A niece's roommate comes through

Even a distant connection paid off for some people today.

Soraya Kaloudis, 50, got front-row seats at President Barack Obama's inauguration this morning from her niece's roommate. 

An employee of Bank of America in Charlotte, Kaloudis was just excited to be at the ceremony.

"I never thought I would go to an inauguration," she said. "I've never been politically involved in any way, but when my niece said she had tickets, I couldn't turn it down."

At last night's Arab-American inaugural ball, her niece, Mariam Al-Shawaf, told her just how good the seats were: Just below the platform, about as good as you can get without being a member of Congress or a Supreme Court justice.

Shawaf said that the tickets were almost an afterthought. Her roommate, who works for Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, one of the inaugural coordinators, had e-mailed her a year ago to ask if she wanted tickets.

Now, she said she finally has one on her aunt. 

"She shows us up every year with the best Christmas presents and my mom is always like 'Man, I'm not as creative as my sister,'" she said. "This time, we totally trumped her. We win for life, now."