The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (or GTBID for short) is having their kick-off in a series of “Sounds in the Square” this evening at 5pm. I’m not sure how much foot traffic of commuters it will draw away from the mass movement of people to and fro as they rush home, but at least it may be an attention getter away from the razing of the building at Connecticut and K Streets Wayan had such fond memories of.

This evening’s affair will star Justin Jones & The Driving Rain, but other concerts will follow from May 22 and June 5, 12, 19, 26 (and a reschedule from last week’s rained out performance on September 4). I’m sure it will be an interesting experiment for GTBID, who were also, if I remember, one of the first areas in downtown D.C. to offer free WiFi in the park a number of years ago. And you know they’re hip and with it, not just because they dress in gold and black, because they have a MySpace page!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This Sunday the post is putting on an event that’s a transplant from my hometown, Miami. They can call it the “Post Hunt” if they want but they’re not putting anything past me. This is the TROPIC HUNT, baby, and all the borderline unhinged goofyness that this Dave Barry/Gene Weingarten/Tom Schroder creation always brings with it.

If you want some insight, Tom, Gene, and Dave did an online chat earlier in the week to talk about it, and here’s a snip.

Cube City: The instructions don’t say anything about tools, but answering one of the three video puzzles (almost) requires a calculator, and the final puzzle would benefit from a notepad if not a portable text editor. There’s no way anybody will be able to win without writing down and doodling/calculating/anagramming/whatever, so shouldn’t a well-equipped team bring a thermos full of vodka martinis?

Tom Shroder: No THAT is the kind of thinking that will go far in the Hunt. Keep up the good work.

If you want to read a little about the kookyness that past TROPIC HUNTs have involved and the kind of puzzles teams are faces with, an old cow-orker of mine is a little obsessed a fan and runs a website with a pretty comprehensive archive of past Tropic Hunt details.

My only concern is that this town may not be up to the level of controlled insanity that the Tropic Hunt involves, not to mention the long slog through crappy weather, dangerous streets, dilapidated city buildings and newspaper insanity. Sure, we have killer bus drivers, but the Hunt was invented in Miami during the 80s – you ducked hails of gunfire to solve puzzles then. You bunch of softies? You may not be able to take it. Witness the question asked by one of our locals who clearly wouldn’t have been up for an three hour event in Miami, where Gene’s answer would have been a given.

Arlington, Va.: Dude. What if it rains?

Gene Weingarten: You get wet.

See you at the Tropic Hunt.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The D.C. Council decided on Tuesday that in order to make up for a $35 million budget shortfall they would increase the tax on cigarettes by $1, bringing it up to $2/pack. That will put us in a tie with Arizona, Alaska, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, and Michigan for one of the highest “state” tax rates on cigarettes. Oh right, we’re not a state. We just pay an exorbitant amount of taxes. How easily I forget such silly things.

Vaping e-liquid Is Less Harmful Than Smoking, but It’s Still Not Safe. E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavorings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic.

So what is the Council’s message here? My only guess is this:

People who smoke are evil. It’s a disgusting habit that’s bad for your health. Maybe if we charge you an extra dollar per pack of those devil sticks, you’ll quit smoking and live a healthy lifestyle like the rest of us. Maybe you’ll even start participating in triathlons like our super healthy mayor does. Die smokers, die!

Of course I could be missing something. I think they should also put a tax on ice cream, donuts, frappacinos with extra whipped cream, pizza, cheeseburgers, chili dogs, chili cheese fries, fettuccine alfredo, and mac ‘n cheese. If you eat enough of those things, you’ll die over time too.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I was renewing some domain names earlier in the month and noticed that FreeOurStreets.org was coming due soon, and I pondered for a minute whether to spend the money to get another year. After all, we’d gotten what we wanted with it. After our 4th of July photo walk the city attorney made a written statement to the management company indicating that they did not have the right to restrict people’s freedom of expression on public land, even if it was managed by a private corporation under contract with the city.

Silly me, thinking we wouldn’t need it again someday.

Now the foolishness has some to DC proper. Andy Carvin writes here about his experience with being bothered by security guards in Union Station. Now, Chip Py managed to make Downtown Silver Spring look beautiful, but one of the challenges in talking about that incident was always how to respond to “why would you want to take pictures of a strip mall?” Union Station, on the other hand, is obviously beautiful architecture and photographed painlessly by a multitude of people every day. Yet for some reason the management company there has decided to harass some photographers.

