The President Ruined My Lunch

Topic(s): me,science
2004-03-04 23:41:01 PST

The president ruined my lunch today. Yes, that president. President Bush. And I'm convinced he did it on purpose. How, you ask?

The president was in the Bay Area today. He started out in L.A., then flew up to Bakersfield, and finally into San Jose. All this so he could raise money for his campaign. I guess his San Jose speech ended just about 2pm, because that's when I left work to grab a bite.

I was driving on an access road, and I noticed that the entrance ramp I usually take to get onto the highway was blocked by a police car. I bypassed that entrance ramp and drove to the next. Same thing - blocked by a police car. At this point I was a bit perplexed. I looked around and noticed there were police cars everywhere. I thought perhaps a movie was being filmed on the highway, as happens sometimes in the Bay Area, so I decided to try a different highway. I continued on my access road (Moffett Park Drive), which took me to the edge of Moffett Airfield. At this point there were foot police, police cars, and motorcycles everywhere. They would not let me go any further. I had to turn around and wait on the on-ramp to 101. A few minutes went by and five police cars led by a limousine passed by. A bit later the police cars relented and let me on to 101. At that point I could clearly see the reason for all the police. Air Force One was sitting on the tarmac at Moffett Airfield.

So why am I convinced the president purposefully ruined my lunch? Because there's no other reason for him to be here. He was in the Bay Area to raise funds for his campaign? What a joke. He'll be lucky to raise 30 cents here.

(Sarcasm aside...)

Today gives me reason to give our government credit for doing something well. The House of Representitives approved H.R. 3752. H.R. 3752 clears up many issues relating to commercial space flight. Prior to H.R. 3752, it was not clear who commercial companies should go to for space flight licenses. In fact, Scaled Composites listed government licensing issues as their largest remaining hurdle before they could start commercial space flights. This bill should make Burt Rutan (Scaled Composites' founder), as well as all of us who hope to visit space someday, very happy.

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