P.S.

I committed another cardinal sin in journalism today.

There was a press conference on the Senate grounds today, and my boss said it was up to me if I wanted to go. Of course I wanted to attend. Intuition said there might be a story in it.

Off I went, until I realized my bladder needed to make a pit stop. At my building, you need a key to use the bathroom. I dug around my purse and -- nothing. I hustled back to the office and unloaded everything, including my reporter's notebook, and discovered the key had been hiding in the purse the whole time. I dashed back to the bathroom, purse in tote. But it was missing something -- that notebook.

I didn't notice until after I was in the metro station, waiting for my ride. It was too late to go back to the office. I knew where the Capitol was but had no clue where the "Senate swamp" was. I figured I'd find a notebook at Union Station.

Unfortunately, Union Station is too rich for cheap, steno pads. Frantically, I walked from shop to shop, asking retailers where I could find a plain notebook. For a minute, I considered buying a $7.50 address book. It had a note section, and I needed one anyway. But I wasn't about to spend that kind of money. (Laugh here)

By the time I was ready to use my checkbook register to jot down notes, I decided to take a look inside a souvenir store. As luck would have it, I found a nice, patriotic notebook for $3.49. I took it, after paying of course.

And I made it to the press conference in time, thanks to tardy lawmakers. As I stood amongst other, more experienced jouralists, I cradeled the notebook, hopeing no one would see I was holding a petite notebook in the shape of a flag. If there was a time when I couldn't stand out more as a rookie, today was that day.

On the bright side, I took notes about 10 feet away from Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Not a bad second day after all.