The View from DC

Well, Irene and I have spent a couple of days in DC now, and, I've got to say, things are going pretty well. Yesterday I went for a run and went by both the Watergate Hotel and the Lincoln Memorial. Sure I was sucking up exhaust the whole way, but at least I had some sights!

We've also been slowly learning about our neighborhood and where the best places are to go. Although things are generally pretty expensive, there are some great low cost items like the Amsterdam Falafel Shop and Julia's Emapanadas in Adams Morgan. Both delicious and reasonable priced.

And I'm about to leave for a local farmer's market for some fresh vegetables.

But, before I go, I wanted to check in and let you know that I'm excited about coming home for Father's Day tomorrow. Being in DC certainly has its advantages.

20009

I'm happy to say that Irene and I have moved into our new place on 16th & U in NW Washington, DC. It's nice. A bit small, especially around the kitchen, but nice.

We had a relatively uneventful 8.5 hour drive down from Somerville, found the place fairly easily, and moved everything in. After unpacking we headed out for dinner at the Amsterdam Falafel Shop, which was just spectacular, and then we picked up some groceries for tomorrow. Oh, and we got a temporary permit for the car.

I'll definitely be ready to relax tomorrow.

Olympia, Washington

Irene and I are currently on the first leg of our Northwest/Pacific journey, visiting her brother Quinn and his girlfriend in Olympia, Washington. We flew into Sea-Tac (Seattle-Tacoma) Airport on Wednesday after a *long* flight from Philadelphia. We're going to be hanging out until this afternoon, when we'll head down South to Eugene, Oregon to see her older brother Eliot and his girlfriend Kate.

Olympia is a nice little town, but for a capital, it's pretty little (not unlike Concord). We went to a nice brewery (Fish Brewing) for dinner Wednesday night and yesterday we BBQ-ed at Quinn's house. They've been gracious hosts.

I am looking forward to Eugene, though, and doing some running. Of course, Eugene was the home base of running icon Steve Prefontaine. What's so great about Prefontaine? Well, for one thing, he held the American record for all seven distance track events between the 2000 meters to the 10,000 meters. Youch.

Esme Sinclair

I think I mentioned earlier that Andy and Karen Sinclair's first child, Esme Sinclair, is out and exploring the world. I finally had a chance to go over and visit the other day, and the family seems to be doing well. In any event, the parents were happy to have an extra pair of hands around to hold the child while they ate dinner.

Esme was a bit ornery when I first started holding her, but she settled down after I applied my patented "bounce around while you're holding'em" move.

After she'd calmed down, the parents and I were discussing what kind of young lady she'd become. For no knowable reason I decided on a hippy--but I didn't share with Andy and Karen. Take a look and decide for yourself.

Esme - First Month from Andrew Sinclair on Vimeo.

Papers, papers.

Since various people have requested that I put up some of the papers I worked on this year, I've uploaded a few to google.docs. One issue I've grappled with repeatedly is the surge of violence overtaking Mexico. In a paper in Law & Development last semester I discussed the effect of drug cartel violence on economic development.

I tried to answer the question of what could be done about that violence in a paper this semester in my Foreign Relations and National Security Law class.

And here, unrelatedly, is an op-ed I wrote for my class in European Union Foreign Policy about Transatlantic Relations.

Enjoy!

Place in DC

So it looks like things may be coming together. And, of course, all my work trying to secure a place for us on Craigslist was for naught. The place we ended up with came from an email that went around on Fletcher's social list. An '08 grad is going to Africa and had to sublet her place quickly for the summer. It's on 16th & U, NW, Washington DC and we got it. Check it out:







And, of equal if not greater importance, I have a promising subletter for my place in Somerville--a young South Korean girl named Hye Young Kim. The dates are almost perfect and I doubt she's going to wreck the place.

So that's step one.