Historic Inauguration

I did get to see bits and pieces of today's historic Presidential Inauguration. I watched about 20 minutes of it before I went to Dad and Uncle Ken's to do my laundry and a half-hour after I came back around 12:30. No, I didn't get to see the parade or Obama be sworn in. Dad and Uncle Ken were watching their usual 24 hours of nothing but thrillers and crime shows, and I didn't want to tell them what to watch on their TVs. If they wanted to miss history, that was on them. And alas, by the time the parade started, I was at work.

I still got to see enough to make me feel like I saw history. I've seen some history on TV before. I was five when the Challenger space shuttle exploded in 1985. Not that I cared at the time; I was more upset that they pre-empted The Price Is Right to cover the explosion and NASA's reaction. I was far more interested when the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989. I still remember seeing all those people yanking away at it clear as day, even on my little black and white TV. And of course, I was in college when 9/11 happened. Ironically, I was in a class on 20th century American history when the Towers were hit. I didn't find out until I went to work at the Stockton Media Center, by which time they were almost on the ground.

As for today, I could have done with fewer talking heads and more actual footage (this is why I don't watch network or cable news more often). I did get to see former President Bush leave Washington for Texas (not a moment too soon, if you ask me) and the beginning of the Inaugural Lunch.

Work was, in the opposite of the last few days, dead when I came in and when I left, but busy during the usual rush hour, by which time most Inaugural festivities were over or nearly so. A lot of people apparently called out this morning, either due to family trouble or the Inauguration, but there was no trouble whatsoever by the time I was there. Other than it was a little windy and icy going home, I had no trouble getting to or from work.