1) I think Inauguration week is fascinating.
2) President Bush is on my mind as he transitions away from the White House, and my heart goes out to him. I can't imagine how emotionally exhausted a President would be after eight years of service.
3) I'm very excited about President Obama, and I'm intrigued to see what is accomplished in his first 100 days.
4) I have a lot of thoughts about the Inaugural address, but for the most part I'd rather keep them to myself. I will say, though, that I wish I could have read every draft ... and I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when the overall tone was discussed. Because the tone was decidedly grounded, and I was expecting something loftier. I'll just say that the speech took me by surprise.
5) I watched some of Robert Gibbs' press briefing tonight on C-SPAN (and I'm pretty sure that's the only time I've ever stayed on C-SPAN for more than two seconds), and I'm interested to see how his style changes throughout the course of his term. Right now most of his answers are like mini filibusters, but I can't tell if it's due to cautious phrasing or a desire to run out the clock. Or maybe that's just his style given the nature of the questions. Either way, I wish him well. He has one of my dream jobs ... a dream job that I think I would find both thrilling and absolutely terrifying. My other dream job would be speechwriter, which is why I really can't stop thinking about #4 above.
6) I saw Frost/Nixon last night, and it made me want to read up on Watergate. And even though what he did was wrong, it also made me feel sorry for Richard Nixon. I think many people would disagree with me, and that's fine. It still made me sad. (Although, part of that could have been more about Frank Langella's performance as Nixon. Hmmm, and I just googled him to make sure I spelled his name right, and I just realized that he is not the guy who played Saul in Ocean's Eleven. Because that's definitely Carl Reiner.)
7) I'm excited for the Academy Awards, and for the most part I'm pleased with the nominations.
8) I'm thinking about giving up Mexican food for Lent. This might prove to be a disastrous idea.
9) Found out today that I have a client meeting on my birthday. Will need to be at the airport at 6 a.m., and will land that night around 10 p.m. I'm a little bit heartbroken.
I think that's all I've got for now.