She informed us that we would have to cease taking pictures immediately and leave. I asked what the problem was, and she said that this is a private space, and we didn’t have permission from management to take pictures.

Here’s hoping it stops with a single misunderstanding and this gets cleared up promptly.

The above photo of the ghost of security-ruined photos is a snipet from Carvin’s aborted 360 degree panorama. Check it out in full here or a non-aborted pano elsewhere in Union Station here. The gigapan technology is pretty neat.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Okay, I’m going to come right out and do something I hate people doing, myself. Fire up the hypocrite comment-engine, because here I go.

WTOP points out that DC Area Drivers are 5th in the nation for road rage. All I can say is, “Guys, really, chances are, the people who are driving like major league asshats are probably doing so in Maryland and Virginia plates.” It sucks that the District gets the bad PR for all these guys who live in Reston, or Springfield, or Gaitherburg, or Laurel and drive like complete idiots.

Most of the folks I know who live in the District commute either by bus or metro, though I do on occasion see DC Plates on the major thoroughfares in rush hour, it tends to be the crazy-ass mofo from Maryland or Virginia making everyone else’s life difficult.

Not to say that DC drivers are all that great, far from it, they’re just not causing the road rage you see every day on the Beltway, 395, 270, the B-W Parkway, etc.

Entering A Road Rage Zone — Originally uploaded by garyturner

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Okay, I’m going to come right out and do something I hate people doing, myself. Fire up the hypocrite comment-engine, because here I go.

WTOP points out that DC Area Drivers are 5th in the nation for road rage. All I can say is, “Guys, really, chances are, the people who are driving like major league asshats are probably doing so in Maryland and Virginia plates.” It sucks that the District gets the bad PR for all these guys who live in Reston, or Springfield, or Gaitherburg, or Laurel and drive like complete idiots.

Most of the folks I know who live in the District commute either by bus or metro, though I do on occasion see DC Plates on the major thoroughfares in rush hour, it tends to be the crazy-ass mofo from Maryland or Virginia making everyone else’s life difficult.

Not to say that DC drivers are all that great, far from it, they’re just not causing the road rage you see every day on the Beltway, 395, 270, the B-W Parkway, etc.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

My absolute apologies to Jared. He’s the guy pictured above, working at the new On the Fly cart located at the corner of 7th and F streets, just south of the Verizon Center. I didn’t tell him I’d put this online and I think he’d have been a bit more wary of saying yes to the photo, had he known.

But I just had to do it because I think On the Fly is very cool. The business operates a handful of carts around town—7th and F, 8th and H, Farragut North, Capitol Hill, and also the Nationals stadium, National Arboretum, and near Artomatic for the next month—that sell food cooked by local businesses such as Teaism, Rocklands BBQ, Julia’s Empanadas, and many others. The whole thing is initiated by a guy who used to work for Zipcars, and apparently his crew is a bunch of dedicated folks who’ve all known each other for a while and really believe in the endeavor.

I hope they survive. DC certainly needs more places where the price covers good food, not just pretentious surroundings.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Today I came across a massive group of police officers hanging around their motorcycles at 5th and E streets. Dick Cheney visiting the Science Museum? A sting about to occur at the Building Museum? No, it’s National Police Week, and the officers were gathered from all over the country to honor fallen colleagues. There were folks from as far as California, as well as a busful of officers from Hagerstown who were there on behalf of an officer who died this year.

They’ll be having a candlelight vigil this evening at 8pm, at the National Law Officers’ Memorial on Judiciary Square. The public is invited and apparently it’s really something to behold.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Marc Fisher reports today that WAMU has severed their relationship with Jonetta Rose Barras, pictured right, the fiery co-host to Kojo Nnamdi on the Politics Hour on his show every Friday. That’s too bad – she’s a big part of what makes that weekly episode fun, and her slightly-too-far pushing and boisterousness lets us hear the guests and other folks on the show get pushed a little harder without Kojo having to do it.

