That’s right, the Winter Restaurant Week is coming, starting January 9th and running through the 15th. Dinner will run $30.06 for a prix fixe 3 courses, and Lunch will will be $20.06 for a prix fixe 3 courses. The List of Restaurants is now available and is fairly comprehensive. Many of the restaurants will accept reservations via Open Table for the week as well, so there’s really no excuse not to go out at least once.

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…for no matter how bad the pre-Xmas trafic is, its way better than in Beirut.

As a legacy of their civil war, where kidnappings from your were common, and car bombs now claim ministers, Beiruties don’t stop for nuttin. Not stop signs, not traffic lights, not even for one-way streets. You read that right, they don’t stop for stop lights. As in when I stopped for a red light the cars behind me honked and those beside me didn

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I dare you to top this trans-Atlantic trip home for the holidays:

While Jenn got lucky and just cruised through DCA yesterday, I’m about to attempt the mad Xmas Airport Scrum in not just one, but two DC airports.

With a last minute trip to Lebanon just now ending, I’m currently in Charles du Gaulle airport awaiting my flight back to DC. Arriving at Dulles around 1pm, I’m gonna do my best OJ Simpson high hurtles impression for after I exit the Immigrations/Customs madness, it’s off to National for me.

National on the Friday before Christmas. National on the Friday before Christmas with pounding jet lag. National on the Friday before Christmas with pounding jet lag after eleven hours on two flights, and facing four hours on two more flights.

Yeah, I’m really looking forward to this one. Oh, did I mention I have all of three hours to make this cross-town sprint + gate rush?

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If you’re as tired as I am of this whole stadium drama, today’s news was just insult to injury. Apparently, Mayor-for-Life Barry decided he hadn’t messed with the system enough, and so he decided to collude with an owner-candidate for the Nationals:

Barry said yesterday that he had intended for D.C. entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky, who is one of eight bidders trying to buy the Washington Nationals, to present a plan Ledecky had agreed to with Barry. If baseball sold Ledecky the Nationals, Barry said, Ledecky had agreed to cover cost overruns on the stadium and give African Americans a 40 percent equity stake in the team.

So, more backroom deals for the Mayor? Now, who’s surprised?

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Once I noticed this dead police callbox over on 11th and H, NW, I started keeping my eyes out for others. So far the only other one I have seen is on 8th and I, SE, but I am sure there’s more. The light no longer lights to draw attention to itself, there’s no phone to use to call for help inside its door. There’s not even a back to the thing anymore – you can see right through it. It’s an artifact from the days before coin-operated payphones were ubiquitous.

Well, maybe we should start bringing them back. I was prattling annoyingly waxing poetic about the callboxes of yore, my girlfriend interjected with her recent experience at Lucky Strike. Her cellphone battery was dead, so she asked the bartender where the payphone was. “Somewhere out there,” she was told. No payphone on the premises.

I’m going to start looking for disabled payphones now, I think. And keeping my cell charged.

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I’ve made it to sunny (somewhat) Florida to spend the week with my parents, and I thought I’d let you know that at 5:30am on a Tuesday morning, DCA was relatively crowded…

I flew AirTran, which goes out of the “old” terminal, and they’ve taken the huge clunky luggage security machine out of the ticketing area to make more room – luggage screening has returned to the back rooms. This will really make a difference as this week progresses and the insanity begins, as space is at a premium in that area in the old terminal. Security moved quickly – there are three screening areas so that should help as well, and the agents seemed very on top of getting everyone through efficiently.

All in all I, though I vastly prefer leaving from the “new” terminal, if you have to leave from the old it seems they are really making an effort to minimize the glut. We’ll see. Good luck traveling everyone!!

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To send me off to Florida and the land of the all-you-can-eat 4pm dinner buffet, my husband and I went to the District Chophouse for dinner Monday night. We hadn’t been there in a while – we’d gone a few times when it was a pioneer on the Seventh Street revitalization project, and had liked it. Unfortunately it seems to be resting on past laurels a bit.

I still love the interior – tall ceilings, shiny brewery equipment, dark wood, and swing music. It’s a great atmosphere,
but atmosphere doesn’t count for everything.

Our waitress started off by commiting my current least favorite faux pas – we noticeably had just sat down, coats coming off, hadn’t yet opened the wine list, and she asks me what I want to drink. Right off the bat. This has been happening more and more when we go out and I wonder if it’s a symptom of the fast-and-furious dining style of power Washingtonians – those lobbyists probably know what they want immediately. I would rather actually rather look at the list for a few minutes and decide based on what I want to eat. Ah well. But that’s a relatively minor point – it was the food quality that really felt a bit of a let-down.

