President Barack Hussein Obama

I watched the inauguration this morning, the CNN feed on a large-screen display in the office conference room, with about 30 other people. [1] From Aretha Franklin through Biden to Obama—correcting the chief justice, who fumbled wording that would have fit on an index card if he didn't have it memorized [2]—and then the inaugural address, not perfect by any means, but with a lot of good stuff in it. Explicit praise of science, and a mention of non-believers along with several religious groups. Reverend Lowery's benediction: he deserved to be there, and I wonder if he expected he would live to see this day. Also a poet who I assume was selected by someone who had seen her work in a book: she's not good at reading poetry, which is a separate skill from writing it. And the Star Spangled Banner, which I surprised myself by wanting to sing (and did sing: I haven't had that impulse in seven years [3]).

I have followed papersky and hobbitbabe's examples, and picked a bit of the inaugural address as an "available" message on IM. Three different choices: I don't want to copy papersky that directly, so am not using 'We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals," excellent as it is. Mine is currently "honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity" (the virtues Obama listed began with "honesty and hard work" but that didn't quite fit; I'm not quite prepared to fly "loyalty and patriotism" as part of my standard, even today. Honesty is, for me, more general: loyalty always prompts me to wonder "to what?" and "is it reciprocal?"

And on Sunday, Pete Seeger stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in an inaugural celebration, and led everyone in Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." All the verses, including the one about the relief office. I don't know whether he expected a situation like this. Pete can take the long view. I quoted him, some months ago, as saying "I'm not as pessimistic as I was after Hiroshima."

[1]Connectivity maintained by one of the two IT people: the second-in-command, not his boss, who sent an all-staff email telling everyone not to watch on their computers because "I know a lot of you care about this, but we have an office to run." I hope that someone higher up told him that this had been crass: his email went out about half an hour before the one telling everyone to come to a brief introductory statement to a brief hello from the new CEO, who started full-time today, and then if we wanted to go to the conference room to watch and have lunch. [Not "don't watch at your desk, come to the conference room to save bandwidth," but a dismissive "you shouldn't be watching," from someone who was pushing hard for McCain before the election.]

[2] It was also the front page of the New York Post, the whole thing, from "I, Barack Hussein Obama," through the "so help me God" that every president except Hoover has added to the official wording. (Obama said ahead of time that he would.) Yes, the presidential oath of office, a 39-word headline on the paper that gave the world "Headless Body in Topless Bar." I wonder what Hamilton would have thought of that.

[3] A party Saturday night of Capclave, outside Washington D.C. in late September 2001.

President Barack Hussein Obama

I watched the inauguration this morning, the CNN feed on a large-screen display in the office conference room, with about 30 other people. [1] From Aretha Franklin through Biden to Obama—correcting the chief justice, who fumbled wording that would have fit on an index card if he didn't have it memorized [2]—and then the inaugural address, not perfect by any means, but with a lot of good stuff in it. Explicit praise of science, and a mention of non-believers along with several religious groups. Reverend Lowery's benediction: he deserved to be there, and I wonder if he expected he would live to see this day. Also a poet who I assume was selected by someone who had seen her work in a book: she's not good at reading poetry, which is a separate skill from writing it. And the Star Spangled Banner, which I surprised myself by wanting to sing (and did sing: I haven't had that impulse in seven years [3]).

I have followed papersky and hobbitbabe's examples, and picked a bit of the inaugural address as an "available" message on IM. Three different choices: I don't want to copy papersky that directly, so am not using 'We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals," excellent as it is. Mine is currently "honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity" (the virtues Obama listed began with "honesty and hard work" but that didn't quite fit; I'm not quite prepared to fly "loyalty and patriotism" as part of my standard, even today. Honesty is, for me, more general: loyalty always prompts me to wonder "to what?" and "is it reciprocal?"

And on Sunday, Pete Seeger stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in an inaugural celebration, and led everyone in Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." All the verses, including the one about the relief office. I don't know whether he expected a situation like this. Pete can take the long view. I quoted him, some months ago, as saying "I'm not as pessimistic as I was after Hiroshima."

[1]Connectivity maintained by one of the two IT people: the second-in-command, not his boss, who sent an all-staff email telling everyone not to watch on their computers because "I know a lot of you care about this, but we have an office to run." I hope that someone higher up told him that this had been crass: his email went out about half an hour before the one telling everyone to come to a brief introductory statement to a brief hello from the new CEO, who started full-time today, and then if we wanted to go to the conference room to watch and have lunch. [Not "don't watch at your desk, come to the conference room to save bandwidth," but a dismissive "you shouldn't be watching," from someone who was pushing hard for McCain before the election.]

[2] It was also the front page of the New York Post, the whole thing, from "I, Barack Hussein Obama," through the "so help me God" that every president except Hoover has added to the official wording. (Obama said ahead of time that he would.) Yes, the presidential oath of office, a 39-word headline on the paper that gave the world "Headless Body in Topless Bar." I wonder what Hamilton would have thought of that.

[3] A party Saturday night of Capclave, outside Washington D.C. in late September 2001.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

As I mentioned, my company has a new CEO. The publisher (Linda) brought him around to meet the editorial people, briefly, one-on-one this morning. When she introduced me, she told him that I'd started as a copyeditor, but had had "such a wealth of knowledge" that they promoted me. I added that Wendy had said she didn't want to risk losing me. (A quiet modesty might have been more appropriate, but I didn't think of that at the time.) I answered his question by saying I mostly do science books, especially middle-school and high school, and math when they can spare me from science.

Also, I went to the gym after work. They had a "spin this wheel and answer the true/false question it lands on," and after saying "false" to "there are three muscles behind the quadriceps," I was told I had won a "fitness orientation," which I think means I get another tour of the gym, and maybe a chance to ask about some specific machines. (That seemed, based on the person who spun after me, to be the standard thing, though they may have been giving a few more valuable prizes.) The gym was crowded: after work, in January. I expect it will be less so in a month.

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch

As I mentioned, my company has a new CEO. The publisher (Linda) brought him around to meet the editorial people, briefly, one-on-one this morning. When she introduced me, she told him that I'd started as a copyeditor, but had had "such a wealth of knowledge" that they promoted me. I added that Wendy had said she didn't want to risk losing me. (A quiet modesty might have been more appropriate, but I didn't think of that at the time.) I answered his question by saying I mostly do science books, especially middle-school and high school, and math when they can spare me from science.

Also, I went to the gym after work. They had a "spin this wheel and answer the true/false question it lands on," and after saying "false" to "there are three muscles behind the quadriceps," I was told I had won a "fitness orientation," which I think means I get another tour of the gym, and maybe a chance to ask about some specific machines. (That seemed, based on the person who spun after me, to be the standard thing, though they may have been giving a few more valuable prizes.) The gym was crowded: after work, in January. I expect it will be less so in a month.

( numbers )