Congress

An email came out to the whole society that began, "If you've ever wanted to walk the halls of Congress, here's your chance" and that's about as far as I read before I decided to volunteer.

The week before the world gained its 7 billionth person, National Geographic put together a special issue just for Congress: a compilation of the articles it has been running all year on the world reaching 7 billion people.

Since we're practically right down the street from the Senate and Congressional office buildings, I was given 15 magazines for 15 occupants of the Longworth Congressional Office Building.  I was excited to see what actually went on at Congress, but first I would have to get past security.

I don't have a staffer badge, and I didn't really have a good reason for being there.  I did, however, wear a suit and have generally found the notion that a smile and a clipboard can get you anywhere to be very true.  I also must generally look non-threatening since people tend to let me through security without a thorough check and strangers have left both purses and children with me before they even knew my name.  This worked to my advantage and I walked right in without any questions asked.

My 15 representatives included Gabrielle Giffords (who I did not meet) and Jim McDermott (who was the only representative I actually saw in the building).

There is a definite feeling in those halls, though.  These aren't just normal offices (although they look very normal).  Everyone's office has a nice nameplate displaying the representative and their state, plus most keep flags outside the door, making everything look very official and important.  Inside, everyone's office is different, but most are decorated in over-the-top admiration for the state who elected them. 

 Halls of Congress - I'm not really sure I was supposed to be taking pictures.

Found a Wisconsinite!  I was later told Paul Ryan "is not one of the good ones".

I can see why everyone wants to keep their jobs.  In addition to the fact that this seems like a nice place to work, there's definitely a general feeling in these buildings that exudes both power and an optimistic viewpoint that people here are really trying to make a difference.  Or maybe that's just me projecting my own vision on what Congress should be doing on the halls themselves.

My mom told Nathan that I'm the kind of person who would step foot inside the halls of Congress and decide to run.  She knows me pretty well.  I would never make it through a campaign, but I think I would do a pretty damn good job in office.

A New Leaf

It's Saturday and I finally know what it feels like to be disappointed that it's the weekend.  OK, that's not entirely true.  I am REALLY excited to spend the entire day with Alison, but two weeks into the new job at National Geographic and I can safely ask myself: why did I wait so long?!  I am now a Project Manager on a team that updates the http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ website.  If you haven't visited lately, bookmark it.  It is forever packed with amazing information.  Don't worry, we're working on getting that flyout to settle down.

I have two reflection topics to share about my first two weeks:

1. My commute rocks.  It takes me 45-60 minutes one way, walking, then riding a bus and train.  That sounds horrible doesn't it?  I know!  So why do I find myself looking forward to it every day?  Probably because I get to catch-up on the news first thing in the morning via the free commuter newspaper, The Express.  I also get to walk around downtown, through Farragut Square, and basically feel like I'm back in Sevilla again enjoying an exotic land.  Maybe the fun of it will wear off, but this sure beats driving.
2. National Geographic rocks.  You know what they do and no one does it better, but did you know their culture permeates through to how they do business every day?  Their buildings are LEED Gold, there's a compost bin on each floor and they recycle just about everything.  There's a photo gallery at the street level of my building (that anyone can walk in and see for free).  If you look up, there are the stars, situated in the exact same configuration that the founders would have seen on the day Nat Geo was founded in 1888.  There is a constant stream of National Geographic-funded explorers giving talks and presentations (that are also usually open to the public, I should add) and they just added a bee hive to the roof.  If all that doesn't make you happy then maybe you're not me!

Life is good.

Practice Run

OK, I'll admit it.  Being nervous that I would have no clue what I was doing during rush hour in the Metro Transit System, I did a practice run of my commute on Thursday.  As I suspected, there was really no need for this because DC has the BEST public transportation system ever and I easily got from home to work in 45 minutes and 1/4 of a book later.

The trip really only served to convince me of how awesome my new commute really is.  The bus is clean and quiet, trains come every five minutes, I walk through a park (which had people in full business dress with no shoes doing yoga before work), and I pass no less than four places willing to sell me a hot breakfast for under $4.  Not only that, but my commute ends at National Geographic headquarters!

This is where I report on Monday.

This is a view of the building next to mine, the National Geographic Museum:

Yay!

And Now For Something Completely Different

Monday I'll go to work, answer some questions, sametime a few friends, have a couple of meetings, then shut down my laptop and end my career at IBM.  On August 8th I will become the newest Project Manager for the Digital Media division of National Geographic.

Photo of the Day: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

I suppose it's tradition to pick apart my career at IBM and explain why I chose to leave, but I don't want to.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without my IBM experiences, both good an bad.  Instead, as I pack up to leave, I can't help but think about a few important things I learned at IBM.

The highlight of my career was my Corporate Service Corps experience in Tanzania.  You can read about my team here (Tanzania 1).  No one knew this at the time, but this was such a dangerous program to send me on.  Here, I got a taste of what it would be like if I were doing something I loved and making a difference in the world.  I got to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro with Nathan, and watch the wildebeests move in unison across the Serengeti plains.  Yes, my love of travel, culture, language, and environmental change all swirled around and met in one place.  I wish I could have found a similar opportunity within IBM when I returned, but such amazing jobs probably don't exist.  I will be forever grateful for this experience because from it I was able to hone my life goals and begin forging a career path that would make me truly happy. 

I don't think Nathan would be a Park Ranger today (his undeniably perfect career path) if it weren't for IBM's flexibility.  They allowed me to work remotely from several parks, to take days off and work weekends, to basically do whatever I wanted as long as I got my work done.  Surprisingly, with that kind of flexibility, most IBMers end up working all the time and it took me years to figure out how to create my own balance.  That is a priceless skill and one that I'll be using for a long time.  Thanks, IBM!

Finally, I had some fantastic customers and some that made me glad they were located in another state.  I've worked on highly successful projects and disastrous ones (let's just say that I know how to keep my cool when a Vice President is yelling at me).  In spite of some real trials, our team was always able to pull off the impossible.  Of everything I gained in the past six years, the most important thing was confidence.  The confidence to trust my gut, the confidence to push past daily issues, and finally the confidence to do something when I realized IBM wasn't the right spot for me anymore.

It's been an awesome six years.  I'll miss IBM a lot, but instead of "Building a Smarter Planet", I'll be "inspiring people to care about the [amazing] planet" they already have.