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Monday night I was rushing up Seventh Street, having left my DC Metblogs compatriots at a (very enjoyable!) Elephant & Castle happy hour and on my way to the District Chophouse. As I neared the corner of 7th and E Streets, I noticed an amusing instance of corporate fiefdoms. On one side of the corner is a new Starbucks. On the other is an almost completed Juan Valdez Cafe. I’ve never seen a Juan Valdez Cafe before, but it looks like the inside will be vibrant and colorful. In any case, these two coffee warriors are preparing to face each other down on one of the most popular streets in DC. Should be very interesting! If anyone has ever been to a Juan Valdez Cafe, share your experience – I’m fascinated by the prospect of a coffee war…

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I know I have been lax in my posting of new cities, so I wanted to take a moment to welcome Paris and Singapore to the Metroblogging Family! If you’re interested in what life in Paris or Singaore is like, click on over. We’re up to 39 cities, networkwide now, and it’s entirely possible we’ll hit the big four-oh before New Years!

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Well, the Nats have got a quandary: what to do at second base? Sure, we’ve got 9 men on the roster who can play the position, and that’s looking like 6 too many. The latest rumor? Vidro and Church to the Cubs for Kerry Wood. Sure, we’d be losing a gold glove 2B, and a second year outfielder with enormous potential, but we’d be getting one of 1998’s best pitchers.

With Soriano refusing to play Outfield, this may be one of the only ways to benefit from that trade, by trading our perfectly good 2B for an injury prone fireballer.

Interesting.

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Now, while I may be against gun-bans in general, I have to admire the ingenuity of mankind for making other arrangements.

Enter “En Garde“, the end table that turns into a shillelagh and buckler. No word as to whether or not the top has a bulletproof kevlar coated core yet…

Still, perhaps for nervous folks this might be better than a pistol.

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Our hearts go out to all the folks marooned by the Transit Strike in New York. It’s 23F in New York this morning and people were shown walking across the Brooklyn Bridge on the way to work this morning. The strike is costing the city of New York $400M per day. Ouch. Take a moment, think about DC with no buses, no metro trains, nothing by seas of cars, angry pedestrians and clogged transit arteries.

*Shudder*

Now thank the nearest Bus driver or Train driver today.

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After a rally on Freedom Plaza today to round up support for the new stadium and a vote from the council tomorrow, apparently Mayor Williams pushed off the vote until the new year in order to get some technicalities taken care of before the vote.

Uhm, Mister Mayor, we may be rookies at this whole politics game that you guys play so well, but isn’t the point of today’s rally to get the votes you need? Once you have them, isn’t it a bit odd to still be tying up loose ends? This seems kinda odd to me, at least, Mister Mayor. Perhaps you don’t have the support you said you did after all?

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As laborers and fans and opponents streamed up Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th St. and 14th St. to a blustery and windswept Freedom Plaza, the brassy soundtrack played out over rented speakers. They can in day-glo vests and workers’ boots, in fur coats and snazzy hats, and many in Nats regalia, all out on their lunch hours to hear the speeches of labor leaders and councilmembers and community leaders and the Mayor.

The noontime rally was largely designed to be an effort to strong-arm local Democratic councilmembers into voting for the lease tomorrow night. Frequent reminders of the Redskins’ triumph over the Cowboys at RFK came from the community leaders and from the labor leaders, as well as promises of good paying jobs in Southeast not only building but staffing the stadium in Southeast.

Council members Evans and Ambrose got up on the stage together to pledge their support for the Nats’ new stadium in Southeast, and they were followed by mayoral-hopeful Councilman Orange to talk about the economic impact of a new ballpark. Orange was sharply critical of the opponents of a stadium in southeast, saying that the stadium had the chance to bring in over $100M each year, and that there has been no vision on the part of the people who oppose the stadium to bring in any kind of additional funds into the general fund of the city itself.

The rally concluded with Mayor Tony Williams’ speech to about 500 people on Freedom Plaza, both for and against the stadium. Mayor Williams expects that the council will live up to its promise to bring a good home to the Nationals here in DC and that he was hoping for a good outcome at tomorrow’s council meeting. There was cheering and sign-waving and largely no interference except for the presence and occasional yelling from the distinctly out-numbered counter-protestors.

