The Inauguration Pt. 1

Part one? Is he making promises he can't keep again?

I hope not! I'm just incredibly tired from my adventures today, and I want to put up something worth reading -- not just something off the cuff.

To tide you over, here are some vital links.

More than one person told us that more than anything, the sight they wanted to see at the inauguration was George Bush flying away via helicopter. I can't say it didn't make me happy to see him get outta town, but I was non-plused by some of the booing in the crowd during the swearing in.

Out in the field, we had only hearsay and rumors to work off of. For instance, I learned via text message and rumor that two people had been killed when they fell onto the tracks of the metro around the China Town stop. I was relieved to learn that while one woman did fall on to the tracks, she was not struck and did not die. A pretty harrowing tale.

As of right now, just under one million people used the Metro today. That's amazing; especially because Metro has said that the system can only move one million when running at full capacity for an entire day. Personally, I think we're going to pass that figure before the day is out.

Possibly the most amazing thing that happened today: Obama receives the nuclear launch codes.

How crowded was it on The Mall today? CNN has an interactive satellite photo, but you can take it from this eyewitness that it doesn't look right. I think this picture was taken well before the crowds started to come in.

The big question is: Was Matthew Lesko at the inauguration? From the "Manifest Destiny" blog.

MOST EXCITINGLY: I'm pretty sure I saw Matthew Lesko walking down my street as I returned home. I mean, okay, it could have been someone else. But whoever it was, he was wearing a leather jacket emblazoned with question marks, pants with question marks on the back pocket, a question mark hat, and ludicrous shoes (which seem likely to have also involved punctuation symbols of one sort or another).