44 miles and still standing

I can't help but sit here and smile after yet another glorious week! All signs point to one more for the finale until we depart on Saturday already. For those of you in love with this blog, maybe we'll continue to leave some posts as the next few years will undoubtedly contain a few memories with both of us in CO!
Looking back to last week, I recall a cold start on Monday, intensified by a shivering experience at the National's baseball game. It was exciting to be there, and we had some great seats, but the cold was nearly unbearable, for how we were dressed at least! Tuesday Sean went out to eat after a long day at work. I had a tour that day of the National's new ballpark, which is now under construction, followed by a long night working on some remodel plans for my employer.
Wednesday, always an exciting day, we departed at 9:00am for the National Zoo, where we experienced the pandas, elephants, snakes, gorillas, among other animals. A zoo is always a good time, and we were able to thoroughly enjoy the entire thing by half-past noon!
After class Wednesday we went to the National Mall (park) for a picnic, followed by a visit to our cook's house where Sean and I were able to clean spotless! Needless to say, our evening was nearly shot so we returned home for some sleep.
Thursday I departed at 3:30am for Raleigh (by plane) for a day-long business trip. It was very exciting although I was a bit exhausted throughout the whole thing! I was home by 1:00am, and as you all know, Sean was fast asleep. I'll just say he had a boring day since I forget the details! Friday Sean was able to meet a few players at work, which I am constantly jealous about. It was my last day of work so I packed up my things, printed off a few final documents, said a few goodbyes then went out to a final lunch with my supervisor. Class went well - we had Steven Garber one more time, always a great speaker!
Friday night we relaxed, finishing a few papers. Today we woke for our weekly pancakes, then departed on a round-trip, 44-mile bike ride to Mt. Vernon which has left us exhausted for eternity! The ride was of the most beautiful experiences ever though, on an 80 degree day! We were along the Potomac the whole way, except for when we rode through Alexandria, where I believe we would both LOVE to live. Mt Vernon itself was spectacular. We paid the $13 entrance fee, one of our largest spending sprees yet, and got the mansion tour. We walked around for 4 hours, preparing ourselves for the trek home!
I feel the need to apologize for our amazing experiences here. Just remember that you all have many friends and family to spend time with, while it is just the two of us out here. So we are enjoying this at the expense many relationships! Luckily in a few weeks we'll be seeing a lot of you! Thanks again for your prayers. On many of the excursions we've needed them!

House to the Graves

It's really too bad that before the incentive, we had lived and traveled believing only a select few cared about us two lonely boys on the east coast. If I'd known I would have written twice a week, given this flood of comments! An additional advantage is that I won't have to dig deep into the memory bank to remember what happened - since it was just Wednesday that I last posted!
So, beginning Thursday... We had another exciting full day at work, which ended just in time for a group meeting to prepare for Friday's presentation. About ten minutes into the meeting I received a phone call for two free concert tickets for an Irish group. We didn't go, and this is important to share because it proves how dedicated to our schoolwork we've become! The meeting ended up taking us until about 11:00, and the following day was a little important, so we hit the bunks a little early (for me, not Sean).
Friday morning we arrived back at the apartments after our half day of work and finished up our preparatory work. Feeling confident, we headed to the Cannon House Office Building for our presentation. We felt official, and I'm pretty sure half of our class was quite confident that our decision would be used by the President - meaning it was quite heated, but exciting! We each were representing the US as experts on our respective countries (listed in the last post). Sean and I opened up the show with our introduction speech, leading in to a two hour discussion with everyone desiring any opportunity to voice their opinion.
Following the excitement, we rejoiced to be on the downhill towards completing the semester, although there are many things we'll miss when we leave! Sean had to get up early to begin preparing for DC United's home opener Saturday night so he went to bed quite early, as I wasted some time in my room, then took the lengthened nap.
Saturday, since Sean was at work, I went to my B&D supervisor's house to get some measurements for a plan I am drawing him, and enjoyed some pancakes and fruit as well! I got back, ate some lunch, and took off on a bike ride. I went up Massachusettes Ave, past Cheney's house and hundreds of Embassies from China and Korea to Great Britain, Brazil, and South Africa. I also saw the naval observatory and statues of Churchill, Ghandi, and Sheridan. Quite an amazing place! On the trip back I visited Ford's theater for a short play about the players involved the night of Lincoln's assassination.
Then a large group from ASP headed to the soccer game. We had great seats next to a drunken fan club lighting smoke bombs and throwing toilet paper the whole game, which made it an experience! After the game I got a picture with Eddie Johnson, arguably the best striker from the United States World Cup team. That ended Saturday.
Today we slept in til 11, made the 11:30 service at Union Station, then took a nap and traveled across town to Arlington Cemetery; one of the most beautiful places in the area! We arrived 'home', and I went to play soccer in the Naval Yard for a few hours. I just arrived back to the apartment and have not seen Sean yet, so that's all I can do for now. Hope that wasn't boring... the experiences are limited with the short timeframe! Thanks, and we'll see most of you soon!

Please come to Boston in the Springtime.

