Relative Freedom ... At Least for the Next Ten Days

I love rain. It's been humid all day long, and the storm --- one of the hardest I have ever seen --- lasted just ten minutes. In fact, the thunder was so loud and the rain so strong, that at least three car alarms sounded in the neighborhood. I half-wish that I was back in my condo, where I could open my balcony door to let in the fresh spring, post-rain breeze. Here, I stand at my old hotel window on fourth floor and watch cars slosh through standing puddles of water as they accelerate on to the freeway.

I'm treating myself to a relaxing weekend of exploring new sites and learning the settings on my new camera. Friday early a.m. I finished my LAST paper of the semester (the third of the week) and am officially done with spring classes! My two summer classes start in ten days, but I'm not going to worry about them at the moment.

It's been an interesting week among finals ... last Monday, a paper I helped develop at the Department of Health Policy was officially released in a press conference at the National Press Club. (Check out the link! http://www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/healthpolicy/chsrp/downloads/Medicaid_Doc_Requirements.pdf) We are tracking the effects of the new citizenship documentation requirements upon Medicaid enrollment and revenue streams at community health centers. I find this stuff very interesting, so if you ever want a primer, let me know! On Tuesday, I heard John Stossel, the consumer reporter from ABC News, present the "Myth of Government Health Care" at the conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation. Although I didn't agree with his beliefs that markets and competition will solve our health care crises, I was impressed with his wit and appreciated his points. I am constantly trolling the Internet for health policy events around the city ... and the best part is that most of them come with free food!!! Medical/graduate students can smell free food from miles away, believe me. I also had the opportunity to meet the director of youth development for the National 4-H Program this week at its USDA headquarters to hear about the latest health-related projects taking place. And you all know how much I love 4-H ... !

My sister Erin was here for approximately 24 hours en route to France, where she will be studying abroad for the summer in Lyon. She is going to first visit her host family in Alicante, Spain, where she lived for a year following high school with the Rotary High School Exchange Program. We didn't have any time to explore the city while she was here, but she will be back for five days in July when she flies back!

This week was my first at Harkin's office --- I'll generally be there Mondays and Wednesdays. Even though I've just been there two days, I already absolutely love it. Monday I attended a NIH hearing where Harkin presided over as the chair of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Later, I watched the senator make a case on the Senate floor for why the FDA needs to more closely monitor drug companies' direct-to-consumer advertising television commercials. Wednesday, I participated in a constituent meeting with Iowa members of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and spent the rest of the day researching how these specialist physicians are paid under Medicare compared to other medical fields and why they oppose legislative proposals put forth by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists who apparently visited Harkin's office two weeks prior! Oh, and here's the kicker ... I'm going to be joining "Harkin's Heroes," the office's slow-pitch softball team!!! Apparently, you don't have to be any good, which is fortunate for me. The last time I played softball (other than a med school day tourney) was the Slick Chicks in sixth grade! This could be very interesting ... when I met with the overall intern supervisor this week to get my Senate badge, she informed me that each Monday a different intern gets the lucky job of running down to the National Mall and staking out our field of grass. Thankfully, though, I am not going to be assigned such duty!

Today, I met my friend Jeff up in Bethesda. There was a big art street fair taking place (Next to free food, I can also smell art fairs a few miles away as well!) that I wanted to see, and Jeff served as my photography instructor for a couple of hours ... today's lesson centered around exposure and adjusting shutter speed, aperture, and my ISO, as well as depth-of-field and how to freeze shots and take good portraits, regardless of whether the subject is moving or still. Fun, fun!!! After lunch, I visited the Mary McLeod Bethune National Historic Site and the National Aquarium. The latter is nothing more than a few dingy tanks in the bottom of the Department of Commerce. About one-third of the tanks were shut down for renovation. Nonetheless, I still got my patch! The former, however, was fascinating. The NPS ranger on duty gave me a personalized tour of the historic home, the first headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women, which McLeod, a lifelong educator and political activist, founded and served as its first president. Among MANY other absolutely astounding accomplishments, she founded the Bethune-Cookman College in Florida, was the first black woman to head a federal agency (Director of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Organization of FDR's administration), and fought against racial discrimination for African-American soldiers in WWII. The house is one of the least-traveled NPS sites in the district by far, but, in my opinion, it is one of the most educational and insightful.

Here are some pictures from today --- it's fun to experiment! (Sorry that I cannot get the vertical pictures upright on the blog!!! With this new camera and higher resolution, they, for some reason, do not orient correctly.)