Butterstick has a Posse?

Obey Butterstick?

What would Butterstick Do?

I’m really confused. See, at noon today, Obey Butterstick was supposed to have some awesome new content designed, I’m sure, to blow our little panda-lovin’ minds and force us to all Metro up to Woodley Park (because Butterstick hates emissions, yo.) and break him out of the panda paddock and exalt him to the highest office in the land.

Except, well, it’s 12:03, and ain’t shit happenin’. Obey Butterstick? Feh. I got your obeisance right here.

[Update, 12:05: The Site has changed again…but, no further plans, except for some sweet butterstick gear has been added. And this is step 1 somehow? What’s step 3? Profit? Are we the underwear gnomes or something?]

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Today being Valentine’s Day, and Valentine’s Day being a holiday made for sweets, I thought I’d take a second to give some love to my favorite local sweetshoppe, Cake Love. I was out messing around at their site thinking about some sweet, sweet, dense cupcakes from Warren’s bakery rack, when I found out that they also blog now! Want to see photos from the Silver Spring opening? There they are. Not shabby, eh? Hey Warren, you know you want to put us on your blogroll…

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The PandaCam was voted one of the 25 most interesting webcams of 2005. Maddening to a city with our competitive nature, however, they don’t assign number rankings – you’re in the 25, nothing more. Just because you don’t report the score doesn’t mean we don’t know it exists, though. So we’re number 1 or 2 or maybe 7. Possibly as low as 25, but it seems impossible – how could the cuteness of Butterstick not beat out the Raleigh Convention Center construction site, or the Anchorage DMV?

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The Happening, a DC art and culture event, is this Saturday at R & B Coffee at 1359 H St. NE. What’s cool about this, besides the poetry slam and awesome music? Well, it’s not just limited to DC, thanks to an online group called Second Life and Make Magazine’s Phil Torrone.

What’s Second Life? Well, think of it like a virtual world in which you can make things, and start businesses, or just hang out. If you’ve read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, this isn’t too far off the Metaverse. And it’s here in DC this weekend! Check it out.

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That’s right, urban dwellers, today is the opening of Bed Bath & Beyond’s new store at Gallery Place.

Bed Bath & Beyond, or BBFB as I like to say (after Mario Cantone’s hysterical “Bed Bath & Fucking Beyond!” on Sex & the City), opens on Seventh Street near the MCI Center not as the usual “big box” monstrosity but as an “urban prototype” store. I really have no idea what that means (somehow I doubt it promises prettier architecture) but I’ll investigate on a lunch break sometime. So now I’ll be able to get all those nesting items society convinces me I need for my house, without using the cumbersome gas-guzzler society is also hankering for me to buy.

Either that or just continue to shop at Home Rule and keep my cred intact…

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After spending last week with politicians and budding wannabe politicians, I didn’t think I could be surprised.

I was wrong.

The race in Ward 3 between Sam Brooks and Jonathan Rees has gotten uglier and ugliers as the days have gone by. Name calling, petty assholatry, everything short of full out tabloid warfare (which I expect to kick in next month, early on) and then a descent into ballroom blitz by the election. But this is just damn ridiculous, people.

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Q2: Where am I?

Whatcha doing tonight? Might you be free? Or have plans to meet but not know where? Could I present you with the best Monday night option in town? No matter, I shall:

Wonderland Ballroom’s Monday Night Trivia Fight – Hosted by Wayan

That’s right ladies and germs, break out your funny Wonderland hats and put your Google cheat codes away. I’m going to be tossing out questions and commentary, DC Metblogs style. Fast. Hard. Funny.

Start getting your drunk on now, you’ll need the clarity.

Wonderland Ballroom
Monday Night Trivia Fight
7-9pm @ 1101 Kenyon Street NW

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For my thirty-fifth birthday, I wanted to go somewhere for dinner where I could feel completely pampered, but without the stuffiness that sometimes intrudes on high-end dining in the city. I’d wanted to try Indebleu since it opened, and had heard a lot about the exotic flavor combinations and propensity for risk, not to mention the lush décor. So we took a chance, and happily had a very memorable meal.

