Alrighty, if you've noticed by now (or not), I've changed the title and description of my blog but not the address. I figure that I want to keep all the posts I've written before, and I don't know who all has the address, so rather than change to a new blog, I'll just keep going with the one I've got. Of course, this assumes a small bit of self-confidence on my part that people actually read this and will care that I've changed it, but I'm going to pretend I didn't just think of that and assume that people do. It makes me feel good about myself, and it's rather therapeutic to keep a journal, but typing is so much easier than writing everything out longhand. So the address http://heatheratcambridge.blogspot.com will still work for this blog, even though I'm not at Cambridge anymore (at least I won't be as of Saturday).
I'm sure it may be a bit wrong if you want to get all technical about it, and maybe I should have changed the web address, but it's easier this way, and I like it. So there. Ha.
I am making some changes, but some things stay the same.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
A British BBQ and Moving
Last night I went to a bbq at one of my friend's houses in celebration of her upcoming birthday (it's on Saturday, the day I'm leaving unfortunately). In typical English weather, we had rain on and off for the whole afternoon and evening, but we stuck it out and enjoyed ourselves despite the weather, and had a gorgeous rainbow to boot, so there were some fringe benefits to the weather behaving the way it did. All of the guys who have spent time in Britain said that it's typical of British BBQs to be either held despite the rain or to be rained out, and that there is a certain expectation that things will be wet. It's just the way things are, and they simply have to make up their minds to enjoy themselves despite the weather or they'll never have much fun. A good attitude to adopt I think.
After the gloriously warm and sunny weather of the previous week, this week has been somewhat of a let down, because it has been cold and rainy for the majority of the time. However, since my fan left on Tuesday morning along with the majority of my belongings, it's probably a relief that it is cooler this week, I barely managed to sleep last week with the fan on full blast, so I would have sweltered to death without it I'm sure. My room is sooooo incredibly empty now, and having the movers come and pack everything up sent home the reality that I am leaving and that at this point, I have around 48 hours left in the UK before I am on my way back to the States. It took them less than 2 hours to have everything packaged up between the things that will be joining me in Missouri next month and those things that I won't see again until January or February. It was an awful process trying to figure out what should go where, I spent most of Sunday and Monday just sorting through things and changing my mind about which shipment everything should go in. I'm sure that I put things in the wrong shipment, but oh well, I can make do with what I have. The biggest mistakes so far that I have noticed already: my umbrella got shipped, oops, definitely needed that this week with the aforementioned weather; my checkbook for my USAA account is packed in the shipmen to Germany, I never sorted through the last bit of papers that I meant to; and my bike didn't get sent to Leonard Wood and had to make do with Germany. Still, all things considered, I did pretty well, and at least I had things organized before the movers came.
After the gloriously warm and sunny weather of the previous week, this week has been somewhat of a let down, because it has been cold and rainy for the majority of the time. However, since my fan left on Tuesday morning along with the majority of my belongings, it's probably a relief that it is cooler this week, I barely managed to sleep last week with the fan on full blast, so I would have sweltered to death without it I'm sure. My room is sooooo incredibly empty now, and having the movers come and pack everything up sent home the reality that I am leaving and that at this point, I have around 48 hours left in the UK before I am on my way back to the States. It took them less than 2 hours to have everything packaged up between the things that will be joining me in Missouri next month and those things that I won't see again until January or February. It was an awful process trying to figure out what should go where, I spent most of Sunday and Monday just sorting through things and changing my mind about which shipment everything should go in. I'm sure that I put things in the wrong shipment, but oh well, I can make do with what I have. The biggest mistakes so far that I have noticed already: my umbrella got shipped, oops, definitely needed that this week with the aforementioned weather; my checkbook for my USAA account is packed in the shipmen to Germany, I never sorted through the last bit of papers that I meant to; and my bike didn't get sent to Leonard Wood and had to make do with Germany. Still, all things considered, I did pretty well, and at least I had things organized before the movers came.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
A Last Lunch With Friends
Rita, Me and Tharini having a last Tuesday lunch at the Cow. All three of us were on the Management Studies program this year, and I'm really going to miss them. Rita left on Thursday morning, and it seemed so strange that this wasn't like leaving at Christmas or Easter. I know I've already done the good-byes after graduation last year from West Point, but this just seems unfair because we were only here for the nine months and it's already time to move on.
