The forsythia is in full bloom at 11th Street and Vermont Avenue.
What a happy color!
This is my annual signal to attack the hydrangea and the roses with my trusty pruning shears, in anticipation of a glorious spring.
Three days til it officially begins…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

For three years the selection of food at Pentagon Row has been pretty static with only a few exceptions. One seems to be cursed exclusively by my darling girlfriend and I – every time we go they change hands within a few months. Our of courtesy we’ve stayed clear for a while now. The other is the location that Wolfgang Puck Express moved into. They hung on a little longer but now they’re out and a new tapas restaurant is on the way.

It’s a good thing too. Till Tapeo opens we’re going to be limited to La Tasca, Jaleo, Cilantro, Jaleo, Oyamel, Jaleo and Las Tapas. Or the the non-Spanish tapas restaurants choices….

Okay, “limited” is the wrong word…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’ve come to really hate flying since 9/11. Take your shoes off. Take your jacket off. Take your laptop out. Take your camera out. Take your belt off. Your watch, too. Cellphone out of the pocket. Now walk through the metal detector…*beep*

A shout. Male Assist, Please!

The gang at Dulles are my least favorite, though BWI aren’t far behind. And of course, all of them aren’t protecting us for a damn. That’s right, they went 0 for 21 in detecting bomb-making materials as they passed through checkpoints. Way to go, TSA.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Sure, he may like to ogle pretty girls, and he may be all of 84 years old, but don’t let anyone tell you that William Schaefer isn’t still doing his job. Today, he took on Governor Ehrlich and the Utility Commission over electrical rates. Schaefer dripped with sarcasm in referring to the utility board and all but publicly accused the governor of getting in bed with the power companies as rates for Baltimore may go up by 72% this summer. Yikes!

Better yet? He’s running for re-election this fall. Awesome.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day!

Being of Danish-Italian descent, perhaps I can hardly lay claim to the wearing of the green (except the Vikings did actually found Dublin – oops, fighting words!). Then again, I am married to an Irish-American and I love Irish stout with a passion. So whatever, I have more cause than a scourge of green beer drinking hoopleheads.

Fritz Hahn has a great run-down of the events at area pubs if you are looking for ideas to celebrate. Though the wildest party spots aren’t always public – I suffered through four St. Patrick’s Days as a student at Cathaholic, I mean, Catholic University, where drinking at dawn was de rigeur (hearing girls vomiting in your dorm bathroom at 8am – priceless!). I pity sleepy Brookland…

So two bits of advice – one, don’t drink the aforementioned green beer. It has nothing to do with being Irish. A pox upon it. And two, if you’re going to abbreviate, it’s “St. Paddy’s Day,” not “St. Patty’s Day.” The saint, though blessed, was still a man.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Good: A sunny day in March.

Better: An excuse to drive out an empty 66 in the middle of the day, iPod blasting.

Best: It’s warm enough to open the sunroof.

This was the scene Tuesday as I rushed out to Tyson’s for a client lunch. Today? 20 degrees colder. WTF?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Now, I realize that Daily Candy is just trying to help out one of their sponsors, but are we as bad as the author there suggests? “Folks in these parts just don’t seem to take the same pride in their neighborhoods as those in other towns.”

Sure, we’re no Chicago or New York in terms of our love for neighborhoods and names, and the District doesn’t officially recognize the names of the neighborhoods here, but I’d say there’s some serious love for the neighborhood in DC. Jenn even feels bad she can’t get into the ANC meeting!

What say you readers? Are we as neighborhood apathetic as Daily Candy says? If you’re feeling like you want to represent, though, check out DistrictTees or Neighborhoodies.com.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It looks like Charm City’s got a new prophet.

This billboard’s been spotted in Hampden in Baltimore, complete with his Noodliness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster. With the new Baltimore Believe campaign under way, I suppose it’s important for the city to have all kinds of belief options open to the citizens of Baltimore, and that may include the new Spaghetti Monster billboard. I say new, but it’s been there since December of last year it’s just that folks are just getting to noticing.

Better late than never, right?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Stetson’s

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

…and the future is smoke free.

Tonight, several metbloggers gathered at Stetson’s on U Street to knock back a couple pints and to relax together after what’s been a long couple months here at Metroblogging DC. Tonight, I came home reeking of cigarette smoke, my eyes a bit swollen and my throat dry and irritated.

When I was in SF earlier this month, Niall Kennedy and I had lunch at 21st Amendment, enjoyed a burger and a brew, and came out smelling pretty much the same way I did when I went in (except for the garlic on the burger…), and the same happened again that evening when several folks went out to an Italian ristorante South of Market.

