This is why you should exercise

Why we have earthquakes

AP file photo

So..this is why we've been having so many earthquakes lately. Apparently, women can make the earth move! ;-)

Food talk: Busboys and Poets

A name like Busboys and Poets is bound to get a double-take. At least, it did for me. I walked past this snazzy establishment one fine Tues evening. Later that week, my housemate tells me that it should be on my ‘Things-to-do-in-DC list’. So today, I set out to scratch that off my list. Mission: to take my friend K visiting from Beantown to a fine DC establishment in an effort to show him what stuff DC is made of (and in the process – discover DC for myself! Ha!)

So..much has been written about this place (dang, if there’s a Wiki page to something, no need to reinvent the wheel, ya know?) so I won’t go into the humdrum of what this is. I’ll simply give my own impressions and hope that I win over more business for this place. (Not that it needs it..it seems to have enough word-of-mouth advertisement going on!)

I got the Grilled Brie Panini with spinach, caramelized onions and tomatoes on ciabatta bread. K got a burger with gorgonzola cheese, and the regular stuff that goes on a burger. I liked my food. What I loved better was the burger that my friend got! YUMMY – I never knew gorgonzola and moo (aka beef) went SO well together! This is definitely one that I'm going to try creating at home! (Thank the good Lord for sunny weather and backyard bbqs!)

What I loved the best though was the ambience of the place – the resto is a coffee-house-lounge-bookstore-restaurant. People come here to work on their laptops (yay! free wifi!), drink coffee, enjoy some libations after work, check out their books, listen to poetry being read or simply come out to eat. Definitely an interesting place! Would love to go again, if only to simply read on their comfy couches and people-watch! ha! Check it out if you’re in DC. :)

Musicka - The Summons - John Bell

Heard this song last year at church...powerful words. I love the reminder to always be obedient to God, no matter what life throws my way.

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
In you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the pris’ners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
In you and you in me.

All things nuclear!

Living in the nation's capital comes at a price - you gotta contend with the city shutting down when 40+ heads of state descend on your town!

The subject - all things nuclear.

In one of the largest gatherings of heads of state in history, President Obama invited more than 50 presidents/prime ministers to discuss how to secure vulnerable nuclear materials and prevent acts of nuclear terrorism.

The city hasn't seen this large a security curtain since Inauguration Day. It is said enough downtown streets are to be closed to cause two days of gridlock! All I can say – watch/read the news to see what action steps result from the summit. And thank God for ‘working from home’!

All talk..

So..it's been an interesting time since I got to Washington, DC to work as a project manager for a small Christian NGO on reproductive health/family planning grants. In the short time I've been here, I’ve met congressional staffers from Senators and Congressmen’s offices, met a Senator (!), participated in high-level meetings at USAID, met with the vice-president of a multi-national public health company. It’s amazing who you run into here. My next-door neighbor for two weeks was the Chief of Staff to a Senator!

In the whirlwind of meeting and being introduced to ‘important’ people..and learning how to talk the talk and walk the walk, I’m realizing that there’s a lot of TALK here! On a daily basis, I participate in at least one conference call or go to a meeting where people get paid BIG money to sit around a table and talk! Makes me wonder...how much the talking is helping. How much difference is it making on the ground..in the life of the child who is suffering from hunger and the woman who couldn’t get to the nearest health-clinic on time while giving birth, and the man who has to make a choice between food and medicine for his family. Really...how much difference does it make what old white men sitting in air-conditioned offices in Washington, DC say?

Am I jaded already, you may ask? I don’t think so...at least, I hope not. Am I wary of all the ‘politics’? Heck yeah! But I am here. As wary as I may be, I am here to do a job – and do it well. I am called to bloom wherever I am planted, so I hope to bloom. Hope to speak for those from the field who may not have an organized voice, and may not have glossy paper reports but do do good evidenced-based public health work from a faith persepective. Wish me luck! :-)