Well, technology minorities anyway.

Note the money quote at the bottom there: (Please note that books cannot be downloaded onto iPods or Zune players) Too bad that iPods and Zunes combined comprise over 65% of the MP3 player market. So, if you’re that one in three then we’ve got something for you!

Snark and annoying limitations aside, Loudoun has a fantastic selection of audiobooks and you can download and listen to them without ever leaving your home – just enter your library card number on the website. You’re restricted to a few Windows media devices in the portable arena – which doesn’t include the Zune – but you can always listen with Windows Media Player on your PC if you’re a Windows user. A good selection of ebooks too – there’s no available physical copies of Michael Crichton’s turd/screed novel Next anywhere in the LCPL system and clicking request (the things I do for you people….) tells me I’m in position FIFTY-FIVE in the queue.

If you’re willing to read it on your screen instead you can just download it and read it on your computer in this Mobireader format which is available on the Mac as well as Windows and Linux. It took about sixty seconds to install the application and download Next. Ready to read if my sense of self-loathing swells up later tonight…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Lanuiop

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article on the rising pressure that consumers are feeling from merchants to use their pin code when making a purchase and how that pressure is likely to continue to rise[subscription required]. The reason is simple: their fees when you purchase something and use a PIN code are lower than when you do what they call “a signature transaction.”

For example, according to Visa USA Inc., the country’s largest card network, a typical supermarket pays 24 cents in fees when a customer buys $40 of groceries with a debit card and a PIN. The fee rises to 35 cents for a signature-debit transaction and can be more than 50 cents when a customer uses a plain-vanilla credit card.

The fees go mostly to the banks issuing cards and to other companies that process the transactions. The banks, in turn, pay fees to Visa and MasterCard Inc. The costs borne by the merchant depend on myriad factors, including size, business and the type of card. Some fees are flat while others are a percentage of the transaction amount.

What the hell does that have to do with the price of tea in China life in DC? Simple.

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They checked, I didn’t!

At the Dulles Airport check-in for my flight on Austrian Airlines to Vienna, I drew the agent having a bad day.

He wanted me to check my European legal sized luggage (smaller than domestic) and told my co-worker her purse counted as her only carry-on. He didn’t know I never check my bags.

Pulling a Jedi Mind Trick, I used a “Look at all my passport stamps” to show I flew enough to call his legal carry-on size bluff.

Then I hid my laptop bag down the counter until I walked away. Best yet, at the gate, I walked around him as he stopped another for bringing a roll-aboard and a laptop.

And guess what? We were flying a 767 with American sized overhead bins!

So a note to those headed to Vienna via Dulles: Pull a Wayan travel trick, store your bags with friends when you check in to avoid the Austrian Airlines Baggage Nazis.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Our second 2006 restaurant week outing was at 100 King in Oldtown, though it didn’t really end up being an RW outing – we mostly ordered off the regular menu. This is a place that promotes tapas-style offerings from the same people behind the always pleasant Lebanese Taverna. That was enough to get us in the door – I think that if we were to go to Lebanese Taverna and my darling girlfriend didn’t order the chicken shawarma I might die of shock. Or of irritation, since I wouldn’t get to pick some off her plate. So we had an expectation that we’d get that kind of quality but with a little something more – after all, the writeup on OpenTable stated that “Denis Soriano’s tantalizing menu boasts bold flavors from the Mediterranean rim region.”

In reality, the offerings seemed very much the same as Lebanese Taverna in taste and style if not in exact menu items. Not to say that is a bad thing, but somehow we expected something more. In fairness, the price compares favorably to LT with a more upscale decour. So favorably, in fact, that about half of us ended up ordering off the regular menu rather than the restaurant week $30.06 selections because the standard prices were so economical.

While the food was fine and the location attractive, I don’t know that we’ll be back. There’s so many great places to eat in this town that I don’t see much reason to deal with Oldtown’s iffy accessability for a meal that’s just “okay.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

One way to tell if you’re looking at a great photograph is if it puts you in a certain mood or not. Does it make you angry? Sad? Joyous? Powerless? Globally aware? Inspired? Lost? Amazed? In the case of andertho’s Warm Winter Sunset, it makes me feel like something is awry. The birds are spooked, the clouds are lurking, and the tree just has no say in the matter.

