Reunion

What’s up, everyone!  Hope all is well wherever you are.  It is such a wonderful day outside in D.C. today; there isn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature is supposed to get up to 66 degrees today!  I’m sure the San Diegans reading this are laughing at the thought of 66 degrees being beautiful, but hey, it’s as close to beautiful as we can get around here this time of year!

Before I begin, I just wanted to give everyone my March Madness picks for college basketball, because we all know that it’s that time of year again.  Even though my school was absolutely nowhere close to qualifying for this tournament, it’s always exciting to see who ends up on top.  That being said, my Final Four picks will be Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, and Duke, and I have Kansas State and Kentucky in the championship with Kentucky winning the whole thing.  I can’t wait for all the games to start!

So last weekend, my good friend Brandon came into town and we had a chance to hang out and check out all the different sights.  I got the chance to do the tourist thing all over again, which is always nice.  We first made our way over to the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian.  It was a great refresher’s course in biology and a wonderful reminder of how awful I was at it in high school.  All kidding aside, I really enjoyed looking at all of the different exhibits.  Afterwards, we walked all the way to the Lincoln Memorial.  It was just as beautiful of a sight to see as it was the first time that I had visited it.  I’m sure I’ll be going at least one more time and it will probably be equally as beautiful once again.  It’s difficult to put into words just why it’s so beautiful; unfortunately you won’t really get a sense of what I’m talking about unless you’ve actually visited the memorial.  Afterwards we walked from the Memorial over to the World War II Memorial and then to the Washington Monument and physically got up close and touched the monument, which is something that I hadn’t done yet.  What I also learned is that by law, no building in Washington DC can be taller than the Washington Monument, which I thought was very interesting.   

 My buddy Brandon & I in front of the ledge below the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

 The Lincoln Memorial: Take 2

Just recently at NESA, I was given a great opportunity to work with a scholar who specializes in Syrian politics and US-Syrian relations named Dr. Murhaf Jouejati.  He also teaches at the George Washington University here in the D.C. area and teaches courses on Comparative Politics and the politics of Syria and Lebanon.  He attended the confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the upcoming US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford.  Right now, I’m helping him prepare a presentation to high-ranking military officials on the importance of the Arab-Israeli conflict towards restoring peace in the Middle East that he will be giving on Thursday, and I will also be there to assist him during his presentation.  I will be sure to let you know in my next post how that goes, because I’m really looking forward to sharing that with you all. 

I have a very busy rest of the week planned, not only do I have this upcoming talk to attend, but I’ll also be going to Philadelphia this weekend to visit some friends, plus I’m going to get the opportunity to interview a specialist on international trade for my Washington Center portfolio next Monday.  I’ll explain more of what that all entails in next week’s post.  Until then, take care, and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week.

Peace!