So long and thanks for all the fish ....smell

Before we forget and start blaming Obama in a few months for the flaming bag of turd left on the white house front porch, here are a few things to recall Obama inherited:

# National Debt Increase: $4.9 trillion.

National Debt as of Jan. 15, 2009: $10.6 trillion
Debt when Mr. Bush took office: $5.7 trillion
(Source: U.S. Treasury Dept.)

# Number Of Political Fund-Raisers Attended By President Bush: 338

# Amount Or Money Raised At These Fund-Raisers: $802,586,070
(Some campaigns refused to disclose the amounts)

# Number Of Baseball Games Attended: 12
(Including Game 3 of the World Series in Yankee Stadium on Oct. 30, 2001)

# Number Of All Sporting Events Attended: 98
(Counting the Beijing Olympics as one)

# Number of Cabinet Meetings: 49

# Number Of Times President Bush Had Dinner Out At A Restaurant: 21

# U.S. Military Deaths In Iraq: 4,228
(Source: Dept of Defense as of Jan. 16, 2009)

# U.S. Military Deaths In Afghanistan: 634
(Source: Dept. of Defense as of Jan. 16, 2009)

# Medals Of Honor Bestowed By Pres. Bush: 12
(Nine were awarded posthumously. Four were for service in Iraq, 1 for Afghanistan.)

# Number Of Commencement Speeches Delivered: 23
(The last one was Dec 12, 2008, at Texas A&M)

# Number Of Visits To Camp David: 149, totaling all or part of 487 days.

# Number Of Foreign Leader Visits To Camp David: 19, including 3 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and 2 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, UAE.

# Number Of Visits To His Texas Ranch: 77, totaling all or part of 490 days.

# Number Of Foreign Leader Visits To His Texas Ranch: 20, including 2 by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (Crown Prince at the time) and 2 by President Vicente Fox of Mexico.

# Number Of Visits To His Parents’ Home In Kennebunkport, Maine: 11, totaling all or part of 43 days.

# Number Of Out Of Town Domestic Trips: 609
(That's not counting Camp David visits or bike riding outings)

# Number Of Foreign Trips: 49

# Number Of Foreign Nations Visited: 75

# Foreign Nations Visited Most: Mexico, Italy and Russia, 6 times each.

# Number Of Rounds Of Golf Played As President: 24
(The last one on Oct. 13, 2003. President Bush has since explained that he stopped playing golf out of respect for the families of Americans killed in the war in Iraq.)

# Number Of Katrina-Related Visits To The Gulf Coast: 18

# Number Of Formal, Solo, White House News Conferences: 44

# Total Number Of News Conferences: 212
(Including many joint sessions with foreign leaders at home and abroad)

# Number Of News Conferences At Which Shoes Were Thrown At Him: 1

# Number Of Presidential Pardons: 189

By Comparison:

Bill Clinton: 396
George H.W. Bush: 74
Ronald Reagan: 393
Jimmy Carter: 534
Gerald Ford: 382
Richard Nixon: 863
Lyndon Johnson: 960
John Kennedy: 472
Dwight Eisenhower: 1110
Harry S. Truman: 1913

# Number Of Commutations Of Sentence: 11

# Number Of Recess Appointments: 165
(Source: Senate Historian)

Democrats blocked the practice in the fall of 2007 by keeping the Senate in session even during holiday periods.

# Addresses To The Nation: 23
(The last was his Farewell Address on Jan. 15, 2009)

# Addresses To Joint Sessions Of Congress: 9
(Of which 7 were State of the Union speeches)

# State Dinners For Foreign Leaders: 6

Pres. Vicente Fox of Mexico
Pres. Alexander Krasniewski of Poland
Pres. Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines
Pres. Mwai Kibaki of Kenya
Queen Elizabeth II of UK
Pres. John Kufuor of Ghana

# States Not Visited As President: 1, Vermont.
(Last of the other 49 to be visited: Rhode Island, June 28, 2007.)

# Vetoes: 12, including 1 pocket veto.
(President Bush did not cast his first veto until his sixth year in office - a measure to extend federal funding of stem cell research.)

