Inaugurating Change: Barack Obama the 44th US President

This past Tuesday, 1/20/09, Barack Obama became our 44th President and the first African American to reach the highest office. I took the time early in my workday to watch the inauguration online in a conference room with a couple of co-workers.

Even through the computer screen, I could feel the excitement generated from the sea of spectators and the anticipation of the historic moment. Aretha Franklin sounded great despite her large bow hat. It's unfortunate the oath had a bit of a flub. But all in all, it was definitely a moment worth taking time to watch and soak in.

And now we'll just have to wait and see how the rest of the Obama story unfolds...

Dull Ratings for Golden Globes

The Golden Globes according to this past Monday's figures averaged only 14.6 million viewers, the second lowest TV audience since 1995, according to Nielsen Media Research. With an audience of 20 million two years ago and a plain star-free news conference last year, could this be a sign that Hollywood has lost it's broader appeal? Well that may not be true, but it could be a sign of viewers' interest in watching these long award show events. Besides, being on the west coast, I already knew that Kate Winslett won one of her awards early on. It's not really a big deal to watch since any part worth watching could be found online in video.

Car Creeping on a Red Light

So the other day, I noticed something that always boggles my mind. Imagine being stopped at a red light. Along side you another car stops at the red light in their lane. But instead of staying still, the car starts to creep...creep...creep up closer to the intersection. Why? I figure it's either impatience or an attempt to anticipate the green light and be the first to cross the intersection. But have you noticed what usually happens when people start to creep up during the red light? They're usually really slow off the line because they probably weren't ready to press the gas.

Of course there are exceptions, those being the people that are really in a hurry and creep up and then are quick to gas it when the green comes. But by my unofficial count, I'd say 95% of the time, the person is super slow to go when the green light comes. So the lesson...creeping up on a red light will likely make you less ready to go when it's green and more likely to make you look odd and impatient to other drivers.

A New Year & A New Resolution

We're only 9 days into the new year and I've turned to blogging to fill the entertainment hole in my life. Although my regular job has my fingers attached to a keyboard and my eyes glued to screen, I've decided to go online with my thoughts and spend even more time with the computer. Why? My new year's resolution is to write.

I enjoy writing about randomness - any and everything that interests me. But I haven't taken the time to do it in years. I've come to the realization that I need more to do than go to work on the weekdays. So here it is...my new year's resolution in action. This one I'm hoping to keep going beyond 2009.