Inauguration - start...

[asterroc]

I think I mentioned, on Thursday (Jan 4) I went to see the Patrick/Murray inauguration ceremony and attended the ball in the evening after. I'm taking my time about writing up the details because I want them all written down and saved for my future self, and so far all I've got is everything before the noon inauguration. The draft of that much is below, in messy form, but so you can get a little snippit of it now.

Inauguration Festivities

Yesterday (Jan 4 2007) I got to attend a number of the inaugural events for MA Governor Deval Patrick and Lt Gov Murray. I want to chronicle all of it below for my own memories, so it's gonna be long. Feel free to skip to the parts you care about.

Before I went (~Dec 20)
Some time around Dec 20, still during Finals week if I recall correctly, my campus's union (interim) president emailed her executive committee (including myself as secretary) to say that the state-wide union was paying for 8-10 tickets for people to attend the inaugural ball, and all were welcome to see the inauguration itself. She herself could not attend for unspecified reasons, so she asked if any of us were interested. We had to reply to the state union VP by Dec 26.

I was interested but uncertain, but after briefly talking w/ JY and my parents (by then I was down in NYC) I thought I'd probably do it. And a couple days after Christmas I was out shopping with my mom at JC Penny's and we found the dress and the shoes. The back is strappy, and the shirt in the first picture my mom made years ago.

When I got home I emailed the VP saying I wanted to go. It was Dec 27, but I expected it wasn't a big deal. She didn't respond to me by Jan 3, so I called her worried. She'd never received my email and wasn't planning to go herself, but I managed to talk her (and her pallazo pants) into it and there were still tickets available the night before.

How I got there (9 am - 12 noon)
We were to meet at the Dunkin Donuts next to the State House at 11:30. I anticipated the drive would take up to 1:30 and the T/bus from parking to take up to an hour, so I planned to leave the house at 9am. I actually left around 9:25, and arrived at the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center at 10:17am. I was shocked. I went to the back South Lot, where there were no attendants and stopped the car.

I called the VP who was far away still and said she'd meet me at the State House (she'd been considering meeting me at the convention center, she doesn't know the city too well I think). I saw a number for the lot's security and called it, and it turns out that they weren't charging volunteers who showed up before 3:30, so he said to park by the other volunteers' cars and he wouldn't say anything. Yay!

The directions I had for transit from the convention center to the state house said that it would take 20-30 minutes. One route involved a bus and a train, the other a bus and lots of walking. I decided to try walking the whole way, and it took just under 30 minutes. I left the convention center around 10:45, and arrived a little before 11:15.

While waiting for my unknown colleagues to arrive, I wandered the inauguration area a bit. There were two firetrucks with a large American flag hanging between their ladders. The flag had a few small mesh squares in the stripes to let the wind through, never occurred to me until then. Outside the Dunkin' Donuts were a slew of motorcycle cops' motorcycles. The lettering stickers on them were different sizes. The details you notice when killing time on your own. Like the bomb squad standing in front of the large screen. And the snipers - two pairs atop the State House, and another pair on a nearby building. All had monoculars and were scanning the crowd throughout the event.

I found my people, met some new ones, and we stood in front of the fire trucks.

Inauguration ceremony (12 noon)

I'll post a better version of that when I get the chance to clean it up, and along with the important parts that I haven't yet written. :-P It'll come...