Tree and Monument 2

Originally uploaded by tjbax.

You know what the best part of Christmas is?

Being done with all your shopping, wrapping, and shipping a week early.

We’re celebrating with egg nog. Have fun at the mall, suckers.

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Pageant of Peace.jpg

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

Tiffany and I went down to the Ellipse tonight to see the National Christmas Tree and the rest of the Pageant of Peace. I brought along my camera and a tripod and I got some awesome shots of the pageant despite the darkness. If you have a chance, go down to the Ellipse and see the tree. It’s truly breathtaking to see the Ellipse all lit up with the Christmas trees of the states and territories (the District’s ornaments are shaped like the memorials) and the trains beneath the tree are wonderful.

They have groups performing in the choir shell every hour, and tonight we were treated to the jingoistic stylings of Upbeat Unlimited and their horrific cover of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”.

Try to schedule your visit for the First Baptist Church of Gaithersburg Sanctuary Bells tomorrow night at 8, or I Cantori Wednesday at 7. The full schedule for the week is available online.

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If you were looking for Froomkin’s White House Briefing, or the Going Out Gurus Blog today, or any of the Post’s other blogs, you likely found yourself looking at something from last week. The Post hosts their weblogs with Six Apart as part of the TypePad service, and sadly their servers lobotomized themselves early this morning. They’re slowly coming back online now, and content will be restored to the Post’s blogs so you can get caught up on the latest scoop from the Capitol’s best newspaper.

That said, if any of the WaPo bloggers need a place to write about their withdrawal today, or a place to vent about dealing with a broken blog, they should feel free to email me at dcmetblogs splat mac.com and we’ll be glad to give you an outlet. What’s a newsman to say when his blog’s not responding? Was it a good afternoon to just pour another drink at the Post Pub and relax?

Or, take a gander at our interview with Hal Straus, the Post’s chief blogmaster.

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Well, forward thinking in a bad way. Most fences sell stolen merchandise that has already been stolen. Sultan Ferozi was allegedly selling merchandise that hadn’t been stolen yet. Allegedly he’d run ebay auctions and then go steal the things he needed to fill the orders. I’m somewhat impressed, though surprised. Most people in our area who want to take money for things that aren’t theirs go into politics.

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Wayan wrote yesterday about the experience of finding a suit in a day and I uniformly loathe him for it. Or rather, for being able to do it. Okay, I loathe him a little for shopping for ‘slim fit’ too, but my appearance of being in my 5th month of pregnancy is something I could do something about if I liked. My legs are pretty much stuck at this length. For me, suit shopping is a matter of looking about, finding something I like…. and then waiting a week for them to fix the inseam length.

So if I’m going to have to wait for them to fix it anyway, why not get it tailored to… suit? Raja Fashions is a Hong Kong tailor that regularly travels the world to take measurements and orders. From February 1st to 3rd they’ll be in a suite at the Pennsylvania Avenue Marriot taking measurements and you can make your reservation on their website. Starting at $300, they’re a bit more than off the rack – but not so much more as to be out of reach – and at $50 and up the custom tailored shirts aren’t much more than you’re paying at Hects. If you’re a business owner, these work uniforms at Total Image Group are a great way to strengthen your company’s values and it can also promote unity within the organization.

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As I left work last night, and stood on the corner of 13th and F, I heard the sound of a brass quintet, playing in the rain. I turned down toward the Warner, and listened as they finished the end of Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming. As I listened to the final notes ring out over the white noise of the cabs and cars driving down F St in the rain, and the angry crowd at the doors of the Warner Theater became more clear, I was handed a pink sheet of paper. Reading it, the dancers at the Washington Ballet were claiming all manner of unfair treatment at the hands of the Management. Lacking, however, were specifics about their claims: they complained about the working environment, but made no reference to the problem. They made claims about injuries, but not about what caused them. Essentially, I was given the Union’s propaganda boiler plate without any specifics.

The performance was cancelled for last night, as well as for tonight’s performance. The dancers have chosen to hit the company where it hurts, as the Nutcracker is the best selling show for the company all season. Apparently the dancers want to call it a Lockout, instead of a Strike, so they can collect unemployment while striking. Between that, and the lack of depth in their claims, perhaps it’s the dancers that are to blame if you’re unable to see the show you paid for. Especially in light of this paragraph in today’s Post:

In a letter to AGMA that the ballet provided last night to The Washington Post, Palmquist stated that in the proposed interim agreement he gave to the dancers this week he had included guarantees about continued employment for the company’s dancers “that are unheard of in the ballet world.”

But, strike they will.

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We apologize for any difficulties that you’re having with DC Metblogs this morning. We are aware of the problem and crack sysadmin staff is working on the problem. We hope to be back to normal in just a little while. In the meanwhile, however, if you really need a fix of local color, I recommend the following blogs:

Hello MoCo
Random Duck
Urban Bohemian
Happy Funtime Friend Service
Unrequited Narcissism

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Frank Robinson’s back for one more season with the Nats. Sure, he’s cantankerous, doesn’t like the playing of cards or loud music in the clubhouse, and he sits the young guys in favor of decrepit veterans, but at least he puts on a good show when he gets fired up. Good Luck Frank, you’re our favorite crazy old man.

