Will it play in Peoria?

Yesterday was my first trip on Air Force One with the new POTUS and boy, what a crazy day it was! It's a good thing I'm not completely intimidated by pool duty on AF1 since I've done it a few times before. I was soooo busy that I would have crumbled if I had not done it before. And traveling with Obama is a totally different experience than with Bush (although I completely missed my Bush friends like Karen and Rachael yesterday!)

My day in travel pool was a trip to Peoria, IL to speak to employees at the Caterpillar plant about the economic stimulus. Next on the schedule was a stop in Springfield, IL to celebrate Abe's birthday. Luckily it wasn't a really early start so I was able to sleep in and catch up on a little sleep. That was important because I needed all the energy I could get. Back in the Bush days, oh the Bush days, things were rather predictable. He never came back to the press cabin. He always ran on time or early and generally stuck to the schedule and there weren't many surprises. Usually the biggest surprise was what was for lunch on the plane. Yesterday was so incredibly crazy compared to that!

First of all, the new POTUS *LOVES* to shake hands with people. In my humble opinion, he is just eating all of this attention up. I can't say that I blame him. If I had a crowd around me everywhere I went screaming "Becky, BECKY, BECKY" I think I would shake their hands too. That hasn't ever happened before but if it does, I'm making the pledge to do a ropeline! Anyway, I digress. Back to new POTUS. After he arrived by motorcade instead of helicopter (due to the high winds), he got out of the limo or "the Beast" as is its official nickname, and walked across the tarmac. He shook hands along the ropeline with about 40 screaming ROTC cadets. I heard sounds and shrills like I had never heard before. I was a little scared at one point. Then he walked back to the plane while his limo was following him. I think they just idled their way the hundred feet or so. I don't think they wasted too much gas. Anyway, before we knew it we were up, up, and away on our way to Peoria and it was really really bumpy, even on AF1! Press Secretary Gibbs came back to gaggle during the last few minutes of the flight. That made for some stressful times of trying to keep the audio recorder steady, take good notes, and balance myself during a very bumpy landing. Thank God I have mad blackberry typing skills as I was able to type up most of the notes in a very short amount of time and send them out to everyone in the press.

Once we got to the Caterpillar plant, we found out that Judd Gregg had withdrawn his nomination to be Commerce Secretary. I don't really care about the politics behind it (well I do but that's not appropriate for my blog) but immediately I knew that my day had just become destined to be insane. And it wasn't a letdown. Our next leg of the trip was from Peoria to Springfield. Now forgive me for not being more familiar with my Illinois geography but I kind of thought we would probably chopper there but we were scheduled to get back on Air Force One for a 15 minute flight. But after about 10 minutes I looked out the window and saw that we were really high up if we were supposed to be landing in 5 minutes and the AF guys were offering chips and queso and drinks for a snack. I knew that wasn't a good sign. So we spent the next hour or so circling over Springfield, Illinois. I thought that since we were with the leader of the free world, we could land whenever and wherever we wanted. But apparently not. Something about how we couldn't get to the event early because not everyone had gone through the magnetometers. Then right before we landed, Gibbs came back once again and gaggled about the Gregg situation, again as we were landing.

And if that wasn't crazy enough, when we landed, we got off the plane to wait for POTUS to exit, like we always do. Except this time, one of the WH staffers comes running to me saying, "get back on the plane, POTUS is going to talk." Of course I immediately run back up to my seat on the plane. But I quickly realized I didn't have my camera crew with me. So I went up to the Press Secretary and begged him to make POTUS wait until I got back on the plane with our camera crew. So I run down the steps again and try to get my crew's attention over the roar of the jet engines from AF1 and to no avail. I think I screamed my heart out and they finally saw me screaming and ran upstairs bypassing the AF security guy checking our names off the list. We pushed our way to get into position and literally five seconds later, the leader of the free world shows up to make some comments about Gregg. I quickly realized that I didn't have a tape recorder or even a pen to take notes and I couldn't reach my bag through the twenty people standing on top of me. So again, I thanked the good Lord for my awesome blackberry skills and hoped that my notes would be somewhat intelligible. While POTUS was talking, I was literally less than foot from him. I don't think you can see my blond head in the photos or video because people behind me kept tapping me on the shoulder telling me I was too tall. I've never had anyone tell me that before. It was kind of stunning. I wish, oh I wish, that I had had a moment to take a picture of it but I was too busy typing like mad on my crackberry. So while I didn't officially meet the man, I did get up close and personal for a few moments.

