I may lie, but I never exaggerate.

At the end of this week I feel a little numb. With great expectations of dinner out with friends dashed, I ordered Thai to go and cozied in to watch a movie and wait until Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday caught up with me, then promptly roll on over me. The three events that made up this week were a coffee my office hosted for a university president, the introduction of one of the bills that I work on, and the Oregon State Society celebration of Oregon's birthday.

Oh wait...The House also passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act worth some $787 billion. In honor of that, I wore my fancy suit with workable buttons on the cuffs and my fancy shoes. But seriously, this bill was a big deal on many accounts and as I sat in the front office and watched the votes come in, I knew that it was one of those times I would try and remember. The reality is, this isn't the last time we will be spending this kind of cash in order to save this economy, so maybe if I happen to forget where I was this time...I can remember wher I was for the second, or third time. The debate on this bill has lasted for about two weeks now, and what I objected to most earnestly (ha, that's polite) was the distinctly Republican notion that the jobs created in this bill were for faceless, jack-booted bureaucrat government employees, which is not true at all. The money (mountains of it) will go toward contracts to hire private firms to do work on behalf of the federal government. The last time I checked we didn't have construction crews in USA jumpsuits building highways, or federal crews for weatherproofing houses of the elderly, and federal outfits for wind turbine installation. The insipid rhetoric on display wore on us so that by the time Approps Chairman Obey and Mayority Leader Hoyer finally took the floor to kick the snot out of those who were weaving tales of earmarking the bill and at the same time were under investigation for ethics violations, we were all licking our lips waiting for blood to be spilled.

Back to calmer times: These small staff coffee things, are more like tiny, closed door briefings are actually useful for two reasons; The first being that you get to take a meeting with someone who would probably otherwise want to meet with your boss, and two; You get to own the meeting - as in all the other staff that attends is on your turf, and you need to shine. That's basically political tool, and it signifies the close relationship you and your office have with the institution.

After that was done, our office introduced our bill on psoriasis. This is actually not entirely time consuming, but the coordination can be frustrating as there are press components and sometimes last minute additions to cosponsor lists, and deference you need to pay to certain Members as they key up behind your boss. Amazingly enough being the third original cosponsor can sometimes be as coveted as batting clean up for the Yankees. At the end of this step in the process, our outside groups were pleased, and I got virtual pats on the back.

This Oregon State Society event is always a great event and an excuse to see folk in a social setting that you would otherwise spend twenty minute increments with talking about their priorities. The Society is a loosely configured, volunteer run, social networking group that puts together events that tie the Oregon community closer together. So even though we might disagree, or hold grudges, we can occasionally raise a glass to Oregon, My Oregon. The room was tight, and the food and booze was plenty, so I think everyone had a good time. I have to say that other than our annual banquet, we probably had more Oregonians in one room than any other time this year (save for the inauguration, but that was basically a fly-in).

This weekend intends to reflect the opposite of the preceding days. I would like to ride, and having three days, I figure I can get out and do 30 miles each day. I am pretty pleased with myself that I was able to ride six days straight this week, and I would like to keep it up. I had a reasonably intelligent, confident and insightful conversation with a vice president of the Commonwealth Fund this week regarding health care policy reform so I am thinking of finding a nook at the NGA to sit in and read some briefing material I have assembled. I may also find myself at brunch and a movie, but regardless of what I end up doing, I think the weekend will undoubtedly contain sleep, punctuated with flashes of what I didn't do (clean out my mountainous inbox, call ODOT, email what's his face) and cravings for a much simpler life.