Don’t worry, We are all OK!!

The following is from an article on the CNN website:

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A rush-hour collision Monday between two Metro trains north of downtown Washington, D.C., killed at least six people and injured scores, Mayor Adrian Fenty said.

He called it the deadliest crash in the history of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, known as Metro. One of the dead was the female operator of one of the trains, Metro officials said."

Just to let you all know, it is a miracle that none of the TWC Interns were injured in that metro accident. We all (700 of us) had been to a mandatory TWC workshop at 4:50 and most of our interns use the red line. I had to walk to my night class and was in my class when I got a text from the Arlington Alert system since I am the intern for the OEM Office. My heart just sunk about a little before five. I had walked with one of my friends from Lock Haven University to the red line metro stop, the train line that had the accident. I was in class, so I couldn’t find out if he was okay; I later found out that he was. But anyway, our Professor could care less about the incident. He said, and I quote, “that happens sometime." He had no compassion for what we were going though. Almost all of our cell phones were blowing up with family and friends asking if we were okay. Meanwhile, the professor had this look on his face as if he was being unconvinced by the whole ordeal. But anyway, I would like to include in my blog the official e-mail from the Washington Center as proof that we are all okay:

TWC Interns,

The Washington DC metro experienced a terrible accident this evening. Many of you may have been impacted or have colleagues or friends who have been impacted by this accident. To that end, the Office of Student Life at the Washington Center would like to verify that all of our interns are safe and accounted for. Our thoughts are with the individuals who were hurt or lost their lives this evening on the red line.

Thank you,

Student Life

A Week in Recap

A Week in Review

As I begin this blog, I can't help but remember a couple of things that I was told at the beginning of my internship. First, our internship coordination Karen told us that this will be a life altering experience, and it has been. Let me start off by telling you that not only has this experience cleared my mind, it has also put me in touch with a part of myself that I thought I lost a long time ago. This experience has improved my relationship with my mother, my stress level is almost non-existent, I have begun to lose weight, and as I told someone very special to me, “I feel as if a fog has been lifted from my mind.” The second item that I remember was from my first day. The President of The Washington Center said, “This is a city where hard work is recognized,” and that is true indeed. As I found out at the end of last week, I can’t go in to very much detail, but I received a sort of raise… mind you this is an unpaid internship. But anyway, this summer is shaping up to be something very amazing. I will bring it to you as it unfolds.

Free your mind so you behind can follow

June 16:

Well, I have learned a valuable lesson … the hard way. Before you go anywhere away from home, make sure you have a very good pair of shoes. With that said, I would like to give you an update on my experience thus far. On Monday, we had what they call a "Presidential Lecture". Our guest speaker was Ralph Nader. Now, hold on before you stop reading this blog. The lecture was actually very informative and insightful. Now, I identify myself as having a centered political view: Conservative on some things and liberal on others. During the lecture I thought, "oh no," this going to a smear speech, but it wasn’t. I thought he'd tried to persuade us in anyway, but quite the contrary, he challenged us. He challenged our generation to get involved, and told us that we have power and better start exercising it. He told us not to take hearsay and accept it as fact. RESEARCH!!! Research both sides of the issue: Conservative and Liberal. RESEARCH the candidate’s voting on issues before you vote. Don’t be like sheep that are lead around. Stand up and use your right effectively.

Another thing that he touched on (I am sorry if this offends anybody, but it is the truth). When it comes to voting, most people are ignorant and vote one way because, "My parents and their parents voted that way." But, these people never once look into the issues. They never once sit in front of a computer, for even five minutes, to really look into the issues. But before this turns into another rant, I would like to say that, in a unique way, he is right and that took me completely by surprise.

I also noticed something that upset me very much. As he was speaking, I kind of noticed a defined distinction among the rest of the students. Some of them weren’t paying attention, and I did notice something in common between the ones that were listening and the ones who weren’t and it wasn’t party affiliations. It was more insidious then that; it was the difference between the haves and have-nots. This really infuriates me, and the only thing I can do about it is ask that anyone given an opportunity such as this, regardless of socioeconomic status, come in with an open mind. I have two pieces of advice that were given to me before I came down here that I would like to share with you: “Close your mouth and open your ears wide” and “Free your mind so you behind can follow.” You can thank one of my paramedic supervisors for the latter one.