If this is the future of going out, I want it here now. Instead of suffering some serious snoring tonight…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I saw this yesterday but I couldn’t believe my eyes. Business who work in the District, but are incorporated elsewhere, have been illegally taxed by the District. Granted, there are still appeals that could be taken here, but the District could be out tens of millions of dollars in revenues if this ruling is upheld at the Supreme Court where it will likely be heard in the coming months and years.

Worse still for the District, many of those businesses could ask for their tax payments back…

The tax has been in place since 1947.

I smell disaster…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Would a National by any other name play as well? Thankfully we won’t have to find out, or maybe regretfully? Like the name or hate it, the Nats get to keep their name after MLB settled the lawsuit with Bygone. Will this be one less hurdle in front of the team before they get their owner? I sure hope so, but with Big Papa Smurf Selig in charge, it’s not necessarily so.

Of course with the Nats in as much Spring Training Trouble as they’ve been, some good news is welcome at least.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

A little olive oil

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

Last night, Tom and I attended a cooking class at Galileo taught by Chef Roberto Donna.

Let me just say that if you like to cook, this is the way to experience Galileo. It’s $100-$110/person, which is easily what you’d spend on a modest dinner anyway, they keep your wineglass filled all night, AND you get to hang out with Roberto for a few hours. And by the way, you can’t get the five-course dinner we had last night plus the ridiculous quantity of wine served for $110/person at a regular seating.

Speaking of the wine, I have to say it’s a little dangerous. I was drinking it because I was thirsty, and Maximiliano, the waiter, just kept pouring and pouring for everyone, so all of the sudden I look down at my cutting board and notice how dizzy I am, with a VERY SHARP KNIFE in my hand. I concentrated really hard on chopping those onions, let me tell you. I think by the end of it, we had each consumed about a bottle and a half of wine, including the sparkling wine served with the little plates of meat, cheese, and bread set out for participants before the class began. And for dessert? Rum-soaked sponge cake. Seriously, guys. Take a cab home after one of Roberto’s classes.

Finished Maccharoni

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

The dishes themselves were a lot of fun. The theme of the class was “A Five-Course Dinner from Sicily,” and Roberto was NOT messing around. There was a wheatberry salad with tomatoes and tuna, a maccheroni al forno with layers of red and white ragu, fried zucchini, peas, and more cheese than ought to be allowed, steamed broccoli and olive salad, cod cooked with tomatoes, and of course the aforementioned rum-soaked cake with ricotta filling for dessert. Each participant gets a copy of all the recipes used in the class, but they’re written in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style by Roberto himself, so you have to pay close attention to fill in the blanks.

The new schedule for next quarter has just been posted, so be sure to reserve your spot right away. And designate a driver, okay?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I know we haven’t jumped on the podcasting bandwagon yet, but it seems that the City of Alexandria has. The City of Alexandria is featuring a few monthly podcasts, including one of Alexandria Walking Tours, another about George Washington, and several episodes of Women Talk, including episodes on Stalking (not a how-to, guys) and Coping with Breast Cancer. Go and take a look, and a listen, if you’re so inclined.

No word on when we’re going to get Podcasts out of the District, except for Jack Evans, but he’s not been podcasting since December. I’m looking forward to stoner rants out of Marion Barry, myself…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Baltimore had the first of the new era of ballparks built by HOK Sport Venue, their Camden Yards stadium set the gold standard for new ballparks a decade ago. Since then, new stadiums have gone in across the country bearing the new intimate hallmarks of a stadium meant for close interaction between the fans and the game they love. Today, HOK released initial design sketches for the new stadium to be built by the Navy Yard in Southeast DC.

The new stadium, and associated retail district, are designed to fit into the personality of the neighborhoods around the stadium. You’ll be able to see the Capitol Dome from the viewing platform on the northwest corner of the stadium, and the 1250 space parking garage in that corner. The stadium itself will face to the northeast, and the facade will be a mix of cast concrete and glass, a departure for HOK, who usually use brick.

The asymmetric outfield will be one of the largest in baseball still, the sixth deepest center (The Astros have the deepest at 435ft, but Shea, Coors, Kauffman and Comerica Stadii are all around the 409 that the new Nationals Stadium will have), and long power alleys at 370 and 377 feet.

Is it worth $611 Million? Who knows. All I know is that in Spring Training, the Nationals are 2-11. Though those records are frequently worthless, it’s still something to note that they’ve won only 2 games all spring.