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As the Xbox 360 shortage continues and Christmas gets closer and closer, desperation abounds for the purchase of an Xbox 360, leading to a near riot at the White Marsh Best Buy this weekend, according to a comment on Gizmodo’s latest Xbox story:

At the White Marsh, Maryland Best Buy people began gathering for the 12/18 release at 11:00 pm, as the store closed. The Baltimore County Police Department was called by the Best Buy manager and we were all told we had to leave the premises or we would be arrested for trespassing.

We were assured by the manager and the police that we could return at 4:00 am ONLY and that ANYONE who arrived at the store before 4 am would be escorted off of the parking lot. This was confirmed by several signs on the front doors of this Best Buy.

The people at this time took a list of those waiting for X Boxes to prove we were the first people in line.

Predictably the manager and the police lied as we returned to the store at 3:50 AM to find 200 people lined against the Best Buy wall. When the manager and other employees returned to begin letting customers in panic ensued.

PS – Special kudos should also be given to the Baltimore County Police Departnemnt who not only straight-out lied to the original people in line, but then followed up by having no ability to reason with the crowd without using words like “don’t make me smack you,” “pepper spray,” “beat down” and in the true spirit of Christmas, “release the dogs.”

Of course, there’s always Craig’s List…

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That’s right, can you commit to a manicure and pedicure? Can you allow a woman to cut, shape, and massage your nails and hands the way they should be? If so, you should go to Today’s Look at the corner of 17th and L Streets NW.

Not only do they have good nail care, it is also where I met Mary Byrd back in the day. MB (of the Virginia Byrd’s) reminded me when I met her right there on 17th out in front of Today’s Look after her weekly mani-pedi, that a man should not leave a woman wanting.

Needless to say I didn’t, and that’s maybe why Miss Saigon is no longer, but more to the point – go to Today’s Look for Downtown Nails in Beirut, Lebanon is not the place you should go if you miss your bi-monthly mani-pedi in DC. No, Downtown Nails in Beirut is not a “nail bar” as they call them here, or even a nail salon as they call them in DC, but a nail butchery that left me with only a semblance of the good keratin I came here with.

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Office Holiday Parties. ‘Tis the season. You know, where you get dressed up and socialize with your co-workers at an official gathering. Perhaps you’re an old hand at the office mingling, perhaps you already bond with your cubemates after work. But perhaps you don’t, or you hate mixing work with pleasure. For my part, I just wonder what exactly is the point with these parties. Most people that I’ve asked hate them and would rather have an extra vacation day!

My office holiday party this year was an exact replica of the one we had last year. Down to the location (why is our holiday party in Virginia when our office is downtown? with a start time barely a half-hour after office closing?), exact same menu, placement of tables, and agenda. It was complete deja vu the whole night. Apparently the social committee had wanted something to try something different. So they were kindly informed that the committee was disbanded. Nice. Tellingly, no one really gussied up this year and there was more talk about where to go afterwards than the party itself.

I’ve seen the gamut of office holiday parties, from being taken out to a drunken lunch on the Hill to swank soirees with a sushi bar. And no one ever seems to care. So please, share your office holiday party stories. I’m curious if the malaise is the same everywhere!

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DC Foodies has the scoop on the return of half price dinner at Galileo, but in order to take advantage of the event, you have to be on the Galileo email list, so take a moment to email them and ask to be put on the email list. Better yet, tell them DC Metblogs sent you. Not only do you get half off of dinner at Galileo, you get to know when Galileo Grill is up and running, giving you first shot at awesome cannoli and the amazing pork shoulder sandwich.

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At noon today, on Freedom Plaza, there will be a pair of rallies. One to support the building of the stadium, led by Nats fans and the Mayor and half the DC council, one to protest the building of the stadium, led by fans of the current businesses in Southeast, and environmental groups. As Freedom Plaza’s about a block from my office, I’m going to head over to catch some of the fireworks. This should make for an interesting lunch break.

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Saturday we stormed Tysons Mall!

The last shopping weekend before Christmas, and though my family presents are finished (hurrah for online shopping!), my husband’s are not. “Bah humbug, I hate Christmas!” he moaned, but alas, it must be done. So off to Tysons we went, definitely naive and unprepared for the MOB SCENE that greeted us.

The parking lot was a disaster – thirty minutes minimum to park – but the real horror awaited us inside. People people people streaming everywhere, most meandering with no sense of purpose, their multiple bags blocking the way. Folks, you need a game plan to survive! We headed up to the food court for some necessary fortification, spread the map out, and proceeded to circle stores and plan our attack. I think we would’ve gone postal otherwise…

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