Friday, June 24, 2005
My Last Week Begins
It's officially Saturday morning now, and I'm still awake. I blame that on the lack of air conditioning and the huge bugs that are flying in my open window and seem to land on my face every time I've just about dozed off. It's a no win situation, the window closed makes the room heat up and the window open lets in the bugs. So, instead of being snuggled in my bed, I'm awake and contemplating the start of my last week in Cambridge. In one week and 8 hours I will be sitting in the waiting area at the passenger terminal at RAF Mildenhall and ready to start on my journey home.
I say journey, because it isn't a short little jaunt across the ocean. Nope, the joys of the Air Mobility Command chartered flights mean that instead of flying on a commercial plane that would take off from London and land in Chicago about 8 hours later, I get to get on a plane that will take off from Mildenhall and head to Lajes Field in the Azores (apparently there and not Argentina as I was originally led to believe by the airport code) before landing at Baltimore. From there I have to make my own way home because since I'm taking leave the military doesn't have to arrange transport the rest of the way. What a lovely setup. However, luckily I have friends that I will be visiting in the DC metro area for a few days, so the odyssey won't turn out to be a complete waste of time. Still, it's going to be one looooonnnng day with that flight plan. If I hadn't been able to work it to see my friends I would have been one unhappy camper. I haven't seen them since President's Day weekend last year when I stayed with them after the Gates' interview. Seems fitting somehow then that I should wrap up my Gates experience with some of the people I was with the weekend I spent fretting over how I had done and wondering what my future was going to hold.
Knowing that I'm done is bitter-sweet. I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life, but its hard to say good-byes. Still, since I have to do this all over again in December when I finish up OBC, I suppose that good-byes are something that I have to get used to with the military life.
I say journey, because it isn't a short little jaunt across the ocean. Nope, the joys of the Air Mobility Command chartered flights mean that instead of flying on a commercial plane that would take off from London and land in Chicago about 8 hours later, I get to get on a plane that will take off from Mildenhall and head to Lajes Field in the Azores (apparently there and not Argentina as I was originally led to believe by the airport code) before landing at Baltimore. From there I have to make my own way home because since I'm taking leave the military doesn't have to arrange transport the rest of the way. What a lovely setup. However, luckily I have friends that I will be visiting in the DC metro area for a few days, so the odyssey won't turn out to be a complete waste of time. Still, it's going to be one looooonnnng day with that flight plan. If I hadn't been able to work it to see my friends I would have been one unhappy camper. I haven't seen them since President's Day weekend last year when I stayed with them after the Gates' interview. Seems fitting somehow then that I should wrap up my Gates experience with some of the people I was with the weekend I spent fretting over how I had done and wondering what my future was going to hold.
Knowing that I'm done is bitter-sweet. I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life, but its hard to say good-byes. Still, since I have to do this all over again in December when I finish up OBC, I suppose that good-byes are something that I have to get used to with the military life.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
My Trip With Ashley
Last week Ashley and I set out to Edinburgh, London, Salisbury and Stonehenge. I wanted to be able to show her as much of the UK as possible in her time here, and see some areas that I hadn't been able to see during the past year. Conveniently, the National Express Coach service was having a special through the end of June whereby anyone with a student coachcard could travel for £10 each leg of a trip. So for only £40 each, we could take the coaches to Scotland, then to London, on to Salisbury and return to Cambridge. The long coach rides aren't the most fun, and aren't as fast as flying or the train would have been, but it's hard to argue with the price.
