Most of the tourists/inauguration revelers have left town and so my town has returned to somewhat normal. I couldn't be happier. Don't get me wrong. I'm a full supporter of democracy but I'm just really glad that last week is over. This week has been completely busy in its own right and I just realized that today is Thursday! It also is Day 10 of the new POTUS administration which means that only 90 more days in the first 100 days in office. I'm counting on life returning to even more normal at that point.
This week the White House has been an interesting place as we've watched the new staffers of this administration trying to get acclimated. It makes for a lot of fun and frustration at work. For example, they don't really know how to work the overhead paging system and so when they actually are able to use it, they make convoluted messages that have some of the correct keywords in them but they really don't make sense. Also, they'll call the pool to gather and then we'll wait for a long, long time and then they will say "Never mind. The President has already signed (fill in the blank) and we missed it." Pandemonium is never far away but it's keeping us all on our toes and we definitely don't ever have the chance to be bored or complacent. But they are learning and are completely nice about everything. They just don't know what they don't know yet but there is progress every day.
Yesterday I was in travel pool for the first time in the new POTUS's administration. We had three events- two on the economy and then a trip to the Pentagon. The first event was a photo op during his meeting with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room. When we got in there, he started talking about what wimps we are here in DC to closed school for a couple of inches of snow and how his daughters never got the day off of school in Chicago. My first thought was that these girls should relish days like this and then my second thought was, "Wait a second, aren't we here to talk about the economy?" They started to usher us out of the room and had turned the TV lights off when someone said, "Do you have anything to say about the economy?" Immediately it was like a light bulb went off and it looked like he was thinking, "oh yeah! that's why we're here." He launched into comments the stimulus bill passing and economic recovery. We went from there to the East Room for economic remarks. I won't bore you with details of that event because it wasn't really memorable BUT I will share with you a piece of trivia I learned. The rug/carpet in the East Room is designed to be a reflection of the crown molding and chandelier on the ceiling above it. I never knew that. It's hard to explain in a blogpost without pictures but it's a pretty cool nugget. I'll show you what I mean if I ever give you a tour of the White House. The way the room was set up yesterday, I was standing right beside the paintings that Dolly Madison saved from the White House fire during the War of 1812. I don't remember ever being that up close and personal to that portrait!! I've of course seen it plenty of times but this was the first time I stopped to think of all the history in that room! I mean, how cool is it to be standing where Abigail Adams hung her laundry to dry!?!?
The last event was a trip to the Pentagon where he met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense. It was actually only my third time ever in the Pentagon and I am always blown away by how big that building is! It was cool to see POTUS and VPOTUS greeting the troops and thanking them for their service. POTUS made some comments to the pool and then we loaded up in the motorcade and headed back to the WH. It was rather uneventful and thankfully we got a travel photo lid relatively early!
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