Then in Springfield, IL we went to a dinner for Abraham Lincoln's birthday. My network seemed to be obsessed with the comparisons between Obama and Lincoln and so there was quite a bit of interest in this event. By this point in the night, I was done. I had put out about 50 fires and was exhausted. I sort of listened to 44 talk about 16 but I'm not going to lie to you, I was tuning much of it out. Sorry Abe!!

We left Springfield and arrived back at Andrews by about 11pm. Thankfully I just got to sit in my seat and watch a movie, oh and eat dinner. It wouldn't be a blog post about AF1 without mention of food! (For lunch it was cheese tortellini and strawberry tiramisu. For dinner it was sweet and sour beef tips and rice and cheesecake!) Don't worry, in all the hustle and bustle, of course I took the time to eat!! That's definitely not changed in the new administration!

Prime Time Presser

I'm sorry I've been MIA. I was sick for several days last week and I thought I would spare you the details of having the flu despite having the flu shot. I generally try not to call in sick, especially if I'm scheduled to be at the White House. (I don't want to miss anything and there are only a very small pool of people who can replace me. It's not that I'm irreplaceable but there are only a few of us that are there on a regular basis!) But sometimes when you can't actually get out of bed, it's generally frowned upon to go to work and sit in a very small closet-sized booth with three other people and sharing germs. So instead, I spent several days on my couch sleeping and watching mindless TV.

But this is a new week and I'm feeling much, much better! And it's already a busy week. POTUS is traveling three days this week (I'm only traveling one) and last night was his first prime time press conference. Now that I think about it, it was my first prime time press conference too. I don't think Bush did one at night while I've been on the beat. At least I was scheduled to work during one. But anyway, I digress. The fact that yesterday was day 20 of the administration and POTUS's first presser, I knew it was already going to be a mess. But the pressure was really on yesterday! Added to that is that I still had about 1000 e-mails to catch up on reading from when I was sick so I felt like I was swimming upstream in information. But it seemed to all go off without any glitches. Oh with the exception that my new friends in the new POTUS administration still don't quite know what they are doing and literally an hour before the presser, they ditched the finalized seating chart that they had taken 30 hours to create. It seemed that they took all the names and put them in a hat and spilled them out onto a table and wherever they landed is where that person sat. In the past, there is some rhyme and reason as to who sits where but an hour before the presser, we were moved from the front row to the middle of the third row. Whatever, not a huge deal but it was just a hassle to move everything that we had wired up to the middle of the third row. And a blogger sat in our original seat. I know these things are not ones that the average American is concerned about but for about five minutes last night, it was a huge deal! :)

I stood in the back of the room and I was on the phone with the control room in NY. The problem was that I didn't have my hands-free device and so I held the phone to my ear for about ninety minutes. I thought POTUS kept staring at me while he was speaking but really it was just because I was directly behind his teleprompter and in his direct line of sight. And apparently I was within the cuts camera range so I was getting e-mails from friends who saw me on TV. I tried not to outwardly yawn after I got the first message. I didn't get to take notes or anything that would have made me look like I was paying attention but I assure you I was. I'm pretty sure I could have passed a pop quiz afterwards!

Obama Travel Pool

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!

Inaugural Zoo Part Two

Many of you have asked if I survived the Inauguration and want to see my pictures! The answer is yes I did survive and it was quite pleasant. And I don't have my cable for my camera with me and I have basically been working non-stop this week. Anyway, I was only outside for about an hour when the Obamas arrived at the White House in the morning and then again when they came back as the new POTUS and FLOTUS to watch the parade. It was actually quite pleasant. I was watching in on TV like the rest of America (minus the 2 million outside a few blocks from the White House!) but was in a very unique place.

