Innauguration2017
Introduction/Definition/etc
Obama getting evicted (really end of Lease term),
and Trump takes over, stuff downtown,
going by CaBisCrap2017, against their recommendation
(use your own bikes, in an emailing) in the slight rain,
and maybe why I'm so down afterwards?
Body
So Going CaBi
Got the problem fixed, they magically worked on
the early morning check to see if resolved,
I wanted a letter of apology for sweating me
for a lost bike ($1200, on the bike says $1000,
inflation, changes without notice???)),
and/or full day ($64) when it was there
the whole time, and likely a broken dock port
plus not knowing
Red isn't stop, it's
Green you look for check in it back in...
Needs
Blue for maintenance (medic!) maybe
BlueTooth (tm) the GPS data to you,
and/or put it on your key fob, if it were
a SmartCard and could hold data...
Just a USB port might work at the ATM
like kiosk machine?,
Yellow is used,
not really meaning anything, afaict,
just timing, they might have GPS on it,
and could check once the technician
got there to do a problem check/ service,
not sure the timing on that, plus traffic
cam evidence, people walking by
from the day before, saying stuff like:
"He returned it",
"Why is he in our neighborhood?"
"Clown noses aren't really funny",
and "Your squeaker (sp?) (kid bike
clowning horn), just confuses the dogs",
etc...
Little to No Trip Prep
Not really being impressed by Trump,
his rhetoric, and/or message,
not something I was looking forward to,
hadn't traveled by Air, Bus, Car, Train, etc,
just commuting distance to go there,
downtown, thru security measures,
and try and see what all the fuss was about,
pretending to be fair and balanced,
and journalisticy /Harrumph /OldPoorFart...
I packed very lightly, especially for me,
mostly extra clothes, some Bags2016,
an umbrella, one of two library books
to return, and some metro route maps,
system maps, bus schedules, picked up
an Innauguration (sp?) event flyer
that I didn't read, at Rosslyn MetroRail,
while looking for Social Security office.
I found a bank open (10 more minutes),
so I go wander looking for the
Social Security Office, thinking they
open at 9 am, and have longer lines,
might close half day, etc) and little
attempts at humour along the way,
not really received well, more like
"yep he's odd but not a threat...",
"let's just stay away from him",
reactions, but not said, etc...
Reports of places closed down,
most offices closed,
lucky to find something open,
misdirections by a Metro Employee
(same as guard issue at MetroHQ?)
to the wrong building for
Social Security (2025? INS? which
was open, and comments of let's get
his fingerprints from the touch panel
I checked the building tenants,
but house/office building security
did look up the SSA office address...),
up the hill, on the right, but got the
wrong building once or twice,
going back down looking for a
much less number (1401 Suite 200),
other side of the road, I thought it
meant Wilson, not the cross street (_?),
etc...
Buildings aren't really on the main road
there, some are offset,
and numbering oddly, afaict...
Getting There
Crossing the River at the Key Bridge area
seemed to make sense,
as some thought a northerly approach
would be good but I, of course, know better...
Rosslyn
It's sprung up over the decades,
more buildings/ high rises, construction,
route changes, etc,
Normally I just bicycle thru, trying to
survive the "Intersection of Doom",
or whatever it's been named, and
miss the Big Hill up to Court House,
by going at an easier slope,
along a ridge line, zig zag like
mountain roads, skiing uphill like
cross country instead of
downhill, and/or sailing up into
the wind, _Insert Bad Analogies Here_,
etc...
Iwo Jima
Docks partially full, but there is one near
the raising the flag and towering monument,
near the main drag going to a Ft Myer
towards Arlington National Cemetery gate...
Arlington National Cemetery Dock?
Nope, guy with girl thought there was,
said there was, but there wasn't,
(new superbase security, no rentals to
get "No Way Out" (find movie link)?
and I'm disgusting (likely nose dripping
and I haven't found the Kleenex/ tissue
yet again, my nose running like a leaky
faucet, in and out of the cold, light jacket,
thin shirt, and just because...),
they know me, and other stuff like that,
threats and intimidation...
Fairly rich looking young tall whites,
and maybe a couple, siblings, and/or
dating. He quickly slammed it into
the dock, and I just had a problem
with a dock, had to say someone
might have a problem, i.e. be
charged for a missing bike
when it doesn't dock properly
there any more, etc..
"that's the way you are
supposed to do it"
"I know what I'm doing"
and other crapola (sp?)...
Maybe a CaBi employee?
Bike Arlington Funded?
