President Obama gets his priorities straight

I was glad to read in the White House blog today that President Obama is finally getting his priorities straight this month.

White House Photo, 3/17/09, Pete Souza

Which battle would you rather watch?
Louisville versus UNC or the U.S. gov't versus AIG?

And your pick for the winners?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/18/March-Madness-At-the-White-House/

Presidential Prayer Breakfast

I take the 16th street bus to work and then head west walking towards Connecticut Ave, where my office is. The roads were all blocked off with police vehicles, especially outside the Washington Hilton, which is directly across from my building on T street. It didn't occur to me until reading through the White House blog postings that arrive in my Google Reader that President Obama and the First Lady Michelle and hundreds of others were there for the National Prayer Breakfast.

His speech is wonderful. It really calls on us to recognize and cling to our commonalities, no matter our faith backgrounds, so that our nation and our world can truly benefit from it. this is a nice segment from the speech....

"There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all.

But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging. For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve ancient hatreds. And that requires a living, breathing, active faith. It requires us not only to believe, but to do – to give something of ourselves for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world.

In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us."

I'm excited to hear how our new President is going to leverage well established faith-based organizations during his administration to work for change. He's announced an Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to get this going.

Keep up to speed with daily happenings in the Obama administration here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

Playing catch up

Blogging needs to take more of a priority in my life b/c there's just so much cool stuff going on around me and I have so much learning I'd love to share. But living in the city has turned me into a busy body-in the best way possible. So much good going on.

Eventually I'd like to share with you all my experience on Inauguration day. I'm at work now so won't get into it, but here's a teaser: I set up a blog for my group of volunteers who were one the parade route from 5am-6pm that cold, but beautiful day: http://obamavolunteers09.blogspot.com/
I wrote the intro, and only one volunteer has told her story so far. Hopefully more will come.

Photos need some organizing and captions, but check them out anyways: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28351783@N02/sets/72157612825822632/

First week as a DC resident!

So many good and fun things going on. Just to name a few....

1. Moved from home into wonderful group house in NW DC
2. Reveled in the fact that my alertness and general demeanor has improved because of a shorter commute.
   
3. Made new friends
   
4. Spent an 1.5 hrs in the grocery store going through every aisle
   
5. Cooked/baked lasagna, breakfast for one of the housemates, banana bread, cream of broccoli soup
6. Ate lots of cake and had a magnificent birthday with friends and a date
   
7. Went to Attitude Exact art gallery's 20 yr anniversary black tie celebration
8. Stood for over 3 hours with millions of others at the Inauguration Concert Sunday to witness history and proudly welcome our president-elect to his new home . Take a look at the album below.
   

Inauguration Concert "We Are One"

I sought and I found!

Okay so I couldn't be more surprised, grateful and excited about a recent find that showed me how faithful God is to comforting us and supplying our needs, however trite they may be. Check it out.

Senior year of college I had this precious black and blue tea pot and tiny tea cups that my dad brought me from Vietnam. Ashley, Ally and I used them while sitting on our Good Year 23 livingroom floor. I also had a mug from Queretaro, Mexico and two very special handmade animal figures that were on the window sill in that very same apartment - one a glazed ceramic turtle (barro negro) and the other a delicately handpainted armadillo (alebrije is the artwork), both items from Mexico that whenever I saw them reminded me of the value Mexico had in my life.

Well it's been 2 and half years since I last saw all that stuff. I packed them up and left Dickinson but they were no where to be found once I got home. After a few disappointing searches over the years by me and my parents, I resigned to the idea that maybe we packed them up, brought them out to the GY parking lot and place them in a pile to be loaded in the car, which was precisely next to the give away piles near that large truck and then just forgot to get them in the car. I couldn't remember for the life of me who packed the box and carried it out. So overall I was just mindboggled as to what could have happened to so much stuff.

Every so many months I'd revisit the situation and the whole mystery of it drove me nuts over the years and just made me so sad and disappointed in myself - why wasn't I more alert...I always lose stuff....don't I value what I have? ya da ya da.... Then I'd add to this self pity the guilt of the fact that these weren't any old things you could just go buy from pottery barn or target. No, they were from other countries and each had a very special story behind the purchase. So yeah....big bummer.

BUT THEN (!!) tonight I'm sorting through things to bring with me when I move to my new home in DC. Mom points out a big plastic box full of newspaper wrapped items in the most obvious and visible part of the basement. She wondered if if it had Christmas decorations in it, but also suggested that it could be mine.

Opened it up and started unwrapping the paper from one item and I really stumbled a little bit when I saw a tiny black and blue tea cup in my hands. I took the entire box and unwrapped everything finding not just the tea set, but the Qro mug, the turtle and armadillo, a Principia Upper School basketball mug, I'd completely forgotten about, a beautiful ceramic plate made by my brother in law, three little salsa bowls, and a little black ceramic platter with white swirls on it that Carolyn, my brother in law's sister and also a good friend, had bought for me a few years back. I couldn't believe it.

Heck - I don't even need Christmas now! That was the most satisfying unwrapping I've ever done!!!