Category: work

A bubbly mess

May 15, 2009

My last roommate to go, Ever, made a mess in the kitchen tonight by putting Dawn dishsoap in the dishwasher. Cindy first noticed the bubbles flowing freely out of the dishwasher around 11:30. It is a huge mess, and it just had to happen on our LAST NIGHT here.

Mom and I did most of the cleaning though Ever helped here and there before she left to go out with her boyfriend and other interns from Mexico. I freaked out that she was leaving without helping clean up the mess-which could overstay us in the apartment and ruin the floors-and went to talk to our RA, Ann. I just wanted to make sure I would not be fined for anything she caused this close to check out and did not adequately clean up. She assured me, along with my younger sister Elizabeth, that I would not be fined for Ever’s messes. Thank goodness!!

To top it off, I fell off the bed while talking to Cindy, Mom and Elizabeth. One minute I was on the bed laughing and the next minute I was trying to catch myself on the glass doors leading to my small balcony. No such luck. I fell hard between the bed and the window.

We are still working on getting it cleaned (mainly mom) and I am also close to 90-percent packed. We are waking up early in the morning to clear out the rest.

Final Visit-Thursday

May 14, 2009

I picked my mom, younger sister Elizabeth and my best friend Cindy up at BWI airport this morning, and we began the first day of their visit right!! I made it to the airport just in time to meet them at the baggage area and we were quickly able to pick up their luggage and hop back on a metro bus to DC.

We started off the visit by going straight to eat since we were all starving, and ate at Red Lobster in Silver Spring! Tonight we completed a three-and-a-half bus tour of the DC monuments which was fantasic. Our tour guide was hilerous, however the only downfall was the heavy rain during our visit to the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korea memorials. We were still able to have some fun though. 🙂 See below: a picture of the group at the WWII Memorial.

Elizabeth, me, Cindy and Mom
Elizabeth, me, Cindy and Mom

After the tour, we decided to show Cindy Chinatown and stop at the McDonald’s there so Mom could get a burger. Ha, we got more than we bargained for after we met two cops who were more than friendly with us. They joked and scared Mom with scary stories about not eating the food-after we already ate the food-and pretended that they had a call to detain us. Mom actually stood up, put her hands on the wall and said “Frisk me!!” It was hilerous!!

It was after 1 a.m. when we finally got home from this, and we are all pretty worn out! However, there will be no sleeping in for us. We will be leaving bright and early for another day in DC!! First up: the zoo!

TWC Grad

May 12, 2009

I attended my graduation ceremony for The Washington Center today. It was okay, even though I was 30 minutes late-which infuriates me. I confused the National Housing Center with the Department of Interior and showed up 30 minutes early at the DOI just to find out that I was in the wrong place. Silly me.

On the bright side, I was able to talk to one of my best friends-Matt-for 15 minutes more. I did enjoy that especially since he admitted it was time for me to come back. 🙂 I do always love being told I’m missed!

Anyways, I was able to talk to my class’ final project partner one last time before he left as well as hang out with my first TWC friend-so the graduation ceremony was cool.

I have a job!

May 9, 2009

Once I get back May 16, I will be starting my new job two days later on Monday, May 18, at the Wynne Progress. Yes, I’m moving home.

I am actually excited about the prospect of moving home since I will get to be closer to my family for at least  a year before I move on. Elizabeth is wanting me home for her 21st birthday on Nov. 2, and I as well. I have also already told grandma and mom that I expect some home-cooked meals from time to time!

Never Too Late

May 9, 2009

I helped Cindy buy tickets to come visit me last night. She will flying to DC on Thursday with my mom and sister to pick me up and will fly home with all of us on Saturday. I cannot wait! 🙂

I am already planning what we are all going to do-I just hope the weather decides to be nice and sunny! Or at least not rainy!!

Yesterday, Sheila finally left after I met her fiance Al again and Al’s little brother. They were pretty cool, and it was hilerous watching Al’s brother trying to get these huge boxes out the door. He kept dropping something.

I have now moved into Sheila and Cay’s bedroom and I must say I love having my own room-even for a week! I have all my stuff here in the master bedroom just lined up to be packed. It is great! I must say Ever is loving it as well. She has more privacy with her boyfriend Oliver of Mexico, who is staying on here in DC with his internship assignment in a full-time position.

And so it ends…

May 7, 2009

The first of my roommates and fellow PHA interns left today. My roommate Caylah went home an extra day early after she found out another intern in the building was going her way, and my co-worker Monica finished up her internship as the advocacy and awareness intern as well. It was sad in both cases, well for me and not really them.

To finish up the internship, the interns-Monica, Patti and I-created our internship videos. I must say they are awesome to watch. We had video ourselves talking about what we did at PHA and why we recommend our internships. Along with our less-than-1 minute videos, we also created a nice 3 minute video of us talking and preparing for my internship video. We had no clue that the camera was recording and it caught us talking and preparing me to do the interview. It is actually pretty funny to watch.

Patti and I are the next to leave: I leave next Wednesday, May 13, and Patti will leave either the same day or Friday, May 15.

