"More Mooching" or "Tonight I Met Henry Waxman"

This morning I took the same RideOn Route 56 bus to get to the office from Gaithersburg that I took there the night before to dogsit.  I had a great time with Tango and Sapphire, as always.  The bus didn't take quite as long in the morning as it did in the afternoon - I got on at the stop at Quince Orchard Road and Orchard Ridge Road at 8:15 and arrived at the office at 8:56 - 41 minutes.  The good part is that the stop for the 56 bus is right in front of the door to my building, as opposed to the Route 46 stop which is at Maryland and Jefferson or the Q2/4 stop at the Rockville metro.  The commute didn't contain any exercise, which I don't like, but there wasn't much I could do since I left my bike and running shoes at the office.

A low-quality iPhone pic of
Congressman Waxman introduing Roger



I knew that after work I'd be supporting Roger at a fundraiser in Bethesda.  We've been campaigning for over a year now, so I've been to many fundraisers like this one.  But this one was different, thanks to two very high profile guests:  Congressmen Henry Waxman and Chris Van Hollen.  Roger, before getting elected to the County Council, had a long career on Capitol Hill, part of which was spent working for Rep. Waxman.  Our campaign was thrilled that during such a busy election season we were able to schedule both him and Chris Van Hollen, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, to make an appearance at a fundraiser for us.  The only problem for me was that I'd most certainly have to mooch a ride there.  Thankfully, our Chief of Staff Cindy, who has come through for me before, was able to give me a lift again.  I hate mooching, but when a ride comes with a stop at Subway and some Rock Band 2, it could be worse.

Both Congressmen had nice things to say about Roger, and everyone in the room, after sharing some laughs, agreed on the magnitude of this upcoming election, and the importance of maintaining a Democratic majority in the House and Senate.  After they were done, I grew some balls and introduced myself to the Chairman.  My conversation with the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee went something like this:

CB:  Mr. Chairman, I'm Chad Bolt, I work in Roger's Council office.

HW:  Nice to meet you, Chad.

CB:  You know, I'm actually reading The Waxman Report right now.

HW:  (laughs) Oh yeah?  You like it?

CB:  Yeah I think it's great!

HW:  Well good.  Nice to see you.

And that was that.  (Read: IT WAS AWESOME.)  Afterward, I was able to get a ride home to Silver Spring from another good friend, Miti.  Despite having to mooch twice, it was a great night.  I just realized that this month of carlessness is down to just five days...