Do Two Negatives Equal A Positive?

Today is April 15th, known as tax day here in the U.S.  I've had my taxes done for a while, in order to apply for FAFSA loans for business school.  Most people know that April 15th is tax day, because, well, most people wait until the last minute to do their taxes.  What many people don't know is that April 15th is also the day Lincoln died.  Not exactly an uplifting piece of trivia, but might as well get all the bad feelings out of the way today and start fresh tomorrow.

The Inauguration Of Barack Obama

Inauguration Day Schedule

Inauguration Day: January 20, 2009

Here I am watching Obama's speech

Today we have a new President, Barack Obama. He was sworn in at 12:05 PM (5 minutes late), just eight minutes after Joe Biden became our new VP. I watched CBS news coverage all morning, and I had the CNN live feed on my laptop from 10:30 - 1:00.

Barack Obama is our 44th President. In case you're living under a rock, today is special because we've just inaugurated our very first African American as the leader of the United States. Obama's campaign was one of hope. He managed to engage a younger generation in politics, and wasn't afraid to use new technologies to do so. His slogan was (still is?) "Yes We Can." He was right.

Today, President Obama's speech urged the American people to be personally responsible. He was also very clear that, while he's hopeful for the future, our country is facing many obstacles and there will be no overnight miracles:

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics." Full speech at ABC News >>

Hey everybody, it's a new day!

Change

Because of the election, there has been an awful lot of talk about change. I thought this photo would make an appropriate post-election entry. 

I saw this Seeds of Change ad a few weeks ago on the train. The quote, by Winston Churchill, is insightful and inspiring, but to use it to describe rice? Well, that's just hilarious (and a little lofty). I get what they are trying to say, of course. But really, this was their best idea? 

Sillier still: After all the talk about change, the ad doesn't look much different than your standard rice ad, does it? Maybe if their design reflected their quote I wouldn't have found the whole thing so absurd. 

Purple

I'm wearing purple today, in honor of all the red states that turned blue. 

Election Day USA!

Woo hoo! I finally voted and it was fabulous. It feels good to exercise my rights and help elect our next leader. It was really exciting to see a line of people outside the door. The only other time I've voted in Boston was for the primaries and it wasn't very busy, so I was thrilled to see everybody. Our polling place was pretty efficient and the wait wasn't bad at all. 

I hope you all did your part and cast your vote. Congratulations on moving on; no matter who wins, we'll soon be seeing some sort of change. 

P.S. Who knew "vote" was the same in Spanish? See the second photo above: "vote aqui."