How was your weekend?

Each time Monday comes around, those who are excited to be heading to work again are few and far between. Throughout the past few years, I've learned that asking people how they are on Monday morning usually results in a less than thrilled response. So instead, I like to ask people "How was your weekend?" If they had the opportunity to do something fun and exciting, they are more than willing to fill you in on their adventures, and for that moment, they can forget about how much they hate Monday mornings at the office. Both Kristine and Abby were happy to learn this tidbit from me Monday night, so I wanted to share it with all of you.

My Monday at work was quite busy, as Joe doesn't come in on Mondays. Therefore, I am in charge of taking care of filing, auto-penning, mailing constituent letters, and fulfilling everyone's requests for *special projects* as we like to call them. I tackled my first solo response to a (might I say difficult) constituent letter regarding federal funding. Kathy gave me a brief starting point and said take it wherever you see fit. Although we did cut out an entire paragraph on welfare programs (which I didn't really know a lot about, nor could I find a lot of info on the web), she really liked the rest of my letter and only added one sentence to the whole thing. Joe was impressed when he read it today, too, so I started to think I was cut out for this job after all.

Just as soon as everything seems to be going well, you hit a rough patch. Mine came at work this morning when I engaged in a routine conversation with a co-worker. I was asked my thoughts on something, he didn't appreciate my answer as he had a very opposite opinion, and we entered into a heated debate. With this being just my second week of work, I did my best to remain calm, collected, and not to jump on the defensive too quickly, but all while attempting to hold my own so as to not get trampled. Vague, I know, but the details are too intensive to get into. When all was said and done at the end of the day, we are due to address the issue again at a later date. Hopefully we can come to a consensus to agree to disagree while respecting the others beliefs/opinions.

Quick side notes:

1) Our bathroom ceiling started leaking again this morning, and the maintenance people simply cut out the piece of dry wall they put in last week and left a whole in the ceiling directly above the shower. They also left an open utility knife resting on the ledge at the top of the shower. Danger, danger.

2) Class this week was good. We had lively discussion and asked bigger questions. I'm happy to be in Monday night's class, and I hope every class is as good as the last two have been.

3) I got a new vacuum cleaner yesterday, and FINALLY got to vacuum the rest of the stairs! You can't imagine the excitement this brought to me because you didn't see the stairs, but my housemates will attest to my love for the new appliance. I am now barefoot in the computer lounge, fearless of the floors!

4) I'm very thankful for the new friendships I've been forming here in DC, as well as for those I've had for years. Days like today make me realize how great it feels to know that someone will be there to have your back when things are tough.