Week Seven: The Week Before the Presidential Address to Congress

After getting back from the East Coast Express Tour on Sunday night, I was pretty exhausted for the first few days of this week; At least until I remembered that President Obama was giving his first Presidential Address to Congress next week. Naturally, I was trying to figure out a way to get into the Address but had no luck. I mean I'm sure it had something to do with the secret service and the fact that all of the most powerful leaders of America were going to be in the room. No biggy..

I may not have had the golden ticket to the event, but I did get to be a part of it in a small way. On Friday the 20th, my Congresswoman's Press Secretary was going to be out of the office, so he had me attend, on his behalf, the first Press Secretaries Briefing that White House Representatives attended. The representative was the Communication Director for Obama. She came over to the House side of the Capitol to give us a preview of what to expect from the president in the next few days - leading up to the Presidential Address. When she was done briefing us and opened the floor for questions, I somehow got the courage to raise my hand and ask her a question in regards to his speech for next Tuesday. It went something like this: "Do you know if President Obama will touch on the auto industry crisis in his address?" Not exactly a ground breaking question, I know; but I was nervous as hell!

That night my roommates, a few dorm neighbors, and I went out to dinner for DC's annual Restaurant Week. (Restaurant Week is when practically all of the most expensive restaurants in the city host $20 lunches and $35 dinners). So my roommates and I chose to go to Bobby Van's Steakhouse. The dinner was a three-course meal that consisted of either soup or salad, choice of main course, and desert. So naturally, I went for the salad, fillet minion, and chocolate cake! Overall, dinner was good. I looked through the menu to see what the restaurant was so famous for. Other than the fact that a dinner for two could probably cover most people's rent, it didn't seem to have anything extraordinary...except for their well over priced wine list!

The next day, I took a stroll through my side of DC for a couple of hours looking for something to eat. For some reason, I was craving some DC hot dogs. Little did I know that most stands are only open during the week or are located in hot spot tourist locations. Long story short, I did find me a hot dog stand, hidden in DuPont Circle. Which was pretty cool, because ever since I bought the movie, The American President (my favorite flick), I've always wanted to scope out the area that was continuously referenced in the movie.

Anyway, that night, a few of us headed to the Wizards/Spurs basketball game. The seats were not bad. We were probably about 20 rows up from the court. The game was alright, but honestly, the Wizards got killed! But being able to go to a game was still a good experience. Especially since Michael Jordan spent some time with the Wizards before he officially retired.



Restaurant Week at Bobby Van's Steakhouse



The Infamous Dupont Circle



Some Homeless Folks Playing Chess in Dupont...Just Like You See In the Movies



Some Random Guy in Dupont Playing the Drums on a Shopping Cart and Some Buckets



Verizon Center: Washington Wizards vs. San Antonio Spurs



The Crew After the Game