Scotland was the first part of our trip, and after arriving over an hour late because we had a flat tire during the middle of the trip, we had a whole day ahead of us to see Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyrood House, and took a sightseeing bus tour of the city in a double decker bus. The downside was that we had decided that because of our travel schedule, we were each limited to what we could fit into our backpacks, and we had to carry the backpacks around with us since it was too early to check in at the hotel where we were spending the night. We were a bit tired and achy after we finally finished our day of sightseeing and checked into the hotel. It felt extremely good to not have the backpacks on anymore. That night we went to "Jamie's Scottish Evening" at one of the hotels in Edinburgh and had a traditional Scottish dinner (complete with tasting portions of haggis), Scottish music (bagpipes and such), Scottish dancing and singing, and had a great time, although Ashley ended up turning her haggis into a piece of abstract art rather than eating it. The second day in Scotland we went on a bus tour that went to Linlithgow, Stirling Castle, thru the Trossachs and to Loch Lomand. We went on a cruise out onto the Loch and enjoyed the view, although the Scottish weather was a bit bracing given that it was the summer and we had just come from the heat wave that England was enjoying.
In London we went to the Tower of London, walked by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament up to Trafalgar Square, and enjoyed a bit of a nap to catch up from the long bus ride. We then saw The Producers that night, and we both laughed our patooties off along with the rest of the audience, it was an hilarious show. The next day we went to Westminster Abbey and visted there during the morning after having to wait in a queue for a good 40+ minutes. We had to figure out what else to do, and at the spur of the moment decided to go to Leicester Square and see what half price tickets were available. So we went to the matinee that afternoon of We Will Rock You, the muscial based on the music of Queen, after debating between that and the Far Pavilion. Although, as it turned out later, the initial decision wasn't that important since we decided that we would go see the other one for the evening show! So in the two full days in London we saw three musicals. I was absolutely delighted, and had a great time. It was also just nice to spend a quality week with my sister.
After leaving London we went to Salisbury because there's a local bus service that runs from there out to Stonehenge. Under a gorgeous sunny sky we walked around the stones and pondered how they came to be there. I was there last March, but they were still quite impressive and awe-inspiring. After we got back to Salisbury we went up to see Salisbury Cathedral and then walked around town before dinner. We left on Monday morning and arrived back at Cambridge in time to rest, eat a late lunch and get ready for the Jesus College May Ball. I'll write more about that later.
Scotland was the first part of our trip, and after arriving over an hour late because we had a flat tire during the middle of the trip, we had a whole day ahead of us to see Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyrood House, and took a sightseeing bus tour of the city in a double decker bus. The downside was that we had decided that because of our travel schedule, we were each limited to what we could fit into our backpacks, and we had to carry the backpacks around with us since it was too early to check in at the hotel where we were spending the night. We were a bit tired and achy after we finally finished our day of sightseeing and checked into the hotel. It felt extremely good to not have the backpacks on anymore. That night we went to "Jamie's Scottish Evening" at one of the hotels in Edinburgh and had a traditional Scottish dinner (complete with tasting portions of haggis), Scottish music (bagpipes and such), Scottish dancing and singing, and had a great time, although Ashley ended up turning her haggis into a piece of abstract art rather than eating it. The second day in Scotland we went on a bus tour that went to Linlithgow, Stirling Castle, thru the Trossachs and to Loch Lomand. We went on a cruise out onto the Loch and enjoyed the view, although the Scottish weather was a bit bracing given that it was the summer and we had just come from the heat wave that England was enjoying.
In London we went to the Tower of London, walked by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament up to Trafalgar Square, and enjoyed a bit of a nap to catch up from the long bus ride. We then saw The Producers that night, and we both laughed our patooties off along with the rest of the audience, it was an hilarious show. The next day we went to Westminster Abbey and visted there during the morning after having to wait in a queue for a good 40+ minutes. We had to figure out what else to do, and at the spur of the moment decided to go to Leicester Square and see what half price tickets were available. So we went to the matinee that afternoon of We Will Rock You, the muscial based on the music of Queen, after debating between that and the Far Pavilion. Although, as it turned out later, the initial decision wasn't that important since we decided that we would go see the other one for the evening show! So in the two full days in London we saw three musicals. I was absolutely delighted, and had a great time. It was also just nice to spend a quality week with my sister.
