March 4, 2007

CPAC: Pictures Speak A Thousand ...

I got back this afternoon from my CPAC adventure, tired out and glad to be home, but happy with the weekend's work. I'll be grateful for my own bed after the rather unpleasant stay I had at the Washington Plaza Hotel in DC.

The place looks like a million bucks from the outside on Thomas Circle, but it looks like $1.50 on the inside. It has unique balconies that are shared for the entire floor, which means anyone can wander by your room. The balcony door only has a normal doorknob (the main room entrance is from the interior hallway), and mine fell off in my hand the first night I arrived. I asked twice the next morning for them to fix it, but when I got back to my room the next night, it was still broken. After listening to a bunch of foul-mouthed, loud lunatics on the balcony until 1 am, I got about four hours of sleep. I went down to the desk the next morning, this time with the doorknob in hand, and told them I expected to get a phone call when it got fixed.

After making several calls myself back to the hotel, they finally fixed it around 6 pm or so. They jammed it back onto the latch just tight enough so it wouldn't fall off again, rather than replacing the entire assembly, as they should have done. I won't stay there again, and neither should you.

But that's not the memory I want to recall for CPAC. I had some troubles with the camera interface and didn't get to post as many pictures as I wanted, but here are a few that will give CQ readers an idea of the fun and hard work we experienced on Bloggers Row.

1. The beginning of Blogger Row on Thursday morning.
2. This dolphin haunted the exhibition hall throughout CPAC. Someone wanted to point out Mitt Romney's flip-flops.
3. On Saturday, this babe got chased by the Grim Reaper, asking for someone to save her from an abortion. Someone else quipped, "Get Brownback to save you!"
4. Brownback was busy. (Actually, this was from Friday.)
5. NZ Bear brought Victory Caucus pens. They didn't last long -- everyone wanted one. The only other free pens came from Michelle and Brian for Hot Air.
6. Mary Katharine Ham, Karol Sheinin, and Flip Pidot at Happy Hour on Friday.
7. Jane Mom, Kevin McCullough's beautiful and intelligent wife Amy, and Kevin himself either giving me the thumbs-up or measuring me for a painting.

UPDATE: Here's a late addition that shows why I have such fond memories of CPAC:

cpac_8.jpg

Who wouldn't have a great time sitting between Mary Katharine and Jane Mom for three days?

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