I had crayfish from Louisiana for the first time ever. It was a reception held in the basement of my building which featured cooked crayfish and some alligator jambalaya. It was pretty good stuff, and the crayfish is pretty good if you can get past the whole part that it looks disgusting. It was described to me: as beef is to venison, crab is to crayfish. It's definitely a little spicy.
Speaking of broiling, that's what our Subcommittee hearing was today. We had TV cameras from a number of places including C-SPAN and the "pool" (ABC, NBC, CNN, etc.) feed as well as the Discovery channel and others. This made everything a little more hectic, but was good publicity for a problem that hasn't received much buzz (pun intended). Anyway, after that chaos was over, the rest of the day seemed to go by much slower, even though there were only a few hours left.
Gabe and I wrote some letters for upcoming hearings and prepared ourselves for a couple weeks of little activity. I have a few scholarship essays that need to be postmarked tomorrow, so I'm going to attend to that while letting my crayfish settle.
3/29/07
3/28/07
Shopping Spree
The Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held another packed hearing in 1302 as we await the final touches on 1300 (which may be a month from official opening). The room was filled to capacity, along with another room which was made for 25 people, but at one time held 40, just to hear the audio. That meant the interns had to be on our toes to make sure only the exact right number of people got in (divided by press, staff, witnesses and associates, and then the public). Tomorrow is going to be more of a zoo, maybe more like a beehive.
We are holding the Horticulture and Organic Agriculture hearing on Colony Collapse Disorder. While honeybees are thought of for honey, many people don't realize they add $15 billion (by USDA estimates in 2002) of value to US crops (especially specialty crops like almonds and apples). Therefore, this widespread 30-70% loss in bees would not only do damage to beekeepers, but producers (and everyone involved in the food-producing chain) as well. The reason I go into such great detail about this hearing and leave out a lot of information in hearings in the past is that people care. At least the people at C-SPAN, CNN and ABC News may care enough to shove some of their cameras into our already crowded hearing tomorrow. While this should take away only a limited number of seats, it makes our hearing a little more important as everyone will strive to make sure everything is done just right.
Luckily for me, I was able to stock up on some energy to night, we had three great receptions over the past couple of hours. The first one I attended was the National Cattleman's Beef Association/Outback Steakhouse Reception. They had salad, and buns along with all the shrimp, steak and lamb you could eat. For dessert they had Chocolate Chocolate Tower cake, and it was towering, not even I was able to finish it. Of course I may have scarfed it down had I had nothing better to do, but I was on my way to the Taco Bell reception. They had all the soft shell tacos you could eat (chicken and beef), along with enchiladas and nachos. Both events were packed from wall to wall as you can imagine, but tonights big winner for healthy was the California Agriculture Leadership Federation (I would imagine it as the MARL of California) event sponsored by Safeway (a large grocery store chain in the South). Here you could pick up all the oranges, strawberries, avocados, lettuce and spinach you could fit into your grocery bag. Of course at the bottom of the bag they had bumper stickers that encouraged you to eat spinach (something like 80% of the world's spinach comes from one California county, I heard it at a hearing once) and lettuce, because amid the recent scares the food supply is still safe.
As I said, I'm in for a long day tomorrow. Friday will be back to normal if there is such a thing, then the next two weeks we are out of session. This means a lot less work and for me no blogging! I actually get half of the first Monday off, so I will try to get into the Bureau of Engraving and Printing as well as the Supreme Court, or maybe just sleep in. Both sound like great options. Then I will be in Minnesota the Thursday Afternoon before Easter until Monday evening. This time I am going to do the smart thing; spend a little more and take the direct flight. I do not need to spend any more of my time in Milwaukee.
We are holding the Horticulture and Organic Agriculture hearing on Colony Collapse Disorder. While honeybees are thought of for honey, many people don't realize they add $15 billion (by USDA estimates in 2002) of value to US crops (especially specialty crops like almonds and apples). Therefore, this widespread 30-70% loss in bees would not only do damage to beekeepers, but producers (and everyone involved in the food-producing chain) as well. The reason I go into such great detail about this hearing and leave out a lot of information in hearings in the past is that people care. At least the people at C-SPAN, CNN and ABC News may care enough to shove some of their cameras into our already crowded hearing tomorrow. While this should take away only a limited number of seats, it makes our hearing a little more important as everyone will strive to make sure everything is done just right.
Luckily for me, I was able to stock up on some energy to night, we had three great receptions over the past couple of hours. The first one I attended was the National Cattleman's Beef Association/Outback Steakhouse Reception. They had salad, and buns along with all the shrimp, steak and lamb you could eat. For dessert they had Chocolate Chocolate Tower cake, and it was towering, not even I was able to finish it. Of course I may have scarfed it down had I had nothing better to do, but I was on my way to the Taco Bell reception. They had all the soft shell tacos you could eat (chicken and beef), along with enchiladas and nachos. Both events were packed from wall to wall as you can imagine, but tonights big winner for healthy was the California Agriculture Leadership Federation (I would imagine it as the MARL of California) event sponsored by Safeway (a large grocery store chain in the South). Here you could pick up all the oranges, strawberries, avocados, lettuce and spinach you could fit into your grocery bag. Of course at the bottom of the bag they had bumper stickers that encouraged you to eat spinach (something like 80% of the world's spinach comes from one California county, I heard it at a hearing once) and lettuce, because amid the recent scares the food supply is still safe.
