Funny how things work out

So our friend Sylvia was nominated for Director of the Office of Management and Budget yesterday morning. My husband went to town to watch the news coverage with her father, who is being cared for in a skilled-nursing facility while her mother recovers from hip surgery at Johns Hopkins.

I had a dentist's appointment at 9:30, and asked if I'd be done by 10-ish, so I could join my husband and Sylvia's dad. They thought not, but they did get me out by 10:10. Still time to make it, as the announcement was scheduled for 10:15. (Hinton is a very small town.)

There was, however, a problem with my car. I'd noticed on the way into town it had a tendency to hesitate on acceleration, and then to rev up dramatically. This did not magically fix itself or go away while I was getting my lower teeth cleaned.

As luck would have it, the shop that repaired the car after the deer strike was less than two blocks from the dentist's parking lot. I babied the car around the corner and, as luck would have it again, the owner was there and had time to take a look. We popped the hood and there was a massive leak of some kind of fluid all over the engine. He got to work and sent me into his office to wait.

So scratch the plans to watch with my husband. Instead I asked the shop owner if I could watch online, and tuned in to cnn.com for their coverage. CNN had a camera trained on the podium, and another panning the audience. I was watching their feed, not their broadcast. I saw Sylvia's husband and children in the front row. I saw her sister and mother come into the room – Mom was in a wheelchair and hard to miss!

I wish I'd known to call everyone I knew and tell them to watch it online. President Obama was announcing three nominations yesterday morning, and according to my husband, CNN cut away after the first two. Of course, Sylvia was last. Fortunately I got a couple pictures from the computer monitor before it was over.

So I got to watch the whole proceeding while most folks cheering for her from her home town didn't get to see much at all.

I checked out my surroundings as I waited for my car. When I started watching the feed, I noted the receptionist and the other customer weren't nearly as excited as I was. They continued to chat while the President spoke. The owner of the garage is probably as far right of the dessert spoon as I am left of the salad fork, which could explain their lack of interest.

The morning's moment of irony came as I glanced to my right and there, staring down at me from the wall behind the corner desk, was George. George W. George W. Bush, the former President. Yes, they like him so much they still have a picture of him in the office. I can only imagine how offensive it was to them to have President Obama's voice coming from their computer speakers. Heh.

But hey, the customer is always right, right? Or, in my case, left.