I Waited Twenty Minutes To See Obama Drive By And All I Got Was To Be Twenty Minutes Late To Work

So, President Obama came to visit the NIH last week. Of course, we didn't get any notification until the night before when an e-mail was sent out saying that there was going to be increased security, road closures, and that we should all make sure to display our ID badges, due to a 'special visitor.' Of course, I didn't get to see him speak as the auditorium was filled with people who had gotten super-secret special tickets beforehand (and a few lucky people that got in line ass-early for first-come lotto tickets), which kinda sucked because it was such a pain to get inside the very building I work in. Apparently, he choppered into the Navy Medical Center across the street and drove in via motorcade and it was a bit amusing seeing so many grown individuals lining the street jumping and cheering like teenage girls at a Backstreet Boys concert (or whoever the equivalent is nowadays - the Jonas Brothers? Miley Fuckin' Cyrus?).

Also, today the new director of the NIH, Francis Collins (Yalie! And head of the Human Genome Project), was awarded the National Medal of Science at the White House. Fun fact: he rides a Harley to work. He also plays guitar and jammed with Joe Perry (of Aerosmith) in a free concert at the Capitol last week.