Pedroza's Place

This morning I made some Atole for breakfast. At first I didn’t offer it to anyone because I didn’t think anyone would enjoy it but me. I then offered it to Denise and she had some. AJ saw that both Denise and I had and of course immediately asked for some. I poured him a half a cup thinking he would try it and not like it. Atole is basically milk heated and thickened with corn powder. Denise didn’t say anything, but AJ started shouting “AJ like, AJ like.” I filled up his glass to the top. He drank the whole glass and started saying “AJ more, AJ more.” Unfortunately at that point I didn’t have anymore. It did teach me a lesson however, I need to start teaching AJ more about his hispanic culture. I didn’t think he would like it because it was different, but I liked it, so I guess he does have some of my tastebuds, so I really shouldn’t have thought that way. So my next question is when should I go buy the tamales?

The corner stone for the White House was laid in 1792, but it wouldn’t be until 1901 when it would get it’s official name. It was then that someone asked Theodore Roosevelt about the place and he said “oh, it’s just a big white house…” The name stuck and here we are, or were I guess.
Getting to the White House is relatively easy. Luckily, you can ask any local and they know where it is and can tell you how to get there (and if they can’t they they have some major direction problems).
While getting to the White House is easy, getting inside the White House is not. Most of my pictures as you can see are from far away. One of my favorite pictures I took was from up top of the Washington Monument looking down onto the White House (I wondered if the guards could see me up there):

Had I not gotten into the White House it wouldn’t have ruined the trip for me, but I do think that the White House is an iconic image of Washington DC. Despite all the tour guides calling it “your White House,” you just can’t go up and ring the door bell and ask to be let in. There are a lot of bells connected to the White House, but trust me you don’t want to hear them. To get into the White House you are going to need an invitation.

Invitations are free but unfortunately, I don’t know any members of the Presidential family and so getting a Presidential Invitation was out of the question. The next best thing was to get a Congressional Invitation to the White House. To get a Congressional Invitation you need to be recommended by one of your US Congressional leaders. Like every US citizen (if you are not a US Citizen you have to be recommended by your US Ambassador) I have three of these people (2 Senators and 1 Representative) and so about 6 months before we left I wrote to all three. I sent them my request along with the full names of everyone in my party, addresses, DOBs, Social Security numbers, and a description of what valid form of picture ID we were going to use (in our case California issued driver licenses, children under 5 do not need a picture ID). I followed up regularly with my Congressional leaders’ offices to see how the progress was going, but was ultimately told I wouldn’t know anything until at least 2 weeks before we left. As it turned out the first Senator I wrote to lost my paperwork, the second Senator tried, but was not able to get a spot, and ultimately 10 days before we were about to leave our Representative Jerry Lewis got us an invitation. This to me was funny because our two Senators are Democrats (the same party of the President), but our Representative is Republican. Anyhow, soon enough we got our invitation in the mail.
Normally to get into the White House you have to be a group of 10 or more people. We were only a group of 4, so our Representative put us together with another family named Flynn (don’t know them at all). The paper we were given had this name on it and a confirmation code. We were told to bring the paper with us at our appointed time and we could go on our tour. All good except for the fact that at 5:30 EST the day before our tour we lost the paper we were supposed to give to the SS (Secret Service). Lucky for us, we don’t live in EST, we live in PST. So even though Representative Lewis’ Washington DC office was closed, the Redlands, CA office was still open. Jerry Lewis’ staff was very helpful to us. The Redlands office blackberried the Washington DC office, which then emailed the White House, which then put us on a list for the Secret Service and so we were still allowed in. Talk about cross-country teamwork!
To start the tour you have to find the General Sherman monument.

This is actually across the street from the White House. The somber mood of General Sherman on his horse I think denotes the seriousness of the entire security process. As if getting back-grounded wasn’t enough you must also get booked. Oops, I meant screened, but having seen people get booked I wouldn’t say it was much different. You are not allowed to bring anything that doesn’t fit in your pockets and your pockets better not contain anything illegal or you will be escorted out by several people with Colt 45s. When it comes to the White House you also have to know that you are not allowed to bring in any recording device. This was kind of funny to me because they allowed me to bring in my cell phone which clearly had recording capability, not that I had any motivation (first tour I ever had where the docents were fully loaded) to use it inside.
Since I wasn’t able to take pictures inside the White House I have some pictures I got from an archived President Bush website(during his administration there were no tours) and a scan of our tour map:

You enter the White House by descending into the East Wing. I took this photo from outside the White House looking at the East Wing:

