Happy Birthday, Israel!

It's Israel's 60th birthday on the Christian calendar, though they celebrated their official day last week on the 7th (based off the Hebrew calendar). Nice to see Bush was here to share the day with a speech to the Knesset which, for some inexplicable reason, he used to attack Barack. Well, it's obvious he was trying to swing the American Jewish vote to the Republicans, but it's a little strange to be making that point here...the taxi drivers who don't speak much English know he's here though, as they have plenty to say to us when they see we're Americans. The funny thing is, a lot of those things are nice. The professor commented today that Israel was the only place left, including America, that Bush gets a warm reception upon arriving- if that doesn't show you that something's wrong with the Bush-Israel policies, what does?

Also, if you heard about the rocket attack on Ashkelon, don't worry, we're nowhere near there and I don't plan on getting anywhere near the Gaza Strip. The people receiving Bush made statements suggesting that there might be a major incursion in there sometime soon to weaken Hamas, so don't be worried if you hear news about fighting- we aren't anywhere near there and are completely safe.

Been a busy few days here in Israel- we started the classes at the IDC (Interdisciplinary Center), which is the first private university in Israel. We've had 11 lectures in 3 days on topics from the Arab-Israeli Conflict (specific, I know) to the demographic problems of Arab-Israelis (very interesting lecture) to domestic politics in Israel and the many internal divisions in the country that are barely held together by the common outside threat. Today's last lecture on human rights and the war on terror was a bit aggravating to even the most staunch Israel supporters in class though- besides the fact that the professor essentially read legal briefs off of a power point, the extremely one-sided view given included false and exaggerated indictments of the American legal system without a criticism of Israel's. When she did feel free enough to diverge from the typed words and offer her own thoughts, she chastised the American media for overglorifying Palestinian deaths in their pursuit of "selling a product" and essentially said that the Israel-Palestine conflict deserves none of this attention because more people are dying in Darfur and the Congo.

That may be true- but practically, the US can't be running everywhere in the world to stop crises. We rightly focus on areas that have a strategic interest to us (read: the effect the conflict has on the entire Middle East), which is no fault of the media. So there's my rant for today- but the whole thing has been interesting and surprisingly two-sided overall, so I can truly say I've enjoyed it (besides the fact that today's lectures went 7 and a half hours).

Otherwise, I've been enjoying the local scene and fare. We took a trip to Tel Aviv for a night tour Tuesday- kinda interesting, but it was a big group and we eventually broke off to head to a chocolate bar where our leader all bought us hot chocolate. Being a big fan of German food, I love the availability of Schnitzel here. It's nice and cheap at the cafeteria at the IDC (on a pita with onions, hummus, spices, and french fries) for 15 shekels (just under 5 dollars). We've also hit a few Israeli places (more schnitzel, schwarma, and, my favorite, tuna fish pizza) and a Turkish place last night- good, but expensive. I've found that for cheap food, you really have to stay by the schwarma/falafel places by the beach- not trouble for me, since I've been doing my best to find cheap food, as always, and stick with water out of a water bottle as much as possible so I have money for more fun things.

Tomorrow starts a string of really cool trips. We have a free day, so we managed to find a day trip up to Caeseria (an old Roman town) for about 40 bucks- should be a fun day, I promise I'll start taking some interesting pictures there and get them up here (not many interesting pictures in Herzliyya and the parts of Tel Aviv I've been). Saturday includes a trip up to the sea of Galilee and Tiberius before heading up to the scenic Golan Heights. Finally, Sunday is a day in Jerusalem letting us hit up the major sights around the city- don't worry, I promise to be safe.

Next Friday we're thinking of taking a trip over to the fortress of Massada and the Dead Sea, but that is contingent on price. I'm hoping to still make it to Petra and Jordan that weekend, but that has the same sticking point. The best way may be finding a youth hostel in the south and taking a bus there for 5 hours from here- but youth hostels are hard to find there, so we may have to rely on the flight, which is always an expensive way to travel- more on those travels as plans get made.

As always, I'm missing everyone at home and hope you're all doing well. Shalom!

Back in Business- if, by business, you mean Israel

Got to Israel at about 11 yesterday after a obscenely long trip- 15 minutes on the metro, an hour on the MARC train 11 hours overnight in BWI, 2 hours on the tiniest plane I've ever flown on (read: propellers), 9 hours in Toronto's airport (which, nicely, provided me with $5 worth of Tim Horton's donuts in return for taking a survey on my airport experience), 11 1/2 hours on the Israel flight (2 meals provided, as well as movies- I made it through Jumper, Cloverfield, I Am Legend, and, as a last resort, the Golden Compass), and finally, at noon local time Sunday after a crazy cab ride, I made it to the hotel. Needless to say, got plenty of reading done on the trip (and for anyone interested in the distorted Arab-US perceptions of each other, take a look at Lawrence Pintak's "Reflections in a Bloodshot Lens"- very interesting and informative book by the man who is leading the Egypt/Qatar program next month).

Nice place here- internet, pool, AC, great food- I took a nice hot shower first before taking a nice 4 hour nap. Afterwards, I awoke to find out that my group's plane was 2 hours late, much to my hungry stomach's chagrin. Nevertheless, they made it and I met everyone, nice group. We ate dinner at the hotel- Hoummus, assorted appetizers, rice, beef, chicken- the waiter complemented my "strong appetite" and said I was like Arnold Schwarzenegger in that respect:) Afterwards, we explored the beach and town a bit at night- very warm and nice place, I think we'll enjoy it. I was able to get in touch and skype with the folks back home when I got back before bed.

This morning involved a good breakfast (apparently, a pepper-laced tuna salad is breakfast here- very tasty:)) and a long trip to the beach. I avoided burns (barely) and got some reading done. Water was beautiful. Lunch was at a small restaurant near there- got a great Schawarma on a pita- hummus, chicken, onions, tabbouleh, and french fries. right now, we're headed out to do some walking around the town in the day. More updates to come as classes and trips around the region start- hope everyone's well, leave comments here if you have any messages for me. Shalom!

Laughs, Blossoms, and Libyans!

The closer this summer gets, the more and more excited I am to be so close to going to the Middle East. I've started reading travel websites liberally to get as much information as I can on Cairo, Herzliya, and Qatar- don't know how much "touristy" stuff they'll be giving us time for but it's still exciting to see. I should have at least a little time (likely in Israel) in the 4 or so days in between the two programs, assuming I find a way to stay in the region. We got our first email regarding the Israel trip today; sadly, I won't be able to make the informational "get to know each other" meetings back in Cuse, but we did find out about our hotel- looks pretty sweet, I've always said the complex Palestinian-Israeli situation is best discussed from a hotel pool. Well, not really- but it can't hurt, right?

