Day 2 - I write waaay too much.

I’m writing this in a starbucks in Dupont Circle with no internet connection – I plan to upload this when I return to the hotel. There are wifi connections that I can see, but they are not connecting. Particularly frustrating is the wifi connection called ‘freedupontwireless’. Quite a disappointment.

After a painstakingly long day of speakers and talks from 9-5 we were finally allowed to break for the day. I went up to my room to pass out and take a nap as I haven’t been able to sleep well still. …Apparently this starbucks closes at 11, which is in 5 minutes and I am being told I need to leave. Time to go back to the hotel…

So I went back to the hotel, it’s only a quick walk back there. It’s a nice walk right now through DC which is on a normal day a very nice city. Tonight though, due to the ice storm/snow that has come through here (although far less than the 10-15” cincy is getting) the city looks exceptionally nice. I got back to the hotel and figured I would be able to sit at the bar/restaurant for a while and get into some Russian studying. I had just had my coffee and was in the mood to beat myself up with the language. Unfortunately the place was also closed and I had nowhere else to go but back to my room. Considering that an uncomfortable bed is no place to study Russian (although it may have been a good way to actually get some sleep on the bed) I got online instead. After being disappointed by the wifi, I got online via my jail broken iphone since the wifi at the hotel sucks to try to download 24 from the night before. While the download manager initially said 15 minutes, it’s now been about an hour and I have just over 75% of the file. While I’ve been waiting for the download to complete I’ve been surfing the internet and listen to my roommate talk about a handful of things related to his MBA program and his uncle (I think) who apparently did some work in Africa. He spoke for a while about all of the off the book and unofficial things his uncle did to get things done. I’m completely okay with doing what is necessary, but it’s obvious that he is putting a lot of emphasis on these experiences for the planning of his own project as he has quite often mentioned comments about determining the real power structure of getting things done and talked about how he assumes that things will need to be done in the same manner while he is there. Perhaps he is right, but it seems that it’s the only thing he’s considering right now.

As for slightly more important things, one of the people who came in and spoke today was the boss of the person who will be my boss in Kiev. He presented for about an hour on the project that I will be working on, the history of the organization, and the future. After listening, asking questions, and talking, I feel both excited and terrified about the work I’ll be doing. Excited because I can clearly see how I can (and will) have an impact, and terrified because of the ridiculous amount of responsibility and expectations that have been placed on my shoulders. As these 14 science labs that employ former USSR weapons researchers prepare to become independent entities that must rely on their own business moxie and skills to survive, I will be one of the last people they see from the host organization. I’ll be offering them (and providing if they accept) my skills and evaluation as to how they should prepare to go forward as independent facilities that must rely on their technology and processes to operate. Some of them will refuse and manage on their own, some will refuse and fail, some will accept my help and succeed, and perhaps some will take my help and I’ll send them belly-up.

The other person who came in to talk to us today was pretty incredible in the fact that he has clearly done anything and everything, and knows everyone. Even more impressive was how extremely down to earth and quite personable the man was. He totally came off as someone you could meet on the bus and have a quick conversation with and not have any idea that he has done work in probably half the countries in the world and is a foremost expert in his field. His name was Lelei LeLaulu (yeah Matt, I know what you are thinking). Info at the link.

(24 finally finished downloading, but for some reason I’m being told that the password to extract the file is incorrect [ it’s not!] and I can’t seem to watch it. I just can’t win at all.)

It’s just shy of 12:30 but I’m not tired. I’m enjoying some time off relaxing and listening to music, and may even go get my DS for a little bit.

I found out today that my stay here in DC is going to be pushed back a day. Apparently there is a lot of work/talking that the CRDF wants me to do both Monday AND Tuesday of next week. Because of this, I will be leaving now on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. This is all fine with me. Their office is over in Arlington, so it’s possible that I will be moving over there at some point to reduce my commute. This is all still in the works. All I know is that I would prefer to stay here through atleast Sunday night because I am fairly sure I’ll find a better place to watch the superbowl at in downtown DC than in Arlington. If nothing else, I’m not sure if the TV in my hotel will be any better in Arlington since I have a nice 37” Samsung LCD here.

Besides all of the stuff I’ve already mentioned, I am totally loving DC. I enjoyed the city when I was here a few months ago for the National Black MBA conference, but as I meet more and more people who are connected I am finding more and more reasons to like the city. It seems like if you stay here long enough working you will, by default, begin to be integrated into the political machine that is DC. I find the entire process quite fascinating and would like to be involved in it at some point.

I’ve written (according to Microsoft) over 1100 words here, so I’m going to stop now.