My apartment and new job

OK -- time for post No. 2.

Chris picked me up from Dulles Sunday and we went to his place in Columbia Heights. Although his basement apartment was in a highly desirable part of town for our age range, it was quite small, so living there until Thursday was going to be roughing it.

Monday we spent way too much money at Ikea, and even drove to Baltimore to get a certain piece of furniture. We started using Craigslist to find a TV, and we actually have used the online classifieds service to find barstools, kitchen supplies, microwaves, really cheap.

Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. I started my new job at the Student Press Law Center in Rosslyn, Va. My first day was filled with going through the handbook, learning about policies, filling out forms, etc. The office is great. My cubicle, is in a corner area that I share with Abbie, our development director, who is from Oklahoma. Our desks are positioned on a window that overlooks the national mall and on even a cloudy day you can see the U.S. Capitol building. Planes landing at Reagan go by my window on a regular basis. The neighborhood, Rosslyn, is a corporate area (my mom's DC office actually used to be right across the street, so I have an idea of the area). The blue/orange line metro is two blocks away.

So for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I spent the days at the SPLC learning my new job and writing stories.

My Job
So, about my new job. I work for a lawyer named Mark Goodman, who is the executive director of the SPLC. The SPLC shares a suite of offices with the Reporter's Committee for the Freedom of the Press, and we're based out of the Freedom Forum building in Rosslyn. Basically it's a huge First Amendment lovefest in our office, all overlooking the Capitol. There are lawyers, interns, fellows like myself. It's great. It's really laid back (no dress code, although I'm still in the dress-up mode. They say that will change). The office is right up my alley.

On the SPLC side of the office is Mark's office, Adam (a on-staff attorney from NYC), myself and Abbie. Our little cubicle offices are at the front of what doubles as our newsroom, which is basically three desks and a central meeting table in the middle of the room.

I write stories and run our Web site, manage our three college interns and also edit and lay out our thrice-yearly magazine, the SPLC Report. The SPLC basically covers anything that could affect the free press and expression rights of students. That's a very narrow spectrum but it has given me the opportunity to write some very interesting stories.

More about the new job later. It's a lot of fun, the view is great, the office is laid back. And after all, I get to write about George Bush t-shirts and banners about Jesus.

Two days into my new job, on Wednesday night, my grandmother Audrey came to visit. I met Audie and her friend Nancy, Nancy's granddaughter and my cousin Jay Sternberg for dinner in DuPont Circle.

Dinner in Dupont

We had a great dinner and then headed our separate ways. I personally left for my first look at my new apartment and spent the night moving things in.

New Apartment
We moved in Wednesday night until late, but didn't get to sleep there because our beds weren't being delivered until Thursday. I was impressed with the apartment, the living room/kitchen is great. My room, not so great. No windows!

So Thursday evening when I got off of work and went straight to my new place. Chris got off of work late, and we used his two-door Honda civic to move most of our stuff to the place. We had spent way too much money at Ikea the weekend before, and so they were kind enough to deliver the stuff we couldn't fit in the Civic (for a fee, of course). Ironically, Chris and I got the same bedframe.

Chris assembling his new bed. We worked late that night -- till about 3 a.m.

So now we're in and although we don't have a lot of art for the walls or little things to fill the shelves, we're working on it. My room is very small but I'm paying less and my closet is huge. Here are some more pics from the apt.

The Bar/Kitchen Area


The bar into the living room (Ikea furniture)


A glimpse into my room... it is quite small.

My neighborhood is great, I have about a 2-mile running route that takes me past the White House. I have a 15-minute walk every morning and a 10-minute metro ride straight to work. There's a whole foods about 10 minutes away and another grocery store closer. Chris has a reserved parking spot so we can drive when we need it. We even have TIVO and found a great TV on craiglist.

So that's where I am. Hope you all have enjoyed this blog so far, I'm going to keep it up to date with what's going on. I miss you all, I miss Louisiana and although I went to watch the game with all the LSU alums up here Saturday night, it's not the same. The food sucks -- send Tony's, po-boy bread, doberge and Community Coffee.