Mele Malikimaka (A Day Late)

You'll be happy to know that I survived my first Christmas away from home and boy, it was a Christmas like no other.

On Christmas Eve, we all went to a luau which was quite fun. My correspondent and his kids made it up on stage and there was some cool dancing (by his daughter and the hula dancers, not him!) I'm still not quite on Hawaii time so staying up to 10p local has been somewhat of a struggle for me. But the guys dancing with fire really woke me up. The final set of songs were Christmas songs with the Hawaiian lady in a Christmas moo-moo and the Polynesian dancers in Christmas shorts and grass skirts. Somehow, it didn't really put me in the Christmas mood too much.

On Christmas Day, I spent the first hour or so on the phone with my family really missing them. REALLY missing them. I almost decided to stay in my room and watch Christmas movies on cable all day just so I would feel like Christmas. Then I decided I would regret that later. So I went with my colleagues to the Halona Blow Hole which was absolutely beautiful. It was near the same place that PEOTUS had gone to spread his grandmother's ashes a couple of days ago. After that, we went in search of a beach on the North Shore, just to switch things up a bit since Christmas Day was the only day that we didn't have liveshots and could leave our little section of the beach. I know- you're still not feeling sorry for me but it didn't feel like Christmas one iota. While driving around and trying to find a good beach, I listened to Christmas carols on a local radio station. I must have heard Mele Malikimaka about fifteen times and The Hawaiian Twelve Days of Christmas about three times. Nothing mentioned Jesus and it was really beginning to wear on me. I had never had to search that much for Jesus on Christmas day and I really didn't like it too much. At one point about three hours into our driving journey, I heard the First Noel and I nearly cried. Then it hit me. While I wasn't thinking I'd celebrated Jesus's birth aptly, I realized that I was completely surrounded by God's beautiful creation. That thought changed my perception only a little bit!

Later in the evening after talking to my family a couple of more times, I still hadn't really felt like it had been Christmas and I still missed my family. But last night, that changed. I was invited over to my friend Julie's house for Christmas dinner. Julie used to go to my church in Alexandria and got married and moved here several years ago. Her husband James is a pastor of a local church in Milliani and she seems to be completely thriving here. Anyway, they invited me to join some of their family and friends from church for Christmas dinner! It was awesome! They had a real Christmas tree and their house was decorated so festively! For dinner, we had pot roast, sweet potatoes, and green beans. As you probably have noticed, my life seems to revolve around food and that food immediately made me think of home. Julie's brother-in-law was even wearing a Virginia Tech T-shirt. I nearly had tears in my eyes! I enjoyed my evening meeting their family and friends (and the first time being away from my coworkers in a week. I love my co-workers but it's never a bad thing to get some time away from each other.) I heard stories from people who were here during Pearl Harbor and others who had moved here from the Philippines. The best part of the evening was after dinner when we all gathered in the living room and the 20 of us or so sat around and told the Christmas story through songs. Julie had organized the order of singing carols to tell the story of Jesus's birth. It was the first time all day that I had really celebrated the fact that Jesus was born! All day I had been trying to really feel like Christmas and I ended the day on a perfect note! I was having church right there in James and Julie's living room!

Now it's back to doing liveshots on the beach all day. I know, you still don't feel sorry for me. But I only have about a week left of beach duty!

Christmas Eve in Hawaii

I know you're still not feeling too sorry for me but I admit, I am a bit homesick. I've never been away from home for Christmas before (a remarkable feat I must admit!) so this year is a first. In some ways, it's great that I'm in Hawaii because it's soooo different here that I almost forget that I'm missing everything.

I saw this onion-snow man at a restaurant the other day. There's a Christmas tree made out of Hawaiian plants in the lobby of my hotel. And we've seen a few Santa hats on beachgoers today but other than that, I have no concept that tomorrow is Christmas. I missed the hustle and bustle of last minute Christmas shopping which I can't say that I missed. But I am missing being with my family right now. I know that they are getting ready for dinner and probably going to at least two church services and then of course tracking where Santa is and hanging the stockings and all that. I'll miss our family time together tonight where we play the piano, oboe, violin, etc. and sing Christmas carols and then recite the Night Before Christmas and read the Christmas story. I have always loved our Christmas traditions and it's very hard to be away from it all tonight. Beyond that, what are they going to do without an oboe in the family singalong? I'm planning on calling in for it but I didn't bring my oboe so it just won't be the same.

Are you feeling sorry for me yet? The way I will cope with all of this is to go to a luau with my colleagues tonight. Nothing says Christmas and celebrating Christ's birth by roasting a pig and hula dancing! Actually, I'm just looking at it as a fun experience that will get my mind off of wanting to be home. I do feel a bit silly for complaining but heck, it's my blog and I can cry if I want to, right?? :) Seriously, I feel completely blessed for being able to be here and enjoying God's beautiful creation and not have to pay a penny!! I'll be over this slight bout of homesickness just as soon as the hula dancing starts!

Suffering in the Sun

So I don't have a lot of time to blog. I know you won't believe me but we've been incredibly busy today. Granted, we are logged into our laptops while sitting on the beach but it's been a TON of work today. I hear it's really cold back in the continental states but it's nicer than nice here. I seriously have to constantly remind myself that it's almost Christmas (and today is Laura's birthday!). I really do miss my family but I'll be a big girl and survive. There's so much to share but seriously, I have to get back to work. Believe me. It's true. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures from today.

This is the sunrise this morning. We actually started doing liveshots in the dark so the sunrise was a perk of being up so early.

This is proof that my correspondent and I worked. A lot. It just so happened to be on the beach.

The media scene on the beach. We are right next to Fox and NBC and occaisionally CBS and ABC show up to do some work. We clearly work more than anyone else. :)

Spam Musubi. I don't know what it is but Obama ate it yesterday and I spent some of my free time (which didn't exist) trying to track it down for reporting purposes. Tomorrow I have to eat it.

The other side of our liveshot. I have to say this is the prettiest place I've ever been to for work and even if I don't leave the beach and explore the island, I'll still be okay.

Aloha! Aloha!!

I know in the past that most of you haven't felt too sorry for me for my job and the things I must endure. Like working weird hours. And flying commercial. If you didn't feel sorry for me for that, then you definitely won't feel sorry for me and my assignment for the next two weeks. I'm suffering by having to work in Hawaii for two weeks while Obama is here!

I really have no idea how I got assigned to this trip but I am counting my lucky stars. I was planning on working in DC and then going home the weekend after Christmas to spend time with my family. But when they sent me an e-mail about a week ago and said book your trip to Hawaii, I didn't fight back too much. So I am spending Christmas and New Years on the beach in Honolulu. I know. It's rough. But someone has to do it and it might as well be me.

We had to fly commercially (in coach) to Hawaii the other day and boy is it a long trip!! We changed planes in Phoenix and it was a 14 hour trip in total! But knowing that I would spend the next 14 days on the beach somehow made it doable. (I will have to say I was not a happy camper when they ran out of food to sell about 20 rows in front of me! I didn't want to pay $7 for nasty food anyway but I was starving!) And now we're here, staying a really nice hotel right on the beach in the middle of all the nightlife. Did I mention how rough it is??

The fact is that we are here to work. So I haven't had time yet to do the full tourist thing and today was actually quite busy and I really did do a ton of work. I just happened to be sitting by the pool or on the veranda or on the beach. I'm hoping to spend a few hours of free time this afternoon actually on the beach and not working but we'll see. I have to keep reminding myself that I am working and not on vacation. I'm also reminding myself that it's Christmas because there is no other indication here except that I did see a nasty old very tan man in a speedo wearing a Santa hat.

