National Press Club 5K
Just thought I'd throw this photo out there as record of the fabulous AARP team that took part in the
12th Annual National Press Club 5K. The team consisted of myself, Kim Keister, Marlece Lusk-Karamitsos and Tina Johnson-Marcel (not pictured).
The race took place in downtown DC on Saturday, Sept. 12th, with a course taking us down Pennsylvania Ave. towards the Capitol Building, Union Station and back. It's been about two months since I really got into running, so I was anxious to see if I could improve on my personal best time. And wouldn't ya know it, I killed it by about 3 minutes.
I finished the race, according to my clock, at 24.53 minutes with a pace of 8.01 minutes per mile. I can definitely be happy with that. Of course I'd love to get my time down to the 21 minute range, but at-least I'm making some progress.
On a side note, the race actually had an interesting twist that made for a colorful run.
The 9-12 Project was hosting their protest of big government, socialism and nationalized health care. They lined up at Freedom Plaza, which was right at the start and finish of the race. As we came around the corner to start and on the way back, we were cheered on by thousands of protesters. They lined the streets and made a nice path for the runners to go through. Honestly, it felt like I was finishing the New York Marathon, running through a crowd cheering from both sides.
The most interesting part of this was the mixed reaction from some of my fellow press colleagues. Some took such offense to our fellow Americans exercising their 1st Amendment rights. One man standing near me gasped "they were so mean!" Another sitting at my table post-race said "such nasty people cussing us out and flipping us the bird."
I gotta tell ya folks, I think these members of the press ran in a different race. I didn't see one nasty thing done when I ran by. I didn't see one "mean" person or "nasty" gesture. I saw lots of cheering and clapping. But the words "mean" and "nasty" would never come my mind when thinking of these particular protesters. Then again, I tend to agree with the protesters limited government/free market ideology, so I'm not as quick to label them or belittle them. The fact is, most running in the race didn't agree with their message of freedom and liberty. So they didn't take a second to notice the celebratory mood of the protesters or the fact they were actually showing us support as we ran by. It's pretty interesting how two people can take away completely different experiences based on our political ideology.
Labels: Entertainment, Media, Politics, running
President Obama Visits My Office
President Obama just arrived at my office to take part in an
AARP Telephone Town Hall to answer questions about his health care plan. Regardless of what you think of the plan, it's pretty darn exciting to see our President drop by the AARP national headquarters.
When I walked to lunch, I had determined where he would pull into the building. So I camped out next to the window and snapped these photos. Equally impressive to having the Prez visit your office is the Secret Service detail that's camping out front. As I said on Facebook... I love DC!
Labels: DC, Politics, Random, Urban
Caption This!!!
Obama to Sarkozy: "Kinda hard to blame Berlusconi when they look like that." Sarkozy back to Obama: "Uh huh...see what I'm saying!"U.S. President Barack Obama (C) and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) take their places with junior G8 delegates for a family photo at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, July 9, 2009. Leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial nations and the main developing economies are meeting in the central Italian city of L'Aquila until Friday to discuss issues ranging from global economic stimulus to climate change and oil prices.
But clearly Obama and Sarkozy are thinking of a different type of stimulus in this photo...
How would you caption it?
Labels: Photography, Politics, Random
Headline of the Day
I got word of some breaking news today when
Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination for health and human services secretary. So you can understand my surprise when I saw the above headline on FOXNews.com.
First we have the Arizona
porn clip in the middle of the Super Bowl and now this. Someone is up to no good, but it sure made me laugh.
Labels: Headline, News, Politics, Random
Preparing for the Inauguration
Update: So I ask the guy at the front desk of our building last night about the barricades and he hands me a paper. Turns out Obama is hosting one of the big "official" inauguration parties at the convention center. And since it's a block away, secret service is putting our entire neighborhood in lock down.
What does this mean? Well is simply means there will be no cars on the streets and no street parking. It also means we'll have limited access to drive in and out but we'll have to show ID that proves we live in the neighborhood. The same goes for pedestrians who wish to walk through. In other words, you can't just stroll through.
I'm not too worried about it. I have the proper DC ID and it's really only for one day. And just think, Obama and Michelle will be dancing just one block from my condo. Sweet!
Good morning Washington! So the preparations for next week's inauguration are starting to show up in my neighborhood. On my morning walk to work, I noticed a ton of concrete barricades have been dropped off on the sidewalks. I'm not really sure what they are intended for since I don't believe our neighborhood is one going on lock-down. And I doubt they plan to close down the streets since our area is close enough to the mall for parking but not within security parameters. My only guess is they could be used for crowd control, but we'll have to see.
Either way, it's pretty exciting seeing all of the action around town. There's a buzz in the streets with activity and any time you see flashing lights, you start to wonder if you'll get a glimpse of our new president. Maybe I'll get lucky since his transition team is housed in a building right across the street from my office. Regardless of seeing Obama in person or not, DC is quite literally the place to be right now. Love it!
Labels: DC, Inauguration, Politics, Urban, Washington
The People's Republic of AARP
I got to joking with my boss Tina a few weeks ago about political ideology and randomly called her a communist. Tina replied proudly that she really likes communism and thinks it's a pretty good thing. We then went into debate about how oppressive the ideology is and how, while everyone outside of the government is equal, they are all equally poor.
Truthfully, there is really no solid argument in favor of communism. Even if you were able to eliminate class warfare among the average citizen, you'll always have a governing class. And when you give any governing class that much power, well people tend to die.
I try to avoid political talk on this blog. But one thing I won't back down from is a new call to arms by the radical left. I call them "Neocoms" because they are communist who have rebranded since the days of the radical 60's. They certainly aren't what I believe to be liberal, nor do I consider them true democrats. They are a brand of individual who seems unwilling to look at history and lack a basic understanding of human nature and psychology.
At any rate, the above graphic was something I created for my boss after we decided to name our office after a typical communist regime. We called it the People's Republic of Tina Johnson-Marcel since she is our fearless leader. She got a kick out of it and I was quite happy with the little graphic I created.
Labels: capitalism, government, Politics, Random
Just thought I'd throw this photo out there as record of the fabulous AARP team that took part in the 12th Annual National Press Club 5K. The team consisted of myself, Kim Keister, Marlece Lusk-Karamitsos and Tina Johnson-Marcel (not pictured).
