Halfway done!

My traverses across the District continue!  This past week (since my last post) I explored more of the Smithsonians, shopped, dined, and reunited with some long-time friends.  I had a bonus visit with my sister Sharon, who was in town overnight for work.  I met her for the evening, and we had dinner together.

Also after work last week, I headed to the Museum of Natural History and made my way through most of the exhibits on the ground floor chronicling the evolution of land, sea and man.  I worked my way up to the second floor, where I discovered the Hope Diamond and other fabulous jewels on display, all fully encased in glass and under constant guard.  I wish I had started on the second floor!  I saw, albeit briefly, a pair of Marie Antoinette's earrings and other shiny sparkly things.  I'm definitely making a return visit so I can take in these treasures once again.

I worked extra hours last week, still trying to make up the 24 hours I started in the negative (because of my delayed start).  I've only about 7 more to go -- so it should be no problem to get those done before my time is up.  I managed to squeeze in both a yoga and cardio exercise class at the Dept. of Labor gym during the work day.  What a treat to go exercise in the middle of the work day!   It's like playing hooky, but the reality is no lunch break and eat at my desk.  It's definitely worth it.

Friday night, Georganne, my co-intern, and I took a roundabout way to Alexandria, VA by way of Maryland.  For some reason, we can navigate this city fine solo, but every time we get together it becomes a disaster.  It was good for quite a few laughs, which was followed by a delicious seafood dinner not too far from Old Town's waterfront.

Saturday was drizzly, dreary and cold (68 degree temps), so my day was spent mostly indoors.  I went to both the East and West galleries at the National Museum of Art, followed by a walk in the drizzle through Chinatown.  I ended up my day in Pentagon City, a 3-story huge shopping mall.

Dupont Circle, an area here in the District, hosts an weekly produce market every Sunday morning.  Georganne and I met there to browse, then headed to the National Zoo.  A few observations about the zoo:  1) it's free because it's part of the Smithsonians (very cool), 2) the terrain is very hilly (very good calf workout), and 3) this was the first time in my life that I've ever gone to the zoo without children (very weird).  However, we had a lovely time walking around and saw everything!

Probably the most exciting things that have happened over the past week are the reunions I've had with my friends.  The first, Kelli, was my best friend in high school.  She and I did many things together -- when we graduated we both left Warren to move on, each to very different lives, and lost touch.  Well, thanks to modern technology (FB and friends of friends), we found each other.  She lives just outside the DC area with her husband and their two children.  How wonderful it was to pick up just where we left off 27 years ago!  We went to Mass together, out to dinner, then back to their home to visit.  As I sat next to her in Mass, I had flashbacks to our high school days at JFK, also sitting in Mass together -- wow.  I'm so happy that I had the chance to reconnect with her.  Kelli works for the Dept. of State in a diplomatic status, and is headed to Prague for a 2 year assignment this Friday.  She was/is so smart, just an all-around fantastic person, now with a loving husband, terrific kids, and a wonderful career of public service.  How cool is that!

I also met up with Jeanine, my former co-worker from the ED in Tampa.  Jeanine works for the American Nurses Association Magnet Credentialing Program.  She moved to the DC area two years ago after completing her MSN in the Family Nurse Practitioner program at USF.  My connection with Jeanine is our doggies.  Jeanine was the one who put me in touch with Chambray Labradors where she and I got our dogs.  Her black lab Gracie is our black lab Lucy's sister (they were littermates).  So, we are family!

Now I am anxiously awaiting Bob and the girls' arrival on Friday.  Poor Bob has been spread way-too-thin this past week with finishing up his summer classes, a horrendous work schedule, and the girls being sick off and on.  It's time for him to get out of Florida and be on vacation.  They start their road trip tomorrow.  I've planned out their sightseeing schedule for the week, and though I will be working during the day, will join them in the evenings.

My project at work is on schedule.  It's been quite a novelty to have many hours to devote to this.  I am truly enjoying the respite from juggling work and school -- and most of all, the nighttime sleep.  We've also attended a few interns' only event.  Most recently, we went to an Intern Roundtable on Human Trafficking in Persons that was put on at the Dept. of State.  We listened to Ambassador Luis CdeBaca share the efforts of his office to combat forced labor, sex trafficking, bonded labor, and debt bondage among migrant laborers.  It was a very interesting and informative presentation, and quite shocking to realize that this goes on in our country today several hundred years after slavery was abolished by President Abraham Lincoln.

To finish up this week's update, here are a few links on human trafficking to raise your awareness, followed by my pictures.

http://www.ijm.org/justice-campaigns

slaveryfootprint.org

Hope Diamond

Eww -- open wide!

