Finally got an evening to myself after many nights working here. It's been good - Fox knows I can't complain about being "forced" to take clients out for expensive dinners every night. It's just very exhausting between the jetlag and the chronic fatigue carried over from the craziness of that conference in Orlando.
But I'm at the St. Martins Lane hotel a stone's throw from Westminster, in the heart of the theatre district, and I couldn't have forgiven myself if I didn't go out and explore the city when I had the chance.
I'm glad I did - London is gorgeous - thriving, frenetic, international. I followed the crowd through Piccadilly and Leicester Square, across Shaftesbury Ave and up Regent Street. Ate at a hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurant and picked my way back through the crowds. I love it here.
Heading down for a final martini at the posh hotel bar - should be good for some more people-watching, then back up to pack. I fly out to Chicago tomorrow.
Packing again, for a 5am shuttle to the airport. A week in Orlando, then a couple days over in Tampa visiting family. Then to London for another week and another conference, will hit Chicago on the way back to say hi to Hannah. Man, it makes me tired just thinking about it. But it'll be fun. I'll take pictures so I can remember what happened. And I'll sleep on the plane.
I was listening to the Slate Political Gabfest on the way to work today (my favorite podcast for the morning commute - you can subscribe through iTunes).
The Gabfest always covers three political stories and then David, John and Emily each cover one "coctail chatter" item - a short bit of news that listeners can throw into conversation at their next party if they get desperate.
Today featured a great one - apparently Ben & Jerry's has come out in support of Sen. Obama's primary campaign, and they've launched a new flavor of ice cream to commemorate him -- "Yes Pecan."
Cute.
I don't know why but every time I see David Gergen on CNN's election coverage I'm moved to shout out "GERGEN!!" It's like the shape of his head or something.
All due creds to the man, it takes a special set of stones to serve as an advisor to Nixon, Ford, Reagan and then... Clinton. He ended his public service career as an advisor to Warren Christopher, who together with Madeleine Albright presided over what I think was a high point in American diplomacy.
This got me thinking of the heady days of Clinton's first term and how awesome that time felt (maybe it was because I was just into my early 20s then and it seemed like the whole world was opening up into something entirely new and unbound). George Stephanopoulos is still around, covering politics over at ABC. I saw good old Leon Panetta on a talking head show a few days ago. And I was just wondering whatever happened to Dee Dee Myers when Cecilie shouted in from the other room, "Hey, it's Dee Dee Myers!" (Debating Tony Snow on the Larry King show).
Ah, Dee Dee... I used to have such a crush on her when she was Clinton's first press secretary. Something about the way she said "Whitewater."
Good times, good times.
Congratulations to John McCain for winning the Republican nomination. I disagree with a lot of his politics but I respect the man. And fox knows the country and the world would be a thousand times better off today if he'd won the 2000 nomination and we were just coming out of eight years of a McCain administration rather than Bush.
The Democratic primary is still riding the razor, with Obama winning Vermont, Clinton winning Ohio and Rhode Island, and (as of the moment I write this) Texas still too close to call.
I do hope Obama pulls it off, and so far the signs are good. I do stil believe that he has a much better chance of winning the general election.
It's funny, when I caucused in Seattle a while ago I volunteered to be an alternate pledged delegate for Obama. That sounds impressive until you realize that basically 60-percent of the state of Washington would have to come down with the bird flu or the dreaded monkey pox before I'd have a chance to be chosen as a national delagate to the DNC Convention in Denver this summer. But who knows, it's a strange world.
Sara told me last week that her job is sending her to the Kennedy Space Center with a team to video the Endeavour launch on March 11. (Her company makes equipment for the space program & aerospace industry.) She's a big spaceflight buff and is bubbling with excitement about it. I'm really happy for her (and more than a little jealous).
I'll be in Orlando next week for a conference, and I'm bitter with disappointment that I won't be able to drive over to the spaceport to say hi while she's there. If I'm up at 2:30 in the morning that day -- which isn't unlikely -- I'm going to look eastward and watch Endeavour blaze a trail upward.
The shuttles are an obsolescent system, with many design flaws built in from the beginning (as history has demonstrated tragically). They probably should have been retired ten years ago, if we'd been able to get a replacement system in service in time. But I still think they're beautiful machines.
Godspeed Endeavour.