Holy crap I need to go here

Where? Here! Awesome!

I'm so not a museum person, evidenced by the number of times I've been to the Irish Natural History Museum which is--at most--a 3 minute walk from my home: zero. Also evidenced by Max and my infamous trip to Euro Disney while everyone else went to the Louvre.

However, I am a useful things person. Evidenced by my collection of snow globes. Obviously. And the Museum of Useful Things is the kind of museum I can dig! To be fair, I can also dig medical-historical type museums like the one at Walter Reed Army Base (the best part is the comment. read the comment.). And also the 24-Hour Church of Elvis, which is kind of like a museum. A museum of crazy.

And also here. Because, I mean, come on.

Early evening on the National Mall

It's humid in DC. Just look at that frizz:



Granted, it was a blustery day yesterday. Perfect weather for checking out the National Sculpture Garden. Yep. Some of our national art is damn strange.



And some of it so awesome, I would hypothetically cross the "Do not cross" line in order to get a better picture. Hypothetically.



Washington DC is more than a city of National thises, National thats, and National the others. It's also a global city of internationalness. Hence the International Spy Museum. It's fun to learn about how the whole world lies to one another in order to learns each other's secrets. And the gift shop was extraordinary. Plus, the sign is super snazzy (you know how I feel about marquees).



I know, I know. "What about the conference? You know, your job?" The conference is going well; it's good to see the international community coming together to promote Small Business. Plus, I get to practice my Swedish. There's a huge focus here on Women's Entrepreneurship, which is exciting especially as some of the Middle Eastern countries are starting to give their female citizens a few more of the freedoms afforded to their male counterparts--financial freedoms, physical freedoms--the elements necessary in enterprise creation. I've always felt that if the women in some of these more volatile societies had more freedom and social responsibilities, there would be less fighting, less religious fundamentalism, less classism and racism, and more education--the US included.

How's that for a tangent?

Honest Abe

We spent yesterday morning at the National Museum of Heath and Medicine in the Walter Reed Army Hospital. Wait--it's better than it sounds. We saw formaldehyded conjoined twins, the history of prosthetic limbs, a hairball shaped like a stomach (removed from compulsive hair-eating girl), and real, live leeches! But the best part was the bullet that killed President Lincoln. It was on display along with bits of his skull, the probe used to dig the bullet out from it's resting place, 6 inches deep in his brain, and a piece of Lincoln's sleeve with drops of blood on it. The whole thing was fascinating.



Fittingly, we spent the evening at the Lincoln Memorial (along with 2,500 high school students. If you come to DC in June, prepare for lots and lots of high school students.). That building is the definition of majesty. I've just started reading Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, and she was a real Lincoln fan. The fact that I heard her voice narrarating as I read the Gettysburg Address on the side of the monument really made the whole experience even more surreal--and more pleasant.



Today I had time to briefly check out the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and the Albert Einstein Planetarium before the work began. Conference set-up went smoothly, and it looks like the International Council for Small Business is ready to rock and roll.

admittedly, it's been a long trip from BEA to the Lake to DC, and I'm missing my dogs and cats something fierce. Ozzy had another emergency trip to the doggie dentist and is now minus one tooth. Luckily, I got him a giant stuffed plush halitosis germ from the Health and Medicine Museum--no teeth necessary.