So close

Tonight, apparently President Obama is in the Bay Area. He'll be either long gone or safely tucked away somewhere soon enough, so my chances of running past him are reasonably approximately zero.

Years ago, I worked in a building right next to Burbank airport. So close to Burbank airport that, well, the building has since been knocked down and is actually part of the Burbank Airport now. One day, while I was driving back from some mid-afternoon errand, I drove over the tracks and turned right onto Empire Avenue before I was stopped by a number of cops.

Frustrated and annoyed - "I'm late for work!" I was always late for work at that job, I could have been an hour early and I would have still been late for work - I stewed in the car while car after car drove along side me, going in the opposite direction.

I stopped being annoyed when President Clinton rolled by in a black car, sitting in the back seat, and smiled at me as his car passed mine. Yeah, my car lacked power everything, including air conditioning, so my window was rolled down. I could have touched the man had he been leaning another 20cm closer.

After the motorcade drove by, I drove to work, and ran in, calling out an elaborate, over-the-top exaggeration of the previous ten minutes, and laughed when most everyone nearly believed me. There was something about Clinton stepping out of the car, and chatting with me as I sat in my car. No, it didn't happen that way, and I might have, for the first time in I don't know how long, actually been tongue tied if he had done that, but, well, yeah, this is a long run-on sentence.

I hope Obama enjoys his time in the Bay Area. It's a great area, even if it is a little odd.