I can only guess that there has been some post processing done on this shot, as the colors just don’t look natural. There’s nothing wrong with that though, as it can really add to the mood that you’re trying to create with your photo. Sometimes you can take a very ordinary image, do some tweaking with Photoshop, and before you know it you’ve got a winner like this one.

If I’m mistaken, then Mother Nature is just as confused as we think she is. 70 degrees in the middle of January? We can only hope that it’s not snowing in July.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

There’s been a lot of writing this weekend and today about what it is that Washington stands for. I started this in the comments of Stacey’s post on the subject, and again in DCist’s commentary on the same article. Washington means many things to many people, this city’s symbolism and skyscape are an incredible and indelible image for the country. For me, DC is home and foreign, comforting and ostracizing, friendly and cold.

This city has so many incredible spots. The Key Bridge at sunset in Fall. Adams Morgan in the rain after dark, when the smell of rain seems to overcome the smell of puke. Congressional Cemetery in the fog. Mount Vernon in Spring. Ben’s Chili Bowl, and Clarendon, and Old Town and Mount Pleasant. All these great places. But Washington isn’t so small as just the District. It’s Arlington and Alexandria, Montgomery County and Prince George’s. This whole area is infused with Beltway Bandits, Military, People just trying to make their way.

Washington’s bigger than the monuments and the bars and the clubs. It’s bigger than the Archives or the Capitol, and it’s bigger than the hipster holier-than-thou attitude that seems to start at the confluence of the Anacostia and the Potomac.

People come to DC often to make a difference. They come for political reasons, they come for personal reasons, just like every other city. Instead of stock brokers, we have power brokers. Some of us don’t come for any of those reasons, but there’s no reason to denigrate those who come to seek service of their country or to provide it leadership. While my degree is in politics, I never came here to partake in that scene. It doesn’t mean I haven’t met people who have, made friends, made acquaintances. Don’t treat those people as anything less than your neighbor, or you do this town disservice.

DC is where the government and the people collide. It’s where you can go out for pizza and see a Senator, run into a CIA operative at Starbucks, and even see an FBI agent hangin’ out with a bus driver. This town is a confluence of many things, and we would do well that we all have our own reasons for being here, our own love of this town. It’s bigger than one neighborhood, one bar, one square mile. It’s bigger than you think, this place.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

What a conundrum. Do I run my reviews from the most recent restaurant week visits or the ones from LAST restaurant week that I hadn’t gotten around to finishing up?

Okay, oldest first: Acadiana, our first visit in September 2006’s restaurant week. Promising Southern Louisiana style cooking this was the big success of our late 2006 RW outing. With entree prices between $12 and $27, with most being around $14, Acadiana’s prices are fairly reasonable even outside of RW. It’s when you opt for the appetizer menu choices that you end up more heavily dinged. The lowest price options are a trio of deviled eggs or chicken and sausage gumbo for $7, but don’t need to concern yourself with the more costly oysters, fried tomatos or goat cheese tart – if you order anything other than the gumbo you’re a raving fool.

The entrees were also good but they suffered from following that amazing appetizer. How could anything else measure up? I had the tenderloin, my darling girlfriend had the New Orleans style barbeque shrimp. Both were good, but did I mention the gumbo? We’re not normally desert people so it’s faded from my memory. Not bad, but nothing standout enough to recall.

We’ll definitely be back.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I mean, I certainly wouldn’t have remembered, but you probably would, as I am so much more important than you. Where you would go drive out the mere six spaces out to an empty spot in the near-desolate lot I just park here, half in the lane and the other half on the no-parking lines. Why would someone as glorious as me deign to walk those whole 10 steps farther when I could just plant by car here?

Don’t you wish you were as special as me?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Studio Theatre

Second in a two-part series of Reviews too Late to do You Any Good, here’s my take on the Studio Theatre‘s The Long Christmas Ride Home.

My darling girlfriend and I caught the evening showing on a Saturday, the day before closing. Billed as “a puppet show with actors,” it exceeded our expectations. Partly that was because we had turned a bit of a gimlet eye at the whole production – given that it gave first billing to the puppets – so it was the beneficiary of low expecations. It was also a function of it being an interesting production, however. The ninety-minute no-intermission play contains scenes with the adult children Stephen, Rebecca, and Claire mid-play which are bracketed at the beginning and end by scenes with the puppets.

