State of the Confusion

State of the...Confusion?
This blog is designed to give almost a humorous depiction of my adventures living in our Nation's Capitol, Washington D.C. I'm only here for six months, then I return home to good ol' Michigan. It's been quite an adventure thus far, and it's always good to see the humor in our 'mis-'adventures! All in all, it's been a blast and an incredible experience.

Thursday, January 31, 2008
State of the Union

What can be said about going to the State of the Union Address Monday night?...
Being a 'newbie' to Washington DC (I think it will take more like six years to get acclimated, not six months, which is as long as I'll be here!!), I thought it would be a good idea to try removing that label myself. So I did. I ditched the GPS navigation that my girlfriend bought me for Christmas, and I put aside the directions I received from a member of Congress' office (from where I got the ticket for the event) for getting to the Capitol complex, parking, etc.
Was that a mistake...
So it's dark out, I have 45 minutes to get to the parking lot before the road closures, there's police everywhere, and I have an out-of-state license plate and a pick up truck that pretty much makes me an easy target - especially when I'm impeding traffic squinting to read street signs before I pass them…doing five miles an hour.
I stopped to ask an officer how to get to Washington and First streets. He gave me directions, I went on my way, and found Washington. Now the fun part.
Since I couldn't find First, I kept going. I drove straight over the Frederick Douglas Memorial bridge - further into unknown territory - and realized I was REALLY going in the wrong direction. For all I knew, I was in Maryland. Or Virginia. Hard to determine the direction being as though I had already spun around the Capitol so many times that the NW/SW/NE/SE indicators on the street signs didn't know which way they were supposed to be indicating either!
Well once I was…somewhere…I decided to resort to the GPS. I did what has bailed me out (…4…5..) probably about 15 times since I moved here, and that was to punch in the button that says, literally, "Go Home". I figured that would at least get me going in the right direction. Thankfully, it wasn't lost too…
Once back in…familiar territory…I called one of the Congressman's staffers on her cell phone to get back on track. She stayed on with me until I got back to Washington and First streets, but that was after I inadvertently turned down the wrong one-way street almost back onto I-395…South…I think it was, and had to reverse out of it and back onto Washington when no oncoming traffic was present. At this point I would have been happy to have been pulled over by the police. Of course as Murphy would have it, there were none around.
Finally - got to my parking spot in Lot 1 within the Capitol complex, and went towards the Capitol. Funny thing - I overheard two guys talking about a couple of security guards they thought they knew, and one said, "Hey, is that what's-his-name with the machine gun over next to the guy with all the armor?" Clearly this was the real deal, and I was in the right place.
(Good things from here on out…)
I went into the Cannon House Office Building - I had to take the underground tunnel to the Capitol. (Did I mention it was an underground tunnel?) I was down in line waiting for security to start letting people through when, lo and behold, Congressman friend walks by, coming from the Capitol. I called to him and he immediately swung around, "Heyyyy! How's it going!" (I said that everything had been great.) He invited me up to his office, where we went and proceeded to watch the news and read some briefings (...much like ones that I read, only his were about 75 pages long - but they're usually only 40, he said). The building…all marble floors, columns and walls, and the beautiful ceilings…be nice for my future house…(Hmm…)
The Congressman led me down to the Capitol eventually, where we passed by a security gate that I didn't have to be scanned at, since I was suddenly important (!!!) now that I was with the Honorable! :-) I just rolled past the German shepherds and guys with automatic rifles and on through the tunnel to the Capitol. Funny enough, one of the dogs I even caught sort of shying away behind his master when I went by. I was that important… :-)
The room was amazing. It was built in 1860, restored once around 1950 (...I believe but could be wrong...), and it will be restored again in a couple of years to look more historic than it currently does. The Congressman told me a little bit more about the room before heading to his seat. I was in mine by ten minutes to eight, so I got to see everything come together...
I sat on the upper balcony on the Democratic side, but none the less it had a GREAT view of everything below...even Ted Kennedy's hair. Hillary wore power red, so she was hard to miss. But seriously, to actually be in the room with the most powerful leaders in the world was truly an experience beyond words. It was hard not to grin ear-to-ear each time someone else came into the room - Condi, the Veep...the Supreme Court (!!!), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff!!! Amazing.
It was longer than I thought it would be but was interesting and pretty overpowering. I saw Reuters down a level in front of me, taking photos then typing into his laptop the minute-by-minute updates you see online, or that get published all over the world on various web sites… All the major networks in one place…this immense room. Actually, it was quite small, or rather the people in it were 'bigger' than what the room would hold, so-to-speak.
I guess that I could only hope that someday I'd be sitting in the front two rows (...Senators, the Congressman explained...) watching _______________ (fill in the blank on this year's presidential election winner!), thinking about how I am going to exploit my competition in the campaign run for the Presidency of the United States.
But first, I have to check my cell phone for any new emails. Nevermind, it's not connected to my work network...
…yet! :-D (have to move up a couple positions, first!)