I Knew It!

Inauguration Day was special for a number of reasons, but one that I pointed out was that it had to be the most porta-potties ever assembled in one place. Seriously- they were everywhere. They stretched on into the horizon. But now we have confirmation from an authority.

This article states that:

Among other things, the inauguration of President Barack Obama was "the largest temporary toilet event in the history of the United States," an official of Don's Johns, the firm that provided most of them, said Wednesday.

However, I take issue with the way they said that most of them were unused, some with untouched rolls of toilet paper- because I sure never found any of them. And if the unit was unused, it had to be because it was physically impossible to fight your way through the crowd.

Anyway, I'm glad to know that years from now I can tell my grandkids that I was there...at the largest temporary toilet event in history.

Inaugural Concert Update

The concert was fun. I was dreading it because of the cold and the crowds, but I'm definitely glad we went. You can tell from the mobile post Sunday that we were some distance from the stage- I think the official concert area was everything from the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II memorial, and we were beyond that. The word was that they physically couldn't pack any more people into the reflecting pool area (and upon seeing the broadcast I believe it), so we settled for a cozy spot that was a little further away.

We parked ourselves on the East side of the monument where we had a clear view of a jumbotron. We could actually see the stage, but it was so far the performers were basically black dots against the white monument. We were pretty much seeing what everyone watching it on TV saw, except we could use the jumbotron to correlate the specs in the distance with the actual performance- so we knew "Hey! That dot is George Lopez!" Here's a map aid.

In any case, the celebrities we saw included (but were not limited to): Denzel Washington, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Carrell (a fan favorite), Jamie Foxx, Jon Bon Jovi, Tom Hanks (and oddly, no one charged out into the reflecting pool yelling "Forrest!"), Marissa Tomei, John Mellencamp, Queen Latifa, Josh Groban (a Ramya-pleaser), Kal Penn (easily the smallest celebrity there, but a thrill to the Indians nonetheless), George Lopez, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, Will.I.Am, Tiger Woods (who gave a great speech about the military), Jack Black, Rosario Dawson, Garth Brooks (the best act of the night), Ashley Judd, Forrest Whittaker, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Samuel L. Jackson, U2, and Beyonce (who inexplicably went on after U2).

But this show was only two hours, so it was rapid-fire. Most musicians sang something other than their own songs. Generally, one would start, and halfway through the song someone else would come out and join them, then later another, giving us odd trios like Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock and Will.I.Am. Where else are you going to see that?

Garth Brooks, as I said, got the crowd involved more than anyone else with a medley of American Pie (that was thankfully only a 90-second rendition), Shout, and We Shall be Free. U2 wasn't the only group to perform their own music (Stevie Wonder did Higher Ground (with Usher and Shakira), and I think Bruce Springsteen's song was one of his new ones), but they were the only group to do two full songs. But, I guess when you're U2, you can get away with a lot.

The worst act was hands down the Bald Eagles. So much so that they edited it out for the TV broadcast. Between U2 and Obama's address, the announcer said "Now, presenting the bald eagle Freedom, with handler Joe Blow." A guy with an eagle on his arm walked out, stood there awkwardly, walked around a little more, then stood awkwardly again. About this time the eagle started to fly away, making us think for a fleeting second that we were about to be treated to an aerial display of some sort. But Freedom only made it about a foot off of the handlers arm before the handler yanked on a leash hooked to the eagle's leg, which began a clumsy, spinning, wrestling encounter, that ended when the handler reeled him back in- thus undoing any majesty they had previously created. They then shuffled off the stage, leaving us all to wonder what we had just witnessed, and more importantly, if we were supposed to clap.

You may think that was it for the bald eagles, but you'd be wrong. They then announced another eagle (with a name like Freedom's Wings), whose main draw was that his handler was a DC native. When this second eagle started to take flight, I thought "Oh, this eagle's going to fly." Alas, no. He was also reeled in and spun around, which made me wonder if instead of an embarrassing blunder in front of half a million people, this was some sort of odd, yet precisely choreographed eagle handling routine. After the DC handler shuffled off, it was time for the man himself.

Then President-elect Obama made a brief speech. It was pretty vague, and not as memorable as his inaugural address, but what struck me more was the audience's reaction. I'll touch on this more if I ever get around to writing about the Inauguration itself, but people love everything he says. For example, there were some ladies next to us who felt they needed to respond to every sentence. My favorite was this exchange:

President Obama: "It may not happen in an hour."
Ladies: "Mmm-hmmm."
Obama: "It may not happen in a day."
Ladies: "That's right."
Obama: "It may not happen in a week."
Ladies: "Oh yeah."
Obama: "Or..."
Ladies: "Yeah, that's right."
Obama: "It may not happen in a year."

They said "Yeah, that's right" when Obama said "Or-" which pretty much sums it up. In any case, it was a great show- you can see more pictures here. Next up, I'll try to post about the inauguration, and how we were almost killed by the massive crowds.

Inaugural Concert

Here we are at the inaugural concert. It's crowded, but not as cold as everyone feared. So far we've seen the President-elect, Denzel, Bruce Springsteen and Mary J. Blige. Worth the trip so far. Oh! Here's Jamie Foxx and Steve Carrell!

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A Bad Driving First

Yes- it has been over a month since I wrote a new post, and over two months since I wrote a real post. In my defense, I've had a lot of stuff to do. Plus I got Guitar Hero: World Tour for Christmas and you have no idea how much willpower it's taking to do something other than play that game in my free time.

So I'm going to ease my way back into this, and simply describe something that happened on the way to work today. I think I've mentioned this before, but this is a common driving practice in Southern Maryland: Picture two cars that are stopped opposite each other at a red light- one of them is turning left and the other is going straight. It is not at all out of the ordinary for the left turning car to gun it and turn in front of the oncoming traffic as soon as the light turns green, knowing full well that from the other side of the intersection are coming cars that are driving straight, clearly in possession of the right of way. I cannot understate this: this happens all the time. Almost every morning on my way to work, I honk at a left turning car as I brake, because I would've t-boned them had I just proceeded on my straight, non-turning, right of way path. I used to get mad, but it happens so often. The only reason I even honk anymore is to let them know that I know they're doing something totally illegal.

I get a variety of responses to the honk. Some people stop for a second, then continue with a puzzled look on their face as if they have no idea why I'm honking. I get a lot of the stink eye and other dirty looks. Quite often I get the finger. But this morning, well, this morning was different.

There I was, the first car at the red light, heading straight through the intersection. Opposite me was a white car with the left turn signal on. Over the years I've developed a sort of "Spidey Sense" about this- I just knew he was going to dart in front of me. I had my hand on the horn, at the ready.

The light turned green, and as a surprise to no one, the white car proceeded into the intersection, turning left directly in front of me as if I (and the cars behind me) weren't even there. So of course, I laid on the horn. This caused the white car to slow to a halt. So for those keeping score at home, allow me to set the scene. There I am, about a quarter of the way into the intersection. There's the white car, mid left turn in the center of the intersection, completely blocking traffic in either direction. The passenger window rolls down, the driver holds up his hand, extending his middle finger, hand goes down, window goes up, and the white car carries on it's way.

It's important to keep in mind that we were not the only two cars on the road. There were several people behind me, and several behind him. Through my years of honking at these people I've always been amazed by the indignant middle fingers I get for calling them out on something they know they're doing that's wrong. It's like, you know that what you're doing is illegal- why are you mad at me for pointing it out? But the gall to attempt something illegal, and when you get honked at, stop in the middle of an intersection and make 15 other cars wait in the thick of the morning rush to flip off someone that was completely right? That's a new level. Seriously, where are the cops when you need them?