By Tom Bridge
This is the album cover for Animal Collective’s latest LP, due out in January. They’ve named the album after the concert venue in Columbia, MD that plays host to large concerts & tours. No idea why they chose that name, but they are were a Baltimore-based band…
By Don
Oh for my Pennsylvania residency, courtesy of erin m
I called the General Registrar for Arlington County and talked to her about their in-person and mail-in absentee ballots so far. In person absentee started in Virginia 45 days before the election, as required by state law. Last week they’d had 7,100 total votes – 5,400 in person and 1,600 mail-in. Today, with 13 days left to go, they had almost 14,000.
That exceeds the total absentee ballots cast in 2004 in Arlington Country, and Deputy Registrar Donna Patterson says they’re currently seeing just under 1,000 a day in-person voters. If that number stays constant they’ll surpass 20,000 total absentee votes. While eligible Arlington voters have increased from about 130,000 to 143,000, that’s only a 10% increase. If absentee votes cut off today they’d already have surpassed 2004’s 12,000 absentee ballots by more than 15%. The possible 20,000 is a 66% increase.
It’s pretty impressive, and hopefully an indication of how much turnout there will be on election day.
Jolene Sugarbaker at the Mic, courtesy Flickr user DCMatt, under Creative Commons
Comedy in DC is a regular feature here, but it only appears every other week. So you should probably know that you can watch comedy in or around DC pretty much every night of the week for free, if you’re willing to take a gamble on open mic comedy. Every night, there is a group of local comics trying out new stuff, polishing older stuff, and feeding their egos from your laughter at some of the finest dive bars and hotel basements in the metro area. These shows, while less polished than what you’ll see at a club, are more interactive, more spontaneous, and just might convince you to try it for yourself.
By Tom Bridge
campaigning with a smile (Barack Obama in Austin #3)
Originally uploaded by jmtimages
Senator Obama will be at a rally in Leesburg this afternoon starting at 5pm. It will probably be his last public rally before he heads to Hawaii to see his ailing grandmother. Gates open at 3pm at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg for the 5:30pm rally.
By Katie
Fly Fishing from Kayak
Originally uploaded by macmoov
This lovely flickr shot from macmoov reminded me of something I’ve been saying that I’ll do when the weather cools off – go for a kayak paddle along the Potomac.
A little power of google and I find that Thompson Boat Center (located at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Rock Creek Parkway in Georgetown) is running an escorted rental and lunch paddle. This is perfect for kayaking virgins like myself, since they’ll putter alongside of you on a motorized boat, and take you past some notable places. The only remaining lunch paddle this year is on October 28th, and runs from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Not only does next week mark the last paddle, the boat rentals also closes when the water temperature drops below 55 degrees. If you’re not up for a lunch run, then you can rent kayaks on your own, prices range from $8 an hour to $30 per day. See the Thompson Boat Center Web site for more details.
Looking Down at Santa Claus, courtesy Flickr user magandafille
There’s a nasty suit brewing between the management of Tysons Corner Mall and Michael Graham, the bearded gentleman who has been the Tysons Santa for the last 18 years.
Graham, a carpenter from Tennessee, counts on the $30,000 he makes playing Santa, particularly since he bought a house last year. His contract was terminated on short notice, after Graham had already purchased the custom Santa suits and boots to make the whole effect as realistic as his snowy white beard. Tysons management insists that they notified Graham of the early termination of his contract; Graham says he didn’t find out about it until he called to schedule his first day of work.
The issue seems to center around how much money Graham is paid for Santa- the new events photography company the Tysons management hired says that Graham’s $175 per hour is “ten times the going rate” for mall Santas. And yes, $175 is a lot of money, but as with all things, you get what you pay for, and everyone seems to agree that Graham is a particularly excellent Santa. If the average mall Santa is making less than 20 bucks an hour, that probably explains the cheesy fake beards, the smelly suits, and the gin breath. And it’s not like your local Santa doesn’t deal with his share of hazards- uptight parents, panicked children, biohazards from kids peeing in his lap… if you want to deliver a quality Santa experience to your shoppers, you have to pay for dedication to the work, no?
