The cherry blossoms were in peak bloom last weekend. I never tire of fighting the crowds to look at the blossoms!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Springtime in Washington
The cherry blossoms were in peak bloom last weekend. I never tire of fighting the crowds to look at the blossoms!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tea with Laura
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Laura and I had tea at ching ching CHA - so much fun! I ordered the golden blossom tea. It started out as this hard little dry ball and then blossomed into this gorgeous flower complete with flower arch and all in the water. Laura describes it better in her blog :)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Only in DC...
do people care this much about politics. Not sure if you can make out the license plate of the car we were stopped behind yesterday but it says 'H8DUBYA'. If you're wondering, he was a terrible driver!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
We had a really good Easter weekend. This year was the first year our church held a Good Friday service. I really enjoyed it. I just loved our church in Tucson's Good Friday service and it's something I have really missed since being here. I think taking time for worship and reflection on Friday makes the celebration on Sunday so much more meaningful and joyous. It was made even more special because we had a friend visiting from Tucson with us -- it was fun to share the experience with him.
Our church hosts a giant Easter egg hunt after service so our Easter adventures always start Saturday night with me shoving chocolate into plastic eggs. Two for the egg, five for Melanie, two for the egg, five for Melanie and so on. Then I went out to a lovely breakfast with a friend of mine while P practiced his talk for the kids service.
I joined the children's service to hear Peter's talk-- or Mr. Peter as the kids call him. It was quite good. He illustrated the importance of an empty tomb by smashing an egg on one of the college kid's heads and smashing an empty egg (which he had carefully spent hours blowing out the night before) on another teacher's head. Thanks to Mr. Shane and Mr. Dan for being good sports! The message being that it matters that it's empty. I was hoping to post a video of the great egg smashing up here but Mr. John who took the video hasn't sent it to me yet. If you see Mr. John--harass him for me and get that video :)
I imagine tons of kids this week are smashing eggs on their siblings' heads thanks to Mr. Peter's lesson.
Our church hosts a giant Easter egg hunt after service so our Easter adventures always start Saturday night with me shoving chocolate into plastic eggs. Two for the egg, five for Melanie, two for the egg, five for Melanie and so on. Then I went out to a lovely breakfast with a friend of mine while P practiced his talk for the kids service.
I joined the children's service to hear Peter's talk-- or Mr. Peter as the kids call him. It was quite good. He illustrated the importance of an empty tomb by smashing an egg on one of the college kid's heads and smashing an empty egg (which he had carefully spent hours blowing out the night before) on another teacher's head. Thanks to Mr. Shane and Mr. Dan for being good sports! The message being that it matters that it's empty. I was hoping to post a video of the great egg smashing up here but Mr. John who took the video hasn't sent it to me yet. If you see Mr. John--harass him for me and get that video :)
I imagine tons of kids this week are smashing eggs on their siblings' heads thanks to Mr. Peter's lesson.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Disenfranchised
Most of you know that I lobby Congress daily. I lobby Congress as a paid representative on behalf of my clients, but I also lobby Congress as a private citizen. My primary choice of lobbying on behalf of my own interests is to write my Congressional delegation. I am on several 'action alert' networks that alert me when legislation on an issue I care about is moving. I instantly grab my pen (mightier than the sword) and write constituent letters to my Members. This worked well and was extremely satisfying when I lived in Arizona and then in Virginia. However, it has really lost its oomph since I've moved to DC.I love DC. I love that it's the national capital. I love policy — and sometimes politics. I love the city. I love the brains of this city. And I love that everyone in this place knows politics. Walking through a restaurant the other day I overheard various conversations with words like 'obama' 'clinton' 'mccain' 'farm bill' 'reconciliation bill' etc. I love that almost every cab driver I've ever had has an opinion on all three branches of government and feels the need to share these opinions with me.
What I do not love is that now as a DC resident I have lost my voice as a personal citizen. My new representative is Eleanor Holmes Norton. She is a delegate to the House of Representatives and can vote in committee, can speak on the Floor but she cannot vote on the final passage of a bill. I have no voice in the Senate. I am without federal representation! I knew this would be the case when I moved to DC, but I didn’t expect it to bother me this much. Now when I get an ‘action alert’ I sigh and send a note to Eleanor knowing she can’t do much.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
What a day!
After receiving four tickets from the District of Columbia for having out of state tags I figured it was probably about time to trek down to the DMV and register my cars and get my DC license. Because of an issue with P's immigration status this duty falls on me. I was told that if I go to the Georgetown DMV by 7:30 am (an hour before it opens) and line up I should be done by 10:00 am. BLAH!!! So I left my house at 7:15 drove to the DMV. I completely forgot that there is no left turn on
Wisconsin from M so I missed the DMV and was looking for a spot to turn around when I accidentally ran a red light. Too busy looking for a turn around spot. Anyhow, I ran it right in front of a police officer. I foolishly thought --I'm confused she'll likely go easy on me. WRONG!!! This was our convo:
Officer: (with attitude) What is your problem?
