By the time the DJ played Stars and Stripes forever and President Obama began shaking hands and making for the exit, Paul and I had been in the auto lap at HVCC for nearly five hours. I had been hoping to post live updates on the blog throughout the morning and during the speech, unfortunately, the temporary wifi network that HVCC had put in place for press failed at one point, came briefly back to life (for just long enough to get a second post online), and then went away for good. So, that was too bad. Most of the journalists sitting with us in the media corral had either air cards or smart phones with Internet connections, and were thus able to continue updating their online readership. Unfortunately, I have neither.

I also had no camera, as my little point-and-shoot gave itself a "lens malfunction" as we waited to be let into the venue. So, my plans to post early photos to the blog were scuttled even before the Internet failed. Oh well. I still had the low-tech and reliable pen(s) and pad to rely on.

I tried to call a few updates in through the office, but it, obviously, that wasn't possible during the meat of the event.

On the whole, the event was about what I'd expected. The lab, used for classes, had been transformed into a carefully appointed set, dressed with the trappings of high tech: photovoltaic panels, hydraulic lifts and wind turbines. Obama and Professor Jill Biden spoke from a lectern on a raised platform in the center of a garage-like building.

Paul and I arrived hours early, anticipating traffic and problems parking. We encountered neither, which, I suppose means, that we'd left early enough. Security to get into the building was not as tight as I'd expected -- about the same as you'd expect getting onto a plane, except they didn't make us take our shoes off, or take lap tops out of bags. There were more bomb-sniffing dogs, though.

Press were seated in a row of bleachers on the right side of the room. The center was full of folding seats for the 200-odd invited guests, with VIPs seated in a two separated rows at the front. A handful of invited HVCC students (maybe 30) were seated in a bleacher opposite ours. We were able to watch the event from about 100 feet away from the president. There were about 15-20 TV cameras set up on risers directly opposite the podium, at the rear of the room.

As enclosed spaces tend to do, the room got hot as it filled up. By the time the speech started, around noon, I was sweating into my sport's coat. Obama did not talk as much at GlobalFoundries and Luther Forest Technology Campus as I thought he would, focusing instead on a series of reforms aimed at making higher education more affordable and accessible. This is especially important, he said, as more jobs begin requiring two- or four-year degrees.

There was no opportunity to ask questions, and when the event ended, everyone filed out, while the press did they best we could to grab the people for quotes who we thought would be most interesting to readers. We don't get to cover events like this too often, so it was an honor to be able to cover it in the little way that I did. Paul is writing the main story for tomorrow's paper, with ancillary coverage from the rest of us. Let me know if there is any aspect you'd like more information on, and I will do my best to provide it.