Hi Everyone!

First off, please allow me to apologize for my extended absence.  I've gotten emails asking where I am, and I've answered them all the same way...

NOT NOW I'M ON DEADLINE!  ; LOL

Yes, I did have deadline and production night was a bear.  But I'm back and I actually have something to blog about! 

I was sitting at home quite innocently several days ago, and I received an email from the Republican Party of Riverside County asking me to attend a charity dinner.  I kinda shrugged and said "blech" until I saw who the keynote speaker was; NOW my interest was piqued.  The keynote speaker is Congressman Darrell Issa, and for those who don't know, he's the Congressman who was instrumental in getting ACORN's funding permanently cut off.  I thought to myself that it might be worth the trip down to Riverside.

So here's the thing.  No one on the Rip desires to attend, which believe me I can understand.  I take it most people are tired of the ACORN drama.  So without a vehicle, I was kinda stuck and not able to attend.  However my roommate said she was interested in attending.  Hey now I have a way to get down there and back!  But wait, it gets better.

So I decide to call the RPRC and I speak to Scott Thompson their executive director.  My call was innocent, and all  it was concerning was what the dress was.  Is it suit and tie or is it tux?  He tells me suit and tie is fine and he asks for my affiliation.  Well seeing that the Rip isn't interested in the story which is fine by me, I can't tell him I'm with the Renegade Rip.  So I leave my response very generic and simply tell him I'm a reporter in Bakersfield.  Here's the interesting part.

Scott says "Oh you're press?  We treat our press very well here in Riverside.  I'm putting you on the authorized press list now.  I'll mark it 'you plus one' so you can bring a photographer.  And come at 5pm, that's the beginning of the VIP meet and greet."

I was speechless.  VIP tickets are $200 a piece so I just got $400 comp'd.  Normally, I'd pay my own way and I have no problem with that.  But if someone is just going to up and offer a couple of free tickets, I'm not going to turn them down.  Plus I'm looking at this as a major networking opportunity.  There will be more political figures there than just Congressman Issa and the more people I meet now as a first year journalism student, the better.

So it's time to break out the suit and tie yet again, and can only hope that the dinner will go as well as planned.  I will definitely update everyone within a couple days after the event with another blog and photos.