Me: (puts on kind and apologetic face) Oh I'm so sorry I missed the turn to the DMV and then didn't realize that lane (gesturing dramatically) was turn only, then I was in the middle of the intersection so I had to run the light to clear the intersection...
Officer: (rudely interrupts) And why did you go flying past me?!?!
Me: (completely confused because I didn't break 10mph and the limit is 30 mph) Ummm... I didn't realize I was speeding I'm very sor...
Officer: (rudely interrupts yet again) Clearly you are not aware of much!
Me: (speechless---rarely happens to me)
I got a ticket for red light running from Officer Grumpypants (while the ticket was rightfully deserved I was a bit put off by her manner). After my ticket I turned around and finally entered the garage for the DMV, parked the car, elevator into the mall and line up for the DMV. At about 7:50 the line wasn't too bad-- maybe 45 people. I settle down and happily read my book in line. After an hour I'm finally at the desk to get my number and the lady at the desk points out I don't have my social security card. I point out that the form I have says that only non-citizens must prove that they have a SSN. She tells me casually 'yeah, but I want to see everyones.' Okay, fair enough can't argue with that logic. I tell her I'd be happy to go home and get it but what about the line. She gives me a 'fastpass' (just like Disneyland!!!) so I can run home get my SSN and come back without the line. So I go back to the parking garage pay the $12 to get out of the garage, drive home get my social security card and drive back, park again trek back up, jump the line and get my number. Then I happily fill out my forms settle down with my book and wait for my number to be called.
Finally hoorah! My number is called and the DMV Man is the nicest DMV worker in the history of state, local and municipal employees! Unfortunately a computer glitch means I can't register my cars but I can get a DC license. So after six hours and $135 ($36 for the license, $12 for each time parking, and $75 for the ticket) I became a licensed driver in the District of Columbia!
I thought I rightfully deserved a good rant about the horrors of bureaucracy and my day. So when I finally reached P by phone I was intent on collecting some well deserved condolences about my day (he caught a plane to Denver at 5:00 am for a conference) I tell him 'My day was awful." He patiently listens then tells me...I'm in Shreveport, LA on a plane. I've been on the plane since 5:00am no food, no airport, nothing. He wasn't going to make it to his destination of Denver and wasn't able to make it home either!?!?! My bad day -- TRUMPED!
Wisconsin from M so I missed the DMV and was looking for a spot to turn around when I accidentally ran a red light. Too busy looking for a turn around spot. Anyhow, I ran it right in front of a police officer. I foolishly thought --I'm confused she'll likely go easy on me. WRONG!!! This was our convo:
Officer: (with attitude) What is your problem?
Me: (puts on kind and apologetic face) Oh I'm so sorry I missed the turn to the DMV and then didn't realize that lane (gesturing dramatically) was turn only, then I was in the middle of the intersection so I had to run the light to clear the intersection...
Officer: (rudely interrupts) And why did you go flying past me?!?!
Me: (completely confused because I didn't break 10mph and the limit is 30 mph) Ummm... I didn't realize I was speeding I'm very sor...
Officer: (rudely interrupts yet again) Clearly you are not aware of much!
Me: (speechless---rarely happens to me)
I got a ticket for red light running from Officer Grumpypants (while the ticket was rightfully deserved I was a bit put off by her manner). After my ticket I turned around and finally entered the garage for the DMV, parked the car, elevator into the mall and line up for the DMV. At about 7:50 the line wasn't too bad-- maybe 45 people. I settle down and happily read my book in line. After an hour I'm finally at the desk to get my number and the lady at the desk points out I don't have my social security card. I point out that the form I have says that only non-citizens must prove that they have a SSN. She tells me casually 'yeah, but I want to see everyones.' Okay, fair enough can't argue with that logic. I tell her I'd be happy to go home and get it but what about the line. She gives me a 'fastpass' (just like Disneyland!!!) so I can run home get my SSN and come back without the line. So I go back to the parking garage pay the $12 to get out of the garage, drive home get my social security card and drive back, park again trek back up, jump the line and get my number. Then I happily fill out my forms settle down with my book and wait for my number to be called.
Finally hoorah! My number is called and the DMV Man is the nicest DMV worker in the history of state, local and municipal employees! Unfortunately a computer glitch means I can't register my cars but I can get a DC license. So after six hours and $135 ($36 for the license, $12 for each time parking, and $75 for the ticket) I became a licensed driver in the District of Columbia!
I thought I rightfully deserved a good rant about the horrors of bureaucracy and my day. So when I finally reached P by phone I was intent on collecting some well deserved condolences about my day (he caught a plane to Denver at 5:00 am for a conference) I tell him 'My day was awful." He patiently listens then tells me...I'm in Shreveport, LA on a plane. I've been on the plane since 5:00am no food, no airport, nothing. He wasn't going to make it to his destination of Denver and wasn't able to make it home either!?!?! My bad day -- TRUMPED!
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