Photo by DC Metroblogger

Hey Ms. United States Park Police Woman, that’s a great parking space for police car number 170. Right up there in Dupont Circle, and I do mean in the Circle too.

So, um, why did you drive your police cruiser right up on the sidewalk? Are you checking up on things? Doesn’t look like it, sitting in your car talking on your cell phone.

Might you be just that lazy or arrogant, driving your police car through the park like you’re on a bicycle or on foot?

And where is your supervisor? If you were DC MPD parked in front of a fire hydrant, I wouldn’t have to end this post in such a negative way.

Yo, fuzz, get the f~^k off the park! Don’t you have a dog to shoot somewhere?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

My housemate and I are clean guys, much cleaner than other guys, and even cleaner than a lot of Washington women. We like to keep our place tidy, with regular dusting, moping, and washing. Well, when we have the time.

Lately, neither of us have the time, and while our place is still sterile by other’s judgment, we’re thinking of getting a maid service: someone to clean the common areas – kitchen, living room, bathroom – with a good scrubbing once a month.

My housemate and I can clean our own dishes, and our own rooms, and we’d be happy to buy cleaning supplies. The question is: who to hire?

Do you have a cleaning service you can recommend? One that will not charge us more, thinking we’re keg-party dirty. One that we might trust with keys, so they can clean when we’re not home?

Recommendations are welcome, and as my housemate is fluent in Spanish and I in Spanglish, language isn’t a problem. Nor is looks, the cleaner not need to be a French maid, though, a male sissy maid (borderline safe for work link) might be a strech.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I am capable of a great deal of snobbery about my food. That’s not to say that you won’t ever see me catching a bit at a Quizno’s, it’s just to say that details do matter to me when I’m choosing my lunch location. On days when I want someone to care as much about the details of my sandwich as I do, I go to the Atrium Cafe in the Washington Square building at Connecticut & L.

There are rather a lot of little delis and whatnot all over the city, often run by immigrant families catering to the hungry lunchtime hordes of downtown. They vary wildly in quality, but the Atrium almost always makes me happy. Why? Because when I ask them for a roast beef sandwich, I watch them slice the beef off the roast, arrange it carefully in the shape of the bread I’ve selected, and coordinate a two-person process to ensure that it lands where it belongs with a minimum of mess and waste. They don’t skimp on it, either. They don’t just slather on the mayo, they spread it carefully and remove the excess. They have cranberry sauce for your turkey sandwich (also sliced off the roasted turkey breast in front of you). They make suggestions about what types of condiments you might want on your sandwich, rather than sullenly waiting for your request. They slice the sandwich in half BEFORE putting it on the paper (don’t know why this is so uncommon, honestly, seems like a no-brainer).

They’re not the best sandwiches I’ve ever had, but they’re really pretty good. And some days, when everything is going to shit and clients are demanding that I spend my precious weekend time firing someone because they’re too chicken to let me do it while the person is on site, I just want someone to care about my damn sandwich. And those Atrium people? The most detail-oriented sandwich professionals I’ve ever seen in a lunch counter environment.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Day one of the 2006 ACLU member conference kicked off today and I made it there in time to catch “A Conversation About Civil Liberties, part 2” between Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow… and Anthony Romero, really, who was supposed to be moderating but couldn’t resist participating in the discussion. I’d have rather been at the pre-dinner event with Antonin Scalia and ACLU President Nadine Strossen, though I overheard some folk claiming this one was better.

Dare I say – perish the thought.

While I’ve got no love for the standard talk tv of two people yelling past each other, it’s not much fun to listen to two folk more or less agree with each other either. Which you might not expect, but with DC resident Carlson viewing himself more or less as a small-l libertarian there wasn’t a huge amount of conflict. On most things he and Maddow essentially wanted the same house, location and paint color and were just haggling over the choice of doorknobs. On the few things they didn’t agree on – the ACLU’s recent efforts on 10 Commandments displays, abortion rights – they simply were in such different spaces that all they could do was talk past each other.

The real excitement this evening at the convention was the event that I’d rolled my eyes at when I saw it in the program – the “Slam for Civil Liberties featuring spoken word performers Steve Connell and Sekou (tha misfit) plus hip-hop ballet troupe Decadance” My reaction was “oh please.”

In reality it was amazing.

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

Friday night, a lover’s quarrel turned tragic according to Loudon County Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Kraig Troxell.

Allegedly, Alexander Enrique Rivera-Moreno, 22, of Sterling shot Claudia Vanessa Ayala-Duron, 22, also of Sterling, and Christopher Lee Beech, 24, of Ashburn, in a parking lot outside the Safeway at Sterling Plaza on South Sterling Boulevard, before shooting himself.

Would Candace Rondeaux, the Washington Post reporter assigned to the incident, just go with the facts, like WTOP? Or would she follow the lead of Leesburg Today and see this as an isolated incident?

Loudoun Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kraig Troxell said the incident appears to be an isolated one and there isn’t “a threat to the community.”

Or maybe get crazy and go into a little, logical conjecture, like NBC 4 did?

The shooting appears to be an isolated incident and at this time there does not appear to be a threat to the community. Detectives say it was most likely a domestic-related murder-suicide that claimed the three lives. Family members of the woman killed said she was divorced and was killed here along with her new boyfriend.

No, not Candace “Cyclist Killers on W&OD Trail” Rondeaux. Ms. Rondeaux went right crime hype with her “Three Killings Shatter Calm That Loudoun Usually Enjoys” article. Starting off with the sinister tag line of “Double Slaying-Suicide Leaves Many Questions”, in less than 300 words she quickly moves from the reality, the sad tale of domestic violence, and jumps right into gang warfare.

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

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Be careful if you are out driving today, this is a student driver learning how to navigate DC’s mean streets.

Before you rush to judgment, this isn’t some crazy teenager – both people in the front seat could’ve easily been a dad.

Might this really be a learner or could it be a speed camera penalty?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

If you are headed to Dupont Circle today be sure too look for Big Panda here.

Out promoting the new panda park at the National Zoo, he is giving out free disposable cameras.

Too bad the cameras are film-based. I passed, being all digital these days but do not let that stop you – free is still free.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Maybe I just noticed this, but isn’t that train time sign handy?

Looking at it as I entered the Dupont Circle Station, I knew exactly how many minutes I had left to make it to the track.

For those in a rush, or quick on their toes, you can just make an “Arriving” train, but you’ll need to push past any slow-pokes.

Be quicker – insert your favorite movie-based escalator dash scene now!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

El Guapo in DC tells us the real reason Storehouse is going under.

(If you aren’t reading El Guapo already, I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The Washington Post has an interesting story today about which neighborhoods have the highest robbery rates in the city.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that muggings in Adams Morgan, U Street, and Columbia Heights spike wildly on Friday and Saturday nights, but the sheer frequency of them startled me. The presence of large numbers of drunk yuppies, I suppose, makes a big difference.

Be sure to check out the graphic, which includes not only a map with the data on it, but also some tips from the Metropolitan PD about how to avoid being mugged, and what to do if you’re being mugged. It all kind of boils down to… don’t be a moron, and remember what your mother used to tell you.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

In a stunning upset, the Los Angles Metropolitan Transportation Authority beat out WMATA to be the best transit agency in North America, winning American Public Transportation Association’s 2006 Outstanding Public Transportation System Award!

I know what you are thinking: LA has a subway?! Or, there is a transit nonprofit association in DC?! Yes, to both. LA’s MTA won this year with an amazing mix of increased ridership – 16% over 2005, and yet a record low number of complaints.

LA’s Metro was so ecstatic they claim the award “is considered the Publitzer Prize of the transit industry.” Now I don’t know what a “Publitzer Prize” is, but if they meant “Pulitzer Prize” I am amazed they can link a national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical compositions to mass transit.

Even more amazingly, the “Over 30 million annual Ridership” category which MTA won has more than just NYC, DC, Chicago, and San Francisco. There are 50+ other public transport systems that size in the USA. Can you name any? Before you try, check out this map of North American rail systems. Cool, eh?

What’s even cooler is that WMATA won the Outstanding Public Transportation System Award in 1987 and 1997, which means we should win again in 2007. Until then, we can take solace in our new 6000 series Metrorail cars.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

In front of the Southern Railroad Building today was a small but very vocal protest.

A handful of earnest kids were screaming out puppy killer insults at the 15th Street entrance of the building trying to get GlaxoSmithKline’s attention.

Inside HLS is pissed that GlaxoSmithKline contracts with Huntingdon Life Sciences to test out new pharmaceuticals. HLS isn’t known for its pro-animal stance, and these kids are taking their protest to its business partners.

Commitment might be an issue for the protesters though. At the end of the lunch hour, horse hoarse and winded, they walked off quietly.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Much as students from Gallaudet are about to learn of the consequences of speech, so too is Marc Fisher, Post Columnist. While Turkey has banned insulting turkishness, and France is trying to ban denying an Armenian genocide at the hands of Turkey, we have our own crisis of viewpoint here in DC. Check out this recent Marc Fisher column on Culpeper, VA, and about several of the residents who are struggling with the large influx of hispanic immigrants:

Jenkins realizes that the moneyed arrivals from the north are not going anywhere. But maybe, he says, just maybe, something can be done about those from the south. “It’s a much easier issue, because it’s black and white,” he says. “I don’t get it when people say immigration is a gray issue. You’re either legal, or you’re not. We need to help them be legal. I’m not for anything harsh. If they’re willing to come forward and go through a process, we have an obligation to assist them in every way. But I’m about rules.”