Fun day for class last Thursday- we went to the National Defense University to participate in the strategic game, "Pandemic Fury." Basically, we did some roleplaying as policymakers in a fictional situation where a human-to-human strain of bird flu breaks out in south Asia and eventually spreads through shipping lines to America. My job as press secretary for the Homeland Security Dept. was to calm down America by downplaying the problem and framing our message- a little unethical by my journalism standards, but pretty fun to play on the other side of things for once. We definitely gained a better respect for everyone trying to solve these problems- you never realize how hard it is to protect people AND leave their rights intact until you try to do it.

Fun weekend here, at least Saturday, which featured the Cherry Blossom festival and the Capitol Steps. The blossoms were beautiful, and it was sweet seeing the hundreds (if not thousands) of kites flying above the Mall (one was big enough that it literally looked like I could have ridden on it). I got some good pics of the blossoms, they'll be up on Facebook eventually. That night though, was the highlight- Capitol Steps was an amazingly hilarious performance (check out the site for musical samples, especially "Lirty Dies"). They did music parodies like "Huckabee" ("Let it Be" by the Beatles) or, pictured above, Larry Craig singing "Tap Three Times." I definitely am going to see them again sometime.

A little disappointment this morning as MEI's Libya Conference was unable to work out the videoconference with Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi- still an interesting time, though; I met a very nice Libyan man named Mr. Bagdadi who spoke with me for a while how journalists and waiters are alike, as he'd been both. And naturally, I enjoyed the free food (especially the amazing desert, which featured edible gold foil flecks on each dish).

Rough opening night for the Braves last night, it always sucks to lose on a walk-off...but its heartening to see the team as ESPN's favorite for World Series Champions. Go Atlanta!

Well, it's off to career night tonight, a networking event set up by Dr. Schneider (complete with free pizza- it's always nice to go through a day without paying for food!) I'll leave you with a sample of the Capitol Steps' work- if you're ever in DC, you have to see them- they're well worth the price. Ma'a Salaama!

Back, with a vengeance

Sorry for the delay in between posts- last Monday was the day after Spring Break, and as such, there wasn't so much to be writing about. The excitement of Spring Break came Wednesday through Friday with the arrival and visit of Nick and Steve, my brother and his friend. We had the opportunity to play tourist on Thursday as I gave the grueling 14-mile walking tour of all the monuments, museums, and important buildings DC has to offer. It was tiring but fun, and I really enjoyed having the guys here. Most of the rest Spring Break involved me lying on the couch sick, watching TV or reading.

Along those reading lines, though, I have a recommendation to make of a book I finished during the week. Anyone who doesn't know anything about the story behind Al-Qaeda and 9/11 should read this, but anyone who just is interested in Osama bin Laden and the "Why Do they Hate Us?" mentality would really enjoy it. The book is The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright and it tells the story of Al-Qaeda headmen Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri as well as American government officials like FBI's terrorist hunter John O'Neill, who has a truly amazing and interesting story. Wright won a Pulitzer for the book and rightfully so; it is researched incredibly extensively and is written in a interest-grabbing novel-like format as he tells the stories of the men who would later plan the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. If you're near a library and aren't reading anything currently, go get it. I've moved on now to the book Cobra II by Michael Gordon and General Bernard Trainor, a very thick account of the planning and mentality behind the Iraq invasion and Donald Rumsfeld- should be an interesting one.

The big news of late, for those I haven't told yet, is my upcoming trip- yes, even more exciting than Israel. Last Wednesday, I got a call from Newhouse's Dean Grassi, who told me that Syracuse was offered a spot on a Middle East Journalism Bootcamp in Cairo, Egypt and Qatar, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation- and I'm Newhouse's choice for the spot. I'll be going from June 1-19 with 11 other American students and 12 Middle East journalism students- other details are still fuzzy, but suffice it to say I'm about as excited about it as I've been about anything. Israel in May and Egypt/Qatar in June? Should be an amazing summer- hopefully I'll still be able to pull out an internship as well, even if it's with something not media or Middle East-related like Kirsten Gillibrand's office. More details on that is I get the orientation materials.

This last Easter weekend was pretty amazing in DC with Kate here from Holy Cross. It's been a bit of a rough semester for us with MCATs and summer program planning, but seeing here made everything feel a good bit better. We explored the National Institute of Health, the National Zoo, Georgetown, and the Mall at night with the lit-up monuments. I also did a pretty good job on a nice simple dish Saturday night, Fettuccine Alfredo, and we had good dinners out at Lebanese Taverna and the Afghan Grill in the neighborhood- I'd highly recommend both, especially the Taverna, where you get your food in about 5 minutes and it tastes incredible. Get the Schawarma- delicious stuff.

Classes this last week featured a good bit of work, with three memos to work on (just finished the last one) and a midterm in economics, which was fairly simple and I finished quickly. The work should get progressively heavier as we move through the semester and get closer to that final National Security Council presentation- but it still isn't as much work as I'd be doing back at Cuse, so the semester has been easy to enjoy.

Politically, the only comment I've really got is on McCain. I have to say that I've been a little disappointed lately after watching the video to see him speak in Jordan. He made a big mistake in accusing Shiite Iran of training Al Qaeda (Sunni) terrorists- he corrected himself after Sen. Lieberman whispered in his ear, but apparently he's made this mistake before. I feel like many lawmakers and all the candidates would have made the same mistake, but that foreign policy knowledge is supposed to be McCain's advantage over the other two. I definitely still support him, but I'm paying closer attention to what he says on foreign policy matters for sure.

Here's a wish for my brother Tim to feel better- he had a it of a problem diving for a basketball last week and ended up in surgery and on crutches. To help him feel better, I've got a video here for him that I know should cheer him up. Enjoy!

Sicko, Without the Fat Man or Castro

Sorry about the crap-out last week, I've had a little rough week in terms of health. Things are looking to be on the upswing now, thanks to a weekend spent recuperating with tea, ramen noodles, and a very comfy futon couch. As a result, however, there isn't quite as much to talk about- we'll see how much I can squeeze out of this.

First, the most exciting news of the past week- I'm going to Israel! Syracuse accepted me into the two-week abroad program in Herzliya, Israel (just north of Tel Aviv) from May 11-May 26. We'll be studying counterterrorism and Middle East Policy there, and I couldn't be more excited. And for those worried about safety, Herzliya is about as far from a border as you can get in Israel, as well as being the site of the homes of most foreign ambassadors to the country. More on that as we receive more information, but suffice it to say that I'm quite excited to be making my first trip into the Middle East.

