Okay...

I'm a bit skittish about dwelling too much on personal details -- I figure it's not really the point of this blog to talk about me (at least not directly) -- but if you want to know about the WH meeting in more detail, ask away.

More Photos... From NZ Bear. He's circled himself in blue.

Now, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure -- take the red and blue circle, triangulate them until you come to a dark-haired woman -- I think that's Mary Katharine Ham. That's pretty much where she was.

Some quick ones:

1) The signing was actually in the Executive Office Building (the old one, the Eisenhower one). I was only in the WH for an hour or so, to have breakfast in the mess.

It's a nice little restaurant right in the WH run by the Navy. A seaman in dress whites acts as maitre d' and escorts you to your table.

I was expecting more of a commissary; this was more like a little private breakfast joint. Not very big, maybe ten four-to-six person tables. Lots of wood panelling.

2) I ordered a Western omlette, which was served differently than I've ever had it. Instead of ham on the inside, there were tiny, tiny little cubes of ham sprinkled over the omlette, like jimmies on a Sundae. NZ Bear and our host had french toast -- err, freedom toast (no, really, just french toast) -- which was this huge pile of toast. My omlette was tiny by comparison. Forget what MKH had. I was pretty out of it.

3) One minor thing. I was sitting right by, as I'd later find out, the doorway through which the President would enter and exit. Since I had 45 minutes to kill, and wasn't very social, I thought I'd try to get a cigarette. I went out to the doorway and asked a guy there if I could go out that way to get a smoke. "No you can't, sir," he said in a freindly but firm way. "So I'm trapped here?" I asked (pleasantly, jokingly, not challengingly). "Yes sir I'm a afraid you are."

I realized later -- all that sir stuff, the headset radio -- the guy was either Secret Service or a Marine in casual dress and was protecting the President's pathway.

Not sure what else you want to know.

posted by Ace at 01:45 PM

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