After leaving London we went to Salisbury because there's a local bus service that runs from there out to Stonehenge. Under a gorgeous sunny sky we walked around the stones and pondered how they came to be there. I was there last March, but they were still quite impressive and awe-inspiring. After we got back to Salisbury we went up to see Salisbury Cathedral and then walked around town before dinner. We left on Monday morning and arrived back at Cambridge in time to rest, eat a late lunch and get ready for the Jesus College May Ball. I'll write more about that later.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Frustrations With My Orders
Weekends are great, I really enjoy them usually. However, this weekend is dragging on forever and ever, because I really need to get in touch with people regarding my orders, and they're obviously not in on the weekend. So this is one weekend that I'm not really enjoying too much, because it is a lot of cooling my heels and waiting.
As an update, the way things stand now, Student Detachment won't approve my leave form because they say I am requesting too much leave. I need my orders amended such that I am authorized to report early to OBC, and this will solve the problem. However, my branch assignments officer has not responded to my email and even though I tried calling twice on Friday he was not in the office apparently because I got his voice mail both times. It's really getting down to the crunch time when I need all of this straightened out, especially because I will not be around and will not have email access from the 14th-20th. I have made so many phone calls, sent so many emails and nothing has come of anything yet. Everyone is pushing me off on someone else, and no one is willing to take the responsibility to ensure that the situation gets resolved. I don't know what I'm going to do if they don't get this solved in the next week, because it affects my ability to leave the country and my lease expires on 2 July. They also expect me to fly out on the military rotator flight from RAF Mildenhall, despite that there is no direct public transportation available from here to there, and despite the fact that the flight arrives in Baltimore too late for me to be able to catch a flight the night I will arrive which will necessitate me spending a night in the airport. Not a cool situation whatsoever, but no one is doing anything for me. I wish I could just go and sit in someone's office and bug them until they take care of this, but unfortunately, all the people I need to do things are halfway across the world, so I'm left stewing. It's not good to have a unique situation in the military. They're all trained to deal with the routine cases, and are unwilling to move outside the comfort zone to deal with the unusual situation I find myself in. If there were a July OBC for MPs, I doubt this would be a problem. It's not my fault they don't have one until August. Grrrrrrrrrr.
As an update, the way things stand now, Student Detachment won't approve my leave form because they say I am requesting too much leave. I need my orders amended such that I am authorized to report early to OBC, and this will solve the problem. However, my branch assignments officer has not responded to my email and even though I tried calling twice on Friday he was not in the office apparently because I got his voice mail both times. It's really getting down to the crunch time when I need all of this straightened out, especially because I will not be around and will not have email access from the 14th-20th. I have made so many phone calls, sent so many emails and nothing has come of anything yet. Everyone is pushing me off on someone else, and no one is willing to take the responsibility to ensure that the situation gets resolved. I don't know what I'm going to do if they don't get this solved in the next week, because it affects my ability to leave the country and my lease expires on 2 July. They also expect me to fly out on the military rotator flight from RAF Mildenhall, despite that there is no direct public transportation available from here to there, and despite the fact that the flight arrives in Baltimore too late for me to be able to catch a flight the night I will arrive which will necessitate me spending a night in the airport. Not a cool situation whatsoever, but no one is doing anything for me. I wish I could just go and sit in someone's office and bug them until they take care of this, but unfortunately, all the people I need to do things are halfway across the world, so I'm left stewing. It's not good to have a unique situation in the military. They're all trained to deal with the routine cases, and are unwilling to move outside the comfort zone to deal with the unusual situation I find myself in. If there were a July OBC for MPs, I doubt this would be a problem. It's not my fault they don't have one until August. Grrrrrrrrrr.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
This Really is Like a Holiday
I must say, having my dissertation turned in means that I really have nothing pressing to do. It's an amazing feeling to wake up in the morning and know that I really have all the freedom in the world to do exactly as I please.
