Supremely DC

Well, just when the grind gets to seem monotonous, a little bit of DC creeps in unexpectedly. I had the opportunity today to go on a "backstage" tour of the Supreme Court. My boss is friends with one of the Clerks there and he gave us a real look at The Court.

We first went into the library where only the justices are allowed. The Supreme Court building was erected in the 1930s and the library is the only room that has the original ceilings of 24 karat gold. Otherwise, other places in the building have undergone one or two renovations. After the library, we made our way up a staircase to the private gym and basketball court, which sit above The Court chambers. The Clerk who showed us the basketball court says that the inside joke is that the basketball court is actually THE higher court since it sits above the Supreme Court chambers.

Once we left the gym, we made our way to the chambers themselves, where we went beyond where general public tours are conducted... past the bar... and right up to the Judges' platform (where they incidentally have spittoons near their seats)! We stood at the mic where the lawyers plead their cases and it was quite amazing. The Clerk shared a few stories of traditions that they share. For example, before the judges walk into the court, they all put on their robes in an adjacent hall that is hidden behind the curtains (that otherwise appear behind them from the general publics' courtroom view). Once a judge puts on his/her robe, he then walks to each of the other judges and shakes their hands. Once this "ceremony" is complete, they walk into the courtroom. Another example was a tradition of the lawyers who go before the judges and defend a case. Within the great hall (right outside the court), there is a marble and brass statue of a seated John Marshall. It is tradition of the lawyer who is about to defend his case to rub the left shoe of John Marshall. The shoe itself is worn down and the gold colored brass now shows through the otherwise black coating. Pretty interesting!

It is days like today that I pinch myself. I mean... I stood in the Chambers of the highest court in the world! Overall, it's been a great Friday so far!

In other news, we just found a fifth roommate. Our new roomy, Tom, moves in this weekend. We found him through Will. So, we'll have five people in the house for another month before Drew returns from France and lives in our sixth bedroom until the end of August. It will be quite an adjustment to live with five people, let alone six. We'll see how living with four guys is!

I'm on the fourth day of a ten day fast. I'm following in Mallory's and Milton's (other roomy's) footsteps and doing the Master Cleanse fast. The first day was the worst so far and really the only issue on that day was that I seemed hungrier than I have the past three. I made sure to detox from caffeine before starting, so I haven't (yet) experienced any headaches that may be caused from detoxing from caffeine. I remember doing a similar ten day "juice fast" with Mallory over two years ago and having really bad headaches on days two and three due to caffeine withdrawl. So, this time I made sure to go through that earlier! We'll see if I make it to ten...

Celebrations!

Here are some pictures from the past weekend, where we celebrated Dave's commissioning into the Air Force and his graduation from dental school. It's great to have a dentist and Captain in the family. It's even better when it's the same person!