Andy goes to Washington DC

Going out west

2008-12-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

It doesn't seem like it but it has now been 4 months that I have been living in D.C. It has been an amazing time and I will always remember the experiences that I had here.I am sad to leave but with every ending comes a new beginning.
On Monday I was playing basketball with a co-worker and friends and I badly hurt my knee. :( I could barely walk Tuesday and Wednesday but I am starting to be able to get my ability back. Work has been winding down. Yesterday we had intern appreciation day in our office. We had a lunch with Jim and got letters from the staff. It was a great time. I couldn't have asked for a better office. The staff in my office are amazing and I will miss them. I have loved every part about working with them.

I started packing some of my bags and I have no clue how I will get everything back to Utah. I bought to much stuff out here.

I plan on writing a memorandum of my time out here, so look for that in the coming days.

The Countdown

2008-12-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

Worst Thanksgiving break ever. I was sick the entire time and tried writing my paper, but didn't get very far. I think I have strep throat or some sickness that wont go away. Yesterday and Today have been busy at work. A lot of things are going on around the hill, especially with the Auto bailout coming up.
The other day I was eating my favorite food of pizza in the cafeteria in my building. And a lady from a newspaper came and interviewed me about the new visitor center. In case you haven't heard today they opened the brand new 621 million dollar Capital Visitor Center(CVC). I have been in the visitor center a few times sense it was finished but it doesn't open to the public until this afternoon. Its really amazing inside, but not worth the 621 million and for sure not worth the hassle of doing tours. I usually do the capital tours in my office and I have been working on a way to do the new tours with the addition of the visitor center. In fact the CVC is the biggest expansion to the capital ever and it takes up more ground space than the capital. But, they built it completely underground so it wouldn't obscure the view of the capital. Part of the CVC is a massive cafetria that will be some of the priciest cafeteria food you will find. This lady interviewed me about food in the Longworth cafeteria and the new CVC cafeteria. Here is an excerpt from todays addition of Politics-

On Wednesday, while eating his slice of plain cheese pizza and drinking a 24-ounce fountain soda — a $3.80 lunch at the Longworth cafeteria — Andrew Hoyt, an intern for Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), called the CVC’s pricing ridiculous. A similar meal would cost him $7.50 at the CVC.

You can see the entire article here http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16108.html
Who ever thought I would be in the newspaper for pizza?

Everything is starting to wind down for me here in D.C. I now have less than two weeks before I head back west to the great state of Utah. I hope you are all ready for me there. haha. Have a good week.

2008-11-27T16:47:00.000-08:00

Well its Thursday night and it has been the lamest Thanksgiving ever. I haven't done much today besides see a movie and try to recover. I'm sick but I am hopefully getting better. Work was pretty busy this week, we were trying to get ready for the Thanksgiving break. I had a half day of Wednesday off and I also have tomorrow off. Tomorrow and Saturday I plan on locking myself inside the Library of Congress and writing my 20 pg. paper for my internship. Hopefully it goes well.
Last week Congressman Matheson volunteered to give us a dome tour. What that is is a tour of the capital dome. To go up into it you have to have a Congressman or Senator escort you. So, not many people get to do this. It was an amazing experience going up there.
Besides the Washington Monument the Capital dome is the tallest point in the City. There is a law in DC that no building can be taller than the capital and that no building can obscure the view of the capital. So once at the top you can see everywhere. Check out the pics below. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving.

Inside the top of the dome. Apotheosis of Washington behind me

Looking down into the Rotunda

The Supreme Court behind me

David and I looking out at the mall

Starburst

2008-11-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

Tons and tons of things have happened since I last wrote. My Mother and Judith as well as my friend Bryan came to visit. Dc has started a transition period to the new President and we are back in session.