Currently, that means that I have been making plans for when my sister comes to visit next week. We now have bus tickets to go from Cambridge to Edinburgh, London and Salisbury (to see Stonehenge), and then back to Cambridge to be here in time for the Jesus May Ball. I've also managed to find hotel rooms for all the nights that we will be away - although we're getting away cheaply two of the nights because we are doing overnight bus trips to and from Edinburgh. It's going to be a lot of riding on buses to get to and from places, but the National Express Coach service is running a special whereby it's only £10 for a ticket between any two places in the UK, and the one way tickets to Edinburgh are normally something in the area of £40 for a ticket, so that's quite a significant savings, and I've heard that Edinburgh is a great place to visit, so I'm quite excited. We don't really have anything specific planned for while we're there (in part because I was making these decisions while Ashley was down in Texas visiting our grandparents, so I didn't want to be too dictatorial about her visit :-P).
The weather has been pretty nice over the last few days, and I have been able to spend some time out with friends. I went for a walk with one of my friends and told her all about the visit to NYC, and it was just so relaxing to walk around outside and enjoy how pretty Cambridge is in the springtime - although I think I must have sat on an insect nest of some sort, because when we were walking back through town I was biten about 5 times. We sat on the edge of the river across from Trinity, and there was one female duck being chased by about 5 males. She was quite a cheeky little thing though, and came within a foot of me trying to steal my snack. Still, I felt sorry for her being outnumbered by all the guy ducks. There's something quite therapeutic about being able to just talk over all your worries with others and realize that everyone has concerns. I'd never survive as a hermit, because if I don't talk over things, they just eat away at me, but they seem much more manageable after talking them over.
Yesterday I went shopping with another group of friends because one of them needed a dress for the May Ball she is going to. It was such fun just to be with a group of girls and compare the merits of all the dresses that we found. We even saw when the Queen drove through the city centre as she left Cambridge. It was funny because it was actually fairly low-key, and it was predominantly women that were lining the area. We had dinner sitting out by the river and enjoying the good weather, and then played cards for awhile. I even managed to teach two of them how to play blackjack, go fish, and bullshit (the card game). It's funny because all of us grew up with different familiar games, and you don't expect that someone will never have played go fish or some of the simpler games. One of my friends was absolutely awful at bluffing during bullshit, and she ended up holding over half the deck by the time we called it quits. It was great for laughs all around and just capped off a perfectly relaxing day spent in the company of friends with free time on our hands.
Currently, that means that I have been making plans for when my sister comes to visit next week. We now have bus tickets to go from Cambridge to Edinburgh, London and Salisbury (to see Stonehenge), and then back to Cambridge to be here in time for the Jesus May Ball. I've also managed to find hotel rooms for all the nights that we will be away - although we're getting away cheaply two of the nights because we are doing overnight bus trips to and from Edinburgh. It's going to be a lot of riding on buses to get to and from places, but the National Express Coach service is running a special whereby it's only £10 for a ticket between any two places in the UK, and the one way tickets to Edinburgh are normally something in the area of £40 for a ticket, so that's quite a significant savings, and I've heard that Edinburgh is a great place to visit, so I'm quite excited. We don't really have anything specific planned for while we're there (in part because I was making these decisions while Ashley was down in Texas visiting our grandparents, so I didn't want to be too dictatorial about her visit :-P).
The weather has been pretty nice over the last few days, and I have been able to spend some time out with friends. I went for a walk with one of my friends and told her all about the visit to NYC, and it was just so relaxing to walk around outside and enjoy how pretty Cambridge is in the springtime - although I think I must have sat on an insect nest of some sort, because when we were walking back through town I was biten about 5 times. We sat on the edge of the river across from Trinity, and there was one female duck being chased by about 5 males. She was quite a cheeky little thing though, and came within a foot of me trying to steal my snack. Still, I felt sorry for her being outnumbered by all the guy ducks. There's something quite therapeutic about being able to just talk over all your worries with others and realize that everyone has concerns. I'd never survive as a hermit, because if I don't talk over things, they just eat away at me, but they seem much more manageable after talking them over.
Yesterday I went shopping with another group of friends because one of them needed a dress for the May Ball she is going to. It was such fun just to be with a group of girls and compare the merits of all the dresses that we found. We even saw when the Queen drove through the city centre as she left Cambridge. It was funny because it was actually fairly low-key, and it was predominantly women that were lining the area. We had dinner sitting out by the river and enjoying the good weather, and then played cards for awhile. I even managed to teach two of them how to play blackjack, go fish, and bullshit (the card game). It's funny because all of us grew up with different familiar games, and you don't expect that someone will never have played go fish or some of the simpler games. One of my friends was absolutely awful at bluffing during bullshit, and she ended up holding over half the deck by the time we called it quits. It was great for laughs all around and just capped off a perfectly relaxing day spent in the company of friends with free time on our hands.
Monday, June 06, 2005
An Unwelcome Welcome-Back to Cambridge
Sunday afternoon I got back to Cambridge, and after everything over the weekend I was exhausted. The plane had landed late because we ran into awful tubulence, and I had the seat right in front of the toilet and sat next to the only guy in the cabin who decided to stay awake all night reading, so I hadn't had any sleep on the plane. I slept for a few hours when I got back, and then headed over to meet up with a friend. I managed to get to sleep sometime around midnight or 1 without the jet lag keeping me awake too badly. At 3 am however, I woke to the most awful noise and light flashing in the window. One of my genius housemates (the same one involved in the meat incident) decided that it was a great time to take his motorcycle for a ride around the back garden and repeatedly rev the engine. He did that for about 10 minutes, and then his friends finally dragged him off. Things didn't get much better after that though, because he had about 15 or 20 people over in the kitchen in the basement and they were all screaming and being ridiculously loud for the early hour. Two of us went down to the basement to tell them to quiet down or leave, but within 15 minutes they were at it again, so we were forced to call the porters' lodge and have one of the porters come over to deal with the situation. By the time all of this was done, I was wide awake, and couldn't get to sleep until sometime after 5, needless to say, I was exhausted all day today.
At least my dissertation has been completely handed in, and I have no academic responsibilities remaining. That is a great feeling.
At least my dissertation has been completely handed in, and I have no academic responsibilities remaining. That is a great feeling.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
My Whirlwind Weekend
I'm back in Cambridge, and I think my head is still spinning from everything that I saw and did over the past few days at the Academy of Achievement Summit in NYC. Nobel laureates, presidents of countries, famous film directors, public servants, authors, artists, musicians, banquets in 5 star hotels, jazz at the lincoln center watching the sun set over the city skyline, meeting other graduate students, sitting in the UN, the list goes on and on. I have never felt so inspired as I did listening to the stories of all these people who have been immensely successful in their chosen fields.
The final banquet was held at the Waldoff-Astoria, and was phenomenal. In between the appetizer and the main meal, B.B. King played a set that had everyone out of their chairs and dancing. The entertainment between the main course and dessert was John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. After dinner I met Colin Powell (rather short with us, "make it quick" when we asked to shake his hand), Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez (spent time talking to everyone on his way out, frustrating his security detail as they tried to hurry him up), Naomi and Wynonna Judd (Wynonna sang with B.B. King), Sally Field, and countless others. At the reception after the dinner I had a long conversation with Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and his wife. I was completely amazed by how much many of these people were willing to give of themselves and share their time with mere graduate students.
In a small portion of my mind, however, I still felt a small cynical nagging that asked why they focused so much on the rewards of public service and yet we were surrounded by a level of opulence that I doubt most public servants would ever achieve. The weekend must have cost upwards of a couple million dollars, and if they had toned it down somewhat, I'm sure a donation of a million dollars would have had a large impact for a school district, or an arts program, or something else. However, I guess they view this as an investment in the future, and hope that the inspiration they provided us with (and I do feel inspired). It was a reminder that to whom much is given, much is expected.
I will say, that after listening to Attorney General Gonzalez, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the former CIA director George Tenet, I believe that the administration firmly believed that there was a threat from Iraq, and while we didn't have any insight into the President's decision thought process, I felt that their actions were made honestly and sincerely. The burden of history rests heavily on their shoulders, and as Tenet indicated, if he had made any decision but the one he thought was appropriate, he wouldn't be able to stand under the weight. None of them seemed burdened by anything more than the responsibility of serving their country.
The final banquet was held at the Waldoff-Astoria, and was phenomenal. In between the appetizer and the main meal, B.B. King played a set that had everyone out of their chairs and dancing. The entertainment between the main course and dessert was John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. After dinner I met Colin Powell (rather short with us, "make it quick" when we asked to shake his hand), Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez (spent time talking to everyone on his way out, frustrating his security detail as they tried to hurry him up), Naomi and Wynonna Judd (Wynonna sang with B.B. King), Sally Field, and countless others. At the reception after the dinner I had a long conversation with Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and his wife. I was completely amazed by how much many of these people were willing to give of themselves and share their time with mere graduate students.
In a small portion of my mind, however, I still felt a small cynical nagging that asked why they focused so much on the rewards of public service and yet we were surrounded by a level of opulence that I doubt most public servants would ever achieve. The weekend must have cost upwards of a couple million dollars, and if they had toned it down somewhat, I'm sure a donation of a million dollars would have had a large impact for a school district, or an arts program, or something else. However, I guess they view this as an investment in the future, and hope that the inspiration they provided us with (and I do feel inspired). It was a reminder that to whom much is given, much is expected.
I will say, that after listening to Attorney General Gonzalez, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the former CIA director George Tenet, I believe that the administration firmly believed that there was a threat from Iraq, and while we didn't have any insight into the President's decision thought process, I felt that their actions were made honestly and sincerely. The burden of history rests heavily on their shoulders, and as Tenet indicated, if he had made any decision but the one he thought was appropriate, he wouldn't be able to stand under the weight. None of them seemed burdened by anything more than the responsibility of serving their country.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Verdict = Incredible!
Okay, so wow. I mean wow. It's hard to describe this evening, other than to say that its now 0500 London time and I'm still absolutely wired. This evening was incredible. We went to the Met from the Peninsula (5 star) hotel we're staying at on 5th Ave, and had a talk by President Clinton, Katie Couric, Yogi Berra, and some other Academy of Achievement inductees. Yogi's advice to us was his classic "when you get to the fork in the road, take it." He had his medal presented by Roger Bannister (first sub 4 minute miler). Bill Clinton advised us to always think optimistically, because how can you expect to achieve if you are a pessimist, as he put it, "Roger Bannister didn't run a 4 minute mile by going out and thinking he would run it in 6."
After the talk, we had dinner in the Temple of Dendur, and wow, it was an incredible set up, and the food was pretty good too. Of course, it was strange to realize halfway through dinner that George Lucas was seated at the table next to mine. At the reception after dinner we were able to wander through a bit of the galleries, and while they were shooing us out at closing time, we actually had a good conversation with George Lucas regarding the influences of his films, his take on history and how it compared to the insurgency in Iraq, and the political insights into the new Star Wars movie. On the bus ride back to the hotel the women standing behind us asked what units we were headed to in the Army, and then introduced herself as Gen. Wesley Clark's wife. This is seriously such an incredible opportunity. My head is still reeling, although some of that is no doubt due to jet lag kicking in.
After the talk, we had dinner in the Temple of Dendur, and wow, it was an incredible set up, and the food was pretty good too. Of course, it was strange to realize halfway through dinner that George Lucas was seated at the table next to mine. At the reception after dinner we were able to wander through a bit of the galleries, and while they were shooing us out at closing time, we actually had a good conversation with George Lucas regarding the influences of his films, his take on history and how it compared to the insurgency in Iraq, and the political insights into the new Star Wars movie. On the bus ride back to the hotel the women standing behind us asked what units we were headed to in the Army, and then introduced herself as Gen. Wesley Clark's wife. This is seriously such an incredible opportunity. My head is still reeling, although some of that is no doubt due to jet lag kicking in.
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