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By the way, the chocolate shortbread cookies at Teaism have brought my life new meaning. And the Salty Oat cookies are pretty good too.

Just sayin’.

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So while y’all watch the snow switch to rain and the red lights multiply on the roads as rush hour kicks in, I’ll not be feeling your pain on this side of the world. I’m kicking it back in the rooftop pool at my hotel, Almaza beer in hand, skyline of Beirut below. Nice eh?

Ya know what’s even better? Calling the office from my hotel room, and thanks to Skype, paying $.02 a minute to yell at my staff instead of $6/minute the hotel charges. Double nice.

Last but not least, this weekend, its beach time in Beirut. You have your ski bunnies and snowmen, I’ll take bikinis and beer + lime + ice in Lebanon anytime! Triple nice!

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If you had your car impounded in Montgomery County yesterday, it’s entirely possible it’s a charred hunk of metal at this point. Apparently it destroyed roughly $400,000 in property, including 39 cars within the walls of the facility itself. Yeesh. Talk about insult to injury, having your car towed, THEN destroyed by the county. Ouch.

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Well, where would you? Say you’re told that you’ll be heading to Lebanon in three days and you know your 5+ year old suits from Sweden, back when you were a smidgen heavier and way less fashionable, are not going to cut it in the Paris of the Middle East. Where do you go or affordable yet fashionable threads?

If you’re me, you head to H&M downtown. It

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Tom and I had kicked around the idea for a long time of putting together a sort of podcasted walking-tour of DC and just haven’t gotten around to planning a good one, figuring out logistics, etc.

But the folks at Slate, which is based in DC, have put together an mp3 guide to the National Mall, and if you download the iTunes-specific version, it’s enhanced by a slide show suitable for viewing on your color-screen iPod.

I have an older model that can’t do the slideshow, but I am so checking this out tonight.

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I sure do, and DCist Tom Lee (we like to think of him in the first person, even if his corporate borg overlords don’t…) took one apart in an effort to get the SmarTrip chip to work in other settings and he’s got it so that instead of a card in your wallet or pocket, you can put it on a keychain. I’m excited by the prospect of hacking your smart trip into a key-tag or a pair of gloves (especially useful in winter), or perhaps one with a powered antenna so you could leave it in your bag as you pass through the turnstiles. That would really rock my socks.

Thanks much to Tom Lee for his awesome hackery here.

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Radar seems to think so:

According to a source who has seen the footage—which features a self-described downtown coke dealer relating his late-night run-in with the First Daughter, and brandishing her college ID as a souvenir—the man insinuates that the two shared more than just drinks.

A well-informed source, who has a DVD copy of the interview shot by tbirdshow.com’s Travis Poston, says that at one point the dealer claims that the young, blonde Jenna Bush with the Texas accent he hung out with that night (and who happened to leave behind Jenna Bush’s belongings) had been “helping [him] clean up” the bar after a long night of partying.
…
Needless to say, “if a coke dealer has your ID it doesn’t look so good,” quipped the source.

C’mon Jenna, we know you’re wild, but can’t you limit your partying to the DC Poseur Scene?

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Do you? You know if you do. You hear that soothing wondrous “pop!” we all love, when a bubble wrap bubble dies, and you freak out. You’re the one with little Styrofoam bits on your clothes, little ones jumping on you from your piles in boxes under your desk. You’re the one never to send them to the trash.

Well now you can get them out of your life and space and yet know they are going to good homes. dc_heidi over at Columbia Heights Yahoo Groups wants to take them off your hands. She says:

Rather than send bubble wrap and peanuts to the landfill, please bring them by my house! I know someone that runs a mail order shop, and I’m happy to have people drop it off on my porch whenever, and then I will take it to her when I have a big enough load. This is a standing year-round offer (although she could definitely use it now during the holiday season). Heidi, 2515 12th Street, (put it in the barrel on the front porch)

So what are you waiting for – free your bubbles and nuts, send them to Heidi!

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If this is true, that’s pretty low:

What I found most interesting, and this should tell you how much I care about these dog and pony shows, is this picture Miss Chatter pulled off the ol’ tube. It shows the esteemed former mayor wearing a Nats cap to show his support for baseball in DC. First, give it up. We know you oppose it. Second, it’s a COUNTERFEIT HAT! Not only is it unlicensed trademark infringement, it’s the kind typically seen at the impromptu street corner sales tables that don’t pay taxes — the taxes that would go to fund the stadium. Instead that’s money that’s coming from libraries and schools (or so he’d have us believe…and not that that’s the first time he’s evaded paying taxes!)

Get yourself a real hat, Mr. Barry. Oh, and April 14 is fast approaching. You might want to get your papers ready for the H&R Block guy.

C’mon Mayor-for-life, surely you can spare $20 for a real hat…

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Thanks much to commenter BAV for pointing out that not only did Borf plead guilty today, so did the cell phone bandit. That puts the trifecta in play. Does Scooter plead guilty tomorrow? Jack Abramoff? Who completes this odd trinity?

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…Santa just went through Fairlington on a fire truck.

How did I not know about this?! How could my camera be nowhere to be seen! There he was, waving, atop the ladder truck based over on Abingdon St., shouting to all who would hear as the lights flashed, “Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!”

And like that *poof*.

He was gone.

Santa Driveby in Arlington, film at 11.

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I

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs