The District (aka My week in our Nation's Capital)

I have been trying to get to this post all week.  It has been a hell of week...where to start?  Here is a perfect example...I was supposed to be on an 8:10 flight back to O'hare this evening and I'm still here.  With that...let's start at the beginning. 

Sunday

I was running so late.  I was worried I wouldn't make my flight.  I left my house at 4AM (after no sleep), had to drive to work, then be at the airport by 5:30 AM.  I was on the shuttle from the extended parking lot by 5:25AM, I don't know how I did it, but I did.  I had enough time to grab a soda and some gummy lifesavers for the flight.  I really wanted a coffee, but lately my stomach gets funny when I fly, so I need to have something sweet (hence the gummy lifesavers) and water or diet soda.  When I left Chicago, it was a balmy 50 degrees (at 6:30 AM)...when I arrived in DC, it was 43 degrees and rainy.  UGH! 

I was at my hotel by 10 AM and checked my bag with the concierge to head out for a day of sightseeing.  Unbeknownst to me, it was the traditional Cherry Blossom Marathon, so the tour was running about 2 hours behind schedule.  There I sat in the rain for 45 minutes waiting for the tour bus.  Fortunately, it was just one of those annoying misty rains and not a torrential downpour.  I rode the bus for about 3 hours, did the whole loop and then Arlington Cemetery.  I was so exhasuted I almost fell asleep on the bus twice.  When the bus returned from Arlington, I got off at the National Museum of the American Indian.  If you have never been there...it is beautiful and worth a visit.  I will have pictures posted to my flickr site as soon as I am back in Chicago (I grabbed the wrong cord). 

I left the Museum around 5:00 and headed back to the hotel.  I was so exhausted, I fell asleep and didn' wake up until 8:30PM.  I just didn't feel much like doing anything, so I ordered pizza and did my monthly report for work.  I turned in for the evening around 11:00PM, as I knew Monday would be a taxing day. 

Monday (AKA Preconference Day from Hell)

The reason I am in DC is for a conference on EU chemical regulation...with special emphasis on the REACH directive.  For those who may read this and have no idea what the heck I am talking about...it is a directive in Europe (which is equivalent to a law in the US) that states that any chemicals being imported in the Europe must be registered.  There is a lot more to it than that...but trust me, you don't want to know.  The meeting began at 9:30 AM, so I figured that if I arrived at 9:00 or so, that I would be fine....well, I wasn't.  The meeting was overbooked and they didn't have enough seats, so I ended up at some odd seats on the side, limited internet access and pretty much felt like I was left out of the discussion. 

Well, after listening to all these people talk, I pretty much felt like I was completely unprepared for this directive and that I was the dumbest person in the room.  This exhausted me.  So, I spent the entire day feeling like an idiot, getting conflicting stories on what the directive actually states and to top it off, I got a huge blister from my shoes. 

After the session, I limped my way across the street into the CVS for some band-aids and then to the Elephant and Castle pub for a healthy dose of Smithwicks and some pub food.  I then hauled myself back up the hill to my hotel and crashed for the evening. 

To be continued...(I have to go and catch a plane...hopefully)