Weekends are way too fast

I had a fantastic weekend of both working and touring. Since Alan had pool duty on Saturday, Arleta and I took the opportunity to see some girly sites that Alan wouldn't enjoy. (See bottom of post and I'll explain pool duty and give you an inside look to the media and how it works.) First we ended up at the mall, not the National Mall, but a traditional shopping mall and obviously shopped accompanied by frozen yogurt that was delicious! We spent the better part of the afternoon at the National Museum of American History looking at the first ladies' gowns and accessories they've donated over the years. May I just say Abigail Adams had really tiny feet. I think my favorite gown was a toss up between Laura Bush and Michelle Obama. I loved the red color of Laura's dress, but the one-shoulder design of Michelle's. After, we ventured downstairs we went and saw Julia Child's kitchen. Since I just saw the movie earlier this year it was very real and cool to see exactly how her kitchen was laid out.

Sunday was more of a work day. I went with one of our reporting interns, Dana, to an event at the Vietnam Memorial where sons and daughters of those that lost their lives in Vietnam gather to celebrate the lives of their fathers each year on Father's Day. It was a very different atmosphere from the crowded, intense BP hearings I have been covering. An event as reverent as this one was refreshing and I felt blessed to be there. I relaxed and did some laundry and dishes this afternoon. Alan's friend from Alabama, Ian, got into town for his internship this afternoon so we along with Arleta went out to dinner with him at a place called Clyde's. Great food, not so good service. Not sure yet what this week will bring, but as always I'll k

eep you posted. Photos below are from today's event at the Vietnam Memorial. First, a man touches his rose to his father's name at the Wall. Over 2,000 roses were laid today. And second, the presentation of the colors.

Now to explain pool duty. Pool duty is a rotating system where a print reporter joins the regulars of the White House Press Pool on their assigned day for their paper. The rotation is done alphabetically. One print reporter is always in the pool to provide all the other print reporters with up to date info on the president and what he is doing. These are called pool reports and are sent out in live time, especially when the president is on the move or changing activities, etc. On Saturday, it was the Houston Chronicle's turn for pool duty and so Alan was sent. The president also known as POTUS (president of the United States) spent the day playing golf at Andrews Air Force Base with Biden. To give you an inside look on the reports the media gets on a daily basis I'm going to copy Alan's pool reports below.

Pool report #1: POTUS, who was not seen by the pool, left the South Lawn at 1:01, bound for golf at Andrews.

Motorcade of SUVs, which stopped at most lights, was uneventful and featured waving tourists and the occasional oblivious driver, who soon became knowledgeable of their surroundings with some encouragement using lights and sirens.
POTUS, still out of sight of the pool, arrived at 1:30. His playing partners are unknown to this point.
Now heading to our holding place.

Pool report #2: Just got word POTUS' playing partners are Biden, Marvin Nicholson and former campaign photographer David Katz. Pool is holding in the food court at Andrews.

Pool report #3: After playing 18 holes with three others - including the vice president
- POTUS departed Andrews at 5:49. The pool never saw POTUS. Your pool spent its afternoon in the food court, discussing snow cone flavors and the unusual works of art for sale, many of which featured POTUS, while eating fried seafood from Captain D's. To our disappointment, not a single TV was carrying the World Cup (all-star matchup of Cameroon v. Denmark), forcing an afternoon viewing of the College World Series' opening round. Motorcade of SUVs, which arrived at the White House at 6:13, got interesting by the Holocaust Museum when a few cyclists tried to run through the motorcade while we were stopped at a light. Your pool saw one black-clad agent with a weapon drawn emerge from a vehicle, and a car of agents remained after for what is likely to be an unpleasant discussion. We went lights and siren for the rest of the trip, which was
then uneventful. One additional note: David Katz's official title is now energy efficiency campaign manager at DOE.

Pool report #3a: Pool has now seen video of POTUS' departure from the White House at 1:01. He appears to have been wearing an ivory polo shirt, but our fashion sense is limited.

Pool report #4: We have a lid.

A lid means that the press is free to leave because the president isn't doing anything else for the day.

Thanks to all those who are reading my blog and keeping up with me. If there's ever something you want to hear more about or anything like that feel free to leave me a comment.