When Worlds Collide

I was at a meeting yesterday and there was a woman there who hadn't been at meetings on this project before. She looked somewhat familiar and her voice was very familiar. One of the great things about my job is the range of things I deal with and I figured I had probably run into her at some briefing or other within the past few years.

When we broke for lunch, she came over and said to me, "I just realized who you are. You're in my knitting group." Of course, then I realized exactly who she was.

It's always hard to recognize people out of context. And I haven't made it to knitting group since I moved.

I suspect it would have amused other people had I said, "Oh, I didn't recognize you outside of the police station." (Yes, my knitting group meets at a police station. They have a nice community room.)

What Makes Something Official?

I'm pleased that Bill Richardson is endorsing Obama. I suspect that ups the odds that he'd become the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate (which would be a good thing). But I'm a bit perturbed that most of the day, the news was reading "Richardson will endorse Obama." Isn't announcing that you will endorse a candidate essentially equivalent to endorsing them, even if you haven't made the speech in front of the TV cameras yet?

The same thing applies to resigning from a political office, recognizing a country as independent, and so on.