Monthly Archives: November 2008

The Daily Feed
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Free Stuff for Voting! Yeah!


I voted in Arlington
Originally uploaded by tiffany bridge

In addition to the satisfaction of knowing that you have exercised your most fundamental political right, voting can bring you lots of perks.

You’ve probably heard already about the free tall coffee from Starbucks, the star-shaped doughnut from Krispy Kreme, and the free scoop from Ben & Jerry’s. But there are many fine local establishments offering free stuff as well!

Good Stuff Eatery is offering a free cookie or brownie when you show your “I Voted” sticker. California Tortilla will give you a coupon for a free taco if you show the cashier your sticker. DCFoodies informs us that Charlie Palmer’s will be offering free passed canapes and select beverages for $08 between 5 and 7 if you’re looking for a little happy hour action before heading home to watch the returns come in.

And finally, the 930 Club is offering their online-only Election Hangover special: between 10 and 11 AM on November 5th, if you buy one ticket for a 930 show online, you’ll get a second one free.

Any other good local Election Day deals we should know about?

All Politics is Local, Arlington, Technology, The Daily Feed
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Incredible Turnout for Early Voting

vote!.jpg

Washington DC Paper Ballot by NewsHour

The news was out this morning that 2.6 million people had already cast their ballots in North Carolina. You’ve probably seen reports here, and elsewhere, that lines in Arlington & the District were quite lengthy, up to several hours over the weekend.

So, how did our region do? Great question. No one seems to have the answer, or, if they do, they’re not telling. My phone call to the Arlington Electoral Board went unanswered, and Dan Murphy of the DCBOEE’s voicemail is so full it’s not taking more messages.

I guess we’ll have to wait to see if they’re going to unveil the statistics now, or after the election’s complete. Either way, I suspect we’ll see some of the best turnout this region’s seen in quite some time.

[Update 1] 35,021 people voted via absentee ballot in Arlington County, through Saturday, according to the Arlington County BOE.  That’s roughly three times the number of people who voted absentee in 2004, and approximately a quarter of eligible voters.  That’s more people that voted absentee in 2008 than voted in the 2007 general election.

[Update 2] Dan Murphy from DC BOEE got back to us late in the day and said: “I can tell you that we had somewhere around 12000–I can be more specific as we go through and process them, but that is a good ballpark at this point.” So, 12k out of 300k or so. Impressive!

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed
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Gee Thanks for Nothin’ ACLU!

aclu.png

So, if you run into trouble at the polls tomorrow, there are a bunch of great sites for Voters’ Rights. The ACLU brings us a whole plethora of voting rights guides for varying states and territories. However, DC isn’t one of them! In 38 of the 52 territories, you can find SOME resource for your voter’s rights on election day from the ACLU, including both Maryland & Virginia, but not in the District. D’oh!

Business and Money, The Daily Feed
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Early Christmas Sale


Circling Circuit City, by Vicki & Chuck Rogers (Creative Commons)

The Washington Post reports that Circuit City is closing 155 stores nationwide in an effort to reduce costs and weather the current economic storm.

So, what does that mean to us DC people?  Well, the stores that are closing (including locations in Baltimore, Beltsville, Marlow Heights, Charlottesville, Manassas, and McLean) will be closed tomorrow, November 4.  On November 5 they will open with store-closing sales.  All merchandise must go.

If you have your Christmas lists handy, this might be a good time to head to one and see what kind of pre-Black Friday sales you can find.

The Daily Feed
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Juror’s Father Not Actually Dead


Ted Stevens lolsenator
Originally uploaded by MidnightsJinx

You would think that if you were going to use the excuse, “Oh sorry, a close family member died and I need to be with my family,” you’d either do it to people who wouldn’t check up on you, or have the decency to come up with a death certificate. Marian Hinnant of Northeast decided that she’d pass it off on the Judge.

But no, she’s not just any juror. She’s juror #4 from the Ted Stevens trial. The one who said her father died and she needed to get out of town. Turns out, she was totally lying and that she just wanted to go to the Breeders Cup horse race that weekend. What boggled my mind was that the Judge in this case just let her go. The ADN says she was let go without so much as a slap on the wrist, despite the fact that she lied to the court and left in the middle of deliberations.