So imagine my surprise when I turned on the news not too long ago to find this story on the front page ab out my state's governor- oh, Eliot...apparently, the story is quite the hit among the alliterative graphic-makers of the news world for the potential to label it "Spitzer's Sex Scandal." They haven't had this much fun since our President announced "Mission Accomplished" as part of "Bush's Big Boat Broadcast- Boast or Blunder?" As for Spitzer, I rather feel that a man who spent his career fighting people who would run prostitution rings (as well as running for for governor on his record of doing so) might want to avoid becoming part of that criminal entity. Just maybe. Not even to mention that wife and his three daughters. But hey, it's not like he's been any sort of ineffective, controversial governor. Let's look at the Spitzer Record since in office:


July 2007- News breaks that Spitzer has been using state police to track the movements of State Senate rival Joe Bruno, allegedly in an attempt to cause damage to his reputation.

September 2007- Spitzer announces a plan to allow illegal aliens to obtain drivers' licenses, which would effectively nullify them as a valid form of ID. Spitzer withdraws the plan after a poll shows dismal approval rates for the plan.

December 2007- A Siena poll shows approval ratings for Spiter at 36% among New Yorkers- about half of the 69% of the vote he received in the 2006 election.

Ahhh, the Spitzer administration- good times. My guess is we'll be seeing very little of him around the next gubernatorial elections.

In more national politics, I was happy to celebrate a McCain win (officially), but not as happy as you might think to see the Dem fight continue. Sure, I suppose it gives McCain an advantage in preparation, campaigning, and ammunition against his opponent, but I am starting to get tired of the Democratic race. I don't think it's a bad thing or wrong, but who can honestly say they aren't tired of hearing Hillary and Barack go after each other? I am- but I guess we'll be hearing from them plenty over the next few months.

As for life here, it's been pretty boring lately- just filling out applications, heading to the Middle East Institute, and chilling with the friends here. The excitement this week comes from Syracuse in the Big East Tournament and Nick and Steve heading down here for the week. It's always nice to see my little bro and his crazy friend- we should have a fun time being tourists and checking out the cool architecture, with a nice day-closing dose of pizza rolls. Good times, good times.

As always, I continue to wait for word back on the summer internships- but it's nice to know that I'll be headed somewhere in May. And as I look to next semester, I realize I might even be able to finish school a semester early- I might be nine months from graduation. More news on that frightening development as we work it out.

Hope you all are much healthier than I am, enjoy this interesting retelling of American military history as told with some delicious props- tata!

Blech

Sorry everyone- Zak's blog will return next week due to a splitting headache and a surprising lack of good stories to tell. Promise I'll make it twice as good next week to make up for it!

Now Gore's gone too far- even the elections are Green...

Friends, it's my honor to be in this great city at such an exciting time. The streets are abuzz after this rare event- one that happens only every four years. Each one of us will be able to tell our kids exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard about it. By now, I'm sure you've no doubt guessed the momentous occasion of which I speak: Ralph Nader has, once again, entered the Presidential race.

In all seriousness, I know it's good for democracy and the American people to have more choices out there. That said, Ralph Nader has really become more of a punchline than a serious candidate. Just look at the issues he's running on. Right in the middle there is "Impeach Cheney/Bush." Correct me if I'm wrong, but one generally tries to run on goals that are actually physically able to be accomplished, no? I wonder how Nader, if he wins in some strange upturn of Green Party support, plans to impeach a former President and Vice President who no longer hold public office...he's really just making himself sound like an angry old man. One who has some good ideas and who's done a lot for consumers over the years, but one who no longer has any business being the front man for his party.

Pretty quiet week in the news- at least, it seems so after the turmoil of the last few. The main international story continues to be Kosovo's independence from Serbia and the violence that's broken out there. I won't offer any opinions there as I don't pretend to have much working knowledge of Balkan politics, but kudos to the American embassy staff there for keeping their workers safe during the riots that burned it last week.

Domestically, we've got the election continuing, among other things. Not much going on lately, but I thought I'd bring to your attention an interesting article about the dynamics in that race and voter expectations and perceptions.

Last Thursday was without a doubt the most interesting day of classes we've had here. The day's focus was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something I have strong personal opinions on. We started the day with a talk by Nabil Abuznaid, a representative of the Palestinian Authority's pseudo-embassy (as it isn't a country, it doesn't have a real one). He was interesting, but in the end he got too emotional and angry and couldn't respond practically to constant questions from Chad. His credibility was also hurt by his suggestion of an American or Soviet hand behind the renewal of Shia-Sunni tensions over the last few decades- note to speakers, suggesting conspiracy theories doesn't help your case much.

We followed that speech with a talk by Aaron Miller, Senior Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a public policy organization. The speaker had worked with American presidents on this particular issue for many years and offered a realist, bleak perspective on the issue. It was the next speaker, however, that got me to respond most strongly, as we visited the Embassy of Israel. Rafael Harpaz, the embassy's representative, gave a very condescending and arrogant speech, starting out by announcing to all of us how gracious and kind the country of Israel was to even be considering peace with Palestine (which he would not acknowledge; he'd correct anyone saying it with "Palestinian Authority"). He also said that the 1948 Arab invasion of Israel was a continuation of the Holocaust (but then denied it later in the speech) and compared Israel-friendly Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to Abraham Lincoln (even Lincoln never won elections with 97% of the vote...). It was a good thing we finished the day with a calming, mediative talk at the Jordanian embassy, because I was literally shaking with anger at the Israeli embassy. Neither side of the conflict is without blame and both need to make concessions, but I've always seen the Israelis as more on the side of the wrong and having to make more of the concessions because they ARE the ones in a position of power. Hearing statements from the embassy that even Dr. Schneider thought were approaching propaganda was infuriating.

Anyway, with that rant out of my system, I can say that we did have a fun weekend, or at least Saturday. We had a nice lunch at the Open City Cafe next door before spending the day at the National Portrait Gallery (where I got my picture with the famous Colbert portrait) and the Natural History museum. Afterwards, Liz broke out the free movie passes and I went to the movies for the first time in quite a while. We all saw Vantage Point, which, other than Dennis Quaid's traditional horrible acting, I thoroughly enjoyed. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the thriller/mystery genre, and stylistically it was fairly unique and very well done. The rest of the weekend was a bit of a bore; we weren't able to get the big football game going like we planned- we'll try again next weekend. And I did have time to finish the White House and Washington Center for Near East Policy applications, so I was fairly productive the rest of the time.

That's about all for now, I have to go throw on the power suit and help out at the Campaign for Syracuse University's DC event- in return, I get a fancy free dinner. Here's a clip from last week's SNL, where Mike Huckabee shows that he's still a very likable and funny man- if only I wasn't so afraid of him ever being in a position of power...