As I said, I'm in for a long day tomorrow. Friday will be back to normal if there is such a thing, then the next two weeks we are out of session. This means a lot less work and for me no blogging! I actually get half of the first Monday off, so I will try to get into the Bureau of Engraving and Printing as well as the Supreme Court, or maybe just sleep in. Both sound like great options. Then I will be in Minnesota the Thursday Afternoon before Easter until Monday evening. This time I am going to do the smart thing; spend a little more and take the direct flight. I do not need to spend any more of my time in Milwaukee.
3/27/07
I'm Back
... and don't worry, you didn't miss much. Friday was filled with big projects. Most of it was filling binders with reference material for Members and Staff, the rest was basically moving boxes or tables. My parents landed in the afternoon so I headed out early. We met Walt and his wife Mary in Union Station for a great 3 hour supper (yeah, supper, learn Minnesotan, it's cool) talking about our pasts and our family's past, and how we're all related, kind of. I was the itinerary maker for the weekend, and I think I wore them out a little.
On Saturday we had a Capitol tour by yours truly. I quickly showed them around the public area in the Library of Congress just a block away. We then hit the National Mall to the Air and Space and Natural History Museums as well as eating at the Museum of the American Indian Cafe. We went to the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights et cetera, and found a big interesting exhibit (better than all the museums as far as friendly for the whole family) that was interactive and a place no one really knows about right behind the main Archives rotunda. We literally went home and took a nap, as I had them up early and to bed late for Minnesota time. That night we went on a DC Night Tour to see all the monuments, and it really is the best way to see the monuments (at night, not paying $30 a person for a tour).
Sunday we simply went to Arlington Cemetery and Mount Vernon. Both places are similar in that they are big and take some time just to get around, and the sites are sights themselves.
I went to work yesterday, where we were setting up for our hearing today on Credit. In the mean time I sent the family over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the International Spy Museum, and they said they enjoyed all three. I got House Gallery Passes for the whole family last night, and we were lucky to see three votes between 6:30 and 7:15, with about 408 Congressmen showing up. I still remember how different voting was than I thought it would be, and it was interesting to hear the questions that I now take for granted as simply a normal procedure. Then we went to Tortilla Coast last night for some chips, burritos and quesadillas.
This morning I came to their hotel for continental breakfast (it was overall an inexpensive weekend for me. Dad, not so much) and they flew out this afternoon. This morning we had our CCER Subcommittee hearing, with an overflow room! This eased some of the tension, but it will still be nice when 1300 opens up (we're working out the technical stuff, it takes time but needs to be done). Tonight a few of us stayed late to set up for tomorrow's hearing, on Crop Program changes. I've got that tomorrow morning, and set up for another hearing on Thursday, which is on the Colony Collapse Disorder in honeybees, that would be a fun one to sit in on, but I doubt I'll be able to as it affects not only honey bees but alfalfa and specialty crop producers (along with basically any other plants that need pollination).
On Saturday we had a Capitol tour by yours truly. I quickly showed them around the public area in the Library of Congress just a block away. We then hit the National Mall to the Air and Space and Natural History Museums as well as eating at the Museum of the American Indian Cafe. We went to the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights et cetera, and found a big interesting exhibit (better than all the museums as far as friendly for the whole family) that was interactive and a place no one really knows about right behind the main Archives rotunda. We literally went home and took a nap, as I had them up early and to bed late for Minnesota time. That night we went on a DC Night Tour to see all the monuments, and it really is the best way to see the monuments (at night, not paying $30 a person for a tour).
Sunday we simply went to Arlington Cemetery and Mount Vernon. Both places are similar in that they are big and take some time just to get around, and the sites are sights themselves.
I went to work yesterday, where we were setting up for our hearing today on Credit. In the mean time I sent the family over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the International Spy Museum, and they said they enjoyed all three. I got House Gallery Passes for the whole family last night, and we were lucky to see three votes between 6:30 and 7:15, with about 408 Congressmen showing up. I still remember how different voting was than I thought it would be, and it was interesting to hear the questions that I now take for granted as simply a normal procedure. Then we went to Tortilla Coast last night for some chips, burritos and quesadillas.
This morning I came to their hotel for continental breakfast (it was overall an inexpensive weekend for me. Dad, not so much) and they flew out this afternoon. This morning we had our CCER Subcommittee hearing, with an overflow room! This eased some of the tension, but it will still be nice when 1300 opens up (we're working out the technical stuff, it takes time but needs to be done). Tonight a few of us stayed late to set up for tomorrow's hearing, on Crop Program changes. I've got that tomorrow morning, and set up for another hearing on Thursday, which is on the Colony Collapse Disorder in honeybees, that would be a fun one to sit in on, but I doubt I'll be able to as it affects not only honey bees but alfalfa and specialty crop producers (along with basically any other plants that need pollination).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)