Indebleu strikes me as having rather a spilt personality. Downstairs there is a lounge with a “come with me to the casbaaah” feel, pulsating vibrant colors matched with electronica beats, where a bright young thing can score within thirty seconds of being left alone at the bar. Upstairs above the fray there are two beautiful dining rooms, one a delicate white that manages to be soothing but not sterile, the other a passionate candlelit orange.

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By now we’ve all seen the news item about Cheney’s unfortunate wardrobe firearm malfunction, and several news stories have included a mention along the lines of this one:

It was not reported publicly by the vice president’s office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after it was reported locally by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on its Web site Sunday.

We here at Metblogs know why there was a delay, and now you can too. WaPo reports here about the fundraising silent auction at last week’s CPAC event, where Cheney spoke earlier in the week.

As of midday yesterday, a silent auction netted $300 for lunch with activist Grover Norquist, $275 for a meal with the Heritage Foundation president and $1,000 for a hunting trip with the American Conservative Union chairman.

Thanks to jo der hannes for the photo

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… but at the same time, a little curious. I took this picture on my way to the last DC Metblogs outing when I stopped for cash. I admire the variety, but since I was on my way to RFD in “Chinatown” I am amused by the absence of Mandarin and/or Cantonese. Then again, they probably know that this is a CINO [see more inside]. I’m impressed, though – that’s the most language choices I’ve ever seen on a domestic ATM. Any of our readers ever seen one stateside that offered languages that didn’t use the latin alphabet?

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Hey Sammy,

Rumor has it the guys over at RFK have offered you half a million dollars for a one year contract here in DC. It also seems that you’re a bit, how shall I say, conflicted about taking what amounts to a major pay cut to be one of the outfield platoon here in Washington.

I remember six summers ago when I drove from Ohio to Chicago to watch you roam right field at the friendly confines and smack the cover off the ball against the Astros. It was great to see someone with so much passion for the game. Then came the bat-corking. And maybe even the steroids. And while you never tested positive, you suddenly weren’t hitting quite like you were once upon a time. Last year, even in friendly Camden Yards, you only managed 14 homers in 102 games.

Tell you what, Sammy, take the money and come to DC. You can sprint out to the outfield in front of fans who really won’t care how many dingers you hit into the cavernous outfield, just that you came to DC and showed some hustle in the twilight of your career. Sign the deal, Sammy.

Best,
DC Baseball Fans

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Q1: Who am I?

How is your bar trivia? You done Fado’s? How about Four Corners? And Bedrock Billiards? Now why don’t ya upgrade to the real the raw – Wonderland Ballroom‘s Monday Night Trivia Fight. Better yet, upgrade tomorrow night, for this will be a special night.

Wonderland Monday Night Trivia Fight – Hosted by Wayan

That’s right ladies and germs, yours truly will be wielding the microphone, DC Metblogs style, calling out questions and commentary that will make you laugh, cry, and scratch your head in wonder.

Break out Trivial Pursuit now, you’ll need the 24 hour warm up to win at my game.

Wonderland Ballroom
Monday Night Trivia Fight
7-9pm @ 1101 Kenyon Street NW

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We’ve had some discussion here at DC Metblogs about the Maryland legal brouhaha over Walmart and their providing (or not) of health insurance. In fact that might have been one of the most commented-upon posts of January, so I know it’s a subject of some interest to our readers. Well, today brings us a Washington Post Business section article about Walmart’s interest in entering the banking market. This is a subject near and dear to my heart since it touches upon on of the things I loathe most in life: bank fees

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FebSnow 2

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

Well, for once it appears the forecasters earned their bright shiny nickels, as DC is covered in a blanket of the white stuff this morning. In Fairlington we got roughly 7″, and I understand that as you head into the District and up toward the Maryland line even up to a foot is on the ground this morning. The Post is reporting official totals around 8″ at area locations as well as power outages caused by snow heavy power lines falling. I know we had a set of short outages (less than a second) around 10:30 last night. Power outages may be affecting up to 200,000 people at this time.

Metro is up and operating on a Sunday schedule with a 10 minute delay, and Metrobuses are limited to only the main roads, and MetroAccess is suspended for the time being.

