Computer-side chat with Jim Himes

Here's the rather choppy streaming video of my interview with Rep. Jim Himes (CT-04) last Thursday. Don't worry about the quality, you can hear the audio fine.

We really didn't know if this was gonna happen until less than a day beforehand. I didn't have a lot of time to prep for it which is obvious when you hear my hesitant interviewing style. I pretty much winged the entire thing by reading viewer-submitted questions and injecting inane comments on occasion, but I think it went pretty well.

Anyway, it was fun to be on the first computer chat with Jim. He hopes to make this a regular thing. I think I set the bar pretty low for future interviewers, so you're welcome in advance!



As an aside, immediately after the interview Jim needed to get to the House floor for a vote, and he invited Joyce & me along. He got us through security quickly and led us up to the gallery while he went down to the floor.

There were several procedural votes and a bit of debate before a vote on a bill that passed with pretty much exclusively Republican support. We were able to see most of Connecticut's Congressional delegation chatting with fellow Democrats between the votes. My favorite thing was every time the Speaker hit the gavel, Joyce jumped. Like, EVERY TIME! It was awesome! After the voting was done Jim took us back over to the Cannon office building via the really cool underground tunnel.

And I noticed a soft bag below each seat in the gallery and I asked a guard what they were for. He said they contained survival gear in case of an emergency. I saw that perhaps one in ten seats didn't have a bag beneath it. That set me to wondering what I'd do in a packed gallery during a terrorist attack and found myself sitting in a bagless seat.

Welp, all I can say is that I hope the imaginary 86 year-old grandma sitting in the next seat had enjoyed her life, 'cause me & Joyce got plans we can't break! Unless grandma knows some nifty MMA moves she's gonna get choked out if she even LOOKS at her bag!

(Just kidding. I'm sure I wouldn't need to choke her.)