I finally left work at about 8p on Tuesday and by the time I went back to my bureau and got my car it was about 8:45p. As soon as I got on the road headed back to my beloved Commonwealth, I got stopped in traffic due to the motorcade. I even knew that the new POTUS would be near where I needed to go but I was soooo tired by that point that it didn't register. I do remember the sheer joy when I actually crossed the bridge to the Commonwealth and I knew my bed was only a matter of minutes away!

Today was my first day at the White House with the new POTUS and boy, talk about a zoo! I have been here on plenty of busy days in the past few years but they had NOTHING on today. The new Press Secretary's first briefing was this afternoon and literally it was wall to wall people. I am not a big person and I pride myself on being able to weave and bob through a crowd by ducking under people's arms, etc. But I literally couldn't walk to the front of the room to talk to my crews. I'm not claustrophobic but let's just say that the Fire Marshall would NOT have been happy in that room. There must have been well over 200 people packed in the briefing room! (Everyone who sees it says it's much smaller than what they imagined and it's true!) It was completely insane!! I had never seen most of these people before and somehow a lot of them were WH hard pass holders. I think I must have gotten too used to about 25 people showing up for the briefing towards the end of the last administration! It was an insane day and it's only Day Three of the administration!!

To top off the crazy day, this evening after a lid was called (that means that POTUS will not be doing anything else for the rest of the day), I went out to get Starbucks for my correspondent and myself. As I'm walking back in, one of my crew guys runs up to me and says, POTUS is touring the briefing room and booths. So I go inside to another PACK of people and I'm trying to get back downstairs to my booth but a separate PACK of people is preventing me from getting inside my booth. It turns out that the leader of the free world was walking by my booth. Thank goodness I hadn't left my Scrabble/Facebook screen up when I had left! He had approximately 400 people (ok maybe a slight exaggeration but not by much!) literally tagging along behind him including about 100 cameras. (no exaggeration!) I didn't get to shake his hand or anything because A) I had a cup of caramel apple cider in one hand and a coffee for my correspondent in the other and B) I was getting trampled by the 100 cameras!! So I did see POTUS up close and personal for a brief second while I was trying not to spill hot beverages on myself. I was successful in the not-spilling thing but unsuccessful in officially meeting the new POTUS!* I'm sure he'll be back down to our glamorous (NOT!) digs before long!

*I have previously met the POTUS but only when he was a brand new Senator and he didn't have the 400 people dragging along behind him. I am pretty sure he doesn't remember me!!!

The Inaugural Zoo

So today is Inauguration Day as you know and all eyes are on DC and the Capitol and White House. I've never seen anything like it. This is my third Inauguration to work for and it's a zoo out there!

I'd like to start off this post reminding you that I am not here to discuss politics. This post is purely from a historical standpoint. I definitely have my own beliefs and while my blog would be the perfect place to share them, I still have a responsibility to be non-biased straight forward journalist. Many of my colleagues are not abiding by that ideal but I'm committed to notion. What I've seen so far is no less than inspiring and remarkable. The amount of people that have descended on my city to see this historic moment is unbelievable!

I worked on Sunday and had to metro in because there were no parking garages opened and streets were closed. The metro was absolutely packed with people going to the Inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial. I was probably the only person in the packs of thousands not going to the concert or down to the National Mall. As soon as I got off the metro, there were stands for souvenirs literally every two feet. People were throwing Obama buttons and t-shirts in my face for the two blocks to the White House and looked extremely disappointed with me when I told them I wasn't interested. I think they thought I was un-American but I was just trying to get to work. As soon as I got to the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania Ave., I was allowed to go through the Secret Service checkpoint (thank God for the White House hard pass!) As soon as I went through the gate, the loud noise of the crowd was immediately silenced and there was just an eerie quietness. All of a sudden, I could hear my footsteps on the sidewalk.