Now that we have a stadium design, a lease, a franchise, and a timeline, could we get some owners now, Please, Mr. Selig?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo from the Bikes for the World website

If the last few days of 70+ degree weather hasn’t convinced you that spring is in the air, nothing will. When you launch into your spring cleaning why not make a little extra effort and do some good with it? If your garage has any extra bicycles or one you’re going to finally admit you never use there’s a Washington-area charity that would love to have it.

According to cleaning services dublin, Spring cleaning is a chance to reset everything in your home. It’s a chance to catch up on all the cleaning tasks you’ve been meaning to get to or to do the ones that niggle at you. Instead of laying awake wondering when you last cleaned your mattress, for instance, spring cleaning is the nudge you need to get it done and get the idea out of your head. In addition, deep cleaning once a year staves off bigger problems, like a mold takeover of your grout. You can clear dust and grime from areas that hardly ever see the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner attachment. By the time spring cleaning is finished, your home will feel so fresh and clean—a state of habitation that will serve you well, both in mind and body. Get the most out of your spring cleaning by using our spring cleaning checklist. Tackle every room in your house – from bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen to the living room.

Bikes for the World is a non-profit organization that puts bicycles in the hands of needy folk via non-profit aid agencies. They have a partial list of people and countries that benefited on their website.

This coming Saturday you’ll be able to bring your unwanted bike to locations in Mt Airy, Bailey’s Crossroads or Rockville and drop it off, along with an optional $10 donation to help them get it where it needs to go. Hey, who said doing good would be free?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I was in Leesburg again today, and as I approached my client’s office, there was this pickup truck parked in the no-loading zone. It was a pretty ordinary truck, but when I saw the bumper…

A sticker adorned the bumper, marked with “Loudoun County Native / Where are YOU from? / Perhaps You’d Like to Return There?”

I’d have taken a picture, but I had a feeling the driver might’ve kicked my ass because I had commuted out from Arlington or something…

Good Lord people, this is just ridiculous…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I hate waiting for trains. DC is awful when it comes to waiting for trains, the Metro doesn’t run frequently enough, especially outside of rush, and their scheduling is always so arcane its impossible to remember what time which train is where. So, it’s about time did something about that.

Somebody Did.

Enter TrainCheck, which is a short email service designed to give you time of the next trains in each direction on any line from any of the 86 metro stations. Drop an email like “met r” to dc@traincheck.com and you’ll get a response back from the service with the next two trains departing from Metro Center, one toward Shady Grove, one toward Glenmont.

Better yet, it’ll work from your cellphone, so you can time you bar departure perfectly at the end of the night. Best, though, is that the service is free.

Thank you, Intarweb!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Yes, it’s yet another google maps mashup! This one is of questionable utility since it relies not upon comprehensive police reports but the ‘news’ items that the Capitol Police post on their website. It’s still a somewhat interesting map, however, and worth a look.

The question it brings rise to for me, though, is why don’t we have better transparency in police reports? The MPDC website doesn’t even have the quantity of information a local newspaper’s police blotter typically does and the supposed source for this kind of thing that they link to, CrimeReports.com, is completely non-functional.

I’m not too surprised by this since it seems what the PD likes to share isn’t anything that might not be revealing themselves in the best light. For example, there’s a pretty little page of crime statistics you can look at which says that as of March 13th we’ve had 33 homicides, the same number as this time last year – “unch.” it says. Guess we had 4 in the last few days, since the “What’s New in the Metropolitan Police Department” monthly newsletter shows as of 3/10 there were 29 vs 33 last year. More interesting to me is the line below it. “Closure Rate: 50.0% (16 closures)” That less than glowing little stat isn’t on the main crime statistics page for some reason…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you didn’t make it out yesterday to do some outdoor ice skating at the Pentagon Row rink you have missed your chance for the season. I’m a little bummed – this is the first winter since I’ve come here that I haven’t gone out and done a little skating. On the other hand, this Miami boy made his first snowman this year, so that makes up for it a bit.

My darling girlfriend pointed out an amusing contrast when we walked by the rink on Saturday. The rink was filled with parents of either gender and their little girls. However the little boys seemed entertained to climb in and out of the empty fountain. I’m sure the fact that there’s no admission fee and skate rental for this activity didn’t bother the parents at all. Who wants to bet that by next year Row management manages to find a way to monetize it?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Apparently my statue of limitations on civic duty excitement is a paltry three hours.

That’s all it took for me to go from feeling all “citizen-journalist-and-shit” to slothful nap artist. After getting worked up about the Source Theater sale enough to actually promise going to a neighborhood meeting on the subject last week, by the time I got home the idea seemed completely a waste. Whereas stretching out with the sugarcat was a much better idea.

Yes, dear readers. It appears my sense of civic duty is nonexistent. I am what’s wrong with America.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →