Gubernatorial

It really is one of my favourite words. Just say it out loud, and slowly, letting those big, round, slippery syllables slide around in your mouth.

gu·ber·na·to·ri·al. adj. of or relating to a governor. Latin gubernator governor, steersman, from gubernare to govern — more at govern.

Why do I mention this now, you ask? (You know, of course, that I'm going to tell you even if you didn't.) Well, I spent a short period of today standing about three feet away from the Gubernatorial gentleman from this state.

Yes, Arnold Schwarzenneger, the Governator himself, was in the building, talking trade and stem cells and the environment. And he did, in fact, stop just a few feet away from me on his way out, smiling and shaking hands and generally having an informal photocall. The man certainly knows how to work a crowd, doubtless one of the benefits of having a pre-office life as a famous actor, bodybuilder and general popular guy. In the face of such star power, Poor Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty didn't even stand a chance.

Governer Schwarzenegger even stopped on his way in to the building, in more or less the same spot, to allow photos, then apologized that he had a press conference to get to, and told us (I kid you not at all), "I'll be back". I still haven't decided if that was cute, or cheesy. Probably a bit of both. But nobody else could get away with it.

Having finally gotten back to work, compared video and pictures (no, I didn't bring the Sony Monster to work, so I don't have any of my own), resuscitated one of our technicians who had a bit of a meltdown after Governor S. agreed to pose for a photo with her, and generally milked the event for as much conversation as possible, I realized a couple of things:

1. His suit, an unprepossessing tan affair, probably costs approximately six times as much as all of the suits I've ever owned put together. That would be 18 Ricardipus-suit-equivalents, roughly.

2. He's not as tall as I thought... Premier McGuinty, who I'm somewhat reliably told is six-foot-four, towers over him.

3. He's responsible for a state that has an economy and a population that are both considerably bigger than those of Canada. No wonder we pay attention when he visits.

4. He has a very good tan.

And that's about all I have to say about that event. It was different, it was fun, it injected a lot of energy into the middle of the day, and now it's over and we can all get back to doing something else.