I'll of course blog more as the days go on but I have to run now... the term "pool chair" is back to its original meaning in my life... it actually involves water! :)

A Presidential Kiss

Last night was my fifth annual trip to the White House Christmas Party and I had such a great time! I took my friend Katie with me and we had a blast. I tried explaining to her that it was basically my office Christmas party that just so happened to take place at the White House and part of the festivities is getting your picture with the President. Last year as you'll recall, I took my parents which was awesome because people feel obligated to say all kinds of nice things about you, true or untrue. I have to admit there was not nearly as much of that going on this year but it was still fun! And Katie was quite the trooper having to endure meeting all my co-workers! :)

The decorations were of course beautiful as ever. The theme this year was red, white, and blue. Katie wore a red dress and I wore a blue dress. I was hoping FLOTUS would be in white to round out the trio but she was in green instead. I guess green works for Christmas! Haha! The trees were incredibly beautiful and the food was wonderful, especially the cheese grits and the beef tenderloin. Oh and the bread pudding!! I love that stuff as you'll recall.

I don't want to sound jaded at all and I realize that what I say is going to be jaded just as soon as my fingers stop typing it but every year the party is pretty much the same. So I have to look for "the moment" that stands out. This year's moment came at the photo-op with POTUS and FLOTUS. I think I may have explained the way things work last year but here it is again. When you walk in to the WH, they give you a card for when to get your picture taken. But if you are some of the first people there, you don't have to wait in line. I believe it's always a good idea to get the picture out of the way. That way there is less pressure when you're eating not to spill anything on you. So we headed straight to the bathroom first to fix our hair (after standing in the rain for 20 minutes waiting to get in!) and then straight to the line for the pictures. You line up in the Map Room (which has, you guessed it, a lot of maps and it's where they planned WW2 back in the day!) and they take your purses and make sure you're not too drunk to meet POTUS. We passed that test with flying colors. Then you get paired with a military escort who introduces/announces you to POTUS/FLOTUS. I was in line behind a couple of friends of mine and told them to tell POTUS it was my birthday after they got their picture taken. I didn't think they'd do it but they did so when it was our turn to have the picture taken, POTUS said Happy Birthday and GAVE ME A HUGE KISS ON THE CHEEK! He said, "There's a birthday kiss from the President." I said, "Thank you, I've never gotten one of those before." FLOTUS then told me Happy Birthday and then the picture was taken. I have to admit, I felt a little special at that moment. They stand there for night after night of Christmas parties and it's amazing how they make each person's 45 seconds completely special. I don't know if my birthday kiss was captured by the WH photographer but I'm just hoping that our picture of the four of us turned out okay. I'll definitely post it when I get it (which this year will likely be after the 1st of the year!)

The rest of the evening was spent seeing my co-workers and colleagues from other networks. And I have to say, I enjoy these parties more and more each year. Not for the WH or POTUS but just because I enjoy being with my friends from work outside of work. Or kind of outside of work since technically we were in the building where we work! Next year's Christmas party promises to be different in at least the hosts. I'm already worried because the Obamas are sooo much taller than the Bushes and I'm worried about the picture already!

Today, the day after the official WH party is the unofficial WH Basement party where it's potluck and thrown by those of us who are WH basement dwellers! I think we should be allowed to have leftovers from the previous night's party but today's food will be just as good!! I was in charge of bringing desserts and since it is my birthday, I picked out something I knew I would like!! I'm trying to take too much of the attention away from the whole 'Holiday' theme but it's supposed to be all about me today, right?? Or am I a little too old for that sentiment? :)

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

You thought I had forgotten about my blog again, didn't you? I just haven't had much going on blog-worthy! Actually, I've been busier than ever trying to get ready for Christmas and all that hustle and bustle that comes with the season. Plus I was taking a class last week which required some homework so I was pretty much over the edge and couldn't blog.

But yesterday I did something somewhat exciting. I took another trip on Air Force One. I know I keep saying that I've taken my last trip of the Bush administration but then they decide to go somewhere and it just so happens to by my network's travel pool day and since I know of the trips before anyone else, I volunteer to go if needed. So yesterday I was aboard the "Big Bird" as POTUS calls it, for a quick trip to West Point.


My day did not start out in the best way. As I was in the parking lot of the terminal at Andrews AFB, I was taking my drugs for my ears with some chocolate milk. I don't know what happened but when I opened the milk, it exploded all over me. I basically looked like I had peed in my pants. And it was too late to go home so I just had to do my travel pool duty with wet pants and a wet coat. I was just hoping not too many people noticed. Luckily half way through the day my clothes and coat had dried and I just smelled ever so slightly like chocolate milk. My new nickname became Coco!

Anyway, we flew up to West Point for a POTUS speech on defending against terrorism. I had been to West Point with my family a long long time ago but I had forgotten how beautiful it was. Especially in the winter with the frozen lakes. This time I took a helicopter from the airport to the campus and boy, was that the way to go. It was soooo beautiful flying over the Hudson River. The speech itself was fairly routine but being around those 6000 cadets was inspiring! I feel safe with them serving in the military! I also realized that I was never cut out to be a soldier. Actually I realized that a long time ago but I was just definitely reminded!

Most of my day was spent hanging out in the pool holding space (with food, thank you very much to the WH folks!) and then a little bit of hang-out time on the van (nothing compared to the 18 hours with Obama!) I've gotten to know the WH staffers quite well and have a fun time hanging with them. I really will miss them when they have moved on to bigger and better things. This transition will actually be personally felt!!

You'll be happy to know that I was on my best behavior yesterday and still added an agent to the Becky Protective Detail! I also didn't screw anything up too badly so I think all in all it was a good day!

Happy December!

I'm sorry I've been away from my blog for so long once again. Since I've last blogged, I did eventually get off that bus while waiting for Obama. And then I headed straight home for a few hours before heading for some time off!! So that's why you haven't heard from me. I was in South Carolina all last week soaking up the sun (okay that is a complete stretch and pretty much a lie) and just enjoying quality time with my wonderful family (that is the absolute truth!) I was so thankful to have time off for Thanksgiving and it was great to see everyone!

I know Thanksgiving is technically over and most of us have moved on to the start of celebrating Christmas (I do admit I have already put up my Christmas tree and written my Christmas letter!) but I want to take a few moments to give you my top ten Thankful list! Allow me to be slightly more on the serious side for this post (and thanks to Darla for the idea....):

