Ah, the simple joys of the all-day, company-wide meeting. Is "strategy" different from "tactics"? Can we craft a catchy slogan that incorporates the words "leverage", "solution" and "dynamic" that hasn't already been taken? When is the pizza getting here anyway?

As fun as all of that was, the part of the day I had most been looking forward to was the metro ride. As expected, the city's inaugural guests could be found throughout the metro system, but especially at that perennial tourist attraction, the Left Side of the Escalator. Oh well -- a missed train and an extra half-mile walk due to the convention center stop being closed were the only real annoyances I can point to.

But while the day wasn't that annoying, it was kind of disappointing: there were tuxedos everywhere, but I spotted only one pair of cowboy boots! And NO ten-gallon hats! What can this mean? Have the Bush administration's hangers-on traded in their authentic aw-shucksisms for elite east coast trappings? Nah. More likely it's just that guests invited to the Black Tie & Boots Ball arrive via limo. Or horse.

Anyone have any inaugural stories to share? Aside from some eagle-appareled folks dutifully committing scenic Metro Center to videotape and a very unprofessional bomb-sniffing dog, I've got nothing. But then, I spent the day in a conference room. How was the triumphalism? Triumphant?

last weekend when tommy and i went to ceiba for restaurant week, we passed several - how do you say? - interesting looking men on our walk to and from the restaurant. leather-clad men. not like biker leather-clad. leather-clad like studded dog collars, jaunty leather newsboy caps, leather chaps, harnesses. the whole works. and it really wasn't just several of them; it was more like scores. we probably saw 50 or 60 leather dudes just walking around town as natural as could be. later i found out susan had seen a pair of leather-clad men, one of whom was on a leash. we had no idea what was going on, and googling "gay leather convention d.c." didn't really turn up anything. had al-qaeda infiltrated the nation's capital dressed as a bunch of gay leather-lovers? were we under attack?

but browsing some random d.c. blogs today, i found the answer. we can all rest easy. it was just the mid-atlantic leather 2005 weekend! the "second largest Leather Contest in the United States." yup, they have contests. what they're judged on i couldn't figure out from the web site, but last year's winners are here.

if only the MAL organization could have waited a few days to hold their organization. say, like, until january 20th. it would have made today (which has so far been spent holed up in my apartment, stuffing my face with cookies and occasionally peering out the window at cop cars and secret service SUVs rushing by) a LOT more fun.