Old Town Alexandria

Pieta, National Gallery of Art

Dishes with Oysters, Fruit, and Wine (1620/1625) by Osias Beert the Elder

Sacramento Mall Proposal #4 (1978) by Frank Stella

Harlequin Musician (1924) by Pablo Picasso

Open Window (1905) by Henri Matisse

McDonalds in Chinatown, Washington, DC

Entrance to Chinatown, Washington, DC

Dupont Circle Farmer's Market

Panda, National Zoo

Kelli (center) with her children, Lucy and Grant

Out-to-dinner with Jeanine

 

A whole new world...

Another week has passed, more to see, more to do.  I am missing my family, but thankful that Camille and Mike stopped to visit for a few hours Sunday on their road trip back home from New York.  Bob and the girls will be here the end of next week, so I have been developing their itinerary for sightseeing -- especially now that I have inside knowledge of our nation's capital!

Over the past week and weekend, I explored new areas of town, visited a church and a few museums.  Highlights of the week include a very long walk from work via the Smithsonian Botanical Gardens to the Columbia Heights neighborhood (long walk, some not-so-great areas) in search of a Target, tooling around the shops at Union Station, and exploring an indoor/outdoor marketplace called Eastern Market in the Capitol Hill area.  I grocery-shopped at my new favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's, and commuted home via the Metro, two overflowing reusable grocery sacks in hand.  The district charges five cents per plastic bag when shopping, which encourages one to bring reusable bags and more importantly encourages one to be green.  Maybe Florida should take note?

Eastern Market was a neat place to explore.  It's an indoor/outdoor marketplace open on the weekends year-round with vendors selling produce, flowers, jewelry, handcrafts, meats, baked goods, etc.  I could have eaten my way through!  I also survived (and actually enjoyed) my first solo-dining experience ever at a Mediterranean restaurant near the market.

I took a Capitol tour Saturday afternoon, and learned a lot of history about its architecture and contents.  Our tour guide, Danny, was quite the comedian.  Sunday, I went to the National Cathedral to fulfill a special request of my coworker Robin.  It is a stunning work of architecture, currently undergoing some renovations, but stunning nonetheless.  I attended the Evensong service, which was a prayer service with the choir, Bible readings, and a homily (message) given by the Reverend.  It was a very formal and structured service with beautiful music, so holy and reverent -- also a first for me to attend an Episcopalian service.  

My discovery of the week was extended hours at several of the more popular Smithsonians.  So, after the church service, I went to the Air and Space Museum.  My only wish after looking at all the huge airplanes, spacecraft, and reading some of the history of flight was that I understood more about planes and how they work.  It's definitely out of my realm of knowledge!

Back to work today -- trying to pare down all the literature I have to a simple sixth grade literacy level webpage which is eye-catching and user-friendly.  This in itself will be the biggest project for me!  My goal is to have the text done by the end of the week.

Here's a link about the Eastern Market and the National Cathedral, and my pictures to follow:

http://www.easternmarket-dc.org/

http://www.nationalcathedral.org/

Smithsonian Botanical Gardens

Flower vendor at Eastern Market

Fresh produce at Eastern Market

Indoors - Eastern Market

This is appealing to some?

Books, books, books

Cheers to me!

My visitors :-)

National Cathedral

Entrance, another angle

One of several altars inside the cathedral

The pulpit -- all carved, so ornate

Shout out to my Uncle Logan, retired TWA captain, National Air & Space Museum

Every minute matters

I continue to relish every minute of my time here in DC.  I was able to enjoy the Capitol Fourth of July, even though my original plan to watch the rehearsal on the 3rd got cut short because of approaching storms and an emergent mass evacuation of the area.  To start off the July 4th festivities, I attended the concluding Mass for the Fortnight for Freedom held at the Shrine.  Over 6000 people attended with standing room only inside and overflow standing outside!  There were about 150 participating priests, which made for a very long processional!  In the evening, I traveled to the Capitol area to watch the concert -- and then I was able to see the spectacular fireworks display over the Washington Monument.

