Cup of Coffee
February 27, 2009
First, we determined the little do it yourself coffee pots in the room would not cut it for the whole week…
Will only do in a pinch!
Pure Elevation? Not so much
Real coffee, on demand
Amazing Grace
February 27, 2009
There are a few things in life that cause you to ask yourself — am i doing what i’m supposed to be doing? Is our family where we are supposed to be? Am i working to my full potential and calling? I’m probably not too different from most people… For me, these reflection times range from everything like walks on the beach to elipticizing in my workout room, running on the streets of my neighborhood with my iPod (with my motimusic ringing), and of course watching a good biographical movie.
Well, this week was a double whammy — walks on the beach AND the watching of Amazing Grace, which told the life of William Wilberforce. If there was ever one person in history with whom I’d like to have dinner, it’s Wilberforce. It is, i’m sure, a gift and a curse to know your pure calling and to be faithful to it through the darkest of days and odds.
Ain’t That Good News?
February 20, 2009
Nice to wake up and see a story that starts by characterizing your industry and livelihood as “sleazy. disingenous. scumbags.” But that’s what I was led to believe about Public Relations by reading USAToday’s book review of “PR: A Persuasive Industry? Spin, Public Relations and the Shaping of the Modern Media,” a new book out by Trevor Morris and Simon Goldsworthy. Pretty fascinating that they engage in so much hand-wringing around ethics of the profession. Sure there are unscrupulous characters out there in PR, just as there are in advertising, lobbying, sales, politics, you name it! At the end of a day, don’t sell, hawk, pitch, or market a product, company, or person if you don’t believe in what they’re about at their core. But to single out PR is crazy and misses the critical role the industry plays in our information exchange society.
And with the industry growing at 30% a year, I bet there are probably a lot of out of work, once purist journalists who are giving it a second look. It will continue to be wild ride in this information ecosystem we call the modern news cycle. I’m happy to be part of that…
Hail to the Chief…
February 11, 2009
Living in Washington has me a bit jaded, I suppose. Even though my husband goes to work every day to a place of great prestige and power, which some have only seen on television, we often do the requisite complaining about his commute and hours. For shame!!!
Why this mea culpa? I was called to account and to a renewed respect for this place called the White House this week, not through any Christmas party visit, after-hours WW tour or presidential press conference, but through C-Span, which has created the most comprehensive and beautiful documentary of “the People’s House.” From the descriptors of Washington’s (who never inhabited the House) plans to pictures of Eleanor Roosevelt’s (first only female reporters allowed) press conference, to the first ever video of the 3rd Floor Coolidge Solarium and a peak into Laura Bush’s yellow oval room, it is a fascinating and top-notch exploration.
It seems every president, including our current one, wants to be like Abe. The references to President Abraham Lincoln were ummatched in this documentary, punctuated by the recent refurbishing of the Lincoln Bedroom to match the style of the room when he inhabited the White House. How amazing and fitting now, as tomorrow we mark the 200th anniversary of his birth.
The C-Span documentary crew had few restrictions placed on their exploration; only a few Mansion spots were off limits apparently — the swimming pool and the Presidential Master bath (come on!) but other than that, most of the House was fair game, even the Chocolate “factory”.
The original House of Klause enjoys the 2008 Christmas tree in the Blue Room of the White House
For the C-Span show, you can see the trailer here, but we bought the DVD for $10 and I plan to buy many more to give as gifts. Now, if you want a close up tour from 2008 Christmastime, “A Red, White and Blue Christmas”, go over to Big Red Kitchen and see Rob and Robin touring the public rooms of the House.
You can always book the public tours, but when the wicked-cool West Wing tours open up again with the new Administration, we just might know some insiders….
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us
February 9, 2009
I blogged several years ago that it was at a low and scary point in my life, when I was six months pregnant and hospitalized with a severe blood clot in my left leg, where I felt the most deep and overwhelming love of God towards me….a love I could not explain, but which rushed over me as I lay alone in the dark. It is that very real and vast and warm love that I hope for my friend Kristin right now as she experiences the loss of her husband Ray. As you can read on their family blog, Ray Fitzgerald fought a hard battle with cancer for less than a year, but God walked with them through the darkest of times and as Kristin puts it, even chose this road for them. From the moment Ray was diagnosed with stomach cancer to Kristin’s tribute to him and honesty about — now — his absence, they have been ”not alone and not afraid.” On their blog, there are numerous updates from Kristin and remarkable tributes from Ray’s old congressional boss, Rep. Shimkus.
Kristin herself calls attention to scripture:
“Praise be to the God andFather of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the suffering of Christ flow into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” – Psalm 68:5