Back from Philly

Holiday wreaths at Union Station, Washington, D.C.

Took the train to Philadelphia today for an afternoon symposium on building partnerships between business and education. The aim: Building financially-sustainable schools. Very interesting and well-done conference. Paul Begala, Crossfire co-host and counselor to former President Clinton, was on the panel, as were venture capitalists and banking types.

Went to my book club last night. The members are all 20 and 30-something professional women who work as management consultants, journalists, politicos and federal government employees. One is going with her husband, who's working his way up in the RNC, to one of the White House's holiday receptions. Should be a good party.

As usual, and one reason why I love getting together with these folks, is that we talk about the book for about 20 minutes, then chat about everything from TV shows such as "Pimp My Ride" and "Desperate Housewives" to recent comings and goings in the Bush Administration to Eminem's new album to the genocide in Darfur.

Doggie Update #2: The adoption counselor finally called last Friday and chatted with us. I talked to her after she talked to my SO. She said that he wasn't as "on board" on our first choice, a lab mix named Durham, as I was, and suggested we visit the animal welfare league one more time. Sigh. So we're doing that this Saturday.