New York, May 20-26, 2006 – You didn’t really expect celebrities to stay at home and pack for the Hamptons last week, did you? We mingled with some famous folks before they all decamped to their summer outposts, and here are a few loose ends from the week leading up to summer 2006.

West Point grads heard from President Bush, but the engineering nerds at Cooper Union got tips from future first husband Bill Clinton. Marrying a brilliant lawyer, like Bill did, is a great career move.

Geeks and democrats also got together on Thursday, when Wired magazine sponsored a panel discussion on Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Seriously, the global warming documentary could be a summer blockbuster. Don’t forget that Gore invented that Internet thing, and that’s gotten huge, from what we hear.

Chris Rock was in Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, smoking cigarettes in scenes for the movie I Think I Love My Wife. It was outdoors, people, outdoors, and it’s just a movie, but no doubt, every anti-smoking site will now link to this. They’ll all hate Chris.

Denis Leary rode a fire engine to the season premiere of his hit show, Rescue Me, where some reporter was asking about first jobs. Leary ticked off a slew of what he called lousy jobs, from washing dishes to cutting meat, while trying to make it in show business. He said he only got his first credit card at age 33. Co-star Tatum O’Neal said her first job was her Oscar-winning role in Paper Moon, at age ten.

The Longchamps boutique opening party on Tuesday was star-studded – Lucy Liu, Eva Mendes, Isabella Rossellini and Susan Sarandon with her dog and her daughter, Eva Amurri, all checked out the new Soho digs. The party was so packed you could barely move, and we know Uma Thurman loves sweaty parties. It was a bit overwhelming for pregnant Maggie Gyllenhaal, who took a seat, and whose eyes were drooping.

May 27-29, 2006 – With Hollywood and New York deserted for the long Memorial Day weekend, we headed out of town, too, following the celebrity trail through mid-America.

Famous folks are addressing college graduations everywhere at this time of year, but the U.S. Military Academy at West Point caught the biggest fish, President George W. Bush. W. personally greeted each 2006 graduate, and also waved to those families seated in the audience that yelled the loudest. Bush discussed the war on terrorism, and also officially “pardoned” the cadets for minor infractions committed during their school careers.

General H. Norman “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf, class of 1956, attended the ceremony, and, as you can tell by the frumpy chair he sat in, West Point has yet to embrace mid-century modern, or hire Philippe Starck to update their image. (No wonder yuppies aren’t attracted to military careers.)

Anyway, we took off for Indianapolis, where auto racing fans Ludacris, James Caviezel, Tim Allen, David Letterman and Ashley Judd all flitted around at the Indy 500. Singer Josh Kelley entertained the crowd, and he alluded to his lover from the hit TV show Grey’s Anatomy – reportedly Katherine Heigl – but it was Dr. McDreamy, Patrick Dempsey, who joined him at the Indy. We’re just saying.

And then we headed through the heartland to Chicago, where Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston did not allude to their love at the premiere of The Break-Up.

Chicago, May 29, 2006 – Chicagoans came out in droves on Memorial Day to welcome native son Vince Vaughn at the premiere of his new film, The Break-Up. Huge crowds packed North Southport Avenue in front of the Music Box Theatre, where co-star Jennifer Aniston arrived first, walked the red carpet and gave a few interviews. Once she entered the theater, Vaughn’s car pulled up, and as he emerged, the mostly female fans went wild; police had difficulty holding them back.

It seems that despite the release of their first-ever photo spread together, in Entertainment Weekly, Aniston and Vaughn haven’t gotten any more comfortable about displaying their feelings publicly; it was exactly one week ago today when the two behaved like strangers at the romantic comedy’s Hollywood premiere.

However, Windy City sources told us that Chicago Cubs fan Vince took Jen to a baseball game in the afternoon on Monday, and that they finally sat together by the third inning. The Cubs won, breaking out of a bit of a slump, to Vaughn’s delight. (Readers: if any of you were at the Cubs game, please e-mail with reports – on Vince and Jen, not on baseball.)

The day’s heat and humidity lifted a bit when clouds threatened the evening premiere, and there was a little rain, cooling things off slightly for the after party at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

New York, May 25, 2006 – It wasn’t a mutant that jumped out from under the street and called to Halle Berry as she was on her way out of the David Letterman studios in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday. It was a Con Edison worker whose perfect timing had him popping out of a manhole just as the X-Men: The Last Stand star emerged from a side door. The worker called Berry over, asking for an autograph, and she complied. It’s not clear whether he asked her to sign his belt-harness, or Halle suggested it, but paper was not offered. The Con Ed worker declined to give his name, but you’ll know him from that harness with graffiti on it.

New York, May 23, 2006 – We have no idea why Sprite needs to have a national relaunch – did it go away? – but we’re glad it did, because the soft drink brand threw a rocking fashion show and party to kick it off. Amerie, Missy Elliott, Miri Ben-Ari and Lennox Lewis watched the street couture show upstairs and partied downstairs at the giant Guastavino’s space. Kanye West was in a great mood, laughing and talking, and he shoved his face so close to our camera, we had to back away. (When will Kanye launch his own line?) Vanessa Marcil managed to stay on her feet, but even if she had needed a hand, she didn’t need Jeremy Piven; she was very cuddly with an unidentified handsome guy.

Photos: Caroline Torem-Craig

Los Angeles, May 24, 2006 – We hate to be curmudgeons, and we love American Idol as much as anyone, but if you thought that Wednesday’s two-hour season finale was too long and drawn out – and we know many of you did – it was positively endless for members of the press on the scene. We had to arrive at the Kodak Theater at 5 P.M.Pacific Time, and after the red carpet schtick, we were in the press room until 9:30, where, just like you, but not comfortably at home, we watched the show. In fact, we may as well have been at home: there we were backstage, just a few feet from Prince, Toni Braxton, Carrie Underwood and Clay Aiken, and none of them came into the press room. Not even Simon Cowell or Paula Abdul stopped in. At the end, winner Taylor Hicks appeared, and second-place Katherine McPhee put on a happy face, but she had already changed into her jeans, no doubt wishing she was at home, too.