Today’s job was getting the inaugural tickets to the swearing in ceremony from Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Office and for one of the parties we’re attending, the California Democratic Party’s ‘Fly Me To the Moon’ event.

As I’m writing, I have the best editor watching over my shoulder so you’ll notice this post is written a bit more superbly than most.   And for those who still don’t know who I am talking about, that would be my lovely wife Julia.   We left Bethesda to get tickets….

Anyways….we left Bethesda at about 10:30am and cut it a little close.  But I gotta say, the Metro does run quite well for a Saturday.  I don’t think we waited more than 5 minutes for a train or for a connection.  Even so, we got out of Capitol South Metro station at about 11:45am and needed to be at Senator Feinstein’s Office by noon.  We walked quite briskly – remember, the temperature was about 20 degrees – over to the Hart Senate Office Building.  We made it there by about 11:58am.

That office will be buzzing through Monday.  Even celebrities like Angela Bassett had to pick up tickets as well.  Unlike me, she didn’t have to show identification.  Also, we were fortunate to run into legal beagle Chris Dolan of the Dolan Law Firm in San Francisco.

Here’s me and my good friend Larry Handerhan in front of the office holding one of the golden tickets:

Excitement about the events runs rampant.  We met a family on our way to Senator Feinstein’s office who drove hours only to be here for the weekend.  They didn’t want to deal with the traffic and the hassle but brought their two little boys (about 4 and 9 years old) to experience the festivities.  They were on their way to Union Station.  Everywhere around town there are signs congratulating and welcoming President Barack Obama.  From the Teamsters to the Methodist Church, everyone shares in reveling the moment.

I hear our President elect was running right on time on the train to Baltimore.   We were running quite timely as well – after Senator Feinstein’s Office, we went to pick up our tickets to the California bash from the Hyatt.  There, we saw San Diego County’s Democratic Chairman Jess Durfee and local favorite Marcia Smolens.  After receiving the tickets, we went over to Union Station for a quick lunch and then walked around Dupont Circle.  Not as gay as the Castro, but the espresso chocolate cookies at Firehook gave Hot Cookie a run for its money.

We’re back in Bethesda for the night, and tomorrow we’ll sending live updates from the concert tomorrow…..