The next day, my sisters from Ohio and Florida arrived for the weekend.  We stayed in the Brookland area of town the first night, then relocated to the Georgetown area from Friday 'til Sunday.  We had great sister-bonding!  They did sightseeing on Friday while I was working.  We had delicious dinners out every night, shopped, laughed, and enjoyed our vino!  The heat-tolerant Florida sisters spent most of Saturday afternoon walking around Arlington Cemetery to visit the gravesites of two people Kathleen knows.  We happened upon two memorial markers for my great-uncle's military unit and the neighboring marker for U.S. Army Reservists (thank you Bob)!  We also saw the Eternal Flame, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and changing of the guard ceremony.  The not-so-heat-tolerant Ohio sisters returned to the hotel and took advantage of the air-conditioned shops along M Street in Georgetown.  Saturday evening, we went to Old Town Alexandria for a delicious pasta dinner (and more vino)!

My sisters left on Sunday, so I spent the remainder of the day getting organized for my work week.  Working Monday-Friday and days is quite a novelty.  I don't think I've ever had this regular of a schedule since I was probably in high school?!?!

We had a "cool" front come through Sunday night, so our high temp on Monday was only in the upper 80's instead of the 100+ degree weather of the previous week.  After work, I did my own walking memorial tour.  I walked from the Dept. of Labor Building to the White House to the Jefferson Memorial to the FDR Memorial to the MLK Memorial to the Metro (then home).  It was a 5-mile hike!  This was my first time taking in the FDR and MLK memorials, the two latest additions here in DC.

At OSHA, I've worked on my project plan and timeline and also started my research.  We have had meetings daily with different Directorate heads to learn about their structure and function.  I thought it interesting today that the directorate of administrative programs said she feels everyone there truly believes in the OSHA mission:  "To ensure a safe and healthy workplace for every man and woman in America."  The occupational health nursing department is working on several different programs: Distracted Driving, Protecting Young Workers, Workplace Violence, and Work Schedules and Worker Fatigue -- all timely and relevant topics to support the mission.  It is neat to be a part of that, to believe in the mission and carry it forward.

Pics from my week:

Capitol Fourth of July

Dedicated to the Army unit of my great-uncle, Logan Weston, Arlington Cemetery

Right next to the above marker -- thank you Bob!

Outside Duke Ellington School for Performing Arts to encourage one to "Think Big"

Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington Cemetery

Hello Mr. President!

Jefferson Memorial

FDR Memorial (one of several scenes)

Another scene at FDR Memorial

MLK Memorial

Feelin' hot...hot...hot

What a great few days I've had enjoying the sights and sounds of DC!  After work Friday, Georganne and I went to dinner and shopping at Trader Joe's.  Washington had record-breaking heat on Friday -- 104 with a feels-like temperature of 108.  Steamy!  We got our ID badges (almost official) and have yet to gain computer access.  I met with the occupational health nurse to discuss my project and also the head of the Data Technical Center who will help me with gathering research.

We had a horrible storm here Friday night called a derecho, which affected much of DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  Fortunately, the Casa was spared, though there are still many places without power, even areas as close as a few blocks from where I am living.

Saturday afternoon I decided to visit the Library of Congress.  I viewed a replication of Thomas Jefferson's library containing both original books and books purchased to reconstitute his library.  I took a moment to imagine Thomas Jefferson holding and reading those that were part of his original collection -- very awe-inspiring.

I also got to view the Great Hall, a remarkable display of art and architecture.  I looked from the balcony into the Main Reading Room, which is the actual library area.  To gain access into the reading room, one must submit an application stating need for access to the library to conduct research.  Apparently, this is one library where everyone cannot just get a card!

Despite the near-100 degree heat on Saturday, I decided to take a walk.  I walked from the library past the Congressional Building, along the National Mall, and to the Washington Monument.  From there I took in the WW II memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and then walked to the Lincoln Memorial before heading to the Metro.  On the hike to the Metro, I walked past the WHO and Dept. of State, so it was a very productive, long, and HOT walk -- almost five miles.

Sunday, I rented a bike thru the Capitol Bikeshare program, and rode it into the area of Gallaudet University and back to my neighborhood.  The Bikeshare program is innovative and provides bikes for short-term use available in racks all over the city. We had our community Mass and dinner in the evening for the residents of the Casa, so I was able to meet a few other housemates, and the Sisters were here also.

Back to work today, with more development towards my project.  I met the other members of the team who are with the Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management and sat in on the weekly team meeting.  I headed over to the Kennedy Center to catch the 6pm performance tonight, Celtic AIre, a folk ensemble of the Air Force.  

Tomorrow the goal for the day is to gain computer access!  Then I can get started with my project plan and so on.  I am planning on going to the Capital 4th of July Concert rehearsal tomorrow evening too -- have to take advantage of being in our Capital for our great nation's birthday.

Library of Congress

Inside Great Hall

Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Washington Monument

Washington, DC VA Medical Center

My Ride