Ugh. The Cart. (I stole this from Elvia’s Facebook!)

I’m falling into my old habits again, but I promise I have good excuses this time! However, I should have posted Sunday after my shopping excursion with Elvia, one of my roommates.

Before I got to DC I wondered how in the world I’d grocery shop. I like to go on Sunday to get everything I need for the week so I don’t have to think about it anymore. At home, I go to the store, load up my cart, transport it to my car and take it home. But there’s one vital thing missing from that formula here: my car.

Now, I suppose I could carry the bags back home. But then my fingers would probably be bleeding before I got back and my arms would be disjointed from my shoulders. So someone invented carts. Not like grocery carts, just small, squarish carts you can use to put your bags in and wheel back home. Problem solved, right?

Ha ha, no.

Try wheeling that thing through the store, keeping in mind all four wheels are stationary. We could tilt the cart back on two wheels to get some kind of a turning radius, but the cart was overflowing with stuff so we had things falling out. We had to kind of scoot the back wheels around when we needed to turn.

Then you should try taking that thing on an escalator because the elevator was out, of course. We had to balance the cart on two wheels on one step and kind of lean back to counter the weight to keep it from toppling.

Then you should try pushing it onto a train. In case you haven’t been on the Metro, there’s a two or three inch gap between the concrete edge of the platform and the metal frame of the door and the two edges don’t line up. So I have to use my knee to get the cart up and over the bump while annoyed people behind me are trying to get on the train.

And then the wheel fell off. Almost literally. All the scooting made the back wheels get all out of whack and one of them was about to fall off. Fortunately, whoever engineered the thing realized that may be a problem and kind of spring-loaded the rear axle, making it easy to pop the wheel back in place. It still wobbles a little though.

The best was yet to come. There are four or five narrow steps up to get from the sidewalk to the front door of the apartment. Elvia and I had to get the cart up those steps. She took one side and I took the other and we heaved and hoed and lifted and barely got the cart up the first step. And then we did it again. And then we briefly considered asking a strange guy walking with his girlfriend to help us, but we ended up finishing it ourselves.

And when we finally made it inside, we swore we’d never use that darned cart again.

Seven hours, 320 pictures and one colossal plate of Chinese food later, We’ve seen the Washington Monument, WW2 Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and Chinatown. This is a super quick slideshow, but It’s all I have the energy for right now. 🙂

Fountain at Freedom Plaza

Waaaaaaay back when I first joined the staff of The Northerner a few of the editors started blogging. I say started because I only remember one blog having one entry and then they kinda just died. The one blog I remember was the editor in chief’s, titled “Past the Print.” In it, she would talk about some of the things that happened in the newsroom while we were creating an issue or something interesting about a story that didn’t make it through the editing process. Or at least that was the intent of the blog. Like I said, there was only one entry.

For example, if she had covered the rally at Freedom Plaza about distracted driving, she would have included in her blog that a fire alarm went off at the National Press Club just as the rally was starting and that the looks of disappointment on the organizers faces were priceless. They were already getting discouraged because few people had arrived. The fire turned out to be a false alarm. By the time we made it down the steps from the thirteenth floor, the fire trucks were already pulling away. (You can read my story here.)

The Venezuelan bill Cesar contributed to the Rogue States wall.

I capped off the day with a burger from Rogue States Burgers in Dupont Circle last night. Good burgers, kinda high cost. ($10 just for the 1/2 pound burger and a drink. No fries. I should also take into consideration its location.) Its definitely not a place I’d go often. But the cool thing about the restaurant was the dollar bill wall. Guests sign dollar bills with their names or whatever sentiment strikes their fancy and the staff tapes them to the wall.

