Supreme Court Trip

All in all a good trip, especially since the Supreme Court is literally right around the corner from where we live. Lace, one of the girls in the UNC in Washington program, works at the Supreme Court and she gave us an awesome tour.

Interesting fact: You don't have to be a U.S. Citizen or have a law degree to be a Supreme Court Justice. You merely have to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate (ok, so maybe merely was a poor choice of words, but you get the point).

On our second trip we went to the Washington Monument. We actually got to go to the top of the monument. On that particular day our guides said that we could see upwards of 30 miles in any direction. Here is a picture taken from one of the windows in the top of the monument. The Mall is front and center and you should be able to see the Capitol in the distance as well as the Smithsonians on either side of the mall.

Eastern Market

Our first outing as a class was a Saturday morning trip to Eastern Market. I bought some apples and cinnamon covered pecans that were very good (Pronounced pee-can for you northerners). Later my friends and I ate at the famous Market Lunch. Market Lunch is little more than a lunch counter in one corner of the Eastern Market building with a long table out in front for its patrons to sit and eat and then leave. As soon as your done eating, you're expected to clear out to make way for other people to sit and eat. This is enforced by a man patrolling the tables and watching for people who have finished their food and are lingering. The Market Lunch people take this eat and run policy seriously. Think the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Market Lunch is famous for its pancakes in the morning and burgers and crab-cakes at lunch. Of course my friend Robert and I went for the double cheese-burger, and we were not disappointed. Below you can see our Market Lunch experience (picture borrowed from Robert's facebook profile).

Cool People I've seen so far

A four-star general, whom I won't name

General Petraeus, who has recently been given command of the Multi-national force in Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld's former speech writer-->actually had a conversation with him in the gym. Coincidentally he's been to New Bern before and spoke of moving there when he retires.

Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon England

First Impressions

Washington D.C. is very expensive and "the customer is always right" (or even cared about) is definitely not reality here. I miss Southern food and hospitality, and don't even get me started on the prices.

The phrase "it's not what you know, it's who you know," still holds water here. The only problem is it seems like no matter who you know, there is always someone who knows somebody higher.

Another lesson: It's really hard to gain power in Washington, and it's really easy to lose it.

Where I Work and what I do

I work in the office of a high-ranking government official at the Pentagon. Because I'm not sure what the protocol is for discussing Pentagon officials, I won't give his name, but I have been told that he is the civilian equivalent of a four-star general. This is cool, but at the same time it means I don't deal with him directly. I do help his special assistants with whatever projects/briefs they are working on for him; however my main responsibility is to answer the phones and scan in and out any paper work that comes through our office for the boss to scan and sign. I also press the button to unlock the main office door to allow people to come in for meetings and such. And because the boss is so high up in the Pentagon this happens quite frequently, and there's no telling who is going to come through the door next (more on that later). Oh yeah, coincidentally the button I push to open the door is red, so I tell people that I push the red button at the Pentagon.