My Mother and Judith a family friend came and visited me in DC last weekend. We had an amazing time. I felt like I milked my Mom for all the food I could get. haha. I think I gained a couple pounds. We had tons of fun and did some things that I haven't done yet in DC. One of the highlights of there trip was we decided to do a Segway tour. All three of us got on segways and toured the sites around the city. Everyone that we passed kept looking at us and would take pictures haha. Also while they were here we took a nice trip to Mount Vernan, George Washington's grave and home. It was fun to see how Washington used to live. One night after we ate dinner we were walking around Dupont circle and decided to go into Dupont circle. And we saw all these people dancing so we decided to go investigate and see what was going on. In the non running fountain was all these high school kids dancing but what was funny was they all had headphones on. So about 100 kids were dancing but all to there own music. Judith and Mom got into the fountain and dance with them(see pic below)

The weekend after my Mother, Bryan Liston came to visit. We had a great time. We did a White house tour, Pentagon tour and also toured around the usual places in DC. It was fun to go into the White House and the Pentagon. Friday night was a meeting between Bush and leaders of other country's for the G20 summit. We were near the White House right before it began and we saw motorcade after motorcade filled with presidents of different country's. It was awesome. I don't have the pictures yet, so when i steal them from Bryan I will post them.

On the hill we are go back in session tomorrow. It will be an interesting lame duck session. I was able to do a dome tour with Congressman Matheson today, I don't have the pictures either so I will post about it when I get them.

Hope all is well. On Saturday I hit the one month before I get home mark. So in less than a month I will be home. Have a great week.

Andrew

YES WE CAN

2008-11-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

There are no better words to say right now than YES WE CAN. We did it, we got Obama into office. It has been a very emotional last day. Right now I am on a huge high just so excited that Obama won and that this country can start going in the right direction again.

A little story now. 4 years ago I spent election night laying on my couch in my basement watching intensely as Bush won. 2 years ago I spent election night in the Iron County clerks office being a "watchman" for the Democratic party making sure votes were counted correctly. Now, this year has been the best year so far. I don't think it could get better than this. The chief of staff in our office, her child got sick and in turn gave the 2 interns her tickets to the best election party in DC. I have never been so excited for a party in all my life. It was DCCC/DSCC election night party. This is a very exclusive party to get into and it consists of Democratic staff and leaders. Some of the attendees were Nancy Pelosi, Harry Ried, Steny Hoyer ect.
It was an amazing night. It was at the Hyatt here by the Capital, Because of the people that attended there were tons of secret service people everywhere. Also every news station had cameras there to take the comments by the leaders. In the big ballrrom they had projector screens that were turned onto the news and every time a state would be announced we would all react to it. The night just kept getting better and better every time Obama won a state we would get riled up and just scream and cheer. When they announced that Obama was the projected winner everyone just went crazy. We started jumping and screaming and people were crying and hugging. It was an amazing sight. Most of the people at this meeting had been working on the Obama campaign for the last 2 years and were just enthralled at the outcome. We watched McCain give his speach and then we all waited and danced and partied waiting for Obama's speach. When Obama came out we all got riled up again and screamed and cheered. Obama's speach was amazing. Thats the only words I can really say about it was that it was purely amazing. If you haven't watched it, please do. His speech touched me personally as I'm sure it touched millions. After Obamas speech it was fun to watch and cheer as thousands from all over walked to the White House and cheered and chanted in front of the White House.

This is history in the making!!!!!! It doesn't get much better than this. America showed the world and each other that we need change and YES WE CAN make change. I want to end this blog with part of Obamas speach he gave last night. Its parts that touched me and brought a tear to my eye.

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

"To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
For that's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."

The stage behind me

News stand behind me

Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Ried speaking to the American People

YES WE CAN

Blaine and I at the Party

The land of the Free and the home of the Brave

2008-10-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

I recently started writing a few paragraphs about what I believe in politically and why i am voting the way I am. These few paragraphs turned into more than 6 pages. I edited parts of it and condensed it greatly to help give you a perspective on why I believe the things I do and why I voted for Barack Obama.

I have received a lot of flack from Utahans and conservatives alike for my very liberal views. I am a Democrat I’m not afraid to say that, if you look at my voter registration you will see a big D next to my name. I believe in the truth and I know what I believe is right. Like it’s often said the truth has a liberal bias. I grew up in a very conservative city and state. My parents, siblings and extended family are all very conservative. I love my family to death but, I feel like most of there political views are very off track. Before I get too into this I would like to say that I believe everyone has the right to there own opinion and the right to vote for whomever they choose. This blog is about what I believe in and about whom I am voting for and why I think we should vote for this person. I don’t intend to attack anyone personally I am just trying to push my view across.

As I was saying I grew up in a very conservative surrounding. I often as a teenager engaged in political discussion to grow a fundamental knowledge of politics. Of course most all of these discussions were with republican/conservative people. So all I learned about from these people were the republican side of every issue. It was as almost as if I was coerced to think this conservative way. But later on when I left to college I decided being the free thinker that I am to look into what I personally believe and how I personally feel about issues. I learned a great deal about myself and about what I believe during that first year of college. I looked into issues and researched both sides and came up with what I believe. After reviewing issue after issue I kept finding myself leaning greatly to the democratic side. I looked at abortion, government, health care, gay marriage, equal rights, energy, environment, guns, free speech, immigration, foreign policy ect, and on most of these issues I leaned very liberal.

I believe that everyone has the right to be who they want to be. Everyone should have there own choice on whether or not to have an abortion. Government or citizens shouldn’t take away peoples right to marry the one that they love. No one should be restricted from immigrating to our country. Health Care should be open to everyone. American cannot police the world. I could go on for hours about issues but ill spare you the time.

As the presidential vote comes closer and closer I can only watch and hope that we as a country make the right decision. Our country is falling apart, I first learned this when I started to become educated in American government. And it continues to be shown now that I live and work in our nation’s capital, I can only now fear that America will make our country tumble and be destroyed if they pick the wrong candidate for president.

I first heard about Barack Obama on the news as he became a runner for the democratic ticket. I being the open person that I am looked into all the candidates running for president and I could only choose one that truly could change our country for the best and inspire America to become a better country. I met Obama in Park City, I heard him give an inspirational speech and than shook his hand. I have been inspired many times in my life, but there was something about Obama that just made me tingle and be excited like none other. He inspired me to be a better American and to be a better human being. I will be voting for Obama in this presidential election.

John McCain preaches more of the same. But it’s real simple to look back at his record and see that he is just more of the same. America is not better off than it was 4 or 8 years ago. Our country’s livelihood is at stake in this election and we can’t give this election to a Senator that has continued to lead our country in the wrong direction. McCain has been in the senate for too long, he has lost the fire inside to do anything right. We must look to the future, In 4 years were will our country be? Under McCain we will still be paying billions of dollars to pay for a pointless war. Under Obama we can start to get our country back on track.

Sen. McCain picked Sarah Palin for his VP as you know; this pick alone has made me loose all faith in the Republican Party. In my few years in politics I have never seen a more under qualified and out of touch candidate. The fact that McCain picked Governor Palin shows he has no chance of making right decisions in the White House.

The United States can not continue to police the world, It can not continue to borrow money from China to buy oil from the middle east, we can not continue to discriminate against equal rights, we can not continue to allow a political party that has driven our country into the ground continue to lead our country, It is time to pick Obama and change our country for the better. I’m sure everyone has already picked who they will be voting for, but just remember when you push that button to choose your candidate that you are remembering what that candidate will do to our country. Yes we can Barack Obama. I know I used a few scare tactics in my writing above. If we take the scare tactics out of both candidates we come to see to very fundamentally knowledgeable men. One opposed Iraq war from the start the other could see America being in Iraq for another 100 years. One wants to decrease taxes for 95% of Americans and one wants to lower taxes for huge profit gas companies. One wants to change our economic policies and one wants to keep Bush’s policies. It really comes down to how each of these candidates is going to change our country for the better. I think it’s very well known that our country is headed in the wrong direction. Let’s get it back on the right direction and continue to be the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Thanks for reading. Vote- Obama-Biden, Benion Spencer and No on Proposition 8(if you live in CALI).

The UTES

2008-10-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken during our midterm meeting. The gentlemen in the middle our Kirk Jowers the Director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and Rich Mckeown Chief of Staff to Secretary Leavitt. The Chinese students are all from Shantou University in China they are out here in coordination with the U of U. They are journalism students and are working with other journalism students from the U. Most everyone in this picture is an intern besides the 12 or so Journalism students. 4 of us are interns for congress, Me with Matheson, One with Rep. Wexler, One with House committee on Foreign affairs and one with Senator Hatch. The rest of the interns work in many different places around the city. A couple are with the Democratic National Committee(DNC). A couple are with the Department of Energy(DOE). A couple are with Government relations offices of major companies. One with the Republican Governors association. That is not all the internships that are from Utah but that should give you a grasp on how different and diverse of internships we have out here. Its fun to discuss with other interns from Utah what they do in there office's and what there office does.

Long time gone

2008-10-19T09:41:00.001-07:00

So it has been a while sense i last wrote. Sorry about that. Not to much has been happening sense then. Work has slowed down a bit because we are out of session. But it was UEA this week in Utah so we had tons of tours come into our office. I love giving tours of the capital because I get to talk to Utahans and learn more about whats happening in the state. Our staff assistant in the office has gone on vacation so the interns are in charge of the office for the next few weeks.

So I really haven't described what I do everyday. So ill give a little description of how my normal weekday goes.

I usually will wake up about 720 in the morning so 520 Utah time. I try and get ready and out of my apartment by 8 to 815. I make my way 2 blocks to the metro and grab a newspaper from some guy that gives out free newspapers every morning. There are tons of norms that you have to follow when getting on the metro. It amazes me how everyone follows these norms. One of these is that when you are using an escalator you always stand on the right or walk on the left. To get to the metro you have to use these huge escalators and if your standing on the left you will get yelled at haha. It usually takes me a half hour to get to work in the morning because I have to transfer trains. Once at work I do a variety of things depending on the day. In most all House Reps offices they have 2 or 3 interns and senate offices have about 7. So in my office there is Blaine and I. So we switch of everyday on different morning duties in the office which include- checking the voice mail, sorting the newspapers, sorting the faxes and making sure the office looks good. That usually takes about a half hour in the morning. We usually have about 6-9 tours a week come into our office. Blaine and I switch off on these. So the rest of my day at the office includes doing tours, Going to different hearings and meetings and typing memos for the legislative assistants or legislative director, or helping out the legislative corespondent with constituent mail, or helping out the staff assitant by setting up different tours for Utahns. Most days we stay pretty busy.

I hope everyone is doing well
Andy

2008-10-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

The bailout passed as I'm sure your all aware. As I said in my last blog this last week has been the craziest and best week ever. I will always remember this bailout and everything that I was able to do with it. Nothing else really compares to the bailout so there is nothing to really talk about haha. I am really excited for people to come out and visit and see the city. My Mom is planning a trip out here and so is Bryan. I'm excited it will be really fun.

This weekend has been pretty lazy. I haven't done anything too productive, but its been nice to just relax after the crazy week.

"It's no fun asking for 700 billion"

2008-10-01T08:42:00.001-07:00

What a crazy last few days it has been here in DC. This bailout is something that I will always remember. I cant talk much about whats going on in the office but I can say its very interesting how engaged the public has become over this issue. I have discussed this bailout with many different people both who support it and oppose it and I have chose to support it. I believe without this bailout our economy will defiantly suffer. I know that fear mongering but I do believe our economy could never recover if we don't pass this bailout. If I wouldn't of been here in DC in the thick of it than i would probably not support the bailout, but being in the thick of it and hearing all sides and researching it has made me a great supporter. My normal stance would of been not to support it, but these are not normal times, this is a time that will change the history of this nation.

On Monday I was giving one of my weekly tours of the capital to some constituents from Utah. And I knew about the vote for the bailout going on. So i detoured my tour to the house gallery which was filled with people. I have never seen so many people in the legislative room of the house. We saw the last part of Steny Hoyers speech and than watched as the representatives placed there votes. It was silence as the representatives, staff and public watched the numbers and names light up on the board. I was frustrated when it did no pass, There was also many different congressman that were frustrated when it didn't pass, they started yelling at all who voted against it. It was quite a sight.

Besides that big issue everything else in life seems fine. Tonight we have our mid semester social were Secretary Leavitts (Secretary of Health and Human services) chief of staff is talking to us. Which will be a good experience to hear from him. Thats all for now.

2008-09-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

Today has been an awesome day because we have been looking at different newspapers and tv shows that have us in the background. There were a few big newspapers that had good pics of us and TV shows including CNN. So below is pics and videos that have me in them from the big hearing yesterday. I am in all of these pics.

On the Politico I am just on the right of Secretary Paulson

You can see my forehead ha ha
My forehead again

On the right, Dont i look engaged

2008-09-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable

2008-09-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

Thats the only way to describe today, un-freaking-believable. So today at work the other intern and I knew about the big hearing about the bailout that was going on today. So we decided to try and get in, cause it really is history in the making. Im sure everyone is aware of the Financial crises going on and that they want to use 700 billion dollars of tax payers money to bailout these financial institutions. The ones leading this bailout is Secretary of the treasury Henry Paulson and Federal Reseve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Today they were testifying in the House of Representatives trying to push forward this money and deal. So we went early and somehow got into this room where they were going to testify. About 70 people were allowed in out of the thousand that wanted in. And we somehow got the most amazing seats ever. As you will see from the pics below we got some of the most amazing seats and were able to be inches away from the Secretary and Chairman. It was an amazing experience. They went for a few hours debating and explaining the situation. The entire time there were tons and tons of media people inside that were just taking hundreds of pictures. I will never forget this day, I can say I was in the room when they were pressing for the 700 billion dollars. No one really knows if this will save our economy or not, but in 10 years I will know I was there watching it all happen in front of me. When we got back to the office 6 hours later the staff said they saw us a few times on CSPAN. ha ha I always wanted to be on CSPAN. But look at the pictures below it really was amazing being there.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke right in front of me

Tons of media

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson looked at me ha ha

Me next to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Bailout

2008-09-22T12:10:00.001-07:00

Well what a crazy time it has been here in DC. Who cares about the energy crises, its nothing compared to the chaos with the financial crisis. Seriously our country is not looking good, and its the big elephant in every room and every discussion. What a crazy time it has been here in this last week.

Well to start off sense I last wrote, for most of Friday I spent in a representatives office from Texas. Texas was recently hit by the hurricane and is still recovering. The congressman represented a area near Galvelston TX. It has been a week and this area still has only 50% electricity and no water and no gas. This congressman's office was being flooded with callers from the district. As you can imagine most of these callers were very angry. So for most of the day I answered alot of angry calls. Everyone was angry and there was nothing I could do or anyone could do to make them happy. Lets just say I got sworne at many times. But it really made me realize how much we are not helping or recognizing what is acttually going on down there. I had almost forgoten about the victims and cities of the hurricane and Friday made me realize that they are down there struggiling, and America has no idea what they are going through.

It was an amazing weekend in DC. The weather was perfect, Saturday did some nice shopping, dinner, and a movie in Georgetown. As for Sunday took a nice jog to the national zoo as well as rock creek canyon.

As for on the hill, everyone is trying to figure out a solution to this financial crisis. Everyone knows something needs to be done but what is the right solution.

I was talking to my Grandma and was surprised to hear that people read this. But I am glad. Have a great week.

Andrew

I'll be waiting.

2008-09-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well it doesn't seem like I have been out here for 3 and a half weeks but I have. It has gone by way to fast. But I still have months to enjoy the nations capital. Sense I last wrote not to much has happened. On September 11th there were many memorials going on all around the city. It was the topic of conversation on everybody's mind and the events that happened that day still rest in everybody's heart and minds.

Work was fun for the rest of the week. It was really busy, so it went by fast. Usually everyday after work there are tons of different receptions being put on in the capital buildings. These receptions are put on by different groups or states. We go to as many of these as we can cause they have tons of free food and open bars.(I don't drink tho)
As for out of work this week on Saturday we went to the shopping mall and went swimming. And today just being lazy and doing laundry, getting ready for another busy week.
The other day I was looking through my pictures and I saw one of my car. lol I really miss my car. I haven't been in a car for weeks, which is nice cause I haven't bought gas in forever. But, I miss just driving and turning up my music. When I get back to Utah it will be winter and I wont remember how to drive ha ha.
But there really are numerous things I miss about Utah. Here is Just a small list of things that I really do miss, I miss my family, friends, MOUNTAINS, clubbing with my party people, Target, sitting outside Target with Vannesa, Taco Amigo, not hearing sirens 24/7, not having to go through security 10 times a day, Avery, my room.
But I really do love it here in DC, Its like I am meant to be here or something. I feel at home here but also miss my real home. I give a couple tours a week of the capital to our Utah Constituents , and I am always asking what is happening at home, whats the weather like, and whats new. Thats all for today, I hope everyone is doing well.
With Love
Andrew

This is a bunch of us going clubbing on Friday night

.......

