inauguration pics

We stood right in front of the Washington Monument. It's a good spot - it's on a hill, so you can see the Capitol.


Our view while waiting for the festivities to get underway:
(The Capitol is the building in the middle, a mile away. Those trees are blocking the dome.) Our view at 12:05 p.m.:


So many tacky t-shirts, so little cash:

inauguration report

I went to the inauguration. It was way fun. After months of dire warnings, let me share Alsho's and my experience:

7:45 a.m. Arrived at the metro. Spent about three minutes in line. Got on a half-empty car on the first train that arrived.

8:35 a.m. Ok, it took about twice as long as usual to get to the stop we were planning to walk from. But we were sitting down, and we were warm, so who cares?

9:15 a.m. Got to the grounds of the Washington Monument, found a spot, stood there. It was cold but layers pretty much worked, and sometimes the sun came out.

12:05 p.m. Watched Obama get sworn in on the jumbotron.

1:00 p.m. Started walking away from the Mall. Decided it would be a good idea to use the, er, restroom. Walked up to a port-a-potty, didn't wait in line, walked right in.

2:00 p.m. Got on the metro. The car we got on had exactly one person besides us. (When we got on, which was before downtown - it filled up a bit more, but not much.)

2:30 p.m. Sitting on the couch watching TV and drinking hot toddies.

So, basically: It went pretty darn smoothly from my point of view. I love big public events. Also, a new love: the sound of millions of mittens clapping. It sounds like thunder.

newspapers

I LOVE THIS STORY. People across the country are lining up...to buy newspapers! The Post sold out, even after they upped their print run, and then they did a special run, and that sold out, too. This morning at 8:30 when I got on the metro, the guys who hand out the competing free newspapers were already both empty-handed. The Express guy had even given away the copy from the clear plastic window in his vest.

Yay old media.

scrabble

Monday night I was particularly unhappy and went to my parents' house so they could feed me and tell me I'm a good person. (They're good at these things.) As my mom and I sat down to play Scrabble, she said a little prayer: "Please let me win. Please let Obama win, too." I was a little concerned. I wasn't sure I wanted the future of our country to hang on the outcome of a Scrabble match. You see, I usually win.

I never took the lead once. She beat me by like 50 points.

brothers in audio

Funniest moment of the debate last night: After the festivities, on PBS, they were showing the commentators talking in the studio about how the debate went. Then they put up this shot of these two scruffy-looking guys. The guys were standing outside. They looked like brothers, maybe middle-aged farmers who'd been pulled aside on their way out of the auditorium to give their opinions on the candidates.

Yeah...it was Don Gonyea and Scott Horsley. Talk about a face made for radio.

primary

Change - everybody's campaigning on it these days. Including this guy, whose whole campaign strategy seems to revolve around this and other large signs with questionable grammar and many capital letters:

Isn't he helpful? At the entrance to the polling station, he points out the people who didn't endorse him. It's right there on the sign. Thanks for the info, guy!

actually, the occupants can stay

Yesterday I took a bus that goes past the White House and as we passed behind Lafayette Park, I saw some people standing around wrapped in Georgian flags, which was mildly exciting. Things got better when we turned the corner and there was an actual little crowd marching with signs and banners:


That big banner is illegible, so I'll help you out: "RUSSIAN OCCUPANTS OUT OF GEORGIA." "Occupants" was kind of squished in and hard to read (the girls behind me: "Russian...something out of Georgia.") Also, I think they meant 'occupiers.' But anyway. An exciting day in D.C.

buh-bye

Last night I walked by the Building Museum on the way to this concert and wondered why all the networks had satellite trucks parked on the street. Now I get it.

do not interrupt my quiz show, monkey

I just got home from a highly crankifying day at work, and I thought, oh good, I can watch Jeopardy. Jeopardy will make me happy. And 30 seconds into the intro - it's the college tournament - they break in with an ABC News Election Update in which Charlie Gibson tells me that he is confident in making the prediction that Hillary will win the primary in West Virginia, where the polls just closed. Seriously? This was worth breaking into programming for? *I* could have confidently made that prediction. A *monkey* could have confidently made that prediction.

Here's something else a monkey can do. (See also the Date Lab editors' chat.)

stupidity

I don't normally write about politics on the blog (or talk about politics at all, really) but I feel taking a position on Al Wynn is uncontroversial at this point. Wynn has been my parents' congressman since 1992. He spoke at my high school graduation and everyone pretty much thought he was awesome, but he became less and less popular, just barely won the primary in 2006, then lost it this year to the same woman who almost beat him last time.

So what did he do? Lose graciously? Finish out the rest of his term? No. He announced he was quitting. He said, hey, Maryland, thanks for the support, and I was planning on working for you until 2010 at the least, but I can't wait six more months to go take my lobbying job. Which means either his district has to go without a representative for half a year or Maryland has to spend a bazillion dollars on a special primary.

To which I say: Wow. Stay classy, Al Wynn.

primary season

Ohmygosh you guys. It is so exciting living somewhere where a primary actually matters! I've never had my vote count in a primary, and now in the last week I've seen two Obama ads and one McCain ad, and I hardly ever even watch TV. Still waiting for a Clinton ad...omg. I just walked away from the computer for two minutes and a Clinton ad came on. This ROCKS.

Update, 15 minutes later: Another Hillary ad - and it's a different one! So exciting! And it's being immediately followed by a McCain ad! Man. This is cool. I can see how political ads might get old if you lived in, say, Ohio in October, but for this one week, I am psyched.