 

Equally unfortunate is that she’s chosen to blame WAMU’s refusal to agree to her salary request on the fact that she’s black and a woman. Her requirement may or may not be reasonable, but it’s hard to take this complaint too seriously when she’s appearing on a show hosted by a black man in a timeslot following a woman. Not to mention the fact that everyone who has heard JRB for more than five minutes knows she’s a little… hyperbolic. That’s part of her appeal, but it doesn’t help me to take her seriously when she makes those kind of assertions.

 

It’s a shame she didn’t choose to take the high road and simply state that WAMU chose not to pay her what she felt was reasonable for the job she performed for them and let everyone else draw their own conclusions. On the other hand, WAMU isn’t on the highest road either, with their statement that “analyst Jonetta Rose Barras is leaving WAMU 88.5,” which may be factually correct even though it omits “feet first.”

Photo from Jonetta Rose Barras’ own website.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Capital Weather tells us that “May already ranks as the 5th wettest on record at DCA, and it’s less than half way into the month,” and I can honestly say – as my car sits in the parking lot with the top and windows down so that some of the water that leaked in can hopefully evaporate – that this is an honor I would happily refuse from the Academy.

We may not have to hold on to that trophy long, since CW also says that we’re looking at possible to probable rain from Thursday through Sunday. Since I can’t find their source data for those 4th through 1st wettest months, I don’t know how much more it would take to push us up into the next category. They can say it’s a good thing overall, but personally I’d like a chance to dry my sneakers.

I’d like a pony too, if anyone’s listening, but since nobody seems to be listening I’ll do what I’m suggesting you do: keep track of your umbrella.

Amphibious, courtesy of maxedaperture

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’ve realized that one powerful symbol of urban life is the little convenience stores that are on about every tenth corner throughout the District. They’re tiny and the cashiers are often boxed in by bulletproof plexiglass, but the shoppers are regulars and the stores are packed to the gills with necessities and odds and ends. They are a neighborhood institution that only exists in a walking—ie, urban—culture.

I recently had a brilliant idea of doing an irregular series of posts that would investigate neighborhood stores from time to time, looking at who shops there, what they buy, and what the general neighborhood vibe is.

I started at my own neighborhood shop, the Euclid Market, but now I’m not sure how great my idea is. The Korean guy working there, Joe, was happy to talk to me, but the shoppers were not; one of them asked if I was “the police.” Also, while the market sells a very wide variety of goods (sardines, Yellow Tail wine, Van Holten’s Pickles in a Pouch, Luna bars, the obligatory pasta/oil/beans/etc, wristwatches, male enhancement herbal supplements), the best sellers weren’t surprising: singles of IceHouse or Budweiser 211, and Newport cigarettes. I have a feeling those goods might be ubiquitously popular throughout much of the city.

So I’m not sure how well this series is going to proceed, or whether the Logan Circle market I had in mind next will really be much different. Perhaps I need to look under the surface a bit more. Suggestions are welcome!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I tried out a Meetup group this past weekend, with lots of success. While looking for something else online, I found a group–the DC/MD/VA Adventure Meetup–that does fun things like hiking, jumping out of airplanes, whitewater rafting, and so on. Actually, I’m not interested in the more adventurous adventures–all I really want to do is go on day hikes. I never feel like organizing them myself, and none of my friends is particularly passionate about hiking. Thus, this group.

The organizer had proposed a hike up Old Rag mountain, which I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The only problem was that he wanted to “beat the crowds” and do it at 6am, which meant leaving DC at 4:15am–and getting up at 3:30am. Second problem: it rained all night. But I stuck to my guns and, after about 3 hours of sleep, stumbled out of bed and made it to the meeting point. Two hours later, we were ready to climb the mountain in the grey fog.

It turned out to be really terrific. First of all, Old Rag is amazing. It’s just the right length (about 4.5 hours for us, including a half hour at the top) and rigorousness (rigorosity?) to feel like you’ve genuinely accomplished something. The path we took on the way up gave way to rocks towards the top, so we had to scramble and at times truly climb over the rocks, which was a challenge. Apparently the views are amazing, but we were in fog the whole time and largely missed them–but the verdant forest and lichen-covered rocks were impressive enough. And we had the whole mountain to ourselves.

