Friend of DCist and proprietor of We Love DC, Tom Bridge, shares the visual evidence that Apple employees at the company’s store in Clarendon were very, very excited about this morning’s launch of the iPad. How thrilling, the running of the nerds!

In all seriousness, since this editor was too busy paying his rent this morning to plunk down $500 on a shiny new toy at one of Virginia’s two main Apple Stores, here’s some observations from the iPad-obsessed who did splash the cash: first — way fewer tents than the iPhone’s launch at the same location in 2007. Understandable, given that the iPad’s price point ($499 to $829) likely prices out some folks who could at least write off the iPhone as their new cell three years ago. (Plus, the iPhone’s launch was on a Friday at 6 p.m., instead of early on a weekend morning.) Secondly, the line around the Clarendon store was reportedly managed well. Based on the amount of blue shirts depicted in the video above, Apple wasn’t taking any chances that they wouldn’t have enough staff on hand to handle demand. DCist photo contributor Samer Farha — who has been making us all very jealous by tweeting his experiences with the machine throughout the morning — noted that the first iPad sale at Clarendon took just one minute, and that he was in line and duly iPadded in less than an hour.

Meanwhile, Washington Post reporter J. Freedom du Lac checked in from Pentagon City, where lines for the device at the Apple Store were long, but there was nary a soul at the Best Buy across the street waiting to purchase one. du Lac comically added that the wait for a table at the neighboring IHOP was longer than the wait for an iPad at Best Buy.

DCist readers: did you wake up extra-early this morning to earn the right to suffer from early adopter syndrome in a few months? Share with us in the comments.