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!!