By comparison:

Bill Clinton cast 37 (not counting line item vetoes)
George H.W. Bush: 44
Reagan: 78
Carter: 31
Ford: 66
FDR: 635

# Vetoes Overridden By Congress: 4

H.R. 1495 - the Water Resources Development Act of 2007
H.R. 2419 - the $289-billion "Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008”
H.R. 6124 - The “Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008.”
H.R. 6331 - the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.”

# Number Of Flights On Air Force One: 1,674
(Source: Presidential Airlift Group)

# Number Of Miles Flown On Air Force One: 1,490,698
(Presidential Airlift Group)

# Number Of Chiefs Of Staff: 2, Andrew Card and Josh Bolten.

# Number Of Press Secretaries: 4, Ari Fleischer, Scott McClellan, Tony Snow and Dana Perino.

Dumplings and more

Maddie and I took a few days to go down to Los Angeles. Really it was for dumplings (no, really). While I was on my last business trip, I was introduced to a delicacy of a restaurant called 'Din Tai Fung' in Sydney, Australia. Turns out to be the best dumpling I have *ever* had by the largest of margins.

Anyway - they have locations all over the Asia-Pac region and a *single one* in the good ol' USA. In Arcadia, California. Not NYC, not SF, not in Vancouver (a huge asian population) - shoot, Arcadia isn't even LA - its a suburb of Pasadena really.

So I had to take her to this place to have a similar experience that we didn't get to share when I was on the trip. So down to LA we went. Of course we made a mini-vacation out of it - we stayed at the Fairmont in Santa Monica (cute little bungalow in their courtyard), we planned many other things to see/do while there but it was all about the dumplings.

How where they? Not quite up to the amazing delicacy I had in Australia (in summary, they were close but the ingredients weren't as fresh, amazingly, and the pork in the dumpling not as minced so it was more chunky of a mouth feel than what I had previously) but if you hadn't had the dumplings previously - they are 'scrum-dilliscous' - according to Maddie.

But be prepared to wait, when we arrived there were about 60 people already waiting for a table on Friday night (about 6pm) but since we were a 'table for two' we got seated immediately. And that is the secret I am sharing with you now, don't take any friends, go by yourself or a single loved one and enjoy beating everyone to the amazing dumpling. And if you get a chance, try one of their several other locations around the world - you will be grateful you did.

As for the 'more' part of this post: expect pictures, updates and more about this trip in the coming days.

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives - the Google Map

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Athens, Europe's ashtray?

Ok, that's a little harsh but I have to say, the graffiti on every surface coupled with the prevalent cigarette smoke was enough to make me wonder. On top of that, numerous buildings in a state of 'its either being torn down or built but is other wise abandon' was another reminder that things in Athens aren't going to well.

On the other hand - there was an overabundance of bathroom stores (sinks, toilets and tile) and used car lots on my way into Athens - on both sides of the street. It was either one of the abandoned buildings, a car lot or a bathroom store. Honestly - I have the film to prove it.

But besides that it did have the Akropolis (Gr. we use a 'c') and some other ruins to gawk at for a while and the coast line is gorgeous - Athens needs a spa-retreat, face lift. Not saying don't go - but certainly wouldn't spend more than two days in Athens site seeing and then moving on to the Santorini Islands or some other nice part of Greece. Just don't ask me where that part might be...

The ruins were ruined, the food was fully cooked (i.e. - over cooked, with one majorly enjoyable exception) and the people were as happy as folks in Humbug, er Hamburg, Germany. Its not that I didn't have a nice time, its just that it wasn't a nice time :-P Either way, there are some photos to enjoy over at the right hand side link - go to Picasa for that and consider that I just saved you a trip!