Airforce 1

Day one of a two week adventure. What my last blog didn’t include was information regarding next week. That’s because I didn’t know about next week at that time. Next week I’ll be in another capitol city. No, it’s not Salt Lake City, or even St. Paul – I’ll be in London. Yes, London England. I’ll be flying directly from Washington DC to London on Saturday. But that’s next’s week’s adventure – so on to this week.

We were almost late for our flight this morning. Luckily we weren’t. On the plane I got my own seat, actually I got my own row of seats. This is fortunate when one wants to nap – as I did. Before my slumbering I watched a short film about an orphan who drew pictures of a dragon that came to life and burned the orphanage. After my repose I saw a short film called "Still Life" about a young man who was driving while fatigued. He kept popping caffeine pills to stay awake. His car ran out of gas and he stopped in a small town to fill up. He wasn’t paying attention and ended up running into someone. When he got out of his car he saw that the person was a mannequin. It turns out that everyone in town was a mannequin. At the end of the film he ran into a house where there was a mother, father, and child mannequin living. He took a baseball bat and broke the mannequins by smashing them over the head. He ran upstairs, looked out the window to see a police car driving up, looked in the mirror and saw blood spattered across his face. The camera panned over to his face – there was blood. The police burst in and arrested him. They went back downstairs and past the bodies of the family – this time they were real, and lying in pools of blood. Disturbing, but intriguing. That’s what drugs will do.

I got to see my friend Isaac this evening. Delightful. We ate at a French restaurant, perused Barnes & Noble, took a walk on the boardwalk and gazed at the frozen river. It would have been quite the romantic evening under different circumstances. I’ll be here all week though, so I’ll probably get to hang out with Isaac more. Smithsonian museums, eating delicious food, appreciating great architecture. I may even get to see some of the immigrant vendors that permeate the streets of the city. Hooray for tourist traps that masquerade as centers of government!

Across the street is the Department of Education. Their doorways have little school houses built around them. The quaint little buildings boldly declare “no child left behind.” I’ve heard from every educator I am acquainted with that ‘no child left behind’ is the worst piece of educational legislation to hit this country since…well…ever. So every time I leave the hotel a little smile crosses my face.

I rode the subway by myself. I felt like I was in a coke commercial.