Also from the Post is this gem of a paragraph:

Alex Gertsen, 28, an engineer from the District, canceled plans to fly his single-engine Mooney airplane and loaded up on water (10 gallons), hot dogs (a dozen) and movies (three — “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo,” “Wild Things” and “Transporter 2”).

No word on whether or not Gertsen was planning to drown himself in the sink after watching that triple feature. I’m hoping they’ll do a follow up.

DC Taxis are charging snow emergency fares today, which will double any fare, just for the heck of it, making taxis more expensive than the last loaf of bread at 7-11.

The list of area closings are quite extensive at this time, so be prepared to make alternate plans including the erection of a snowman, or perhaps making snow angels or going sledding.

How are you faring for snow this morning? Let us know in the comments.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

How do you separate the true friends from the posers in your life? How about throwing a birthday party on a snow emergency night? That was my plan and it worked perfectly. The cool crew came out – a dozen hardy party people.

Who were the most alcoholic persistent of that hardy crew? Scott and Jin. Thanks you two, and the rest of the crew that came out to Wonderland. Like I promised, cupcakes at 11, snowball fights at midnight, drunken revelry all night long.

Life is good!

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DC has declared a Snow Emergency as of 7pm this evening. Not sure what that means? Well, the District’s website will tell you: “At that time, all streets designated as Snow Emergency Routes, marked with red and white signs Snow Emergency Route signs, must be clear of parked vehicles to allow curb-to-curb plowing. Violators are liable for $250 fine and relocation of the vehicle to a nearby non-emergency street. Owners can call (202) 541-6078 to locate their vehicles.”

If you’re looking for a map, we’ve excerpted downtown here, and clicking on the map will take you to the full PDF of the entire district:

You don’t want to be parking on the street in about 20 minutes.

Technorati Tags: DC, snow, weather

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One last post, and I’m done with CPAC posting. Thanks much to Heather and Stacey at DCI Group for the invitation to be on bloggers’ row, and thanks also to all of the other bloggers with whom I spent my week. On the first day, when candidate after candidate came by the tables to talk with the bloggers, I tried to pump many of them for thoughts on DC issues, and I really couldn’t get any headway with anyone at all. No one cared, even though Congress is minded by these men and women who find themselves sent to Washington.

When it came to DC Voting Rights, though, I did get one candidate’s staff to give me an answer that I found interesting. It didn’t come until right until I was packing up today, but it certainly explains why more people aren’t interested in DC becoming it’s own state. He walked up in his perfect suit and very Washington hairdo and he said…

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As someone seriously considering a courthouse wedding myself, I really enjoyed the Post magazine’s feature on couples getting married at the DC courthouse, called Metal-Detector Marriages.

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I’ve just returned from the grocery store (the Harris Teeter on Glebe in Arlington) and all through DC and Northern Virginia, I’ve seen proof that the salt trucks are out in force, and folks are stocking up on the essentials. The Teeter wasn’t a madhouse, but you could tell that folks were stocking up on bread and toilet paper and milk, and many other essentials. Capital Weather is sticking by their earlier prediction of 6-9″ this evening. Here’s hoping it’s not too bad out there.

I’m hearing that the Caps/Pens game is still on for a 7pm start, but WTOP has a good closings list for your perusal.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

When the call went out that CPAC would be issuing press passes to bloggers, I wasn’t interested. I’m a cranky libertarian, crotchety even, and if I had a cane I would regularly wave it over my head in the direction of the Capitol while cussing out the lawmakers who haven’t figured out that their job is to get the fuck out of my way so I can live my life.

So anyway, I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about the goings-on there, but I did show up last night for the happy hour in the Omni Shoreham’s bar.

The bar is your typical smoke-filled Washington back room, dark wood and leather chairs and waitresses who don’t speak English. It’s kind of hidden off to the side in the lobby, and starting from the Woodley Park Metro platform, all the way into the hotel, and throughout the lobby as I searched for the bar, I had only one observation.

“My god. I’ve never seen so many scrawny dorks in suits.”

What is it about the conservative movement that attracts fresh-faced college students who look like they’re playing dress-up with their parents’ clothes?

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