1. Family: This is an obvious first but I am so grateful for my family! We're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I couldn't ask for a better group of kin! My parents are absolutely wonderful people who have sacrificed so much for us through the years. My siblings are fun and great people and I count it a total blessing to consider my sisters as friends. I have two great brothers-in-law and two great nieces and a nephew to round out this special group of people.
2. Friends: This goes without saying too but I am grateful for all my friends and that includes many of you reading this! God has blessed me with exceptional friends at every point in my life and I try to stay in touch with as many as possible. On a lighter note, I am grateful for Facebook who makes it just a little bit easier to do so! :) In addition to my family, my friends have always been there for me whenever I've needed them and they love me no matter what. My hope is that I just don't annoy my friends too much and that I can be as good a friend to you/them that you/they have been to me.
3. Church: I am absolutely grateful for the group of people who make up my church- FBC of Alexandria. They are my family away from home in every sense! Not only do I learn a ton from them but I can always count on them any time I need them. I have had to miss church many times this year due to travel for work and fun and I always look forward to getting back to be serve along side of them.
4. Job: This one goes without saying because I doubt very many of you would be reading my blog if I didn't have the job I have. I know I am where I'm supposed to be for this point in my life and I'm only here because it's where God wants me. He's provided every opportunity to get me to this place in life and I'm extraordinarily grateful. I'm thankful for all the cool events I get to see and the exciting places I get to go- even sitting on the bus for 18 hours outside PEOTUS's house last week. Well I had to convince myself I was grateful for that but it's true! As I've said before, I realize that I am in a very unique place and most people won't get to experience a sliver of what I've already seen/done and I thank God for the job that allows me every exciting experience (and the rather boring ones too!)
5. Provisions: Those of you who know me well know that I'm not the best cook. Ok, I don't cook. It's not because I can't, I just choose not to. But God is always good about providing my basic needs like food and shelter and transportation, good health, etc. Over the years, I've never made gobs and gobs of money but I've always had enough (an overabundance in comparison to most places in the world) and for that I'm absolutely grateful.
6. New niece: This may or may not be the appropriate place to share but I am grateful that I will become an aunt once again in April. My older sister is pregnant and I know my new niece is an answer to prayer. I'm also grateful that once-scary test results have now come back negative and it appears that she is one healthy baby girl who I will get to meet in April.
7. Education: I am grateful that my parents sacrificed to send me to college and that I received a great education at Virginia Tech. But I'm even more grateful for the day to day opportunities that I've had to learn more and to see things first hand. I'm also grateful that my formal school-type education is in the past and I don't have to worry any more about writing papers and taking exams! :)
8. Vacation/Travels: As much as I love my job, I love days off even more. I look forward to those chances of just chilling out at home or taking a trip to see friends/family or going on a mission trip or whatever. I am grateful for the opportunities to see the country and the world and to be able to just recharge while enjoying time with others and/or seeing new things.
9. Stability: As soon as I write this, I'll probably jinx myself and everything could change at the drop of a hat but I feel like I'm financially and even more in-general stable. I've lived in the same house for 7 years and had the same job for four and life just doesn't really ever stress me out that much! I'm grateful that I don't have to constantly worry about things in general. God has been watching out for me and even as I watch the market tank almost 700 points, I'm confident that God will continue to watch out for me in the long run too!!
10. Christ: I saved this for last but He's certainly not on the bottom of my list! It's actually the top answer! Without Him, I would be nothing, have nothing. He's the reason I have so much to be grateful for and He's the Great Provider. I am so very thankful for my salvation and faith and that He cares enough about me to have a special plan for my life. I don't want to get to churchy on you but He really is what makes me tick and provides so much joy for my life!

Ok, so there you have it. I can now fully move into the Christmas mode without regretting to stop and consider all I have to be thankful for. I'm also very thankful for the few of you who kept reading all the way to the bottom of this long blog post!! I'm in a training class all week- with HOMEWORK!- so the chances of me having something exciting to blog about are pretty slim. Maybe I'll come up with something!!

Sitting on a Bus

I know you haven't heard from me in a few days and that's because I've been busy, busy, busy and with nothing all that exciting. Let me give you a general rundown of my days. Wake up when the alarm clock starts with a 3. Then walk to work. Then produce liveshots every hour on the hour for the next umpteen hours. Many hours we had multiple liveshots. Then find something to eat for dinner. Then crash. Pretty exciting, huh? My correspondent has been on TV a ton in the past few days. Meanwhile, the most exciting thing that PEOTUS has done is go grab lunch yesterday at a local restaurant. I wasn't there for that. I had to grab lunch for myself as quickly as possible because I had another liveshot within minutes.

Today, I'm back in travel pool for PEOTUS and let's just say that I am getting really good at sitting on a bus. We had a gather time this morning at 6a which was rather brutal considering I didn't go to bed until about 1a. The worst part is that we were just waiting for PEOTUS to go to the gym and he ended up not leaving his house until 9a. That meant we sat on a bus for three hours just to ride 7 minutes to the gym and then wait on the bus again. This morning, our USSS sweep was quite thorough in that our agent took his sweet time hand wanding us. I had to mention to him that it was freakin' cold outside and it really doesn't take five minutes to run a hand magnetometer over each individual. During my search, he even wanded my hair which I assured him that it's rather small in comparison to what it could be and there was nothing in my hair and I am not smart enough to even think of figuring out something dangerous to put in my hair. The other curious part was when my butt set off the magnetometer. He insisted on me taking off my coat (which did I mention it was 20 degrees with a strong windchill?) and running my hand down my back which I couldn't figure out what that was helping. I've never had my butt set the thing off before and I have been wanded a bazillion times. I'm thinking I have buns of steel and didn't know it. :)

Anyway, then we came to where PEOTUS works out and while he's up there, we get to go to a nearby cafe. For some reason, I was convinced that getting some gelato would be a great idea and while it was really yummy, it might not have been the best idea for breakfast in the cold.

So now we wait while he finishes working out and then hopefully I have some down time this afternoon to go shopping and take a nap. I hear PEOTUS is going to dinner tonight which means even more time sitting on a bus. I feel like all of my life skills have prepared me for this moment! :) See what a college degree can get you? A totally glamorous lifestyle I tell ya!

International Star

As you know, I'm in the Windy City and covering PEOTUS for this week. I have quickly learned two things about Chicago. It's much, much colder in Chicago than Crawford. Apparently I am lucky enough to show up in Chi-town right when the cold weather arrived. I have been doing liveshots from my network's huge election bus and this morning it was 18 degrees outside and about 38 inside the bus. I was not quite prepared for it to be THAT cold. I do have long johns with me but I'm running out since I've been here two days and I have two pairs. I think I need to go shopping this afternoon and purchase some under "travel-other" for my expense report. Once they figured out to turn on the heat on the bus, it's now all the way up to 60 degrees. Luckily there is a Corner Bakery a few blocks away which also has a bathroom (I'm afraid to use the one on the bus!) Hopefully I will thaw out eventually!

The other thing I've learned about Chicago compared to Crawford is that the food options abound. In Crawford and Waco there were options but nothing like Chicago! The food here is great! And there are more options for hotels. Not that I had a choice on this trip but I'm thinking about future trips and how I will never have the problem of finding hotel rooms for a Presidential trip again.

But on the exciting part about my trip so far. Yesterday, I was in PEOTUS travel pool for the first time and I discovered that it's much the same as a POTUS travel pool. A lot of hurrying up and waiting. The major difference is that all of the pool is one short bus (read into that as you wish) instead of a series of vans. It has its benefits as it's easier to get in and out of. But there are more people on there so potentially it could be a lot louder. And we spent quality AND quantity of time on the bus yesterday. We were allowed to go to a cafe while PEOTUS was at the gym and get something to eat. But then bathrooms are off limits because once we've been reswept by the USSS, interacting with the common man is off-limits. It's not a bad thing when there's not a bathroom around because you don't think about it. But when you have to go and you can see a bathroom in a restaurant or shop and you know you can't get there, it makes life more difficult. You'll be happy to know that I have been able to add to my Becky Protective Detail off of PEOTUS's detail as my BPD has increased even here. I had my agent yesterday stopping the traffic of Chicago's streets so I could cross in the middle of the road.