Hunting those unfortunates again,
are you Virginia???
Memorial Bridge
Security blocking vehicles, but bicycles
and pedestrians allowed thru,
unlike some events where it was a
bag search checkpoint...
And acting like a dick at that,
drink the water, to prove it's not
flammable, and complain/ridicule when
I choked, because had been riding hard
to get there, quickly... And then if you
drink too much, would have to pee/urinate,
and few PortaPotties (tm?), JiffyJohns (tm?),
possibly threatening charges for public
urination, etc...
Lincoln Memorial Dock
Lots of uniformed, military, equipment
showing off, lights and construction
PortaPotties (tm?)/JiffyJohns (tm?)
all over, etc... But the CaBi dock was full,
so I could not dock it, use the bathroom
and check out another one...
But the dock could be gotten to,
if had to walk back to it,
already walked a lot that day,
and feeling it, plus late in the day for me
with a basically predawn start, and
an early am waking, my norm, at times...
Another biker walking his roadie,
so I talk to him about it, he's not renting,
has bike shoes, wearing domed instead
of recessed cleats, and we both go back
to riding, but I'm not going to vouch for him,
if he gets in trouble, many pedestrians
but not so packed that we can't squeeze by,
honking, passing on your left, to get by
gracefully, etc...
Lines
Long lines, not sure for what, ticketed people?
Those that want to be in the audience, etc?
Skirt the Washington Monument Area
Might be a dock further in, and less walking,
go the wrong way, on road, but closed to
regular traffic, a few vehicles, but mostly
blocked off emergency exit routes, afaict...
A bus like thing with driver talking to a
security type, so I'm wondering if I can
get by behind or will be backed over,
in the distractions, others in military uniforms
think we can get by, he had to turn around, etc...
Fish Market
Under renovation/ construction, in better
weather and with more money,
maybe in spring time, Cherry Blossom
Festival time, might be a foodie oasis
to get out of crowds, maybe sit down,
be near scenic water/ boats,
when you can get close, and get some
thing to eat like:
Shrimp Cocktail,
Oysters &/or Clam with Cocktail Sauce,
Crabs &/or Lobster (for those that like them,
not sure the season?)
Fish/ Salmon (some prepared, some fresh),
Cake (currently I'm on a self imposed low
sugar diet),
Sodas (defeats low sugar, but as the
exception, not the rule, a dietary cheat?
already???),
Lemonade (even sober drink category
stuff is $3-5+ instead of $1 each,
sugary problems, but feeling bonked
and thirsty already) etc...
Three (3) soda vending machines are
out of order, one or two snacks machines,
didn't seem powered...
Someone there seemed to pretend to
know me, said I could not afford it,
knew me from food?, found a job,
and/or similar, but nobody really
shopping there, except one or two
driving in and taking out...
L'Enfant Plaza
More Police and other National Guard?,
etc at lights, and blocking stuff, up to the
L'Enfant Plaza over I-395 from the south,
I did a similar route with DCBikes, when
I skipped that but went by it,
deciding not to volunteer, since they didn't
do "Ride Marshalls", per se, like BikeDC,
from years before, where someone went out
by helicopter/ ambulance, and some think
died later, not sure why, exactly, maybe
why the companies for doing a pre
Marine Corps Marathon shake out test,
and contributing to WABA changed?...
("Don't block the path to God" meaning
don't block Sunday church traffic
used in road closures for such an event...)
IIRC he lifted/ waved his arm, at the end,
on the stretcher, heading to the ambulance?
which made some people feel better...
Climb up the hill, still riding, difficult pedaling,
but made it up, maybe off a bit with high?
curbs, but no curb cutouts/ ramps
and wheelchair? and other tent/canopy
at the top, and construction type stuff,
Long Fence rack storage area, and
into a dock and blocked by buses,
but mostly full, might be one slot left
for rental dumping..
Still have some time, keep riding/
slowly in people traffic,
and find another, maybe...
Horses
In line, with riders next to them,
going to a tented area like cars
do for security checks, maybe a vet,
checking themselves in a mirror,
photographs on site, and/or something?
More horses over walking inside the
fences, looks like a riding school,
private academy, as opposed to some
of the Park Police and other
more official ones back at L'Enfant Plaza
deck... Probably The Old Guard,
too, but not riding from the Ft. Myer...
Might explain the shot/ blast like
noise in the beginning too....
Opening Ceremonies, to get the crowd's
attention...
And horse poop, just to be organic, I guess...
Not curbed, that big pet... /Joke
But NYC has a law, that they must scoop,
and/or provide horse diaper / catching it type
things for carriages in and around Central Park,
doing tourist rides, if you could take it off road
for a bit, might not be as bad, as on the street/
sidewalk, whereever, and probably don't even
know that horse did it...
Rear view mirrors? Amish style lighting and
technology? Come to think of it the CaBi could
use mirrors, to possibly know some of what
is going on behind you...
But good to see some other animals,
just wish there were more friendly humans...
Fences
Look like big cattle type fences, high,
strong diamond screen type (like on lawn
mower trailers?), and bracketed together
instead of the welding stuff together on the
fences?
One company truck I noticed had a welder
on it, because I've done some in classes,
WeldingBasics2013, etc...
Narrow, Slow and Non ADA
Wheelchair curb cuts/ramps don't match/
line up with the blocked with Jersey walls
type concrete barriers,so wheelchairs and
others like stretchers, kid strollers, bicycles,
etc might have serious problems with all of it...
ADA an event? Or just Eff them, if they
can't take a joke?
Sad federal laws like that don't seem to apply
to a Presidential event, maybe FDR would
have done it differently, being in and out of a
wheelchair himself, but not really in public,
just displayed in his memorial decades later...
So what do the elderly rich
(if that is even possible?) do, send a proxy?
Grandchildren? Instead?
The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth,
but the Rich Will Just Buy It Back/
Trick People/ /Steal It Back From Them?
Concessions Central
Not exactly sure where, near USDA school?,
a few blocks from L'Enfant, VRE and
MetroRail nearby, (but no where near the
20 blocks Trump later said at the CIA HQ
Langley press event he filled the crowd to...)
but further in toward the Capital, with lines
of Food Trucks parked and operating,
I tried getting menu and price photographs
of them, to refer to later, while a homeless
gal/guy was still under a bridge, with his/her
stuff, still there, sleeping? and/or watching
it all go by looking for donations, passing by,
I can't afford to eat out myself, and not
feeling very charitable, and this is the trend
with Republicans coming to town...
Luckily not yet very cold, and not really wet,
and other excuses for not caring much...
I think I had done a Point in Time survey
nearby one year, but don't think it was
anyone I had counted over the years...
Official merchandise selling tables,
other street vendors hawking Trump hats,
t shirts, etc...
Lines galore, and can see diagonally the
Capital Building dome top, line of sight and
people protesting (Dressed as Uncle Sam:
sign says "Trump Don't Rape Me" or similar),
and mostly photo ops, some places people
standing on the barricade Jersey walls,
usually not allowed, I had taco'ed a wheel
one innauguration standing on my front
or back wheel, while leaned against a pole,
iirc, learning it doesn't take forces that way
(pushing the spokes, not pulling, and rim
not firm enough, not a wagon wheel,
barrel ring, etc (check some examples
and math?)), and I'm trying to dodge
being in people's posed pictures,
and 360 views, I thought they were
just looking one way and they twist
around like a rotating video game
turret shooter... etc...
Putting My Hand Over My face,
plus I go around, etc...
Still riding, but getting so slow,
that walking is about the same,
even on my sore/ MetroAccess
sent taxi ran over feet that going
back to the previous MetroRail dock,
not full, not empty, and not closed down...
Walk around? Feet hurting, tired,
past food trucks, trying to find cheap
food, soda, etc and wonder if I have
anything to do that with, only a Metro
Reduced Fare smart card, and
CaBi bikeshare fob to get around,
but no cash, really, WowWeeToys2017 and a
second Chip for 1/4 list price, for spare(s)
as low as it goes, open box sitting around
for a while, even after writing it up
over a week before, and had two
SmartWatches, so more than just a
charging micro USB cable missing...)
and I don't have money, am not rich,
but also getting late for me and tired,
hungry, not paid to be there, and why stay?...
If this is all it was, it was a wasted trip,
imnsho, but got to where many people
thought it was base on their selfie stick
type modern photography...
Wondering If Concessions People Think Trump Will Help Them
Mostly African Americans working the event,
selling stuff, typical DC vending, but wondering
if people there thought Obama, or Trump
had their backs?
Much less StreetSense Vendors, which weren't
to be seen anywhere, afaict...
Using a sports analogy, who exactly was the
home team we were rooting for?:
RedSkins?
BlackSkins?
WhiteSkins?
GreySkins?
Looping Around
Going further in, missed a lot of people,
really just trying to get away from crowds,
cameras and the rest, and came back,
seemingly cutting in line, and got thru
the first large gate(s)...