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Okay, so I’m a bit of an Eagles fan due to some family ties. However, I’m sure Fox won’t drop football the way Clear Channel dropped Howard Stern when they review their broadcast for indecency. I caught this screen capture in the background on my Mac TV Tuner while watching the game. I wonder if the FCC will have a double standard on TV versus radio, especially when the audience for this broadcast is probably two to three times the size of Stern’s usual audience. (~8:37 in the first quarter of the game, lasted for 10 seconds between plays) They have a standard 3-5 second delay AND for satellite, you have even a longer delay. What’s your take on this? I choose to defer to George Carlin to make up my mind on this. However, will somebody sic the Parents Television Council on Fox? Second question for the guys… Perfect woman? (smokin’ body, into sports… and well, you can make up your mind about the rest…)

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

When this post goes live I’ll be sitting in the Verizon Center watching the Monster Truck Rally.

You have no idea what kind of convincing it took to get my darling girlfriend to join us on this outing. I’ve promised to keep her plied with beer sufficient to keep her entertained. To paraphrase Brody, “We’re going to need a bigger cup.”

I’m hopeful she enjoys it more than Jack Marshall did last year.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Apparently Sears knows something we don’t, or perhaps something we should have figured out from warm days like these. A “Winter’s End Sale” on Jan 10th?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Arlington County services that will be affected by Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observance:

• Arlington County Courts: The General District Court, Circuit Court, Juvenile Court and Clerks Office will be closed on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 for Lee-Jackson Day and Monday, Jan. 15, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They will reopen on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at 8 a.m.
• Refuse/Recycling Collection: Refuse and recycling will be picked up as normal on Monday, Jan. 15, but there will be no Christmas tree pickup.
• Arlington Public Libraries: All County libraries will be closed Monday, Jan. 15.
• Recreation and Senior Centers: All recreation and senior centers will be closed Monday, Jan. 15, except for Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center, which will be open 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• The Skate Park at Powhatan Springs Park: Free Skate Session, 8 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 15; Managed Skate Session, noon – 7 p.m.
• Nature Centers: Gulf Branch and Long Branch Nature Centers will be closed Monday, Jan. 15. Park grounds and trails will be open.
• Public Swimming Pools (adjacent to Arlington’s three public high schools):
  • Saturday, Jan. 13: Washington-Lee open 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., noon to 7 p.m. Wakefield open noon to 7 p.m. Yorktown open noon to 7 p.m.
  • Monday, Jan. 15: Washington-Lee open 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Yorktown open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Wakefield open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Arlington Parking Meters: Meters will not be enforced on Monday, Jan. 15. All other parking regulations will be in effect.
• Arlington Virginia Network, AVN-74: Regular program schedules on Monday, Jan. 15.
• Arlington Transit (ART) : On Monday, Jan. 15, ART 41 and 51 will run a Saturday schedule. No other ART routes will be in service. STAR office will be closed. Please call Friday, Jan. 12 to book trips.

From the County’s Web site

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Best Week Ever

Kate Debelack was nice enough to forward on this little bit of awesome which features local actor Jeffrey Carlson in his ongoing role on All My Children. I’m presuming that when he plays Hamlet this June he won’t be sporting the slip or falsies, but you never know. Congrats on being spotlighted on Best Week Ever, Jeffrey!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I went to Zengo last night with some friends for girl-talk-over-drinks. We sat in the bar/lounge area and didn’t order any food, so you’ll have to go elsewhere for discussion of the menu.

Zengo is right next to the Chinatown Metro station entrance at 7th and H, so it would be hard for it to be more conveniently located. The restaurant dining area is upstairs, and the smaller downstairs area is dedicated almost entirely to the bar area and several low lounge tables surrounded by couches. As far as ambience goes, it was great- the music was well-chosen and was played loud enough to enjoy but not so loud that you have to shout to converse with the person next to you (my personal bar pet peeve). The decor matches the Latin/Asian fusion theme- clean and simple lines with warm colors. No complaints there, except that the couch/banquette thing along the wall opposite the bar is as high as the barstools, but without any corresponding foothold, making it extraordinarily difficult and undignified for short people such as myself to sit on it. But climbing up on barstools is something I’m pretty used to by now, so that’s really more of a minor gripe about restaurants designed by tall people.

The wine and beers have a distinctly ethnic bent as you would expect- Mexican and Japanese beers, sake, and Argentinian and Chilean wines. Several of my friends ordered from Zengo’s signature cocktails menu- their drinks were met with mixed reviews.

