Blog 4
Today, I am going to seek out the Department of State folks who play pick-up games of ultimate frisbee. It's been a while since I've played. I can throw and catch pretty well; it's just that pesky running thing that gets in the way of enjoying this sport. Oh well. So, I'm looking forward to that; I'm going to see Weird Al in concert on Friday, so that should be cool, too.
I'm continuing to help with the normal operations of this office. There's really not too much else to say about that. I've talked with my superiors about the possibility of doing more damage/learning new things/doing more work, so we'll see what comes of that.
On Monday I went to a conference about sub-Saharan Africa. It was interesting, but I was fighting the room the whole time. The conference was right after lunch, and the room was really warm. That's a recipe for disaster for me. I was fighting to stay awake the entire time, which was really unfortunate because it was really interesting. I learned a lot about the continent and the U.S.' stance towards the various nations of the sub-Saharan region. Secretary Clinton spoke at the end of the conference. She's a pretty good speaker. She kind of seemed exasperated at one point because someone asked her a question about trade. Apparently, it's really difficult for goods to cross national borders in Africa because of various tariffs and the like. So, Secretary Clinton said that she had already spoken on this issue in a previous speech. She seemed really animated during her response to that question.
Yesterday, I went to a Department of Defense workshop to hear the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Conroy, speak. He seemed like a really interesting guy, and he was very engaging. He spoke a little bit about the challenges facing the USMC in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lot of people got to ask questions when he finished speaking. I wanted to ask about the Marine Corps' reaction to President Obama's call for repealing the Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy, but it did not seem like the proper forum.
Well, that's about all that's going on. I'm still waiting to hear from the law school about journal write-on. I should hear from them in early July. I need to do a little more, as in actually start, to help Julie with her IBRL project. Oh, yesterday I watched Nintendo's E3 press conference online, and I am so excited about the games coming out. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword looks awesome! C'mon, how cool is it that the Wii Motion Plus allows the player to almost actually wield Link's Master Sword: now that's awesome. Plus, Donkey Kong is making a return to a side-scrolling adventure with his pal Diddy Kong. And, a revamped Goldeneye for the Wii! Plus, the Nintendo 3DS: 3-D without glasses. Nintendo really hit a grand slam with their press conference. I'm so pumped about these games. For now I'll keep playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the Zelda games on the DS. I'm waiting for Arc Rise Fantasia on the Wii, which comes out next month.