Till next time!

"Writing this blog is relatively like being repeatedly attached to a car battery..."

Sorry for being one day late with this- I let the time slip away last night as I was enjoying piles of Afghani food at a Dr. Schneider-sponsored dinner. One thing I can say about the Afghanis, they sure can do great things with rice and chicken. Anyone in the Rock Creek Park area in DC should definitely check out the Afghan Grill, it's quite delicious and very filling. It didn't hurt to add another free meal to the count, either:).

Big week in Middle East politics. For starters, you had the Pakistani elections yesterday, which are turning out in favor of the parties of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif thus far, to the dismay of Pervez Musharraf. The elections are still ongoing- one thing Nick and I learned when we attended a pre-election talk featuring phone-ins from Pakistani professors and election officials is that a candidate can run in as many districts as they want, so if they win in several, they have to pick one and the rest hold a second election within the next month. We'll be hearing more about this for a bit to see if the opposition parties can gain the 2/3 majority they need to impeach Musharraf. Interesting take CNN has on the post-election violence, though:

The voting in the country's first general elections in six years ended with no overt signs of tampering and relatively little violence. Twenty-three people were killed across the nation in vote-related incident, according to a tally by CNN.

I guess the violence is "relative" compared to what it might have been had Musharraf's PML-Q party dominated (likely through tampering), but still, it makes you wonder about the numbness with which we treat foreign violence like this. Nick and I will be headed to a post-election conference with the same speakers tomorrow to get a better professional analysis of the results.

Interesting news today as well, with the resignation of Fidel Castro and the appointment of his brother Raul as President of Cuba. In the aftermath, it's pretty nice to see that there are still some things Democrats and Republicans agree on- check out these two reactions by the candidates:

"Fidel Castro's stepping down is an essential first step, but it is sadly insufficient in bringing freedom to Cuba. Cuba's future should be determined by the Cuban people and not by an anti-democratic successor regime. The prompt release of all prisoners of conscience wrongly jailed for standing up for the basic freedoms too long denied to the Cuban people would mark an important break with the past. It's time for these heroes to be released. If the Cuban leadership begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change, the United States must be prepared to begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five decades. The freedom of the Cuban people is a cause that should bring the Americans together."

That was Barack- here's McCain:

"Today's resignation of Fidel Castro is nearly half a century overdue. For decades, Castro oversaw an apparatus of repression that denied liberty to the people who suffered under his dictatorship. Yet freedom for the Cuban people is not yet at hand, and the Castro brothers clearly intend to maintain their grip on power. That is why we must press the Cuban regime to release all political prisoners unconditionally, to legalize all political parties, labor unions and free media, and to schedule internationally monitored elections. Cuba's transition to democracy is inevitable; it is a matter of when — not if. With the resignation of Fidel Castro, the Cuban people have an opportunity to move forward and continue pushing for the moment that they will truly be free. America can and should help hasten the sparking of freedom in Cuba. The Cuban people have waited long enough."

They sound exactly the same- could there be more similarities between Barack and McCain than they let on? I guess we'll be seeing...

(Random side note: we came up last night with the best McCain nickname. After his speeches about success in Iraq, how could he be called anything but the "Surge Protector"?)

Award for the "Stupidest Thing Said This Week" goes by a wide margin to Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. While talking about the grueling campaign trail, Huckabee said to Larry King:

"I'm finding out just how long I can go sleep-deprived. Running for president is like being waterboarded,"

He might have been joking, but this callous comment shows just how little he cares about the torture issue- I'm fairly sure that given the choice between Guantanamo and a campaign bus, most detainees would choose the latter pretty quickly. The full article on campaign stress is found here.

And in a final political note, interesting back-and-forth between the Democratic campaigns before today's primaries as Hillary calls Barack out for alleged plagiarism of speech. Obama's speech's "Only Words" section yesterday was very similar to the gubernatorial (awesome word) speech given by Deval Patrick in 2006. Obama says Patrick agreed he could use it. While Obama may be legally in the right here, I find it a little sketchy that he wouldn't mention the governor in his speech- anyone in the audience who didn't know about Patrick's speech (most of them, I'd imagine, since it was in Wisconsin and not Massachusetts) would think the powerful words were of Obama's (or his speechwriters') own creation- that's pretty deceptive and distasteful to anyone who's taken any journalism classes. Obama also called Hillary out on copying phrases from his own speeches- we'll see how that turns out as it gets more coverage today.

The big adventure of last week was a trip to Capitol Hill with Dr. Schneider. Though Kirsten Gillibrand was unavailable, we were around in the House chamber to see the partisan battles over the FISA (wiretapping) bill. The Republicans hid behind a memorial service and the Democrats interrupted it to start debating the bill- causing the Republicans to walk out. Later, though, most Democrats would not even applaud Minority Leader John Boehner asking everyone to put it behind them and remember their passed colleague. Ladies and Gentlemen, the United States government! (Applause?)

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the best part of the last week, a certain visit from one Kate Donohue. Having Kate here over the weekend was pretty amazing, and equally as sad when she had to go- she'll be back down Easter weekend. I flexed my cooking muscles with some tasty chicken goulash (thanks for the recipe, mom!) and walked around a lot in the beautiful weather. The weekend also featured some work on an Iran memo and an intense football game that we hope to resume next weekend.

That's all for now, my lunch break's about up. Enjoy this hilarious, and slightly philosophical, clip sent to me by the indomitable Nick Martin. Ciao!

DC- The City that Only Occasionally Sleeps

Only a short post today because it's really been a pretty slow week here in DC. Also, I may have forgotten to post earlier today and I'm tired:) I promise this won't be a regular thing.

The internship has slowed down a little after the Iran conference has ended, but things promise to pick up again with the coming Pakistani and Iranian elections- Nick and I are going to a free-breakfast pre-Pakistani Election event Friday morning. I spent the week doing random work and writing a few press releases and staff biographies, and went to an interesting book talk Friday about a book on the leadup to September 11 and the Afghanistan invasion- they had me working audio, so there's another application I've found here for my broadcast training.

Classes were also slow this week- Tuesday's was interrupted throughout with Super Tuesday discussion and subsequently didn't involve much deep discussion. Wednesday's economics was more interesting than usual with a focus on the primaries and each candidate's financial positions; Thursday's issues class featured a speaker that decided not to come and an Iran conference that would have been far more entertaining had I not spent the previous Friday at 7 hours of Iran speeches. The highlight of Thursday came at our lunch break where we found out from a group of convention-goers in our restaurant that Romney had dropped out- nicccccce.

