On Thursday, August 10, 2006 I went to the White House. After work I walked over to the Eisenhower Executive Building to meet a friend of mine named Clay. I walked up to the guard and he asked for my ID. I gave him my student ID, he frowned and said "government issued identification please..." That's when I pulled out my wallet and replied "Sir, I'm 16 and without a Driver's license but I do have my Social Security Card, Credit Card, Student ID, Neiman Marcus Dependent Card, and a box of m&m's from my last visit to the White House." He looked up at me, picked up the phone and said "I'll tell him you're on your way up. Have a nice day, Ms. Vroom" ...that was probably the coolest I had felt all day. I walked inside and took the ancient elevator up to the second floor. Clay was meeting with an ambassador. It turned out his secretary was from Houston and knew a friend of mine. Small world. After visiting with Clay he asked where I was working. I told him, thinking everyone who worked for the president MUST know what the NTI has been working so hard on. He turned to his secretary and said "Emily, you know the NTI?" "Uh...no sir," she replied. I told him it stood for the Nuclear Threat Initiative...expecting a better response. "Holy Cow! That sounds intense. What the hell do you do over there??" I thought to myself how many envelopes I must have labeled that day...and told him that I helped with some VERY important jobs that were completely top secret. "Alright, well wanna head over to the West Wing?"

So, he took me outside first and showed me the rose garden (where he makes some of his speeches), south lawn (where the helicopter lands), swimming pool (hardly uses it), tennis courts (NEVER uses it), and track (for when the President used to run...he bikes now...with Lance Armstrong). Then we went into the Oval Office and he told me that every president gets to re-decorate the office however he (or she) wants to. So for a while I couldn't help thinking how I wanted to re-decorate it. Where would my band posters go, I thought. And my snowglobe collection? Then he pointed to a big painting and bust of Abraham Lincoln. He told me that the president realized his biggest and most important job was to unify the country. And who else to inspire him than the greatest uniter of all, Abraham Lincoln. I wanted to give him some advice when he said that. I mean, maybe take the pictures of Abe down for a week or so and see what happens when the president STOPS trying to "unify" the country...who knows...world peace? Anyway, it was interesting to hear about. We went into the conference room (recently redecorated), by the situation room (don't even THINK about going in there without permission), and spoke with several interesting employees. He told me there were three White House photographers that took pictures for the president and could get into any meeting without having to ask. Every two weeks, the pictures in the White House change. They're all over. Every single hallway. I told him I had just gotten into photography and that maybe one day...who knows...He replied with, "Yes...maybe. Let's keep going." Man, I guess not everybody is so lucky as to be one of THE White House photographers. Hmmm. All in all, it was an extremely interesting tour. I was able to go back to his office and talk about colleges (kinda nice coming from a guy who was probably smartest in his class at Yale and MIT...sheesh) and after he gave me more advice than I knew what to do with, he sent me back on my way.

Friday morning I came into the office to find the bioterrorism corner all in a shambles. "IT'S ALMOST TEN O'CLOCK!!" Kate screamed. "JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE TICKETS GO ON SALE IN 4 MINUTES!!" Then I listened to two scientists discuss a plan to get out of the NTI Board Dinner so they could go to the Justin Timberlake concert at the 9:30 Club. "We all sit in the same area," one said. "we could all catch the same disease!!" Oh man, when 10 o'clock came along they were all trying to get through to get tickets. At 10:02 Kate was freaking out cause she couldn't get through on the website and was afraid they'd sell out. "I don't want to sound rude by saying anything like 'it's just Justin Timberlake' but..." I said through the wall that separated us. "Oh I know! But...HOLY MOTHER OF GOD IT IS SOLD OUT!" she screamed at 10:06. Ah, chaos. Within the next 15 minutes, half the office was searching for tickets on eBay (the cheapest was $400 for two) It was the saddest thing I had ever seen in my life. I couldn't help but laugh when I thought about the note I'd be sending to the Senator after my internship "Thank you for everything, Senator. Oh, and if you by any chance run across two tickets for Justin Timberlake I know Kate would really appreciate it. Great, thanks" Oh my. After everything settled down I said my goodbyes and left jars of candy and mints in the coffee room for Monday. Au Revoir, NTI.