Democracy at Work

Thanks everyone for your comments on insurance and the car rental. After reading your comments and thinking about the limitations of my regular car insurance coverage, I decided that it's best to either stick with the full coverage or go one step down. While I don't remember what my policy covers with regard to rentals, I do know it has a number of limitations, which is why I sprung for the full coverage. If my own car gets a dent, I probably wouldn't mind driving around with that. But when a shiny rental gets dinged, that's a different story.

What I will change for sure, however, is the gas option. It turns out that I got a pretty bad deal by prepaying for it because (a) I won't get credit for the gas left in the tank, and (b) I ended up not driving around as much as I thought I would (visiting people, that is) because of scheduling issues. I learned the hard way, but the lesson sticks.

In the meantime, enjoy my snapshots from a tour given by a Capitol insider. The best part about these trips is that I get to visit my favorite people whom I otherwise wouldn't have been able to see...airfare is so expensive and free time is seriously lacking.

Apparently the Govenator is the first to put his name over the office door.

...the "Coffee Hill" in the said insider's office.

And finally, my favorite: I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this. Yes, I'm weird. I was told this used to be the Coastal Commission...how did it morph to this?