• Cabbing across town to score last-minute silver standing area tickets from a co-worker's friend's sister's cousin.

• Sleeping on a floor with seven other people on Monday night, to wake up at sunrise and march to the Mall with two million people.

• Stuffing a total of eight heating pads into my gloves, shoes and thermal underwear, and trying not to think about the numbness of my toes and the pressure in my bladder.

• Comments overheard in the peanut gallery included: "Party time!" (when the Bush girls appeared), "A change gonna come...in 10 minutes!" and "Don't Michelle look FABULOUS!". A sea of people chanting "Yes We Can!" and "Na na na na...hey hey hey...goodbye" the clapping of millions of gloved hands sounding like thunder.

• Tearing up as Obama acknowledged the immigrant and slave experiences in his inaugural address: "For us, they packed up their few wordly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life, For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth."

• Civil rights icon Reverend Joseph E. Lowery wrapped up with: "Lord...we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right." Can I get an A-Men!

• In the mob to leave the Mall, looking into the sky just in time to glimpse George W. Bush's' helicopter lift off the roof of the Capitol Building. As the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd cheered, Bush flew to the White House -- one last time.

• Walking for three hours -- with all my overnight gear in tow -- from the Capitol to Arlington Cemetery, since nearby Metro stations were completely clogged and not a cab was in sight. Joining thousands to cross Lincoln Memorial Bridge over the frozen Wabash River. Finally completing the journey with a steaming, extra-large, best-tasting bowl of pho I've ever had.

I'd love to hear from other folks who were there -- what are your unforgettable Inaugural moments?