**Yep, new job is a bit different**

Within a 10 day span....

Dinner with MSNBC & Today Show anchor
Dinner with CNN chief international correspondent
Dinner with former assistant to President Clinton and a television commentator/news journalist
Listening to a presentation by a NY Times columnist on Darfur.

Conclusion: I am going to need better work clothes.

** Ahhh, Spring.**

**For the First Time Since Moving In...**

The inside of the house was above 55 degrees in the morning. In fact it was 66 degrees - the highest reading every recorded on the inside thermostat.

After all this.....





























We can credit the warm house to this...

**Conversation with Daughter who flew from Melbourne to Perth**

"So the Perth trip was Fulbright related?"

"Yeah, it was a dinner to celebrate the Australian scholars who are going to the U.S. I sat at a table with the US ambassador to Australia, the head of the University of Western Australia, the premier of Western Australia (equivalent of governor) and a woman who is, apparently, the richest person in Australia. Oh, and an Australian Fulbright Scholar who is doing research on refugee policy was also at the table."

"So, you basically flew the equivalent of NY - CA to have dinner."

"Yep, pretty much. I think it was the longest trip to have dinner ever."

"S., who is on a sustainability kick, is going to hang this one over you for some time."

"But I don't have a car, so even with the flights, I'm doing better than most

for sure."

"No doubt. But we can have a little fun at your expense, right?"

"It's pretty ridiculous, and I openly admit that."

**Whirlwind Week**

I just returned from a conference in Denver. Even after 14 years, the appeal of that town is still there for me. Can't quite pinpoint it though. Just feels like home. Oddly, I barely got outside the Grand Hyatt except for a quick walk in the morning and the trip to a little mexican restaurant near the civic theatre.

The best views were had riding back to the airport. So sad. I just have a hunch that I will end up in Colorado again, someday.

And now I see that my niece passed through Denver this weekend also. She, however, kept going and is skiing in the mountains. She always was the smarter one.