Getting Out

I don't have any fun pictures for this post, and it will be rather short, but I thought I'd just give an update. Thursday, the recycling day of the conference, went really well. I didn't really learn anything I didn't already know, but I did meet alot of people and make some good connections, plus it was interesting. On Thursday, during lunch, I went a bought a new phone, the kind that has a calendar and maps and email and everything on it too. I thought I never would, that I liked being unplugged, but I really like it now. And it's way lighter and more compact than my red book, which is nice. On Thursday night we had a big group dinner because one of the interns, Ian, had some friends in town, which was fun. Then on Friday we had a meeting on capital hill with a staffer who did technology, and particularly DOD, stuff. We wanted to go to the House gallery to watch the vote, since if you weren't aware they voted to pass the House Climate Bill on Friday, but the line was SUPER long and full of tourists, so we decided to go to work and watch it on CSPAN. It was an amazing debate, very heated and valid points made on both sides. Friday night we took the metro down to Alexandria, VA. We went to dinner at this restaurant called Bilbo Baggins. I was a little disappointed that the door wasn't circle, but it was good food and had a lovely selection of microbrews. They even had Rouge, which is an Oregon beer that I like. After that we went to a movie at this old fashioned theater they have there that you can have food and drinks in. We saw the Hangover, which was actually really funny. I got home and went right to bed because I wanted to go biking with this group on Saturday. But, when I woke up I couldn't find my water bottle anywhere. I'm still figuring out my life in this new place and I just can't seem to keep track or everything, or anything. But I knew I couldn't go on a long ride without one, so I waited until the bike store near my house opened at 9am, went and bought a water bottle, and then went on a long ride by myself. I had looked up a long ride online and brought the directions with me. The first part went out through this park that closes the road for bikers on the weekend, then I got into the Maryland countryside, which was really beautiful with lots of hilly, windy roads, and lots of amazingly big and expensive houses and estates. In the end I was really glad I got to go out by myself, because I got to go for longer than the ride would have and got to go where I wanted, at my pace, and explore. Now I am going to hopefully go and get myself motivated to work on my paper. More later.