February 23, 2010. Chevy Chase, Md. The Trip.

We left on Sunday morning from Bethesda. Ninety agents in two buses, heading north to New York and returning Tuesday afternoon. Now we are home. On the way home, we decided that it seemed as if we had been gone a week, when in reality it was three days. But what a trip we had. Our hotel was The Waldorf Astoria. Just walking around that lovely old place is a reminder of times past but better, as the whole hotel has been renovated but not changed.

I did a very stupid thing, in that I did not take my own computer. I recalled from times past that the more expensive the hotel the more difficult is the access to the computers so I was expecting the hotel would be expensive and they were. But I expected that many agents would take their small computers which I would be able to borrow but no luck. Most agents use a Blackberry. The stupid hotel even required a charge for Internet service in the rooms. If you foolishly borrow their computers the charge is almost a dollar a minute so being cheap, I was not able to write my wee web log for Sunday or Monday.

One of the things you do in New York is walk. Everyone walks all the time going along at a fast clip. It's a great city. Fifty years ago, when you visited New York, you found rude surly people, with dirty streets and lots of cars honking. Even the cab drivers were nasty. No more. The people are friendly and helpful and the streets are clean. It is an amazing transformation. We were glad we went.