It’s awfully sunny-looking in D.C… Awfully grey, here.

Another update from Rael:

“Barrack Obama is stepping into the White House. They show it live on
TV and, I believe, on the National Mall as I write.

I have the good fortune of working two blocks from the White House,
and over the past three weeks I made it a lunch time ritual to walk to
the White House’s North Lawn and observe the progress of construction
teams as they complete parade route bleachers and parade stands for
our soon-to-be 44th president. The clear plastic located around the
presidential seating area appeared 5 inches thick, and the police
watched sauntering tourists with piercing eyes. A Today Show reporter
now does a standup report on the same location.

The streets around my apartment are dead. Not a dog walker or
pedestrian outside. Perhaps I’ll later see fellow locals in Old Town
Alexandria, or maybe the streets will be bare a la “I Am Legend” when
I notice I am the only person in 30 miles who isn’t on the National
Mall right now.

I learn this morning that President Obama, like me, drinks neither
alcohol nor coffee. I am still uncertain as to whether Spiderman is my
favorite superhero, as he is Obama’s. According to the Today Show he
collects comic books. How cool is that?

This weekend I visited Fort Myer and walked the stables housing the
horses who have ceremoniously pulled the coffins of presidents passed
away. The equines take place in state ceremonies such as
inaugurations, but according to two men feeding them they will not
take place in today’s festivities. So while the Percherons at Fort
Myer have a chill day today…the millions of people on the National
Mall and the hundreds of parade acts are warming up in a different
sense.

The National Mall is packed from what I see in the footage. The parade
goers wave American flags and cheer as camera footage shows Michelle
and Barack leaving St. John’s Church within the last hour. NBC reports
this footage is broadcast over large screens on the National Mall.
Amazing that spectators can watch this in real time as I can at home.”