Until I write again, have a safe and great day!!!

I just moved to a new town and it’s straight up gangster

June 12
My Supervisor found this on YouTube thought that I would share it with all of you.

For all of you who want to know how we are living down here in the D.C area check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T1RMuoQnKo

Wow they have got it going on … And other realizations

June 8

Well today started off very well, I attended my first staff O.E.M staff meeting and let me tell you Pennsylvania has got nothing on what Arlington does when it come to Emergency Preparedness. I have never seen people from different groups actually working together: public, for- profit, non- profit and politicians actually somewhat working for the people instead of for there own instinctual needs of greed.

This was very refreshing. Pennsylvania could learn a lot from the level of cooperation and coordination that Arlington County’s OEM has achieved and we need to let our politicians know it. Here is my advice to you: read, research, and ask. The most powerful question we as United States citizens have is the question, “Why?” Vote for politicians who can answer it. That is our power.

To tie this whole blog together and this is tie to the college-age readers of this blog:
“… Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. … Travel.” - Baz Luhrmann- Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

The Slip ‘n Slides of life …. So you think you can dance

June 4

This week has been one heck of a ride, to say it has been an interesting is putting it mildly. I will begin by saying that I finally have my placement; it’s with the Arlington County Office of Emergency Management. Arlington County O.E.M is one of only a few nationwide that is fully NIMS compliant, which they hold as very big accomplishment. For those who are O.E.M challenged, NIMS Stands for (National Incident Management System). When I told my roommates about my placement they were initially very happy, however, when I told them it was two blocks away from the apartment their moody changed. My roommate Tek said it best, “I am not talking to you.” He eventually got over it when dinner time rolled around.

With any good news comes a celebration, it was Friday night and we had all decided early on that every week we would take in a different cuisine. This week was Tek Choice so he chose Moroccan. A word from the wise if you ever deicide to eat Moroccan and I suggest you do, come hungry because it will fill you up!!!
(Below are some pictures of our dinner we all got the same. Chicken Couscous Couscous)

However, if you do decide to go out for Moroccan don’t be surprised if a belly dance grabs you up while you are eating your dinner. As evendent by the pictures below. (top left me, middle Tek, bottom Patrick)

Overall it has been a very good week i will be sure to inform all on how my internship goes on Tuesday.

That’s why you don’t take coffee on the Metro and other pieces of D.C Advice

June 1, 2009

Well today started off slowly. I still don’t have an official internship. While my roommates left around 8 to head out to their placements I had the privilege of sleeping until noon before heading to a medical symposium on personalized medical treatments. Most of us thought it was very boring. The First sign was when the guy next to me started snoring. Luckily no one noticed that or so I thought. This leads me to my first piece of advice “Don’t fall asleep during a lecture or you will be caught”. Unfortunately, the guy who noticed him was the speaker. I have never seen anybody turn that white when they were confronted about something they did. I am talking ghost white. After the Lecture I learned another very important piece of information; when the crosswalk sign says don’t walk…don’t walk. I kid you not I saw an Individual get smacked by a car, get flipped up, land right on his feet and walk way. The homeless person on the corner said it best, “if ya cross when it says don’t cross sometime you make it, sometimes you don’t. I guess he was one of the lucky ones.” Ya but trust me he will be feeling it in the morning. The last piece of advice I have to offer is there is a reason why they say don’t carry food or drinks on the metro. (For all of you that don’t know what a metro is it’s a subway) my roommate found that out the hard way. He boarded the metro with a cup of coffee and when the metro started off he thought he could sneak a drink. However, the metro quickly stopped shortly after starting .which caused him to fly forward nearly spilling the coffee all over and old woman. She seemed very upset. Overall in has been a very good day with the promise of a better tomorrow. I will keep you posted.