How do you sum up yesterday? Is it a feeling of optimism in the air that hasn’t been felt in the last 10 years (or longer)? Is it the thrill of the future coming one day, yet a huge leap, closer? Is it the euphoria of bringing together of the largest gathering of people the country has ever seen?

This is what I did: I found out the night before that Chris & Jeff were having an inauguration breakfast at 8 and then leaving the school (their home) around 9. After Sunday’s madhouse trying to get home after the inaugural concert, I  seriously contemplating staying home and watching it on tv.

I set an alarm for 8, hoping that I could rally and meet up with them by 9. I knew the 8:00am breakfast was out of the question. At 8:20 I pull myself out of bed, knowing that if I hit the snooze one more time I’ll miss out on joining them.

I have neglected finishing this for three days now—maybe because I can’t believe it’s real.

I meet up with the gang on Maryland Ave since it was the closest place with two groups meeting in a straight line. The gang is: Judy, Velma, Ammiie(e), Jen, Cari (?), Kimmie, Scott 1, Doug, Shawn, Olive, Scott 2, Princess. Did I leave  anybody out? While waiting for them I used my debit card for the first time in five weeks at Jacob’s: small regular coffee, $1.86.

From there we start to join the masses walking towards the Capitol. We’re directed south of the Cap (because going north would mean crossing Pennsylvania Ave—the parade route) and already all the streets are closed off to vehicles and the streets are full of people. Turning south on Independence we skirt the Cap for a while until we are forced to swing it wide, south and way around to L’Enfant Plaza, where we’re actually walking on a closed freeway. Can you believe this craziness? And before that we saw the elevated freeway of 395 which was basically being used as a tour bus parking lot. Incredible.

After being routed back onto Independence around the Smithsonian castle we’re noticing that all entrances onto the Mall (just a block north of us) are closed off due to maximum capacity. At this point I’m starting to get a really bad feeling that we’re going to be standing on Independence Ave while Obama is getting sworn in.

20 minutes later we’re down to the Washington Monument and we see some clearing of people. We head over there and after some slight pushing and maneuvering we’re all situated in a great place to watch (considering), about 20 feet south of the Monument, with flags standing outright in the wind. Have I mentioned how cold it was? Yeah, it was about 30° before the wind chill. We don’t care, we’re all bundled up and ready for the proudness.

The atmosphere around us is euphoric, and in a political sense something I’ve felt only before at the 1992 Democratic Convention, being on the floor while Bill Clinton gave his speech. I’ve never been more proud or hopeful.

The aftermath: of course the entire ceremony is fantastic. We’re all in great moods and now starting to evacuate along with two million other people. Everything is fine until we get to L’Enfant Plaza (retracing our steps) where all the out-of-towners are trying to crowd onto the two Metro stops there. It’s crazy, it’s a Who concert circa 1978, it’s starting to get dangerous. We double back and find a way out and around the madness and then continue the walk home.

Chris & Jeff have invited everybody back to the school for chili, which is what everybody desperately needs on such a cold day. We eat (it turns into a feast) grab cocktails from Dick & Kitty’s and head up to their airplane room, which is where their home theater is. We watch taped events of the day unfold, and it is only then that I see the aerial shots and I’m in awe of the day and the people and the participation.

Here’s the Kicker

It’s around midnight, we’re all exhausted (those who are still awake) and it’s time to leave. Walking the five blocks home, I come up to C St which has motorcycle cops closing off the streets, Secret Service black minivans SUVs everywhere, and I am being told to STEP BACK from the sidewalk. Thirty seconds later, with flashing red and blue lights, comes THE MOTORCADE. Obama’s new tank/limo, complete with presidential seal speeds by. Is this real? They whiz by, traveling way too fast but they’ve got all the side streets closed off so the traffic lights don’t even matter. Once they’re gone, I ask one of the cops “Was that him?” and he says “Yeah, that was him.”

It was nice to have the Prez speed by my house, kinda returning the favor of doing all that walking just to go and see him.

Note: some of these photos were pilfered from friends.

Staying up until 4:00 am watching Michelle Obama interviews isn’t the wisest thing to do after you’ve set an alarm for 9:00 the next morning.

I’ve set the alarm for 9, knowing that Bernice would be here by 10, we’d be at Buck’s by 11 and then down to the National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall to see Ateya perform by 12:15. I hadn’t heard back via text from Bernice by the morning so when my alarm went off I hit a snooze or two. And then I just turned the damned thing off.

At 11:00 I figured it was time to get up, still trying to decide whether I would head down to the Mall by myself or not. Then I noticed Buck’s email, sent at 10:30, asking if we were still on. I replied back a “yes” and quickly got in the shower. I’m out the door in 15 minutes, telling Buck to meet me at Eastern Market Metro and we’d ride down together. We had originally planned on walking the entire way, but now with our time crunch a two-stop Metro ride would get us there just in time. On the way I talked with Bernice and she was definitely out.

