Nothing Beats an Astronaut

With Biden Laden Dead, Who is the Most Wanted Man? Mexican Billionaire, the most powerful drug trafficker in the world, and recently announced Chicago’s public enemy no. 1 (click to read on)

If the link doesn't work, here is the http address: <http://policyinterns.com/2013/02/22/with-bin-laden-dead-who-is-the-most-wanted-man/>
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Our blog post today begins with a shameless plug for Tom's blog post for work. Even if you aren't interested in reading about perhaps the most dangerous person roaming our streets since Tom purchased a scooter, still click on the link above so that Thomas can boost his numbers.

Now that you've humored Tom's desire for popularity, click on our new favorite YouTube video to begin the wonderful journey that explains our recent adventures.

You might have guessed the theme of our blog post this week. Nothing beats an astronaut. Thomas and Jacob's new favorite commercial inspired us to take the following picture while visiting the American History Museum.

This astronaut suit was worn by someone on space some time ago. Neat, huh? Both Tom and Jacob are strongly considering switching their New Years adventure goals to applying to the AXE Space Academy, but don't you worry Aunt Carmelle and Aunt BettyJo, with Tom and Jake's track record over the past few years of achieving their adventure goals, my prediction is that they will both be out of harms way.

We also went to the Portrait Gallery and really connected with the different pieces of art.

Jacob was right at home at the modern art exhibit with a room full of TV's.

Thomas had to pry him away after a little while.

We also both found our twins.

Thomas spotted Jake's doppelganger early on and we snapped a picture. Both these guys were overdressed and needed haircuts.

Tom then proceeded to find his own doppelganger.

No explanation needed.

Thomas was excited to find a picture of Jerry.

...

And here is a picture of two Elvis's and one hanger-on.

Yes, Thomas is the tourist successfully photo-bombing the picture.

All in all, it has been a great few weeks! D.C. has been treating us well, and we have been enjoying the fast paced life in our nation's capital.

New Friends

Check out Tom's Work Blog Click Here. 

We visited the Newseum, a museum about news. Our favorite quote was from Jerry Seinfeld, "People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to." Instead of snapping a picture at the piece of the Berlin wall, or the antenna from one of the world trade centers, we chose to get behind these two cut-outs of gangster from the 20's (we know what makes a good picture).

(4 Thugs)

Yesterday, Tom had the opportunity to baptize Erika. She is from Brazil and they meet each other on Tom's second Sunday. Even the Washington DC mission president wanted to join in on such a marvelous occasion. 

CNO (Cousin's Night Out)

Thursday night, we decided that it had been much too long since our last CNO (not to be confused with the Cousin's Night In we had 24 hours prior). Both of us had heard so much about the DC night-life, so we decided to cast our apprehension aside and, as someone once said, "live a little." After a quick metro ride and a few blocks of walking, we found ourselves in an environment filled with hard metal music, less than spectacular language, and people chanting: "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Yes, you may have guessed it, Jacob and Thomas finally went to their first NHL hockey game.

The hometown Washington Capitals led by superstar Alex Ovechkin took on the Montreal Canadiens.

Some of you might have noticed that we purchased tickets that would ensure us an extra-wide view. The upside was that there was not much of a threat of fans seated behind us spilling their beverages on our backs...

...no threat at all actually. After the game was over, everybody cleared out and we were able to snap a picture of where we were sitting - the very top row.

While the Capitals lost the game 4-1, Thomas and Jacob had a splendid time. Sure the fans were a bit rough, but once we looked past the tip of the proverbial iceberg and into those fans souls, we realized that they were all friendly people who had simply purchased much too much of the wrong beverage.

After the game, we finished off our CNO by dining at the local Pie Pizzeria. Tyrannosaurus-Tom broke his glass on his teeth and further proved to everyone why we don't go out to nice restaurants.

All in all, our CNO was a great success!

57th Presidential Inaugueration

The 57th Presidential Inauguration (above), WWII memorial (bottom left) and Washington Monument (bottom right).

 

  

In the old US Post Office bell tower.

Even though neither Tom nor Jake wanted to go to the inauguration the chance to be a part of history could not be passed up. Looking back what an opportunity, we were only 50 yards from a jumbo-tron of the president (about half a mile from the actual president). In the picture above Jake is blocking the view of the jumbo-tron, but it was there. We have also made friends with someone with a better camera than our current one, and she has been documenting our adventures. 

Our new camera friend (Catherine), and Tom

'Monument'al Moments

A busy work week has once again come to a close, and what a week it's been! Mr Kelemen and Mr Matthews were both disappointed that the weathermen in D.C. are as unreliable as they are in Utah. Wednesday afternoon and evening, the workers throughout the city were all abuzz with the forecast of significant snow storms that would shut the city down. Both of us were hopeful for an extra extra long weekend--courtesy of a snow-day issued by OMP (U.S. Office of Personnel Management)--but alas, we were to be disappointed. Despite all the hubbub, Thursday morning arrived as dry as the Sahara. So, off to work we went. While Jacob was driving around D.C. in his work issued van (reminiscent of the Kele-bus back at home in Utah), he was surprised and amused to see a small army of snow plows driving throughout the city lined up back to front with their salt sprayers on full blast. The pavement was not even wet and there was nary a cloud in the sky (combined with the fact that they weren't even occupying multiple lanes), but they effectively insured that not only was D.C. sodium protected against up to a foot of snow, but that all of the vehicles in the city will lose a few years due to salt-rust damage. Needless to say, we're no longer in Utah.

(Picture not taken by us...or by anyone this winter for that matter)

But we digress. As we are well aware, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, here goes seven thousand words.

Here is contemporary D.C. (no snow) as captured by Mr. Kelemen and Mr. Matthews in our lovely excursion today to the monuments.

Mr. Kelemen and Mr. Matthews visiting Brother Lincoln (Turns out that the statue on our penny isn't Paul Bunyan after all)

 Brother Thomas reflecting.

Also pictured here:

Reflection Pool (ironically enough), the Washington Monument,

 the Capitol building, and various tourists.

 The DC boys

(picture taken by a Korean tourist-turned-friend who must have been a professional photographer based on the number of pictures that he took, the time that he took to take them, and the various angles that he discomforted himself by, throughout the process)

Thomas after hearing a comical comment by Jacob

Jacob thinking of the comical comment.

Three Wolves in DC

Many people asked us what we were going to do in Washington DC. Saying that Tom was going to work at the American Action Forum and Jake was going to work at the National Defense University (yes, Jake finally enlisted) did not help anyone understand much at all of what we were doing. To be honest we did not know what we were going to do ourselves. So we have started a blog to document our adventures. Tom also writes a blog for work each week at policyinterns.com so, check that out to see if he is doing anything productive. Enjoy!

Pictured here are Akaila, Lone Wolf and Jay-Cub

Today, Jan 12th, we went to the Smithsonian Zoo. Our favorite animals were the wolves .... we fit right in. The howling picture took about 5 minutes to get right so we were howling by the fence for sometime, needless to say people loved the wolf show that we put on.