Highway Mystery

I see this every day when I drive home, but I have no idea what it means. Any suggetions? 

Home Sweet Home

Home, finally. Much better.

The last three weeks have been incredibly busy. I've had something like 13 flights in 23 days. I have a trip to Chicago next week, but at least I'll have a few days at home before then. Today I organized my work responsibilites, bought a ton of groceries, cleaned the apartment, and paid my bills. And finally I feel like I'm getting back to normal life.

The District is apparently due for a major snowstorm tonight...light snow beginning at 4am, "heavy" snow (?) from 8am to 3pm. Ought to make for an interesting day tomorrow.

Time to sleep! :-)

Mood: Relaxed
Song: U2, "In a Little While"

Deja Vu

From CNN.com this afternoon...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Iran must live up to its international obligations to halt its nuclear program or the next steps are in the offing. "And I think everybody understands what the 'next steps' mean," Rice told reporters after a meeting with NATO foreign ministers and European Union officials.

Doesn't this sound just a little too familiar?

All Good Things

I watch more TV than I should. I love a good drama, and I'm a sucker for a few other shows. There's one new TV show (new to me, at least) that I really enjoy - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - although not for any reason related to construction or home design. In many ways, it reminds me of my true favorite show: The West Wing.

Don't get me wrong; as far as I can tell, the original Extreme Makeover is terrible, both in its design and its execution. I suppose it's not a bad thing to make people feel better about themselves, but I don't think society needs anything else encouraging cosmetic surgery. It seems like the core purpose of the show is to help people, but the message of the show is that beauty is skin deep. That's it.

Home Edition seems to be the same purpose, except with the right message. Instead of convincing people they need surgery to be beautiful, the show builds a new home for a family in need. They find families that really need the help: a large family with a parent who recently passed away, a family with a sick child who needs purified air throughout the house to avoid fatal illnesses, and more. It's hard not to smile when you see a deserving family get a little help from the Home Edition crew and the many local builders, contractors, and volunteers who work to build the new home. Each episode renews my faith in humanity. I know it sounds silly, but it's true.

The West Wing has a similar effect on me. The show has definitely been through its brightest days, and many of the former regular viewers have moved on. But I continue to stick with it. I can't say that every episode inspires me, and I can't deny that certain dramatic elements are a bit overdone at times. (It's a drama, after all.) Once in a while, though, an episode will come together in just the right way to remind me of my love for public service. I love politics, yes, but The West Wing has the ability to remind me of more than that. It helps me see the big picture, the way government is supposed to work. I don't mean a certain political ideology or policy goal; I'm talking about the way that democracy should work and the commitment that our elected leaders should have for serving the greater good. It's just a TV show, I realize, but it's the best kind of TV out there. It can be the kind of story that makes me sit back and think about my passion for public service and redouble my commitment to getting there someday. It reminds me of all the good things that I believe this country can be about, and the good that people can achieve.

The West Wing gives me hope.

R & R

Today was a day of rest and relaxation. I slept in, did some reading, and had coffee with a friend. I also went to the gym, which probably doesn't qualify as rest or relaxation, but I signed up just a few days ago and wanted to get started on my workout plans. Tonight was slow, and I'm heading to bed relatively early. For me, that alone is a pretty big accomplishment.

Mood: Calm.
Song: The Killers, "Mr. Brightside"

Search Results

I looked through the search engine results that have led people to this site. Two of my favorites were:

• hallelujah chorus alarm clock and
  
• snack cracker toppings.

Hmmmmm. Snack cracker toppings. Nothing wrong with that.

One Year Ago...

And with wind chill, it was somewhere around -30'F.

I took this photo in early January 2004 at a Clark 2004 rally at which I was working.

I was wearing six or seven layers of clothes, including a couple layers of ski clothes, plus gloves and three sets of liners, a balaclava, a nose-and-mouth facemask, two fleece hats, a double-layered ski jacket, ski goggles, and more. Breathing was painful, and it was fairly common (albeit very strange) to feel the sensation of your eyelashes freezing.

Being inside would have been smart, but instead I was directing traffic in a parking lot and helping people get out of their cars. Once everyone had arrived at the rally, I ran over to the sign, took this picture, and ran inside.