What was also very cool was the whole meetup thing. Because of the rain, only 5 of the 28 who’d RSVP’d showed up. But that made it even better, as we were able to get to know each other quite well and really look out for each other throughout, particularly on the treacherous parts of the train. Meeting 4 strangers and having a great time talking and being kind to each other–it’s enough to give heart to any cynic.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

My lovely wife and I went to Taverna Cretekou in Alexandria recently. The food was fabulous, as was the service. The highlight of our visit came after the meal, when the waiter read Elise’s fortune in her coffee grounds. Was it simply a ploy for a bigger tip? Probably, and likely it worked.

I highly recommend this restaurant. Fabulous food, great service and reasonable prices for an upscale place.

[revver]http://revver.com/video/877656/elise-getting-her-fortune-told-at-greek-restaurant/[/revver]

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Caught some lunch at the Rocklands in Virginia Square today, and they had this bottle sitting out. Sure, it’s hotter than pretty much any other sauce I’ve tried, but the flavor was incredible. The sweetness of the pepper came through quite well, despite the incredible punch it packed, and it was an excellent companion for my brisket sandwich today.

Sure, I could’ve gone for the plain fire sauce, but what’s the point in hot-sauce unless it makes you swear and cry out for divine intervention?

Pwnsauce — Originally uploaded by tbridge

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’m glad the impulse struck me last night and I stuck this cheapie rain gauge (damn you, Target, and your little entryway aisle of $1 items) outside last night at 11pm before I went upstairs. This is what it looked like at 9am, after it collected the “1-2″ of rain [that] may fall before this storm winds down tomorrow.”

I certainly won’t claim this device or its placement rivals the collection equipment at National Airport, but I’m having a hard time reconciling this with the math of 2.37″ at midnight (as cited in the link above) and the total cited in the most recent post of 3-6 inches total rainfall for the storm.

Regardless of official totals, it’s a swamp at my home. I finally got one of my rain barrels put in place Saturday night and its 55 gallon capacity was already overflowing by 9pm Sunday. We’re all still under a flood watch through the afternoon and a warning almost till morning commute tomorrow, so be careful. There’s still unfixed potholes that showed up over the winter waiting to get you when you can’t see them, assuming you’re not hydroplaning across a few lanes. Controlling your vehicle through water is challenging.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

With the deluge starting yesterday afternoon while we were on a family field trip in Stafford, and continuing well into the night and the early morning hours, I was not in any mood to get out of bed today.

Fortunately, my phone started ringing just after 8:30, which gave me no choice but to get vertical. DC in the rain is a beautiful place, with vibrant greens and earthy browns and blacks. As much as we need the rain, I’m willing to tolerate a lot of the frustration that comes with its arrival.

But I just can’t get out of bed on mornings like this. Fortunately, Nick & the Gang‘s got me covered with a triple-shot chai latte and the playlist from one of my junior high dances. That’ll wake anyone up, I think.

Now, if only I could find some motivation…

Eat your heart out, Bonner — Originally uploaded by tbridge

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Good morning, D.C.

It’s been a very wet and soggy commute this morning.

If you drive in Virginia, please please PLEASE turn your headlights on if the rain is enough to keep your wipers on. “Daytime Running Lights” (those headlamps that are on when your car is in motion) isn’t the same thing – you need to have your parking lights on as well. Otherwise, you can’t SEE YOUR CAR in the gloom and gray. I sure don’t want someone to pancake my own nice sedan (hey, it’s my wife’s car!) and I would really like to not bump yours, either.

And if you don’t believe me, here’s what the VA Vehicular Code has to say:

§ 46.2-1030. When lights to be lighted; number of lights to be lighted at any time; use of warning lights.

A. Every vehicle in operation on a highway in the Commonwealth shall display lighted headlights and illuminating devices as required by this article (i) from sunset to sunrise, (ii) during any other time when, because of rain, smoke, fog, snow, sleet, insufficient light, or other unfavorable atmospheric conditions, visibility is reduced to a degree whereby persons or vehicles on the highway are not clearly discernible at a distance of 500 feet, and (iii) whenever windshield wipers are in use as a result of fog, rain, sleet, or snow. The provisions of this subsection, however, shall not apply to instances when windshield wipers are used intermittently in misting rain, sleet, or snow.

[…]

D. The failure to display lighted headlights and illuminating devices under the conditions set forth in clause (iii) of subsection A of this section shall not constitute negligence per se, nor shall violation of clause (iii) of subsection A of this section constitute a defense to any claim for personal injury or recovery of medical expenses for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident.

