We have a new President

[drcollie]

I closed my store today at 11:30 to make it home to watch the Inauguration. I sat glued to the TV most of the day, enjoying it immensely and feeling some pangs of guilt for not being downtown myself, as its just 14 miles away from where I live.

Regardless of your politics, this is a Great Country we live in where we have always had peaceful transitions of power, Not many countries can make that claim and yet our tradition of that endures.

Lets hope our new President does well, and lets try to do what we can to help our country prosper!

[drcollie]

This man made a massive photo of the inauguration on the Mall. Its stunning how he did this, to go from full panorama to being able to pick out the movers and shakers in detail.

http://www.davidbergman.net/blog/200...gural-address/

[dwainw]

Gigapans are a great photographic tool.

Could it be that Bush, Biden, and Bennett are sitting in H&M President chairs? It looks like a match right down to the scrollwork on the arms. Or is this a standard design that other companies use as well?

[drcollie]

Good detective work! Those are indeed the very same chairs that are in the Oval Office and have been for many years, the ones you frequently see in the news.

Hancock and Moore dominates The White House furniture. Not only those two chairs, but Bill Clinton had an H&M Swivel Chair behind the desk (that model is no longer available), all the leather chairs around the Cabinet Table are H&M, and I sold them 72 pieces of H&M for the Executive Office Building on the grounds in July 2007. There are also many pieces of H&M in the Supreme Court and so many in the Senate and Congressional office buildings that they can't even be counted.

My friend Steve Nash of Nash Flooring in Rockville MD also had the contract to revamp and refinish all The White House floors a few years ago.

Its forbidden to use these contracts/connections in advertising or promotional sales materials. That's why you never see who does it, but its OK to mention in when a question is asked, etc. But, if you come in my store, I have The White House purchase order laminated and posted on the wall. Can't get much better than that for high-end credentials.

I also supplied them with several pieces of custom artwork. The GSA buyer mentioned that he couldn't find anyone to do what they wanted (which was to duplicate the original oil portraits of all the War Secretaries at the Pentagon) and I told him "Really? I have a guy who can do that in Vermont". And so we did.