PRESIDENT OBAMA

OBAMA'S MOMENT ARRIVES

so as you all know, I attended the presidential inauguration this past week. it was quite the unreal experience. really... it was disappointing that not that many people showed up for barack (shakes head no, see above). i especially like the people in that picture with the neon green hats. i kept imagining if team olson had gone, we would've done something like this. there were also so many places to sit that some people got a little unconventional (see left).

I can totally see m1 sitting up there on that sightseeing stand, let me tell you. everyone was really happy and friendly there though, it was pretty amazing. even when you were annoyed someone was bumping you to get by, no one was rude or got mad. positive energy. :) and I also heard there was not 1 arrest in the city that day. i'm not sure if that's true, but if so, that is seriously awesome. i didn't see one protestor all day. unlike 4 years ago when I attended Bush's parade (not as a fan so much though) and got hit in the crosswind of some pepper spray directed at the protestors. that was really fun.

this post will be sprinkled with pictures to demonstrate my experience and the many varying styles of inauguration wear... and there were many let me tell you. my style was really just freezing my ass off and getting pissed off at at&t that their service on the iphone jammed up first and all day.
First of all, this (to the left) is what the washington monument looked like at 5:30am. This is basically why I was so cold. I was outside for about 12 hours straight at about 10 degrees. AWESOME. I totally wore enough clothes and the right type of gloves (shakes head no).

This girl on the right really went all out and I imagined this is sort of the level of enthusiasm team olson would've taken to this type of event. (or at least i hoped) She was maxxing out pretty hard. I loved their signs though.

Some people hipstered out all the presidential flair. You can see the hat below shows a creative and cool side to supporting our nation's leader.



Others blinged the shit out of their decor. This for some reason makes me think a little bit about the story Packy told at La Paz. Anyone else?? I couldn't quite get a pic of her fingernails but I'd imagine they could produce some bloody legs. itb?


Next up, we have another fellow who decided just to wear a flag as a hat. You can also see to the left of him where another "team" chose to sport identical hats. Obviously looking awesome while doing it.

This next one isn't so much a 'style' as a mindset. They brought their science fair project to the festivities. No, I'm serious, this is like in 10-point Times New Roman font. Who in the sam hill is going to be able to read that? (also, who says who in the sam hill other than m2? ohwell) But, fya "yes we can". i support it. our next team o get together will obvi be byosfp (bring your own science fair project). this brings me back to the cafeteria of yellow springs elementary school showing off how your parents basically wasted 5 hours of their time laundrying socks with varying detergents and stains on them to do the ultimate test of WHICH DETERGENT WORKS BEST. at least that's how it worked in my family. cfl.

Moving on...
these two I was really confused by on the right. They seemed to be trying to nap during all of this minor chaos of a crowd of roughly 2 million peeps. i don't know how they made it out alive but I did look over 45 seconds later and they were standing up again. so much for putting your foot down.

which brings me to another point of how easy it was to navigate through these crowds. i thought this picture was funny to the right. try taking that walk sign literally. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. it was insane. i didnt pee the entire day because getting to the porta potties would have been a ticket out of the game. which reminds me.... when I did (about 8.5 hours later) emerge on a porta potty once Kim and I walked to a metro stop in SE waited an hour having anxiety attacks and never getting down the escalators, and then deciding to walk home to Virginia... we found a million porta pottys at our disposal.

all i'll say is the one i went in was just about full. Gross. i really should've taken this woman's strategy too and byotp...










Okay, more styles. This one I thought was interesting. Teenage hipster celebrating change

Archie Fosdick style. and i'm okay with that.











Let's see, what else did I see? One thing you may not have realized is that people were there to "rage". See previous team olson blog for definition of rage.
Okay, moving on. Not sure why my font is now underlined. Anyhow... you may be wondering what all the kids did while they were there. I understand the history of this event and how amazing it will be to tell my kids and grandkids that I was there, but I guess I'm not sure about bringing a baby. I mean really there were millions of people around and it was effing freezing. But, kids a little older, I can see that. Makes sense. The one kid in front of me repeatedly looked at her dad crying (she was probably 8) and said "Daddy I can't feel anything" to which he ignored many times. I felt bad for her but really more bad for myself. it was soooo cold. my thighs didn't thaw for like 3 days.
The other kids, well, they did what normal American kids do at momentous, unbelievable, once in a lifetime events... they play Ninentendo DS. of course.

Only two more and then I'm done.

First of all I just want to say I got a great idea for a new concept for team olson vacay/everyday gear. why didn't we think of this before I wonder?? CAPES!!!

Don't worry I asked her how she knew I was going to be there (which would obviously be why she wore a Team O cape in the first place) and she said she reads the blog daily. two thumbs up guys. keep up the good work.

Last but not least, I want to just show you what AMO would've been wearing had she been able to attend. This was purely and simply amazing. I do also expect a blog shortly about AMO in chinatown buying all of us team o members these glasses out of a sketchy van. bring nm1 if you want, she loves chinatown.

oh by the way i think the spacing on this post makes it look like i've never used a computer before, but really its just a pain. amo fix it if you want :)

xoxooxox
yes we can.
kmo