E. No demerit points shall be assessed for failure to display lighted headlights and illuminating devices during periods of fog, rain, sleet, or snow in violation of clause (iii) of subsection A of this section.

F. No citation for a violation of clause (iii) of subsection A of this section shall be issued unless the officer issuing such citation has cause to stop or arrest the driver of such motor vehicle for the violation of some other provision of this Code or local ordinance relating to the operation, ownership, or maintenance of a motor vehicle or any criminal statute.

(Much thanks to Vivian Paige’s blog for the info.)

So no, you won’t get pulled over for not having them on. But if a cop pulls you over for another violation, you’ll get it added as a citation, like failure to have your seatbelt on. So save yourself the aggrevation from safe drivers like myself – I reserve dirty looks for you people; do you really want that on your conscience? – and a possible accident in the future. Who needs higher insurance premiums when we’ve got these gas prices?

Gloom Returns, courtesy of Erik Charlton

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’m getting too old for this crap. Yesterday was a day I’d been waiting for, a chance to see one of my top 5 favorite bands. Radiohead has turned out so much amazing music over the years that is just my style, a little bit of rock and a little bit of electronica, all tied up with an eerie, melancholic bow. Whenever I hear the first few seconds of “Kid A”, chills shoot up my spine. It’s the type of music that is absolutely made for a gloomy, rainy day.

But not this kind of rain.

Not only did I decide to suck it up and make the trek out to the Nissan Pavilion, something I said I’d never do, but my friends and I endured a torrential rainstorm for three and a half hours. Even in full rain gear we were miserable and cold as were most of the people around us. Of course there were the young kids wearing shorts and t-shirts who thought it was cool to be soaking wet in 50 degree weather, as if it was adding to their concert experience somehow, but I’m no kid and I experienced no addition of fun. We kept debating about whether we should just leave before Radiohead even came on (the opening act sucked BTW), but the longer we waited, the longer we thought, “Well we’ve stayed this long. Let’s wait until they come on, hear a few songs, then head out.” Which is exactly what we did.

Their set design was cool and their performance pretty much mimicked what you hear on their CD’s, but after three songs we decided that we’d heard enough, endured enough misery, and decided to head back to DC. Via Taco Bell that is, because I mean, “When in Rome.”

Overall it was one of the worst experiences I’ve had in a long time, but it could have been much worse and it had nothing to do with Radiohead themselves. Well, aside from choosing to play at the Nissan Pavilion rather than some place like the Verizon Center or RFK Stadium where the masses could have used public transportation instead of driving out into the middle of nowhere. At least I can say that I’ve seen them in concert, albeit for three songs. If they go on tour again, rest assured I will be buying tickets for one of their indoor performances.

Photo by myjacketisinthekitchen.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

My darling girlfriend and I are out at the Old Town Fine Arts and Crafts Festival selling some nice mirrors, and while the selection of things for sale are nice – our own included, of course – the weather could be better. It’s hard to believe this is the same event we just sweated our way through last year, given the way my dearheart has put my spare windbreaker on over her coat.

Undeterred by the slight chill are our feathered friends, back again this year. Apparently they’re used to us now, however, as the female yesterday darted up and grabbed the last bit of a crabcake bun right off a plate. Luckily it was a leftover being saved for her anyway, but we still scolded her. Not that it seems to have bothered her – I lifted up the rear of the booth to take a picture and found her right there, apparently waiting for us to have lunch today…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The first strawberries of the year. I got the call on Thursday, when my friend and expert-jam-crafter Lisa let me in on the knowledge: Westmoreland Berry Farm’s first week at the Courthouse Market would be this Saturday.

One of the things I miss the most in the winter is the family-run operation’s presence at the farmers’ market. Fresh berries, farm jam, all manner of delectable treats that remind me of my love of summertime. So, their return is a joy to celebrate and enjoy.

The rain was gentle, as we walked through the market talking to all the vendors. I picked up 8 quarts of strawberries, and today I’ll turn part of them to ice cream, freeze a few, and just eat a few. The market was not as crowded as I expected at a little before 9am, but the goods were plentiful. I left with buffalo half-smokes, mozzarella and ricotta made locally, some basil, dill and tomato seedlings for the garden, and the aforementioned strawberries.

Mmmmmm strawberries.

Strawberries from the Market — Originally uploaded by tbridge

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs