Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Reception

So yesterday I went with Doua to the Capitol Vistors Center for the CAPAC (Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus) Reception.

It was interesting to see the entire room filled with all the APA "must knows" . .

• Elected Officials -- Honda, Mineta, Cao, Scott (who I found out was 1/4 Filipino), Lee, Woolsey, etc. etc.
• EDs of all the APA alphabet soup organizations -- JACL, OCA, APAICS, CAPAC, NAPAWF, NaFFAA, etc. etc.

. . and last but not least, folks like me!

It was a reception to welcome the two new CAPAC members who have just been elected into Congress and who have just recently joined CAPAC. I forget who the person was from one of our territories . . but when Honda introduct Cao . . he repeatly pointed out that as a Republican, Cao makes CAPAC bipartisan.

I think at this point . . Cao probably needs as many friends as he can get. Seeing that he won the election because of some pretty special circumstances AND is facing a recall petition.

snow snow and more snow in DC

In what folks are saying this "Could be the Largest Winter Storm in Three Years" (and by folks, I mean the Washington Post), I found saw some pretty interesting stuff while walking to the bus stop and walking to work.

First, there was a young mother, her son (probably around 3) and their big fuzzy dog making snow angels on the corner of Kenyon and Sherman. Just smack dab on the side walk flapping their arms like excited Californians in Tahoe or at Big Bear. Also, according to our local wine store, since most of the people in my neighborhood are from California (as he observed from checking IDs when people purchase alcohol), it's a good chance the family was from California.

Second, also while walking to the bus stop from my house, I saw a man "shoveling" the snow from the side walk in front of his house. I say, "shoveling" because the man really wasn't shoveling. He was more like sweeping. He was sweeping the snow. You know, it barely snows in DC . . I suppose Sarah Jo and I aren't the only ones who don't think it's worth it to invest in a snow shovel. This man obviously didn't think it was necessary either. However, I do commend his resourcefulness and commitment to being a good neightbor in Columbia Heights. Shovel or no shovel, I know I will very much appreciate his efforts in a few days when all this beautiful white powdery-ness turns to ugly gross dark ice and slush.

Lastly, while walking to Whole Foods to buy my lunch, I saw an older woman (probably in her 50s) walking her dog. This is normal in DC. What is not normal in DC (or I might even so much as say . . the rest of the country/world), the dog had on some really cute red snow shoes on. Okay, okay. So I guess they weren't snow shoes, they were more like little booties for babies.

Anyway, I'm trying to enjoy this while it lasts . . it's hard to though because I know it's going to melt and make walking around a life and death situation.