Long day today! Although this is by far the most demanding job I've had in terms of both hours and things to do, it's definitely the most rewarding. I love being able to do things that matter! (Not that making coffee/waiting tables doesn't matter...but they certainly pale by comparison). Finished up a memorandum this morning, sent out three gold seal letters that I wrote yesterday, met with the Chief of Staff, did major overhaul on a White House tour spreadsheet, answered phones, and got assigned more things for tomorrow! Can't say I'm sitting around doing nothing, that's for sure.

A fourth grade class called today to let the Senator know that they were trying to create policy and wanted his support. They were concerned that the dirty water from people washing their cars in the driveway was polluting nearby streams. This was by far the highlight of my day - nothing beats little kids coming up with ways to change the world. Cute!!

I'm supposed to go to the START treaty committee hearing on June 17th. Not only is this a fascinating topic, but the witnesses include Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates. I'm SO EXCITED! So we'll see how that works out!

Today was really long - I'm exhausted! And it feels like it should be Friday...ahhhhh. Had a nice run around the city this morning... it was incredibly beautiful. Nothing like watching the sun rise over the Capitol!

Spent the rest of the morning writing congratulatory letters and entering constituent mail into the database. Got asked to do a VIP capitol tour the first week of June, which is awesome. I have no idea who is the VIP family, but should be fun anyways! I need to get trained first...hopefully that'll happen by the end of this week. Spent almost my entire afternoon at the Senate hearing on Dietary Supplements (with a focus on senior citizens), and actually learned a lot about the concerns involving supplement labeling and advertising. Interesting! Sen. Al Franken was there as well, which was highly entertaining. Elena Kagan came into the office today for a meeting with the Senator - I was about two feet away from her when she walked by! I actually spent half of my lunch hour waiting for her to show up, so I'm glad I didn't miss the opportunity to see her.

Time to hit the hay, yo.

Got to go to the Senate hearing on the Gulf Coast Oil Spill early this morning. It was unbelievably informative - I learned a lot about liabilities and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Seems to me like the $75 million dollar cap on damages by a company (like BP) is utterly ridiculous, especially when the costs of the oil spill exceed that amount by a large margin. The hearing was really high profile - and apparently you can see me in the broadcast! Woooo! If you want to play "Where's Waldo", go to this link http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.LiveStream&Hearing_id=b0fba9e3-a97c-fc85-0a1a-545e60fe8dd0 and look very very closely at the audience from 93:00 to about 93:08. I'm trying to look around one of the press reporter's heads (it was large and in charge and in the way). Kinda cool! The room we were in (Russell 325, if you ever get the chance to go) was absolutely gorgeous - marble columns, ornate ceiling decorations and huge chandeliers. Not a bad place to discuss finances.

Had some delicious deep dish pizza at a little place two blocks from Hart (where I work). Yum yum yum. Wrote two constituent letters (as well as a briefing on the Oil Spill) before losing my computer access.  Someone stole my computer when I wasn't paying attention, sadly. Too many interns and not enough desktops! Scheduled some tour groups for the Kennedy Center after that.Spent the last hour of the day doing absolutely nothing. It's dumb that they don't let me leave early, even if there are no computers available and they have nothing else for me to do. Oh well!

Hopefully they'll put us on the half day schedule ASAP. This is getting a little crazy... still having a great time though!

Today was much less hectic, but went by pretty quickly regardless. I rode the Metro like a pro this morning (awesome, I know) and ended up at work half an hour early. Gotta get there before 9 to get a good cubicle! Answering phones was a little tedious today... about half of the people who called wanted to know what was going on in the news. Which was odd - usually they call to voice their support or opposition of a specific piece of legislation. Or to complain about the oil spill.

Ended up drafting a "gold seal" letter this afternoon, and got to read a whole packet of letters that a class from Clark CO wrote. The letters were very cute (as is typical of elementary school children) and were all about the Constitution and the history of the United States. Good to know that our education system is still working (for the most part). Writing a response kept me busy right up until 6 pm.

I'm really really really excited for tomorrow - I get to go to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill hearing in the morning! It's going to be interesting to see what the experts think need to be done. Hopefully they'll be able to come up with something soon... I don't think it's a stretch to say that this is getting a little ridiculous. That said, this is NOT Obama's fault. Which is something the Republicans need to come to grips with.

The humidity was appallingly awful today, but other than that, this city is incredible. I can't even explain how refreshing it is to be in a city that's so clean and open. It all feels like one big college campus. With lots of tourists.