Oh yeah, back to the topic of work. I was in pool so I was the one that represented all five networks in the exciting Obama-McCain meeting. I don't know if it was all that exciting but considering that in the past week, the only time we've seen PEOTUS is going to and from the gym and his office, this was a substantial event. And my first event being face to face with PEOTUS (in this role at least. I've met him before years ago.) It lasted all of about a minute and there wasn't anything substantive from our time in the meeting. They were talking about football. It's just as chaotic as scenes with POTUS except that Obama's people took longer to actually convince us to leave the room than the WH folks do. I guess they'll learn to be more forceful. So that was it. Beyond that, we had a three hour lunch break and then we sat on the bus for about three hours waiting for him to finish up his meetings and go home. Traveling in the motorcade is different here than in other places. First of all the motorcade is shorter and there is more traffic to contend with. But it is a great way to see the city!

About this picture above.... During my three hour lunch break yesterday, my network's international branch asked me to do a quick debrief on the meeting yesterday. Originally it was supposed to be by phone but when they found out that I was in our Chicago bureau, they asked if I would do it on camera. I have only been on TV once and definitely prefer to be behind the camera at all costs. But I figured why not. I really didn't know what I had agreed to. But basically I did a liveshot for this show, Backstory. I was interviewed by the show's anchor in London over IFB and everything. I tried to cobble together a couple of somewhat intelligent-sounding sentences and answered his questions. I really thought they would edit it down but apparently they didn't. And apparently I was the lead of the show!!! What the heck?? So bazillions of people around the world saw little old me pretending to sound smart. Who knows, maybe I will have a following in Kuala Lampur. Actually, I'm pretty sure not that many people actually saw it but who knows! The real irony is that I didn't wash my hair yesterday and barely put make-up on and the Chicago bureau has no make-up person. I figured I didn't look too bad but I was wearing a suit (because I was in travel pool) so I think I looked maybe 20, instead of 16!! I don't think they need to worry about getting my star ready for the Hollywood Walk of Fame any time in the near future!!

The Windy City

Just a short note to let you know I've made it to Chicago for my week of covering PEOTUS. I flew in this afternoon and I was pleasantly surprised that I had a first class ticket!! That never happens! It was great because it was almost the level of service that the charter or Air Force One has. God knew that I needed a little bit of easing back in to the world of commercial travel. Plus, I was sitting next to a man that I have to call and bug from time to time to interview him for some of my pieces. Now I'm golden. The next time I have to call and see if he can do an interview, I'll just say, "remember me? We bonded one row 1 to Chicago." He said he'll help me out no matter what for the rest of time.

It's snowing here in Chicago and I'm not ready for it. I did bring a coat which is different than most trips in my recent past that have involved cold weather. I think I'm actually prepared this time and anything I have forgotten, I'll find somewhere near my hotel. Speaking of which, this is not luxurious but it's nice. The problem is that we don't get Marriott points for our stay because of some deal my network struck with this hotel. This is a total injustice!!

I'm in travel pool for Obama for the first time tomorrow. I'm hoping it's not too different than what I'm used to! I'm sure it's nothing that I can't handle but I'll feel much better when it's over!

All in a Day's Work

Today was not my typical Friday. It's not often that you get a call at home saying that you have an interview with the First Lady to come in for. It was already going to be a very busy day because we were travel pool and it was the beginning of the WH Global Summit on the Economy. I was working the afternoon/late shift at the WH today and surprise, there was an interview with FLOTUS that just happened to come up for the day. Truth be told, by the time I actually got there, my colleague had set everything up but I decided that face time with FLOTUS can never be a bad thing. So I went up to assist. Actually I didn't do much except take notes and pay attention to what was being said so that we could edit it quickly and put it on the air. Ok, I was just there to be there. I admit it. Do you blame me? Our crew guys made beautiful television and I was just there to say hello in person to FLOTUS. She talked about Wednesday's attack in Afghanistan on school girls going to school (which is an incredibly sad, sad story!) and then about meeting with Michelle Obama earlier in the week. FLOTUS was as gracious as ever and she looked at me like she definitely recognized me from somewhere. I have been professionally stalking her and her husband for the past three+ years and this is the third or fourth interview with her that I've been a part of (ok, the other ones I actually contributed in some way).

Then this evening, the real fun began. As I mentioned, the White House Global Summit is this weekend and tonight was the dinner at the White House. I think I might have mentioned this before but I am pool chair right now :) so I have been helping in the planning of coverage of this summit for the past several weeks. I am so happy that it's finally here and I'll be even happier when it's over with and all will have gone smoothly. It's a bit scary that I have been making decisions or coordinating with five networks on things that will affect the entire world's media. Whoa. If they only knew who was running things! :) Anyway, tonight was the dinner and since we were travel pool, we had a part of the ordeal. POTUS greeted all 24 leaders individually outside the WH tonight but I assigned myself and my network something that was indoors (one of the perks in being the pool chair). So we had to go into the White House and just hang out in the Red Room until all the leaders were inside. I've spent time in the Red Room before at previous Christmas parties and at the party, they let you sit on the furniture and everything. With food on a plate. But for some reason, they wouldn't let me sit on the sofa tonight. I finally begged one of the ushers to find me a chair since we had to wait about 90 minutes in that room. It's a beautiful room that I'm sure is completely filled with history. One of our nation's POTUS's was sworn into office in that room. If you know who that is, you'll win a prize. All I wanted to do is sit down. While in there, I was looking out on the South Lawn and it was so foggy that you could barely see the Washington Monument. So I decided to focus my attention on the artwork in the room which was beautiful. But I quickly got distracted in figuring out how if I were POTUS, I would change the Red Room into the Orange and Maroon Room. I think it could work.

Anyway, after waiting for 90 minutes, all 24 world leaders- from President Sarkozy to Prime Minister Brown to President Medvedev to King Abdullah to President Hu- made their way into the State Dining Room. We were the first ones in the room so I watched as POTUS tried to communicate but no one he was talking to spoke English or even the same language as each other so there were several translators involved. And the weirdest thing was that the translators weren't in the room. They were watching on closed-circuit TV from a tent on the roof of the East Wing. Craziness. They all eventually sat down and POTUS made a toast about how the economy would eventually get better and so they should all toast the future and eat the lavish dinner before them. I offered the WH staff to either be a translator (I know enough French to recognize the words for potato and bathing suit) or if that didn't work, I could be the entertainment. I was turned down on both offers. But my entire five minutes in their presence was fairly cool. I had seen most of them back in Japan in July so it just felt like we were all family! :)

Do you see me in the media in the White House photo above? Of course you don't. That's because as you know, I'm short and also I was getting literally stepped on by journalists from around the world. I had a little window that I could peak through to make eye contact with POTUS and the other leaders. But of course I'm short and so I generally don't show up in pictures. But I'm there. I swear. Ask the King of Saudi Arabia. He'll back me up. We go way back. I've been to his palace.

The Glamorous Life.... NOT!

I know most of you think my job is 100% cool 100% of the time but I just wanted to take a moment to point out that it does have its unfortunate moments. Take this morning for example. POTUS departed for NYC for the day and I didn't have to go with him. But I think it would have been better because the alternative was to stay here and have to go to his departure. IN THE RAIN. Imagine the above picture with a lot of rain coming down. I should have taken a new picture today but I didn't know how my camera would hold up in the weather.

