The Presidents Box, Snow Storm & Tours to come

Tonight I was lucky enough to attend 'Edward Scissorhands' the play at the Kennedy Center. My friends the Warrens, being well connected, were able to get tickets to watch the play in the President's Box! We all put on suits (me borrowing Nik's but still looking good) and headed to the theater. The President's Box has seating for 8 people, its own coat room and bath room and a readily stocked mini fridge, including mini champaigne, sodas, beer, M&Ms and a few other things. the M&Ms even came in a special box with the Presidents Seal on it! It was pretty cool. the box is actually made up of two rooms. One sitting room and then the balcony. There are a few pictures around the room of the President. And outside the entrance to the sitting room is a large President's Seal above the door. It was a very unique experience. I even got a few Presidential napkins as souveniers (ooooooooohhh.....). The play itself was pretty good to, even though there was no dialouge. It was all interpretive dance. After I accepted the fact that there would be no talking (about 10-15 mins in) I was able to enjoy it. It probably helped a good amount that I had taken a good number of dance classes in college. The set was really cool, and so were the costumes. A good production, overall.

And yes, I officially survived the Valentine's Day storm in D.C. I'd say we got around 4 inches or so on the 14th. I went trekking around the Mall and got some cool pictures of the monuments with a bit of snow. I didn't stay out too long because a) it was obviously pretty cold and b) I'm sure it wasn't treating my new Italian leather boots real well. I also went and visited the Portrait Gallery for the second time. The first time I went with my cousin Gabe and went through the second floor, which contains the Presidents Gallery (all portraits of Presidents) and an exhibit on the Cold War. This second visit I spent a bit of time in the Civil War area. I found one piece that I really liked, which doesn't happen to me too often. Usually I can appreciate pieces but I'd say they generally don't leave a real lasting impession. However, I found one portrait of John Brown the abolitionist. It was different from all the other portraits. First of all, I must say that I am pretty interested in John Brown as a historical figure and will probably read a biography on him after I finish my other two books (Stumbling on Happiness and Undercover Economist). He was painted with his usual beard and a bit of fire in his eyes. Now here are the parts I liked about it. His eyes were looking up to the left, like looking towards heaven. This should be notable because he believed that, more or less to my understand, he thought himself on a mission from God to abolish slavery. Also, instead of even lighting the light seemed to come from where he was looking, which I interpreted as another reference to his 'mission from God' belief. That got me all excited to read about the Kansas abolitionist, so a trip to Barnes & Noble or other bookstore is in the works soon.

Tomorrow I'll be taking a tour through the Justice Department, which is pretty special because they usually don't allow tours. Then Saturday I'll have a tour through the West Wing of the White House with the Warrens. Lots of good stuff coming up. It's been good times and fun so far and will surely only get better with the weekend. Then, after President's Day, I'll head off to Champaigne-Urbana, IL to visit my buddy John for a few nights. Then to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.