Movers and Shakers

There's Auntie Jo....Going and giving them IMF Folks a what-for! Such a schoolin- they posted her on their IMF Blog

The gathering on October 1 in Istanbul, ahead of the IMF’s Annual Meetings, was the culmination of a five-month consultation with civil society organizations. The Fourth Pillar representatives, chaired by Jo Marie Griesgraber of the Washington-based New Rules for Global Finance coalition, presented their final report to the Managing Director–which they had earlier discussed with the IMF Executive Board.

I'm Kindof A Big Deal

Another one from the "People know my name" files. 

Lawson Vaughn, soccer player for the USA Chivas sat at my table. He and his two friends (another soccer player and his gf.) were very nice. But it happens - I have no idea who they are when the start to casually name drop.
"I'm in from LA."
"Shut Up - I'm from San Diego!, What brings you to DC?"
 "Playing against DC United."
"Oh you play soccer? that's cool - you do look like a runner. bet you can't wait to get back to L.A., I sure do miss my taco shops! Now I have tried to explain to people why guacamole is so much better in Socal - but most people here are grossed out by avacados........"
Thank God Todd was there to go fluff his ego - FAIL: the pro-sports thing went right over my head as the great guaco debate came to the forefront. Whoops!

How To Talk To A Conservative If You Have To

Share your coffee creamer with them, apparently they drink coffee just like us moderates. Ann Coulter was in studio to promote her new book.

I wasn't aware and was a little shell shocked when I turned around in the kitchen to see her making coffee before the show.

I've gotta say, she puts on a good show in front of the cameras getting everyone's blood pressure rocking, but off stage, she's way cool.

Where Everyone Knows Your Name

Well sort of.

So I'm sitting at my favorite local watering hole (and predecessor to my retirement project Zoe and Joes) The Crystal City Sports Pub when who should I see...none other than Terry McAuliffe, former Clinton Fundraiser and DNC Chairman;  and current Gubernatorial candidate.

It all happened so fast, I didn't get the opportunity to work my Jen Richer charm and say hello again (we've met two other times) but I was able to snag a photo from a guy who snapped it on his iphone.

Celebrities eh, but politicos heck this was a full blown TMZ moment for me. Running to tell the owners who I just saw eating in their bar, I was expecting at least one 'wow' or at least a 'now way."

Instead I received four blank stares and one bold "who?". So much for everyone knowing your name - even if you are running for governor.

The Tweedles

After you start to spend a considerable amount of time together...you start to look like each other.

On this particular day, the members of a certain unnamed news organization arrived on the scene donning.....uniforms?

Mr. A to Z

Jason Mraz in the house! While he may be from Va, he is a San Diego staple (he was discovered at our very own Java Joes!)

While I hail from America's finest city, I am now a Va resident! Here's Jason performing here at our studios in DC.

With all the people that we meet coming through the studios, this one was one to write home about. He's sooooo laid back, a refreshing reminder of home!

Romancing the Stone

In town to release her new book, Send Yourself Roses, Bill Thompson and I made an impromptu visit to the screen siren Kathleen Turner at Border's Books last May. Bill even got an interview for his website!

She is incredibly self-assured, flamboyant and gracious! I can only hope to have such a hold over the crowd as she has when I am fifty!

A Damn Shame!

Rest In Peace Tony:


WASHINGTON (AP) - Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as President Bush's press secretary, died Saturday of colon cancer. He was 53.

"America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character," President Bush said in a statement from Camp David, where he was spending the weekend. "It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work."
Snow died at 2 a.m. at Georgetown University Hospital, according to former employer Fox News.

Snow, who served as the first host of the television news program "Fox News Sunday" from 1996 to 2003, would later say that in the Bush administration he was enjoying "the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I'm ever going to have."

Snow was working for Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio when he replaced Scott McClellan as press secretary in May 2006 during a White House shake-up. Unlike McClellan, who came to define caution and bland delivery from the White House podium, Snow was never shy about playing to the cameras.

With a quick-from-the-lip repartee, broadcaster's good looks and a relentlessly bright outlook - if not always a command of the facts - he became a popular figure around the country to the delight of his White House bosses.

He served just 17 months as press secretary, a tenure interrupted by his second bout with cancer. In 2005 doctors had removed his colon and he began six months of chemotherapy. In March 2007 a cancerous growth was removed from his abdominal area and he spent five weeks recuperating before returning to the White House.

"All of us here at the White House will miss Tony, as will the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer," Bush said.

Snow resigned as Bush's chief spokesman last September, citing not his health but a need to earn more than the $168,000 a year he was paid in the government post. In April, he joined CNN as a commentator.

As press secretary, Snow brought partisan zeal and the skills of a seasoned performer to the task of explaining and defending the president's policies. During daily briefings, he challenged reporters, scolded them and questioned their motives as if he were starring in a TV show broadcast live from the West Wing.

Critics suggested that Snow was turning the traditionally informational daily briefing into a personality-driven media event short on facts and long on confrontation. He was the first press secretary, by his own accounting, to travel the country raising money for Republican candidates.
Although a star in conservative politics, as a commentator he had not always been on the president's side. He once called Bush "something of an embarrassment" in conservative circles and criticized what he called Bush's "lackluster" domestic policy.

Most of Snow's career in journalism involved expressing his conservative views. After earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Davidson College in North Carolina in 1977 and studying economics and philosophy at the University of Chicago, he wrote editorials for The Greensboro (N.C.) Record, and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.

He was the editorial page editor of The Newport News (Va.) Daily Press and deputy editorial page editor of The Detroit News before moving to Washington in 1987 to become editorial page editor of The Washington Times.

Snow left journalism in 1991 to join the administration of the first President Bush as director of speechwriting and deputy assistant to the president for media affairs. He then rejoined the news media to write nationally syndicated columns for The Detroit News and USA Today during much of the Clinton administration.

Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox News, called Snow a "renaissance man."

Robert Anthony Snow was born June 1, 1955, in Berea, Ky., and spent his childhood in the Cincinnati area. Survivors include his wife, Jill Ellen Walker, whom he married in 1987, and three children.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)