So, if you ever have to skip out on jury duty in DC Federal Court, hope for Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, it seems he’s a softy.

The Daily Feed
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Georgetown Traffic Trickery

 photo by rjohnson
 photo by rjohnson

Practically everyday last week, I received an email from my HR department about Georgetown’s Halloween Road and Parking closures.  After the 15th email and passing by a plethora of MPD posters taped to every tape friendly object,  I was an expert on traffic situation surrounding the Georgetown vicinity on Halloween.

So to my surprise, while walking home on Wisconsin Avenue at 7pm, I see the above poster taped over every MPD parking advisory notice.  While most of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue were clear of parked vehicles, there were a few vehicles who had bought into the poster’s “Free Parking” scheme.  **Side note: Cons often feed on a person’s greed, and these drivers probably thought they’d hit the parking space jackpot.**  While I didn’t see a traffic cop giving out tickets, I did spy a motorcycle cop taking down false posters.  However for some parked cars I’m sure it was too late.

Did anyone see who was putting these posters up?  Did anyone get a ticket because of the posters?

The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors
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Theodore Roosevelt Island Weekend Fall Color Report

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Meh. I was expecting a lot more fiery red and orange but so far Theodore Roosevelt Island is still mostly green; just some yellow around the edges, with just a few trees here and there going bright red. The marsh area has a lot more color to it, but I think it’ll be another weekend or two before you get the kind of Fall color that makes local news.

You can get to Theodore Roosevelt Island with Metro and a brief walk. Just get off at Rosslyn, walk over to Key Bridge, turn right on the trail just before the bridge, and walk till you see a parking lot and footbridge. It’s nice. Try it if you haven’t yet. The earlier you can go in the morning, the greater the chance of seeing some wildlife. As it is, we did see a snake.

Adventures, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 10/31 – 11/2

Photo courtesy of marslog
Blick vom Marriott, courtesy of marslog

I’ve had a few readers comment to me on the fly last week that they loved the “Flashback” I posted this past Monday. So I think we’ll make this a regular thing, mmkay?

You guys certainly lived it up this past weekend; beautiful weather on Saturday made it hard to choose what photos to pick. And I’m continually amazed at what you guys love to do on a fall weekend – maybe we should have the end of DST more often, yes?

After the jump, a smattering of snapshots on your DC metro weekend, all courtesy of Flickr.

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The Daily Feed
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Falcon Virgo


Air Force Memorial Dedication Flyover
Originally uploaded by whiteknuckled

According to the AP wire – and confirmed by some noise heard by yours truly out in Vienna this morning – the DC area will be subjected to Falcon Virgo. What’s that, you say? It’s an air exercise that refines NORAD’s interception and identification operations.

And it’ll be noisy from all the jets zooming past. Too bad today will be cloudy; might have been some good sky weather to catch some military jets in action. Oh well.

Food and Drink, The DC 100
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DC Omni 100: #95 Mole Poblano

pollo al mole poblano from oyamel

Welcome to yet another review of the 100 foods an omnivore in DC should partake of. Read the full list.

Oh #95, mole poblano, how I love you. Let me count the ways.

1. you are made of chocolate!
2. you are served with mexican food! (and boy do I love mexican food!)
3. you are savory and delicious!
4. you are to be served on top of some of my favorite foods, like enchiladas, fries and chicken!

Mole Poblano is a mexican sauce made of chocolate, typically served on chicken, enchiladas, and other various mexican delicacies. Mole itself is typically a sauce (or the root of other dips, etc, ie: guacaMOLE), but mole poblano is special. Mole poblano is made with CHOCOLATE. According to wikipedia (where else would I turn for this sort of information, really?) Mole Poblano is named after the city of Puebla, Mexico. The sauce is usually made with chocolate, nuts, different types of chilies, and with all my research it seems that you can basically throw in everything but the kitchen sink. Then you boil it. Apparently, for hours, sometimes for days. It takes a lot of love to make something this delicious.

I love Mole Poblano so much that I went to two places to try it, you know, in the name of complete research.

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