inaugural - christine was there...

I've been busy with so many projects..but I wanted to share a first hand account from my friend Chris.

Here it is:

All, Happy 2009, thought I'd give you all an update on the Inauguration happenings from a 'locals' point of view. Kinda crazy to say 'local' nowadays but it's been almost two years in DC so I guess its true!! The weather here is crazy, yesterday in the single digits and today for opening ceremonies of the inauguration, warmed up to a high 29 degrees. They (you know--weather folks) say we could have Tuesday weather in the thirties so 'HOPE' is alive and well in the district. My friend Kawehi and family are here from Hawaii and her sister Kahow went to school with Barak so Hawaii is in the District full throttle. Kawehi arrived earlier than all to get all the tickets as her family are part of the festivities in DC. We met for lunch and we laid the tickets out on the table to see all the events and check them out. The tables are quite close in the restaurant and neighboring tables looked on, asked questions and ended up taking pictures of the tickets. They are very 'official' looking and it makes me remember my days hanging with Vanessa as 'Grassroots representatives' as we would head to the presidential events to represent the Big U.

I was lucky enough to score opening ceremony tickets from her sister and the show on the mall was incredible this afternoon. They are showing it on HBO tonight so look for me in the RED wool coat next to some COLD Hawaiians! The celebrities are out so I'll have to keep my eyes open. As we walked on the mall, all the news shows are out in full force too. Kaleo (her cousin) managed a live shot on MSNBC which should make the folks back home jealous. I mean, what Hawaiian sitting in 74 degree weather wouldn't be jealous of 29 degree HIGH! Tuesday is a big day and it will be an earlier morning trip into DC and standing in the cold.

If it's anything like open ceremonies, you can't help but feel the energy and enthusiasm in the air. Metro added more trains and the schedule is very frequent, so it seems to be running pretty good. Of course, there were only 750,000 in attendance today so I guess we'll see what a few MILLION feels like on Tuesday! The energy is charged and the smiles are on everyones faces. With all the events happening it makes it easy to sneak into a museum with no lines, Kaleo (Hawaiian cousin) liked that, we made our way through the Natural History Musuem and he got to see the 'Hope' Diamond. They also opened the Mammal exhibit and have some really 'creepy' large looking squids. Gotta love history! Ok....I'll keep you all posted as the week continues and I think at some point I'm suppose to go back to work....go figure! Stay well and warm, Ciao Christine