UPDATE: One of the commenters at the Washington Times story tracked down some information about what actually is the going rate for mall Santas. It looks like Mr. Graham was not so wildly overpaid at all.
By Wayan
These are actually cool
I’m walking down a street in Rome, and what do I see? A bicycle rental program that puts SmarkBike to shame. Why can’t SmartBike have these cool wheels? Instead, we have DorkBike DC.
Has anybody even tried it yet? So far I’ve not found the want or need. Not even thieves are trying that hard
By Wayan
The view from United Premier Executive seats is so much better
For those that fly often, there is not a sense of envy with the gate agent allows First Class and elite frequent flyers to board the plane first. No, there is only lust for such benefits that are often so close yet so far away at this time of year.
See, frequent flyer status is earned annually. For United, you’ll need at least 50,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) by December 31st to maintain Premier Executive status. It may be one up from cattle class, but when you do long hauls to Europe or red-eyes from the West Coast, those emergency row seats or First Class upgrades make the flights oh so much better.
Which brings us to mileage runs – the act of flying just to maintain elite frequent flyer status. It may sound crazy, but there is a whole airline subculture focused on just such acts of desperation. And this year, at 39,200 EQMs, I’m hell-bent on earning 10,801 more by December 31, 2008.
Wanna learn how I’m doing it at no cost to me? Then keep reading…
By Don
Ben just told us about the paper transfer transition that’s coming, and while I agree that it’s overall a good move, it’s worth looking at the supposed availability of Smartrip cards for non-rail users. The press release makes availability look pretty extensive.
SmarTrip® cards can be purchased on Metro’s Web site by mail, and at 85 Metro sales offices at Metro Center, the Pentagon, Anacostia and Metro headquarters, at the Northern, Western, Landover, Royal Street and Four Mile Run Metrobus divisions, vending machines at Metrorail stations that have parking facilities, regional transit stores and select Giant stores
Unfortunately when I do a spot check of the area’s zip codes, particularly some of the poorer areas or ones with no rail service, it doesn’t look so great. You can get a visual of the area’s zips by going to this site and keying in 20024 to center the map over the metro area. Metro’s retail outlet finder will let you punch in those codes. Let’s give it a try.
20002: 2 outlets, none sell Smartrips.
20018: 1 outlet.
20019: 2 outlets, none sell Smartrips.
20020: 3 outlets, none sell Smartrips.
22304: 1 outlet, no Smartrips.
20745: 4 outlets, 1 sells Smartrips.
20785: 4 outlets, 1 sells Smartrips.
That’s about as much interest as I have in spot-checking WMATA but frankly I’m unimpressed. WMATA needs to do the right thing by the people who will be hardest hit by this and allow people to buy them from their bus driver.
By Tom Bridge
Founding Farmers by Tom Bridge
The new restaurant on the first level of the IMF Building on Penn has an amazing space to fill. Two stories, floor to ceiling glass walls, incredible internal architecture. Founding Farmers is based on some pretty simple concepts: Farm to Table cuisine, seasonally prepared and scheduled, and green engineering that defines the dining room.
And, for all of that, Founding Farmers delivers nicely on the food side of things. Their menu covers a lot of ground, but stays mostly with things you might already recognize. Meatloaf. Pot Roast. American Classics. But, with the emphasis on local sourcing, the food takes on a whole new character. One of the things we fell in love with this summer was the concept of seasonality. Broccoli when it’s fresh out of the fields, strawberries for three weeks in June, potatoes fresh from the fields. Founding Farmers captures this pretty well.
When it finally got to us.
By Ben H. Rome
Metro Bus, Downtown Washington DC
Originally uploaded by chip py the photo guy
Remember when we discussed WMATA’s transfer proposal? Well, they announced it today – starting January 4, paper transfers will no longer be accepted. Additionally, you’ll have three hours to do bus-to-bus transfers, as opposed to the current two hour window.
The move will save Metro $300,000 in paper and printing cost; the value of minimizing fraud is incalculable. Hopefully, the transition will be smooth for everyone involved. I, for one, am glad they’ve increased the locations you can load up your SmarTrip card, including on the buses themselves.
