Name Dropping

My apologies to those of you who visited the site in the past couple days only to find a generic search page. Once again, my domain registration expired and once again, my hosting company failed to send me a renewal notice. I may need to consider a new hosting company because AffordableHost has never been particularly helpful.
I got back from DC late Saturday night. I had a really good time in Washington. This was kind of like the class field trip that I never went on when I was younger. I got to bond with the other fellows and I met some fascinating people; a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Here are a few pictures:

This, of course, is newly elected Senator Barack Obama. I was touring the Capitol with one of the Fellowship directors, former Minnesota Congressman Tim Penny, when we ran into him in the halls of the Senate. I didn’t get to talk to him very long, but he seemed every bit as charming as the media portrays him to be.

Some of us went out to dinner Wednesday night and we walked past the White House on the way back to the hotel. It was rather cold and we were all impressed that the fountain was running. Your tax dollars at work.

On Friday, we met with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Most of us later admitted that we were a little awed in her presence. She spoke at length about the arrogance she perceived in Bush’s foreign policy and how she believed that North Korea is the most dangerous nation on the planet.

On our last day, we had a tour of the West Wing of the White House. This is all of us milling about outside the gate as we waited for the guards to let us in. The White House is actually smaller than it looks on television. The Oval Office is not especially big, but it looks more like a museum display than an actual working space. I think they keep it immaculate for the benefit of the tourists, but the effect is a little unsettling.