I am completely amazed by Flickr user Steve Strawn’s gallery of stop action, broken glass photos. The planning, creativity, and perseverance that’s needed to do work like this is hard to find. The lighting in his photos is fantastic and his use of colors (this one titled “Broken Primaries”) really adds the extra pop to push these to the professional level. I would love to see his setup for these and watch the master at work. This makes me want to head over to Ikea to buy a pallet of glassware so I can attempt some shots of my own. Warning, if you try this at home, be sure to wear some protective eyewear!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

So there I was, standing in line at Filene’s on Connecticut today, and I swear I must have gotten the trainee cashier. I hadn’t eaten lunch yet and it took so long that by the time I was done my hands were shaking so badly from low blood sugar that I could barely sign the receipt. Usually I do all my holiday shopping online, but I got a late start this year and I’m running out of time to wait for shipping. So what’s a crowd-hating, mall-disdaining, DC-based shopper to do?

Anyone who has been reading Metroblogging DC for any length of time knows about, but might forget, the many fine open-air markets available in and around DC. Excellent for the shopper who needs to pick things up and hold them before deciding as well as the person who can’t stand a big crowd in an enclosed space. In addition to the Holiday market mentioned earlier today, there’s Eastern Market, the Georgetown Flea Market, the Clarendon Antiques Market, etc. I’ve found some terrific photography gifts at such places, and there’s usually an array of other interesting things to be found as well. You never know, you might just be supporting a Metroblogger in the process.

There’s the ever popular White House Christmas Ornament. We mentioned these last year- they’re great for like, grandmas and stuff who are oh-so-proud of their progeny who have moved to Washington. I can just hear my own grandma saying, “Oh, my granddaughter got that for me on her lunch break. She works just near the White House, you know…” Anything that gives Grandma bragging rights at the bridge club is an excellent gift.

And then, of course, you can make your own damn gifts. Photojojo has a great guide on photo-related gifts this year, and of course Flickr has a selection as well, in addition to a huge Creative Commons-licensed pool of images you can use if you’re not a shutterbug. Might I suggest the Metroblogging DC Flickr Pool as a starting point?

As for me, well, I’m still not done, so now I’m looking for your suggestions. What are your favorite less-crowded places to look for gifts locally?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Over the weekend, seven episcopal parishes in northern Virginia voted to split with the Diocese of Virginia over the issue of homosexuality. Specifically, the seven parishes object to the ordination of a gay bishop and the sanctioning of same sex unions. The churches now each face a lengthy legal battle regarding the ownership of the churches’ properties as they belong to the diocese of Virginia. The objection is being couched in terms of “following scripture” instead of the more likely explanation of “we dislike gay people and think they should be stoned.”

The churches will now be aligned with the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, who encourages the jailing of homosexuals, so it’s really not so much about scripture as it is the jailing of those damn gays. Personally, I think the whole thing is no great loss for the Diocese of Virginia, so long as they’re able to get a good agreement of the purchase of the property.

The reactions from the parishioners, both for and against are strong, and full of emotion. One local Episcopal blogger wrote today: “Yes, I’m deliberately avoiding a discussion of the current unpleasantness here on this blog. There are many other sites both conservative and liberal that are more than happy to hash that out, and I’ve even commented on some of them. Just… not here, not today, alright?”

I can certainly understand the reaction. What’s your take?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Apparently we’re expected to set a record high today with temperatures in the mid 70s in some areas. Amazing stuff for the second half of December. If you’re in the downtown area you might want to use this lovely weather as an excuse to wander over to the Downtown Holiday Market set up over on 7th and F near the Verizon center. The other vendors told us yesterday that the biggest problem they’re having is that it’s so popular that people are having trouble keeping up their stock. So (please forgive me for this one – I couldn’t resist) go get it while it’s hot!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I took my darling girlfriend out to dinner at Cafe Atlantico on Friday night for her birthday, and while the entrees were fantastic we didn’t find any deserts that really blew our skirts up.

Yes Wayan, we were indeed both wearing skirts. So nyah.

So we decided to go over to Love Cafe for a happy birthday cupcake. While they didn’t have any candles for us (what’s up with that, Warren? They’re cheap and I’da paid $1 for one! Make a note – new profit center.) they did say that if DG could pony up ID showing that it was her birthday then her cupcake would be free! She did and it was.

So go by on your special day, buy a cup of coffee and enjoy your birthday cupcake. And remember: no matter how much getting older may suck, it beats the only known alternative.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DCMetblogger

Now this is happy hour pricing! Check out those wallet-friendly prices. My favs:

$5 Cuban Mojitos
$8 Corona Buckets

Yep, Santa Rosa Seafood Sports Bar at 18th and Wyoming is on my happy hour list.

While it might not be a Cafe Citron Thursday and maybe lacking the young and beautiful, I know my wallet (and your) will be so much happier.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Schoschie

Anyone else see that shooting star flash across the sky arounf 6:08pm this evening? Pretty damned cool – it was visible for about a full three seconds and looked like it had calved – I saw two distinct bright dots next to each other.

Just to show that I haven’t entirely left behind the remnants of reaching adulthood during the cold war: As it disappeared off to the southeast I thought “Hope that really WAS a shooting star… wonder if I should close my eyes and look away so I’m not blinded by the flash.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Downtown After Dark

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

For every commission report and press conference in DC, of which there are approximately 3 gazillion each year, there are the people that appear on the news, and there are the people who make the event Happen. If you see enough of these events in your time here in DC, you frequently miss the people that make these sorts of events possible. Today, I got to be one of those People for the The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce as they launched their report and presented their case to invited guests today at the Grand Hyatt downtown. There’s a ton of work that goes into these events. My partner and I have been planning and plotting the AV for the event for close to a month now, and worked multiple 12 hour days this week making sure everything went off without a hitch.

It’s an amazing thing to watch an event come together, with all the screens and podia and chairs and tables and people working in concert with the space to get it all ready. Last night, as I took a quick break to find a laser point and a presentation remote, I caught this picture of H St. downtown. Downtown DC after dark, as most of the people have cleared out of the business district, as most of the folks who were writing and presenting were off to dinner, is so incredibly peaceful and serene.

In that calm and serenity lie of the very best of DC, in the midst of winter.

So, thank your support staff today, if you’ve ever hosted an event at a downtown hotel, or ever made a presentation. A smile and a thanks on a job well done are never as good as a raise and a nice gift card, but sometimes they’re the best thing you can give someone.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

As punishment for losing to the New England Revolution, the DC United, er, wait a second. Let’s stop and have a moment here. I’ve been castigated twice on other blogs this week for using a definite article to refer to the soccer-team-that-plays-at-RFK-and-whose-name-involves-the-concept-of-unification. Is it The DC United? Or just DC United? Does it really fucking matter? The lack of a definite article could mean that there are, in fact, other groups within the District of Columbia who could use the concept of Unification to define themselves without concern for being referred to one for the other?

When I was an MLS fan in 1998-2000 in Columbus, we always referred to DC’s club as “The United,” or, actually it usually involved something to do with them being the team that would paste us at the Crew’s stadium while we ogled the hot soccer chicks (hey, we were dumb college kids, what else could we do? It’s not like fake IDs were readily available…).

Regardless of whether or not our soccer team gets a definite article, they are going to be playing host to the 2007 MLS Cup at RFK Stadium on November 18th, 2007. Tickets will run between $30 and $100 per. No word if you’re allowed to refer to a collection of tickets to said event as “The Tickets.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DCMetblogger

Look! Phone books! Wow. I cannot believe they still make those things. I guess there are still couches missing legs. Or maybe it’s a cheap way to heat when firewood runs low.

This is Washington DC, we are all online. Why are there still phone books? And who still uses them? You? Why, pray tell!

All I see are dead trees, killed, wasted for useless blocks of pulp that in the case of my apartment building, wound up tossed in the recycle bin.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

With Metro’s giant budget gap looming, and the budget meeting to discuss new fare and service options this evening, commuters and other Metro riders ought to get ready for some pain in the wallet. Metro’s fares have remained constaint since 2003, and are now facing a significant increase.

What’s good? SmarTrip users won’t pay quite as much an increase as those who use paper tickets, with paper ticket fares going up by $0.65 to $1.75, while SmarTrip fares will go up only $0.15 to $0.45.

What’s a little weird? That the downtown core stations will get an extra $0.35 tacked on to the fare. From Courthouse to L’Enfant Plaza on the Orange Line, Pentagon to L’Enfant Plaza on the Blue Line, Pentagon to Mt. Vernon Square on the Yellow, Mt. Vernon Square to Waterfront on the Green Line and from Dupont Circle to Union Station, is the new zone (see also the graphic here) that will receive an additional $0.35 congestion charge.

The new “max fares” under the new fare regime would be $4.75 for SmarTrip customers and $6 for paper ticket customers. Also on the block are some of the weekend and holiday services, so you may end up waiting longer and longer for trains on the weekends and on certain holidays. Metro won’t be changing service for holidays like Independence Day because they’re not completely mental. As many as twelve bus-lines may also face service cutbacks or outright route cancellations. Fares for the bus may go up by $0.05 if WMATA’s plan goes into effect.

