An amazingly crowded, unusual, fun, and massive Inauguration Day

If you think you have seen or been in crowds before, it is nothing compared to the situation in D.C. today. As I woke up this morning around 6 and turned on the news, I heard reports that people were all over the city before the sun even rose. When we headed to the Metro stop, we surprisingly boarded the train quite easily. But as the train moved further and further into the city, it filled up. The nice part about it was that despite the volume of people, they were all quite jovial as we headed into the city.

As we got out onto the ground level of D.C. it seemed subdued at first. There weren’t that many people at the stop that Nirav and I got off at because we planned ahead to avoid an area we thought would be full of people. As we headed towards our gate (Purple), we saw a bus sitting in the middle of the exact intersection of where we were heading. Everyone in the crowd seemed quite confused and asked questions of each other. As a half hour or so passed, while we still didn’t move, people became a bit restless. Somehow people started to move foward, but we had no idea where they were headed because the bus was still in the intersection. As we approached the bus, a police officer explained that the bus was in the way and that they needed to get everyone out of the way so it could be removed. The problem was that people didn’t understand where to go because police just said to move away and even go around another corner – to a place that we all thought would not lead us to the Purple gate. So the crowd was confronted with believing the police officers and leaving their spot in the nonexistent line or trusting the cops and turning the corner in hopes that we would be closer to the gate. As the bus moved, and people still said to go the other way, Nirav and I walked around the corner to find another huge crowd…(to be continued)

I will update more on this story along with a tale about how we felt like we were in the movie Daylight (w/ Sly Stallone) because of an unbelievable situation at a Metro stop.

Also I will explain how the vendors in D.C. are unlike anything I have ever seen and how it is a stimulus package itself.

Pardon me while I go watch Kanye West and Kid Rock at the Youth Ball. Perhaps I will be on MTV with my mad dancing skills.

Packed like sardines

Today Nirav and I walked around D.C. and gawked like the tourists that we are, at least for now. As both of us are here we seem to be looking at things through the same eyes but with different ends in mind. Coming from the Obama campaign, Nirav is determined to move out to D.C. after he finishes up school, even if he doesn’t have a job lined up. A bunch of his friends and co-workers from Iowa and various places he worked over the past year for the campaign have great jobs involved either in the transition or directly with the president elect’s office. A few people he knows are even driving people around like John McCain, Colin Powell, David Plouffe and David Axelrod. This was  a job that Nirav could have been doing if he had come out to D.C. to volunteer for the week of the inauguration.

On the otherhand, I stopped by the office of the group that I worked with (Talk Radio News Service) when I went to the Democratic National Convention in August. My boss and friend, Dawn, explained a little bit about how things were going and what the new interns were working on. They were covering things like protests, rallies, and large events throughout the city. Unfortunately they missed the shoe throwing movement that happened at 11 a.m. which ended with only one person successfully getting a shoe over the White House fence, or so she told me.

It was strange to see the stark differences in the things that the media and the campaign are worrying about at this hectic time. Both a working towards an end goal but both in their own strange ways handle things very differently.  Nirav noticed this when we went to the TRNS office and I noticed it at the President Inauguration Commission (PIC) office.

The city right now is packed like sardines. Everywhere you walk there are people and everywhere you look there are more people/vendors. There is so much stuff that is being sold it is giving a stimulus package to D.C. as they work on reinvigorating the economy. The selling is like what I have seen in Denver and New York times 20.

I will add more later (plus some pictures) but we have to go back out on the town for the evening before the big day.

Across the pond from D.C.

I am here in Alexandria, Virginia – across the Potomac River from D.C. – ready to explore the city that has everyone’s attention. Nirav (the kind friend who invited me to join him on this adventure) discovered that our tickets are in the purple area for the swearing in ceremony, which means we will be among 240,000 ticketholders right in front of the Capital building. Behind us there will be something like 1 million  lined up to watch the festivity.

After the ceremony tomorrow we will have a few hours of down time, so perhaps we will try to see some of the parade. In the evening we will be attending the Youth Ball – which will feature Kid Rock and Common and covered by MTV. I am thinking maybe I can put on some of my amazing dance skills and make my smooth skills national.

The weather is not terrible here right now. There is no snow and it is about 30 degrees, a welcome departure from the freezing temperatures of Chicago. Along the way we hit a few patches of snow in Ohio but for the most part it smooth going all the way. The entire drive took about 12 hours.

Alexandria is sort of like any old suburb with chain stores, strip malls, and the like. As we arrived last night and headed to Arlington, Virginia to visit a few friends we saw the Pentagon on the side of the road. It was a surreal sight because I didn’t imagine it to be located close to hotels and apartments.

I will continue to post each night as I am here so stayed tuned for more adventures and misadventures in D.C.

Three goals for the trip – eat some Ben’s Chili (or Legal Seafood), visit the White House and the typical D.C. sites, and buy some really strange Obama gear.

Questioning McCain’s ‘guilt by association’ logic

There has been a lot of buzz in the news about Sen. Barack Obama’s ties with UIC Prof. Bill Ayers. Due in large part to the assertions of Sen. John McCain’s campaign, the Obama-Ayers ties that were touched upon in the Democratic primary race were not only brought up in the last few weeks, but have intensified so much that McCain recently released a political ad discussing the subject.

As historic election concludes, focus turns to voter turnout

With the final presidential debate over and done with, the election for the next president of the United States has dwindled down to a matter of days. The American public’s attention towards each of these candidates will certainly intensify in these important days leading up to the election.

Looking back, it is hard to believe that the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain began way back in February and March 2007, respectively. Along the way there have been key moments which will be closely studied in the coming months and years.

My Bloody Ears…er Valentine

The following is a reprint of review that I wrote in the Chicago Flame’s arts and entertainment section called Inferno a few weeks back.

Last week, My Bloody Valentine, late 80s/early 90s noise-pop-rock aficionados, came to the Aragon Ballroom as part of their first US tour in 16 years. Unfortunately, MBV has not aged like a fine wine, but rather an aged cola. Flat, tasteless, and seemingly outdated, MBV “performed” songs in front of an audience largely consisting of nostalgic old fogies who remember them from their first go round and a multitude of indie rock/shoegaze/heroin rockers.

Future of Illinois looks bleak, according to former Governor

Former Gov. Jim Edgar spoke at UIC last week

Published in the Chicago Flame (9/29/08)

“The future for the state of Illinois is not real bright,” said former Governor Jim Edgar, who spoke last week at UIC as part of The Future of Chicago Lecture Series.

The former Republican Governor explained that the next governor of Illinois will face serious challenges, due to the inabilities of the current administration.

The ‘Proximity Effected’ Fan

Many people like rooting for a sports team because of the proximity effect; they live in or near a city and therefore feel the need to root for that team. This, I believe, is possibly one of the stupidest reasons to root for a team.

I must preface this article by saying that I live in a major metropolitan city with two professional teams on the verge of heading to the playoffs and I hate one and feel indifferent to the other. I am a fan of one of these team’s rivals which often results in me getting perturbed looks and jabs. Aside from maybe rooting for a team because they have cute or likable players (i.e. many Yankees “fans” rooting for the team because of how nice Derek Jeter is or how hot A-Rod looks in his uniform), the proximity effect is just about the laziest reason to root for a particular team.

United Through Diasaster

The world of sports has found itself between a rock and a hard place. With the landfall of Hurricane Ike, expected to be this weekend, numerous high school, college, and professional sports teams have been forced to postpone, cancel or relocate their games.

An historic and emotional convention in Denver

Here is the latest in my string of articles about my experience from the DNC. This was published in the Chicago Flame this week.

The Democratic and Republican national conventions have now officially concluded after months of preparation and anticipation. Delegates were counted, vice-presidential candidates picked, and speeches supporting each party’s respective candidate were made to enthusiastic audiences.