it's true. district of columbians, not belonging to any certain state, have no voting representatives in congress. *

ronald reagan airport, conveniently located along a WMATA subway line. *

i love its resemblance to a giant old train station. *

and here it comes. you know well from this website that i love metros! i worked for the company that designed and built... *

...all these ticket vending machines... *

...and the gates. *

WMATA stands for... *

...Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. *

this mysterious machine was chained to a railing. it hummed softly. every few moments it shook a little and hummed louder, and then emited a poof of vapor. anybody know what this is? *

and here we have the treasury, deep within which you will find OFAC (say that out loud!), the Office of Foreign Asset Control, who runs the Cuban embargo. *

...and here we have the Turkish Embassy. I loved seeing the embassies everywhere! *

cherry blossoms were going full tilt upon my arrival. *

and these parts of the world are very familiar to me now. *

okay, this little device was hidden among the gardens in front of the capitol. communications transponder? i tested it out with a few anti-bush and anti-FOX statements... and i wasn't shuttled away. in fact, i proceeded to waltz into the senate (after picking up a pass from Barbara Boxer's office) for a few hours of immigration hearings. all the gang was there-- kennedy, clinton, kerry, lieberman, etc. check out the senate the next time you're in town. it's open to the public, and rather fascinating. *

these neocons don't have to lobby so hard anymore. *

i was allowed into the oval office. each of these speaking tubes runs under the city to various locations. one to the pentagon, one to the capitol, one to the supreme court, and one to the arctic national wildlife refuge. *

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danika and carolina saluting to windward *

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a long sleepless night of work, and then the surreal wired WMATA ride to the airport... *

followed by a plane adventure and a surreal sleepy MARTA ride through atlanta. *