Cesar, SHFW’s international intern from Venezuela, contributed a bill from his country and added his sentiments about Hugo Chavez. While I agree with Cesar’s decree, I edited his verb out of this photo so I don’t get in trouble for obscenity. (It was a four-letter word that rhymes with Chuck. 🙂

I’m swallowing a lot of pride to write this blog. I would much rather forget about most of today, but it just doesn’t seem right to only talk about the good moments of the trip. Besides, in the end, I did finally get  a byline. It’s been exactly a year today since I wrote a news story. (I did write a few PR stories late last year.)

So I covered a Congressional hearing this morning about the Universal Service Reform Act, which was written to bring broadband service to rural areas, among other things.

My first draft of the story was awful. And I knew it. I couldn’t even tell you what I was thinking when I turned it in, but I did. And Jody, my editor, kicked it back out to me. Shame and embarrassment just about cover how I felt at her desk. I knew I could do a lot better than that first draft.

So I rewrote the story. The second time around it took some minor edits and we reworked my lede so the beginning of the story was interesting. And you can view the final product here. (Free registration required.)

Oh but my day didn’t end there. I left the office around 7 p.m. I got home around 8:30. It normally takes about 30 minutes to get home. There was an issue with smoke on the Red Line, so some trains were sharing tracks and causing everything to get backed up. Except all I knew when I waited for 15 minutes for the train to take off was that there was smoke somewhere and the train wasn’t going anywhere. So I got off and decided to try to take the bus.

I spent another half hour trying to find the right bus before finally giving up and getting back on the train. I made it back to the Red line and ran into the same issue. The train stood for at least 10 minutes with more and more people piling in until you literally could not squeeze one more person on the train before it finally took off. Then we got to the next stop and somehow more people managed to squeeze in.

And then we finally made it to my stop and sat next to the platform for 10 minutes before the doors finally opened and everyone started flooding the platform. Spending 30 minutes sandwiched between a wall and a bald guy is not how I want to spend my evening.

Today was supposed to be the day I got my first byline. But the force just wasn’t with me. The first problem came when I got to the event and realized that what I thought was going to be something about preparing for retirement was actually a group advocating the Social Security system. So my original story was blown out of the water.

I spent the rest of my afternoon trying to get in touch with Senators and retirement experts. No one called me back. (Big surprise there.) I finally just called it quits around four and started getting ready for another story tomorrow. There are a couple of events happening later in the month in conjunction with Social Security and retirement. I’ll keep an eye on them and maybe the legwork I did today will come in handy.

I’m taking another stab at a story tomorrow. I have a House Committee meeting tomorrow morning about making broadband cover the nation. We’ll see how this one goes.

Capitol Building

My feet are dying. I knew that all the walking around DC was going to be gruesome. But I thought I prepared for it. I carefully bought and broke in my shoes. And then I got here and realized that my pointy-toe black flats just aren’t going to work, no matter how comfortable they were back home. I have blisters on eight out of 10 toes tonight and my brown flats are going to be my mainstay until I get new black shoes. I don’t care if they don’t match my outfit.

We did do a lot of walking today though. We went to The Hill and got our press passes and Jody, our ringleader/editor/manager, took us on a tour of the House and the Senate. She showed us where the press galleries and a plethora of other rooms were, but I sincerely doubt I remember how to get to any of it. That building is one big, beautiful maze.

There is at least one cursed stairwell in the capitol, at least for reporters. The story is that back in the day a reporter was having an affair with a politician’s wife. The politician found out, chased the reporter to this stairwell and shot him. There are black spots on the marble that are alleged to be the reporters blood. Jody just said to hold on to the handrail when we’re using those stairs. Apparently, reporters fall down those steps a lot.

David Carr, NYT columnist.

Before we went to The Hill, we went to the Newseum for the Knight-Battan Awards and Symposium for Innovative Journalism. (That’s a mouthful.) It was interesting to see some of the different ways journalists are using various media tools. Even with all the great information and ideas I got just from listening, the thing that stuck with me the most was one sentence from keynote speaker David Carr, a media columnist and culture reporter with the New York Times.

Between good-natured jokes, he said, “What if you took a year off right now?”

Carr was referencing the rate at which technology changes, and how very different newsrooms are now. Get ready, because I’m baring my soul a little here. That statement threw into focus for me just how out of the loop I really am. I have been off from journalism for about a year and a half. Now, I’m back and trying to keep my head above water and I’m not so sure I can still float.

But, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I go to cover my first story of the fall tomorrow morning. I’ll be attending a meeting at the Press Club about planning for retirement. We all know that 401(k) savings plans are junk right now, and no one knows what’s going to happen to social security. I’ll bet I’m not the only 25 year old wondering what she’s going to have to do to retire. If I ever do find a job after graduation, that is.

I am blogging to you from Washington D.C. this evening after a looooong day of traveling. Today actually started around 9 a.m. yesterday. That’s right, short of attempted naps on the plane and the two hours I crashed between 5 and 7 p.m. tonight, I haven’t slept at all.

I’m really not much of a procrastinator, but when it comes to packing, I’m always pushing getting finished before I have to leave for wherever I happen to be going. Of course, I’ve never had to pack for longer than 15 days before, so I should have given myself more than a couple of days to get everything together for three months. But, I didn’t. I started packing at 2 a.m. Friday and finished about 3 a.m. Sunday. And since I needed to get to the airport by 5 a.m., I just didn’t bother sleeping.

By the time I got to the apartment, excitement and adrenaline were the only things keeping me going. My roommates were out when I finally made it in, so I decided to do a little exploring on my own. I walked over to Adams Morgan for Adams Morgan Day Festival, which is just a big festival in the street with vendors lined up between eclectic historic buildings peddling everything from Chinese food to Pashmina scarves. (I almost bought a scarf today, but knowing my tendency for impulse buys at festivals, I didn’t bring much cash with me.)

Of course, because I didn’t have much cash meant I ended up eating at Chipotle instead of getting something unique to DC. But between running to make my connection and trying to get from BWI to the apartment, I hadn’t eaten anything since the croissant I had at home around 3 this morning. I wasn’t complaining about the burrito I practically inhaled.

The exhaustion of today was worth being able to have a very intimate cookout yesterday so my friends and family could say good riddance to me for a few months.

Since I was too tired to even bother taking pictures of anything today, I posted some photos from the cookout yesterday below. Enjoy! 🙂

My dad designed this cake from scratch.

Close up of my favorite part: Stone Tribune: Cassie Departs for DC. Says See you on Christmas!

Meanness, a.k.a. Ella, slightly unfocused because I haven’t mastered the flash on my new camera.

This was maybe one-fourth of the kids who were there.

We crammed around 30 people under that tiny shelter when rain tried to ruin the day.

This is the best and worst playground invention ever. Best because it’s always fun to spin around in circles. Worst because you get sick and, if you’re not careful, you go flying.

This is me last fall on the viewing deck at the Newseum.

I really, really need to pack.

In four days I’ll be leaving for my my next adventure — spending three months in Washington D.C. I will be joining five other undergraduates for  an internship with the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire.

I’m kind of in denial right now about this entire thing. It doens’t feel like I’m about to leave home for three months to go to a city where I don’t know anyone so I can play reporter for a little while. Ha, when I say it that way, its kind of intimidating. (‘ve never been one to get exhilerated by making friends out of strangers. I’m sort of the wallflower type. But when I remember that I get to live a dream for a few months, all my concerns vanish. Yes, I’m going to miss my family and friends back home. But this is just another adventure of a lifetime!

Like the Gypsy Trip, I’ll be blogging throughout my internship. My posts should be more like twice a week instead of daily, though. My plans are to post one blog about the work side of my internship and another just about different sights and activities in the city. I’m compiling a DC Bucket List and I’m planning to cross everything off between Sept. 13 and Dec. 17! If there’s anything you know of in DC that I should see, post it in the comments or send me an e-mail at stone.cassie@gmail.com.