By Wayan
When will Dulles Airport be done with its seemingly endless upgrades?
There seems to be decades of modernization scheduled to bring the 60’s icon into the 21st century.
Do not get me wrong, I cannot wait to loose the people movers and the United gates are dank caves, but I would like to fly with ease today, not it 2025.
By Don
You read part one, right?
I’m not sure I’m prepared to say “I woke up on the morning of the 4th” because I was up at 4 am, an hour of the day best suited for garbage-eating raccoons and Paris Hilton. 4am is not an hour for civilized people. 4am is not morning, it’s pre-morning. However if you expect to get up, shower, and be at the polling place at 5am that’s the time you set on your alarm.
I felt marginally bad about my mental grumblings when I showed up at 5 on the dot and discovered half a dozen people already in line, waiting for the polls to open at 6. For a moment I stopped and stood with them because I assumed they were other workers, waiting for the doors to be unlocked. Once I realized my mistake I went in and joined the ten other people already inside. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Palisades Parade – Mayor Fenty Tosses His Beads
Originally uploaded by wharman
Washingtonian has two pieces of note today about our mayor: a profile of the Mayor, mid-term, and a mid-term report card, which grades Fenty pretty well for most things, excepting social services (D) and schools (Incomplete). Both are some good reading for a Friday afternoon if you’re so inclined. With 2010 not far off (and indeed, Mayor Fenty’s re-election paperwork already filed), it won’t be long until he’s back in campaign mode, and this is a pretty good time to see how he’s done.
What do you think of the report card? Accurate or perhaps too lenient?
By Katie
So the doldrums have hit. It’s cold. You’ve got on your scarf, your hat, your gloves, and soon we’ll upgrade and add in some ear muffs and your heaviest coat. It’s the perfect time to plan your winter escape to the United States Botanic Gardens. Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (including holidays and weekends!) the conservatory is a large glassed-in garden-topia. You can get there a number of ways, but my lovely roommate and I took the metro to Federal Center and walked a quick few blocks to the West side front lawn of the Capitol.
The conservatory is split into different plant-type sections, for example, one for orchids and one for the desert, etc. (Wow, am I a botinast or what?) And then there’s a big huge rainforest in the middle stretching two or three stories high. It’s humid and somewhere around 78 degrees, kind of like a mild DC summer day. It’ll bring nostalgic flashbacks of those wonderful, warm days of yore. Short on cash? The US Botanic Gardens admission is free, like all the best things in DC.
So aside from the rainforest, and the desert, there is plenty more to see at the Botanic Gardens…
By Wayan
I like to use the video sharing site Revver to host the movies I make of life in DC – they share ad revenue and offer a few more options than YouTube.
But recently, I’ve noticed that the Revver URL will not resolve if I try to access it from my home. Also, sites with embedded Revver videos are slow to load as the missing video holds up the browser’s rendering of the web page. At first I thought Revver was down, then I checked my Internet connection.
Revver works fine on my neighbour’s Verizon-provided Internet and other ISPs around DC. Its only RCN accounts that seem to be unable to access Revver.
So is RCN blocking access to Revver? And if so, why?
Calls to RCN tech support go into holding patterns beyond human patience, and end with telling me to restart my router again. Like that does anything.
By Don
Voting Place Sign, by Jonathan
Insert your own lame stripper pole joke here. I’ve heard a dozen and I’m over it.
When the chatter started up that this election would have the largest turnout ever, I started to think that perhaps I should volunteer my time. Part of my benefits package as a Virginia state employee includes 16 hours of volunteer leave, which I can use towards any worthy endeavor. Given that advantage over other folks who might have resistant employers I felt like I was somewhat obligated.
So I volunteered to be an elections officer and Arlington County took me up on the offer. Let me tell you about it. Continue reading
By Katie
Mannequin peanut gallery
Originally uploaded by philliefan99
So in case you haven’t noticed, its gloom and doom out there for the economy. People (like yours truly) are being laid off, car sales have plummeted and our stock market looks like the scariest six-flags roller coaster.
But there is a bright side. OH yes, a shiny, new, glossy bright side. The sales.
My favorite store to lust-over is JCrew, who has been filling my email box with fall sale alerts and 30% off coupons. Banana Republic also has all their winter clothing on sale. Macy’s cannot stop airing sale ads on television. I recently hit up the $99 suit sale (hello, job interviews!) only to have Matt’s mom hand me a 15% off-the-sale coupon.
Our friends NBC Washingtonreports Wal-Mart, the king of cheap, is even cutting prices. “The retail giant will rollback prices on thousands of items and on Saturday, shoppers can save on electronics during a special one day sale.”