Kudos to WMATA for actually biting the bullet on this move; it’s a good one and the naysayers will see that in the long run.
By brownpau
Remember animated tunnel ads and how cool and innnovative it was to have moving pictures advertising stuff to you in Metro tunnels? I wonder why lately there hasn’t been a tunnel ad movie between Metro Center and Gallery Place? Are there just no clients? Was it because the novelty of it all just wasn’t enough to salvage Day Break and Speed Racer?
For now, there’s still a moving tunnel ad between Gallery Place and Judiciary Square. Right now it is the Quik Bunny telling you something about happy places, as shown in the video above.
By Tom Bridge
John Hodgman
Originally uploaded by PhineasX
You might think he’s a PC, but really he’s a hysterically funny author. John Hodgman will be signing books at Politics & Prose on Thursday evening this week. Starts at 7! See you there?
By Katie
IMG_1741
Originally uploaded by RSchley
Despite the recent news of pumkin nom-ing evil squirrels, plenty of festive pumpkins have been spotted around DC.
This photo from my close friend Rebecca (flickr user RSchley) displays two of her own pumpkin creations, sitting out along Independance Avenue. And she swears she and her boyfriend didn’t even use stencils! And note the fancy-shmancy scraping technique!
So, dear reader, help me brainstorm. I got myself a big ol’ pumpkin at the pumpkin patch (more on that later this week) – but what to do with it? Evil face pumpkin? Happy face? Or go Rebecca’s route and not do a face… suggestions? What’s your favorite pumpkin carving?
By Max
holding onto fall by NCinDC
It’s that time of year again, DC. By now you’ve probably shut down your a/c, cleared the cobwebs out of your furnace, and added an extra blanket or two to your bed. There may be a few precious nights of leaving your windows open, but soon it will be too cold, especially if you’re of the female variety who gets chilly in July. You know who you are. It’s a great time to take a road trip out to Maryland or Virginia to check out the fall colors because soon a gust of wind will come along and poof – they’ll all be gone.
By Wayan
Imagine the broadside from this cannon!
On a long run recently, I cam across Fort Stevens and was surprised at the National Park Service setup.
Here on a hillside in modern DC is a full Civil War fort, compete with cannons looking out over neighbourhoods. Much more detailed, if way smaller than Fort Slocum, it still calls out to the little boy inside me. I want to come back and attack this fort right – in complete childhood fantasy style!
Imagine leading the charge of cardboard Samurai as it crested the ramparts into withering rubber band machine gun fire just as the pumpkin trebuchets fired overhead.
Now that would be so cool!
Teddy x3
Originally uploaded by philliefan99
Thanks to philliefan99 for adding this photo to the We Love DC Flickr Pool. He’s been taking photos of Bobblehead Teddy’s adventures around DC for a while, but he’s really gone above and beyond the call of duty in risking getting sucked into a rift in the space-time continuum to photograph three Teddy Roosevelts simultaneously.
By brownpau
My favorite feature of the US Capitol Grounds, The Summer House, is currently fenced off and filled with scaffolding, plywood, and other construction paraphernalia. It appears a restoration or renovation is in progress, probably in tandem with other preparations on the grounds for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. Here’s hoping it’s open again by next summer; it’s a wonderful spot to relax and get a bit wet, if you know what I mean.*
By Tom Bridge
There are few things I live in fear of quite as much as Pledge Week on any NPR Radio Station. WAMU’s week to extort their listener base fundraise for their local efforts is this week. You can donate via their website (my personal choice) and pick up any number of their support premium items. Coffee mugs, tote bags, and radio bookmarks are all part of the package this year. So, get out your wallet, you skinflint public radio listeners, and buy a membership.
But in the meantime, set your radio alarm to WTOP or something, it’ll help with the blood pressure.
By brownpau
A fire has destroyed Ristorante Piccolo on 31st St NW in Georgetown. The call came in at 5:16 AM and DCFD has extinguished the fire by now, but the report is that the restaurant is totalled, crews are still on scene, and traffic in the area of Wisconsin and M St NW area is a mess.
By 