To the amazing staff of Congressman Matt Salmon

To the amazing staff of Congressman Matt Salmon,

I want to thank you for investing all of your time and energy into making my experience rewarding. Every one of you contributed something special on multiple occasions and I am thankful for that. I want you to know that I felt welcomed the moment I came walked through the front door for the first time and I believe that is because of the characteristics of which you all possess. Although you exposed me to real life politics in Washington D.C., I am still confident that I want to serve on the city and state level.

To Jonathan and Jenell, I will always remember the fun we had. To Lliam, Greg, Kristine, and Lorissa, thank you for providing countless opportunities to learn and grow. To Olivia, thank you for being so very kind and welcoming to everyone who visits the office. To Adam, thanks for your help with trying to find me work. Although we were not successful, I appreciate your time and help. To Congressman Salmon, thank you for setting the perfect example in your office. You are an incredible person with many admirable qualities.

I wish you all the best in your future endeavors and thank you again for our time together.

Sincerely,

Ryan Lee

Conclusion and Summary of goals

As I concluded my internship and read through my journal entries, I believe my goals were all met by the close of my 12-week internship. For starters, I certainly saw for my own eyes the challenges facing Washington, but I also saw the sincerity of hundreds of men and women who are striving to serve the American people in a large government. I believe that the hearts of these people are in the correct place, yet they struggle to move forward with change because of the many rules and regulations that have been placed on our government.  By trimming back the large amount, and often repetitive, departments, our politicians will have more influence in representing the people.

My second goal was accomplished and I left D.C. knowing that I can succeed in the workforce as an office manager. I learned a great deal of office procedures and whether it be managing inventory and purchasing supplies, to arranging travel needs, I feel ready to go to work. Since returning to Phoenix at the conclusion of my time with Representative Salmon’s staff, I was hired as an administrative assistant at Air Methods which is a private company who specializes in air and land medical transportation.

Finally, I learned very quickly that large government is not for me. The life style is hard and I’m not sure I would want to travel back and forth as often as these Representatives do. Plus, I have interned previously for local government officials and can now say that I witnessed a greater impact of the lives of citizens from local officials. Still, I appreciate the hard work that comes out of Washington D.C.
Working for Congressman Matt Salmon brought wonderful experiences that I would never trade for any other professional experience. I want to thank his entire team who quickly became my friends. I will be sure to recommend an internship in Washington D.C. to my closest friends because of the experiences that I gained.

Job Search Strategies Webinar by ASU

As written in my previous blog, I enjoyed the opportunity to attend the career fair in September so this time I decided to attend a webinar. For this event,  I decided the Job Search Strategies webinar would offer the most practice advice for my current needs.  

The webinar began with advising the audience to begin a job search before you actually need a job or while you are still employed. One reason for this is the fact that it is much harder to find a job when you are unemployed and that you are more attractive when you are currently employed, especially if you can receive a positive review from your current employer or supervisor. 

The webinar then moved on to 5 steps for job searching. First, identify the job you want. Second, create your resume. Third, find open positions. Fourth, brush up on interviewing. Fifth, evaluate your strengths and the needs of the company. All that remained in the webinar was based off of the five steps and each step was discussed in detail. For me, the most beneficial aspect of the webinar was the resume portion. This was very important because it provided examples that applied to each job category. The final aspect that I found most beneficial was the portion of the webinar that showed us how to find jobs and where to locate jobs in our prospective fields of work. This was worth every bit of my time and I want to thank those who took the time to put this on. 

The great scare called Obamacare

Like most Americans, I was waiting for the inevitable concerning the increase of my medication insurance premium or the cancellation of the policy if it wasn't in compliance with the standards as outlined in the Affordable Care Act that I prefer to call Obamacare. Good news!!! It was cancelled but it also wasn't in full compliance which means I will see a 28% increase in my premium each month starting next year. With all the sarcasm that I have, I am truly excited to receive maternity insurance as a man! Un-freaking-believable if you ask me. But.... Socialism has always taken over democracy so why not cut to the chase and establish it here in the beautiful United States of America since we are not educated enough to understand how much freedom is taken from us when socialism occurs.

One benefit has come from this, but I am afraid it is to late. Democrats have fallen by 10 points in a CNN poll that asks which parties registered voters would vote for in the 2014 midterm elections. I say this might be to late because I don't know if Republicans will be able to overturn Obamacare and give us back what was affordable health insurance before Obamacare was enacted. Still, there is hope that the American people have learned fro this even if the lesson has to be learned from their wallets.

Congressional baseball game as a staff

As I begin to finish up this blog, I completely forgot to write about the fun time we had as a staff when we went to the Congressional baseball game. Back in June if this year, Congress held their annual blue and red game with the House Democrats in their traditional blue and the House Republicans in red. We finished work an hour early and made our way to the National's stadium to enjoy some much needed rest and relaxation. When we arrived, we were treated to some awesome Mexican food and unlimited drinks on the House (quite literally).

It was unfortunate that the Republicans got their butts kicked by the Democrats, but after all, they have much more time to practice while being the minority party ;). This was a great activity for us as we were able to go out afterwords and be ourselves outside of the office. I really enjoy these guys and I am going to miss them tremendously when it is time to leave. We are close enough to enjoy our time together and it means a lot that we can get out and spend time together.

The strengths of Rep. Salmon's (AZ-05) office

I've been asked what some of the strengths are for Rep. Salmon's office and I thought of one instantly. Sometimes it takes a second to ponder the strengths and weaknesses but not in this case. For the congressman's office, the biggest strength is youthfulness or at least the spirit of it. For more than half of the office staff, this is their first experience working in their roles within a congressional office. This strength also is true for the Congressman is this is his first term since returning to Congress since 2000. 

I must be clear, these guys and gals are not inexperienced nor is this their first rodeo. Instead, this is their first time at their position. For example, the Congressman's Chief of Staff, Adam DeGuire has been in politics for many years, but this is his first job as Chief of Staff. This attribute is very beneficial because of the ambitious attitude that is linked to it. No one is stuck on their old ways, nor do they complain about how their old boss did things. Instead, we come together and address conflicts or struggles, and we come up with a solution on how to overcome or accomplish the task at hand.

This attitude maintains a very positive attitude in the office that makes it exciting to come to work each day and to be a member of such a great team. 

The intern fatigue

One thing is for sure, I am tired. I am fortunate enough to not have to pay any rent while I am in D.C. because I live with my wife's cousin and his family. Unfortunately though, I have to commute 90 minutes to work and from work each day. This totals my time out of the home to 13 hours and only leaves a couple hours to relax at home before I need to go to bed.

What baffles me is the fact that this is the daily routine of thousands of people each day. According to the family that I live with, these commuters plan their entire lives around their work which causes depression and burn out. There is no way that I would live like this long term. If I was to work in D.C. full time, I would consider living north of D.C. which only requires a 30 minute commute.