"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

This week's obligatory washington seminar excursion was to the National Defense University at Fort McNair. We played a war game. It sounded like we would be planning strategy for a war, but it was actually more like Model UN, except we had different roles within one of two countries. Our scenario was negotiating between Mexico and the US.
It was a lot of fun. It reminded me of how much I love role-playing negotiations. I did get a little snarky with one of the guys on the other team, I'm not fond of being cut off mid-sentence ;), especially when I'm suppossed to be the Secretary of State.
As normally happens with negotiations between countries there were no real decisions made, but it was an enlightening exercise into the complexities between the US and Mexican relationship.

Recent Happenings

I've been having  a great time in DC. So much so that I haven't updated the blog recently. So for your reading pleasure I present a collection of photos from recent escapades.

Washington Monument as seen from the Jefferson Memorial

One Sunday evening three of us decided to walk to the monuments from the Barlow Center. I don't think I quite understood the distances that would be required in walking the distance. It was rather long. I did enjoy the view though.

View of the Washington Monument and the White  House from the Jefferson Memorial. 

Jefferson Memorial

We ended up at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. He was a very eloquent man, and this was one of his quotes that I liked.


Last weekend I went home for Shaina's graduation. It was nice to see my family again, despite the 8 hour bus ride to and from South Carolina.

Shaina walking out after graduation

The ceremony for her school was surprisingly short. It only took an hour. It was fun to be at a High School graduation again. I still get goosebumps and emotional when I hear the graduation processional.

On Saturday Danielle and David surprised us by driving up to SC for a visit while I was there.

Working on the puzzle

It was fun to see them again.

Playing Star Wars Monopoly

This last Friday we went to the Supreme Court. We talked with one of the Clerk's for Justice Sotomayer. He told us about the day to day life of a Supreme Court Clerk.

It was really interesting. The building itself is beautiful.

Me in front of the Supreme Court

Spiral staircase 

Ceiling

Unfortunately I have no additional information about the decision regarding Universal Healthcare...the Clerk said he wasn't allowed to discuss it. (Which is to be expected)

Memorial Day concert at the Capitol.

View from our seats

Hanging out with Melanie and Amy

The Concert was great. We arrived about 3 hours early to get decent seats on the grass. (Apparently sitting on the Capitol steps for several hours is not comfortable) Halfway through the concert the DC police announced that we needed to evacuate the area because of bad weather coming into the area. So we had to leave. A few of us Barlow-ites walked back from the Capitol because we figured the Metro would be really full. We walked all the way home and only got a little wet. It was a good adventure.

Until next time.