2008-09-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

So I admit it has been a while sense I have blogged. It has been a really busy week so far. Congress is now back in session and everything has gone to super speed it seems like. My workload in the office has increased, Ive been doing alot of constituent stuff as well as attending meetings and hearings and writting memos. It has been a really great experience so far. I still love it. The other day the former Gov. of Utah came in and thats the pic below. DC really is a place for celebrity politicians, meaning popular politicians are like celebrities. Like today I saw Nancy Pelosi in the Capital, It was really cool, it really did seem like i was seeing this big celebrity ha ha.

As for non work, we have been trying to fill up our time with all types of different things. This weekend we went to the Holocaust museum.

Tell next time.
Andrew

Long weekend

2008-09-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well its been a great long weekend. It seemed to go by way to fast. Over the weekend we did a lot of fun things. First off Friday night we went clubbing, my personal favorite, lol. Saturday was a big day for the U of U, we played Michigan in Football. We found a place to watch the game. It seemed like everyone around except us was a Michigan fan. But the U won and we went crazy ha ha. After that we went and played Frisbee on the mall. If you don't know what the mall is, its the big grass area in front of the capital. Its where all the protests happen. Its where history happens. It really was amazing playing Frisbee there. Just cause every time you looked up you, you were surrounded by amazing sights. You have the capital and Smithsonian's and monuments all right there.
Also this weekend a few of us decided to go cliff jumping in Maryland. I don't have any pics of it, but it was fun, It was a huge cliff and you would jump into the patomic. We swam to the other side of the patomic and jump of cliffs in Virgina to. lol. Monday we pretty much just layed low. Everyone was recovering and getting things done.
Today Tuesday at work was good. The other intern at our office started today. Most offices have 2 or 3 interns. Ours has 2. So most of my day was training him on everything we do as interns.

So far I absolutely Love DC. I have never experienced such a life changing experience. I like to watch and observe people as i go through my daily life in DC. Like when I'm riding on the metro or walking down the street. People here are much different than in Utah. Everyone has this "keep to them selves" look and feel. Alot of people that i see are all stuck in there own little world. They are nonreactive to the outer world. They have themselves and nothing else. Its like the are all lost and have no idea what they are looking for.

But anyways, I hope all is well with everyone.

A bunch of us at the Capital.

We decided to make a pyramid, with the Washington Monument in the back.

2008-08-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

Its Friday its been a few days sense i have written, I've been really busy. Work has been going great im getting to learn everything around the office and around the capital. Today I gave my first tour of the capital. It went great. The past few days i have just been working in the office, writting letters, researching topics, and office work. It has been fun. The other day I went to the library of congress, there are really no words to describe how amazing it is. Sense I have Congress access I was able to go to the reading rooms. The great reading room is amazing. It just is amazing.

... 2nd day...

2008-08-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

Its 11 pm and we just got back from the Washington nationals vs LA dodgers. It was amazing. I have never been to a MLB game so it was quite an experience.

This morning was much better at the office than yesterday. Everything just seemed to go smoothly. Its still pretty slow but is expected to get more exciting in coming weeks. I worked on a few constituent letters today. Also I helped on a tour of the capital to help me learn more so that I can give tours to our consituents.

Everyones least favorite player: Ramirez

Nationals new Stadium

The first day of the rest of your life.

