Weeks 6-7

Monday, March 3rd the LCJ program students went on a tour of the Pentagon. I really enjoyed this tour. There was memorabilia along all the hallways that stretch for miles. My favorite part was the 9-11 memorial inside the building. I really learned a lot of information from the tour. The wall that the plane hit had just been reinforced with steel, otherwise the plane would have gone through all five rings, across the middle courtyard and into 3 more rings of the other side. Also, because the renovations were not quite finished in that hall, most people had their offices elsewhere and a lot of lives were saved because they had not moved back into that hall yet. I was also intrigued by the plans for the outdoor memorial that is opening September 2008. It is supposed to have a bench for each person that perished in the tragedy. The benches will be placed according to the age of the person from youngest to oldest. Also, the way the bench faces will tell you whether they died in the building or in the plane. It was a very interesting tour that I am glad I was able to attend.
Monday night in class we had a quiz. I was somewhat nervous because it was our first. After taking the quiz I felt relieved because I thought I did well. Then Professor Hardy announced that we would be taking the mid-term the following week before we even go the results of our quizzes back. He was doing this as a favor to us though, because the next Monday is St. Patrick’s Day and he didn’t want to give us the mid-term then.
Wednesday I had a flight from Dulles to Tampa. My uncle was getting married on Saturday so I was able to fly home for the wedding. I was supposed to take the metro to West Falls and then catch a bus to the airport but the metro was late and I had just missed the bus. Instead of waiting 40 minutes for the next one I asked the two other people that were in the same situation if they wanted to share a cab. We took the cab and it cost as much as the bus would because we were able to share.
The weekend at home was amazing. I was able to catch up with my good friends on Thursday and Friday before the wedding on Saturday. The weather was sunny but very cold and windy for the wedding. It was held outside at a pavilion right on the water.
Sunday’s weather was about the same but I wanted to get some sun before leaving Florida, so we went and laid by the pool anyway. It wasn’t too bad because we got a spot out of the wind.
Monday, March 10th, I returned to Virginia with my tan. It was a mess leaving the airport and I had to rush to get into the city because I had a PLS at the USDA at 2:30pm. I made it on time to hear the panelists speak about philanthropy in today’s corporations. It was not really something of my personal interests but I thought it was suitable to others in the audience. I did find it interesting when they were talking about companies who promote themselves as participating in philanthropy more for the media attention than the interest of philanthropy.
After my long flight and the lecture I headed to class for my mid-term. I was able to study a bit on the plane but not much else over the weekend. I still felt comfortable though because we had just taken the quiz last week and it wasn’t much more than that. I left class feeling like I did well on the mid-term.
The rest of the week I took to re-cooperate and catch up on everything at work. We started mailing out letters to CRC members who were represented by a house member or senator that is on the subcommittee for the joint custody resolution. We wrote asking them to write to their congress member about support for the resolution. This project was substantial and after 4 days we only got through about half the list.
Thursday and Friday I hung out with my friend Jessica that also works at CRC and her fiancé who was in town for the weekend. Thursday we watched the movie ‘Dan in real life’ with Steve Correll. It was really funny. Friday we all went to Hawk and Dove, located behind the Capitol on Pennsylvania and 3rd. Zach isn’t 21 yet so we went there because it is 18+ but the guy at the door ended up giving him a wristband anyways. It was a really fun night with Jess and her fiancé.
Saturday we had a BBQ in the courtyard at Courthouse Meridian. There were people from my class and others who I have met through TWC. It was nice weather and we were outside almost all afternoon. Then I went to see a movie with Jessica. We saw 10,000 B.C. It was playing at this small theater right by our apartment. It was good, considering we had low expectations to begin with. After the movie, I headed over to Four Courts, this Irish pub right by the apartment. A bunch of people from the BBQ had gone over there to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The Fire Marshall was there and for every person that came out one could go in. It was that crowded. I only stayed for an hour or so, it had been a long day.