Archive for September, 2008
Well, At Least Our 100th Loss Won’t Be Here
Rained outOriginally uploaded by afagen Last night’s game at Nationals Park was rained out, saving the Nationals Fans from having to see the Nats’ 100th loss in person. That honor will fall to the Philadelphia Fans, most likely. Could I think of a better group of hooligans to punish the Nats like they deserve? Nope. [...]
More »A Better Mousetrap
Photo by Wayan In the eternal battle between mouse and man there are many proxies for the squeamish set. Cats and mousetraps being two favorites, the latter mine. Then I got a dog. At first, Taxi promised to be a great hunter, she knew mice were present before me and sought to eat them with [...]
More »Are You Alert DC Overloaded?
Photo by Wayan Back when I signed up for Alert DC, I found it a great way to know of bad events in DC. From major road closures to water and electrical outages, Alert DC was first to alert. Now it seems its the first to annoy. Alert DC went from a few important messages [...]
More »The opposite of reassuring
Immigration March III, courtesy of maxedaperture If you don’t make it past the first few pages of the Metro section you’d miss it – WaPo reported today that the D.C. Board of Elections still hasn’t managed to certify the primary election results. To some extent it doesn’t matter – we’re assured the announced results won’t [...]
More »Vermont Ave. Closed at 15th & I NW
The block of Vermont Ave outside the McPherson Square metro is closed, and there are swirling lights and sirens from multiple fire trucks and ambulances milling about. According to various Internet news sources- it’s alternately “a suspcious package in the area of the White House” or an “anthrax letter at the Veterans Affairs office next [...]
More »Ice Cream (Anti) Social
courtesy of Ben So Tom points me to an announcement on Cold Stone Creamery’s website, regarding their promotion of two new flavors and their partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation during the month of September. And apparently, tonight is also the 7th Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social at all CSC locations from 5-8 p.m, where [...]
More »We Love Drinks: The Saloon
I freely admit that I know next to nothing about beer. Oh, except that 12 ounces of Guinness is actually less calories than 12 ounces of Budweiser or Heineken (a fun fact to casually toss out when someone says, “I can’t drink stout, it’s too fattening!” Watch their world shatter). So for me, if I’m [...]
More »Ready For Rain?
Capital Weather forecast: a stormy end to the week. It’s been a lovely week for being out in the sunny, balmy outdoors, but that lovely weather ends today, with rain and wind starting from later this morning or afternoon, and going clear through till Saturday and possibly even Sunday. Temperatures today will reach highs in [...]
More »Pershing Park Skateboarder Punishment
Photo by Wayan Skateboarders beware: Pershing Park is seriously strict about your stick. Like the sign says, not only will you be fined you will also loose your wheels. Interestingly, the same confiscation policy does not apply to rollerbladers. Is the Park Police worried about kids walking home in sock feet? Be the first to [...]
More »The Con Artist’s Replica
Want to get your stuff on display at the Smithsonian? Okay, without having to become all Andy-Warhol-famous? Compete for the Chance instead. This week’s challenge (one of six, I suspect) is called “The Con Artist’s Replica” and exhorts some creativity from the players: Create a replica of something you desire but know you cannot have. [...]
More »Comedy in DC: Sarah Palin Vlogs
Sarah Palin Vlog #8: LIBRARY! When I was talking with Aparna Nancherla about She-Ha for the last Comedy in DC feature, we got onto the subject of women in politics, and whether or not this year of prominent female candidates would affect the careers of women in comedy. She pointed out the Sarah Palin Vlogs [...]
More »Sneak Peek: The Sant Ocean Hall at NMNH
Wow, what a morning. I spent the morning walking through the new Sant Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History on the Mall. We got an introduction from the direct of the museum, and a great tour through the 23,000 square-foot space. We’ll have a full review up on Friday as part of [...]
More »We Love to Travel – But Waking Up At 3:30 am? Get Serious.
I’m a big fan of traveling. And when I go on vacation, or just away for work, I usually end up traveling out of Dulles airport. That’s because I live in Arlington, so the two closest airports to me are Dulles and National. And although I take National any time I can, Dulles still ends [...]
More »Why Spy?
this is why i am a spy, courtesy of handwrite The world today is as volatile a place as we’ve ever known. So how does the U.S. maintain its intelligence assets against the faceless enemy of terrorism and extremists? In his latest book Why Spy?, Frederick P. Hitz, former inspector general of the CIA, draws [...]
More »Metro & Google?
When I saw this morning on Google Maps that New York City’s Subway system was finally part of Google Transit, I got mighty curious: What’s Metro doing to work on this? So, I asked WMATA’s Lisa Farbstein what was going on. Metro’s response, via Lisa, was “We have been working with Google, however a formal [...]
More »We Love Arts: Romeo & Juliet
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “Romeo & Juliet” is a perfectly acceptable production, with the usual beautiful sets and exquisite costumes one expects from them. But it’s a workhorse production, with nothing new to say or add to the performance history. That in itself isn’t really a problem – traditional mountings of plays allow one to reconnect [...]
More »Paying to Park at DC USA
Photo by Wayan Have you been to the new DC USA shopping mall in Columbia Heights? While it is an orgy of suburban big box stores, I have to admit that I am a frequent patron. From the Target that wants to serve booze to the Staples for all my home office needs, I shop [...]
More »Work Starts on Union Station Bike Center
The Union Station driveway by 1st St NE (directly above the Metro station) has been fenced off and is ready to be dug up for the upcoming Union Station Bicycle Center, a futuristic-looking glass-and-steel dome beside the Metro with secure bike racks, changing rooms, and storage lockers for DC bicyclists. DDOT expects to have the [...]
More »Congratulations Chimamanda Adichie!
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the Wisconsin Book Festival by talatu-carmen Our heartiest congratulations to the DC area’s only MacArthur Genius this year, Chimamanda Adichie! Adichie is a novelist living in Columbia MD, writing about her native Nigeria. Her latest, Half of a Yellow Sun, is set against the backdrop of the late 1960s Civil War [...]
More »Featured Photo
Nation’s Triathlon by Noah Devereaux Last week our fine city hosted the annual Nation’s Triathlon where competitors are challenged to swim 1.5K through the murky Potomac, bike 40K, and run 10K. It’s a feat so easy that even our very own Mayor Fenty can do it. I’m kidding of course. The only way I could [...]
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