Mr. Scott goes to Washington - Act Two, Scene Four: Havana Nights
Well friends, here we are. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long... this really should have been two entries, but I kept putting it off, and putting it off. So now here I am to describe (in detail, of course) my comings and goings this week. And don't worry, it'll be complete (as always) with an abundance of parentheticals.
On Tuesday, the morning started off fairly slowly. It wasn't too long, though, before I had my first taste of excitement this week - I received a phone call back with the information I'd requested from the Department of State, which I had contacted last week. On my call diplay it actually read "US State Dept," which, being the huge geek I am, I found really cool. Even more cool was the fact that when I was writing my report, I got to cite the gentleman I spoke with as "my contact at the State Department." Awesome.
That afternoon I attended a financial policy forum at a think tank called the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). It was pretty interesting stuff. Luckily I'd researched their topic, related to the regulation of the two large federal mortgage companies, so I had an idea of what they were talking about. The moderator, who is a senior fellow with AEI, struck me as quite intelligent and I ended up looking up one of his essays later in the week.
On Wednesday morning I wrote my report on the AEI proceedings, which was later forwarded on by my supervisor directly to the Department of Finance in Ottawa. That afternoon I went to watch a meeting of the House Government Reform Committee's Oil and Gas Production Subcommittee. It took far longer than it should have, as the House was having a vote on some issue and they had to take a recess to let the congressmen go vote.
Thursday was the best day of the week, although certainly the busiest. In the morning I went to Resources For the Future (RFF), an energy and environmental think tank to hear a speech on securing America's energy future by Senator Barack Obama (a Democrat from Illinois). Obama is widely regarded as a future leader in the Democratic Party, so the embassy wanted to know where he stood on continental energy policy. Luckily, he's a hell of a public speaker, and it was a really great speech. I've now decided that I should read his autobiography (which is apparently a national best seller), and will likely purchase it soon.
After returning to the embassy, I sorted through and summarized my notes from the House meeting on Wednesday, before being debriefed by the embassy's energy counsellor. Then Claire and I went for lunch. While eating at our table, two of our fellow interns (one, a prim white girl from Connecticut, and the other, a somewhat swarthy Puerto Rican) walked in together. Claire was excited to see the two of them together, exclaiming that it was "just like Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." It was easily the funniest thing I'd heard all week (although a rather astute poke at Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew later that afternoon was a close second), and I almost choked I was laughing so hard.
On the elevator ride back to our office, Claire wondered what people thought when they saw us together. By her logic, of course, we would be the original Dirty Dancing cast. Although as those of you who've seen my moves well know, I'm no Patrick Swayze on the dance floor. I do try, though, to have the time of my life...
That afternoon I wrote and submitted my report on Senator Obama's speech. The energy counsellor liked it, but I wrote it out in the wrong format (I didn't actually know there WAS a format, since the Finance guy lets me write however I want), so I had to fix it up a bit before he signed off on it. I also got to proof read one of his reports to Ottawa, on which I'm cited for consultation. Claire and I also took some time to watch CTV news reporting on the Prime Minister attending the big 60th Anniversary UN Conference with our supervisor. It devolved into a bunch of reporters harassing Martin about Pierre Pettigrew squandering tax payer dollars, which suited me just fine.
Today I didn't really have much to do, so I ended up doing some research for the finance counsellor regarding American opinions on the benefits and drawbacks of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the potential for revamping parts of the legislation. So I tracked down some reports (including the aforementioned essay by the AEI moderator) which he then sent on to the Department of Finance. He said they just like to be fed information from time to time, although it seems to me they (or their finance interns) could find those reports just as easily on the internet as I can.
After lunch I spent some time clearing up a bit of work from my class at The Washington Center, and I had a chance to chat briefly with my dear friend Fraser, who is currently on his own adventure, going on exchange for the whole year in Edinburgh. He mentioned that he had climbed some substantial hill or something, and was quite proud (does this count as a "shout-out," Fras?) With him in Scotland is my dear arch-nemesis Chase. It's interesting to see how many people are taking off all over the place this year.
After work, Claire and I went to happy hour in the embassy with Claire's roommate Marie (who I'm sure you remember from before) and two other people Claire knew (one from Queen's, and his friend from D.C.), who turned out to be really good company. We ended up having a pretty good time. We had originally planned to stop in at the Smithsonian sculpture garden beside the National Gallery where they have jazz music on Friday evenings, but were too late. From there we returned home, where Claire and Marie arranged to go out with the guys for the night. Feeling exhausted, I declined. So now I'm left wondering whether or not I'm going to get the late-night phone call to come escort the girls home from the metro.
--
I'm going to take a bit more of your time to comment on one topic of note this week. While normally this space is reserved for my culinary adventures, this is too good to pass up.
While I was at the House energy subcommitte meeting (I believe), Claire attended a forum on African development where she happened to sit with an intern from the Norwegian embassy. I guess they bonded over lunch, as he asked for her email address and gave her a taxi ride home (on the Norwegian government's dime. That's my girl!) . She didn't know what his name was until he emailed her, and then couldn't pronounce it until she called his voice mail to hear it (after hours, of course). Turns out it's Torbjorn (with a line through the "o" and a funky pronounciation).
Anyway, he was going to be at the sculpture garden as part of an embassy social event and suggested she stop by (which was exactly why we were planning to stop by), but because of the timing of Claire's friends' arrival at the embassy we couldn't make it. As Claire had already told him she'd be there, I'm just hoping her failure to show doesn't cause some kind of minor international incident. The last thing we need is to drive the Norwegians further into the arms of those conniving Danes. His email also mentioned the possibility of coffee or "something" next week, a possibility that has me quite excited (far more excited, in fact, than Claire, who seems fairly blasé about it). I guess we'll see what happens.
Think about it: Claire and a Norwegian intern! Can you imagine how blond the children would be!?
On Tuesday, the morning started off fairly slowly. It wasn't too long, though, before I had my first taste of excitement this week - I received a phone call back with the information I'd requested from the Department of State, which I had contacted last week. On my call diplay it actually read "US State Dept," which, being the huge geek I am, I found really cool. Even more cool was the fact that when I was writing my report, I got to cite the gentleman I spoke with as "my contact at the State Department." Awesome.
That afternoon I attended a financial policy forum at a think tank called the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). It was pretty interesting stuff. Luckily I'd researched their topic, related to the regulation of the two large federal mortgage companies, so I had an idea of what they were talking about. The moderator, who is a senior fellow with AEI, struck me as quite intelligent and I ended up looking up one of his essays later in the week.
On Wednesday morning I wrote my report on the AEI proceedings, which was later forwarded on by my supervisor directly to the Department of Finance in Ottawa. That afternoon I went to watch a meeting of the House Government Reform Committee's Oil and Gas Production Subcommittee. It took far longer than it should have, as the House was having a vote on some issue and they had to take a recess to let the congressmen go vote.
Thursday was the best day of the week, although certainly the busiest. In the morning I went to Resources For the Future (RFF), an energy and environmental think tank to hear a speech on securing America's energy future by Senator Barack Obama (a Democrat from Illinois). Obama is widely regarded as a future leader in the Democratic Party, so the embassy wanted to know where he stood on continental energy policy. Luckily, he's a hell of a public speaker, and it was a really great speech. I've now decided that I should read his autobiography (which is apparently a national best seller), and will likely purchase it soon.
After returning to the embassy, I sorted through and summarized my notes from the House meeting on Wednesday, before being debriefed by the embassy's energy counsellor. Then Claire and I went for lunch. While eating at our table, two of our fellow interns (one, a prim white girl from Connecticut, and the other, a somewhat swarthy Puerto Rican) walked in together. Claire was excited to see the two of them together, exclaiming that it was "just like Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." It was easily the funniest thing I'd heard all week (although a rather astute poke at Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew later that afternoon was a close second), and I almost choked I was laughing so hard.
On the elevator ride back to our office, Claire wondered what people thought when they saw us together. By her logic, of course, we would be the original Dirty Dancing cast. Although as those of you who've seen my moves well know, I'm no Patrick Swayze on the dance floor. I do try, though, to have the time of my life...
That afternoon I wrote and submitted my report on Senator Obama's speech. The energy counsellor liked it, but I wrote it out in the wrong format (I didn't actually know there WAS a format, since the Finance guy lets me write however I want), so I had to fix it up a bit before he signed off on it. I also got to proof read one of his reports to Ottawa, on which I'm cited for consultation. Claire and I also took some time to watch CTV news reporting on the Prime Minister attending the big 60th Anniversary UN Conference with our supervisor. It devolved into a bunch of reporters harassing Martin about Pierre Pettigrew squandering tax payer dollars, which suited me just fine.
Today I didn't really have much to do, so I ended up doing some research for the finance counsellor regarding American opinions on the benefits and drawbacks of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the potential for revamping parts of the legislation. So I tracked down some reports (including the aforementioned essay by the AEI moderator) which he then sent on to the Department of Finance. He said they just like to be fed information from time to time, although it seems to me they (or their finance interns) could find those reports just as easily on the internet as I can.
After lunch I spent some time clearing up a bit of work from my class at The Washington Center, and I had a chance to chat briefly with my dear friend Fraser, who is currently on his own adventure, going on exchange for the whole year in Edinburgh. He mentioned that he had climbed some substantial hill or something, and was quite proud (does this count as a "shout-out," Fras?) With him in Scotland is my dear arch-nemesis Chase. It's interesting to see how many people are taking off all over the place this year.
After work, Claire and I went to happy hour in the embassy with Claire's roommate Marie (who I'm sure you remember from before) and two other people Claire knew (one from Queen's, and his friend from D.C.), who turned out to be really good company. We ended up having a pretty good time. We had originally planned to stop in at the Smithsonian sculpture garden beside the National Gallery where they have jazz music on Friday evenings, but were too late. From there we returned home, where Claire and Marie arranged to go out with the guys for the night. Feeling exhausted, I declined. So now I'm left wondering whether or not I'm going to get the late-night phone call to come escort the girls home from the metro.
--
I'm going to take a bit more of your time to comment on one topic of note this week. While normally this space is reserved for my culinary adventures, this is too good to pass up.
While I was at the House energy subcommitte meeting (I believe), Claire attended a forum on African development where she happened to sit with an intern from the Norwegian embassy. I guess they bonded over lunch, as he asked for her email address and gave her a taxi ride home (on the Norwegian government's dime. That's my girl!) . She didn't know what his name was until he emailed her, and then couldn't pronounce it until she called his voice mail to hear it (after hours, of course). Turns out it's Torbjorn (with a line through the "o" and a funky pronounciation).
Anyway, he was going to be at the sculpture garden as part of an embassy social event and suggested she stop by (which was exactly why we were planning to stop by), but because of the timing of Claire's friends' arrival at the embassy we couldn't make it. As Claire had already told him she'd be there, I'm just hoping her failure to show doesn't cause some kind of minor international incident. The last thing we need is to drive the Norwegians further into the arms of those conniving Danes. His email also mentioned the possibility of coffee or "something" next week, a possibility that has me quite excited (far more excited, in fact, than Claire, who seems fairly blasé about it). I guess we'll see what happens.
Think about it: Claire and a Norwegian intern! Can you imagine how blond the children would be!?
posted by Scoops at 11:39 p.m.
8 Comments:
Obama definitely sets a new standard in celebrity sitings! Caught his speech at the Democratic convention and I too was struck by the magnetism of his arguments and of him personally. Definitely one to watch.
Remind Claire of her Nordic roots re the pronounciation of Norwegian names - just add a "yuh" after the first letter of any name and it becomes Scandinavian - think Swedish Chef and you will be fine!
Mrs Marchant (of the Bjerkos - with the requisite two dots over the "o" - clan
Also can't leave without a quick remark to your colleague "the colonel": Look forward to your responses almost as much as the postings - thanks
Scott:
Given your Swedish background, I'm surprised you weren't more help to Claire. Tennis anyone? Love Mom
Hmmmm...I guess your latest entry left me wondering how blonde the children might be if YOU and Claire were the parents!
And what's that about your Swedish background?
Jerko (je m'excuse, I guess you're going by the colonel, now),
Thank you sincerely for that most obscure of references. You've set the bar quite high, but I'm committing myself to besting you... though I have no idea where to start. Yet.
One thing, though, is certain:
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's Fire burnin' in me, burnin' in me
Just once in his life a man has his time
and my time is now, I'm coming alive!
Yeah! So... er, you'd best watch out.
Uncle Dave,
I'm going to post this here rather than email you a response so that the whole of my loyal readership can reap the benefits of your curiousity.
It's a reference to a long-standing inside joke in our family.
In an effort to explain why I look nothing like Dad while Elliot looks exactly like Dad, and why my hair is... well, the way it is... my beloved brother suggested (quite tactfully, too, as I recall) that I was, in fact, the love child of our mother and a tennis-playing Swedish exchange student.
Funny, though, that Mom (and Dad, actually) never denied it...
No one leaves Baby in the corner...I loved that movie! I agree with The Colonel, I too have seen you on the dance floor, John Travlota you ain't. Rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby.
Lizardbreath,
I'd actually forgotten about that, so I had a good laugh when I read your comment.
That said, I don't recall you cutting the rug too spectacularly... In fact, I think the only people who came off that cruise looking like decent dancers were Grandma and Grandpa!
Post a Comment
<< Home