I’m mad at Oprah's people!

I’m a huge fan of Oprah. I record her show and watch it as soon as I get home from work every day.

I heard a rumor that she might tape her show in Washington D.C., during inauguration week – Jan. 19-23. I religiously checked her Web site to make sure I didn’t miss out on the opportunity to secure tickets.

I will be in Washington D.C., when President-elect Barack Obama puts his hand on the Bible and takes the oath of office. I want to be able to tell the kids I don’t yet have that I was there to witness history (even though I’ll probably be witnessing it on a jumbo screen).

Anyway, once Oprah made the official announcement that she would indeed move her show to the nation’s capital, I got on the e-mail lines and let all my friends know we needed to be ready to flood the reservation line until one of us got through.

I figured, might as well kill two birds with one stone. My sister and a few friends want to eventually attend a taping of Oprah’s show, so this would have been a perfect opportunity to do so.

Friday, Oprah’s Web site said something about checking back next week for information regarding tickets to show tapings for inauguration week.

This morning at 8 a.m. sharp (Pacific Time), I checked the site again. It still said the same thing.

I went to a meeting at 9:30. Back at my desk by 11:30, I called my girl, Chandra, and she tells me about her sister’s friend securing tickets.

I check the Web site and it says the reservation lines were now closed. Within three-and-a-half hours, the lines opened and closed.

That makes me angry.

It’s hard for me to believe that whoever runs the Web site didn’t know they were going to open the reservation lines today. I knew that it was probably going to be damn near impossible to even get tickets.

But I at least expected to have the opportunity to give it the good old college try.

Oh well. Guess I’ll have to make a special trip to Chicago to see a show before Oprah decides to retire from television.

I just hope it’s not soon!