That was the vibe in Washington today. The people that actually work in D.C. got their city back – more or less. The striking of the massive set required for such a happening was in full swing when we took our remarkably empty (relatively speaking) train into D.C. to attend the reception given by Nancy Pelosi for her San Francisco constituents.

Arriving fashionably late for the 11:30 to 1:30 reception, we found the caucus room in the Capital Office Building packed with all the most important movers and shakers in the community. At least in their own mind.

Such thoughts I may have harbored as I impulsively stuffed my GlobalWarmingisReal.com business cards in my shirt just before leaving the hotel room where soon dashed – there would be little hope of me introducing myself to Nancy and handing her a card. The knot of people clinging to her as she edged her way around the room were far beyond my schmoozing skills, once again reminding me that I am not as important as I think I am.

Jayne and I each had a sparkling water, sweet pastry, circled the room once – I on one or two occasions seeing faces that looked vaguely familiar – and then left.

We walked into the chilly, sunny afternoon, past the House of Representatives end of the Capital to our spot where yesterday we stood with nearly two million others – a quarter of a million on the capital grounds (the proud, the few, the ticketed) – the rest spreading back on the National Mall toward the Washington Monument and all the way to silent and ever vigilant Abe.

The spot was nothing now but the unassuming top of  short row of stairs leading to a patch of grass behind a small clump of trees, their branches barren in the mid-winter cold. I recognized the familiar trunk that lay in the few arc-seconds of visual plane directly between where I stood and where Barack Obama stood. Far from cursing the tree as being in the way the day prior, I realized the tree was just as much a part of the experience as anything else.

The cold, the crushing crowds, the hours waiting in ‘line”, (“en-masse” is more accurate) the blocked sightline, the magical swelling of united spirit starting from the moment we landed in Washington; growing more each day, the electricity in the air building, until nearly two million people turned out to a single spot, for a single, peaceful purpose.

Just as you realize that such a thing is really possible and you’re right in the middle of it, it’s gone. Washington is still there, the history, the grand monuments, the priceless museums, but the moving throngs of people have been replaced by cars.

The whole trip has been remarkable. As I try to describe here, for no more than the feeling of it. It was indeed palpable in the days beforehand. I am glad we spent more time here before than after.

What also stands out in my mind:
Being in front of the White House on GW’s last afternoon, the general mood of the massive crowd of strangers merging into a common relief of it indeed being his last afternoon – witnessing the end; The national treasures of American history at the Smithsonian, from Betsy Ross’ “Star Spangled Banner” flag, to documents written in Lincoln’s own hand, to a Lunar Lander from the Apollo mission; Hearing the powerful mastery of Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman; Listening to the words of a new president as they wafted clear and powerful over the very lawn from which he stood and spoke them; That within the mass of millions of people we connected with those next to us, as surely happened throughout the assembled multitude, all come in peace and a spirit of celebration.

America is certainly a country that can do great things. Inaugurating a new president is one of them.

But just as Obama has gone back to work, as has Washington, and so must I.

My work – our work – here is done, and the world has turned!

So this is a vacation? What, is Chastise Man not right in the head? No wonder he’s so annoyed all the time, eh?

But wait a minute, he’s just a short-timer here, a one-offer, a… a… a  California Boy!

There are people that make this sort of thing their life’s work. And for them there is an award. Namely, the Ten Worst Jobs in Science award, for which Dr. Peter Kershaw has been a five-time winner.

Guys like Kershaw make global warming denialists froth at the mouth. Hello! Does anyone seriously think Kershaw conducts his research in places like this for the grant money? If so, they’ve never gotten their fat ass up to Churchill and taken a ride on a dread sled.

(See? Chastise Man is cranky!)

But there’s another award for guys like Kershaw.

That’s Earthwatch’s Principal Investigator of the Year Award. It ‘s chosen by, among others, people who have actually taken their fat asses up to Churchill and taken a ride – several actually – on a dread sled. Maybe, just for the sake of a good war story for the folks back home, gotten a little frostbite to boot.

Good times.

But it doesn’t surprise Chastise Man a whit. Peter Kershaw is a guy that doesn’t ask anyone to do anything he isn’t willing to do himself (and that he does, in fact, all the time). He’s likeable, friendly, supportive, smart, articulate, and makes a mean igloo.

And he’s got one of the ten worst jobs in science. Go figure.

So, when you hear some idiot going off about the science community scaring us hapless numb-skulls that can’t think for ourselves into believing that global warming is real just to keep the grant money flowing, here’s what you do:

1. Feel sorry for them
2. Ignore them – and, if you can’t do that, then
3. Ask them if they’d like to take a ride on a dread sled

Photo Credit: Liz Headland