Wade's Solo DC Architectural Extravaganza!

Last weekend, Kinsey had to fly back to Minnesota to be a bridesmaid in her good friend Jamie's wedding. This left me all alone in DC with no plans for the weekend. Since every time I drone on about architecture I bore Kinsey out of her mind, I decided that while I was on my own, it would be a good time to see some of the architectural sites around DC. I did a little research on what I would be seeing and then dove in.


Smithsonian Kogod Courtyard by Foster + Partners - This is the one place that Kinsey and I had already been to (its in the Portrait Gallery.) For those of you familiar with Lord Norman Foster's work, this definitely carries his signature. Highly technological-looking metal and glass, transmitting curved forms.


Overall, the courtyard works well with the classic architecture. The support columns were maybe the one piece that looked a little out of place.

Looking at the relationship of new and old.

The courtyard really took on new life when the sun came out, casting a sharp diagrid pattern of shadows over everything.

These "water scrims" were designed by landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson. Just a small thickness of water cascading maybe a one or two inch drop in the floor. Little kids just loved playing in these water fixtures.

After I left the Kogod courtyard, I thought I'd wander around a little bit. I decided to walk around the block and found myself smack dab in the middle of Chinatown.

Everything in Chinatown is written in both English and Chinese letters, as you can see from the Subway and Starbucks.

Some more wandering led me to this burnt out church, which from afar looked like a ruin, but when I got closer, I realized it was still a functioning church. I guess they haven't got around to fixing it yet.

I don't know what it is, but I really like the way this building bridges out over the street.

Also an unscheduled stop on my trip was the Dept of Housing and Urban Development designed by Marcel Breuer. I had no idea this was a Breuer building until I looked it up later.

I was really drawn in by these white disc shading devices which stand in interesting contrast to the square windows.
I have no idea what this building is, but it really fascinated me.

I thought it had something to do with the rail lines, but the tracks seem to be abandoned in this area.

I really like the muscular use of steel and prefab concrete. If it is a railroad building, the materials express its function well.

The most interesting aspect of this building were the translucent plastic panels on the steel part. The steel had rusted and then streaked down the panels. The effects make it look almost intentional.
Another government building designed by Breuer, the Dept of Health and Human Services.

The Smithsonian National Museum for the American Indian designed by Jones and Jones Architects - I was always attracted to the curvy, stone clad form of this museum on the National Mall, but Kinsey and I never got around to going in.

The building cantilevering out over the main entrance.

The form and materials really evoke the prairie and are a good choice for an American Indian museum.

The inside was underwhelming. A lot of white walls and an attempt at a post modern dome. Not enough of the character from the outside.

Day two of my self-led architecture tour was what I like to call "Embassy day," because all I saw were embassies. The German embassy, designed by O.M. Ungers, was only a few blocks from our apartment, and when you think about it, it really does look German, doesn't it?

I really like the depth of the facade, especially that wire screen thats catching the sunlight.

Up next is the Swiss embassy designed by my personal favorite Steven Holl. This is actually the Swiss residence and not the embassy itself. I wanted to get closer but...

... this blocked my path. Not wanting to cause an international incident with Switzerland (again), I decided I would just take pictures from afar.

This building has the full Steven Holl checklist. Clear, geometric form; check. Hints of phenomenology; check. Channel glass; check. I do like the mixture of openings punching through and behind the channel glass.

I need more zoom on my camera.

The last stop for my solo weekend was the Embassy of Sweden, designed by Swedish architects Gert Wingardh and Tomas Hansen.

The House of Sweden, as it is called, sits right on the banks of the Potomac River and responds to it with multiple layers of transparency.

I really like these types of connections.

It really feels like you could just stick your arm up to your below in the facade of this building.

A look at apparently the wood-themed transparent panels.

This is the C & O Canal, which is right next to where I worked in DC. As I was walking back to the apartment, I thought I'd snap a picture of where I got to eat lunch everyday. Just a really peaceful place.

More Arting and More Zooing

One more art gallery and one final trip to the zoo. Our time in DC is winding down. Last weekend, we stopped by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum, the last art museum that we will probably go to. Unfortunately, this was one of those weekends where my camera battery faked me out and decided to bail on me. So the pictures are kind of sparse.

The Portrait Gallery is exactly what you think it is: lots of portraits of famous people. One of the cool things about the gallery was that each portrait had a lot of information about the subject. So we learned a lot. This is a self-portrait of Kurt Vonnegut.

A large portrait of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain.

This portrait of Mary Cassatt is done by Edgar Degas, which means we've gotten a lifetime's worth of Degas on this trip.

The one picture from the American Art Museum, Thomas Hart Benton's Achelous and Hercules. I'm not really familiar with Benton other than Jackson Pollock studied under him for a time. His works are very interesting and stylized and very large. This one must have been about 20 feet long.

