I'm working late tonight covering the Obama speech. Earlier I was at the State Department waiting for Hillary Clinton and the Pakistani foreign minister to make a statement after their meeting. They were 45 minutes late for the press briefing, which is really annoying when the whole thing lasts 3 minutes.

They let the still photographers crouch in front of the videographers. There were a couple journalists who were obviously not still photographers, but happened to have little cameras, so they were allowed upfront. Unfortunately they were not keen on the idea of sitting. The CNN cameraman and I told them repeatedly to sit down and stay down until Clinton has left the room. They finally sat down a couple minutes before the briefing, but jumped up as she was leaving the room, ruining the walk-out shot. Why are people so obnoxious?

I tried to make a nice Valentines day dinner for Emily and I, but failed miserably. The sauce was suppose to be a vinegar reduction to go on the steak, but the sugar caramelized and it turned into a hard, sticky mess. The worst part is that it didn't harden until I got it onto the steak. It stuck to the plates and silverware like vinegar flavored hard candy. We had to throw out the pot I made it in. The potatoes were good and the steak was good, but I didn't know that you are suppose to cut the ends off fresh green beans. Emily had to cut the ends off each one before eating them. I made bought chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. They were good, but the chocolate didn't stay on. We had to eat a bite of strawberry then a bite of chocolate. Even that was hard, because the chocolate flaked off all over us.

My poor, sweet sugar glider Morty died last night. He seemed fine yesterday, but today he was just laying at the bottom of his cage holding onto the bars. I picked him up and tried to feed him, but he was very lethargic and didn't want to eat. Emily and I brought him to the vet last night. They put him on oxygen and tried to figure out what was wrong. But about an hour after we got to the vet, he passed away. He was the nicest little guy and we will miss him.

We finally had the family Hanukkah party last night. Yes I know, Hanukkah was two months ago. It was held at the Hantman's house and all the usual people were in attendance. After dinner we played Taboo. Grandma Mitzi caught on quickly and became the hero for our team.

Yesterday I was shooting a briefing about the US arms deal with Israel. It was in one of the Congressional office buildings. A few minutes after the briefing started a tall, young, red-headed woman walked in. I thought, she looks like Dennis Kusinich's wife. Sure enough, following behind her was Dennis Kusinich. Would I have ever recognized any other member of congress' wife? Of course not. I'm a big fan of Mr. Kusinich's stance on the Israel / Palestine issue, so I'm glad he showed up to speak. It was pretty tacky, and I usually don't do this, but I couldn't stop myself from shaking his hand and complimenting him on the work that he does.