The East Wing is where the First Lady’s offices are. I am not sure what business goes on in those offices, but her staff was very busy going in and out of locked doors. This was interesting to me because Michelle Obama was in Spain when we were visiting. I wonder if her staff doesn’t get to travel with her or if it is like a Broadway production where there is more than one cast. If so, I have to say the local cast was very engaged in their work.
After walking through a long hallway we found ourselves under another underground hallway (a lot of Washington DC is underground) that lead to the China Room, Library, and Vermeil room. It also lead to the West Wing (the executive offices of the President), but we were only allowed to go half way down the hall. Even though I didn’t get to see the West Wing I learned that the current Press Room used to be an indoor pool. I also learned a little trivia about the Vermeil room. The Vermeil room houses portraits of 20th century first ladies. The most striking of which I think has to be of Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Onassis Kennedy (she really liked accumulating those names didn’t she?):

As interesting as the portrait was, it was the name that was more interesting to me. Apparently, vermeil is when you take silver and dip it in gold. It makes the gold even shinier (I didn’t even know that was possible). This Vermeil room is filled with a lot of objects decorated in this manner, hence the name. Heading back into the hallway a Secret Service guy told me a story of President Obama setting up a ping pong table in the hallway and playing an epic ping pong tournament (he wouldn’t tell me who won).
Going up a well worn marble staircase, we entered into the East Ballroom.

The painting of George Washington is of course the famous one Dolly Madison saved in the battle of 1812, and consequently is the oldest thing original to the White House. The piano is a Steinway and was donated 1938.
After going through the East Ball Room, you get to walk through the Green room, the Red Room, the State Dining Room (where they get daily fresh flowers), and the blue room:

The Blue Room was my favorite room of the house. According to the Secret Service it is the Obamas’ favorite room too. President Martin Van Buren was responsible for it’s color when he first painted the walls in 1837.
To go through the main floor rooms, you get to go through the Cross Halls.

This particular view of the Cross Halls to me is cool because it is the one that they always show when the Secretary of State is going to meet a foreign leader.
After the tour and we were outside again I was allowed once again to touch my cell phone and so I took these photos at the North door.


Undoubtedly the closest picture I will ever get to take of the White House. Anyhow, the tour was awesome. Definitely, one of the highlights of our trip.

BTW, if for some crazy reason the President does read this I think I would make perfect fit for a White House Staffer:

See what I mean, now all I need is one of those red A pass cards and I will be all set!

Everyone in the US knows that the Supreme Court is the highest court of the land. What many people don’t know is the Supreme Court building is rather new compared to it’s Executive and Legislative counterparts. For the longest time the Supreme Court met in whatever spare room the Legislative branch had. This changed in 1929 when then Chief Justice Taft (only person to be both Chief Justice and President) argued to Congress that the Judicial branch was separate (why it took them 146 years to figure this out I don’t know) and they made plans to build the Supreme Court it’s own building. Of course, like all good legislation it took a long time and so sadly Chief Justice Taft never got to see the new Supreme Court building (it got finished in 1935).

The Supreme Court is done in the Federalist style and so it is not surprising that it’s exterior has a lot of columns and marble.

The inside however really shows off it’s 30′s design elements. In particular I really noticed the rosette ceiling motif.

I have to say that there were several spaces in the Supreme Court that I didn’t understand. One in particular was the Great Gathering Hall.

Basically, it is a very wide long hallway with marble benches and a statue of Chief Justice Marshall and the end of it. On the third floor is another hallway where you wait in line to see the Supreme Court Chamber Room so it makes the Great Gathering Hall seem rather redundant to me. From the Great Gathering Hall there is the Great Spiral Staircase (they like to use the word great alot in there) that leads to Chief Justice Hall (the waiting area for the Supreme Court Chambers).

The Great Spiral Staircase is impressive, but unfortunately they don’t let you walk on them. Not that it mattered much because we had a stroller. Having the stroller we took the not great elevator. It didn’t have great in the title, but even the elevator was highly decorated.