I spent most of the day in the White House basement but was able to be on the South Lawn for Bush's final WH arrival on Marine One. It was incredibly cold and he was about 30 minutes late. I guess he was just savoring every single moment at Camp David. When he returned, he and Laura stepped off the chopper and just stopped for a short moment to kind of take it in. He didn't stop to shake any hands of those gathered to see the arrival but I did get my last low wave. I'm sure it was a very nostalgic moment for him as much as it was for me! :) In all, it was just a low key return to the White House.

Later on when I had to go outside the WH to pick up a pass for a colleague and I just so happened to be leaving when Obama was getting ready to come back to the Blair House. I get e-mails about his every movement and I should have been a little smarter but in any case, I walk out of the WH and immediately hit shear pandemonium! I have never seen anything like it. Thousands of people getting as close as they could to the Blair House in the slight hope they will spot the motorcade when it returned and they were all cheering for Obama. I had to navigate through the biggest crowd just to get back to the White House. Once again, I was ever grateful for my White House hard pass!!

So Monday, I worked in our bureau for the day which was pretty uneventful. That is until last night. I mentioned earlier that I was going to have to spend the night at my bureau due to crazy logistics. Well it was crazy for sure. We had room assignments and shower schedules and every thing. So here's a crazy story. My sleep assignment was in a room called the "old Robo room". I kind of knew where that was but wasn't quite sure. So about 9:45p, I take my sleeping bag and overnight bag up to find my cozy spot. It just so happened that it was RIGHT next to the control room and studio for Larry King Live. And it just so happened that Sean Combs and Seal and Samuel L. Jackson were hanging out in the hallway outside my "room" taking pictures with show staff (which I think is against the rules but that's a different matter!) I was like, "um, excuse me Seal but you're blocking my room. Samuel L. Jackson, please move a little bit to your left so I can get to my 'room'." Then it turns out when I got to my 'room', it was actually a closet filled with boxes and equipment! There wasn't a cot nor enough room to even lay out a sleeping bag. So I trekked back down the hall with my suitcase and sleeping bag, through the scene of stars to find someone to let them know I was less than happy. The only thing that could have made this scene a little more bizarre is if I had already changed into my PJs!

I ended up finding an air mattress somewhere and slept in my friend's edit bay. I had a fairly decent overnight nap (three hours!) with the exception of people congregating and talking loudly outside my room at 2:30a. My room had a glass door so I think they could see me sleeping. I had to get up at 3:30a anyway to get to my appointed shower time. I'm pretty sure the shower hadn't been cleaned in recent months but I needed something to wake me up completely! I made my way back over to the White House this morning at 4:15a and was AMAZED at the amount of people already walking around and making their way to the Mall. We had to wait out in the cold while they were deciding if we could come through the mags and once again that WH hard pass came in handy. We only had to wait for 45 minutes in the cold but eventually we made it in and I can now feel my toes.

I'm watching the majority of today's historic events on TV from the WH basement. I am okay with that. I've been at the Capitol before and while it's waaaay cool, it's someone else's turn. I plan on running outside when the Obamas leave the Blair House and then when they come to the White House and then once again for the parade. And then I will gladly go home (hopefully not too late!) and then hopefully my city will return to a normal level of chaos before too long!

The Week of the "Lasts"

I'm sorry I've been MIA after promising to do better but I have been swamped with work! I can't believe the Inauguration is six days away! I think I've mentioned this before but this transition is much more personal to me than the previous ones (this is only my second transition I've been in DC for) because it means a lot of change for me personally. I realize that it's not all about me and I truly believe that but this is my blog so for a few minutes, it can be! :)

This week is full of "lasts" and "goodbyes". POTUS's last press conference was on Monday. His last East Room event was yesterday. His last Marine One arrival will be this weekend. My last day in his travel pool is Sunday. This could be the last time he gives me a low wave. I'm sure he'll have to transition to a lot of different things and the low wave is probably not on the top of his list of things he's thinking about in his waning days in office. But I think about it. I've been covering him at the White House for three and a half years and when I think about all I've witnessed because of him I can't help but be grateful for the experiences. It's more about the Presidency than the actual President but you can't help but feel connected to the man. Although I've only talked to him a handful of times, we've traveled the world and I feel like I know him. And while I got a birthday kiss from him, he doesn't really know me! But it will certainly feel strange to not see him on an almost daily basis. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to covering the new guy but I wanted to recognize the end of a era!

In addition to the "lasts" of everything, the transition is more real to me when I get several e-mails a day from White House friends with future contact information and goodbye message. It's only now dawning on me that while I'll continue doing what I've been doing, these friends are facing new opportunities (and a time to relax for once!) There are many of them who I plan on keeping in touch with them and I wish them the best as they take some time off but then look for jobs in this tough economy!

While I'm on the subject of the Inauguration, it turns out that I will need to be at work at 4a on Inauguration Day and since my buddies at the Secret Service have closed down all the bridges from VA to DC and closed down much of the city, I will be spending the night in my office. I actually need to be at the Blair House at 4a but apparently they aren't offering me a bed there and the White House is apparently booked that night too. My booth in the basement isn't big enough to put a sleeping bag in so I think my best option is to sleep in the bureau and then somehow make my way over here in the middle of the night. It's such a logistical nightmare!! Please don't think I'm un-American or unappreciative of the opportunity at hand but I am just ready for it to be over with!

New Year's Resolution is a Bust

Ok, so my New Year's Resolution was to be more active and regular in my blogging and here it is on January 7th and I haven't blogged in two weeks. So I hope you'll forgive me for being such a slacker. I have no real excuses except that there's really nothing going on.

I got home from Hawaii on January 1st and you'll be proud of me in the fact I did not come home looking like a lobster. I don't tan and even two weeks in Hawaii working on the beach does not change that fact. I will say that I have some color to me. It's hard to see but trust me, there is a slightly darker pink tint to my skin. The good news is that it's winter and so I don't have to show it off. Thank God for long sleeves!

I've been home for a few days now and I'm wondering when the harassment will stop about being in Hawaii. I worked on Monday and Tuesday (thank God I had today and tomorrow off work!) and I lost count of the people giving me a hard time for being in Hawaii for two weeks. I've learned that the easiest thing is to just take it and move on. It's really not worth trying to explain that while I was on the beach for twelve hours a day it was hard work. I know the truth and that is all that matters! :)

I'm sorry you didn't hear any more about the rest of my trip but basically it was work, work, work and I was pretty sure that you didn't want to hear me complain about how hot the sun was and how I had gone through five bottles of sunblock on my own. I can't wait until I turn in my expense report because I'm pretty sure some of the stuff in there is going to raise red flags. Anyway, I digress. I did get to ring in the New Year there but I didn't quite make it to midnight local time. I celebrated East Coast time (7p local) and then was awake enough to celebrate Central and Mountain Time as well. I don't think I quite technically made it to Pacific Time but I never really got to sleep because the band was playing outside my window until about 2a. In Hawaii, they go all out with the fireworks on NYE so I kind of remember tossing and turning and trying to figure out if I was in a war-torn land.

I'm obviously back home and couldn't be happier and really there hasn't been a lot of excitement on the job front to blog about. We're in the midst of some craziness at work with this thing called the Inauguration that apparently is happening in less than two weeks. It's all hands on deck now for work and I've been working late hours and expect more of that for the coming weeks. I've tried to savor today and tomorrow as I know there won't be a lot of down time in the coming days. I was hoping that my house would be in spotless condition going into this crazy time at work but somehow when I snapped my fingers, nothing happened. Oh well.

Since I have nothing else to blog about, I figured I'd close with Happy New Year greetings from myself, FLOTUS, POTUS, and my friend Katie. It's technically from the Christmas party but I didn't get the picture until the other day so pretend like it's all about New Year greetings! I do hope that you all have (and are having) and an extraordinarily good New Year!