Family vacation

My family visited me last weekend and we had a great time. My dad even said it may be the best family vacation we've ever had, in part, because I already knew where everything was and how to get there so there was no getting lost and frustrated. Also, I made an impeccable schedule to maximize our time and fun.

We went to the zoo, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Gallery of Art and Georgetown Cupcake. They had a hard time believing the cupcakes would be good enough to justify waiting in line for half an hour, but they definitely were. I don't even usually like cupcakes, but Georgetown Cupcakes are an entirely different breed. The only thing better was the cupcake I had at Magnolia Bakery in New York with the girls, which, as you can tell from Megan's blog post, I loved.

Best second-to-last day ever

It's our second-to-last day at the foundation and I am feeling pretty sad. Alex has been working on a video that includes pictures of our adventures and interviews with each of us so that when we all go our different ways we'll have a nice way to remember this experience.
I've begun cleaning out my desk. I somehow accumulated a lot of stuff - mostly papers - in this small workspace of mine.

This morning what we thought would be an ordinary tour of C-SPAN turned into a group interview with Brian Lamb, founder of C-SPAN. Jody said he is one of the best interviewers in town because he asks good questions and wants to know everything. And he did ask us a lot of good questions.

Tonight Jody is taking us to a nice dinner at Sette Osteria. I also have some packing to finish. It's a good thing my parents took some of stuff home with them when they visited me last weekend.

Justice Breyer talks to the court about his underwear

The Supreme Court considered today whether a 13-year-old girl's Fourth Amendment rights were violated when school officials strip searched her, looking for ibuprofen 400 mg, a prescription strength pain killer.

Savana Redding was an eighth-grade honors student in 2003 when two female school officials conducted the search - a traumatic memory she carries with her everyday.

Justice Breyer said he could understand the suspicion that Savana may have hidden the pills in her undergarments because people sometimes do hide things in their underwear, but instead he said: "When I was 8 or 10 or 12 years old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day, we changed for gym, OK? And in my experience, too, people did sometimes stick things in my underwear."

Everyone laughed hysterically, including the justices.

Contests

Last night the group had an Easter dinner with Jody, Megan's family visiting from California and Emily's family from North Carolina. With fourteen people, I'm pretty sure it was the largest Easter dinner I've ever been to. Megan's mom kindly offered to do most of the cooking and Diana and I made asparagus tart.

Unfortunately, we did not win The Washington Post's "Peeps Show" contest, nor were we finalists. They received 1,100 Peeps diaramas, but neglected to select the best one - ours. In light of the recent bicentennial of Darwin's birth, we illustrated the evolution of Peeps - "The Origin of SPEEPsies."
There were some very elaborate and artistic submissions. I'm glad the Post has found a use for those yucky bunny and chick shaped marshmallows. I don't think anyone really enjoys eating them anyway.

This afternoon we ate lunch at The National Press Club and heard IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman speak. The luncheon was broadcast live on CSPAN.

And going back to the topic of strange contests, I submitted a funny essay for a LensCrafters contest. If the judges like mine best I win a free pair of glasses!

Nearing an end

I can't believe it's already April 9 and I'll be returning to Michigan in just a few weeks. When I arrived here in January, April seemed so far away.
I'm creating a mental list of all the things I wanted to do that I haven't yet, and it's pretty long.

By the way, I have a new story on the SHFWire Web site about the lingering environmental impact of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Re: "Men v. Boys"

I've never cared about basketball or the fact that MSU will most definitely win its upcoming game against UNC, but after reading Emily's blog post I'm feeling a new found enthusiasm for the Spartans.
It's too bad Emily cares so much about the game, because she'll be heartbroken when UNC loses.

Cherry blossoms

This weekend was the peak of the cherry blossom season and the city is overrun by tourists. Metro has been so crowded that it's sometimes impossible to fit on a train. I had a hard enough time fitting into the stuffed car on the way to the grocery store this afternoon, but on the way home, with two large grocery bags, it was even harder.

The first train that came by was so crowded that everyone inside of it was practically hugging each other, so I waited for the next. The next train was the same. I thought about taking a cab to avoid the crowd but then decided against it and managed to squeeze through. I unwillingly became part of a human sandwich, smashed between two very tall men. We were so tightly crammed together I could have nearly lifted my feet from the ground and have been suspended in the mass.

Yesterday I went with Diana and three of her friends to the cherry blossom festival. There were vendors selling Japanese food and gifts and we ate lemon sorbetto out of tiny white take-out cartons.

We walked to the tidal basin where there is the best view of the cherry blossoms and the Jefferson Monument. It was really beautiful and the weather was perfect for it.