We may just be gearing up for a cheap(er) holiday shopping season than usual. But should we all adopt the Bush mantra of “spend, spend, spend” – wouldn’t it do us good to pay off all our credit card debt? Yes. Take care of the debt, but at least the sales can definitely help us save on holiday gifts. Good, ‘cause it’s not like we can afford anything full price anymore, right?
By Tom Bridge
HAWK on double red by wfyurasko
Friend of We Love DC William Yurasko posted this photo to the Flickr Group, and posted a detailed explanation of the new HAWK signals, like this one on Van Dorn St in Alexandria. HAWK stands for High-intensity Activated cross-Walk signal. It’s designed to be used as an ad-hoc crossing light without a significant traffic light. Press the walk button, and the nominally-dark light will light up for traffic to slow down and then stop, giving the pedestrian a safe crossing opportunity. I think we could use more of these!
Very cool stuff. Alexandria will be deploying a dozen of these in situations where they’re approved by FHWA. Very nifty!
By Max
With Her Head in the Clouds by Cesar Lujan
If you love black & white photography as much as I do, you won’t want to miss the opening of Looking Sideways at Big Bear Cafe. This exhibit features the beautiful work of Cesar Lujan, a local DC photographer who has an eye for minimalism, unique camera angles and use of space. When it comes to his photos, the phrase “less is more” definitely comes into play.
Presented by Ten Miles Square, this exhibit gets a jump start on FotoWeek, which for some of us won’t come soon enough. Here’s more on the exhibit:
“Cesar Lujan takes images that present a bit of a role reversal. Rather than landscapes and settings merely providing context for people and their actions, Lujan sees the idle presence of people creating the context for what becomes the real main characters here: impressive architecture and unusual urban scenes.”
The opening is this Saturday, November 8th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Big Bear Cafe is located on the corner of 1st & R Street NW in Bloomingdale and looks to be a promising supporter of the local art scene.
Hope to see you there!
By Tom Bridge
Traffic Jam
Originally uploaded by winged photography
There’s “Police activity” according to WTOP traffic on I Street between 20th and 21st that has the whole block shutdown. BreakingNewsOn is reporting a Bomb Scare at 2099 Penn, which means rush hour in the downtown core is going to double suck tonight. So, if you’re still in the office, go for a snack and a drink before you head home, you’ll be happier.
If you’ve got details about the scare/closure, drop them in the comments!
By Don
Newspaper article, courtesy of mezzoblue
WaPo is running another 350,000 special editions today that’ll show up in stores tomorrow. If you’re willing to pay a $8.50 markup so you don’t have to go out you can grab one in their CafePress store.
If you’re buying this so you can show your kids in a decade, however, you’re still not done. At least not if you want it to hold up till your toddler is in 9th grade History class. Modern newsprint isn’t as acidic as some older stuff, but it still will degenerate in a very unattractive way. The Minnesota Historical Society has a good PDF on preserving newspaper. Here’s their advice in a nutshell:
If you’re a little put off by this, reader nakeva suggested simply buying the archival-quality front-page reprint from WaPo here for $60.
UPDATE: And that’ll teach me not to search Lifehacker before I post! They just ran a how-to preserve a newspaper, though they mention the bad choice of lamination.
By Tom Bridge
Paul Strauss
Originally uploaded by KCIvey
There’s been a lot of discussion of Paul Strauss in the local blogs lately, going back to his arrest for DUI back on 1 October. The City Paper has news of his hearing this morning, and Anthony Marenna at Metblogs wants his head on a plate.
He’s just been re-elected to serve a third term as DC’s Shadow Senator, by a pretty secure margin.
200 cups
Originally uploaded by Pianoman75
…staple a bunch of translucent Solo cups together. Oh yeah.
This looks like what my election hangover felt like, by the way.
By Don
Hillside, courtesy of Oblivious Dude
Every change of season I think to myself “leaves are sneaky.”
It’s equally possible I’m just obtuse, but I suspect it’s a flavor of oblivious that a lot of us share. The changes are so gradual that we don’t notice till something forces us to become aware. Every year I look up one winter day and suddenly notice that the stand of trees no longer prevents me from seeing what’s behind it. The leaves didn’t all fall off at once, but it certainly seems that way. In the spring I’m equally surprised when I realize my view cuts off suddenly in a shaded green.
Fall is equally surprising but more enjoyable. Suddenly all those leaves that have been turning one by one catch my notice in a collection of color. Driving to work today along Braddock road was a kaleidoscopic adventure. I didn’t stop to take any shots but lots of other people have been doing so. Below is a lovely shot that dionhinchcliffe got this weekend in Rock Creek. Check below the fold for more.
Beautiful shot of the old stone bridge on Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park on our hike today, courtesy of dionhinchcliffe
By Katie
My love of all things wine is well-documented at this point. I’m turning into a regular at Eat Bar and Matt and my’s wine collection is growing by the day. So I was thrilled this morning to open up my DC Daily Candy and see that a new coffee and wine place is opening in Alexandria.