I know I must sound completely jaded and I'm trying not to complain but just rather point something out. I don't know if you've ever stood right next to a helicopter landing and taking off in the rain but it tends to pick up every rain drop and molecule of water on the ground and throw them right into your face. Umbrellas are useless in this environment as they would be torn to shreds in the winds. So you get to just stand there and get wet. Here's my strategy that sort of works. I find the biggest guy there (usually my lighting friend Ron) and hide behind him. He blocks at least some of the wind and rain and I just peak around every minute or so to make sure the helicopter isn't crashing or something. Thanks Ron for taking one for the team today and so many other days! I still got my low wave this morning, although there was a small kid fairly close to me so maybe this low wave was really for her. I'll let her mom believe that.

Meanwhile, I'm glad I won't be here this afternoon for the return. I am getting ready for the global economic summit this weekend. I actually am not holding the summit, POTUS is but I have been involved in the planning of the coverage so I'm pretty much paying attention to it for the next two days and then I head to Chicago to cover POTUS-E or should it be PEOTUS? I'll be doing my first travel pool for PEOTUS on Monday. Apparently it's not that much different that what I'm used to for POTUS except instead of hanging out in vans while he bikes, we hang out in vans while he goes to the gym and gets a haircut. I'm looking forward to my time it the Windy City!

A Becky Press Conference

Sorry I haven't blogged this week yet but it's been a weird week. First of all, I know everyone is concerned about how I survived Election Day. So thanks for your concerns but I had the easiest Election Day ever! I'm covering a man that no one wants to campaign with so POTUS had been under the radar since late last week. I was scheduled for the morning shift on Tuesday and there was absolutely nothing going on. I watched Saturday Night Live episodes online. There wasn't even a WH briefing. I had already voted several weeks before so I couldn't even share horror voting stories. At one point, I was so bored that I actually vacuumed the entire WH basement floor. I am not sure when the last time that place had been vacuumed but suffice it to say I would NOT have taken a nap on that floor. But now you can sleep like a baby there. Except that as of Wednesday morning, things got considerably busier in my little world. I thought I would take a few moments to answer some popular questions in a pretend press conference with myself.

Q: Did you survive Election Night, Becky?
A: Since I worked the early shift in the WH booth, I got to leave early in the afternoon and went home and took a long nap. Then I went to an election-results-viewing party at a friend of a friend's house. It was the first Presidential Election Night that I have not worked since 1992 when I was in high school. In 2004, I was working for the White House Unit and worked all night. In 2000, I worked for the political show Inside Politics and was also working all night long. in 1996, I was interning at a local affiliate TV station in the 'Noke and worked that night. It was a strange thing to not be working, especially when I was fairly involved in covering the campaign for a while. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit anti-climatic but I figure I will be working enough in the next six months to more than make up for the easy night. I did, however, enjoy hanging out and actually eating and not having to work. It was quite nice to be watching like a regular American (who had a blackberry with behind-the-scenes information coming through all night.)

Q: What will happen to your job now, Becky? Will you still have a job?
A: I am fine. I don't actually work for the Bush administration. I cover it for my network. So my job is safe. Well at least I think it is. My network generally doesn't make sweeping changes at a transition unless there is real reason to (ex. complete fatigue or burnout) and it doesn't appear that is the case right now. Usually they leave it up to us to say when to move on. You never know with my network but I'm assuming that I will be covering an Obama administration.

Q: How does this affect you, Becky?
A: Well, the short answer (no personal pun intended) for me is that I will most likely be busier. Of course compared to the last couple of months of covering a lame duck president, anything will be busier. For the next 77 days, we will be covering both POTUS and POTUS-E (elect). So I expect to be spending a bit of quality time in Chicago. Hopefully not over either holiday but it is what it is. Anyway, as you will recall, I'm the network pool chair until the end of the year so now I will be coordinating the travel and all the pools of both POTUS and POTUS-E. The slight problem I'm already having is that the POTUS-E side of things is still not organized and really has no plan. Hopefully all of that will be resolved soon. So I have a few things on my plate but it's all good and I fully expect to be able to handle it all without going completely crazy. Let's see, another way my life has been impacted is the sheer volume of e-mail I'm now getting. Before Tuesday, I was averaging about 400 e-mails a day. Today alone I'm over 1000 and it's not even 4pm yet. And I think it's only going to get worse. I needed a break from deleting e-mails so I decided to blog. So if you e-mail me and I don't get right back to you, it's likely that it's caught up in the 2 bazillion e-mails I'm getting on a daily basis. I apologize.

Q: How long have you been caffeine-free?
A: Ok, I realize that this question is a bit out of place but I thought you would be interested to know (and I'm interested in throwing this out there) that I am celebrating my 13th anniversary of giving up caffeine. That's right. THIRTEEN YEARS without it. I gave it up on a dare in college, had horrendous withdrawal headaches and have not gone back since. Yes, I do eat chocolate from time to time but there's really not a lot of caffeine in small doses of chocolate. I did have caffeine one time by accident when a friend from work brought me some green tea. I assumed since it wasn't a dark tea that it didn't have caffeine. But boy, was I wrong! I had a horrible migraine and learned my lesson. I am not counting that in my caffeine-free streak because a) the tea was a nice gesture from a colleague and b) I didn't know. Please don't count it against me!! I am happy to say that I am never even tempted to have caffeine anymore. Not even cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper. And I am even prouder to say that I have pulled many all-nighters and too many crazy work hours without much sleep (most especially in the last three years), and I have been perfectly awake without the help of drugs.

Q: When will we get to see you or when will you be able to take some time off?
A: You may or may not be asking this but I wanted to proactively apologize if I have been or will be a bad friend in the next six months or so. I have been pretty blessed in the past to have figured out a way to keep things fairly balanced and still work as much as I need to but keep the extra-curricular activities going strong. I am hoping to do the same this time around but realize that this is a bigger assignment than I've ever had before. And I'm literally on a team of 6 who will be bearing the burden for my network for the next six months. So while I have a huge list of people I want to come visit (and many of you are on that list) , it seems more likely that I won't be able to go anywhere until next summer.

Q: How do you feel about covering President Obama?
A: I'm not discussing partisan politics here but I will say that no matter what your political slant is, I think we all realize that this is a historic time in the life of our country. I feel extremely blessed to be where I am right now. I will literally be on the front-row to history and face to face with the first black President. I'm guessing in time, I'll get a low-wave from him too! :) But I'm excited to be covering such a historic time. I also know it's going to be a lot of hard work and that I will be stretched and challenged. POTUS-E will definitely keep us on our toes and there will be unbelievable interest in absolutely everything he does so it will definitely be a challenging time. I am looking forward to the return of the press charter (I am sooo over commercial airlines!) and being in a press corps where more than 10 people travel with the leader of the free world. On a serious note, like I said earlier, I feel completely blessed to be doing what I'm doing and know that I'm here only because it's where God wants me. And if He has a different plan for me, He'll let me know and I'll gladly move on. But in the meantime, I'm going to soak in every moment and appreciate the unique place where I am. I'm looking forward to getting to know a lot of people in the new administration and helping them figure out how to run the country! :) And I'm hopefully going to have a lot of fun along the way experiencing exciting times.

Ok, this press conference is over. If there are any other questions you'd like me to answer, leave them in the comments section and maybe at a future virtual Becky press conference, your question will be answered.

HIGHlight of the Week

So another week has passed and we're getting closer to knowing who will be the next person I will professionally stalk in the role of POTUS. But in the meantime, all's quiet on the western front at the Casa Blanca. Or at least not many people are really paying any attention. I had a fairly routine week of work and POTUS had a fairly quiet week of activities. But on Thursday, I was once again in travel pool. (I think the WH looks to see who is working on my network's WH schedule and then they plan a trip if it's my shift.) We just went down to Quantico so it wasn't a long and grueling trip. We went for the graduation of the FBI Special Agents. The last graduation ceremony I went with POTUS to was the Air Force Academy's graduation last May which took about six hours in the cold and rain. This was so much better because there were only 43 graduates. I joked that I think there used to be 44 or 45 but they thought it would be cool for POTUS 43 to speak to 43 grads so they must have flunked a couple on purpose. Last week he met with 43 Middle Eastern advocates, this week it's 43 graduates. Hhmmmm.

Anyway, once again, I digress. It was a quaint ceremony with only about 800-900 people. The travel pool was seated at the bottom of the stairs to the platform so I was the first person they greeted once they had received their badge. I was right next to their instructors who congratulated them. We also must have been in the crying baby section. There were three or four babies/toddlers sitting right next to us who had reached their limit of sitting still right about the time we arrived. I felt bad for those moms who were trying to quiet their 14-month old right as POTUS began to speak and they had run out of Cheerios and goldfish. Since I keep the nursery at church, I knew that they were up against a huge challenge wrapped up into their precious children. It was quite comical because as soon as one would quiet down, another one would start up. POTUS even noticed all the crying and made some comment about how he made people cry. Of course the moms were completely embarrassed that the leader of the free world had called them out but they were a bit helpless. Luckily, the WH had released the speech the day before so we knew he wasn't going to be saying anything all that important. It did provide quite a bit of entertainment to the travel pool to watch the scene.

I noticed that each agent, like USSS agents basically fit into one of a few categories. You have the "Tall white dude with dark hair who wears the generic trench coat and glasses" category. Then there's the "Shorter and bald who can take down someone three times his size" category. You've got the "Chick who could easily snap your head off if she has reason to" category. And then (while unfortunately politically incorrect) "Other who can kill you just by looking at you if necessary" category. Every single one of these men and women looked exactly what you would picture when you hear "FBI Special Agent" and I feel safer knowing they are out there protecting you and me. Some of the grads had their family members present their badges to them and then they would all have their pictures taken with the FBI Director and then POTUS. I was sitting next to one proud father who was so moved by the experience that when I looked at him, I could physically seen the pride in his eyes. It was quite moving.

We had choppered down to Quantico which I decided is really the way to get around up here. We avoided the headache of I-95 and getting stuck in traffic. (Not that we get stuck in traffic with POTUS too often but avoiding all the cars was awesome.) And the helicopter ride is kind of fun. POTUS leaves from the WH but we leave from nearby Ft. McNair and meet him in the air. (I can't say that without thinking of a church hymn.) We catch up with him and he flies beside us the whole way there and then at the end, we speed up and land before he does so we can watch him land. The ride this time was beautiful because you could see all the fall colors. I don't think this year has been a particularly vast display of fall colors on the trees but from the air it is absolutely beautiful. It looks like a patchwork quilt of colors and was so breath taking. I can't see how you see things like that in nature and not immediately think about what an artist God is!

After the FBI ceremony, we choppered to a different part of Quantico (who knew it was that big!) to visit the HMX Marine One Squadron. These are the guys that fly Marine One and the support helicopters wherever we go and POTUS wanted to thank them for their service for the past eight years. I haven't really ever seen them without their helmets and goggles on and I had no idea there were so many in this unit. We didn't actually get to go to the event but when Marine One landed, it pulled up closer than we normally get to the chopper and POTUS went into the party in the hangar. We went to hold in a room in a building nearby.

Then for the third time in less than three hours, we got back in the chopper and flew back to DC. I'm guessing that not many of you have done this before but choppering around DC is really cool. I wish there weren't airspace restrictions and more people could do it. Sometimes we get to land on the WH ellipse which is even cooler but even Ft. McNair is just a neat place to land, right by the water after flying over all the monuments. Very cool! Plus an added bonus is that you get earplugs each trip so just in case I ever need them, I have a huge stash of them in my bag.

Other than that, there wasn't a lot going on this week and I'm sure this next week there will be even less. But it's only a matter of time before things get really crazy again so I'll try to savor each quiet moment!

Becky v. Best Buy/Geek Squad

I am not a computer genius. I admit that. But I do have common sense. One morning a few weeks ago, my home computer just wouldn't turn on. Being the genius that I am, I quickly realized there was a problem. I took it to a friend who said it was probably a power supply or motherboard. I decided that I would take it to Best Buy/Geek Squad to get it fixed quickly and not to bother any of my computer-oriented friends. BIG MISTAKE!! I have had the most horrendous experience with the Geek Squad!

Most who know me would say that I am a patient person. I would agree! :) I hate confrontation like that so I would rather be patient and let things work themselves out than to cause a problem. But this time was different. I took my computer in on Columbus Day and told them I thought I had a problem with my power supply or motherboard. The guy behind the counter quickly figured out that I really didn't know what I was talking about and couldn't tell him what a motherboard was if he paid me a million dollars. So I quickly knew that he was going to try to take me for all I was worth. And did I mention that I can be a bit of a sucker? Because I agreed to have my files backed up for a mere, I mean extraordinary price. And I of course needed an official diagnosis. I figured what the heck, let's just see. They said it would be done in 3-5 days and they would call me to tell me what was wrong. So 8 days later, I still hadn't heard anything from them so I called them. Once they actually picked up the phone, they were sooo unhelpful. At one point they couldn't find my computer. Then they said it was in the service center waiting on a part (which was impossible because all I had asked was for them to diagnosis the issue.) I asked to speak to a manager. They said there was no manager on duty but they would have the manager call me. Which he or she never did. Then repeat this routine for the next 5 days. Every day I called. No return phone calls and many calls to them where I was put on hold for long periods of time. Actually, there might have been one return phone call but it was so unintelligible of who was actually calling that I'm not quite sure. The only thing I could make out was that they would call me back in a few hours. And when they didn't, I figured it was someone from the Geek Squad.

So I decided to go into the store and see the manager face to face. They had found my computer and had done the backup but not the diagnosis. The manager was apologetic and didn't charge me for the diagnosis and said he would immediately do it and call me back within a few hours. I've learned not to hold my breath for these people so when he didn't call back, I wasn't shocked. So the next day at work in between meetings, I spent about an hour on the phone trying to get my poor computer's diagnosis. After I got hung up on, my co-worker was so mad at Best Buy/Geek Squad at this point, she offered to yell at them because she said I was still being too nice. She gets hardly anywhere with them too and gives up. I decided to go again in person because the manager seemed to be a bit more receptive in person. Of course he wasn't working and the assistant manager is the one who had hung up on me previously in the day and had yelled at my co-worker. These people were unbelievable!!

But here's the bad part. I caved. He gave me a discounted price for fixing my computer (and I had quickly called around town to see what my other options were and it was going to be a little more expensive but not nearly the headache.) and I caved. I figured if he fixed it while I was standing there, it would still end up being cheaper than if I took it somewhere else and I would be finished with these people in my life. I am not an angry person and fairly laid back but these people made my blood boil. I just wanted it to be over. Of course, after I agreed to just have it fixed, the assistant manager was completely rude to me. He never once apologized or expressed any sympathy that the situation had gotten out of hand. In fact after the transaction was over, he just walked away and never said "Thank you." or "I'm sorry (I've held your computer hostage for 16 days when it only took 7 minutes to fix)" or "Have a great night." Even if he didn't mean it, you say it because that's what you call CUSTOMER SERVICE. This guy had the people skills of a brick wall and just made me soooo mad. I just took my computer and stormed out of the store and was grateful when it actually worked when I plugged it back in when I got home. Oh and the diagnosis? The power supply which is what I suggested from the beginning thanks to my friends.

For the record, I will NEVER take anything to the Geek Squad and I'm really mad at Best Buy for not holding their tech people to some sort of standard/accountability. I will think twice before buying something there, most especially anything computer-related. So I've filed a complaint with the corporate headquarters but I fully don't expect to ever hear anything from them. So I'm blogging about it so I can tell others what a horrendous experience I had and that it happens ALL THE TIME. I can't tell you how many people I've told my story to who have said that the same thing happened to them. So please, whenever you have any computer issues, support a local computer repair shop because a) they will probably fix your computer in about 1/145 of the time the Geek Squad takes and they won't "lose" your computer. And b) they will more than likely treat you with the respect and dignity that any human being deserves.

Ok, my rant is over. I feel better now.

Happy Birthday Cayton (and Mom!)

Last weekend I got to go back to the 'Noke to see the fam. I love them. I know you're supposed to love them but I am not just saying that! The biggest part that was missing was Kay who couldn't come from St. Louis. I went home because there's a chance that I won't make it to the beach for Thanksgiving or to the 'Noke for Christmas. I'm coming to terms with the fact that I might not get to be with them for the holidays (it's easier to prepare mentally for that and then be surprised if it works out for me to see them!) So I took the opportunity to see them while I could. I'm sure most people think it's crazy busy for me right before the election but really this is the calm before the storm. It's still busy for a variety of reasons but I am relishing these calmer days for me because after the election, my life will be insane. We'll be covering POTUS AND POTUS-elect. Again, it's a bit of mental game because I'd rather be prepared to be insane and then be happy if it's completely manageable rather than the other way around.



Anyway, I had a great weekend in the 'Noke hanging with the family. Cayton turned 5 and her party was on Saturday. She and my mom actually share a birthday but really Mom gets very little attention. Sorry Mom but Cayton is much cuter! :) Her party was a Tinkerbell theme and thankfully I didn't have to dress up like Tinkerbell. I just don't have the right wings. Anyway, Cayton is just one cute kid. I know I'm completely biased but the fact is that random strangers recognize that she is completely cute so I know she is. And they don't even know her personality which is so funny!! I'm her Aunt Beck Beck and proud of it! The party went off without a hitch and thankfully the rain stopped just in the nick of time to have the moon bounce! Praise Jesus because we would have had a lot of kids just bouncing off the living room walls! After the party and for the rest of the weekend, we had fun playing with her new toys and just being silly. I love that kid! I'm still her Beck Beck Silly Girl!

I'll never post anything like this again....

I feel really weird posting this but I think it might be the easiest way.... some of you had heard that there was some article about me in the VT alumni magazine and asked to see it (Thanks to Pastor Don and then Roger at church!!) Actually it was in the alumni magazine for VT's College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences so the readership is not that numerous but just in case you care, I've pasted the link to the article below. It's about an award I received last April at Virginia Tech. (I actually found out about the honor last November!) I was honored to receive the award at a nice ceremony in April and quite humbled by the whole experience. I really think the only reason they gave it to me was that after this year, I'm no longer considered a recent alumna! I'm also guessing that the competition was not that great this year! I would have thought that there was some smart biology grad creating some cure for something out there but maybe they are in another college at VT!! Anyway, here is the article and all I can say is that I think most of it is true. :) Did I mention how weird this is to post something like this about myself??

http://www.clahs.vt.edu/pdf/Spheres-fall2008.pdf (it's on the next to last page... that's how important it really is in the grand scheme of things!!) Also, thanks for all the notes of congrats! I can't believe you actually saw it! And seriously, I don't consider it a big deal but apparently more people read the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences magazine than I thought!! :)

Air Force One, Again!

I know last week's post about Air Force One said that it was likely my last trip on AF1 for this administration but I lied. Apparently the WH likes to take trips every five days and currently there are only two of us covering the WH for my network. So it was my turn again already. When I first found out about the trip (I heard about it first since I'm the pool chair), I heard we were going to LA. Pretty cool I thought. Then I got assigned to the trip. Then I figured out that LA in this case stood for Louisiana, not Los Angeles. There's a world of difference between the two.

So this morning, we headed to Alexandria, LA for a few hours. I think we were actually on AF1 longer than we were actually on the ground but I'm not complaining. It was a very doable day! We had a 2 1/2 hour flight down there which included the part where we actually did work. Dana gaggled (that's our term for briefing off camera) for a few minutes which included a bit of news. When I went back to listen to my audio recorder, I realized that I hadn't actually pushed record! Doh!! Luckily I took really good notes and then when it came time to send an actual word-for-word quote, I just borrowed one of my wire colleague's transcription. It was a little like cheating on a high school test but with his permission and we weren't being graded on anything. And there's not a teacher. Anyway, I'll make double sure that I actually record the gaggle the next time!

Oh and just because apparently my life revolves around food.... we had chicken salad croissants and Greek salad, potato chips, and chocolate ice cream for the light lunch. And we watched "Best in Show".

The event we went all the way to Alexandria, LA for was a business roundtable that we went in to see exactly 4 minutes and 41 seconds of. Literally that is all the time we had at the event. It seems to me we could have done the same thing in Alexandria, VA but then I guess I wouldn't have had my second day in the past two weeks on AF1. POTUS talked about the economy and rescue plan and the bailout and how it all affects small businesses. There were a few new things he said but all in all it wasn't earth-shattering. I had to write up a report in a very short period of time and send it out to the hundreds and hundreds of people from the five networks that read my reports. Again this time, it was a good thing that I took great notes because this time most of what I heard on my audio recorder were camera flashes and people rustling papers. I was 0-2 in successful audio recorder experiences today!

Then we went right back to the airport and waited on AF1 while POTUS met with some families of fallen soldiers and Marines. He likes to do that on many of his trips and it's one of the things that the WH doesn't publicize but POTUS takes the time to do it. No matter what your political leanings, it's a cool thing that he does that.

And then it was just another 2 1/2 hour flight from Alexandria, LA back home to Alexandria, VA... well at least to Andrews AFB and then driving to Alexandria. For the record, we had jambalaya in a sourdough bread-bowl and key lime pie for the light supper. I don't think we hit the 12,000 calorie mark today but we probably came close! I diligently worked for approximately 45 minutes over the course of the day and the rest of the day I spent waiting and eating (even though we were only served two meals today!) I'm not going to lie, I am pretty beat this evening!! Oh, and the movie was some Woody Allen movie. Obviously I didn't pick it because I would have definitely picked "Baby Mama" over the movie that we saw.

Oh, today was officially a success because I loaded up on the Presidential M&Ms. I figured that the number of AF1 trips for this administration is waning so they should be giving the George Bush M&Ms away like crazy! I think I ended up with about ten boxes! E-bay here I come!!!

The Week in Review

I'm sorry I haven't blogged this week but there really hasn't been all that much going on! I was in the bureau for three days out of five and how exciting could that be? I was over at the WH for two days and really only saw POTUS once. On Tuesday, I was in the East Room with the Detroit Red Wings. I have to confess that I'm really not a hockey fan. I barely understand the sport and one thing I don't like is that they don't do overtime. I went to a Capitals game one time and it was intense! But at the end of the game, it was tied and everyone just went home. I needed more closure than that. But I digress. Where was I? Oh yes, at the WH with the Red Wings. I checked out the roster before I went to the event and I noticed that there were only three or four team members that were Americans. Apparently every NHL team is like that! I was also checking to see if there happen to be any cute hockey players that I should keep an eye out for. I figured out why they didn't smile in their team picture. Some of them were missing teeth. During the event, I spent a lot of time trying to decide which guys had real teeth and which had good dentures. They brought the Stanley Cup with them which apparently was supposed to be a very cool thing to see in real life. You can tell that I'm a bit clueless in the hockey world because I didn't even take my camera up there.

On Wednesday, we were travel pool and instead of seeing POTUS three times like the schedule said, I never saw him. The events were all back to back and I have logistical responsibilities of things like feeding the tape, etc. and I missed all of the events. Even the departure so that POTUS could give me a low wave but I was inside when I heard the helicopter taking off. Oh well, next week!

Here are some other random thoughts about this week: I got a phone call at home from my high school principal this week. I hadn't seen or talked to her in about 14 years and how she tracked me down, I'll never know. I didn't spend much time with Dr. Cobble in high school- for good or bad but she took the time to track me down to call me. She had seen an article in the VT Alumni magazine about me and wanted to congratulate me. I think our conversation the other night was longer than I ever spoke to her when I was in high school. She said that she remembered me as such a hard worker in high school. I didn't want to correct her in the fact that I really don't have many memories of doing homework in high school.

My evening tonight was a great ending to the week. I went with my friend Katie to our church's Elvis Fest. Don't ask me why they did it now since there are no important anniversaries going on. But it was incredibly funny. The Elvis impersonator really didn't look that much like Elvis and he didn't really sound that much like the King but apparently he's an award-winning impersonator. He wasn't in the full sequined jumpsuit because apparently the motif of the evening was more from the 50s. But he was definitely closer to the size of the King from the 70s. He occaisionally said "Thank you. Thank you very much." but not even in a really good accent. He also sang and walked around the tables giving ladies scarfs. Apparently the target age of this event at my church was about 75 because we definitely were younger than everyone in the crowd by a good 30 years. I wore my sunglasses that I got from Graceland when I went to visit with POTUS and the Prime Minister of Japan (at the time) Koizumi. It was my most favorite domestic trip that I've ever been on and at the end of the trip, they gave us all bags of Elvis goodies. Included were some authentic Elvis sunglasses from PM Koizumi. I just loved telling people where I got my glasses because remembering that trip just makes me smile. Anyway, I didn't win the costume contest (although my glasses did rock!!) and I didn't get a scarf from Elvis. We did get our picture with him after the show. Somehow this guy does this for a living!!

A Day on Air Force One

I spent the day on the nation's bird, as a friend likes to call it. The rest of the world knows it by the name Air Force One. It wasn't a particularly exciting day but it could have been my last trip on AF1 with Mr. Bush so I thought I would document it somewhat. I'm not very good at multitasking in the sense when there's work to do, I can't snap pictures of it AND get the work done. Luckily today was a long day with not much news from our events so I had a little extra time on my hands.

We had two stops today- in Miami for a fundraiser and then a meeting with Cuban American leaders and then in Charleston, SC for another fundraiser on Kiawah Island. I worked for 12 hours today but it seemed more like two days!! We had three flights on AF1 and two helicopter movements and then about seven hours of sitting in vans or pool holds. And five meals. All of that can really make a girl tired. But I had a fun day! It was a smaller pool (not everyone is covering POTUS anymore) and we actually had a good time together.

We get to Andrews AFB about an hour before POTUS does. This is when we get swept by USSS and get situated on the plane before he gets there. This morning, POTUS had already made a big statement on the economy before he got to Andrews so most of the news had already been committed by the time he got to us. FLOTUS was with him when he arrived but she broke off and took her own plane somewhere and met back up with us later in the day. As they were getting off Marine One, FLOTUS was whispering sweet-nothings into POTUS's ear. It was actually pretty cute.

On the first flight- from Andrews to Miami- we had just enough time to eat lunch, watch Good Morning Vietnam (I didn't get to chose the movie!) and then of course we had a gaggle with Dana, the press secretary. That's when she comes back to our cabin and we have a mini-briefing off camera. There's a science to being able to balance your audio recorder, take notes and actually be able to hear what she's saying over the roar of the plane, all while balancing yourself during minor turbulence. I'm glad Dana is short like me because my arm doesn't get nearly as tired as it used to with Tony Snow or Scott McClellan. Then it's my job to ask questions, take notes, and then send them out to all the networks. The key is finding some sort of signal long enough to get the e-mail out before the plane lands. Oh but in more important news, lunch was pretty decent today- it was an open-faced turkey, tomato, alfalfa sprouts and cheese sandwich along with some macaroni salad, homemade potato chips, and small samples of three different cheesecakes.

We went to a neighborhood in Coral Gables, Florida where we hung out at a poolside clubhouse of a posh neighborhood for about 25 minutes. Then we sat in the vans waiting for a while. Then we went to a restaurant called "Havana Harry's" and sat in the vans while POTUS met with some Cuban American leaders. Then we went inside for approximately :45 seconds while POTUS talked about Cuban Americans. Gloria Estefan was not present. Neither was Ricky Martin. Then we sat in the vans and waited again. Finally we went back to the airport and got on AF1 again.

This leg of the trip was about an hour long. But that was enough time to get chips and a 7-layer bean dip and these chocolate cookie sandwiches with cream cheese in the middle. It was intensely good but I could only eat one!! We started watching the movie "Get Smart" which I decided was just as good without any audio.

We landed in SC at the Charleston AFB where POTUS and FLOTUS (who had joined us by this point) shook hands with some members of the military and their families. He also met with the Softball Little League World Champs who were from Simpsonville, SC. I wanted to tell him that that could have been me. I was on the All-Star softball team when I was 12 and at the peak of my athletic career. Of course my dad was the coach which might have had something to do with my place on the team. Anyway, I digress. Those girls were very happy to meet him and he posed for pictures for a while.

Then we got on a helicopter and flew over Charleston and to Kiawah Island. It was a pretty cool ride!! We landed a few moments before him so we waited for him to land and then had to run to the motorcade to drive to another fundraiser. We went to the Sanctuary of Kiawah Island which is a hotel that I will never ever be able to afford to stay at. It was beautiful and they served us dinner there. We hung out there for about 15 minutes before we went to wait in the vans for a while. At this point it began to pour so by the time we ran to the helicopters and then ran to AF1, I was definitely looking like a drowned rat. Thankfully, the barbeque chicken pizza and chocolate mousse for dinner on the plane helped me feel much better!

With the pool rotation and then the rotation between my co-producers at my network, that could easily be my last trip on AF1 for this administration. But it was a great day and I didn't mess anything up too badly so I count that as a success. The only things I didn't succeed in were getting more M&Ms from the plane and getting up to the cockpit to see my friend Denio who is one of the pilots. There are about 40 USSS agents and probably some anti-ballistic missiles that separate me from getting to go up to the cockpit to see him (not to mention POTUS's office and living space, etc.) As much as the Becky Protective Detail loves me (and I added another agent to my detail today!), there are some rules that they just won't break. I keep asking for a one-on-one interview with POTUS while we're on the plane but I just keep getting laughed at. I don't understand! :)