2008-08-25T17:37:00.001-07:00

Thats what it really seemed like when I woke up this morning, that it was the first day of the rest of my life. It has been in interesting and very enjoyable day. This morning I woke up and had once again many emotions running through my body. The thing about the metro is that if you forget a newspaper you have nothing to do. So the entire metro ride i was stressing and excited and thinking like crazy. Not a good time. But I arrived at my office building 15 minutes to 9. I went through security, same as an airport =( thats going to suck doing everyday. Well I didn't really know what to expect today. But it turned out great. Most everyone is gone from the capital and offices because of the recess of congress. But it should really pick up here in a week. Most of the day it was getting to know everything about the office. We use a few different computer programs and such. Part of my duty is to give Capital tours to our constituents that come to DC. So I was given a quick tour of the Capital today and it is an amazing place. Everything in there is history upon history upon history. I'm really excited to go and explore and learn more. Ill explain more of my duties in later posts.
Tomorrow night we got tickets for the MLB game Dodgers vs. Nationals. Its going to be amazing.

Day 3

2008-08-23T15:00:00.001-07:00

Day 3 has been quite a lazy one. Everyone slept in this morning and than we all went separate ways. Everyone had different things to shop for and things to get done with today. But I had nothing to do so i decided to go to the main tourist spots of DC. I went and checked out the white house and than the capital and than the national air and space museum. Its been a fun day just touring the city by myself. There is so much to do here and I'm glad to have 4 months to slowly enjoy it all.

U.S Capital, my new employer

National Air and Space Museum

The amazing Capital again

DAY 2

2008-08-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

Its day two here in the amazing District of Columbia. Its been a fun and interesting day. This afternoon we decided to start do a little exploring in the main area of DC. So we road the metro to the Smithsonian. When you exit the metro stations you ride up a huge escalator. When you come out of the ground at the Smithsonian its quite an experience cause your standing right on the mall, right where so much history of our nation has happened. We walked down the mall towards the capital and decided we would go check out are offices. So we split up and i found my office in the Longworth House Office Building. Its really nice inside, everything there is underground so once i was in the building i could take the tunnels to the capital or any other building at the capital complex. After that we decided to go find some retail stores. So we rode the metro over to pentagon city. The metro that we took crosses the Potomac. When you look at it, most never think that this was the place the Washington crossed. DC is really a place of history and its a new experience everyday just seeing somewhere or something that changed our nations history.
The rest of the day was pretty simple. We are still trying to get to know DC, so we just go to random metro stops and look around. It seems easier that way, so that we know where everything is. The big thing about being here that I'm working on is to learn the customs. The customs here are really different than that of the west coast. Ill explain about it more later. United States Capital. My office building is just 100 feet to the right of the Capital.

My office Building. Longworth House Office Building.

Me outside Representative Mathesons office.

2008-08-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure quite how to start this. But I'm Andrew Hoyt and you probably know that and you probably know that I'm moving to Washington D.C. I am hear to do an internship that i applied and interviewed for. I will be interning with Congressman Jim Matheson (D) Utah 2nd district. I will be working in his office doing office work, constituent work, legislative research, capitol tours and other things that interns do. I plan on keeping up with this blog do to the fact that many people wanted me to write about my workings in DC and so people know that i am not wasting my time out here. I will be posting photos and an update every few days. I will be living a few miles out of central DC and will be using the metro as my main source of transportation.
It is a pivotal time in our nations history and it will be an experience to be living in our nations capital during such important times. This is an honor to be living out here and to be working in the capital.

Today my flight left out of SLC at 6 am. Its been a long morning. I feel almost every emotion in my body right now, everything from anxiety and sad to nervous and excited. I got here and took a taxi to my new apartment. Its really nice. Ill put some pictures up after the blog. My apartment building is pretty sweet it has a pool, tennis courts and a nice gym. My roommates weren't here so i decided to go explore. I walked the area around my apartment and found the grocery store and metro. I decided to take the metro to an area i know so i went to Dupoint circle and had lunch. While there is was solicited twice to join green peace, ha ha. After that i came and met my roommates and we hung out and went shopping. Tomorrow we plan on visiting some monuments and learn more about DC.

Its quite an experience being here. Its really different from Utah. I love it here so far, but i miss everyone in Utah. Everyone acts and is different from the normal Utah culture that I'm used to. I love it here. And I'm excited to grow and learn here. Love you all.

Andrew Hoyt

Family Room of our apartment.

Outside of the apartment

Dupoint Circle, I Promise pics of me next blog.