The weekend was a little slow and lonely without half of our room here (Alex w/ a friend, Nick and a few others back in Cuse). Mostly it was spent getting work done and watching the series "Rome", which I'd really recommend to any history buff; it's a very entertaining, dramatic, and apparently historically accurate (done by BBC) look at ancient Rome, starting right around when Caesar returned from Gaul.

John McCain's still way ahead in the polls and I'm glad to see that. Unlike most McCain supporters, I wouldn't push for Huckabee to drop out of the race; I'm a true believer in the democratic process and it's definitely his right to stay in the running if he thinks he'd be a better choice. What I do wish is that he'd realize that his chances of winning are very slim and that the attacks he makes on McCain are doing far more to hurt the Republican chances than to help his. Mike, if you want to keep running, run on your own policies, not on the detriment of your opponent's.

On the other side of the aisle, I hate to say it, but it looks like Obama's going to start running away with this one. I'm sure Hillary won't be dropping out before the convention, but I think by the time spring hits we're going to have a clear McCain-Obama race (I might add, trying not to say it too braggingly, that I was the only one of the group here to predict that race in mid-January when we got here:)).

That's about it for me- here's an ad for Barack Obama, and while I don't agree with or support him, the ad itself is beautifully done and I'd highly recommend watching it.

Thoughts on "The most awesomest exciting ultra-Super Tuesday ever!"

11:30 PM- Well, Georgia just went to Huckabee, who's continued his strong day. McCain's come back in Missouri and is leading early in California, but we won't know about that until tomorrow. Romney and Obama have both won a few more states to bring them back, but it seems like most people are pegging McCain as the winner, pending California. That should be about it for the night, the action's pretty much died down. Hope you all got out and voted- good night and go McCain!

10:00 PM- It's been a good night for John McCain, with wins in New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Delaware and New Jersey (and now Oklahoma) while opponent Romney has only carried Massachusetts and Utah. Huckabee's having a much better day than anyone could've expected, with West Virginia and Arkansas and leads in Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, and Georgia. Hilary's win in Massachusetts was huge after most political figures in the state supported Barack, and she weathered the storm in New York. Barack's doing alright himself, though, with wins in Illinois, Georgia, and Alabama (and now North Dakota).

Basically, the state of the election is that Hilary has seemingly staved off Barack's charge and had a good day, while on the GOP side, Romney's fading and Huckabee's gaining, but McCain, if he wins California, could finish the day as a near-decisive winner. He just came on and said that, as they've been saying, it's a two man race- and he's one of those two men. I'm a little disappointed at that, because he would've made a great running mate for McCain- it would add votes among conservatives while not giving him any real power. Now, with him doing so well, he might end up trying to take McCain to the wire. Like I said, though, if McCain wins decisively in California tonight and maybe catches up in one of the states Huckabee leads in (he's close in Tennessee), he should have the nomination fairly well wrapped up.

8:20 PM- Results continue to come in- Hilary has Oklahoma, Romney gets his home state of Massachusetts, McCain gets New Jersey and Connecticut, and Obama gets his home state of Illinois. No big surprises there, but one shocker is how well Obama's doing in Clinton's yard up in the northeast- he's dead even or leading Clinton in Connecticut and New Jersey, while reports from a classmate's friends in the area (based on what they've seen of exit polls) suggest he's doing well against her in Mass. and New York. Rough going now for Hilary- we'll see how things develop.

7:05 PM- Georgia results have come in, and CNN quickly declared Barack Obama the winner. They weren't showing any districts reporting, so exit polls must have been pretty decisive- look for a Barack blowout there, which was pretty much expected after his decisive win in SC. Meanwhile, the Republicans are listed in a "tight three-way race"- looks like we'll be waiting a bit on those results, but the fact that it's a three-way race is surprising; McCain wasn't supposed to really be in this.

5:30 PM- About an hour and a half still until the Georgia polls close. Don't expect much from McCain there- his best hope is really another Huckabee win, with isn't that far-fetched. Meanwhile, Romney's pretty pissed about West Virginia- check out the remarks afterward (courtesy of CNN.com):

"Unfortunately, this is what Sen. McCain's inside Washington ways look like: He cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Gov. Romney's campaign of conservative change," read a statement from Romney campaign manager Beth Myers.

Huckabee, though, wasn't having anything with that. The man may want to abolish the IRS and set up colonies for AIDS victims, but he can sure talk political smack:

"I thought he was saying yesterday, 'No whining.' So is it no whining or whining? He can't even keep a straight answer on the 'whining or no whining' question," Huckabee said.

"There was no backroom deal," he added. "There wasn't even a front room deal. There was no deal."

Romney's had a rough day elsewhere, too. CNN reported that, after Bob Dole wrote a letter to Rush Limbaugh defending him as a true conservative, Romney said that Dole was "probably the last person I would have wanted to have write a letter for me." McCain came back, saying, "This is no way to end up this campaign, by attacking a genuine American war hero," and requesting Romney apologize.

Romney did eventually respond by saying he thought of Dole as an "American hero" and that he'd love the former candidate's support, but didn't really give a reason why he changed his tune so quickly and dratically. Huckabee would probably add here that Romney can't even keep straight on the "Dole or No Dole" question.

I'll keep at this when more results get in, stay tuned- and remember to vote!

2:45 PM- First results in for Super Tuesday, and Mike Huckabee gets the 18 delegates from West Virginia. Bit of a surprise, as he won on the second ballot but Romney had taken 41% of the first-ballot vote- does this mean McCain/Paul Republicans identify more with Huckabee? Or just that there is so much friction between the leading two candidates that they'd rather see anyone but Romney win? (Update, 4pm: Looks like the second guess was right, according to this article on CNN- McCain supporters wanted to keep the state from Romney) Interesting to see if the trend continues anywhere else today. Personally, I'm fine with Huckabee taking the state- the more states he and Romney split where McCain doesn't really have a shot (he polled around 10% on the first ballot), the better McCain's chances. On a related note, a lot of candidates are looking at the country's tax system reform- it was especially a major issue for Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani (the "one page tax form"). But doesn't this Huckabee idea seem just a little over-the-top?

"Champagne? '72 sounds like a good year!"

I would be remiss if I did not start this post with a hats off to the New York Football Giants- not only as a Dolphins fan and a Patriot hater, but also as a fan of the game of football. The team gave me the pleasure of watching what may have been the best Super Bowl ever played- without a doubt, it was the most exciting I've ever watched. Covering the Giants over the summer, I have to admit that no one at the camp in their wildest dreams was imagining what happened last night. So, kudos to Strahan & Co.

