Inauguration Day

I'm quite thankful to our departmental secretary for scheduling my classes so that I wasn't teaching during the presidential inauguration. I had not bothered to watch the last two (in fact I'm not sure when I last watched an inauguration), but we had the CNN internet live coverage coming into the Fine Arts auditorium and invited all and sundry to join us there. At least, I invited all my students and some of them definitely came along.
As inaugurations go, I'd say this was a pretty good one. Well orchestrated, pretty good choices of performers and speakers, and a historic, articulate president-elect with an attractive family. It was good watching the event in a group and having the sense of collective excitement and optimism.
Given the state of the world these days, I think the new administration will more than have their work cut out for them, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they do and how they do it.
Later on my advisor and I went out to dine and celebrate feeling generally positive about the future (which includes our general hopes about my employment prospects as well as the larger picture). After all, we have a new president, my courses are going along pretty well, and so despite the rather arctic weather and having too much to do, we feel pretty good.