Obama-Rama and all the other cliches

turns out yesterday I DID spontaneously get to attend Invesco Field for Obama's acceptance speech and while I love love love the historic importance of the moment, it was a day of mixed emotions. for one thing, I was on the edge of my seat anxious the entire show that something bad might happen... there is a reason these events are never outside anymore, and we probably set a world record for the most people soiling their drawers simultaneously in one place when the canon fireworks went off at the end!

the closure of major entrances to Invesco and major roads and arteries did cause a pile up of thousands of people with tickets waiting to enter outside and most of us waited in 90 degree weather on a black top parking lot for 3 hours to get to the main gates. i only waited about 2 hours and escaped without sunburn despite the worst choice of color to wear ~ all black.

I made it inside just in the nick of time to catch Stevie Wonder though I missed Sheryl Crow, Jennifer Hudson, and unfortunately WAS there for Michael McDonald (un, un, un-fortunately) and of course Al Gore, Senator Biden, and then the man himself.

my colleague Kate and I (no relation) pinched ourselves the whole time in excitement even though our shoes were pinching even harder - i figure we covered about 6 miles walking between 3pm and 11pm, a full 3 miles to get back to our car from the south side of the stadium.

as many creative t-shirts and hats as there were, there were a lot of hideous offensive vendors such as the Obama doll that looks like a repurposed Bill Cosby, or the truck where you could take your picture with "Obama in a Bottle".

once inside, we had a great view of VIP's backstage, the media, the delegates, and Barack's teleprompter from our seats, but not much of a view of the podium itself. but that's what the jumbotron is for. at the end of the night, my friends and I were all devoutly INSPIRED and optimistic that a change is gonna come.