Here in DC, the internship game is starting to heat up. I just sent off my first internship application today by fax to National Public Radio (which, if I read right, has the chance of producing a paid internship- that sure would be something). Next up on the list is the summer White House one, which is a bit of a long shot but hey, you don't lose points for trying. At the Iran Conference (more on that later), I sat next to a Voice of America journalist who made a good pitch for an internship there- added that to my list. And, if my emails to the McCain campaign are answered, I might see about working on that over the summer too.

The Iran Conference basically consumed my internship life over the past week- lots of copying, laminating, cutting, and putting together 300 informational folders for all the attendees. When it actually came, I finally got to put on my suit (check the pic, awwwful snazzy:)). I did, however, manage to not notice it was raining and then promptly get lost on the way to the hotel (I was looking for a Hyatt, which apparently doesn't exist in DC- who would've thought it would be at the Ritz?) I was saved, though, by the fact that I walked in front of my supervisor's car crossing the street two blocks past the hotel. That, my friends, is a lucky coincidence. The rest of the day was filled with me taping 8 hours of Iran speeches by Americans and Arabs- interesting, but mannn does it drag on standing there behind the camera. I picked up some information from it though, plus, I was reimbursed for my $9 Ritz-Carlton chicken fingers:).

I remain in a strange state between understanding and confusion in my economics class- luckily, Chad is a fairly good economist so I get by. In the issues class, though, I did pretty well (A on my first issues paper) and I did real well in our State of the Union and Gaza Strip discussions (that one thanks to the Gaza event the previous morning). Thursday's class (which is really just becoming known as Tourism/Guest Speaker Class) gave us our best speech yet by a few Iraq researchers at the Center for a New American Security (which, I found out offers a paid internship- it's on the list:)). He had a well-designed powerpoint, a clear speech, and answered questions well. The other two speeches weren't as good- the Nixon Center guy seemed like he didn't know any more than we do about Iraq and the last place (can't remember where) were pretty flat and boring.

The weekend here was pretty lax- Saturday involved a trip to the Spy Museum, which was mad cool- I seriously recommend it to anyone coming here. They show off great spy gadgets and techniques, but be warned, the museum is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside- it takes a long time to get through. The stuff about the atomic bomb and the Cold War were sweet, the weapons were the coolest part in my mind, like the Russian "Umbrella Gun"- yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. Among my other discoveries was that Maxwell Smart (from "Get Smart," and the new movie with Carrell looks great) had the same voice as inspector gadget. No pictures allowed there, sorry I couldn't show more- I suppose if I were a better spy, I could've taken some. Following that trip was a crepe party, hosted by Alex and attended by most of the program here, which was delicious. Ever had crepes? No? Come here, Alex will make some pretty awesome ones:) And Sunday was, of course, the Super Bowl party, featuring my latest cooking attempt, the mini-bacon sandwiches mom always makes. They were a huge hit- am I better at cooking than I think I am?

Tomorrow is, of course, Super Tuesday. I don't like to sound biased, but I really think McCain will pull it out. For the Dems, though, I don't think there's going to be a clear winner- the two are just too close. We'll spend most of class tomorrow getting updates when the polls close, and, with any luck, I'll be celebrating that McCain win. Everyone back in NY, remember to vote!

Last night had some pretty good ads- here are my favorite three. Enjoy!

State of the Union

Having just watched it, I suppose I'd ought to post a response like any good political student. First off, a very interesting feel to the entire speech- Bush had a half-smirk on his face for the entire speech; he gave an attitude almost of defiance. Someone with whom I watched commented, "He doesn't even care anymore." That might be going a little far, but I think what we might have seen tonight is a President that is truly living in his own political world, who no longer cares (even more than before) what anyone thinks of his ideas. Take his comments on taxes, for instance, saying that he would veto any raise in taxes (or repealing of his current tax breaks) sent his way. His jab at Bill Clinton was completely unnecessary- he said that for people who've said they're willing to pay higher taxes, the IRS takes checks and money orders. Bill Clinton made a strong point that as a wealthy man, he should pay higher taxes than the farmers he was talking to. In the end, Bush's plan to make the tax cuts permanent, along with the rest of his economic stimulus package, really make it seem as though he is truly underestimating the economy's problems.

Meanwhile, Bush made another unlikely proposal, to turn the deficit into a surplus by the year 2012. This is a noble goal, yes, and the means are just as noble (if questionable in terms of potential effectiveness)- removing 12 billion dollars of pork and wasteful projects from government funding and the budget. However, like many things he does, Bush took it too far. He announced he's be issuing an executive order that government agencies shouldn't follow any earmark slipped into a bill without debate in congress, as these pork requisitions usually are. But if every item in a bill is debated, the glacial pace at which congress currently moves will seem like a full sprint by comparison.

Bush trumpeted some successes of his last year, and as expected, the surge was the most important. “American and Iraqi surges have achieved results few of us could have imagined just one year ago," he said, invoking numbers of new Iraqi security forces, Al-Qaeda members killed, and the fact that 20 thousand troops will soon be coming home, which got the biggest applause of the night. He offered a warning to congress and the future President, as well- that the commanders, and only the commanders, should decide when troop levels should be reduced. It was tough to believe any positive comments he made about the "young democracy" in Afghanistan when, in the same sentence, he announced 3,000 new troops would be sent to the country. The two don't mesh, and I'm inclined to doubt the President's optimistic statements as a result.

Of course, there were good things about the speech. Bush made sure to differentiate between the American attitude towards the Iranian people and their leaders, which many Americans might not think of as very different. He wants to double AIDS relief to Africa, and if the money is spent well, this will be significant. And he is trying to reform some veteran care, including letting unused educational benefits be transferred to soldiers' spouses or children.

Two barely veiled commands made to congress included one for the Senate to confirm his Supreme Court Justice appointees faster and to extend the domestic wiretapping rights by this Friday. Here you see the President doing his best to influence Congress beyond his tenure- but based on the stark lack of Democratic enthusiasm during the speech, it seems unlikely this will have much effect. (Side note: Bush wants the US to continue to fund charitable choice, which funnels government money to religious organizations. Thanks, but no thanks- the words "church" and "state" come to mind for some reason...)

I wasn't impressed, though, by the Democratic response of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. While purporting to represent the response of the "American People" rather than just her party, the governor consistently prefaced her statements by referring to the Democratic majority and painting a picture that the Democrats could solve all the nation's problems if those pesky Republicans would just stay out of the way. “If more Republicans in Congress stand with us this year, we won’t have to wait for a new president to restore America’s role in the world, and fight a more effective war on terror," she said. Her ideas of stepping across partisan lines were noble- but she sure focused an awful lot on those partisan lines to make her point. In the end, she was very repetitive, contradictory, and offered little real substance.

I'm happy to discuss anything I said here with anyone, IM me at zkdoom or email me at zskineke@syr.edu. The transcript for the address can be helpful. Good night!

Free Meal Count: Zak 8.5, Nick 3

One thing I'm really starting to like about DC is that there's always something going on. This morning, I made the tough choice to skip out on a sleeping-in opportunity and hit up an event on the State of the Union speech tonight at the American Enterprise Institute. It was interesting enough- besides the irresistible allure of a free breakfast (and, thanks to my sticky fingers and big pockets, some juice and soda for the next few days;)), I really did enjoy listening to the foreign policy half of the discussion. Panelists talked about the normal issues of Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, and Iran, but also discussed the less popular problems with China and Russia (noting how unlikely it would be to hear more than a side mention of either in the speech). I read one of the article provided by the Russia expert, and I have to say, it isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of Mr. Putin. I guess I can identify with his feelings; I started to have my doubts the day last fall when I saw the headlines "Putin Dissolves Parliament" and "Russia Tests the 'Father of All Bombs'" on the same day.

(Random side note: So we own the MOAB (Mother of all Bombs, rumored to level 9 city blocks in a strike) and now the Russians own the father of all bombs. Am I the only one who wants to smash these two bombs together and see whether it's a girl explosion or a boy one?)

In other news, the summer internship search has begun here. I've got a few ideas in mind, from the long shot at the White House to a few Middle East-related NGOs to the safety option of congressional work- Sarah assures me they're an easy get, so I'll keep them in mind if other areas don't prove fruitful. I'm really trying to find a paid internship, but for some reason I can't seem to find a gullible group of government workers willing to pay a journalism major with three years of college education- more info on that story as it unfolds. Oh, and if you have any ideas for summer work/internships here, I'm always receptive to them.

The big news for me over the last week, though, was my experience last Wednesday meeting the Algerian ambassador. Apparently I've earned myself a reputation at the Institute as a fair photographer, so I was shanghaied into photog duty at the Institute-sponsored speech and luncheon on US-Algerian business affairs. Besides the delicious free lunch of Brazilian-style beef skewer with onions over rice pilaf, I enjoyed listening to him speak and even got in a question about media ethics during the Q and A session. Afterwards, I went up to talk to him about Al-Jazeera's depiction of terrorism and showing terrorist videos on the news- it was a pretty cool experience. I'll try to get some pictures from the event up when I get them from MEI; it's a pretty busy week because we're preparing for the annual conference there, focusing on Iran, which features a good free lunch and speakers such as the French ambassador and Seymour Hirsch of the New Yorker.

(Ancillary to random side note: Notice how Russia describes the bomb as "environmentally friendly." How bad are we as a nation that we can't even protect the earth with our thermobaric munitions while Russia drops bombs that probably disintegrate trash and reincarnate it as helpful, prelabeled recycling bins? It's really shameful when you think about it...)

In class news, it was a slow week. Class discussion focused mainly on campaigns and the economic crisis (because of this, I can finally explain the subprime mortgages- for all you NFL fans, it's exactly like how the Redskins built their team in the early part of this decade). Thursday's class featured a trip to the Holocaust Museum and a briefing on human rights at the State Department- all in all, not the most interesting day, but what can you do? I'll probably head back to the museum again to see the parts I missed. I thought the one in Berlin was a lot more interesting, though- more abstract and symbolic, less cold, hard facts. Two interesting things from there, though; I never knew the Martin Luther strongly advocated killing Jews and burning their synagogues to the ground, and the Catholic Church didn't decide the Jews weren't to blame for the killing Jesus until 1960- how sad is that? Also for classes, we had to write our first policy paper- I'll post that in the "comments" section below if you're interested in reading it.

In terms of what I have of a social life here, things are pretty boring. It mainly amounts to watching movies or stand-up on TV with friends. Once the weather gets nicer, I'm sure we'll be more apt to go out more.

I did go out this morning, though- I decided to hit up the Air and Space Museum while I wasn't too far after the morning seminars. I spent most of my time checking out the WWI and WWII sections, I'm always really interested in stuff from that era. The coolest thing in my mind, incidentally, was seing this full scale V-2 Rocket (is there a cooler weapon name than Vergeltungswaffe-2? It means "Vengeance Weapon"- Hitler may have been a horrible, horrible man, but he could sure as hell name his rockets). It was just cool looking at the massive rocket and thinking how it would have looked taking off- and how much I wouldn't want to be under it when it came down. Oh, and notice the small rocket next to it? That was the US version- we developed it 2 months after the war ended. Thank goodness we weren't closer to Germany- we'd have gotten a large dose of Vergeltung. And on the way back, I walked past David Gregory- the President isn't kidding when he calls him "Stretch," he's huge.

(Subsequent retraction of ancillary side note: I've just noticed that Russian TV describes the bomb's effects as, "All that is alive merely evaporates." Ummm...that may be the most sinister (and, I might add, least environmentally friendly) way to describe a bomb's effect that I have ever heard. It really sounds like the bomb was designed by a Bond villain...and suddenly I'm reminded how many of Bond's archenemies were Russian...)

Finally, I couldn't finish this in good conscience without mentioning the election and my boy John McCain, whose chances are looking better and better each day. Besides picking up an endorsement from Rambo, he's got good support in Florida and a win there makes him the clear frontrunner on Super Tuesday. I would've liked Biden better; his Iraq plans beat everyone else out without a contest. But I've liked McCain a long time, so when Biden dropped out, I hopped back over to him, just in time to see him win New Hampshire and revive a campaign most thought was dead. For the Dems, I suppose I'd rather see Hillary than Obama, but neither one fills me with much enthusiasm. More on that as the Florida primary passes and Super Tuesday approaches.

In closing, I'm looking forward to the State of the Union tonight, if only to watch Ted Kennedy's head slump as he nods off every five minutes like clockwork. Perhaps he could make it through better if he only drank some of this...

Ca va?

Another week, another series on internet problems- we're hoping the latest coming of "Johnny" from Advanced Computing solves those problems. Personally, I've never seen the guy, so only the emails we get from Dr. Schneider on a regular basis serve as my assurances that he actually exists and is the answer to those computer problems. Time will tell, I'm crossing my fingers hoping I make it through this blog post without the internet crapping out.

The internship here keeps me busy, and I'm soaking up all the info I can. As a communications intern, I don't deal directly with a lot of Middle East related material, but it does pass by me in the form of press releases, media alerts, and interviews- I'm going to do my best to learn about whatever it is I'm writing or sending out. So far, I've written two press releases, logged a lot of media hits, and put together media packets. My big project though, started with the interview I did with Dr. Herman Franssen last Friday. I'm writing an article on him for the Middle East Bulletin that goes out to all the members of MEI- if you didn't click the link above, we was the first senior western advisor at OPEC meetings, so he was a real cool guy to interview. I'll make sure to post the article here when it gets written- it's due the 15th of February. I spent most of today transcribing it, he had a lot to say about the $100/barrel oil spike.

I've also managed to snag 6 free meals so far in just a week and a half here- leading the contest over my roommate Nick, who's in a distant second with just 3. It bodes well for my wallet, though I have been finding enough cheap places to eat that I don't have to completely rely on the kindness of strangers. The $3 empanadas down the street are the real deal- I look forward to many cheap Mexican lunches. I also tried out the cheap cafe down the street from the internship,

fast service and good burgers. Over the weekend, I showed off my culinary skills (well, exhausted them, really) with a delicious pot of chili Saturday and a pasta dinner Monday night. I'll be walking the edge Super Bowl weekend with an attempt at crock-potting some BBQ beef.

Classes have been pretty cool- the first week was the usual get-to-know-each-other sessions, but my professors are really cool, especially the one tonight, he had us cracking up last week at some political commentary and an offhand dismissal of Hilary Clinton (sorry, mom). The workload shouldn't be too horrible and a lot of stuff is work with a partner- and for once, I feel like everything I'm learning in a semester is stuff that may actually help me later in life...what a novel concept!

The Syracuse Embassy, site of all our classes

The weekend was a welcome sight though, because having met everyone here, it was nice to finally have a little time to chill with them. I opted out of Friday night's clubbing/drinking for a sweet Mario Kart session with some handicapped or fake ID deprived students. Saturday found me in a bummed out mood after and SU lost to Villanova, but the day got better as Alex and I made a downtown DC trip to the monument area. I got my first view of the WWII memorial and, I must say, was extremely impressed. It's a very moving tribute and I really can't wait to see it when it's nice out and there's water in the little fountains. Alex, meanwhile, fulfilled his goal to meet Mr. Lincoln at his memorial. Several miles of walking led us past the Vietnam Memorial, Washington monument, and around the mall till we almost hit the Capitol. The night finished with a few movies with Liz and Jackson and, naturally, a delicious pot of chili:)

The memorial wall at the WWII Memorial Me and Mr. Lincoln, chillin' out


Sunday, of course, was football day- congrats to the Giants for making the Super Bowl, and whatever crappy team they've got you playing, I'm sure you can handle them. Afterwards, I began for the sixth time the Band of Brothers series- I never get tired and I always love showing it to others. (Random note: as I look at our large floor, I remember we've committed to turning it into a dance floor at some point. Look at the middle of the third picture and take away the carpet...yeah, you're thinking what I'm thinking:)). Monday was a really cool day too, mostly because of the trip up to the National Cathedral for the MLK Jr. service (a trip I wasn't sure Liz would survive- note to all my handicapped friends, do not, under any circumstances, allow Chad to drive your wheelchair anywhere). There were some pretty cool rappers, poets, and a large church choir that sand "Imagine" and "One Love" as good as I've ever heard them done. The acoustics really made it a moving experience. After that was my pasta-making skill exhibition, followed by a Syracuse-Georgetown game that was exciting but ultimately disappointing; we lost 64-62 in OT with a game-winning 3 clanking around the rim as time expired. Nick and I had fun beating off drunk G-town girls hurling insults as we left.

Washington is truly a great place to be. The more I stay here, the more I'm considering looking for a summer internship. We'll see how that goes as we move along the internship.

Well, that's about all for now. For photos or interview requests, please be sure to contact my publicist. He looks an awful lot like me and has the same name. And now I leave you with a video that my French roomie Alex assures me accurately depicts an average day in his life. Ciao!

Back in business, baby!

Three days after arriving, and finally I'm reconnected to the internet- it's a joyous day of celebration, e-mail deleting, and Facebook friend refusing.

The trip went smoothly, and the weekend was fairly lax. The apartment here's pretty cool (though we got shafted and stuck into the apartment meant for three, somehow...)- still, it's not exactly crowded and the high ceilings make it seem bigger. We're in a nice neighborhood full of restaurants, and it's relieving having the metro stop and a Bank of America right out the back door. Another great thing about Washington- anyone who reads the Onion, you can get the actual printed version free on any street corner- sweetness indeed. And if you don't read it, go here. The building has a roof deck for all my tanning needs and a sun room on top featuring books such as "Children of Satan," a jolly read with the friendly face of Dick Cheney gracing the cover. The entry system to the building is fairly sweet too- rather than swipe cards, we have ones that just need to be near the reader. That means I can keep it in my back pocket and shake my derierre at the door to unlock it- which, unless I'm mistaken, is the most convenient and fun way ever to open a door.

Food is always of utmost importance. Our neighborhood is full of Indian restaurants (at least 3, maybe more we haven't found) not to mention everyone's favorite burrito chain, Chipotle, and the oddly named "Eddie's Cafe: Chinese Cuisine." We snagged the $5 lunch special at the Violet Garden instead, an excellent choice if you like orange chicken (and, according to Chad, if you like very spice szechuan beef). It's a neverending quest here to find cheap places to eat, but we found a good one Saturday in Zorba's Cafe with some very tasty Gyros and feta pizza and today during lunch break at the House of Kabob in Dupont Circle.

The internship at the Middle East Institute gets me very excited. I went in at 10 today and was greeted by free donuts and Ma'mool, which were very tasty fig-newton like Arab snacks with dates in the middle. We went through the usual orientations- I learned about what I'd be doing this semester (media monitoring, writing press releases, assembling press packets and, in my case, making videotapes of MEI events). The interns I'm working with are great and we had a fun time during lunch and the subsequent get-to-know-the-city scavenger hunt, won by the team of yours truly. One task involved writing a haiku about a picture of Sultan Qaboos found in the institute. This one won my team some bookmarks:

Crazy cool turban,
Sittin', starin', lookin' stern,
What is he thinking?

Yeah, pretty sweet:)

Well, we've got a group orientation soon, and it'll be time to collect my second free meal of the day. The students here are great and I think we're going to have a sweet semester.

Random thought of the week: Looking at the Syracuse center down here, the Paul Greenberg House, I really feel like it's a national style embassy. It's a comforting thought that I'll have a place to run to if I run afoul of DC law enforcement- unless the RAs and DPS choose to extradite me. That would suck.

No luck putting pictures up here yet, we'll see about that. I'll try to get them up on Facebook in the meantime. I'll leave you with a clip from the excellent movie for which this blog is named. Enjoy!