I know that picture looks a little scary, but it pretty much captures how I'm feeling right now. Awful tired, a bit sunburned and kind of shell shocked!

I went to the great New York State Fair today, and as any of you that keep up on your current events knows, so did the First Family. And our paths crossed!

I went to the fair with Mary, Terry and Stimp - Jim had to work, and wasn't all that excited about the fair to begin with. We knew the Clintons were supposed to attend a luncheon on the fairgrounds so we decided to get there early to avoid the crowds. It was quite chilly this morning (58 F or so) so I wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.

First stop was in the hall of freaks, which was quite disappointing but I did get to see the bass ackwards chicken, which was quite funny. I felt kind of bad because we were the only people in the place and I was laughing hysterically at how cheesy it was, and the owner was right there. But come on! I thought there would be real freaks, or at least reasonable facsimiles. Instead, it was models and photographs, most of which were photocopies! And he charged us $1. I guess there is a sucker born every minute, huh?

Next, Terry was on a mission to find a jacket. He had bought a yellow coat at the fair for $5 a few years back, and he loved it. He had misplaced the coat, plus he wore it fishing and it smelled, well, fishy. So he was on a quest to buy a new one. And buy he did, for $5. He could've gotten 3 for $12, but they didn't have any more in his size. He feels quite fashionable in it, and to be honest, it looks pretty good on him. You'd never guess it was a $5 coat.

We looked around at the cows and got the obligatory 25 cent glass of chocolate milk and checked out the butter sculpture. This is a giant, probably 6-8 foot tall sculpture made entirely of butter. It's always a big secret what the subject will be. We tried to guess this year, but we knew there was a stool involved somehow. I guessed a milkmaid, sitting on a stool, milking a cow. Ter guessed a kid standing on a stool, trying to reach the cookies on the top shelf. I can't remember what Stimp guessed, and Mary already knew. None of us were right - it was a refrigerator, with a kid sitting in front drinking milk, and there were cats and kittens and mice. It's really amazing.

After the butter sculpture, we watched them do the news live from the fairgrounds (and Terry tried to get on TV without much success). They said the Clintons had landed at the airport and would be coming to the fairgrounds soon. A while later, we were coming out of a building and saw a bunch of people, and realized they were clearing the way for the motorcade to come through. We figured this would be our one chance at seeing them, so we waited. It was kind of exciting with all the motorcycles and speeding cars and such. I saw the President waving out the window of one of the speeding SUVs, but everyone else missed it. I joked about how he had mouthed "Call me" and pointed at me.

Another crowd was gathered in front of the building where the luncheon was held, and we hung out there for a while, but finally decided it wasn't worth it and took off. After a while, we came back to that building to just look at the exhibit in a separate part. Just as we were walking in the door, the Secret Service agents sprang into action and slammed the doors closed behind us, and Mary barely made it in! So we knew something was happening. Sure enough, there were the President and Hillary and Chelsea, making their way through the corridor. I got to shake Bill's hand, and Hillary's, and waved to Chelsea. It was all pretty cool. I don't care what your political leanings or your opinion of his extracurricular activities, it's still pretty cool to shake the hand of the President of the United States of America and the First Lady.

We left feeling really lucky - it was totally by chance that we ended up in that building in the first place! We walked around more and then decided to go see the horses - and there were the Clintons, blocking our path! We caught another glimpse, but there were tons of people crowding them, so we bailed out.

We went to a building where you could get a $5 back massage and a $4 haircut (I got both!) and as we were getting our haircuts, there was a big commotion outside! Sure enough, the Clintons were going to see the butter sculpture, which was across the way. So we were stuck in the building for a while. I got to see them come out of the building and get into the car, shaking hands and waving all the way. At this point, we kind of felt like they were following us. I thought maybe when we got to the car, they would be there holding the doors open or something. And can you believe, none of us brought a camera?

All in all, it was a pretty cool day, although I am exhausted and burned, and my feet hurt. But I enjoyed spending time with my friends and seeing the First Family - I wish Buddy were there though! He probably would have scared the cows. I probably have more to share about my trip to the Fair, but that's enough for today. Tomorrow's update will be a bit late b/c it's my first day of classes!

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As a former PR person, I agree wholeheartedly with this advice.

I like jargon. I want to invent hip new phrases.

The Seattle Weekly turns the tables on Amazon's privacy issues.

While I can appreciate that lack of security on Hotmail is a big issue, don't people realize that no e-mail is truly secure unless it is encrypted? If you are dealing with state secrets or office gossip, e-mail is not a good place for it. I don't encrypt my e-mail, but then again, does anyone really want to read notes I send to Jim to remind him to buy milk on the way home?

I'm kind of interested to see what MTV is going to do with their website. I think, of any of the major networks, they have the potential to do something kind of innovative, and given their core audience of teens, are likely to get a lot of visitors willing to try something new and different.

I'm gearing up for the season premieres of all my favorite shows? Want a spoiler free sneak preview from TV Guide?

Some gossip about Scott Foley (Noel/Knoll from Felicity) and his girlfriend, the actress who played Hannah on the show. When he talks about kissing her, I just imagine her duck-like lips. Yuck!

I think I forgot to mention that I have a new "Celebrity or Personality" piece up on Fametracker. On the chopping block this week: Joan Rivers and the Zappas.