Buck and I arrive at NMAI a little after noon and luckily find no line to get in. We made it! Then I picked up a program that said KanKouran, the West African dance troupe Ateya is with, is actually performing at 12:45. So we have a little bit of time to explore the museum. This also gives us time to get together with Anya, a friend of ours who works at the Museum.

We didn’t know that Ateya wasn’t performing that day with Kankouran but they still gave a great performance. You might remember me writing about their performance when I saw them at Lisner a couple of years ago.

Part of NMAI’s “Out of Many” festival, also performing that day was a deaf dance group that Buck was once a part of, The Wild Zappers, and he wanted to see them too. They went on at 2:00 and although they had some technical difficulties they were still very good. I learned how to clap in sign language!

First, an early morning trip back to the Grocery store: chicken breasts (and some thighs for making soup) and frozen pizzas.

Purchase: $40.55
Balance: $87.94
Club Card Savings: $31.84 (44% of purchase)

Then, onto the day. What was supposed to be an early afternoon departure down to The Mall turned into a phone call with Kenny Sss and then heading down to The Mall. KSss is also unemployed and has recently started to re-enter the resumé game so there was a lot of pointing things in the right direction and being okay with it if nothing came ’round. He’s always a good center for me and I should have talked with him sooner but sometimes things need to spiral a bit before the upswing begins. And that’s all fine.

I get a little bit of a late start to the day to head down to the inaugural concert on The Mall. I took the D6 thinking I would get off at Farragut Square and walk on down, but once downtown it was entirely gridlocked. With cars and people, it was like Times Square in New York or Chinatown in DC after a game lets out of Verizon’s MCI Center. But it was everywhere, it didn’t dissipate. So I excited at 11th St and walked on down to The Mall. People were everywhere! It was amazing.

The open part of The Mall was crowded and I could see how the actual inauguration was going to be setup with the Jumbotrons and how they were allowing access. But moving further down past the Washington Monument was where everyone was packed in, this is where the concert was happening. I was getting there a little late but still had the opportunity to hear Obama speak. Really amazing, Tuesday is going to be incredible. Of course, on the mass exiting, I get frustrated with the moronic tourists not getting out of my way, and it’s made me rethink going down on Tuesday. I’d still like to, but now I’m on the fence.

Here’s Obama’s speech from the Lincoln Memorial:

//this was written last saturday, the 10th, and i just now realize it was never posted//

Today I am doing free things.

I was up this morning and farting around: having coffee, surfing, reconnecting with EFP about last night’s videocam test and subsequent abrupt passout. A lazy morning and afternoon were in effect.

Then I get a text from Robamos who’s getting his haircut (and checking out the Marines, no doubt) down on Barracks Row. R’s offering a free take on breffus and my dilemma: be a lazy fuck all day or get my ass in gear? I decide to bolt for the shower.

I was assuming we’d do brunch somewhere on the Hill, somewhere local, but as I get into Rob’s truck he throws out options that I hadn’t considered, neighborhoods away. Such a sweetheart.

We decided on the new Busboys & Poets, which is in Rob’s ‘hood and in the same building as the new Results, which I’ve never been to. I ordered a bloody mary and eggs neptune, which is basically eggs benedict, but with crab lumps instead of ham. Delicious. Afterwards we drove around a bit and Rob showed me about the new up-and-comings in the neighborhood. It was amazing how much that area has changed in the last couple of years. Give it five more and Wow.

After coming home and napping I met up with mcG and Siri after their show at the National Theater. We were gonna go and have some drynx and catch-up, mcG said he’d buy me drynx all night. Another friend coming in strong. We were walking up and decided to cut to Green Lantern, Siri had never been and I hadn’t been there in a couple of years. Luckily, it was pretty vacant and we were able to get a wrap-around banquette where we could actually carry a conversation. It was nice to catch up with each of them. And Robamos, too, earlier in the day.

Gotta cut to the chase: I’m walking west on Mass, up to and thru Dupont Circle and I’m getting this strange feeling like this is my last trip through here. After 25 years, when first hanging out here was Smalltown Boy’s dreams, just waiting for it all to come true. Well the time is now and maybe all of those dreams have not come true. What do you to? Do you hold them tight or do you let them go?

I walked over here without listening to headphones, I’m thinking that this maybe one of my last opportunities to actually listen to DC at night and hear what it sounds like.

The bus driver, on the second-to-last bus of the evening, speeds by me knowing that there are no passengers except those losers that need to get home late at night. I have to run half a block and repeatedly whistle to get him to stop. He doesn’t seem remorseful as he opens the door and I get in, I sit in the back, as usual, and he drives fast throughout the city. I’m hoping he’s not speeding past those who don’t know how to whistle.

Not that my cupboard is bare, but going to the grocery store for some items was a good reason to get out in the 26° cold. I thought about going for another long walk, maybe down to The Mall before the invasion, but decided against it. It really is that cold out there, and the Safeway is only eight blocks away.

This would also be the first time that I’m using my EBT Capital Access Card. Being able to only purchase what I could carry, I knew this wasn’t going to be a big blowout grocery trip. I had run out of sugar for my coffee (thx Beau) and needed some bread (insert 70s hip jive joke). I’d see what else was on sale to fill up my basket. I pictured it being a blizzard-panic purchase: bread, milk, eggs, etc.

After browsing a couple of the aisles it looked as if it was turning into a sandwich run: bread, deli turkey, bread & butter pickles, lettuce. Eggs were on sale so I picked up a dozen of those. I also picked up some bananas to munch on. I noted that skinless boneless chicken breasts were on sale $1.99/lb until Tuesday so I’ll have to go back tomorrow (or later tonight) and stock up on those. Red Baron frozen pizzas were $3.99 on sale so some of those will go in the next basket too.

Slightly embarrassed, I was trying to pick a register that would give me a sympathetic cashier and I wanted to go through the elderly woman’s line but there were too many people. Instead I went through the express lane.

I didn’t know whether to alert the cashier or give them the EBT (electronic balance transfer) card but after I put in my Safeway Club Card # the machine asked for payment options and right there, along with debit & credit was an EBT button. I never knew what that was for but I sure know now. I touched that, the cashier rang everything up and bagged. I’m not even sure he noticed how I paid, as long as the sale rang up and it was “good day” and onto the next customer. Neat, and embarrassment-free.

Purchase: $19.51
Balance: $128.49
Club Card Savings: $5.34 (21% of purchase)

I was too laid up on the couch last night to write this, but this is what I did yesterday:

I needed to pick up my Capital Access Card. Read: food stamps. Luckily this center was right around the corner (about 30 mins). But I guess since I also needed to go back to DHS it didn’t matter but at least the pickup center was directly on the way and not in the opposite direction.

There’s been a lot of change on H St NE lately, with bars, clubs, restaurants, deli shops, and such. Give it five years or so and it will be really amazing. Maybe seven years. While I would feel comfortable walking H maybe down to 11th St or something at night, anything further west of that would be a little scary. But since it was daytime I decided to walk the entire length of H.

Heading directly north on 15th, I come to the intersection where H terminates with Florida, Bladensburg, Maryland and Benning. There are still some thrift stores, boarded-up buildings and independent clothing stores along H and most of these establishments will be gone in the aforementioned 5-7 years. Major construction of the future trolley line, that will run from Union Station until 2am, was underway in the middle of H all the way down its length. That will be nice when that is completed.

I arrive at the EBT office (electronic benefits transfer) I am the only person waiting. Hallelujah! I sign in and barely have time to sign in when my name is called. They program my card, I enter my PIN, she gives me some info on monthly amount updating and I’m out of there. In, like, three minutes. 

Next stop is back to the DHS and I could get on the Metro at Union Station and take it one stop I decide to go ahead and walk. This will give me the opportunity to walk straight up North Capitol St, which I’ve never done and probably wouldn’t do at night.

Headed towards North Cap I pass over the Hopscotch Bridge, which drastically rises over the train rails that carry Amtrak into the northeast corridor. I’ve driven over this bridge many times, but never walked it. Cross that off the DC to-do list.

Once on N. Cap I’m passing the Housing Authority and other govt offices. At DHS I’m weary that I’m going to be sitting there for another five hours just to have a letter copied and added to my file, but luckily the ladies behind the desk were in a good mood even though their conversation about skiing at Seven Springs took up more time then doing their actual work. That was okay because they let me stand there instead of “taking a seat” and calling me in two hours. So I was quickly out of there in under 10 minutes. Hooray!

Not.

After waiting all afternoon for the heater guys to show up and view/test/fix the fan heater unit, they tell me they’re not coming until tomorrow. Even after I talked to the dispatch at 1:30 and they said he was finishing up at a site and would be right over. I’ve had cabin fever all day but couldn’t leave because they said they were coming over and now I’m pissed. Actually I was pissed off earlier because of Facebook’s software update (which created just as many new bugs as it fixed) and this just sent me over the edge.

I’ve got to get out.

I can’t walk north for too far because after H St it becomes ghettoland (and also murderville); south is too familiar and short and eventually ghettoland, too; east becomes freeways & rivers); so it’s west I go. Again.

I figured I’d walk to Union Station and back, maybe come back down on H (if it’s not too dark) or maybe see if they’ve blocked off the entire Mall for quarantine yet, which I’m sure they have so I avoid that route.

