No, really.

I swear I'll post a couple of pictures soon. I just found the charger to my camera, so I'll post pictures after Thanksgiving.

Anyway, I was talking to Laura and Nikki this weekend and realized that I probably haven't told anyone this. Barack Obama and his transition team actually work on 38th floor of my building everyday. Most people I've told that to, it's because I'm venting about the new security that goes along with all that. They put it in place the day before the election, so either they were really confident of the outcome or they were trying to be safe. Last tuesday, word was that John McCain was also in the building. There is pretty much no way possible that we would ever see any of them, the way the building is set up and the security. There are never news vans or videocameras outside because he comes in a motorcade down onto a ramp that goes into the building (or so I assume). They shut off the roads when the motorcade is coming in and out. He lives in Hyde Park, which is only about 5 miles South of us. So they've put barricades up all the way around the building so that you can't actually get up to the doors except by showing your ID at the barricade at which point they let you in. If you don't have a federal ID (which is the way we used to be able to get in with no additional security measures) you have to have some proof of your business there. The passport office and immigration are in our building so that makes for fun times. Then we ALL have to go through the metal detectors. Oh, excuse me, that is everyone except the people that are allowed to carry guns - DEA, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, formerly the INS), FBI, although they have no real reason to be in the building. The first couple of days there were up to 1 hour long waits to go through the detectors, but they've added 2 and gotten the hang of it. The elevator bank up to where the President-Elect is has it's own metal detector with a privacy screen (which really makes me wonder what's going on back there). We used to be able to keep our coats on and put any food or drink on a table, but now everything has to go through. At least we get to keep our shoes on. So as I'm writing this, I'm kind of wondering if I'll be contacted by the FBI or something telling me to delete this. Hm. That would be bad. Anyway, I'm not telling you anything that about 500 other people already know. What's really annoying is the whole barricades and only one exit and one entrance thing (on opposite sides of the building). Mostly just because it's freaking cold outside and having to walk all the way around the building to get in sucks. Also, our regular security guards, who we all know, are all on duty, but so are some ICE officers, and they aren't always too nice. Anne calls them Ice-holes. :) So yeah, I totally understand WHY they have to do this, but it just sucks that it has to be my building that I have to go to work in everyday. You know, this is my life. It's not like I'm a tourist to the White House, where it's a one time thing that's expected. We're talking 3 or 4 times a day through the metal detectors. And the best is when you get behind someone that actually works at the building and has already done this a hundred times and STILL doesn't know how to go through the things and get their stuff off of the conveyer and everything. It's aggravating. But it's kind of a weird feeling to know all these Super Important People are in the building all the time. But for the most part I think we're all waiting for it to be over.