Architecture Up Close

For weeks, I have been meaning to put up photos from a great activity that happens every year. A non-profit organization works with hundreds of businesses and organizations to open their doors to the public to show people architecture. And the great part, it is free!

I met up with a bunch of British friends to check out the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From what I could gather from its function, it is like the State Department and the Commerce Department combined. Anyways, it is probably one of the only federal government buildings I will ever see the inside of!

Here is a picture of the outside. It has been at this location since 1793.

Once inside, it is a beautiful building. I laughed because the US federal buildings are so ugly. Just one of the many staircases.

Inside, many additions have been made. Such as this courtyard that has been covered.

This stairwell has a beautiful octagonal glass ceiling.

We also walked through many rooms, with amazing large doors.

Here is one of the many diplomatic rooms.

Here is another grand staircase. This one is three levels high and is made from marble and red and gold chrome.

Here is another view of the staircase.

After we were done touring the building for about 2 1/2 hours, we visited the Banqueting House. The House was built in 1622 and is the place where Charles I was executed. The building is literally one large room. Its highlight are the Rubens on the ceiling.


It was a nice Saturday activity and I look forward to next year's buildings!

Back from America

I am finally back from a bit of a holiday in the States. I needed to go back to the States for the Coro National Alumni Gathering being held in Boston. I decided to take a break before hand and visit Keena, Grigo, and Rica in Jersey. It also was an opportunity to spend Halloween and election day in America.

After arriving, we received a goody box from mom. She made this adorable outfit for Rica to wear for Halloween.

Before going to daycare, Rica had fun playing with her new trick or treat bag (made by mom) and also Dino, her new Loch Ness Monster.

She finally had enough and wanted to head out.

Later that night, she changed into her Bee outfit.

The weekend after Halloween, Keena had arranged for us to head to PA to do some campaigning for Obama. On the Sunday before the election, we drove about 1 1/2 hours to Allentown, PA to help out. Here is a picture of the downtown office (below). When we got there, they said they had too many volunteers and asked us to travel to their new warehouse location.

After hitting the warehouse, Keena and I were given 79 houses to hit in downtown Allentown to provide polling information to. Here I am holding the clipboard trying to track the houses we needed to hit.

Here is Keena handing out information.

After hitting all the houses, Keena and I had a fun lunch at a local diner and then headed back to the warehouse. They asked us to head to another area outside of Allentown that needed volunteers. It turned out that someone had turned their house into a staging area. From there, Keena and I did another 115 houses. It was an exhausting day.

Besides doing Halloween and campaigning in the States, I also did a lot of shopping. Keena and I went to an outlet mall and Keena found Rica these fabulous boots (below). Only problem....she did not want to take them off!

After spending about a week with the family, I took a train to Boston to run the Coro National Alumni Gathering. Keena joined me for the weekend and she was one of our speakers. Here she is getting ready for her presentation.

Overall, it was a great week home and I am trying to get over jet lag.

Get out and....

Vote!!!!!!!!!!

Someone stole Keena's Obama sign outside her house last night. Let's show these people that......

CHANGE IS COMING!!!!

More Visitors

I lucked out once again this month with a visit from Valerie and her husband Alfie. Valerie and I use to work at GAO. Valerie is also the reason why I have friends in London! Before I moved here, she introduced me to her sister Jessica who I talk about on the blog. So Valerie was in town visiting her sister and I got to tag along!

Here is Jessica and Valerie sharing a pint. Val was not use to drinking a pint, so she was drinking half pints all night.


Here is Alfie and Valerie at a lunch place in London.


Of course the group photos are on Val's camera! It was a great visit and I hope to see them soon.

As for other things, I am off to the US for the Coro National Gathering. I will be blogging again when I get back in two weeks!

It is Officially Over!

My report finally came out this week...almost 2 years after I started working on it.

**********************

GAO REPORT AGAIN FINDS "SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCIES" IN CIVIL RIGHTS AT USDA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A report released today by the independent investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), says that the civil rights efforts overseen by Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture are marked by "significant deficiencies" and recommends new accountability structures to correct ongoing failures.

Specifically, GAO found that USDA fails to track and adjudicate civil rights complaints, fails to provide accurate data regarding minority participation in USDA programs, and fails to adequately undertake strategic planning with respect to civil rights. The report was
conducted at the request of U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and U.S. Representatives Joe Baca (D-CA) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY). The lawmakers asked the GAO to focus especially on the performance of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, a position created in the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act and tasked with directing civil rights efforts across USDA.

Earlier this year, the lawmakers protested directly to USDA when reports surfaced that the Department obstructed and temporarily shut down the GAO investigation. According to GAO, USDA officials delayed providing information and, in some cases, instructed USDA employees not to comply with GAO.

"I am disheartened to learn that, despite Congressional direction, USDA continues to fail in its civil rights performance," said Harkin. "And even more disappointed by USDA's rejection of key recommendations offered by GAO. It's time for a new approach on this issue, and I'm
grateful to GAO for providing a set of specific recommendations for the consideration of the committee."

"More of the same from USDA in the area of civil rights is not acceptable," Grassley said. "The new report from GAO validates and even expands what other assessments have found about decades-long problems. The leadership of the Department of Agriculture needs to make the GAO recommendations a priority and do everything in the agency's power to make measurable improvements to the way it handles civil rights issues."

"After we held hearings on this matter in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Congress created the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the USDA and tasked that position with resolving long standing discrimination concerns. In 2006 we asked the GAO to provide us with an objective analysis. The findings of this report are troubling. After six years, improvements still have not been good enough," Lugar said.

USDA has a long history of failing to enforce civil rights laws and to ensure that minority farmers and ranchers are able to access assistance and benefits under USDA programs. In the 2002 farm bill, Congress included several initiatives to strengthen civil rights enforcement and
to assist minority farmers and ranchers. First, to create new accountability for civil rights compliance across USDA programs and offices, Congress created the position of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, tasked by statute with "ensuring compliance with all civil rights and related laws....coordinating administration of civil rights laws within the Department....and ensuring that necessary and appropriate civil rights components are properly integrated into all
strategic initiatives of the Department and agencies of the Department (7 U.S.C. 6918(d))." Second, to track progress over time, Congress also required the Department of Agriculture to report annually on the participation rate of minority farmers and ranchers in Department of
Agriculture Programs.

To determine whether, as a result of this legislation, the Department of Agriculture has improved its civil rights performance, Senators Harkin, Lugar, and Grassley, as well as Representatives Baca and Towns, asked GAO to investigate USDA civil rights actions since the 2002 farm bill, including the actions of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in 1) resolving discrimination complaints, 2) reporting on minority participation in USDA programs and, 3) strategic planning for ensuring USDA's services and benefits are provided fairly and equitably.

A copy of the GAO report is available by clicking here
<http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/GAOReportUSDA.pdf> .

This is too funny!

Thanks Monica.....I have already voted!!!

Check out the video below to see people yelling at me!!!!

http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?nid=QTElUIVDJ3X40gYcQR2XITM3NzEyNDI-&referred_by=9408993-BP76Z_x

Credit Crisis Hits London Hard

Wee Trip to Scotland

This past week, I headed to Scotland for a 2-day business trip. The Council that I work for has a call center in Scotland. Almost all businesses in England that have a call center, have a call center in Scotland. About 10 years ago, someone did a study and they say that the Scottish accent is liked the best (even if you can't understand it!).

We flew out on a few clear day. Here is a shot from the plane and you can see the River Thames weaving through London.

Here is another shot of the west coast of England. The sun is reflecting off the ocean.

Here is a photo of us about to land in Scotland. Lots and lots of farm land. I was told I was really lucky as it is almost always cloudy here.

We landed in Inverness, Scotland. It is on the top half of Scotland, about 30 minutes from Loch Ness.

My boss and I were headed to Dingwall, a small town where the call center is located. Here is a picture of our upgrade...a mini van!

Here is a picture in the car as we fly by hay rolls next to the ocean...wild.

Lots of sheep in the distance.

We stayed the night at a castle if you can believe that! Here is a picture.

Another photo from the side of the castle.

When we arrived, they had messed up our room reservation. Since they had no more rooms, they gave us the loft in the back of the castle. Here is a picture of the stairway we had to walk up to our room.
The place was enormous with 2 bedrooms, full kitchen, and a living room.



My boss laughing about the size of the place.

After settling in, we meet up with some of the people who run the call center for dinner. Here we are sitting around the fire after dinner.

Funny enough, I did not take a picture of the call center! I was too excited to be in Scotland that I forgot I was on a business trip. Oh well, I guess I will just have to visit again.

A New Home!

So I have finally moved into my new place! Last weekend, two friends helped me load up a mini-van cab and I drove to my new home in Clapham, London.

Here is the photo from outside. The double door is my place. The location is in an old mews (horse stable) that was converted to a piano factory. After the factory closed down, the area was made into loft apartments.

Once inside, I have a nice size living room. The TV, weird artwork, and all the furniture came with the place. I love furnished flats in London.

Here is another shot from the double doors. It is one long studio apartment, but it is broken up into 3 different areas for living.

Here is my bedroom.

My hallway.

Behind my closet is the kitchen. It is broken up into two sections. One area for my range/oven...(yes, that is my new lettuce plant on my college size frig)....

And then there is the sink area, which nicely has my washer in it.

Today, I am waiting at home for my first delivery....a microwave and a few odds and ends for the place. Tomorrow, I hope to head to Ikea to pick up some pillows and maybe buy a chair for the living room. I love being an adult again and having my own place!

Totally On the Money!

Click on the image to read it better.

I have to give total credit to my cousin who found this and posted it on facebook. Too funny!

