L. Paul Bremer

I’ve been going to some book discussions lately. I rather like being in DC for them. I skip the poetry ones but I’ve been to three: one with Jarred Diamond (wrote “Collapse” and “Guns, Germs, and Steel”), one with the ambassador to Italy during the early ‘80s (wrote “Mission Italy”), and now L. Paul Bremer for “My Year in Iraq”. (I should note that I haven’t had the chance to read any of these books yet.) It was good to hear him speak. It restored my hope. It was really good to hear from somebody that was there and in the thick of what was going on. He was there and knows the score. He told us about how the Parliament is working for democracy and how there is hope. He told us how things are better there and how they will continue to improve. It won’t be over night like the press and many in our congress demand. It’s not a short-term mission; it will likely take decades to be over. I hope that we “stay the course” or rather than having improved anything we will only see it get worse. I really enjoyed hearing him talk.

I was upset that I got there about 15 min. late. Even though I left about 1.5 hours before it started. Coming back took about 45 mins. One thing that I won’t miss about DC, when I leave, is the traffic. I’ll miss the cool book discussions though. Its cool being in a town where there’s always something going on. I don’t know where I’ll be going next, yet. I have an interview at a lab at Ohio State U. It is in Columbus where my older brother and his wife live. It’s hard to know if I’m interested in the position or not. The description given is pretty generic and not really helpful. The interview won’t be till the 6th or 7th of March. So it will be a little bit till in know more about that. If I don’t go there, I’ll likely go back to Pittsburgh. I’m still applying for the Peace Corp. either way. I got that application submitted just after Christmas. I have an interview on Tuesday. I’m interested but I’m not sure what they will send me to do. I guess I’ll have to ask all my questions on Tuesday.