A shot inside the Portrait Gallery. Pretty cool building.

We made a second trip to the zoo to get some souvenirs and to see the animals that we didn't get to see the first time.


Man, hippos really are fat. You should've seen his jowls quiver while he ate.


We got to the elephant house just in time to see the male elephant get a bath and scrubdown.

We were also lucky enough to see a training demonstration with the elephants. This video shows the elephant practicing their balance.

A video of the elephants getting a dental exam. I know they are trained elephants and all but I still would be a little leery on sticking my head and hand into an elephant's mouth.

And the elephants get a treat at the end of their workout.

The elephant on the left is 60 years old. I had no idea that elephants get that old. The elephant on the right is actually the mother of the male calf we saw getting a bath. He's still considered a calf even though he weighs almost 5000 pounds (we saw him weighed right after his bath). Of course he's still much smaller than mom; she is 9000 pounds.

The Grand Poobah of all Libraries

McKinsey loves libraries. She really loves them. Her fallback job is librarian. So it is only natural that while in DC, we would go visit the Library of Congress, the world's largest library, containing over 32 million catalogued books.



This isn't the Library of Congress (I'm going to call it the LOC from now on), its the Supreme Court, which is right next door to the LOC. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Here's the LOC! As you can see, it is a very grand building. Definitely trying to make a statement.

A fountain depicting the Roman god Neptune and his son Triton stand guard at the front of the building.

"Library of Congress" in gold-leaf lettering greets you as you enter the Great Hall.

Just an example of the ornate quality of the LOC. As I said earlier, the early Americans wanted to use this building to make a statement asserting the United States intelligence and sophistication.

More ornateness.
When I said that Kinsey loved libraries, I meant that she loved books, not the library building's architectural details. So we were both pretty bummed when we learned that we had to register to get into the main reading room, the one you see in movies like National Treasure. We plan on getting in there sometime before we leave DC. Here's a picture looking through the door into the reading room. Apparently they had some window damage from a storm, which accounts for the scaffolding and tarp.

Kinsey and I always multitask on our tourist excursions, so we dropped in on the Botanical Gardens while we were in the area.

As you can see, there is a lot of foliage in there. Although Kinsey and I both agreed that the botanical gardens at Como Zoo in St. Paul were better. Score one for Minnesota.

Some cute little orchids growing on a tree. I must say, everything was well labeled. It was pretty steamy in the gardens so Kinsey and I didn't stick around for very long.

Gothic Splendor

Our DC excursion is winding down, so Kinsey and I are scrounging to get the rest of our touristing in. Another thing we can check of the list is the Washington National Cathedral.

The cathedral is very imposing from the outside.

Another even more imposing shot.

There is a really interesting relief carved above the front door. We thought it was supposed to represent the great biblical flood.

We were lucky enough to get to the cathedral just in time to catch one of the guided tours. We had a good guide, with a lot of good info, who just happened to be from Omaha.

This cathedral has an interesting history. Construction started in 1907 but wasn't finished until 1990, which makes it a pretty modern building. You walk around inside and you catch glimpses of John Deere tractors in the stained glass windows.

Lot of people entombed in this cathedral. Like former president, Woodrow Wilson.

Quite the soaring interiors. Notice the peaked arches, signifying the Gothic style.

The detail in the cathedral was amazing. This whole thing was carved out of one piece of stone.

Kinsey checking out some more tombs.

This is down in the basement of the cathedral.

After we got done with the tour, we went up to the observation deck.

The view from the observation deck looking out on a hazy DC.

A look at the flying buttresses, which help the cathedral remain standing.

Our tour guide told us about the view of the cathedral from the Bishop's garden. We stepped out for a look before we left and it was really quite beautiful. Very green and leafy.

The U.S. Capitol for VIPs

As you could probably tell from an earlier post on this blog, Kinsey and I have a lot of respect from Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator from Nebraska. So much so that we decided to contact him and see if we could meet. Well, it turns out that one of Kinsey's former sorority sisters, Adrienne, is Sen. Hagel's scheduler. She hooked us up with a photo op with the Senator and a VIP tour of the Capitol.

When we first got to the Russell Senate Office Building, Adrienne gave us a quick tour of Sen. Hagel's office. It was quite interesting. The walls were covered with pictures of the Senator and his colleagues and from his many travels around the world. We learned several tidbits about the Senator. For instance, his favorite holiday is Halloween, which was made clear by the numerous pictures of Sen. Hagel dressed up as his fellow Congressmen. The funniest was Sen. Hagel in a Joe Biden mask and "Joe Biden for President" T-shirt interrupting Sen. Biden during a foreign relations committee meeting for a picture. Classic Capitol Hill humor.

We only got to meet with Sen. Hagel for a couple minutes. He was really friendly and very chatty. He kept breaking into random stories, like how he used to sell encyclopedias to stewardesses in Bloomington, MN. Our photos with him were taken by the Senate photographer and we'll be getting those in the mail later.


The entrance to Sen. Hagel's office, which was made up of eight different rooms.

And it was right across the hall from Sen. John McCain's office, the presumptive Republican nominee for President.

In the bowels of the Senate office building, waiting to get through security to take the subway to the Capitol. Those two guys are probably off to do something political and important.

This is the old subway car that was used to transport Senators from their offices to the Capitol.

And this is the new one. It wasn't a very long trip, about 30 seconds. Probably would've been a pretty easy walk. But I guess some of those Senators are pretty old. I'm sure Strom Thurmond sure appreciated this shuttle when he was still alive.

There are hundreds of statues in the Capitol. You couldn't turn around without tripping over another one. Each state is represented by several statues of important political figures from that state. Here is a statue for Nebraska of William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson and three-time presidential nominee.

This is a statue of a former Senator from Minnesota. I didn't recognize the name.

Kinsey and I next to Abe.

The rotunda of the Capitol is amazing. Kinsey gasped when she looked up and saw the dome. It was so large, I couldn't fit it properly into one picture. Our tour guide told us the entire Statue of Liberty off its base could fit inside.

As you can see, the Capitol was packed with tourists.

Waiting to go into the House chamber. For some reason, you couldn't take anything into this space, no camera, no cell phone, no bag, nothing. So if you want to see a picture of what it looks like, you'll have to turn on C-SPAN.

After Kinsey and I left the Capitol, we decided to catch the Metro at Union Station, the train hub of Washington, DC.

It seems to be mainly a shopping mall now, but the Great Hall is still very majestic.

Meeting Senator Hagel was easily one of the highlights of our trip. And the capital was very impressive. Overall, an afternoon well spent.

The Fellowship

Since the fellowship ends in just two weeks, I figure I better get around to posting about what I've actually been doing out here. The experience has been fantastic. Challenging and interesting, I have been learning so much.

My office is in a Georgetown building, and I see patients in a separate office at the hospital. I'm going to miss my office. Its larger than the one I shared with my classmates during grad school, and it has a large window overlooking a forest area and a playground for the British elementary school next door. Its silly, but I love that it has a name plate outside the door; it reads "McKinsey Goodenberger, GC Fellow".

Right from the start the other genetic counselors were very welcoming. They are great at giving me autonomy but at the same time helping to continue my education. The very first week I started scheduling my own patients for two weeks out. In the meantime I observed the other counselors and they observed me. When my first autonomous patient arrived, I was surprised by how nervous I was!! I suppose most new GCs feel this way, but I couldn't believe I had volunteered for so much responsibility. Luckily my first patient was a very sweet elderly woman who was wonderful, so everything went fine. Since then things have been going well, I'm seeing about three to five patients a week. I am astounded by how much time just 3-5 patients take up. During grad school when I heard about my supervisors staying late or coming in on a weekend to catch up on work I swore that that wouldn't be me. But within in a week of seeing my own patients I was doing the same thing. I have to laugh at my nativety. Despite the work, I have very much enjoyed it.

At Georgetown, the genetic counselor are very involved in clinical research as well as seeing patients. Learning the protocols and how to fill out the various paperwork for the different studies was one of the hardest things at first. The studies are looking at different ways and times to provide counseling, as well as exploring different ways of providing information. They take up alot of the counselors' time, but its wonderful the way they can advance knowledge without really hindering the patient's care. I'm also participating in writing the papers, so finally I'll have a real publication to my name!

Since it is a fellowship, I have other responsibilities than seeing patients. I work on different learning activities, primarily a casebook the counselors prepared before I came. I work through these cases (which are very tough) and then discuss them with one of the counselors. Its challenging, but has really expanded my knowledge of counseling techniques as well as using primary literature in the counseling session. I also spend some time observing different areas of cancer care and screening. I've spent two days in clinic with a medical oncologist where I observed women newly diagnosed with breast cancer figuring out their chemo and radiation regiment. I did get to observe a mastectomy with reconstruction, which was incredible. I actually had to "scrub-up" for the procedure. I stood right at the head of the bed throughout the surgery, so I had a great view, being I was only like two feet from the action. It was long (I stood there from 11am to 4pm), but amazing. I couldn't believe how many misconceptions I had about surgery. Fascinating. If you want further details you have to ask in person, because if I start describing it Wade won't be able to spell check for me.

So, things are going well. These last couple weeks I'm primarily meeting with patients to give results and seeing a few new patients that I can do follow up via telephone even after I get back to MN. It really has been incredible, and Wade and I are both having a wonderful time.