the amusing highlights of my workday

George Bush decided that for security's sake, everyone needs a standardized personal identification card, so I am called in from work to get mine set up.  I was not made aware that I'd be taking a picture and was not having a good hair day.  Worser yet, I wasn't allowed to smile!  I looked at the photographer incredulously and she says, "well you can smile... but you can't show your teeth".  Seriously?  Apparently smiling changes the attributes of your face and showing the whites of your teeth changes the whites of your eyes... who knew?  I can't remember the last time I didn't smile for a picture, and I'd like to think that I smile enough that this looks more like 'me'.  For some reason this whole scenario was hilarious to me and I kept laughing, making it almost impossible to get a picture.  I'm sure I ended up with some kind of scrunched up, silly, half-scowl and half-grimace face on my Official Standard US Identification Card but at least we know why.  

Later on, an official correspondence letter lands on my desk, handed down from my boss.  We get these all the time, where people write in or email the Department of Energy and we have to write a response.  The reply is printed on fancy D.O.E letterhead, copied, documented, and filed away before it is mailed.  I normally don't mind writing them but this particular letter is from a senior in high school in NYC taking a public policy class.  He has chosen to write to the Secretary of Energy to ask four rather difficult questions about the Secretary's position on renewable and alternative energy in the United States.  Because he mentions geothermal energy once or twice in his questions this letter gets passed to my office and passed from my boss to me.  Keep in mind that to be Secretary of Energy you have to be chosen and appointed by the president.  I'm a little in shock as I start to craft a response, and do my best to write something as politically correct as possible!  Don't be alarmed, I did consult with several people in my office and got my manager's blessing before sending it off.  And hopefully the Secretary of Energy checks it over too.  Oh what a funny day.