Dr. Laurie Tom, who organized a pre-inaugural party Monday night in Arlington, Va., was in President Barack Obama's 1979 Punahou class. She said he was an “;A”; student and the last time she saw him was in the Varsity Theater parking lot five years ago when he was home for a visit and about to run for the Illinois Senate. She and Meleanna Meyer, Pun '74, had accommodations in Arlington for the inauguration. When they attempted to take the Metro to Washington for the big day, they could not get on a train because the station was jammed with thousands of people. So they took a train out to the end of the line and stayed on when it turned around and came back in to reach their destination. Clever, worthy women! The party Laurie organized well before leaving Honolulu for the inaugural was held at Yaku restaurant in Arlington. Tom Meyer, Meleanna's mainland cousin, is an owner. It was supposed to be a dinner for a small group of Punahou alums but the “;Hawaii in D.C.”; party grew into a blast for 170 people. Mayor Mufi Hannemann and wife Gail attended, as did Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho and Punahou President Jim Scott. About 30 members of Obama's class were there, including his school basketball pals Darryl Gabriel, Larry Tavares, Greg Orme, Mark Bendix, Joe Hansen, Darin Maurer and Boy Eldredge. There was plenty of music and hula by Leokane Jacques Pryor, Kiki Fordham-Schaefer, Pal Eldredge and others ...

Obama giving the Punahou Marching Band a “;shaka”; sign and the new president borrowing words from the Frank Sinatra hit, “;Pick Yourself Up,”; in his speech were a couple of my high points in the historic inaugural Tuesday. “;Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again”; are the words to the song written to uplift people who are down. I used to sing it to myself in earlier years when I was down and out with a brutal hangover. In his speech Obama said, “;We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”; The new president's words were just right for today's difficult times. Hopefully he will cure the hangover America has suffered for the past several years ...

ONWARD: Jimmy Buffett's at the Beachcomber, a dining and entertainment spot, opens Feb. 2 in The Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel. The restaurant will open to the public for lunch at 11 a.m., following an opening ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Buffett's place is located in Don Ho's former room. It has been remodeled and covers 21,000 square feet. Jimmy won't make the Feb. 2 opening, but will be here later this month ...

Attention dancers: This Tuesday and every last Tuesday of the month, The Honolulu Design Center and Arthur Murray Dance Studio present a free dancing venue showcasing the different forms of ballroom dancing. It doesn't matter if you are a budding Arthur Murray, a novice dancer who wants to learn, or an interested spectator, you are invited to waltz on into the Design Center's Cupola and cut a rug or just check it out. The session runs from 7 to 10 p.m. ... Al Waterson is singing and swinging tonight at Nick's Fishmarket, 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Al's smooth ...