Just some thoughts.

I haven't updated in a while and am just realizing this. I'm gonna take this blog post in a different direction than the rest. Instead of mumbling on about myself, I thought I'd provide some social commentary on happenings around the world. So, if you'll allow me, let's begin.

Israel/U.S./Iran: For those of you that don't know about this situation, let me explain it to you in about a sentence. Iran doesn't like Israel and has nuclear weapons that Israel fears they will use against them, so Israel wants to preemptively strike Iran to protect themselves, but the U.S. doesn't want that to happen (though we're providing them with the weapons to do so), meanwhile the U.S. wants Israel to allow Palestine to become a state and Israel essentially saying it will only do so if the U.S. helps Israel attack Iran. Got it? Ok. So. Let's look at this unbiasedly. Why are we giving Israel weapons to attack Iran if we're trying to avoid WW3? Honestly. And why does Israel suddenly think it's ok to blackmail the U.S. into a WW3? Can't people just get along?! We all have to share the air we breathe, so why can't we share land too?

Obama's emissions plan: So Obama wants to essentially raise the price of most vehicles by $1,300 by the year 2016 to create 35.5 mpg vehicles. I have no idea why it costs so much money to make a car more fuel efficient. You'd think it'd be cheaper. Lighter materials, smaller engines.. I clearly know nothing about car mechanics. But, why are we so focused on cars? Shouldn't we spending our time thinking about ways of bettering public transportation? Making roads smoother and less congested? We need better infrastructure. It's almost 2010 people and we're living like it's 1950 still. Carpool to work and catch up on some office gossip. Or work on your tan while riding your bike to work. Or, throw on your iPod and listen to the latest Eminem album on the metro.

Swine flu: Two weeks ago this was the hottest topic of them all. Now? What's the swine flu? TV media blows things so greatly out of proportion it's insane. Maybe a handful of people have died in the U.S. from it?? Do people not realize that regular flu kills 40,000 people every year in the U.S. alone? Half-a-million in the southern hemisphere? Not that big o'deal people. Just wash your hands and cover your mouth when you cough. I mean, gross.

I suppose that's all I've got for now. Those seem like the big 3 stories of the day. Maybe something else will happen that's more exciting. Either way, catch up on some print news. Check this out, or this one here or even, this right here.

Obama Madness, Inauguration 2009, Part 2

Sorry this post is about 2 weeks late. The Inauguration really was total madness. Well, it's over and done with now and we've got a Rock Star for a President now!! Woohoo!

In the above photo, if you squint hard enough and look long enough, you will see our new Commander-in-Chief with his goregeous lady friend. They were looking directly at me. Had I know this while taking their photo, I probably would've passed out. So, let me rewind a little and tell you how the day went.

My coworker/roommate/friend Ian and I were told we'd have to come to work at midnight Jan. 20 (so latenight, Monday) to meet up with the Old Guard folks on post and then take a bus with them over to the Pentagon. Well, the plans, of course, changed. We were then told to meet up with the Old Guard public affairs folks at 430 am at Farragut North. I spoke with my boss regarding this change in plan and he said, well, you don't have to, just get down to the parade by noon. Ian and I were thinking, well why in the hell would we get up 6 hours before we had to?! So, Ian and I agree that we'll meet at Farragut West at 930 am and walk down to the Ellipse.

I get to Farragut North at about 920 am and walk down to Farragut West. The crowds of people walking down I  and 17th streets were incredible. It was just a sea of bodies walking in the same direction. So, while I was waiting for Ian I decided to take some photos. I climbed up onto one of the Jersey barriers to get some high-angle shots of the I st. crowd and ended up meeting a former photographer from the Hartford Courant. We exchanged pleasantries and I still haven't found a way to contact him (his name is Michael and he took a buy-out recently and worked there for 20 years... if anyone can help). Finally Ian shows up. There was a mishap on the red line at Gallery Place... apparently someone got hit by the train.

