Panda Clinton

Well I had what one could suppose is a particularly Washington Sunday (that was preceded by a rather anarchic Saturday night).

To start at the beginning (as is always best), I headed off at about 2:30 in the afternoon to go to the zoo here to see the famous Panda infant. For those of you not local, Washington has a long and distinguished tradition of bringing in Pandas and killing them (for those offended by such statements, this was something that was relayed to me by a seasoned Washingtonian). Tai-Shan (follow the earlier link to see him in action) is the latest such creature, and is so popular that you have to go online to reserve the tickets (can’t find a link for that – you’ll have to figure it out yourself) ahead of time. So I did, and I then joined the sweaty throngs massed at the zoo to see the little critter fall all over the place. It was admittedly cute, but I kept wondering if these creatures aren’t really on their way shuffling off the end of the genetic coil. I mean, they are unable to reproduce effectively, cannot digest the only food that they eat, and I cannot imagine that they are the smartest things around.

I tried to take some pictures with my fabulous new Razr phone – but they didn’t really turn out so good. Technology is not quite there yet.

Then, as I was walking away from the zoo (having been disappointed and finding that most of the other creatures were understandably in hiding in their metal cages. Truth be told I find zoos rather creepy places), I saw Lord and Lady Clinton strolling along. Truthfully, I recognized her before him. She was a lot shorter than I thought, and he was a lot older and shorter than I thought. So overall, they were short. Not quite midgets, but not the titans that one had been led to believe (or was that just metaphorically….). Amusingly, the person I was strolling along with didn’t actually notice them, and only noticed the rather tacky tracksuit that he was wearing. When she turned to comment, i pointed out who it was. Still, now I can say I have seen an American President in the flesh, and one that I liked too. Halleluiah! Still don’t think she has a chance of winning however in 2008. As an aside, in my searches for things to link them to in this posting, I came across this poster: wonder which way they voted.