Final Blog

August 7, 2009

Today I moved home, my internship ended yesterday at 2:00PM when I sent my work to Greg, and gave everyone in the office a hug.

Wednesday evening I spent the night up at College Park visiting my fraternity and hanging out with some of the brothers.

I have to say, that I really enjoyed living and being in Washington these past 10 weeks. I think everyone should do an internship down there, or at least live down here for a period of time. It really puts things into perspective, as far as how things work. Private industry and independent agencies work very hard, while the government departments are so slow, at times it seems as if they are moving backwards.

Again, when I attended the Democratic National Convention, I have to give my respect to the people that helped make my internship enjoyable and a learning experience. I would like to thank the internship center at Cal and Dr. Blumberg for helping me through the process and being my adviser for the second time. Cal U has provided me with many opportunities during my college career.

For everyone out there who read my blogs, please sign up for EarthAid as it is a great way to monitor your energy consumption and experience the new features that will be released shortly.

http://www.earthaid.net/

Bang!

I almost forgot to thank my Democratic consultant for her wisdom and advice, Miss Jessica C.

Coming to an end...

August 4, 2009

This is my last week of my internship, and it has been a long and short internship. They days were long but it has been a quick nine weeks. Monday was commencement with The Washington Center, that’s right commencement but there wasn’t music and we didn’t have to march across a stage, thank goodness.

Today took a two-hour lunch break, and continued to work on Greg’s big project with weather and other stuff.

We all have to be moved out by Saturday, which means my two roommates and I have to clean. That’s not a problem for the one and I. However, the other one, who lives in the living room with his girlfriend, doesn’t clean and leaves his dirty plates across the apartment. Sweet!

Oh well, my last day is Thursday, and I am only working in the morning. I need to get back to the apartment and start going down the checkout list.

Zap!

July 30, 2009

Wednesday was a fun day, our environmental engineer put me on a weeklong program and I was working on that. It was also our final day for our class through the Washington Center and our group/entire class did very well.

Afterwards, we invited Dr. Michael Simpson out to P F Changs, we were having a great time, and then the bill came. Dr. Simpson picked it up, and thanked us for being a great class. The bill had to have been close to 300.00.

Dr. Simpson's favorite saying while lecturing was, "Zap."

Thursday was another long day on the project, and it consumed my entire morning. Lindsey and David took all of the interns to lunch and it was really nice. In the afternoon, I have to admit, I hung out most of the time. There isn’t much left for me to do, so I worked a bit more on Greg’s project then I went home early.

My portfolio is finally finished and turned out to be over 60 pages. I submitted it online to Fedex Kinks and found a 15.00 off coupon! Sweet!! Other than that, I have one week left. Crazy huh?

Cupcake Coma

July 26, 2009

Monday was back to work, and it was a short day as TWC had another PLS discussion. We had a high-ranking member from the Department of Homeland Security speak to us. He gave us his life story, and how he started out as a biology major.

After the discussion, my Wednesday night class and I went to Rock Bottom Restaurant and worked on our project due this week. Our presentation is about half an hour, and everyone was looking at us while we were practicing.

When I finally got home, I worked on my portfolio due next Monday.

It is a lengthy process, and I need to finish by Tuesday or Wednesday night, as it needs to be bound at Kinkos. TWC wants three copies…

Tuesday was fun, a few of the interns and I took a two and a half hour lunch brea

k. We went to Georgetown, the girls went shopping, I carried the bags and ate fabulous cupcakes. Joelle bought a dozen cupcakes for 31 bucks. ßNot a typo

I am currently writing this at work, because the internship is winding down and I realized that even after taking some time off last week, I have been working my summer away. I haven’t had much time to actually enjoy the city.

I anticipate taking a few more long lunch breaks in the next few days...

Back to reality

July 25, 2009

My week long vacation is over. It was nice to get away from work and the busy life of Washington DC. I live around the area, so technically, it is always busy and people in my area can’t drive.

This Wednesday is the final day for my TWC class and we are giving our presentation on hybrid cars implemented in New York City. It has been an in depth project with all seven of the classmates doing their part.

There are also only eight days left of my internship, which again is overwhelming given the fact that I remember in May I was posting my first blog.

It has been a lot of fun; unfortunate it has to end at some point.

While on vacation...

July 22, 2009

Hello everyone –

I thought I should blog midway through my vacation, and inform everyone about what I have been doing. I came up to Cal Sunday afternoon to help a close friend move into her house for the school year. She is majoring in Athletic Training and needs to be up early to attend a conference and ensure the health of our football team.

I also met with Dr. Whyte, one of the biology professors on campus to discuss graduate school, specifically Miami University of Ohio. He informed me of the schools prestigious history in their overall performance, and their masters program in environmental science.

I am also helping my friend Jon move out of his apartment. They are moving to Orlando Florida, as the job market is much better than in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Other than that I have been reading two books for my internship. The first is Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future. It is a very good book; the author cites a few of the coalmines in this area too. And the second deals with renewable energy. I forget the title, cripes…

It is a vacation, but really isn’t. There have been a few ups and downs, but overall it is going well.

I also miss all of my teammates at Earth Aid.

I'm just an intern... Yes I'm only an intern

July 16, 2009

Well, for the first time, I didn’t listen to my mother…

I spent all of Tuesday going to all of the congressmen/congresswomen on Capitol Hill giving them a flyer about Earth Aid’s briefing Friday morning:

Entrepreneurship & Sustainability: How Innovative Social Ventures Are Shifting the Paradigm Around Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency& What Members of Congress Can Do to Help Today, there is a lot of talk about the need for innovative solutions to the energy crisis, and a plethora of ideas are being discussed.

This Friday, come learn about two social ventures that are putting creative ideas into action — working with citizens to spur their production of renewable energy and to become more energy efficient, and rewarding them for doing so. Find out what Members of Congress can do to advance their work and the cause of sustainability at this critical time.

When: Friday, July 17, 9:30-10:30 AM (Breakfast will be served)

Where: 2456 Rayburn House Office Building

Who: Ben Bixby, CEO, Earth Aid Enterprises Rahul Prakash, COO, Virgance

RSVP:Sam Ricketts, Special Projects Coordinator, Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (202-225-6311, sam.ricketts@mail.house.gov)

I am getting up early, very early, 7:00AM Friday morning to make it to Capitol Hill on time. I know I will be early, but that’s not a problem.

Wednesday night was my TWC class and it went well as usual. We discussed educational technology and policy. Dr. Simpson brought an article to class and explained to us that some CEOs from India, will NOT hire American graduates because he refers to us as a “dime a dozen.”

I find it interesting that in a 2008 report, “85 percent of those age 25 or older reported they had completed at least high school and 28 percent had attained at least a bachelor’s degree — both record highs.”

But, we are a dime a dozen…

Anyway, Thursday was hectic, we were getting everything ready for Friday, I made various lists on different committees, and assisted David and Ben. We had so much going on to get things ready, I thought David’s head was going to explode. (but he’s okay)

I will be reporting on the meeting this weekend, and then I will be taking a few vacation days next week. Be rest assured, I will blog from vacation arena.