By Li Hongmei

Now in its second week, the partial government shutdown has taken its toll on the White House, where about three of four staffers have been furloughed, barred even from checking the BlackBerrys they usually clutch like worry beads.

Of the 1,701 advisers, assistants, butlers, chefs and landscapers who work at the White House on a normal day, fewer than 450 are on duty. The rest fall under an unfortunate label that has kept hundreds of thousands of federal workers home: "non-essential."

At one entrance to the West Wing, a wall that normally displays clippings from the day's newspapers hasn't been updated in over a week. "Congress slips toward shutdown," reads one outdated headline in a near-empty press office.

With a full array of official duties that must be carried out despite the impasse with Congress, President Rarack Obama's aides have strived to maintain normalcy. But the logistical gymnastics of running the federal government's nerve center with a skeletal staff have created a sense of mild disarray at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The staff of 90 that normally tends to the president's residence has been cut to 15. In the West Wing, only a scaled-back menu is available at the White House mess. Trash cans are still being emptied and the bathrooms maintained, but the usual buzz of employees across the White House grounds has dipped to a quiet hum.

"The most evident impact is the lack of voices," said Josh Earnest, Obama's principle deputy press secretary. "There aren't a bunch of people yammering on the phone."

Vice President Joe Biden gets to keep the single staffer who works at his Naval Observatory residence, but his 24-person White House team has been cut in half.

Like Obama, who has skipped a planned trip to Asia, Biden also has had to trim back his schedule. His office said yesterday that he was calling off a trip to New Jersey on Friday for Newark Mayor Cory Booker's Senate campaign. Last week, he canceled a speech to the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign and an appearance at a fundraiser for House Democratic candidates.

Want to share your ideas with Obama about resolving the shutdown? Don't bother calling. The White House switchboard has been set to roll over to a prerecorded message. "We apologize, but due to the lapse in federal funding, we are unable to take your call," the message says.

Since the shutdown started, Obama hasn't played a round of golf, as he does almost every weekend. And there was no fancy night at a restaurant for the president and his wife who marked their 21st wedding anniversary last Thursday.