Winging It: European Summit, Russia Trip Take Unexpected Turns

Hmm. We're not sure what Kissinger would think. Or for that matter the Saudis or the Pakistanis. But Rice walked the magazine through her regimen, describing how she gets up at 4:30 a.m. and exercises on the treadmill or elliptical machine while watching "SportsCenter" highlights until 5:30, when she heads in to work.

She's asleep by 10 p.m., she said, and she restricts herself to healthy meals during the week but permits herself fried chicken or anything else she wants on weekends. As a girl, she reveals, she was "a little chubbette" but now she's a fitness fiend and wants to be like Mike. " Michael Jordan is probably the most beautiful athlete of all time," she gushed.

This reminds us of the wickedly funny anecdote in our colleague Glenn Kessler's recent book on Rice, "The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy." At a party, one of Rice's friends wanted to prove how tight her bottom was, so without her realizing what he was doing, he bounced a quarter off her tush while she was dancing.

Memo to NATO ministers: Don't try this.

Alley Cat

While Rice hits the elliptical, other top Bush advisers have their own ways of letting off steam. Take White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten, for instance. When he arrived in Bucharest, Romania, for the NATO summit, he sneaked off the first night for an evening of bowling, along with communications director Kevin Sullivan and some others.

When Bolten, an avid motorcycle rider, got to Zagreb, Croatia, he managed to get away long enough to hit the local Harley-Davidson store, where he bought a T-shirt. Then, in Sochi, he hit another bowling alley.

Moving On Up

More shuffling back home while the president was overseas: After Felipe Sixto abruptly quit as special assistant for intergovernmental affairs due to a scandal involving grant money, John S. Roberts was moved up from associate director. Patrick S. Aylward, who runs Bolten's office, was also given the title of special assistant to the president. And Amy L. Farrell was moved over from the Council on Environmental Quality to serve as special assistant for economic policy.

Glass Half-Something

"The White House has said it does not expect President Bush's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to produce a missile defense deal."

-- Associated Press bulletin from Air Force One as it headed toward Russia on Saturday

"White House says expects missile defense talks with Putin to head in 'right direction' toward signing 'strategic framework.' "

-- Reuters bulletin from the same midair briefing

Bush Word of the Week

"Hanger-on-ers."

-- As in Bush praising Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu for hosting the NATO summit: "It's not easy to host as many automobiles, bodyguards, world leaders, hanger-on-ers as you did."

Quote of the Week

"The latest incarnation of Elvis."

-- President Bush on French President Nicolas Sarkozy