Day 2 as a DNC Volunteer

Yesterday was the first day of the convention, and it was really fun. My shifts start every day at 3... but I have to leave the house by 1 to have enough time to get there. The Pepsi Center is usually about a 45 minute drive, but I have been driving south to Jeff's house, parking, walking to the light rail station, and taking the light rail to the convention center. After I pick up my credentials, I have to take a bus to the Pepsi Center. Yesterday, that whole process took three hours. Leaving at night, I can walk back to the Convention Center, which saves me about an hour, and I heard rumors about an express bus that should save me some time if I can figure it out. yesterday I brought a pedometer with me, and I walked over 4 miles throughout the day... I'm sure Sunday was closer to 5, since I had to wander around a lot more to get to the right places!

I brought my real camera with me yesterday, so I got some pretty good pictures (no celeb sightings though :) )

Here are some shots of the Pepsi Center

My assignment is outside of the Pepsi Center, and access is a lot tighter now that the convention has started (I won't be wandering around the convention floor anymore) but my team has one extra credential that we were able to share between four volunteers. That meant that I got to spend about 30 minutes in the Pepsi Center during the speeches last night. I was in for the Teddy Kennedy portion of the evening, including Caroline Kennedy's introduction, the video and his speech. There were not enough seats in the auditorium even for people with the right credentials, so a lot of people were watching on the TVs and from the hallways, so I did a little of both... not all of my pictures are great, but I still feel like I witnessed it live!

Here's a shot of the stage, a nice security volunteer let me snap a quick picture

The Pepsi Center was basically standing room only last night, even for people with the right credentials

Seriously, if you didn't know this was a picture I took of the TV, it seems like a pretty amazing shot, right?

Here are a few pictures from around the Pepsi Center

This was yesterday's credential.. we get new ones every day, and they also gave everyone a souvenir credential as a keepsake.