If you start posting shit like this to Facebook, you’re either going to get a “Hide” or an unfriending pretty darn quickly.

Spotted on JMG.

QUICK UPDATE: Mode Project, the same design team that created Obama’s iconic “O” campaign logo, is credited with designing the recovery.gov logo along with a great new Dept o’ Transpo’ project logo. Thanks @katkatkatbobat!

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.

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:

Nine years ago during the big dotcom boom and around the same time I was putting up the original futurejunkie site, I kidded around with a friend and co-worker about hickeys on websites. For those not in the design and printing industry, a “hickey” occurs when a piece of dust or other debris sticks to the printing plate while it is rotating in the press. This will result in a small knocked-out dot or smudge, about the size of a flea, on your image or color box or whatever it is you’re printing. Usually hickeys will work themselves out once the press gets up to speed, but it’s still something to watch out for. It happens; it’s unavoidable.

So we joked about seeing them on websites and I actually put one on futurejunkie 1.0. We had a good laugh. Har-har, graphic design humor.

But now I think I’ve actually found the hickey equivalent. It is on Barack Obama’s President-Elect site, that I referred to in the previous post. Go the site here and see. See that little blip above the change.gov seal and logotype, in between the H and the A in CHANGE? I initially though this was some yuk on my screen, but move the browser window around and it follows. A screenshot verified that it is in the image file. This is probably the result of a bad scan but someone needs to clean this up ASAP. I’ll update this post once it’s been noticed and corrected.

President-Elect Barack Obama brings his campaign site into the real, incorporating messaging from his campaign site and his iPhone app. This is a first for a Prez-Elect, but I doubt W had the savvy to do this eight years ago so we’ll probably be seeing everyone do this from here on out. The new site contains all his stance on the issues of his campaign as well as new press releases. You can leave your story of how this historic election has affected you. There’s info about Michelle on there, too.

Topic of the next 72 days: are you making preparations for the Inauguration? If you live here, are you taking the day off? If you don’t live here, are you planning to travel in?