a new day dawns, and i am practicing my purpose once again

The snow is melting, birds are chirping, tourists crowd the Metro, and I'm finally getting back in the swing of things in the capital. I'm hesitant to say spring is arriving, but it got up to 50 on Sunday and that was good enough for me! A few months ago, I listed Boston as a potential place to live after graduation. After (barely) surviving Snowmageddon, it's safe to say that this little bird is ready to fly back south...forever.

Last week I attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which is an annual gathering of over 10,000 conservatives, think tanks, and leaders. It was, to say the least, interesting. On one hand, it was a great opportunity to learn about issues, meet new people, and get excited about midterm elections. On the flip side, there were definitely some crazies. My personal favorite was the Tea Party rep who dressed up in a different pre-Revolutionary War outfit each day and waved his "Don't Tread on Me" flag from the balcony.

I got the chance to hear a lot of great speakers - Lynne Cheney, Dick Cheney (right before his heart attack!), Scott Brown, Newt Gingrich, Jim DeMint, Ann Coulter (speaker? comedian? who knows), and Mitt Romney. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone. Even if I didn't agree with everything they said, it was interesting to hear the opinions of people who really know what they're talking about.

Romney was definitely my favorite. For starters, he was the only one who really touched on reforming the education system, which I thought was great. He's a great speaker and has an excellent economic record, which is more than I can say about our sitting president. Gingrich was pretty good too, and he stayed away from the divise language that some of the other speakers used. He really hit home with his comments about the importance of bipartisanship during a bad economy, and he's gotten a proven record of successfully working across party lines.

In the epic battle of Hillary vs. Machine, it is currently Hillary, 0, Machine, a bazillion. The camcorder Mac told me to buy was not compatible with the software on my Mac computer, and the new software Mac sold me was not compatible with my Mac operating system. Luckily, I used the skills of persuasion I picked up from watching my mom sweet talk her way out of so many speeding tickets to talk my was past a two hour wait at the Mac store and into some new programming. Thanks, Mom.