Upstairs is the is the Chief Justice Hall which is called that because it contains the bust of every Chief Justice. Chief Justice Hall is the entry way to the Chamber room. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in there. This is the closest we were able to get with our camera:

In the picture you can see the middle chair (second chair to the right of Denise) which is the Chief Justice’s chair when they are in session. Which in our case they were not.
The way the court runs is very interesting to me. They only meet 8 months out of the year Mon-Thurs. for only two hours from 10am-12pm. They are there until 4:30 pm, but they spend that time to review current and future cases. They get over 10,000 petitions a year, but they only hear about a 100 of them. I asked how they decide which cases are heard and which are not and the answer was in order to get on the docket (to be heard) 4 out of the 9 justices have to agree to hear your case. Once the Supreme Court agrees to hear your case there is no time limit on how long it will take to get a decision, but they cannot recess for the year until they get a decision (talk about motivation).
The Supreme Court is a very impressive building, but I have to say I hope I never have to use it, but if I did, I am glad it is there. Visiting the Supreme Court is really easy. All you have to do is show up when they are open. If they are in session you have to wait in line for a ticket and if not you can line up for lectures that they give in the chamber room. No cost for admission, but you do have to go through airport like screening.

Visiting the Capitol in Washington DC is fascinating. If you go as a tourist you will see many things. You will see exhibits, statues, paintings, and even a movie. Surprisingly you will not see the reason for it’s being. The Capitol was created as birthplace for laws. They talk about that a lot on the tour, but you never see it happen. To see a law you need to visit either the Senate or House Gallery. In order to do this you will need a ticket, and luckily it isn’t that hard to do. Basically it just takes some footwork, so comes the purpose of this post (if you want to make this post really short just skip to the last paragraph).

To get a ticket you have to go to either your Senate or your Representative’s office. In our particular case we had already gotten tickets to the House of Representatives but they were not in session while we were there. The Senate was in session, so our first mission was to find out where our Senator’s office was. There are three Senate Office buildings: Russell, Dirksen, and Hart. I could have figured out what building I needed to go to by looking it up on the Internet, but that would’ve of course been the logical thing to do. I instead asked a random guy on the street. He in turn told me to go to the building with a green roof. The building with a green roof turned out to be the Dirksen building. The Dirksen building is what you would imagine a Senate Office to look like. Very old, Federalist style, lots of marble, and very big.

Like with all government buildings at Washington DC you have to go through screening to get in. At the entrance of the building is a very long list with all the states and their Senators. I found out that Senator Feinstein’s office was 331. After getting lost in the elevator and walking down a very long corridor I made an interesting discovery. There was no office 331. This was rather peculiar to me because I was pretty sure that Senator Feinstein was my Senator and she wasn’t under any indictment that I knew of, but then again I couldn’t find that office. What was weirder was that even though there wasn’t a 331, there was a 332. So I went into office 332, which turned out to be Senator Benard Sanders office. Senator Sanders is from Vermont, one of only two Independent Senators in the Senate. His office was really small, but his staff were really nice and helpful. I found out that he doesn’t like the name Benard and prefers to be called “Bernie.” I also found out that both California Senators were in the Hart building next door. Bernie’s staff directed me to this kind of covert bridge that linked the two buildings together and I was once again on my way.

The Hart building is a very distinct building. Kind of the exact opposite of the Dirksen building. Instead of marble, there was lots of glass. Instead of long passageways the offices were arranged in mostly circular pods. A definite modern change to the Federalist style I had seen throughout Washington DC.

The first office I found was Senator Feinstein’s. Her office was much bigger than Bernie’s. There was lots of staff in there. A nice lady asked me what I wanted and gave me the tickets. I was also later invited to have breakfast with Senator Feinstein, but we had to turn her down because we had an appointment at the White House on the same day of her breakfast. It was a very quick transaction. On my way out I saw Senator Boxer’s office:

It was in a corner and it was one of the biggest in that building. I didn’t go in but I must of seen several dozen staff members in there.
While I was lost in the elevator I found the cafeteria. I think one of the best kept secrets in Washington DC are the government cafeterias. They have great food, they are way cheaper than all of the above ground concessions (almost all government cafeterias are in the basement), andto you get hang out with staffers. Anyhow, as soon as I found the Senate cafeteria I called Denise. While Denise made her way down the long hallways of the Dirksen building I ordered Senate Bean Soup.

It was good, but as with many things, it wasn’t as good as the hype. It was good though, and I really liked the ham melt special I got with it.

Anyhow, if you want to see a law come into being here in the United States all you have to basically ask. Go to your Senator, get a ticket, and you can see the laws of this country come into being. It is a very interesting process. When we were there they were debating Supreme Court Justice Kagan’s nomination. One of the amazing things about American government is the access you get to it. 9/11 has added lots of security, but it is still a government “of the people, for the people.”

Apparently, 7/11 has called it quits…

Well AJ thought it was funny…

To see this sight for yourself you will have to go to the U street-African American-Civil War-Cardozo metro stop. How’s that for a mouthful of a metro stop name?

