Balancing Act

I had a truly great week. It was very productive and encouraging. The week started out with a two day conference and two nominations.

Conference – For two days this week I represented the state department at a conference for one of the countries that I’m covering. It was great to be at a table with people who listen and value your opinions, and who are very professional. We should feel secure with the professionals we have serving in our military.

Federal Service Student Ambassadors – Jody Brightman sent me an email suggesting that I apply to be a Student Ambassador for the Federal government to the Pepperdine campus. The program is designed to increase interest in federal service on college campuses through developing a corps of passionate student advocates who will actively promote public service following their completion of a federal summer internship. I’m in the process of filling out my application for that.

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I suppose it would be nice to read an update from me. It has been a while since I wrote anything (understandable as that is ). Well I’ll give you a breakdown of my typical day.

Night before: At some point before I go to bed, I pick out my suit and tie that I’m going to wear the following day. The idea was planted into my head to take a picture of the shirt, suit and tie combo that I wear so I would know if I ever wore the same thing twice. Honestly I’m not really that anal, but I do it anyway. Seemed like a descent idea, so I do it, and I don’t want to wear the same thing twice if I don’t have too.  

6:15am: At this time my cell phone wakes me up to the smooth rhythmic sounds of Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix. Some mornings are easier than others, but I tend to fly out of bed. I like to get into the bathroom before my roommate so I can chill on the couch, eat breakfast and watch Morning Joe on MSNBC.

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 I love this song. I cant get enough of it so I thought I’d share it with y’all. A real post to come very soon! Here is Biz Markie - Just A Friend and a little more to entertain you.. I remember when I was a kid and everybody in South OC thought they could beat box. Those were the good ol days. real post to come soon…. 

More Biz -

I just like this song! “Let Me Clear My Throat”

My fellow blogger has understandably had a difficult week. Not to put too much of his business out but, currently he is an intern for Senator Ensign, and after a very short text conversation with him, I could see he was down. I also read his most recent post and was able to read between the lines and see that, though he was down, he wasn’t beaten.

I know that this past week’s events have hit him harder than most because he had a personal relationship with the Senator. I’m sure he considers the Senator a friend. And when a friend you admire and respect goes through a difficult time it hits you pretty hard.

Being the old and wise man that I am, I’ve learned a little something about people that I want to pass on to my friend. I am not assuming that he needs any guidance from me, because his parents seem like great people. But I do want him to know that I can relate. Just because someone does something disappointing doesn’t mean that they are a bad person. As I’m sure he knows.

Many people in our lives have great qualities that we ourselves may not possess. Remember the good qualities about people and add them to your character. Carry those traits with you forever. Hold them close and remember what that person meant to you. It will make you a better person and your life much happier.

If you ever see me wearing yellow it’s because the most cheery person in my life loved the color yellow. When I need to feel happy or I am just in a good mood, I’ll wear a yellow shirt. They made me a better person.

So remember the things that you admired in Senator Ensign make those characteristics yours and own them. Stay strong, and dont worry be happy!

-Live Free Or Die

I spent a very moving day at Arlington National Cemetery today. I remember going there as a young kid with my grandparents years ago.  The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier made a big impression on me. I loved the precision and cadence of the whole watch over the tomb. So I have many pictures of the entire ceremony. I hope you enjoy the photos; these are the best of them. And when looking at them, give thanks to our soldiers for their sacrifices.   

- Live Free Or Die

Week one of my internship has come and gone. I’ve made it through an 8 hour orientation, the cryptic maze they call the State Department building, a hail storm, a torrential rain storm, extreme humidity, blood curtailing heat, learning the Government acronyms, and I must say that I’m loving every fracking minute of it.

Between undergrad and grad school I’ve had 3 internships and this by far is the best one. Don’t get me wrong working at a television station and radio station in major media markets was a fun experience. At those internships they allowed me to do some pretty important assignments on top of normal intern work. But at State I’m doing real job assignments that have implications to our country and I take very seriously. It’s like a real job and the pride that I have at the end of the day is that of someone who not only made a difference in the office but also to my country. It is an unbelievable feeling.

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 Ok… I have some good news and some bad news.  The good news first. It’s only been two days, but the State Department is the coolest thing ever, if you’re into that kind of thing. I’ll start with what I did Monday. Orientation, which is like every other 8 hour orientation you’ve been in with the countless speakers: the steady stream of paper work to fill out and not knowing how to find the nearest bathroom in a building the size of two city blocks. I didn’t say everything is golden. But it was very useful. In a place like State there are many, wait is that big enough of a word? How about countless, endless, gobs, heap, immeasurable, incalculable, infinite, innumerous, jillion, legion, of security procedures that they must take you through. Things you can and can’t do with or put on your computer, things you can’t leave out, and things you can’t take home. (Good thing about that is you can’t take work home with you).  It was a lot of information in a very short time and has scared me to death and this is where the bad news comes in. I won’t be able to blog about my day to day duties. I have Secret clearance and it is something that I take very seriously. Things I’m dealing with I can’t and won’t ever share.  But here is what I can share. The State Department sets up events for interns like tours of the Supreme Court, and I will tell you everything I can about those events.

 Now here is the really cool part. Today I reported to my Bureau and the coordinator got me settled in my own office. It was a very nice office, a little bigger then our professor’s at Pepperdine. It was about the size of Dean Pauletta Walsh’s office, if you’ve ever been in there. Once I was in my office I was given some reading to get a feel of what the Bureau has to deal with. At this point I was pretty far from everybody else in the Bureau. My office was down the corridor from everyone else. Then the coordinator come into my office and says “Sorry Jeff they want me to move you they want you closer.” I’m thinking “great I had this nice office with pretty new furniture in it and they’re going to move me to some closet so they can just yell my name instead of walking down to talk to me. Ummm, I was sadly mistaken. They put me in the LARGEST office in the whole department! Yup the former Deputy Secretary’s office is now mine. I have a huge desk TWO count them Two TV’s (one is a flat screen) a Three cushion couch and FIVE matching chairs! I’m done I can go home now! It is FRACKEN Great! (Yes, I watched Battlestar) So after 20 minutes of trying to wipe the grin off my face I met a few of my co-workers did some more first day stuff like getting set up with a computer. Sat in on a few meeting that I’ll have to participate in starting next week, and got reassigned. Yup, you heard me reassigned. I told y’all that I’ll be doing Western Hemisphere. (oh yeah. Everything goes by acronyms. So Western Hemisphere is WH. This is the hardest part learning all this stuff.) So, now I’m doing SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS  (PAKISTAN AND AFGHANIATAN) baby! I’m in the big show! Working under the Assisant Deputy Secretary.   Read more »

Today is my first day at the U.S. State Department. I didn’t sleep a wink tossed and turned all night. I’m extremely excited and very tired. I have a 15 minute walk to State for my 8:15am (that’s 5:15am for you Californians) orientation today. More details to come tonight about my first day and my orientation.