Spring Break!

So my Spring Break was awesome! Myself and two friends hopped in a car and started driving West. We drove to Las Vegas, went to the Hoover Dam then headed even further West to California. A friend of mine that graduated Coe last year is now a graduate student at the University of California Irvine, so we stopped and saw him and visited Laguna, Newport, L.A., Hollywood, Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Then we drove up to San Francisco and made it back home... what a week!
On the left is Brian, my traveling buddy, the middle is Ryan, my friend at UCI and myself on the left. This is us standing on Laguna Beach, yes that's where the T.V. show is filmed.

This is me in Las Vegas. We took a break from visiting all the casinos, shows and buffets to stop in the M&M store where we watched a 3D movie and I bought a pair of green shutter shades!
This is Caitlin enjoying the Pacific with the sun setting on Laguna Beach.
Our first quarter in a slot machine in Las Vegas! We didn't gamble too much, just walked around and saw all the casinos. I did win about $40 playing blackjack though!
The view we enjoyed for over 4000 miles. The trusty Garmin got us everywhere we needed to be. This view is in Arizona. The drive was almost as fun as the destination, as we got to see some beautiful countryside through the rockies, the desert and the Pacific coast.

California, here we come!

Spring break officially started today after our last classes, and it is liberating! I had a test in every one of my classes this week, and I'm so ready for a break!
A friend and I casually discussed the idea of going to California for break earlier in the week and by this evening it has evolved into a full-out trip... We've recruited two other people to go with us and we're leaving at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow! We're driving straight to Las Vegas, going to visit one of our friends in Irvine (L.A.) and then heading up to San Francisco!
I'm packing right now, so I've got to go, but I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back!

Contemporary Issues

Every year Coe hosts its annual Contemporary Issues Forum. This year the speaker was Jared Diamond, an evolutionary biologist, professor of physiology and geology and Pullitzer-prize wining author of the books Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. His talk chronicled the history of failed societies and he tried making a parallel to past societies who have outspent their resources and our world society doing the same today.
After his lecture there was a question/answer time where he requested that only people under the age of 30 ask questions because it was going to be us who has to deal with this problem. I even managed to get a question in about global governance (my mind never stops thinking of things in terms of political science!)
After the lecture and question/answer there was a reception for students and faculty to meet Prof. Diamond. Not too many students took advantage of this opportunity so myself about about 15 other students had much access to him and hung out and discussed the environment, politics, ecology and biology with a world-class scholar over some light snacks. Not a bad night.

More Inaguration...

So as promised, here are just a few more pictures of my trip to Washington for the inauguration. I have a couple hundred pictures, but these are just some of the highlights.On the day of the inauguration I stayed at a friend's house on Capitol Hill, within walking distance of the Capitol where the inauguration takes place. I woke up at 5:00 a.m., dressed in many layers, and started the 2 mile walk to where I would watch the inauguration. The picture above is when I reached my destination to wait in line for my designated area. It was about 6:00 and already thousands of people were around waiting for the event that started at 2:00.
Once I finally got onto the mall around 8:00, there were already thousands of people there. I got a pretty good spot because I had a ticket, which got me closer, but still not that close. If you are familiar with the Capitol, I managed to stand right behind the steps by the small reflection pool in front of the Capitol. I read the next day that they estimated that there were about 1.8 million people standing on the mall that day.
This was my view... I couldn't really see what was going on, but luckily out of the picture on the left is a jumbotron and I was standing right next the giant PA speakers that were set up all over so I had a good idea of what was going on.
This is me after the ceremony was complete. Some people ventured out onto the frozen reflection pool to get a better look, but I wasn't quite so foolish.
After the ceremony was over, the Iowa delegation of Congressmen held a reception for all us Iowans in town. This is with my representative from Iowa's second district, Rep. Dave Loebsack. Rep. Loebsack is the one who got me the ticket to the inauguration, so I thought I should get a picture with him.

After the reception I fought my way onto the Metro (subway) and headed back to my hotel. I got back in my room around 5:00 (exactly 12 hours after I had woken up). I was exhausted, but we had a new president, of course I went out to celebrate!

Do you believe in miracles?

This weekend I did my "job" of commentating a basketball mens and womens double header. I love going to every home game and feeling like I'm really part of the action. Both teams have struggled some this year, so when they both won Saturday I was really excited. The women won big and the men won on a last second shot. My boss thought the clip was cool, or he just wanted to laugh at me, but regardless, he posted it on youtube. I'm the one yelling when Tatman hits the shot and also the one calling him a hero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOQm0MD0Rx8

Inauguration

Coe sent me to the inauguration a couple weeks ago so I thought I'd take this post to share some pictures!

While in DC I was participating in a seminar that was focused on the inauguration. We had lectures in the morning and random site visits in the afternoon. I had some interesting site visits like the World Resource Institute, League of Women Voters and Coasta Rica Embassy. On the first day, however, we just took a bus tour of the city. This is me with my main man, the other Lincoln in the picture.


This is one of my favorite views from Washington, looking down the mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (that is the reflection pool and Washington monument behind me). Also, notice the construction going on behind me. Preparations were being made for the inaugural concert which was held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial the Sunday before the inauguration.
As part of some of the lectures we had in the morning, C-SPAN filmed a couple segments in the auditorium we were. This is Brian Lamb, the founder of C-SPAN. The day before this picture was taken I managed to get on live t.v. when I asked the panel a question. Strangely enough my uncle called right after and told me he saw me!
This is the view I had for the inaugural concert on Sunday. We got there around 12:30 for the 2:30 concert and it was already packed. I watched the whole thing from the jumbo-tron in the upper-left hand corner of the picture. A couple big names from the performance included: Tom Hanks, Steve Carrell, Tiger Woods, Jack Black, Bruce Springsteen, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Garth Brooks, U2, Beyonce and Pete Seeger (to name only a few).
The whole thing was amazing. I've told a couple people that singing the national anthem at the end of the concert with a couple hundred thousand fellow Americans was like nothing I've ever felt before.One of our site visits was the Capitol building. This is a picture from inside looking up into the done in the rotunda of the Capitol.

And yes, I did actually go to the inauguration. I'll post pictures from that next week, but I've got to get to the wrestling meet. The Kohawk wrestlers are ranked #4 in the nation and are taking on the #3 and #19 teams, so it should be some great wrestling!

Break Update

A quick update:
Break has been awesome. I went home and caught up with family and friends and spent a weekend in Chicago with my brother visiting museums and hanging out with some cousins. Recently I came back to Cedar Rapids to focus on finding a job after a graduate (ahh... real world!). I am also tying up some lose ends with my job as treasurer before I hand the responsibilities off to the next person.
The most exciting thing I came back to Cedar Rapids for, however, was to catch my flight to Washington D.C. Friday! Coe has given me an amazing opportunity to participate in a 10-day seminar studying the recent election and upcoming presidency. I have also managed to secure tickets to the inauguration through my Congressmen, so watch for me on T.V.!
And don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures and stories on this page in the future!
Classes start on Jan 14. I'm going to miss a couple, but I'll be back soon enough. Hope everyone had a great holiday season!