Grape + Bean is located in Old Town on South Royal Street. They sell coffees and wines by the glass at the new tasting bar. With a “focus is on high quality and small production wines, single-origin eco-friendly whole bean coffees, and custom brewed coffee.” I’m excited to try it. According to the Washingtonian, they brew one cup at a time, so it leans towards the pricey side of all things coffee. So this might not be a great place for your regular coffee stop, but I’m itching to check it out, regardless.
Have you been there? Where is your favorite coffee shop? What about your favorite wine bar?
By Don
Max told us about his experience getting his hands on a commerative WaPo edition about Obama’s win, and Tom mentioned yesterday that the Newseum had an assortment of the papers from around the world. So I’ll take a moment to shamelessly mine both posts for my own.
If you couldn’t get a paper, you can console yourself with the fact that the Newseum not only has a rotating collection of today’s front pages from around the world, but they also keep an archive of front pages from earlier significant days. The most recent, of course, is Voters Elect America’s First Black President, so you’ll be able to go back and look at them whenever you like. Including our home town paper’s front page from that day.
I’m sure the WaPo lawyers would say printing this out and framing it violates their copyright. I’m sure there’s also plenty of folk who would insist this falls under fair use. I’m merely saying that from a practical matter, there’s plenty of places where you can do a nice color print that will look the other way or – if they’re like the Kinkos I go to – will studiously ignore you in favor of chatting amongst themselves.
Or just screen grab the sucker and make it your computer wallpaper. Who needs paper anyway?
By brownpau
DC Metro Station 1978 — Not yet open for business !
Originally uploaded by eljoh1
I was randomly clicking through photos of metro stations when I spotted this odd one which lacked rails or people. Then I looked at the “taken on” date: September, 1978.
This is L’Enfant Plaza Station, back when only the lower Blue/Orange Line level was in operation. The upper Green/Yellow Line platform and rails would not open until April, 1983. Doesn’t that look awesomely surreal?
Many thanks to Flickr user eljoh1 for the DC 1978 photoset where I found this.
By Tom Bridge
Sotheby’s
Originally uploaded by kerrygutknecht
How Obama Crazy is this town? Last night on NBC 4 at 11pm, they had an interview with his DC realtor at Tutt, Taylor & Rankin. No, he didn’t know what the Obamas were doing for housing yet, but he wanted to talk all about what their options could be.
Look, I like the guy, too, but do we have to be so stalkery? I mean, are you really going to go searching for his new DC digs so you wait in the bushes and watch the First-Family-in-Waiting play with their new puppy?
Okay, you do. I do. Everyone does. But really, let’s not give them the stalkery vibe right yet, okay?
By Jenn Larsen
When did it suddenly become autumn? Leaves need raking, boots need polishing, and I’m craving hot chocolate. Granted, our recent cold snap has given way to positively spring-like temperatures, but that’s typical DC fall for you… it isn’t going to stop me indulging in my favorite seasonal drink.
ACKC is a dangerous little shop and cafe at 14th & Q NW that could cause chocoholics to go into palpitations. Lacking a serious sweet tooth (more like a deer with a salt lick), I can enter without too much concern about breaking the bank on artisan chocolates, though bars with almonds and sea salt sure are tempting. And then again, now through February’s end, I do go crazy for hot chocolate. I don’t know why, maybe it’s when the weather turns dreary, the melancholy of the impending chill, but there’s something innately comforting about the magical liquid.
My favorite at ACKC is their European-style “Audrey Hepburn” – utterly decadent, thick and rich, meant to be sipped and savored over an hour – solo or easily coating a buttery croissant, if you want to go crazy dunking a pastry (and you know you do). Continue reading
By Max
Get Your Own Piece of History!! by chip py the photo guy
So were you able to pick up your super special election edition of the Washington Post last night? You know, the one that was supposed to be available at 3:00 and then showed up at 7:00? The one that cost $1.50 instead of $1?
I went down to my local 7 Eleven at 5:00 and saw that the newspaper stands were empty. I asked the clerk if they’d already sold out and he said to come back between 6:30 and 7:00. When I arrived at 7, everyone in line had several copies and there were no more left. “Oh well,” I thought. I really didn’t know why I wanted one anyway. What was I going to do with a newspaper? Save it until I’m 100 years old and give it to my grandkids?
Just then I saw a line of people on the corner and a guy with stacks and stacks of newspapers in the back of his SUV. It was like he was selling hot DVD players or something. I got in line and a few minutes later purchased four newspapers, one for me and several copies for my friends. Score!
How long did you wait in line? How many copies did you buy? What are you going to do with yours?
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