By: jackie.sauter

Election night was definitely a night of fancy new technologies, highlighted — in my opinion — by CNN’s “hologram technology,” which brought digital versions of people into the network’s election news center. I know it was silly, expensive and unnecessary — but it also reminded me of Star Wars, and I kept expecting Leia to show up and ask Anderson Cooper for help in defeating the Empire.

Still, due to a slight bit of user error (my being dumb) I was able to experience CNN calling the election for President-elect Obama in a way devoid of technology. Not an easy thing to do in the modern world.

Like many Americans, I spent most of election night on the couch watching returns come in., and leaning in close every time a new state was called for one of the candidates. Unfortunately for me, an ill-timed trip to the kitchen meant I missed one state’s results. A quick rewind of the DVR filled me in, but then I got distracted and forgot to move back up to real time.

So there I am, sitting in my 14th-floor apartment in downtown Baltimore, watching the talking heads blather on. And suddenly I hear cheering in the streets and car horns honking wildly — and I knew it was over. A click of the “live” button on the television remote confirmed it.

It wasn’t intentional, but it was a novel way to learn we had a new president. Who knows — I might even start turning off the TV more often.

JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist