Up, Up, and Away!!

Today I've spent the day in dreary Dayton, Ohio with POTUS talking about the global war on terror. The speech was relatively non-newsy but we were somewhat busy with liveshots. But the best part of today is that we are working out of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The museum was closed to the public and once the Prez left, we've had free run of the entire ENORMOUS museum. Of course I love the Air Force and thank all the airmen and women for their service but I admit I'm not so smart about the different types of planes. Our workspace is literally beneath a UH-1P Iroquois whatever that does. But I've seen a B-52 and am blown away by its size. Those bombs could do some very serious damage! The Boxcar which dropped an atom bomb is here as well as a B2 Stealth bomber. And there are also about 300 other planes here that are amazingly big. I wish I could tell you more about them but considering I just learned that "B" in the B-2 stood for bomber a few years ago, I'm probably not going to be much help. But for all those air and space enthusiasts out there, I highly recommend this cool museum in Dayton.

The part of Wright Patterson AFB that I enjoyed the most is the Presidential Aircraft section on a different part of the base. I have some personal knowledge of the current presidential aircraft but this was such a history lesson! They have the plane that carried JFK's casket back to DC from Dallas. They show where LBJ was when he was sworn in as President and where Jackie sat on the way back from Dallas. Coincidentally, it's also the same plane they used for every President from Kennedy to Clinton so several of my colleagues had been on that particular plane! They didn't even realize it was the same plane and they sat in the same place as where JFK's casket had been. (Later on they moved the press cabin to the back of the plane.) It was so fascinating!! I also saw the Sacred Cow that FDR used and the planes of Truman and Eisenhower. It was waaaaay cool! I guess I'm just a history nerd but I was trying to soak it all in before we had to leave!!

I'll have to post pictures from my trip later on this evening but it was actually a fun presidential trip even though my ears haven't popped yet and I can't hear a thing!!

Big Easter Weekend!!!!

I had a wonderful Easter weekend and I hope you did too! My sister Laura and my niece Cayton spent the weekend with me and we had SOOOO much fun! Despite starting the weekend feeling like I was on my deathbed (I sent Laura and Cayton to a hotel on Friday night!), I recovered just in the nick of time for all the fun!! On Saturday, I let Laura and Cayton go to an Easter pancake breakfast/craft day/egg hunt at my church while I rested. Cayton did pretty well finding a dozen eggs which came in handy to use for the indoor egg hunt at my house. We also dyed Easter eggs on Saturday and then we headed to IKEA (not exactly part of the Easter tradition but fun nonetheless!)

Easter is obviously one of my favorite holidays and besides all the obvious reasons, one of my favorite parts is that my church constructs a large cross outside and everyone comes and brings flowers to decorate. By the end of the morning, the bales of hay have turned into a beautiful flower cross. I was in charge of it this year and so I was instructed to buy some flowers to use in case people didn't bring enough. So on Saturday night, Laura and Cayton and I went to the grocery store and bought a shopping cart literally full of flowers. We pretty much wiped that store out (well not completely but it was the most flowers ever purchased at one time at that store!) The cashier asked me if I liked flowers or something. I don't know why he thought that, just because I was purchasing six huge buckets of flowers!! Anyway, people came through so we had a ton of flowers for the cross and it was sooo beautiful!!

We had 3 really wonderful services at church on Sunday morning and even better, a pleasant morning keeping the three year olds in the nursery. Usually any Sunday that is associated with eating large amounts of chocolate before church can be quite hairy. But surprisingly, I didn't have any hyper children in my class. Oh and before I forget, the Easter Bunny did find Cayton at my house and left her some goodies and a bunch of candy! He even left me an Easter basket too!!

All of that fun was followed by an absolutely wonderful Easter lunch with my good friends Joe and Katie and baby Ella at the Charthouse on the water in Old Town!

I'm guessing the highlight of the long weekend for all of us was getting to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll. Thanks so some a friend at the WH, I was able to obtain three tickets without having to camp out for two days. We had to be there at 8:15a and didn't get home until 2:30!! I've been there for work in the past and it's been somewhat organized but extremely chaotic. And that was only for less than an hour while they let the media there. This year's experience was somewhat different in the fact that I was one of the participants and that we stayed for six hours!! But we had an awesome time! It was pretty organized but the chaos factor was sky high. They give out 22,000 tickets and while the entries are all staggered, there's nobody kicking you out at a certain time so at some point you just have about 18,000 people all on the South Lawn at the same time. I never lost Cayton and she did great all day! Even when Laura and I were eggausted (get it? hahaha!) Cayton was still going strong!! She did a great job doing the egg roll (we had practiced at home the day before!) and she loved the fact that her egg was actually orange (her favorite color!) She loved meeting all the characters walking around the Lawn like Snoopy, Tweety, Spot, Clifford, Arthur, Curious George, etc. But her absolute favorite was meeting Strawberry Shortcake and her friends Orange Blossom and Ginger Snap. She's a girl after my own heart since I was rather obsessed with SS when I was that age. We also saw former President Bush (41) and Jenna Bush and Troy Aikman. I lifted Cayton up so she could see Jenna (not that she has any idea who she is) and told her she was President Bush's daughter and that she was getting married in a couple of months. And Cayton yelled "Jenna" loud enough for Jenna to see her and wave back at her and smile. Anyway, we had a wonderful time and got to experience everything the WH Easter Egg Roll has to offer. Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures my sister took of the day yesterday....

I'm glad we went and we had fun but I don't think I need to do that again until I have another niece or kid of my own who is four. And since I don't have any nieces younger than Cayton, I think that will provide me enough time for recuperation!

New York! New York!

Start spreading the news! Ok, really you don't have to. But I feel obligated to write that line in a blog entry entitled "New York! New York!"

Anyway, I had the task of working in New York for the day yesterday because POTUS went to make an economic speech. Since the economy is issue #1 at my network, I knew we would be fairly busy. The last time I was in the Big Apple, I was also with POTUS but I was in travel pool so I had the poshest accommodations at the Waldorf-Astoria. This time I wasn't in travel pool (although my network was but this time it was one of my colleague's turn) so I was on my own to get to NY (we never take a charter there!)

First let me start off by saying that I am not an experienced traveler by normal standards. I don't fly commercially all that often, as you know. And I definitely am not experienced on the train by any standards (although I have taken it a few times in the past.) Anyway, we determined the best plan for yesterday was to take the 6a train to NYC and work a few hours and then return home on the train later in the afternoon. So it was a VERY early morning to be at the train station by 5:30am. Thankfully, they don't mess around so they leave right at 6:00a so I knew we would be on schedule. We didn't have a lot of extra time built in to get to our final workspace destination, through Secret Service sweeps, etc. so time was of the essence! But we arrived to NYC about 8:50 and we had exactly 50 minutes to make it to the hotel where the speech was and through security. One of my NY colleagues suggested us taking the subway because the roads around the hotel were all shut down because of POTUS. (I'm sure New Yorkers were THRILLED that their morning commute was interfered with!) So my correspondent, one of my camera guys, and two other friends/producers from other networks and I maneuvered our way through the NYC subway system and to the right hotel in the absolute peak of rush hour. We looked like country bumpkins and the local there had every right to make fun of the five of us trying to determine where to go at every step of the way. The subway car (somehow we quickly determined which was the correct car) was absolutely packed (almost as packed as the subway car I was on in Cairo last March with 500 Egyptian women on it!) and I got to see local New Yorkers up close and extremely personal!

We made it on time and through security before POTUS got there and we had a very busy day! I hadn't been that busy with live shots in a long time! Our location for the standups was outside on the street and literally part of my job was to prevent New Yorkers and tourists from running behind the shot and acting stupid! I thought that they would be used to things like TV being done on the streets (the Today show plaza couldn't have been that far away!) but no, they were fascinated and literally all day we had crowds around us while we were doing liveshots! We packed a lot of work and liveshots into a few hours on the street (The only image I can share is from a cell phone which isn't that great and doesn't completely convey the scene but here it is:

It was actually a lovely day (albeit it got rather chilly) and I felt a real sense of accomplishment- maneuvering the city in rush hour traffic, doing a lot of liveshots, surviving (literally) a crazy cab ride (and I mean CRAZY!) back to the train station, and having it end up being a pretty good day! I also confirmed the notion that I was not really made for big city living like NY. DC is just about as big as I can deal with! I couldn't deal with that on a daily basis!!! I've never been more excited to come back to calm DC/Alexandria!

thanks freefoto.com for the pic of the Manhattan skyline!

I'm letting you down!

Well I returned from Crawford from the weekend and believe it or not, there was nothing really to blog about!! You've already heard how much I love the Blue Bell and how there's nothing going on in Crawford. The same was true for this past weekend. The President was in town for a visit from the Danish prime minister. We weren't pool and I didn't go out to the ranch for the presser so I never saw the leader of the free world. And unlike the Germans in November, we were not treated to Danishes in the workspace. I think the most exciting thing was that I took a new co-producer with me on this trip and his last name is Crawford so I insisted us going around town taking his picture in front of all the Crawford signs. I let him go out to the ranch for the presser since he had never been. And I took a nap in the gym of the middle school at my desk. Yep, it was pretty pathetic. But I did get some Blue Bell and Katie's Custard.

I did get some good sightseeing and people-watching in over the weekend because I felt like I had to show the new producer all the hot spots of Waco. So we went to one Texas honky-tonk bar after another. Actually that's an overstatement but we did go to several and the number of cowboy hats and the quality of people-watching impressed him!

It probably won't be my turn to go when we go back in May for Jenna's wedding so the only way I'm making it there is an invitation by the bride-to-be which since we've never met, I'm not counting on!! I wonder if the paparazzi will descend on Crawford too because they won't know what to do with themselves! And if I were there, I wouldn't share my Blue Bell!!

Sorry I've been a slacker

Sorry I haven't posted in the past couple of weeks but in all honesty, there's not been anything very exciting going on! POTUS is in Africa right now and since I went to the Middle East, it's not my turn to go on this trip. So I was able to go to Roanoke for the weekend and play with my 4-year-old niece Cayton! I had a great weekend with them and it was just great to get away for a few days! I wish I had a lot of great stories to pass along but alas, I don't! But don't worry, I have a trip scheduled to Crawford for next week so there will be at least one post mentioning the free ice cream! :)

In the meantime, I have done what our President has requested. I've done my part to stimulate the economy and in the process, I've jumped into the 21st century. I got my tax refund back a few weeks ago so I bought an iPod! I'm still trying to figure out all of its capabilities but so far I am loving it! I also stimulated the economy by buying a new vaccuum. I spent $60 on the last one I bought and it actually worked well for about three months. And for the past few years, I think I've just been redistributing the dirt in the carpet! But not anymore! I'm the proud owner of an Oreck XL or something like that! Yep. My life is thrilling! I get excited about an iPod and a vaccuum!!

The State of the Union is rainy

This week marked President Bush's last State of the Union (SOU in shorthand at my network) which made it for a relatively busy week, at least the beginning part of the week. Monday was basically a waiting game for me as my job was to put together the piece for after the speech. So I sat at my desk in the bureau for about 8 hours waiting for the speech. I got excerpts at about 5p and then the speech itself about an hour before the speech. So I was able to pick out the soundbites I wanted before the speech was even given. Once he started speaking, I was reading along and counting down how many more pages we had to go! I thought there wasn't a whole lot in the speech and was grateful it was only 13 printed pages! My correspondent, editor and I kicked it into high gear afterwards and worked on our piece until about 1a and I got home and in bed by about 1:40a. Then a little after 2a, my assignment desk called to ask me a question about the piece and started the conversation with "did I wake you up?" Just a hint, but most phone calls made at that hour WAKE PEOPLE UP! I was able to quickly answer the question and finally was able to get back to sleep around 3ish. I had to be back at the WH early the next morning for travel pool duty.

Tuesday, I was there as POTUS kicked off his final post-SOU tour with a day trip to Baltimore. Really it was only a few hours! We went to a halfway-house of sorts for recently released convicts called Jericho. Bush was there to highlight his faith-based initiative on the 7th anniversary of its inception. It's not often that we as the press corp travel into the hood with the leader of the free world. We were all crammed into this small row house with many vicious dogs loudly barking on the porches of nearby houses. I don't think most people understand the logistics of moving the president around but that was the smallest space I have ever seen for an event! There was only room for the President, the Labor secretary, the director of the program, and two graduates. Apparently, the President was deeply moved by his conversations with these recent convicts and had a good visit. I didn't really talk to any former inmates. The highlight of my day were the helicopter rides to and from Baltimore. We landed at Ft. McHenry which I was proud to say I knew the reason why Ft. McHenry was famous. Thanks Mom and Dad for always making our trips anywhere educational!

The rest of this week has been quiet since POTUS left for the West Coast on Wednesday. I have had time to catch up on expenses and e-mail and sleep! It's actually raining so hard outside that I'm kind of glad I'm stuck in the windowless basement at the WH. I'm thinking the quietness (knock on wood) will be around from time to time more frequently in the next nine months of the election!

A Tribute to Fran (and the week in review)

I know it's been a while since I've posted and I made it home safe and sound, arriving at my house around 3:30a last Thursday. I had Thursday and Friday off of work and then my normal weekend to recover. But I have to say, I didn't really have any jet lag. Thursday, I pretty much laid around and did nothing but I didn't allow myself to take a nap so I could go to bed at the normal time. That was key because I got back to Eastern time really quickly, although my overall energy was pretty sapped for a day or so. Even on Monday and Tuesday, several colleagues were still dealing with the effects of jet lag but not me! It's a gift!

This week has been feast or famine as far as busy-ness goes. Yesterday was really busy with the economic stimulus plan being agreed to! (I'm already trying to figure out what to spend my check on!!) But I've only seen the Prez once this week. (A little while ago I saw him take off in his helicopter for his trip to WV. By the way, days like with the bitter cold and wind, mixed with the helicopter rotors show that this job is not always glamorous!) Anyway, he gave me the usual low-wave so I guess he hasn't forgotten what I look like since I hadn't seen him in person in 11 days! :)

But the biggest thing that happened this week was that the world of journalism, in particular my network and the White House press corps, lost a legend. My friend and colleague Fran Lewine passed away last Saturday, a day before her 87th birthday. Fran was a legend in every sense of the word. I had the honor of working with her for the past ten years as she was an assignment editor/field producer in my network's DC bureau. It's strange to think that when I met her, she had already been working in the business for forty some years! She started working for the Associated Press in 1956 and covered SIX presidencies. I don't know how she did it! She was the AP's first WH correspondent beginning in 1965. She truly paved the way for the way we all cover the WH these days. Not only that, but she was instrumental in women in general because she fought to get women allowed in the National Press Club and the Gridiron (both press clubs in DC) and was really the face for the movement of women journalists' rights in the 50s, 60s, 70s. And Fran had worked right up to the end! She never wanted to retire! She had been at my network since the day Reagan was shot and she had told me she was never going to retire because she had the most exciting job on the planet. I had the privilege of working with her on any weekend that I've ever worked. She took me out on my first stakeout and showed me the ropes. She also brought in bagels almost every Saturday morning and we'd shoot the breeze about everything and nothing in particular! I don't spend much time at the bureau any more, especially on the weekends, but I saw her a few weeks ago and she was concerned that she hadn't seen me in a while and wanted to know how I was doing. Fran and Helen Thomas have been competitors and best friends for many decades and most people have heard of Helen. Like Helen, Fran had just as many awesome stories and experience and was as equally instrumental but with a quieter continued fame. Fran was a truly remarkable woman and I definitely count it as an high privilege to say that I got to work with a woman whose life literally had an impact on the world as we know it!

FRANCES LEWINE 1921-2008 (this picture is from last summer when she had two winning tickets at the horse races! She had planned on spending her 87th birthday on Sunday by another trip to the horse races where a friend from work had a race named in her honor.)