outrage vs apathy

Working for the Senator, I take a lot of phone calls from constituents who are outraged by this bill or that bill or by something else they heard. Although being yelled at on the phone for 8 hours can be challenging at times it is a nice break from the apathy that I find myself surrounded with at other times.

Many of my classmates don't follow anything political. This isn't to say that all classmates are apathetic, many are very active in current events, but it is often frustrating to be with people who don't know what I am talking about when I mention something that I read in the newspaper that day.

It is a nice relief to hear from people who follow the news and are concerned about the policies coming out of Washington, even if they don't always have all the facts.

Crazy Weekend

This past weekend was absolutely crazy!! Friday I was at my internship at Senator Dodd's office and I got a call from my mom that she was on her way to pick up my Grandfather, known affectionately as Paka, to take him to the hospital. He is doing much better now, his kidneys are working again and the narcotics that made him very confused and disoriented are now working their way out of his system. He is out of the critical care unit and we expect him home in the next few days.

Despite the scary events with Paka, we did manage to have some good parts of the weekend. Saturday was my cousin Janelle's graduation party which was a great success!! We had a great time celebrating her achievements! I can't believe she is starting college! It's soo exciting!! I am so happy to be so close to her. She is truly my best friend! Saturday night we went to Mohegan Sun to watch a basketball game and have dinner.

Sunday after going to the hospital in the morning we spent some time relaxing at the lake after such a long exhausting couple of days.

Today I am interning until 5 pm and then I am going to visit Paka before having dinner with Mom and Gramma at bingo. Wish me luck!!

Memo from the intern desk

I am sitting here organizing one of the two intern desks in Senator Dodd's office in between phone calls. A lot of people are calling to register their opinions about the Cap and Trade Legislation and the Health care reform. I need to do more research before I can establish my own opinion about those issues. Guess I will do some more reading in the news now until the phone rings again.

What do you do when you are at work or interning and it's slow? Apparently I just blog and read the news....I also spend some time on facebook so go write on my wall!!

Summer Stress

Here we are getting pretty deep into July and last night I had to shut the window because it was so cold out!! Usually by this time every year mom and I have already had our annual argument about who is going to carry the extremely heavy window unit air condition from her room down the hall to mine and then struggle for an hour while we try to install it, but not this year! Last night I was so cold sitting in the living room watching television before bed that we argued about who got to use which blanket!!

I can't believe how fast the summer is passing! It seems like I have spent most of the season stressed out about one thing or another and haven't had much time to enjoy it. Between homework, family, roommates, internships, and a whole pile of other things that all seem to be adding to the twitch my eye seems to have developed.

I am so ready for some relaxing summer days at the lake!

updates

Well it's been a while since my last post-- Since May I have finished my internship with the CT General Assembly, been taking online courses through Quinnipiac, traveled to Boise Idaho, then from there drove to Wyoming and Montana to see Yellowstone National Park, then drove back to Boise to spend time with my cousins that live there. Then a week after returning home my cousin from Boise came to spend a week here in CT. Now that she has returned to Idaho I am finishing up my last online course, and am into my second week as an inter for US Senator Christopher Dodd's district office in Hartford.

I am very excited about this internship and love it so far!! Right now I answer the phones and take messages for people in the office and help with constituent casework. My internship is only about 6 weeks long but I am sure that I will learn a great deal just from being there that short time. On my first day, July 1st, the Senator was in the office but I just saw him walk by, and didn't have a chance to introduce myself to him.

Outside of interning and homework (which will be over next week!!! Can't wait!!) I spend as much time as possible with my family at the lake!! Janelle Schmittberger my cousin just graduated from Hale-Ray high school in Moodus, CT and that was a very exciting and stressful time for our family. No family is perfect but what is great about mine is that no matter how much stress we all have or who makes mistakes we are all there for each other and we stick together to work it out.

Well I am off to do some homework before I head out to the lake to see my little cousins, Alyssa (10) Evan (6) and Lily (4) and their beautiful mom Aunt Nicole, then to do a little shopping and have dinner with mom, Teri.