Gowns, Tuxedos, Lines, Celebration and Chinese Food at 1 am

After supporting and working for Barack Obama for two years, it was time to celebrate! After 4 days of events, parties, waiting, standing and wearing layers of long underwear, it was a time to dress up.

Last night, Cathy and I donned our formal attire and made our way via the Metro to the Washington Convention Center. We were guests of the Inauguration at the Mid-Atlantic Ball.

These Balls have a strange reputation. The wisdom of veterans of Balls is that the food is minimal (and hard to get to), the drinks expensive (and hard to get to), and the coat check lines are massive (and impossible to get to). Yet, it is worth it to come celebrate and welcome the First Couple as they do their First Dance.

Our Ball matched some of these predictions. So, our strategy was to eat before and after, skip the bar, find a space close to the stage and bring along a huge amount of patience.

The Ball started with an incredible set of music from Wyclef Jean, who blended funk, improvisation, soul, hip hop, rapping and latin music to get this dressed up crowd of several thousand rocking. As a long time supporter of Obama, Wyclef infused the new President's words and spirit into the entire set of rocking music.

The second set was a bit strange. The Dead, yes, the remaining members of the Dead, played a long set. Personally, it didn't work for us and for many of the non-Dead fans, but hey, that is what diversity is about, I guess.

The thrilling moments were when the Vice President and Jill Biden .. and then President and Michele Obama came, spoke and danced.

Michele and Barack were a couple in love, in tune and impressive. People had their cameras out and captured every moment of the First Dance.

Afterwards, the toughest part was recovering our coats. Imagine several thousand people heading to the coat check all at once. It was a mess and we almost considered leaving our coats as donations. But, that is where Patience came in handy.

And, at 1 am, we left the Ball, walked four blocks to the Metro station and were drawn to Chinatown, right next to the station. Boy, were we hungry. And, we joined dozens of other tux and gown attired couples, straight and gay, eating Fried Rice and decompressing from the weekend.

So, the day started at 4 am when we woke up to head to the Swearing In and ended when we got back to our hotel in Bethesda at 2 am. Twenty two hours of history, of celebration, of reflection and of emotion. And Cathy looked awesome!

Admission to Inauguration Party - Food Bank Donations

The Obama campaign suggested that we link Inauguration viewing parties with suggested donations to local Food Banks.

Over 100 people came to our office in Saratoga Springs to watch the Swearing In - and we asked them to bring some cans or dollars to donate to the food bank - and they did!

Here is a picture of some of the goods that were brought and are now on the way to our local food bank agencies.

In these tough times, we have an opportunity to link to Service to America at every community gathering.

Impressions from the Swearing In

We just returned from the Inauguration and are now in our hotel room defrosting.  While our toes are almost frozen, there is significant warmth in our hearts and souls.  Here are a few impressions and conversations from this morning at the swearing in of President Obama:

* The crowd was enourmous and joyous.  It was high in diversity: race, age, social status and geography.  We loved our instant friendships with a pair of radio show hosts from Laredo, Texas; a corporate lawyer from Chicago who talked about her parents' taking her to see Dr. King give his famous speech; a 10 year old boy from N.J. who clutched a poster of Obama; and a multi-racial Next Gen young woman who said: "Obam is just like me.. a milk shake of color and an audacity of spirit.

* The sound of a million people singing the National Anthem was overpowering.

* The tears rolled down our faces as the words of the swearing-in carried over the loudspeakers.

* The patience of the crowds as they waited from 5 am until 8 am when the Secret Service screening points opened and then another 4 hours until the start of the ceremony.

* The sight of George Bush's helicopter taking off as we were exiting the grounds of the Capital.  It was a final verification that the torch had been passed.

* Everyone was talking to everyone on the Metro.  The sense of the day extends to strangers befriending strangers.  We chatted with a man who flew from Paris to be part of the day - in appreciation for what Americans did for France in World War II.  

* We hosted over 100 people at our office during the Swearing In.  I called back several times to give a live update from the lawn in front of the Inauguration and connect with our neighbors and fellow Obama volunteers.

Now we are back at the hotel, watching the start of the Parade and warming up for the Inaugural Ball that we will be attending at 7 pm tonite.   More about the Balls in another post in a minute..

It's 4:30 am -- Time to Head for the Inauguration

The clock says it is 4:30 am.  Yup, that is early and on this historic day, this is our departure time for the swearing in of President Barack Obama.

We are staying in Bethesda, Maryland and must take the Metro into DC, as all of the bridges are closed.  The city has added extra Metro trains and opened the system at 4 am. 

We will head to the Union Station stop and then walk for a while to get to our designated security entry point.  We are honored to have VIP tickets that give us a standing space right at steps of the Capital.   We would like to get as close to the start of that section - so we are leaving now.

The Secret Service screening point means that we cannot bring any bags, chairs and a large list of excluded items.  So, Cathy and Elliott are putting on multiple layers of clothing, bringing hand warmers and stuffing our pockets with food and water supplies.  We will be standing outside from now until about 12:30 pm.

There are millions of people heading to the Mall.  Every square inch will be occupied, with some folks over a mile from the stage --- viewing on these huge Jumobtrons and listening from a great stage.

Though we have access to the Parade, we can't acutally get to both the Swearing In and the Parade route.  As soon as the new President is sworn in, there is a massive exit process from the mall.

We will head over to our friend's house for lunch - right near the Capital and watch the Parade on this television.

Then, back to our hotel - rest a bit - and head to the Mid Atlantic Ball.  More about that later! (The Grateful Dead are the lead group at our Ball - and it will be fun to watch President and Mrs. Obama dance to their music.

I will be "broadcasting" live from the Mall via cellphone to a Saratoga Watch Party.