Random thoughts from the inauguration

* I actually felt a little bad for Cheney, especially when Tom Brokaw suggested that the media would make fun of him for looking like Dr. Strangelove. Thanks for putting that in my head, Tom, because that's not the direction I went. Instead, I thought of Ernst Blofeld from the James Bond movies.

* Aretha Franklin still has the pipes.

* It's a shame John Roberts botched the opening line of the oath.

* The inaugural address was everything I'd hoped it would be. THIS is what it's like to have a thoughtful, insightful, and eloquent leader again.

* Not a big fan of the post-address poem.

* Much relief at seeing Bush and Cheney disappear into that helicopter and turn into a fleck on the televised horizon.

* I wish I'd been there in person, but I quite enjoyed watching it on TV in the comfort of my own snow-shrouded home.

* It does feel like something's changed, and a weight's been lifted, but time will tell if it's for good or ill.