So we head down 17th street to find a gate. We were supposed to enter the media circus at 17th and E. The gate happens to be at H st. Secret service has no idea where we're supposed to go with our credentials so one of the guys walks away talking into his cuff. He takes too long so we just jump in line. Get through security, no prob. I get laughed at by one of the security guards because my camera bag was completely stuffed with clif bars. (We had no idea when we'd have a chance to eat!)

We make our way to E st and walk toward the Ellipse. We saw a bunch of heating tents and asked one of the national guards(wo)men where we were supposed to go and of course she doesn't have a clue. So we trudge on. We make it to the Ellipse. Where's the media circus?! We saw maybe 4 or 5 sattelite vans getting feed from the video guys at the Capitol. Ok, clearly this isn't where we're supposed to be because there are no photos to be had here. We decide to walk toward the parade route. We end up at 15th and E st at Pennsylvania. The final turn on the parade route before the White House reviewing stands. We talk to some cops, some Air Force people, some secret service and still, no one knows where we're supposed to be. So, we take post at the corner there and wait. And wait and wait and wait. There were no jumbotrons set up along the parade route, so sadly, we only heard an audio broadcast of the inauguration. By now it's probably close to 11 am. The swearing in was at 12:04 pm. So, if you do the math, we were out there for a long time.

Let me tell you though, it was COLD. I had brought hand-warmers, enough for the both of us. I stuffed two into each mitten. I tried sticking them in my pants pockets but it really did nothing. By mid-afternoon, 2 pm or so, I had to bust out the toe warmers and put those on.

Luckily, while on our corner, we made friends with the announcers in the booth at that corner. They let us hang out in their booth once the parade started and lucky for us, they had a tiny little space heater. (Ian spent most of his time next to it and I unfortunately had to hang my body outside the tent to shoot the parade, so needless to say, I froze a little inside.) While waiting for the parade to start afer the swearing-in ceremony, the crowd stood patiently, lining the streets, listening to the same 2 cd's over and over again on the loud speakers. The Obama-production people didn't take into account that people would have to listen to the same 32 songs over and over again. By the time the parade started, people were shouting, "Turn it off!" 

The parade was supposed to start at 230 pm, but like everything having to do with government and military, we hurried up and waited... and waited... and waited. Thanks to that one lady who talked throughout their luncheon at the Senate, poor Ted Kennedy's collapse and a quickie speech by Mr. Biden, the parade started at about 430 pm. Finally, Ian and I were about to see some action. We were told by the announcers we were standing with that Obama was going to walk the last leg of the parade route, so we were stoked.

After about hundreds of cops and military folk passed, the first family approached in their ridiculously long motorcade. Unfortunately for us, like the rest of the day, the Obamas stayed in their nice and toasty warm vehicle and waved to the crowd from inside. I waved back excitedly to little Sasha and her ever-so-classy mother, but Obama I saw not. (Not until I got home and went through my photos and saw the one posted above.) I was of course incredibly upset and frustrated, so I wa ready to go. But Ian, Ian wanted to get a shot of good ol' Biden (photo linked above). Biden walked the whole route. (We found out the next day that Obama walked the first few blocks down by the Capitol, and the last block by the White House, which, was not more than a block from where we were posted.)

So, we got our photos. Biden passed by, the Old Guard passed by, Obamas passed by, we were done. Who cares about the high schoolers marching in the parade when its 18 degrees outside. Ian and I were off. We trudged back across the Ellipse, found a warming tent, went inside and stood under one of the vents until we defrosted and made our way back up to Farragut North to take on the crazy crowds of people on the metro. Lucky for us, they'd all left after the swearing-in. By the time we got home I discovered I had burns on my hands from the hand warmers and that I couldnt' feel my toes.

But damnit, I took part in history that day. I can tell my nieces and nephews that I was in our nation's capital the day Obama took the oath of office. I covered my very first inauguration (and hopefully there will be more to come). I survived a ridiculous amount of people clogging up the city and all without seeing one celebrity with my own eyes. Now I'm going to figure out a way to have lunch with our president and his new photographer, go shopping with Michelle and take the kids out for some gelato in Georgetown.

Obama Madness, Inauguration 2009, Part 1

Well, I was going to make my next post about the rest of My Winter Adventure, but I'm over that and President Obama's inauguration is a way bigger deal.

So, let me begin my story. The photo you see above is a hail-mary I shot on the mall during the concert at Lincoln's Memorial on Sunday that was aired live on HBO. My roommate Gabby and I decided to go down and check it out. We ended up getting off the metro at Farrugut North and hoped to hop a bus, but as we were about to do so, all streets going East-West were closed down. So we made the not-so-long walk down to the Lincoln Memorial. Along the way we were offered all sorts of swag ranging from Inaugural (Bakset)balls, posters, t-shirts, buttons to Obama fragrances. It was kind of ridiculous the things these people were selling. But then there were the practical pitches of hand warmers and tissues. We didn't stop to purchase anything, but it was amusing nonetheless.

Unfortunately, we got there at 2 (when it was supposed to start) we couldn't see jack. We ended up right behind the WW2 memorial watching a jumbotron with all those people in the photo above. Security ended up closing off the gates that would've allowed us to get past the WW2 memorial, so we were left hopeless until I saw a hole for us to get to the front of the second crowd of people. We had a decent spot at the south jumbotron. I mean, ya know, it's cool we were there to experience it live, but it would've been way cooler if we'd gotten to see it up close and not have to see Mary J.'s boots on a giant screen.

The rundown of celebrities (if I can even remember them all) included: Denzel Washington, Mary J. Blige, Kal Penn, Steve Carrell, Tom Hanks, Laura Linney, Shakira, Usher, Stevie Wonder, John Mellancamp, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springstein, James Taylor, Beyonce, U2, John Legend, Garth Brooks, Jack Black... the list goes on. I'm straining my brain just trying to remember them all. So all in all, it was pretty awesome to be at something so historic.

The speakers showed old footage of past important presidents like Roosevelt and Kennedy. And quoted Lincoln quite a few times. Martin Luther King III spoke about his father and the things he tried to accomplish during the civil rights movement. 

And then... then... Obama spoke. My god the crowd went absolutely insane. And you know what? It was for good reason. The man is an amazing orator. The way he speaks, the things he says, he's totally motivating. I'd say he was the highlight of the day, even though we got to see so many great acts in the same day. So, now I've experienced the mass of people and I feel slightly better prepared for Tuesday's festivities. Ian and I are going to be going back downtown to the Ellipse behind the White House to cover the inaugural parade and the Army parts of it. I hope, hope, hope! that I'll get to see Obama in person for some amazing photos. So, stay tuned folks.

Also, to see more photos of the event and photos of tomorrow, check out this Facebook Album.

It's About Damn Time

I was going to write about my trip to Portland last week, but I feel that this is much more important than that. That can wait. So, without further ado, I'd like to say, "Thank you America," for electing a new president who will do good for our country. 

I spent election night with a former professor of mine at a bar in Adams Morgan, called Angles. I figured there would be a few people there, sitting quietly at their tables, having dinner and drinking beer, but no. I walked in to an absolute madhouse. The bar was jam-packed with people. The stairs were lined with smokers. Both flat-screen TVs were blaring CNN (HD, mind you) and everytime Wolf Blitzer announced a state had gone blue, the entire bar went into an uproar. If he announced a state had gone red, boos filled the bar. I have to say, there's nothing like being in your nation's capitol when such a huge election is taking place. The whole night I was wondering to myself whether people were going to run down to the White House and try to throw Bush out onto the South lawn. Well, only a little to my surprise, the next day I read an article on Yahoo! about an impromptu parade lead by police escort down Pennsylvania Ave., rounded out with a drum circle! I'm so sad I missed this! I instead, drove my tired ass home to make it to my couch on time to hear Obama's acceptance speech.

We're in for a bumpy ride with a new president, who in my personal opinion, will take these challenges in stride and I beleive he will succeed. Like he said, maybe not in one year or even in one term, but he will put us on track to getting to where we needed to be eight years ago.