Weekend update

To start with- I'm watching TV right now and there is a tornado warning...who knew? I know it's been a few days since I’ve written, but I’ve been insanely busy.

Friday started as usual, breakfast in the dorm cafeteria, then over to the Ranger Dome for speakers. We started with Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, who talked about energy and the future of Colorado-they are putting in huge wind farms, solar panels, etc. Another topic was the protestors at the Convention- Denver is expecting 20,000 protestors throughout the week….TWENTY THOUSAND! But he did laugh and made a comment that he welcomes them with open arms, because even protesters will have to eat while they’re here, and the state will gladly take their money. Then we had a C-SPAN panel to talk about the media, which was interesting, and there was a really opinionated radio talk show host but I didn’t really take notes so I won’t talk about them any more. After the morning session, we got on busses to go across town to the Pepsi Center. The Pepsi Center is the main location of the Convention activities- I will post pictures below. Though the Convention doesn’t start until Monday, it looked amazing and I was awestruck with the building. We got to sit in the middle section and take pictures and see the floor (my friend James was working security and stood at the podium) and the news boxes above, where a couple stations were setting up. There were already protesters outside (anti-abortion) and janitors hosing off the chalk messages written on the sidewalks. Saw a LOT of TV crews outside and saw CNN’s John Roberts. Then we had about 2 hours to kill downtown so a couple of us went with my Professor to ESPN Zone to watch the Cubs game and eat. An older man was joking with me and trash talking me for being a Cubs fan, and when I asked him where he was from he said the south side of Chicago and that he was in Denver as security for Mayor Daley. I only talked to him for a few minutes, but I’m glad I did. Then we walked over to the Denver Convention Center (the other location for DNC activities), but on the way there was a local TV crew that wanted to interview us for the nightly news. We did that, but never saw it air because we were out that night. Anyways, we finished the interview, got some coffee and went to the Convention Center to hear Howard Dean speak. He’s now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He didn’t speak for very long, which was understandable because he must be very busy this weekend. Then we changed clothes and headed over the Coors Field for the Colorado Rockies/Cincinnati Reds game. The Rockies lost, but our decent seats were only $10 and Ashley had never been to a game, so it was a good time. We got back and heard about Obama’s VP choice, so I watched some CNN. I got a text from Obama at 1:49 am confirming his choice for Biden, which I wasn’t very happy about…But I guess it got leaked so they had to confirm it.

Side note: being in Denver, dressed very professionally, wearing our Washington Center credentials around our necks, in a time where you never know who could be important, has really made me feel like a celebrity. Twice, I’ve had older ladies take pictures of my friends and me standing around with their camera phones. I went into a hotel to see if they had an outgoing mail slot to send a b-day card and the front desk was bending over backward to see if I needed any other assistance.


SATURDAY
Didn’t do much, but found out my volunteer hours that I’m supposed to be putting in for the whole week are basically non-existent. I am working only one night, so I spent a lot of time calling Super delegates from Iowa and Illinois. I’m hoping one of them will need someone to put in some time for them, or do SOMETHING. There was a media party at night at Six Flags Elitch Gardens, which we almost didn’t go. It sounded like a bunch of political media people standing around in suits talking about nothing, so the Iowa guys, Ashley, and I talked about skipping it. We thought there might be a little free food though, so we picked up some media passes and headed over. It was an AMAZING night. We got there and had to show our media passes to get in for free- the park was closed to the public. We tried to pay for a locker to put our purses away, but they gave us a key for free. Then people gave us maps of the park and told us every ride and game was open. All the food stands (popcorn, hot dogs, cotton candy, elephant ears) and drinks (Gatorade, lemonades, bottled water) were open too- for free. I played games and when I lost, they gave me stuffed animal prizes-for free. There were beer tents with wine, mixed drinks, mojitos, beer like Blue Moon, Coors, etc- FOR FREE. No tips accepted either. It was the most fun I think I’ll have at an amusement park, ever. For three and a half hours, we ran around and did literally everything there was to do. When the night was ending, there was a fireworks display. But not just one set of fireworks, they went off from three different locations at the corners of the park in sync. Unbelievable.

SUNDAY
Today I haven’t done too much- woke up around 10 and called Patrick Harris (who picked me up from the airport last week). He came to Regis and picked up Ashley and me, and took us to Boulder CO because we’ve never been. We walked around the Pedestrian Mall (loved it) and ate lunch at a local restaurant. We sat up on the patio upstairs and could see all the mountains surrounding us. It was awesome. After lunch, he brought us home and I tried to call some more Super delegates but no one answered their phones. Now I’m just hanging out in the main lounge at Regis, watching a little TV and writing this before I have to do some academic work. I’ll add pictures later.