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As some know, I got to interview President Barack Obama last week (you can see the whole thing right here) about a range of tech topics, from cyber security to encryption to coding education to his interest in the upcoming Apple Watch. He was in California to helm the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection.
And while our interview looked smooth and all made up (yes, I had on a lot of makeup), the actual production of the whole thing took a lot longer to pull off.
Thus, here is my modified photo listicle of the day, which started at 6:30 am with a drive from San Francisco down to Stanford University campus and ended at the bar of the Rosewood Hotel on Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto at the end of the night:
The line for the Obama event was gathering hours before it started — no bags allowed, as a platoon of helpers along the way warned us (except we were press and we got to bring in our giant bags of snacks).
The news crews gathering feels a little like locusts taking over the pristinely green campus. Chomp!
The Re/code team in place looks all smiles on the outside (and exhausted already on the inside).
Feeling very presidential, Vjeran Pavic, who is from Croatia, does his version of Abraham Lincoln.
An inexplicable podium to address reporters, even though there are no analog speakers, still looks pretty in the morning sunlight.
I get ready for my TV closeup in a nearby bathroom — I know, glamorous!
Said closeup.
A disembodied Tim Cook completely avoids talking about the encryption tussle Apple is having with the government.
A disembodied President Obama does same, but does manage to do a ton of callouts about how delightful Stanford is to the largely Stanford audience.
On the way to the interview, my first (and only) presidential bag check with no comment on the Doritos tucked within.
James Temple gets wanded, a photo over which The Verge’s Casey Newton gets off a good joke on Twitter.
Kurt Wagner gets wanded too, but somehow makes it look like two dudes playing hoops.
Vjeran is enjoying his wanding so much that the Secret Service agent actually smiles.
The lady in charge of watching the Re/code team has a lot of ways to signal if we make any trouble.
The White House team does not like the olden-days rug with our new-fangled Code signature Steelcase red chairs, so CNBC’s Samantha Wright snaps to it. (Was this off the record? Oops!)
Kurt and Amy Schatz pretend to be President Obama and me. I realize at this moment that Kurt could be president in 2036.
No, really. Kurt is going to be Commander-in-Chief someday.
That said, Kurt does not touch the presidential water, which is covered and off limits. No one does — not even, as it turns out, the president.
The Re/code team settles in like the good little reporters we usually never are, awaiting the arrival of the President.
CNBC’s Mary Catherine Wellons and Sam are relieved the Re/code team is not completely embarrassing the TV people, while the Secret Service agent declines to approve.
That said, we seem to amuse White House press advance sharpie Johanna Maska, but she might just be happy to be away from frigid temperatures in D.C.
My attempt at an artsy selfie only results in showing off my unusually shiny hair and impeccable mascara.
Oh, it’s on.
Does the Re/code team get all mushy when it comes to a presidential photo op? We most certainly do. (Also, President Obama is very tall and I look like a hobbit.)
Vjeran is hiding from my scrutiny, because we were scrambling to upload the video of the interview after finding the wireless at Stanford is inadequate to the task. (Were we naive to assume an Internet conference would have good Wi-Fi?)
Dongle acquired and mission accomplished via a hard line from the White House!
We head home, dragging our wares.
But first, we drink at the Rosewood, because …
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