LoudSpeakers Blaring
And nothing I wanted to hear, not
protest stuff, but Jesus/ God Stuff,
having to walk by it only a couple of feet
away from a loudspeaker, sqwuack (sp?)
box/ (compare and contrast to bull horns/
event amps), and cover my ear(s),
annoying...
Felt like a trap, stuck there, waiting for
line(s), kind of like offensive advertising
with TV, but in your face and caged in,
at that point...
I wonder what permits were done for that
and vending?
Pay extra on the Food Trucks, as blue
Painter's tape used to mark up prices,
maybe cost of living just went up...
Small business, Trump is all about that,
right?
Museums
Entrance and open, Air and Space?
but doesn't go thru to the mall, the
building security people mention,
so going further east, there is a deck/
plaza, and an astronomical
mini telescope dome and glassed in
food court like place, but no entrance,
stop there, look and see that I can't see,
but a bang/blast/ booming starts,
and maybe a wake up, wondered if
bombs, but no one scared ducking,
no fireworks scheduled, afaict, etc..
Most are watching the event, even
in line, on cell smartphones, with data
plans, I would imagine, kind of like
being back stage, and locked out at
the same time, we were there, but
not really, because didn't get in,
others likely still waiting, to get in,
like Waiting for Godot...
WaitingForGodAgain2010
WaitingForGodot
Walking Back
I'm hungry, increasingly tired and down,
a few rain drops happening
with a 12.45 pm forecasted (sp?),
early in the AM, to rain,
so back out of the museum plaza,
see parked personal and bikes
from before, and there is the rental dock
across/between the fences,
talk to an officer, I want to get to the
CaBi partially used, but likely closed
docking station instead of walking out,
the friendly? but in uniform, African
American woman officer/event security
politely/laughingly says I can't get to them,
they are closed, I notice on her uniformed
bullet proof vested chest, a box,
and find out by asking, it's a camera,
I don't mind wearing mine, but don't want
to be in mine, nor theirs, so keep on going,
another guy seemed to start harassing/
haranguing me, (the guy who sat too close
next to me in the plaza and/or,
likely one of the guards/ police nearby
and I'm on my way out anyway(s)...
He was trying to do his "assignment"
pass his test, etc... Some other stuff
was pretending he was kicking me out,
when I had already decided to leave,
and the analogy of immigration and
Trumps' Wall plans, was not lost on me,
then and now... Someone filled
with hate, tries judging who can and
can't be in the country, at the event,
on the planet, etc... Drunk with power?
And/Or Abuse of power?
Others, likely his supervisors are
talking him down, he thinks he's
got a problem, thinking it's me, and
trying to pass around information out
about it, telling everyone else my
personal business, like he knows me,
(more like stalks/ has to read me),
xy* told me not to go south, nor
to the event, etc...
Not the boss of me, as the kids say...
Others in calmer and more professional
tones say, I'm invited and can get in,
but I've had enough, past my bedtime,
with such an early start for other stuff,
not paid to be there, and just about
noonish anyways, essentially missing
most people's breakfast, lunch times,
and an unknown commuting time / experience
to get back, impending rain, some nasty
unprofessional people, etc...
Exit
The outside gate person says I need to be
on the other side of the low gates,
but they are narrow, too many people
going the other way, the big fence between us,
so I'm wondering what he's going to do,
can't really get to me, directly, but nobody
has been outrageously dickish besides
the harassing/haranguer, etc, so see where
it goes thru, he says where, and I comply
begrudgingly... A bossy guy for someone
who really works for us, huh?
"What's BLM?" Someone, a young white
couple/ siblings ask me, I say
"Black Lives Matter", "Oh..."
Likely out of towner's , and not really
Welcome to DC/ Chocolate City/ Milk Chocolate
City, the last I heard...
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
A non event, but crowded, expecting trouble,
and might have been, but i didn't really see any,
and luckily didn't become it...
Enough hatred, he's different, we are wearing
red, Trump/ Republican supporters,
he is wearing dark camo moto riding pants,
having optional padded knees for in case I fell
in the expected rain, riding rental(s),
and Frager's Hardware long sleeve shirt,
fairly dark (hides WearableCameras2015
bra/bro straps more), Mork and Mindy type
rainbow/ clown suspenders, the riding pants
black and green in wavy (no gravy) pattern,
but not desert digital, current USA Military
BDUs/ uniforms, but not the all black LEO
(Law Enforcement Officers) ones,
more night attack / on duty like,
a few others wearing camo too,
likely out of towners,
hunters supporting NRA and Trump
(overheard, "See I'm not the only one",
or similar like his wife/girlfriend/sibling
had objected to his clothing choice for
the event), not that I am, just what is
available and relatively cheap, others
use Army/Mil surplus and what is donated
some places like shelters, clothes closets,
etc...
That and a Bike Arlington safety vest,
not employed by them, but what is
relatively clean, and safety hi viz bright,
for riding, even the W&OD signs suggest
reflective vests, a very old blue Pearl Izumi
Trek Wear jacket getting threadbare in
some places, and somehow shrunk so
high riders on the arms, and the zipper
to close fell off, the other day after
LaundroMats2017 ...
Not that what you look like should matter,
but maybe it does, and I'm older balding
Caucasian male with recently trimmed hair,
not to Mil Spec, but shorter than my usual,
getting scraggly/ scruffy, and it bothers me
longer, (plus regs for Marines, recruits, etc
probably reduces the NitPicking2016 risks
by having basically nothing on the lower
back part over an inch) not that it was
always that way, I seemed to have developed
a rat tail while in the shelter and thru a year
long MH day program, some decade(s) ago,
now...
Also saving money, as it used a lot of extra
shampoo, and drying time, freeze dried hair
getting going and out in the early A.M., etc,
IIRC...
Reading Afterwards
Had I stopped to read what free literature
I had picked up along the way, WaPo
Express, including the map, and security
notes, plus other stuff, it all might have made
more sense, but then disappointed that I
didn't get anything good, photography
nor experience wise, even food wise,
but didn't have money anyways, and
was a feeling of being somehow even
less than the human cattle in chutes
and cages waiting to be stunned/
shocked/fleeced, slaughtered, etc
that We, the public, are all just
untrusted/ the great unwashed anyways...
Discussion
A place for feedback on the page presented
How do you view large scale events?
Did you skip Innauguration and do the protest at
the next day's Million Woman March anyways...
I'm so far tired, cramping up, and down about the
upcoming situations likely, that just staying in and
hammering on the keyboard like a mad monkey
makes some sense, as self directed therapy,
for it all...
Do you know Why the Caged Bird Sings?
Shame, it's an American Bald Eagle...
License
Creative Commons Share and Share Alike,
Non Commercial, Non Derivative, for the whole
site's contents unless otherwise explicitly stated
Page History
20170126 Jerry
- Fix SSA Rosslyn address
- ended up rewrapping all of it,
- as seen like the other day,
- double spaced, wrapped badly, so
- try to make the source better
- fix Header Level, almost all H3 now
- Food Fix Fish
- a few rewording/ sentence structure changes
- along the way...
- Hopefully, the last of this,
- but maybe add some links?
- More: TBD
20170124 Jerry
- pagination went odd, and noticed a browser starting up with an
- editing page, this one, already opened, so disk space problems
- and/or line endings between versions of operating systems, both Linux,
- one RPi, the other Fedora, and then there is how PBWorks
- interprets it, assuming no Man In The Middle Attacks...
- and other tampering...
-
20170123 Jerry
- rewording/ sentencing the paragraphs a bit
- fixed the jacket brand, as not that
- and some indenting foods likely available at the Fish Market
- and some other possible comments from people, etc
- actually adding some quotation marks, who knew?
- almost getting like real writing, instead of just the ordinary drivel...
- Yet more edits, when will this be done? Never, so leave it alone?
- Can't go back and change history/ stuff already published, in print,
- so why try with this? To how to get there, and minutia?
- Kind of like the two advocacy and two aspergers pbworks
- that were reclaimed recently, I was too busy to edit a page,
- in order to keep it from timing out, so maybe that is my fate?
- Within a year of my demise, likely killed, traffic heart, gang
- something like that, this disappears...
- And history is wiped clean,
- WayBack machine probably won't have it, and
- automagically putting it on a wikipedia like MediaWiki
- and hosting / archiving might not happen, afaict...
- Will see, maybe will it to someone, but Share and Share Alike, non commercial,
- non deriviative,just an anchor to sink by...
20170122 20070510EthicsDignityRiskJerry
- Yeah, I know, only one N in Innauguration, but Artistic License,
- it was a No Go, but went anyways,
- and really no room at the Inn...
- a few typos with spell check, some others still word choice, etc...
-
20170121 Jerry
- Jerry created this page to mark an event, in the calendar, but not in the heart...
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