Local Government at It's Finest!

So I made my way to work today early as I had a big deadline to meet. After arriving, I got settled in and was on a role, when our entire building lost power about 9:30 am. Me, being a yank looked around and said 'when does the generator kick on'? I got this long blank stare and then was told it was not America with a big laugh!

Since our floor is structured with all the desks by the windows, we had more then enough light to keep working. We all have laptops, so the laptops were still working since they were running on battery power. So I continued to work on my laptop until about 45 minutes later when my battery went dead. The funny thing about the situation, is no one knew anything. There were no announcements, there was no one who came to our floor. My Deputy Director stopped by and say 'oh, the power is out.' What I did know is that the fire trucks had arrived since there were people trapped in the 6 elevators of my building (which is 18 floors high and houses 3,200 employees).

As more and more people began to have their batteries go out, we finally got an announcement around noon (yes, 2 1/2 hours later) saying there was a power surge and they were trying to restore power floor by floor. They said power would be up and running by 1:30 pm. Since I had a meeting at 2:30, I decided to go out for lunch with a few other employees. Now, to go to lunch, I had to walk down 16 flights of stairs in heels. And get this, half of the emergency lighting in the stairwells were out so it was pitch dark!!!!!! We slowly made it down the stairs and went out to lunch. When we returned to the building, they then told us we were not allowed back in! They said they were trying to control the number of people in the building. Well, since we could not go back in, we walked across the street and had some coffee/tea at a shop. We basically waited until we saw people going back into the building. This happened around 2 pm. Finally, we could get back to work!

But, instead, when we arrived, we were told there was still no power in the building and people needed to return to their desks and lock up their stuff and then work from home. You got to be kidding. So we then had to walk up 16 flights of stairs in the pitch dark again (in heels)!!!!!!!!!!! Can we say lawsuit.

Let's just say that by the time I walked back down the 16 flights again, I was in a lot of pain. We all said our goodbyes and I took the hour trip home to work. The whole time, I kept thinking how inefficient these people were. Everyone of us has a computer and cell phone. Our entire Council is build on the idea of working at home. I find it odd that no one told us to go home about 2 hours into the ordeal. If I was at GAO, I would have heard an announcement, and then been told by a manager to go home after an hour. In the end, none of this would have happened anyways.....since GAO has backup generators!

Funny enough, when I finally got home at 3:30 pm, I could not get on to the network since the servers were down! Bloody local government!

Last Visitor

I have to apologize for my lack of blogging. I have been super busy these days. But first, I want to give a shout out to Jenn who stopped by London while on vacation with her mom. Jenn and I didn't get to spend much time with each other, put we got to hang out for a few hours. Here is our attempt at a good photo in a pub. We took about 15 photos and could not agree on which one looked best. :)


Beside Jenn visiting, I have been doing very boring things...mostly, trying to find a new place to live. Due to the location of my job, I have been commuting about 2 hours a day. I just could not take it anymore. Thus, I gave my landlord 30 days notice and I have been looking at places every night and weekends. This left little time for being a tourist! I am happy to report, however, that I have found a new place to live and the best part....I am living on my own again! I cannot wait to have a clean kitchen. I spent this weekend packing and I will be moving next weekend. I have two friends helping me out so it should not be too bad. Anyway, I hope to become a tourist again once I move!

Had My Day In Parliament

Sandra and I ended her trip with a day in Westminster. We first spent the morning going through Westminster Abbey. The church does not allow you to take photos inside, so this is all you get to see. But it was very surprising to see that the church also is a graveyard in the sense. Tons of royals, kings and queens are buried inside the church. Before entering we got manhandled by one of the guards...literally. He was just a little too friendly with the hugs. :0

After we visited the Abbey, we headed over to the UK Parliament. When we did our tour to Greenwich, our tour guide told us that Parliament had just gone out for summer recess and that we should take a tour. Sandra and I were very excited to go. Here is us walking into Parliament.

As you go through security, they take a photo of you and immediately a badge is made with your photo on it for security purposes. I was surprised how much better they are in security then the US. A badge with my photo is seconds! Surprisingly, I think Sandra and I also broke the law as we took photos of our badges! :)

As in the Abbey, Parliament also does not let you take photos. We were allowed to take photos in the oldest part of Parliament were we were waiting for our tour to begin. Here is Sandra and I waiting.

Here is a photo of the area where we were waiting.

Another shot of the roof.

The tour lasted about 75 minutes and we got to walk the route that the Queen would walk when she comes and opens Parliament. We walked through the House of Lords and the House of Commons. I actually got to run my hands over the red and green leather seats. Very cool to have so much access to the chambers. Nothing like the Capital tour in DC.

Afterwards we took photos of Big Ben. Here is one of my favorite photos.

Also near the exit was a security guard. I snapped this photo because it just looked like it could be from the 1940's. Very cool.

We ended Sandra's visit with tea time!