Today was the first two days of our trip. I know you probably think that was a typo,but it wasn’t. To get to Washington DC from California it takes a lot of traveling. For our trip we first took the car to the Ontario International Airport. There we waited and took a plane to Phoenix, to Baltimore. After a brief (4 hr) sleep in Baltimore we took a train to Union Station, Washington DC. It has definitely been a a very interesting trip so far. I hope to slowly get that all out here in the blog soon.  For now, however, let it be known it has been a long trip and I am very glad to get some shut eye.

Just a bit ago, from across the room, I heard the soft sounds of AJ talking to himself.  I went to go investigate and found him laying on his back on the floor, head cushioned on a pillow he had pulled off the couch, holding a book above his face.  He was “reading”  this book to himself.  (It was a soft one, from Grandma Jackman, with many objects , each the same color, on each page).  aaaahhh…

Where is the sweet sweet picture of this sweet sweet moment you ask?  Well, I went to (quietly) grab for the camera and AJ immediately perks up, “PICTURE”, he says.  I try to get him  to re-create the moment, only to discover  that the memory card is not in the camera and I have no idea where it is.  ARGGHH!!

In a related note, he is gradually catching onto the concept of colors.  He help up his breakfast fruit this morning, and with no prompting, said, “GREEN Grapes.”  Yea!!  The two colors he can most reliably identify are pink and green, so Lilly Pulitzer here we come!

(click on the pictures to expand)

Last week I took my Scouts from Team 253 (we are Varsity Scouts so we call ourselves a Team) to the Sierras. It was a wonderful trip that took us to heights of 11,000 feet and across 21.5 miles in this series I plan to write a few notes about each day of our trip.

Our first day concentrated on getting to the Sierras. Our destination for this trip was the Inyo National Forest, specifically it was the John Muir Wilderness area. After about 5 hours of driving from Crestline we arrived at the Bishop Park Campground. It was kind of an interesting drive to me because I live in Crestline which is part of the San Bernardino National Forest and to get to Inyo National Forest we had to drive up the 395 which is basically all desert. It just reminded me how diverse California actually is, it is amazing to me that you can traverse so many different ecological systems in one day’s worth of driving. The Bishop Park Campground was really nice. We were in the group site that came equipped with a fairly large bear box, several fire pits, and a flush toilet (that even had a sink). This was all set next to a beautiful river:

With a river like that it was obvious the first thing to do after setting up our tents was to go catch dinner. My friend Neil (another Adult leader) told me he saw a fish under a log in the river. I put some Powerbait cheese on my rod and put it in the river, 30 seconds later I had a fish.

I really couldn’t believe how easy it was. In a matter of about 2 hours our Team had caught seven fish. During the whole trip the scouts caught dozens (I lost count after about 12) of fish. It seemed that every stream and lake we saw had multitudes of fish ready to eat. Anyhow, after cleaning out our fish and eating them we settled in for our first night with full stomachs.

As this blog is now functioning as our family journal, I’m going to add a quick note, so I won’t forget later.

AJ and I have a fun trend going. Several mornings each week AJ pops out of his bed and comes and runs into our room and snuggles in our bed. Usually this happens when John’s alarm has woken him up. He NEVER falls asleep in our bed, just wiggles, kicks, and gives lots of hugs.

This doesn’t happen every morning. Sometimes he goes straight to the kitchen looking for breakfast and other mornings he checks in with me and tells me “toys” and I tell him, “that’s okay I’ll get you when breakfast is ready.”

However, those 3 or 4 morning of the week when he comes under the blankets with us are precious.

(His favorite times are when John and I are both in bed and he can come in between us. If we are both in the bed, he won’t go anyplace but between us. Not, on my side, not on John’s side, only between.)

I saw a very interesting lecture on the idea of happiness. The lecture had a bunch of interesting ideas. Especially the idea of the experiencing and remembering self. Also interesting was the idea that while millions will probably not make you happy, you need at least 60k to be “happy.” I am not sure if that is true or not. I do know I once heard a quote that went along the lines of “a penny over budget equals misery and a penny under budget equals hapiness.” Anyhow, I will say that hapiness is really a vague concept. What equals hapiness to you, isn’t the same to me. Last Saturday I took my mom to my favorite noodle shop: Daikokuya. To me this represents the best ramen noodles in California and I feel happy when I have noodles there. My mom on the other hand didn’t like it at all. I doubt it made her very happy. The other thing I thought was interesting is that it said those moving to California only think that they are happy and that they are not really happy.