I just took three minutes to think about the way I seem to often begin my blogs, and have realized that the reason I no longer post every week is that I enjoy apologizing? So once again, sorry for the delay, but I will run you through the last ten days as educationally as possible, including an exciting trip through eight states!
The second and third of the month were far from special, filled predominantly by frantic notetaking and exciting interviews for our foreign policy presentation. We got in a few days of lifting before our four day weekend began Thursday morning, and enjoyed a few filling college meals as well. Wednesday we made another trip to the two senate buildings (Russell and the other one), raking in 6 personal interviews with LAs and LCs to Obama, Clinton, Lieberman, Harkin (Iowa), Murray (WA), and a Colorado one. Feeling a bit accomplished, we left for our rooms to get a quick bite before class, which was super exciting (I think that was sarcastic this time?). Following class, we purchased a few bus tickets, packed our backpacks, and stole some solid shut-eye.
We woke at literally the break of dawn to catch our morning bus enroute to Boston, with a few stops along the way. We drove north through Baltimore, into Pennsylvania to Philly, dropped off a few people, snagged a picture or two and left for New York (through Delaware and New Jersey first). In New York we hit Chinatown and walked to two blocks to our new bus, which was conveniently located next to a 1/4 lb. $0.92 jumbo hot dog shop, claiming to have the best weiners in NYC! We graciously accepted the offer, and have now tried the best hot dogs and the best pizza in New York.
Our second bus was a bit nicer than the first, and more time-efficient... We drove over the Manhattan bridge, through Queens, along the coastline into Connecticut, and north into Boston, where we caught the "T" at South Station. A general note about Boston: beautiful city, great skyscrapers and architecture (and history), clean, easy-to-understand subway, and friendly people. Well we took off for a friends house (member of ASP), where we stayed the night after checking out the Atlantic for a bit.
The next morning we awoke and hit the city, seeing the Garden, capitol, Cheers, graveyard w/ Hancock among others buried, Quincy market, and a bunch of other visuals. I met up with my friend AJ from the navy (currently stationed in Connecticut) and he joined us for that day and the next. It was a great time as we rested by the harbor, then left for a different view of the Atlantic. It made me realize how lucky we "coasters" are to have the ocean RIGHT THERE! I'm going to be taking a little greater advantage of that come summer!
Well we stayed the night at this friend's sister's house in New Hamphire, adding to our list. In the morning we went downtown to Kitty O'Shea's pub to watch the DC united soccer game. We were given a private area where we could have the volume up... as not to annoy the regulars I presume - I guess there was an exciting Masters on? The night ended with a drive around, another stop at the ocean, and a late night crash. Oh, and we had a GREAT homecooked lunch in Northern Mass Saturday!
We summed up the trip with an 8:00 Easter service which was excellent, then an amazing brunch before we caught the bus back home. Monday and Tuesday were awful days filled with lots and lots of homework, preparing for today's presentation which went EXCELLENT. Ask Sean or I what the US policy in Iraq should be and we'll have the best answer, slightly tainted to the interests of Jordan :).
Well, now it's time for a bit of sleep to prepare for our second presentation Friday. Our "senior members" enjoy doing this to us. As I will to any students I may ever be in charge of... so help them. Take care and thanks for the replies. I'll make a deal and say if I receive 5 replies by Sunday night I'll write again then. It's up to you... and I'm not even sure if that many people read this still! Night.

An exciting weekend

Hello again! In my phone calls across the country I understand you all would have loved to be here this past weekend! Washington's getting the rain, Colorado the snow, and Iowa the cold. We have a beautiful weekend with some great memories once again. Before I forget, a special thanks to grandad and granny for the 'gift', the coons for the easter snacks, scott for your box and M&D for yours! I believe receiving mail is among our favorite things to... do, and a box tops that!
Well this past Wednesday was a little disappointing since I managed to get off of my cold just as Sean began his session. So Wednesday was a sleep day for him as I worked on checking a few things off of my to-do list. It's good that Sean is feeling better, but he's at sleep a bit early after another busy weekend!
Thursday and Friday were a bit of the same with Sean hitting the hay early. Saturday, there was an adult soccer tournament next to the reflection pool, and DC United sponsored the event. The only two staff members 'supervising' were Sean and the other intern. Sean and I each held a two hour session as the mascot of DC United, a talon (eagle), which was quite the experience. It's exciting when every person you walk by wants to meet you and get a picture taken with you. Although we made over a hundred kids happy, Sean managed to make a couple cry and I made an enemy in a golden retriever! It was fun none-the-less as you'll see in the posted pictures!
The tournament was Saturday and Sunday, which virtually took up our whole weekend. Tonight was opening night for MLB, which is exciting for a few people I understand. We had a wiener roast and watched part of the game, but decided 3 innings was enough.
After we left the game we went outside, where likely the most memorable experience of our time in DC happened! We walked outside and went to cross the street, but there was a parked car that blocked Sean's vision. Anyway, he ran our into the road and got hit head-on by a Dodge Caravan. Luckily the car was beginning to slow for a stop sign, so he just fell backward and rolled a bit on the ground. After getting up he felt OK so we didn't have to go to the hospital or anything, which was nice - because it was late and we're tired!
Among these thrills, my mother and father, along with Buhee, were led to believe that Sean and I got arrested this past weekend for stealing from the Air and Space Museum, forgetting today is also April 1! Sean's parents were led to believe that I was engaged. We're not always the sweet little angels over here :). You can re-read the last paragraph with today's date in mind if you wish. Hope you all have a good start to the week... here's to some nice weather!