

I had some time to kill so I went into the museum of crime and punishment. Correction: I went into the museum of crime and punishment’s gift store. Tickets to the actual museum were $20 and almost guaranteed to be a tourist trap. I imagine the gift store is the coolest part anyway. They had reprinted newspapers from big crime events like the JFK assassination and the day John Dilinger was killed. I ended up buying a little whistle to put on my keychain. I didn’t know what time I’d be walking home and it was cheaper than the pepperspray.

I was still a little early, so I went to wait in line for tickets to the show we were going to see. The Shakespeare Theater company hosts a “free for all” season once a year in which they put on a show completely free for anyone who wants to come see it. The catch: you have to be at the box office when it opens to get tickets. We did get tickets (there was a very long line), and then went to eat dinner at Fuddruckers. It was good to see Steph and Jake and they provided words of wisdom about big city living and empathy about the humidity. We wandered a little after and then went to the show.

We saw “Taming of the Shrew.” It was superb. The acting, the set, the jokes, the scene change music—it was all top notch, but Petruchio stole the show. I have never laughed so hard in a Shakespeare play. They really did a wonderful job; I am not sure I can be as effusive as they deserve. I was simply floored. It was a great way to spend an evening.

Then Steph graciously showed me how to refill my Metro card and then Steph and Jake walked me home (it was about 11:30 p.m.). After getting ready for bed, writing in my journal (read: my laptop), scrips, and my book, I got to sleep around 1 a.m.

We’ll see how long that schedule lasts.

The most patriotic obelisk in America (and we didn't even steal it from Egypt like the Brits).

At the Lincoln Memorial with my pixie stick holstered like a saber.

Swimming---er walking, to the Washington monument. The lovely items you see on the cement next to the reflection pond are goose poop. Surprisingly big.

I turned around after taking the previous goose poop picture.

WWII memorial, "the Price of Freedom"

Each star represents 1,000 American lives lost in WWII.

Yes. I am from Utah. This picture proves it.

Abby and I feeling close to the motherland.

I wanted to see what everyone was looking at. (In the Smithsonian)

I had to explain to the nice man what a pixie stik is.

Julie and Julia and Lynne.

Can you see me? I'm all the way in the glass doorway in the back.

The first ladies exhibit in the Smithsonian. The lights are kept low so the fabric doesn't disintegrate. There were a few dresses missing... but, then again, Hilary did always wear the pants in that relationship...

There was a costume sale in the Shakespeare store before the show. If only I didn't have luggage limitations!

First Impressions Or August 28, 2009

2009-08-29T21:53:00.003-06:00

Here I am, in the same country, but a different world. I don’t expect all of my blog posts to be this detailed, but this is all still new to me, so you get a play-by-play.

FLIGHTS: Yesterday morning I flew out of Salt Lake at 8:30 a.m. While I was waiting to board a nice young guy sat down next to me and started a conversation. His name was Mark and he went to Weber State. He laughed out loud when I told him I went to BYU. I sat next to him on the flight to Denver and we talked the entire hour (he was very talkative). He told me about the first time he got drunk, his job as a music critic for a punk/ska website, and how much he loved New Jersey. Every once and a while he would take a stab at BYU and I would correct any misinformation.

Him: I can’t believe YouTube is blocked at BYU.

Me: It’s actually not anymore.

Him: Oh.

Him: I can’t believe BYU doesn’t let BYU democrats meet.

Me: Actually they do let BYU democrats meet and there are more of them than there are in the BYU republicans club.

Him: Oh.

Him: I can’t believe you aren’t allowed to stay up past midnight.

Me: We are allowed to stay up past midnight.

Him: Oh.

He was interesting and nice to talk to. But I’m also glad that we didn’t sit next to each other for another four hours. I got off my plane in Denver, went to the bathroom, and walked right on my plane to Baltimore. I sat next to a nice flight attendant who was going home. She asked if I was a student and then asked about my internship. When the flight got more crowded another woman came and sat between us. She sat on the right row because all of us had books that we wanted to read. I was reading “East of Eden” and the woman next to me was reading “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” Poor girl. She finished it on the plane and was trying her darnedest not to sob or snort out loud. She used a lot of tissues.

We got off the plane in Baltimore, I bought an overpriced (and disgusting) turkey cranberry wrap and waited for my luggage. Miraculously, it all arrived! I heaved it off the conveyor belt, carefully stacked my 40 lb duffel on top of my 50 lb suitcase. Then I started the long and arduous journey to the SuperShuttle counter. Okay, it was only about 25 yards, but it seemed very long and arduous with 90 lbs under my left wrist. As soon as I checked in I got on a shuttle. It took about an hour and a half to get to the Barlow Center, but I got here at about six o’clock. I dropped my bags, got a short tour, and went and found second-hand sheets, towels, and a pillow in the laundry room.

DINNER: Then a few of us got together and walked down Pennsylvania Ave. to find a place to eat dinner. We passed several places that looked good to me (Thai, Ethiopian, etc.), but they didn’t look appealing to the group. We ended up at a very cute French pastry shop/café in the middle of Georgetown. I don’t remember what it is called, but it was very good and vaguely reminiscent of Zupas. I got a fresh cup of strawberries (traveling makes me crave food that hasn’t been processed) and a plate of chicken pesto pasta. The restaurant itself was beautiful and looked very European inside. It had dark wood, two levels, and old wicker chairs.

SAFEWAY-GATE: We walked back to the Barlow and then some of us ventured to Safeway. We walked about ten minutes and happened upon the Watergate complex. We crossed the street (and I kept my eye out for corruption and controversy, since we were at the Watergate), and went down an escalator to the small Safeway in the basement. I bought shampoo, toothpaste, and some fresh food. We will probably go there often, I can already think of things I need to get on Monday.

With our arms heavily weighed down with bananas and toothpaste, we walked back to the Barlow center. Losing circulation in my fingers, I couldn’t help but smile in the warm, humid Washington air. I am here. I can handle this.

And it’s going to be fun.

A picture of my room. My sheets and comforter are compliments of a nice soul who left them behind because they had better things to take home.

Yes, those are my real feet.

My closets, fully stocked and fantastically wrinkled. Yes, the set up is almost identical to Jerusalem. The buildings were built about the same time...?

My cute roommate Holly. She just got back from spending the summer in Russia and graduates in December. (Her sheets are very cute and they match! ... which is more than I can say for my sheets...)

I'm off to see the District

2009-08-27T17:59:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m., I will fly to Washington, D.C. for a four-month internship. Hopefully I will arrive there in one piece (after wrangling with all of my luggage, that really will be a feat). Be assured that I will drop all of my stuff and go skipping around the city the second I arrive (after a quick swing by the laundry room--thanks Andrea!).

Here is my address until December 12. If any of you would like to come visit me, that would be splendid.

Lynne Gabrielsen

Room 406

2520 L St., NW

Washington, D.C. 20037

(Mostly I post this here because I'm afraid that if I write my address down on a piece of paper it will be sucked into the black hole that is my mother's office, never to be seen again. At least on my blog my address won't go to the big recycling bin in the sky.)

I am a redneck. Literally.

2009-08-23T16:07:00.002-06:00

After unexpectedly spending three hours in the 100+plus degree sun with no sunscreen, no shade, and no chance of going inside, I became red and white all over.

Being blessed with fair (aka "pasty, pasty white") skin, I burn more easily than anyone would expect. No one else I was with got even close to burned, and I got roasted like a marshmallow at girls' camp.

(Sadly, even though my legs are radiating heat right now, the burned portion actually looks normal in this picture.)

Luckily, a regimen of aloe, tylenol, cold water, and loose-fitting clothing has allowed me to sleep and wear more than underwear around the house.

My cell phone is a horcrux.

2009-08-16T13:13:00.003-06:00

I just spent hours looking for my phone charger, which I threw into one of many boxes heading toward my parents house on Friday. I tore apart boxes of cookware, clothing, plugs of all sorts and size, lotions, and shoes--lots of shoes--to no avail. Why does such a little piece of plastic control so much of my life? Sitting amidst the strewn tupperware and laundry I pondered that question. Finally, I think I've got it.

My cell phone (and by extension, my cell phone charger) is a horcrux.

I've always wanted to live in Harry's world, and now I have unassumingly adopted a small part of it. (For those non-conformers who refuse to read Harry Potter, a horcrux is an object that contains a portion of a wizard/witches soul. It takes exceptionally dark magic to sever your soul an capture it in a horcrux, but it also conveniently makes you essentially immortal.) After examining the rest of my life, I have identified several other candidates for horcruxy (?). Ahem: my MacBook, my iPod, my expensive floss, my old pink slippers, my chapstick, my lotion, my copy of "Peace Like a River," my memory of "(500) Days of Summer," and the soundtrack to "The Last Five Years."

While some of those items may be intangible, they are all items that without which, I would cease to exist.

So, before you point out that horcruxes are, in fact, evil, just remember that while my soul might have been split to the point that the essence of my humanity is in question--

I am nearly invincible.

Okay, so dreams come true at Lake Powell, too

2009-08-10T14:10:00.004-06:00

We (Rachelle and I) went down to St. George this weekend and spent all of Saturday on Lake Powell with Rachelle's parents and friends.

It was rockin. If you've never been to Lake Powell, look at these pictures and then imagine it 10 times more beautiful.

On Saturday, my face hurt from smiling so much and today my arms/necks/back/legs hurt from having so much fun on the tube.

We saw the beautiful sights, climbed some impressive rocks, and watched Kael land a backflip on the wakeboard! It was unreal!

Amazingly, we all managed to escape in one piece, no concussions, and no debilitating sunburns.

To sum up: Sitting in the front of the boat + sunglasses + warm/perfect day + Lake Powell = heaven on earth