So, fares are on the rise, and services are going to be cutback. Is this too much of a fare hike? Too much of a service cutback for too much a service cut? What say you?

graphic shamelessly cropped and borrowed from this Washington Post Story, with kudos to the graphics team there and apologies because any graphic I’d have done would’ve involved stick figures or badly drawn metro maps.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Outside with ya!

Come this time next month, you’ll not be inside a bar, hacking out a lung. No, you’ll be inside the bar, enjoying Smoke Free DC while the smokers freeze outside.

With this victory for health, if only for your lungs and not your liver too, where are you gonna go? The folks over at Smoke Free DC have already started a “Where Will You GO?” list to see where the party will start.

I know the first place I’ll go (again) is Tonic, to cure what ails me: sobriety. I’ve boycotted the bar since it became an underground smokehouse.

That and I will finally count Wonderland as smoke free. While Monday Night Trivia Fight was on the “smoke free” second floor, the smoke from downstairs doesn’t stop at the stairwell.

Enough about my soon-to-be haunts, what will your new ones be?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Can anyone recommend a good Cambodian restaurant in the area? I have looked but haven’t found anything. I even consulted a Cambodian woman I met, who told me the closest one is in New York. With an area as diverse as DC, it seems that we should have something here. I await the list of all those wonderful secret places you have tucked up your sleeves!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Welcome to the Metroblogging Network our newest city: Auckland! If you haven’t had a chance yet to see some of the other great cities that are part of our expansive 5-continent network, click the map over there at the right and you can see some of the other cool places that we cover in our network.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Waste. That is what I think when I see this amazing display of fish. The waste of the un-bought, unconsumed, uneaten seafood that died to spoil.

Can Washington DC really consume this much seafood via the Fish Market in Southwest? Will they really sell all that salmon, all those crabs, all the shrimp on display?

Will it not be shoveled into a trash bin, dumped, and lost from the ecosystem forever?

Such waste. It almost makes me want to vegetarian again. I was one once, for eight years, after I went scuba diving and saw the reefs from which these fish came. Or saw what was left of them. Scraped clean by trawlers for a market just like this.

And now here, in my own city, I see this display. Might this, and other displays like it across town, really be too much fish for one city?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

This is the lobby of my office building today (points if you can figure out which one).

Free food always brings out a crowd. A hungry crowd of office rats.

Now who in your office would be the first rat at the table? For us, it was accounting. Figures.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I may have found out how not to feel like a squished fish in a tin can during morning and afternoon commutes. Recently I was recording sounds of the Metro with a small handheld digital recorder and noticed that everyone gave me quite a bit of room, although not without slightly freaked-out gazes.

Look – it’s small and I can hide it in my hand. Does it really look that dangerous?

The next time I wanted to record in the train I brought the same little recorder and attached a neck strap so it would look like any other MP3 player someone had dangling around their neck. Still people were freaked out a little. Maybe next time I will actually plug in headphones as well and fool people into thinking the little device really is what it looks like.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The ever-cool Capitol of Punk has updated their DC tours with text message options, so that as you’re on the tour, you can text the tour and get updated messages and history from the various sites in DC. Check it out, it’s worth it to see DC’s incredible place in the history of Punk Rock.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

“The Brainwave Chick” Paras Kaula

My friend Andy Carvin just alerted me to the ultimate Geek-Meet in DC this week: Dorkbot DC.

How geeky can something with the name “dorkbot” be? How about this description:

Dorkbot DC is a monthly meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/etc.), designers, engineers, students and other interested parties from the DC area who are involved in the creation of electronic art (in the broadest sense of the term.)

Or better yet, just check out “The Brainwave Chick”, Paras Kaula, who is a “neural artist”. Yeah, I don’t know what that means either, but she apparently uses brain wave frequencies to create visuals and music.

If this sounds like your crowd, and with enough drinks, its definitely mine, get your ass to Provisions Library this Wednesday from 7 PM – 9 PM and get your electro-geek on!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

All six fans of the DC United are likely crying in their beers tonight as Freddy Adu’s been traded to Salt Lake, along with their veteran goalie, for a reserve goalie and what amounts to two players to be named later. Adu’s career in DC has been disappointing, primarily for Freddy who wanted more playing time, and for the United, and with his 18th birthday coming up, he’s likely to sign with a European Pro Team, which means we wouldn’t get squat if he left without a trade. Seeya Freddy, and good luck in Salt Lake.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs