Day 1 - Part 1 - DC

May 21, 2007

I am in DC! My Dad and I left at around noon from MA in a Monte Carlo rental car, a CD player and no CDs, and luggage enough for a week’s stay here in ole Virginia. The trip was really uneventful. We stopped at a diner in CT for lunch, a rest stop in MD for dinner, and made it to our hotel in Crystal City at 9ish. We really cruised down here. After getting settled into the hotel we took a walk over to the Hilton across the street where I’d be picking up a shuttle to the Omni Shoreham Hotel and then hopped back in the car to drive to the Omni so I could do a quick 10min explore of the conference center. We got back to the hotel around midnight and were asleep around 1am. Now, here I have to mention my mattress. This thing is the coolest! It is a sleep number bed and my new favorite toy. I tried it on 25 last night which is very soft. I was worried that I would wake up sore this morning, but planned to try it on a more firm setting the next night. However, I woke up so rested, even at 5:15 this morning, so I think I might keep it at that setting. Laying down and changing the firmness of the mattress is a great deal of fun as well. I can’t wait to tell people all about it.

As I mentioned, I was up at 5:15 this morning. See, I am not an official part of the MA delegation. I am just here to observe the whole process. So, when I checked my schedule yesterday I had written in “7am potential MA caucus.” But I had no way of knowing if that potential was now kinetic. :) Anyway, I called a student who texted me back and said she was joining the delegation around 11:30am, but I didn’t get that message until about 5:50 this morning. Ah well. Dad and I hit up starbucks and I caught the shuttle (a charter bus) over to the Omni where I sit at this moment. I keep thinking I hear Aimee Klein’s voice which is a little scary because she could creep up on me at any moment. Not that that would be on her list of priorities now since she is on the Board of Directors and has to bring the HoD through RC 8…it has the potential to be a real messy one to say the least.…wow I really thought I just heard her again. I just finished the next paragraph of this and saw her…so I was right. We’ll see if she recognizes the back of my head. I just lightened my hair, so she really may not. She did.

Now I am trying to get some internet access in the lobby, but I can’t. There is some wireless around…it just isn’t acquiring the address. Maybe the Omni is blocking it so I have to pay $10 to get on their network. I dunno. I would pay the money actually…but I think it requires a room number and I certainly could not afford to stay here on my $300 stipend. Hopefully I can post this tonight to keep people updated on what happens down here.

Plan of the Day:

I do think I have been hanging out with military people too much that I have to have a plan of the day, or really that I just call it the plan of the day.

7:30am – 11:30am: Observation Hours – Sitting in the lobby and observing everyone. This may be one of my favorite parts, we’ll see. But I like to see how people interact, what people wear, the guy who just sprinted through the lobby with papers in his hand. I just met the first woman private practitioner. She is sitting right across from me at this sitting area in the lobby. So those are observation hours.
11:40-12:50pm: MA Caucus. I finally get to meet up with the MA delegation and catch up on what has gone down over the last day or so. They are all really great and very willing to help the other student and I understand anything they can. I am fortunate as well that they are very involved in the House. Maybe delegates from other states don’t appreciate their constant input, but I do. It keeps me on my toes trying to keep up with all of them.
12:50-3:00 – TBD. These open times (eg. observation hours and this one) are because I am not able to sit on the candidate interviews. Who knows what I’ll end up doing at this point.
3:00-4:30 – More MA Caucus
4:30-8:00 – The House of Delegates convenes!!! I can’t really expound on this since I have never experienced it, but be sure there will be much more comment to come!!

Alright, maybe observation hours are up for now. Maybe it will be explore/find internet access.