What I really want to talk about is Zengo’s service. I realize, we were in the lounge rather than the restaurant portion, so I didn’t expect a lot of attention from servers, and that’s fine. But when I stand at the bar for several minutes, closed drink menu in hand, trying to catch the attention of a bartender, I expect to be able to, you know, ORDER A DRINK, rather than read all about the drinks I can’t order while the bartender ignores me.

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

Jon Stewart’s rapier wit may be coming to the Washington Post as part of a special Election 2008 program, according to Washingtonian. No word as to whether this’ll be a videocast done through the Post’s website, or a printed word medium, but the idea of more serious news outlets grabbing a comedian for the Election suggests that we’re in for yet another rough ride in the campaign season.

I expect the 2008 Election to be full of contention, muck-raking, mud-slinging, accusations and all manner of evilness from our politicians. Perhaps Jon Stewart can at least make us laugh before we cry ourselves to sleep.

Major hat tip to Catherine Andrews, and congratulations on her new position at Washingtonian.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you use the Orange, Blue, or Yellow Lines, your Metro route is going to look a bit different through the MLK Day long weekend.

Switch work at Arlington Cemetery will close the Blue Line between Pentagon and Rosslyn stations, so the Blue Line will instead detour Northeast to join the Yellow Line over the scenic Fenwick Bridge, both lines converging with the Green Line in a threesome of transit ecstacy at L’Enfant Plaza up to Mt Vernon Square/Convention Center. In a grand surge forward, the Yellow Line will stick with the Green, faithfully standing by its mate well past Convention Center and Fort Totten, all the way up to Greenbelt. (Don’t you wish it was like that all the time?) Covering the Blue Line’s shortcomings for the weekend, the Orange Line will fork between New Carrolton and Largo routes till Monday.

So if you’re one of those poor souls who lives near Huntington or Eisenhower Ave stations but has to get to some place on the Orange Line west of Rosslyn so that you would normally have to make a Blue and an Orange transfer at Pentagon and Rosslyn respectively, take heart! Now you have just one transfer to make at L’Enfant — but more stations to sit through. Enjoy.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Blogger La Shawn Barber recently penned a column about a unique new deal between DC Government and EdBuild, a 15 month old non-profit that suddenly may find itself with part of a $2.3B No-bid contract with the city’s schools to rebuild them both physically and academically.

How does a 15-month-old non-profit wind up with part of a $2.3B contract? Well, that’s where La Shawn comes in:

The Post characterizes Neil O. Albert, one of EdBuild’s founders, as an “associate” of mayors Anthony Williams and Fenty, but he’s much more than that. Albert served as a deputy mayor and director of the Department of Parks and Recreation under Williams. Last week, Fenty appointed him deputy mayor of economic development. Albert said he’ll resign as EdBuild’s president and CEO.

EdBuild was created by the Federal City Council, an organization comprised of powerful D.C. businesses with deep pockets, and the council’s chief executive officer is John Hill, former chairman of Mayor Williams’s library commission and one of EdBuild’s board members.

Waaaaaait just one second. Mayor Williams’ old deputy mayor, and Mayor Fenty’s new deputy mayor is the CEO. The Federal City Council, who created EdBuild, is run by Mayor Williams’ library commission guy? Yeah, something ain’t right when they’re getting a $2.3B no-bid contract.

So, why aren’t you reading about this in the Post? Well, the VP of the Federal City Council, and its chair for finance, is Donald Graham. The publisher of the Washington Post.

Maybe that’s why…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I stopped by the Clarendon Farmers Market yesterday. Turns out it wasn’t much of a farmers market unless that coffee guy has some interesting grow lamps and heat/moisture control in his basement. Anyway, I popped a quarter in the meter and the thing said something along the lines of “Meter Failed.” I can’t remember exactly what it said. I figured I had enough time to walk around for a few minutes but when I got back to my car I found that the meter said, “Expired.”

I don’t mind paying a quarter to park for a few minutes but I sure don’t like the idea of paying and risking a $25 ticket. Has anyone else encountered “bad” meters? I have had a number of them in the Clarendon area eat my change without giving me any time. Is there recourse for this? What about the one that I parked at the other day that said I had two hours but after an hour and a half had run out, leaving me with a ticket?

Are we just screwed when it comes to this sort of thing? Does anyone ever calibrate or fix the meters? Any place to report it to?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It all makes me wonder how big a war memorial Bush wants to have built someday when all this Iraq stuff is over. It saddens the hell out of me.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs