Take that, Maria Shriver!

It's snowing! Whee! Snow is always fun - when you're looking out the window in your office building and don't have to walk/drive/shovel.

So today is my first day back at work after several days of adventures in Harrisburg/Hershey. I went up for the Governor's inaugural events - I drove to Hershey on Monday for the pre-inaugural dinner (the fundraiser Michelle and I have been working on) and it was foggy! Whew... but, random observation - when driving in heavy fog, listening to the Hush Suite from the Once More With Feeling soundtrack makes everything scarier. That stop sign looming by the side of the road? Becomes a spooky stop sign. That bus traveling down the road in the opposite direction? Becomes a spooky bus. I kept waiting for the Gentlemen to pop up on the other side of a hill or something.

Anyway, the campaign paid for me to stay at the Hotel Hershey, which is awesome. I could really get used to valet parking and Hershey kisses on my pillow and all that good stuff. We had the pre-inaugural dinner (black tie, very swanky) at the Hershey Country Club, which was also awesome, even though I got lost (in the fog, naturally) trying to get back to the hotel. And after the dinner, since most of the guests from the dinner were staying at the same hotel, there was an impromptu night of drinking and debauchery with the Gov in the hotel bar. (Although the Gov left before most of the debauchery.) It was truly a lesson in how not to behave in social situations. There were at least two people who got slobbering drunk and made themselves look like idiots in front of the rich and powerful of PA. I, on the other hand, made friends with the union guys, who bought me drinks and charged them to their boss's room. Heh, union guys.

The swearing-in ceremony was, well, really friggin cold. Naturally, we couldn't have the outdoor ceremony on Monday, when it was a balmy 50 degrees out. No, we waited until Tuesday, when the cold front rolled in. Seriously, whose idea was it to hold inaugurations outside in January? That was a stupid stupid person. Fortunately, the Gov kept it short... except the damn Rabbi talked longer than the Gov... we were all, "Get the cane! Get him off the stage!" And it wasn't even just that he was long-winded, he was also marvelously inappropriate (check the Philadelphia Inquirer for his comments on the Governor's many sins). But I was on PCN, so woohoo for me. I was standing next to Jaclyn and Dan Fee and there was this guy with a camera pointed right at us, so we're all, "Act natural." Then Jaclyn gets a text message from someone saying, "You're on PCN. You look good, but Dan Fee's hat is silly."

I got minorly lost driving back and forth from Hershey to Harrisburg, mostly because I didn't think to ask for directions, so I kind of just made them up. I looked upon it as a learning experience, which I call "getting to know the area" since I will be moving there soon (if Steve Crawford ever gets his ass in gear), and will need to find my way to Hershey so I can visit Christi (who, by the way, was too cool to spend time with me while I was up there. Like med school really demands so much of your time).

The inaugural ball was Tuesday night at the Farm Show. Yes, that's right. There were animals in the very building we were in, not one week before. All of us, black tied and fancy dressed, and last week there were cows. Fortunately, it didn't smell too bad. I was expecting much worse. The concert was awesome - there were lots of different acts, but the highlight of course was Jon Bon Jovi, who sang a duet with the Judge (that would be Mrs. Rendell). Which of course prompted the Gov to give me the title of my post - which is rivaling "Place your left hand on the bible, dear" as best quote of the inauguration.

Then after the concert came the eating and the drinking and the mingling and the dancing. Got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in awhile, spent some time hanging with Ben Donahower, who I think knew everyone at the ball. Then had a fun little adventure where Ben tried to break into a parking garage after midnight in order to get his car out. I watched. (He did get his car, by the way.)

And so, after a much less spooky (no fog, and different music) drive home, I am back at work (I did get the day off yesterday, which was nice), looking out my window, watching the snow.

I mean, working.