My Daily Routine

I start every day at 5:30 a.m. While I get on my feet, I am staying with relatives in lovely Stafford, VA. The city has got some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. I have been here through three seasons, and it is quite nice -- the snow in the winter, the great spring weather, and now getting into the HEAT of summer. At any rate, I only live 40 odd miles from DC, but since this traffic is one of the worst in the nation (3rd in the nation I think), it can take 40 minutes to 90 minutes getting there. So, most days I have to take the train: the Virginia Railway Express. It is a nice and comfortable ride that takes a little over an hour with all the stops in between. So I lwake up at 5:30 so I can eat something and watch the news. I don't leave my house until 6:50 a.m. The train I take leaves every morning at 7:20, and that puts me in city at somewhere around 8:30. From L'Fant Plaza, I walk to Rayburn to start the day.

So, technically I am a legal/legislative intern. I have a good stipend so it makes it worth my while. It was of great fortune that I got this position starting out and not something else. I don't believe I do traditional intern tasks. And that's a good thing, I am a J.D. after all. So that should be good for something, right? Nevertheless, I brief memos, attend hearings, and conduct meetings with lobbyists. In general, I assist the Congresswoman's Legal Counsel/Legislative Director with her activities with the House Judiciary Committee. I draft talking points, formal correspondence, hearing testimony, hearing questions, floor statements, and most recently legislation all on the Congresswoman's behalf. It's all great, and I am gaining great experience. I transitioned into the position seamlessly. I am not sure when the "internship" will end, but I definately plan on staying on the Hill for a few more years. At least that's the plan. But I was recently told, "when man plans, God laughs." So I will let him work it out.

This is a picture from getty images. It was a House Judiciary DOJ oversight hearing with Eric Holder testifying. And that arrow points to me at the Legislative Assistant table. The hearings are very interesting. So far, I have had a lot of initial insight on many of the hearings due to the courses I chose in law school. Death penalty has come up, mandatory minimums, prosecutorial discretion, and a host of other topics have been discussed during hearings. So all those writing classes paid off. And I can't stress enough, I do A LOT of writing. So, that's another personal blessing because anyone who knows me well knows how much I love to write. It's been over two months, and the novelty has not worn off...I work on freakin Capitol Hill. Everything I have studied, all the politicians I follow, all the news I have spent hours watching, and all the politics I have followed -- and I am right in the middle of it all during Pres. Obama first term, a new SCOTUS pick, and a democratic majority in the House and Senate. I don't and won't ever talk about what happens outside what everyone sees on TV. It's kind of interesting since I always talked politics before, but now it would seem a bit unprofessional to talk about what goes on in the House. But, it's cool. There are plenty of other things to talk about. So I can blog about life in general in DC/Virginia.