Fold Your Own Obama

The world has been struck by Obama-fever (myself and My Bloggywog are no exception); I stumbled across this great template on digg last night and now, after an hour or so of careful cutting, folding and slotting together, I have myself a mini-Obama!

There are loads of these on Cubeecraft.com and I’m more than a little tempted to have a go at the joker next! You can download the Obama template here.

A quick tip; if you do have the option of thicker paper then use it; I used the paper that was already in my printer and it’s a little flimsy.

Happy folding!

Obama’s Inauguration

This day has finally come; it’s Grandma’s Birthday! Also, it’s one of the most important days in America’s history; George W. Bush is out, and more importantly; Barack Obama comes in. I’m sure I’m not the only one (and the blogosphere will be going nuts about this today) but I am massively excited! For those of us in the UK; the BBC will be covering the inauguration live on BBC One from  4-6PM, Robin and I are planning to watch it together and get massively overly excited; in fact I’ve been re-watching Obama’s election victory speech and I’m now VERY excited to see what he has to say today.

It seems incredible to me that we’re finally here; when I was beginning my American Studies (and Marketing) degree I took politics for a semester and I remember realising that by the time I graduated, America would have a new president and this day has finally come. I think one of the biggest aspects of this which makes today so exciting is that for the years that I’ve been interested in politics (since I was about eight or nine years old I suppose), for the majority, George W. Bush has been America’s president; how exciting then to see someone like Barack Obama take office. (I really had to fight the urge to put exclamation marks all over the page just then; I’m quite amazed at my restraint.. *urge*).

If you’re interested to see what the full day will involve for Mr Obama, the BBC have kindly created a schedule for your pleasure, according to the site, timings are subject to change but lets ignore that for now.

0900 GMT (0400 EST): The National Mall opens for people without tickets for the swearing-in ceremony to start entering the area. They will be able to watch on giant screens.

1000 GMT (0500 EST): Washington’s Metro system starts running; services are likely to be busy with as many as 2m people expected to congregate in the city centre.

1300 GMT (0800 EST): People with tickets to watch the swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol can start entering the area.

1455 GMT (0955 EST): President George W Bush and First Lady Laura welcome President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle to the White House for coffee.

1500 GMT (1000 EST): The inaugural festivities start. They will include music from the US Marine Band, San Francisco Boys Chorus and San Francisco Girls Chorus.

0725 GMT (0225 EST): The Obamas leave their last ball to return to the White House, their new home. A number of unofficial balls also take place, hosted by various organisations and companies.

1920 GMT (1420 EST): Mr and Mrs Obama leave the White House for the first of 10 official inaugural balls they will attend in the course of the evening. Singer Beyonce will perform the first dance song. They include the Neighbourhood Ball, the Obama Home States (Illinois and Hawaii) Ball, the Biden Home States (Pennsylvania and Delaware) Ball and the Youth Ball.

Crowds line the parade route to see the procession pass by – made up of marching bands, military cadets, high school bands, dance troupes, civic organisations and performers, all picked by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

1920 GMT (1420 EST): Mr Obama begins a review of the troops. The 56th Inaugural Parade then makes its way from the Capitol via Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Mr Obama watches from a bullet-proof viewing stand between Lafayette Park and the White House.

1630 GMT (1130 EST): Mr Obama and Vice-President-elect Joe Biden arrive at the Capitol for the official inaugural ceremony on the West Front Lawn. Mr and Mrs Bush participate at the event. Mr Biden is sworn in as vice-president.

1700 GMT (1200 EST): Barack Obama takes the oath of office, administered by using President Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural Bible. He then delivers the inaugural address, his first speech as President of the United States. It is expected to last just under 20 minutes.

1740 GMT (1240 EST): President Obama escorts former President George W Bush and former Vice-President Dick Cheney as they leave for a departure ceremony.

1805 GMT (1305 EST): Mr Obama attends an inaugural lunch in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

1825 GMT (1325 EST): Mr Bush speaks at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, before boarding a flight for Texas.

(via BBC)

While I am not a religious man myself, I feel there is only one appropriate way to end this post; God Bless America!

 

Official Portrait of Obama Released

While we still have a handful of days until Obama’s inauguration (also Grandma‘s birthday) on January 20th and the President-elect’s office has released his new official portrait. As the first presidential portrait taken with a digital camera and the meta-data embedded in the photo we can see that it was taken with a with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II on January 13th, 2009 at 5:38 pm with no flash, using a 105mm lens stopped to f/10 at a 1/125 exposure, with an ISO of 100 by newly crowned official White House photographer Pete Souza (via). Photo geeks will be very exited about that information and for everyone else; it’s a nice photo isn’t it (below)? Better than the official photo for George W. Bush (right) at the very least!