This article absolutely infuriated restauranteur Michael Landrum, owner of Ray’s the Steaks and Ray’s the Classics, who wrote in to Fisher…

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

DC-area resident Jonny Goldstein has taken on a new challenge. He is hosting a new talk show called Reinventing Television, which focuses on the changing landscape of television and Internet video, where they merge and diverge and how they impact each other. Each week Jonny, a longtime Internet video guru himself, has a guest who shares his or her own vision of where this new, quickly changing medium is going.

Last night’s guest was Bre Pettis, a videoblogger and the public face of Make Magazine online. Bre’s videos for Make are projects he constructs and then teaches his viewing audience how to make themselves. These have ranged from a wrist-worn bat detector to a robot that draws pictures. The emphasis is not on taking giant steps and building everything you need, but more for the amateur hobbyist who enjoys building his or her own devices and learning how things work.

Go check out Reinventing Television. It is on every Thursday evening from 10-11 p.m. at http://reinventingtv.phovi.com/. Jonny is a first-class host with first-class guests. And the best part: audience participation is always welcome, so you can give your two cents worth and join in a conversation with all the other people there.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Rumor is that Gallaudet is going to attempt to open again for operations starting Friday morning, ending the two days of closure due to student blockade. This will almost certainly mean arrests given the student’s refusals to leave at police request today. I wonder when they’ll move in? The standard middle-of-the-night tactic might not work so well against college students, a group notorious for poor sleep habits. Not to mention that darkness will make communication with signing students even more problematic than the standard raid/arrest chaos would to begin with…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Why do you stand in line for it, Mia? Could the pasta be that good, that worthy, that better than home cooked noodles?

Could It be better than Spaghetti Western? Not that I’ve ever eaten at Spaghetti Western, mind you – who has?

But is Pasta Mia really worthy of a line? Is it better than far out Amsterdam falafel?

Is it better than hand pulled noodles in China? Might it be the home of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

And is really worth the wait?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Sitting at the bar of the Boulevard Woodgrill in Clarendon is one of my favorite lunchtime activities. Billy, the bartender, was standing at the door when the unmistakable scream of fighter jets scorched my hearing. There they were, in formation, The Blue Angels (warning, sound on their site) streaking across the sky.

So close to yesterday’s tragedy in New York, it was a bit tough to take, but the incredible acrobatics those guys can do are just astounding.

While typing this entry, I’ve heard from friends in DC, in Maryland, asking me if I knew why there were fighter jets over DC. The opening of the Air Force Memorial is this weekend, look for more coverage from us in the coming hours.

[Update: I said the Blue Angels, but it appears that it’s actually The Thunderbirds, as I saw them again on the way up to the “office” from Clarendon, it was clear they were F-16s and not the F/A-18s that the Blue Angels use. Makes more sense that the Air Force Acrobatics group would be up instead of the Navy’s]

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Well, it appears that former Virginia Governor and NoVA Business Magnate Mark Warner is saying no to a presidential run in 2008. What is it about smart people not wanting to seek that high office? Oh right, would it be the constant digging into their personal life? The absolute media scrutiny of every move you make, right down to how you wash your hands after you take a whiz? Yeah, I wouldn’t want that job either.

Neither, apparently, did his wife: “People who know Warner say his wife and daughters have never been eager to see him run for the presidency. His wife, Lisa Collis, was not a prominent Virginia First Lady and often remarked to people close to her that she did not like the political limelight.” My translation, for the media-impaired: Ms. Collis said to her husband that if he ran, not only would she tell him to take a hike, she’d wait and do it after their tenure in the white house, forcing him through four or eight cold years in the white house bedroom.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

On one leg you perch, day in, day out.

Swivel on your body, stretch out your neck, drop your head, you pick and place.

In constant motion or constant stillness, you are there, ever present.

Columbia Heights did not see you for decades, and yet now your swarm. Or flock.

Welcome to this hilltop perch. Enjoy your stay. Leave soon.

You are beautiful but portend horrors we only now start to see.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Comic courtesy of My New Filing Technique Is Unstoppable

The awesomely funny comic strip “Get Your War On” was translated into a stage act earlier this year by an Austin, TX group and when I heard about it I was heartbroken that I wouldn’t get to see it.

Well, I’m gonna celebrate like it’s Mission Accomplished all over again.

It’s at Wooley Mamoth through this Sunday with enough performances that there’s no reason anyone who wants to see it should have to miss it. The Post spoke well of it, and while they say you probably want to leave your red state values at home, I think there’s plenty to enjoy in the comic for people who are lovers of sarcasm first and partisan second, even if you lean right. My favorite exchange was this one:

“Oh my God, this War on Terrorism is gonna rule! I can’t wait till the war is over and there’s no more terrorism!”
“I know! Remember when the US had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can’t buy drugs anymore? it’ll be just like that!”

For pure dark humor, though, it’s hard to beat this one.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs