The White House

This afternoon, I had the privilege of going on a tour of the West Wing of the White House. This was my second tour of the West Wing, but it was as fascinating this time as it was the last. I saw sections of the West Wing I had not seen last time, and I also was able to see a few rooms in the Old Executive Office Building. The White House is a pretty amazing place from a historical perspective. I took lots of pictures where it was allowed, and hopefully some of them will come out. Unfortunately, the press "pool" is closed for renovations, so I wasn't able to get more pictures there.

That of course, reminds me of something amusing. I have a picture on my cubicle wall from my last visit to the West Wing. In the picture, I'm standing at the press room podium with the White House seal in the background. It was a nice little souvenir of my tour. One day, one of the other people in the office was talking to me at my desk, and then he noticed the picture. He asked, "When did you give a briefing at the White House?", and he was completely serious. Of course, I found this terribly funny, since I'm a lowly contractor and I can't imagine a situation in which I would be giving a briefing there. But as I thought about it, I realized that there have been a few people in my office who have either worked at the White House, or who have held senior-enough positions that they would have been there for work-related business. I'm just not lucky enough to be one of them.

Other than the White House tour, it was a pretty low-key weekend. This was the first weekend I have had to myself in over a month, as I have either been out of town, or have had guests visiting. I was pretty much a total bum on Saturday, and spent my time reading and watching TV. It wasn't productive, but it was much-needed rest. Today, I was a lot more productive, as I cleaned and did laundry. I have another busy week coming up ahead. Hopefully I will be able to catch up at work a little bit.