For the roommates, Sheila is leaving tomorrow at 9 p.m. after her fiance and his brother arrive to pick her up, and then it will be just Ever and I.

I cannot believe four months has already passed and the semester is over. It’s crazy!

Blonde moment

May 6, 2009

This past weekend was the last weekend for Sheila and Cay. They leave this Friday, and Johnny has already left for Massachussetts for his 3-week vacation. It is so odd realizing that the semester is now over.

Johnny spent the weekend with us in Rockville. Johnny and I attended the Nationals-Cardinals game where we had wicked seats (at least perfect for me). It was the fifth row up from right field. I was happy with it, and the Cardinals won the game-so great!

Saturday was Rockville’s Cinco de Mayo festival and Johnny, the roommates and I could not resist checking it out. It was pretty great, and we all had so much fun. I was able to buy a huge plate of pasta and a piece of garlic bread along with a coke for $4, and after we ate, we listened to a live band while drinking margaritas.

Later that night, we ended up meeting some interns at the town square while listening to music and we went to one of their rooms to watch the Celtics and Bulls game. A good portion of the folks in the apartment were from Mass., including Johnny and Sheila, so you can guess which team was favored the most!! Luckily, the Celtics won or there would have been trouble!

As it was, we did have our drama in a way. several of us were downstairs while Johnny and another intern smoked when three police officers pulled up and went into our building.

Curious to see where they were going, we followed the last police officer and he led us straight to the room we were in! Turns out a neighbor called in a noise complaint, and the officers just smiled and told us that there was a complaint. Sadly enough, the game had ended right before we went outside for the Johnny and the other intern to smoke, so we were about to head out of the door anyways.

Here is our last group picture (taken Saturday night) of Sheila, Ever, Johnny, me and Cay!

The gang

I had a blonde moment this weekend when my roommates and Johnny asked me where I had an interview at. For some reason I thought my Monday morning interview was in D.C., and I was asking them all “where is Wall St. in D.C.?” It did not take long before I was freaked out by their cluelessness and checked out my application in my e-mail. Sure enough-I was wrong! My interview was in New York.

I left my apartment at 2 a.m. Monday so that I could arrive in time for my 9:30 a.m. appointment with a online newswire on Wall Street. Well, I easily made it to the paper without too much difficulty (Penn Station and the subway was hard to navigate for my first time) and I was still early for my appointment. I walked in for my meeting only to be told to come back in an hour. It was a good interview, but the weather outside was dreary and raining nonstop.

Wall Street

My Amtrak train left Penn Station at 2:05 p.m. and I was supposed to arrive back in D.C. at 5:23 p.m. Boy, was I misguided. The train ended up being 41 minutes behind schedule meaning I arrrived at Union Station at 6:30-the same time as my bonus class in Press, Politics and Power. I ended up rushing to class (which only had 4 students) and completing the bonus project-the “I’ve Got A Problem,” ethics game.

Today was no better. I had a morning program meeting to share my civic engagement project with everyone else in my communications and media program. It was interesting as well to hear what fellow interns did. I was especially interested in one of the students’ project, which was similar, if not actually, the Big Brother and Big Sister program. I have always wanted to be a “Big Sister” in the program so I thought this was interesting.

Sent home

April 30, 2009

I was at work for 5 minutes today which gave me just enough time to tell my boss that I was not feeling so great and for her to send me home.

I felt horrible, however I know I do not have swine flu which my boss thought I could possibly have. This was at 9 a.m. and it is now at 8:57 p.m.  After lots of sleep and medicine I am actually feeling somewhat better. Which is great!

I am currently working on finishing up my portfolio for The Washington Center, my final for class and sending out an application and resume to a contact that one of PHA’s vice presidents told me to get in touch with. I am actually really excited to talk to her-I think she will be able to tell me more about public relations and communications in general in Washington, D.C., as far as expectations and skills go.

I also received a call today asking to set up an appointment for an internship interview here in Washington, D.C. I was asleep when they called and accidently answered so I was not at my best, however that just means I will have to be on top of it Monday when I show up. The interview is on Wall Street-so wish me luck!!

Role-playing

April 29, 2009

Tonight I participated in part one of my final for my course Press, Politics and Power. It dealt with communication strategy, and each student played a role in an overall political scene: a Republican president is up for reelection with a low popular vote with a vice president, who is a POW and has an even lower approval rate. The US is in an unpopular war that is stablizing. For the Democrat presidential nominee, she is rumored to have two choices for vice president, a Illinois senator and the CEO of Goodlight, who are rumored to battling privately for the position.

It is now a Thursday night, and the CEO has funded an event for the Democrat candidate at the MET in New York. The president is to appear for dinner at the MET on Sunday. Right before 10 p.m. Thursday, there is an attack on the MET with two MET security workers, secret service and a few others saving the day and lives. There are no deaths and the Democrat candidate escapes unscathed, though shaking, and the CEO receives minor injuries. The Illinois senator is currently on a book tour and did not attend the MET event.

My role: the Illinois senator.

For the final project, part one, my duty was to examine how the attack was going to affect my role as the Illinois Senator. I had to come up with a communications strategy to help my role. It was actually really fun!  I enjoyed it.