When I get to Union Station though, I keep walking up Mass Ave. The next thing I know I’m crossing the 395 underground freeway, the convention center, Thomas Circle and Scott Circle. Dupont’s next. I figure I’ll hop on the D6 and ride it back but when I get there I realize it’s rush hour (for those employed folk) and I could probably walk home quicker than it would take to take the bus through downtown. 

So I spin a loop about the Circle and head back down Mass, headed back east. Once I get back to Union Station I’m really starting to feel my legs getting tired and my feet too.

All-in-all it was a pretty quick walk, quicker than I thought it would be: the roundtrip taking about 2.5 hours. I think the bitter cold kept me going at a pretty good pace. Distance: 7.25 miles.

I go out. Not the same kind of out that I quickly realize everyone else is doing, because it’s a Friday night and it’s time for them to let off a little steam. They’ve been working all week, they’re entitled to it. I’m only out to get out. 

I originally think I’m going to head south, maybe walk to Barney Circle of something, but instead I find myself headed west. Past the monied, well-heated and well-lit homes on Lincoln Park which are devoid of people. Past the house where, in 1986, I had a brief and passionate romance with Eric Frances Baker. The iconic sculpture outside his residence was sadly gone, yet it had been replaced with a smaller, not-to-be-seen-from-the-street sculpture, painted all blue and perhaps the same one that briefly occupied the 500 block of East Capitol during a summer blitz of temporary outdoor artwork circa 2004. Outside Eric’s place is where my car was stolen one night. Eric didn’t care about the car. Or me. 

I found myself walking half of my stride length, for no apparent reason, and about half of my normal speed. I was walking like an old man, not even moving fast enough to have my arms swinging. People stared. I didn’t care.

After Eric’s I passed the Apartment In The Sky, my first home in DC. It was up there that I photographed with a Polaroid the intersection of Sixth & Independence every month for about three years. It was also there on my little balcony that I strung up christmas lights and left them year-round. This is also where Rattle fell and I found her the next day, four doors down under the front stairs, waiting for me to find her. She had been lost before, she knew the drill: stay where you are, Pops will find you.

Down at Jump Street I looked up and remembered this is where Hum survived her cancer surgery of 2001 and later died five years on. Afterwards I came home to a house with only one cat and that was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. Rattle pulled me through it though.

I notice that there are quite a few houses that still have their christmas lights on while others still have them up but they’re not turned on. I see a penny on the sidewalk and actually pick it up, thinking “this is income”.

I pass one of two (that I know of) futurejunkie stickers that I put up over ten years ago. It tells me to become an addict. Behind the One Way sign that it’s affixed to, a full moon shines and teases us humans to dare ourselves to be astronauts.

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs, capping one of the worst years in modern history for American workers.

The Labor Department’s report, released Friday, underscored the grim toll the deepening recession is having on workers and companies. And it highlights the difficulty President-elect Barack Obama faces in resuscitating the flat-lined economy. This year has gotten off to a rough start with a flurry of big corporate layoffs, pointing to another year of hefty job reductions.

For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost. Though the U.S. labor force has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still being painfully felt.

With employers throttling back hiring, the nation’s jobless rate averaged 5.8 percent last year. That was up sharply from 4.6 percent in 2007 and was the highest since 2003.

While economists were forecasting even more payroll reductions in December – around 550,000 – job losses in both October and November turned out to be deeper than previously estimated. Revised figures showed employers slashed 584,000 positions in November and 423,000 in October.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose from 6.8 percent in November, to 7.2 percent last month, the highest since January 1993. Economists were expecting the jobless rate to rise to 7 percent.

Losses were widespread in December. Construction companies slashed 101,000, and manufacturers axed a a whopping 149,000 jobs. Professional and business services got rid of 113,000 jobs. Retailers eliminated nearly 67,000 jobs, and leisure and hospitality reduced employment by 22,000. That more than swamped gains in education and health care, and the government.

All told, 11.1 million people were unemployed in December.

Employers are chopping costs as they try to cope with dwindling appetite from customers in the U.S. as well as in other countries, which are struggling with their own economic problems.

Not only are employers cutting jobs; they also are cutting workers’ hours. The average work week in December fell to 33.3 hours, the lowest level on records dating to 1964.

And the number of people who work part time – a category that includes those who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or those who were unable to find full-time work – jumped to 8 million in December, from 7.3 million in November.

Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains.

Average hourly earnings rose to $18.36 in December, up 0.3 percent from the previous month. Economists were expecting a 0.2 percent increase. Over the year, wages have increased 3.7 percent, although high prices for energy and food earlier this year made people feel like their paychecks weren’t stretching that far.

The U.S. recession, which just entered its second year, is already the longest in a quarter-century, and is likely to stretch well into this year. The fact that the country is battling a housing collapse, a lockup in lending and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s make the current downturn especially dangerous.

All the problems have forced consumers and companies alike to retrench, feeding into a vicious cycle that Washington policymakers are finding difficult to break.