(UPDATE: christine just commented on the fact that i forgot a title for this post. i’ve never done this before; clearly, it’s a sign of my creeping dementia).

ok, i’m not very timely here, but my friend thad sent me this e-mail about going to the concert at the lincoln memorial on sunday:

Hi All – I wanted to share that Kassia and I attended the opening ceremony of the inauguration yesterday (Sunday) with 500,000 of our closest friends. Yes, there were some minor inconveniences but, in the end, we agreed it was worth it. The inconveniences? Well, honestly, they were part of the overall experience. The crushing crowds that swept you up and moved like lava flow through every street within a mile of the mall; the freezing temps; vendors hawking merchandise, shoulder to shoulder, along every sidewalk and nook – it was like a midway carnival that never ended; massive military presence with soldiers in desert camo and fully armed Humvees on every street corner; and endless lines at the 7,000 porta-potties.

We finally landed in a great position in front of a jumbo tron. One of the funniest moments was when they asked us to stand for the national anthem. Half a million people, most who had been standing for several hours, erupted into spontaneous laughter. That’s a lot of people laughing and HBO didn’t cover that. Ah, reality…

I’ve attached a picture to show our location. Can you see us? Kassia has a black hat and she’s waving an American flag.

It was a stirring afternoon but the one question that gnawed at me was how one becomes the vendor of the “official” Barak Obama boxer shorts. Is this something Michelle signed off on? Does he wear them at home? I always thought he might be more of a Three Stooges boxer guy. Guess I don’t understand politics that well…