To say the last 40 days of my life has been the experience of a lifetime is the understatement of the year. Starting with picking up Robert Stacy at South Station on January 14 to today life has and continues to go in amazing and interesting directions. CPAC has been (so far) the culmination of that period, but that doesn’t mean it is all over.
Wednesday began with my late arrival at Mass. Due to a time mix-up I missed my regular parish but just made it to St. Joseph’s parish in time to receive Ashes. As I hadn’t been to confession I received both confession and communion after mass and then headed home. Most of the packing was done the night before so there was little to do other than confirm various stuff. I was rather frustrated by my inability to find my Knights of Columbus Rosary, I was hoping to touch base with my fellow Knights there (still ran into several all 4th degree to my mere 2nd) but my wife provided me with a very nice spare that was in the drawer next to the PC.
Next stop was Dutch Kitchen bakery. They carry the traditional Cannoli in two different sizes and several types. I bought as many as I could fit in a small box to carry on. Lucky for me Roxanne at Haemet assured me that it wouldn’t be a carry on problem.
I arrived VERY early to the airport, I hadn’t been on a commercial flight for 17 years (5th wedding anniversary) so it was rather interesting. Because I came so early the security measures were fairly easy as nobody was waiting behind me. Since it had been so long since my last flight the measures didn’t really bother me at all.
Next came the flight itself, I sat next to a fascinating gentleman who worked at Raython (I worked there out of college myself). He is apparently an expert in Nanotechnology so I’m already got Glenn Reynolds Jealous. I immediately found myself in conversation as I held the box on Cannoli on my lap. The conversation was fascinating going everywhere from the war to Beef Stroganoff, really nice guy, the flight time simply disappeared into vapor.
But soon enough I was landed and picked up by a person just as nice Smitty! We had one of several great conversations during the drive to his house. I settled in quickly and he then dropped me off at the metro station so I could register for CPAC proper.
The hotel was pretty impressive, I headed to the registration booth where I was informed that I missed registration by 30 minutes, however that gave me the chance to start the interviews that I conducted over the next several days.
I’m not much of a drinker so hanging at the bar would normally not be my scene however I grew up in a bar so to speak so I’m also very comfortable at one. There were a fair amount of people at the place and it’s were I met the first of many bloggers that I would befriend namely Steve Eggleston of No Runny Eggs.
Going from table to table I just started talking and interviewing anyone that struck me. While doing so I saw a face I knew but couldn’t place. It took me a few seconds to recognize him as Scott Brown’s campaign manager.
I found myself sharing a table with Pam Gellar, Barbara Espinosa and Evan Sayet. Evan I was meeting for the first time, Barbara I had exchanged e-mails with and Pam I met in Boston at the Scott Brown party. I must confess I was a tad embarrassed since I had once described her as “incredibly attractive”. She is an interesting person, fun but very blunt. She is the type of strong woman that reminds me of my oldest sister. I also met Michael who I instantly took a liking to. I would constantly run into over the next few days. I also met Tanya from the blog Midnight Blue for the first ( but not the last ) time.
Shortly thereafter I ran into Robert Stacy. You know it was a very good feeling to see him again. We spent a ton of time together compressed into a single week and in that time the friendship we formed via e-mail and phone became solid. Stacy has been a catalyst for all the amazing events that have surrounded me, he is like a force of nature that leaves confusion in its wake but also brings renewal and positive change. Consider for a moment the irony that if Charles Johnson hadn’t attacked Robert Stacy, leading to my defense of him none of the events to this point would have happened. Who says God doesn’t make lemonade out of lemons?
After a series of interesting conversations it was time to crash, so it was back on the Metro and off to the house, where I finally opened up a youtube account and started uploading video and scheduling post. My excellent adventure at CPAC was about to begin.
Update: adding links after the fact since the Cellar cleaning takes priority.
Update: Parts two and three are up.
Update 2: Bad links fixed
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