I have now been at my internship for 2 weeks. I am working for the Department of Defense (DoD) at the Pentagon. To explain where I work in DoD is a bit complicated, but I'll give it my best shot. The Secretary of Defense (SecDef) has several UnderSecretarys. I am in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) under the UnderSecretary for Policy (OSDP). From there, I am under the AssistantSecretary of Defense (ASD) for Special Operations, Low Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities (SOL/IC) and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Partnership, Strategy and Stability Operations (PSO) and the Director for Humanitarian Assistance, Disaster Relief (HA/DR) and Global Health.... YAY for acronyms! And yes, it did take me two weeks to learn that. The good news is that now that Mr. Panetta is the new SecDef, he has made it clear that he speaks English, not DoD, so hopefully some of the jibberish will go away. Sometimes when I come to work I feel like I carry on conversation in code, and I'm lucky if I pick up 10% of it.
I LOVE my new internship. I was a bit apprehensive about coming back to work for the government after my "learning experience" with USAID. The people here are fantastic, brilliant at what they do, focused when necessary, but so laid back. I already feel like they are my friends. I have my own cubicle and after 3 days even was able to find it on my own. Even though the Pentagon is only 1 metro stop away, one of the girls showed me a tunnel that cuts underneath the highway so that I can walk to work. It takes about 20+ minutes, but it saves me $5/day.
I spent 2 days this week in training, which was like torture, but now I understand this place a lot better. Last week was SecDef Gates' last week, which was pretty sad, but I got to take a picture with him! What's ironic is that I actually got to see him off when he left being Texas A&M's president, and now I got to see him off again! When they took the picture, he shook my hand and thanked me for my service. I responded by thanking HIM for HIS service and said "thanks and gig em." He smiled. It's my new claim to fame. When I get my copy of the picture, I'll be sure to put it on the blog.
We are having a Policy picnic here in a few weeks and I thought I would get into the spirit by signing up for the baking competition. Little did I know that this would truly endear me to my office. They have all their hopes of winning the contest on me, so they are "letting me" try out my recipes on them first and then making the best one of that day. Today I brought in a chocolate chip cheesecake. I caught them in the boss's office eating it with their hands. I think I'll consider that a victory.
I have to admit that most days I feel pretty cool when I realize that I'm in the Pentagon, in my own cube, drinking my Moroccan mint tea and reading through classified documents and creating new ones. How did I ever get here? I don't really care, but its awesome! The best part is that they told me I could stay on as long as I want until I graduate next Spring. Yay!
On to Caleb - I would tell you about his internship, but then I'd have to kill you.... Just kidding, but I seriously can't tell you anything about that. They basically told them on the first day that if they mentioned anything about their internship on a blog, they would be fired. BUT, I can say that he enjoys wearing his new suits and ties and feels pretty cool being over by the Capitol. It has also been nice because one of the guys from our Sunday School Class actually works on that committee, so he's made a new friend.
Last Thursday night was the semi finals and championship game for our softball league. We played at 6:45 and the winner would play the winner of the next game at 9. We played terrible. I mean terrible. We were pretty disappointed not to get to play in the championships, but I'm a little relieved it's over. Our team was getting a little too competitive for our own good. I am one of the most competitive people in the world, and I thought it was getting ridiculous. I kept telling people, "it's just church league softball!" Oh well. It worked out that was our last game because I actually sprained my ankle. I honestly have no idea how it happened. I was out in right field and ran after a ball and it just started hurting really bad. At least it wasn't my foot that has had all the surgeries. But it hurt so bad I went to the doctor the next day and she confirmed definitely a sprain and gave me an air cast and crutches. I refuse to use the crutches, but I've worn the brace around. I had to since I walked a million miles a day in the Pentagon.
Caleb up to bat
Our team in the dugout.... men, women, and even kids : )
The championship trophy that wasn't meant to be ours....
About to smack it to the back of the outfield!
Unfortunately, this all happened right before the 4th of July. I shouldn't act like its that big of a deal because we didn't exactly have plans... We spent most of the weekend just lounging and watching movies. On Monday, we decided to do a few fun things. We drove about 20 miles out of town to a place features on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." The place is called Dixie Bones, and it looked and tasted exactly like you are imagining. It was definitely the best BBQ we've had since we moved up here. AND, the portions were HUGE! If anyone ever comes to visit us up here, we'll take you there. We enjoyed that you ordered your meat, chose your sides, and then they had tons of bottles of different sauces on the table to try on your meat. Yum! In case you are interested in checking them out, here is there website:
Afterwards we decided we should at least do SOMETHING inside DC on the 4th. We drove up to Georgetown and waited in a line down the street for 45 minutes to get cupcakes from the shop featured on the TLC show "Georgetown Cupcakes." It's a shop run by 2 sisters, and its a HUGE tourist site. We've never been, but decided the 4th was a great time to try it. At first we were each going to get 1 cupcake each, but after we waited in the heat for almost an hour, we each ended up getting 3.... Caleb tried 3 different types of chocolate - shocking, I know. I tried the seasonal special, Mint Julep, another seasonal, Strawberry, and Cinnamon. Yum! They were delicious, and the waiting in line was completely worth it!
We debated all week whether to go into town for the holiday celebration at the Capitol. They had lots of performers, like Steve Martin, Little Richard, Jordin Sparks, etc. BUT, they started predicting 500,000 people showing up. The thought of having to fight those people not only to get there, but also to get home, just wasn't worth it. So, we watched the special on PBS and then ran up to the 17th floor of our apartment complex to watch the fireworks. They were really fantastic! You could not only see the "official" fireworks over the Capitol, but also the hundreds of others fireworks displays going on in the background of the metro area. Next year maybe we'll be brave enough to fight off the crowds in town, but I really think this 4th of July was perfect. Things have been so crazy with starting our new jobs and getting ready to move, that it was nice just to relax and enjoy the holiday together.
I promise to be better about updating the blog. Be sure to check back in, in a few days because we have officially taken possession of our new apartment (we are moving this weekend) and we attempted to paint it this past weekend...
I love this update!! Keep em coming!
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