A Fun Night on the Town

After a busy day of touring the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms as well as NASA Goddard it was time for a fun night with good company.  With tickets to Shear Madness at the Kennedy center in hand and a reservation at Rotti Banshe, six students from the southwest set out for a good time. 

We departed the hotel and rode the metro, shoulder to shoulder, to the foggy bottom stop.  We got off the train and found a small basement restaurant under the George Mason University Inn. 
Our party was promptly seated even though our reservation was misplaced.  The room was quiet and intimate with dim lighting and modern china.  It was just what the doctor ordered for relaxation after a long day.

I orded a glazed pork chop with fluffed sweet potatoes, the beer menu featured a blonde belgium beer but I did not order it because I was the only person of age.  It didn’t take me long to cut into the chop, once it arrived, it had a sweet taste.

Upon the conclusion of dinner we continued to the Kennnedy center.  Shear Madness, started at eight, it was a murder mystery set in a salon owned by a gay man.  The play was funny but the humor required a knowledge of current events.  Most of the audience was middle school aged kids and they laughed when we laughed.

On the metro ride back to Bethesda we happened to run into one of the professors who organized the trip to Washington, normally he does not say much.  At the dupont circle stop he dared us, as the doors closed, to jump off the train and get dessert.  We barely made it off the train and when we did he told us about his masters degree over Krispy Kreme.

It was a good night.

Politics As Usual

On June 1st 1945 President Harry S. Truman delivered a speech to Congress which summarized Allied success in Europe, he then brought forward a plan to occupy Japan.  Throughout the speech the President is honest with Congress and the American people.  He states that during the battle for Okinawa that the Army lost 3603 men, the Marines lost 1889, the Navy and Coast guard lost 4729, a total of 10,221 solders.   Despite the tremendous death toll, President Truman addressed Congress with confidence that the Allied forces would occupy Japan.  He emphasized how the war had increased in “toughness” and would continue to do so until America declared victory.

A recurring theme which stood out in the President’s speech was giving credit to those who contributed to the war effort.  He credited Roosevelt for his leadership in developing the most powerful military in the world, and for leading the Allied forces in destroying Hitler’s fortress.  Truman also credits the chairman of the war production committee for his leadership in producing enough armaments and supplies to keep the Allied forces moving through Europe and Asia.

He continues  by crediting American troops and those who fought alongside them.  It was these troops who carried the burden of the battle which led to the complete destruction of the enemy.  Truman did not claim credit for the victories or the plans to occupy Japan, but he was quick give credit to those who had dedicated their time and in most cases their lives to the success of the Allies.

This notion of a politician crediting others is unheard of in Washington, the politicians blame each other for all the failures and the glory for the successes.  For example, when Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan President Obama delivered a speech to the nation where he continually used the single letter “I”.  Obama deserves the credit for giving the go ahead which led to the death of Osama, but he should have given credit to those who worked much harder then he did or every will to rid the world of the threat of terror.

Just today I visited with Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma who has served as a representative for 17 years.  Even though I agreed with most of the things the senator discussed like increasing defense spending and improving infrastructure, I was appalled at how he saw politics.  Inhofe seemed to make every issue a democrat verse republican battle he said over and over again “We beat them.”  Not once did he give a democratic senator or house member credit for solving a problem.

It appears to me that our elected officials should work together to solve problems instead of bickering and refusing to agree on issues that are important to the American people simply because of party lines.  They have been elected to serve the US citizens, but instead they seem to be serving themselves, their egos, and their campaign budgets.  What happened to the era of politics where the first priority was leading the country to success no matter who got the credit?

A Long Day…

In the rush of finding a seat on my 830 Southwest Airlines  flight I claimed what I thought was a perfect aisle seat on an empty row.   It was only after takeoff that I realized my seat not only did not recline but was angled somewhat forward as it was infront of the emergency exit.  Slightly irritated that I had been had by the seat fairy of Southwest Airlines I proceed to put on my headphones and listen to the second chapter of the “7 Habits of Highly Successful People.”

The second chapter was the precursor to the author explaining the first of the seven rules and focused on paradigms and how when changed can effect the way we interrupt the world.  The author gave an example of a man on a subway train in New York City who had two young children.  The children were misbehaving and being disruptive, so another passenger calmly asked the man if he could quiet his children.  The man replied “I am sorry we just left the hospital, their mother died.”  The annoyed passenger’s paradigm was completely changed, he went from annoyed to sympathetic.  The way we see the world is a direct reflection of our paradigm.

This example made me think about the TSA agent who took his job a little to seriously (see my last post).  My paradigm was that the TSA agents are somewhat useless and just meant to be a pain to weary travelers.  I let my small discomforts control my paradigm.  After understanding the example given in the book I tried to transform my paradigm.  Instead of seeing the agents as a pest I tried to internalize that they were in the airport to protect travelers and the American public from threats of terror.  This put the seemingly egotistical agent in perspective, maybe all the agents should act like him.  Even under this paradigm I do not see any reason for threatening passengers, as this agent did the elderly woman.

Finally our plane landed in DC and we started the trek to a small independent hotel in Bethsda.  The Bethsda Motor Court Hotel is a nice break from the high rises and crowded elevators, it offers clean rooms, a small breakfast, friendly staff, and an amazing courtyard complete with adorondack chairs (where I am typing this post).

After checking into the room the group went out and ate dinner.  Myself and two other friends went next door to the hotel to a small jazz restaurant named the Woodmont Grill.  I splurged on the broiled sea-bass stuffed with buttered crab, needless to say I was not disappointed with the food.  It was elegant, and made for a satisfying first meal in Bethsda.

The TSA Agent

Finals week is finally over! I didn’t do quite as well on my tests as I had hoped, but still finished with mostly A’s.  Now with the semester over it is time for me to head to  Washington DC with the college of engineering scholars. 

Our flight from Oklahoma City to Baltimore departs at 830 and we will return in a short eleven days.  The scholars group going on the trip is composed of 16 junior level students and two advisors. 

After arriving at the airport in Oklahoma city I entered the security line, I had already printed my boarding pass.  As I got to the front of the line I undressed and put all of my belongings on the belt.  There was an elderly lady in front of me in line, she was somewhat frazeled by the airport security experience.  The tsa agent responsible for directing people through the metal detector waved the lady through with a stern hand motion.  She stepped through the detector and he said “You have been selected for a random security screening.”  She started to speak and he informed her hastly that there was nothing she could do.  He then screamed to the other agents “Security screening FEMALE.”

It was obvious to me that this tsa agent really loved his job because it fed his ego which had a huge apetite.  This trip is off to a good start.

Hello world!

As you can see, I have decided to start a blog.  It seems that lately I have had a huge number of thoughts, ideas, and inspirations flowing through my mind and what better way to record them then a blog.  It is funny how inspiration sometimes jumps up and bites you in the rear.  For example, yesterday I was attending an awards ceremony for a scholarship that I received recently.  As I was being introduced by my mentor and long time friend Dr. Bill Barfield it dawn on me that I should be recording the things that I experience.  I hope that my posts are not simply an autobiography or memoir but a thought provoking and perhaps inspirational account of things that move us.

My first final of the spring semester is in about 48 hours and I am tired of sitting at my desk, so I am taking the dog for a walk.  I will be listening to a audio book on my andriod, the book is titled “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  I will write about it later.

On the way home

My belly is full from an awesome sea food dinner last night in Baltimore.  I had forgotten how much I missed a table covered in paper and the smell of lemon pepper in the air.  Most of the ride back to Bethesda I was recalling in my head the run down crab shacks along the Carolina shores and the smell of the piers on the outer banks.  I had a blast watching the middle of the country dwellers learn to crack crab and try to identify what kind of boiled meat they were eating.  I think Dr Tree and myself ate about half of everyone’s plate, I was almost to full to walk out of the place.  Crackin’ crab was a great way to end a fun, full, and thought provoking trip.

The last 13 days has been a blast but it looks like it is time to board.

DC group presentations

All of the presentation groups assigned about a month ago have successfully made their recommendations for stops along our 13 day trip.  By the looks of the student feedback after the presentations we should be able to see some interesting things that are off the tourist path.  Oh how I hate the routes all the tourist take, you miss so much when you limit yourself to the profiteers who cater to tourism.  As I watched the presentations I saw a few things that might be interesting to see and experience that most of the group may not be interested in.  For example, I plan on spending a meal or two in the congressional office buildings,  I know from previous experience the food is awesome and you never know who you will rub elbows with.  I am looking forward to the trip, two months away.