Monthly Archives: December 2008

Downtown, Talkin' Transit, The District, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: Woolen Wonderland

Photo courtesy of Saff anna
How much does a segway?, courtesy of Saff anna

Metro musings, charter bus parking, meter rates rising…five goooooold rings!

*ahem* ‘Scuse me.

So Jim Graham’s pushing to pop downtown meter rates to $2 an hour. Additionally, the DC Council is considering ditching the District’s long-standing practice of free meter parking on the weekends in the downtown core.

The rate increase isn’t for additional revenue, however. Graham noted that it’s “about finding more money for a specific compelling need in the city,” specifically a funding resource for the affordable housing projects in the District. Such projects include programs for first-time home buyers and permanent supportive housing for the homeless.

Other thinking is that the higher rates would discourage commuters from the ‘cheaper’ parking alternative to the expensive garages and open up more spaces for shoppers. Current meter rates in the District are a lot cheaper than other downtown cores, such as New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Hey, if the revenue is used as suggested, I’m all for it.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Truck Chase Ends in Tysons

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IMG_0551 by Justin Thorp


Thanks to everyone on Twitter who pointed out that there was a crazy Semi-Truck chase/crash that ended in Tysons Corner this afternoon around 4pm. Apparently it started on I-370 in Maryland and finished in Tysons near the Galleria. No word yet as to exactly what’s been going on. Got information or pictures you want to share? Email me, and let me know.

Many thanks to Justin Thorp for his photos at the scene.

The Daily Feed
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Starbucks Good Samaritans


Confrontational Marketing — Building Brand Awareness in a Saturated Market
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk

So, yesterday I was walking through Penn Quarter at Lunch with my business partner, and right there on E street, we passed a Prius Zipcar. It wasn’t out of the ordinary in any way, other than the fact that the roof was adorned with a red starbucks coffee cup. Much the way I would accidentally leave my coffee on the roof of my car, were I in a big hurry.

We watched it pass and head down E Street, and marvelled at how well balanced it was. Sure, they were only going 25mph, but it stayed for two blocks as they moved with traffic.

We should’ve stopped them, as it turns out, because it’s a promotion between Zipcar and Starbucks. Be a good Samaritan, stop the guy, and he’ll give you a Starbucks gift card. Pretty smart. I only wish we had run down the guy and stopped him in the middle of the street now…

Life in the Capital, The Hill, WTF?!
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Somebody Going To Emergency, Somebody’s Going To Jail

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Kilmainham Jail (Gaol) by Sean Munson

There’s Politics, there’s politics, and then there’s Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois. He was arrested this morning on a Federal warrant for corruption charges. You can read the press release (PDF) or you can read the whole complaint (PDF).

It reads like a bad novel. Seriously, writers couldn’t make up corruption this blatant, this ridiculous, this hubristic. The blatant “pay for play” and pure escapist’s collusive fantasy, it’s hard to take in without thinking, as my friend PJ does, that Illinois no longer deserves the right to hold free elections.

There are as many as five potential senate candidates listed in the complaint, though none by name. I suspect the big name journalism outfits are attempting to do a game of “who’s goin’ to the pokey” by identifying characteristics from the complaint and attaching them to actual names. This one will likely get uglier and uglier, and may very well taint some of the President Elect’s campaign and advisors before we get too much further.

The Post’s Carrie Johnson has a detailed examination of the situation, and I suspect that this one is going to get much, much uglier before it gets any better.

Just a sampling, so you can see just what kind of Jail this guy belongs in, assuming he doesn’t get strung up by the masses, please check out this choice quote:

“[I]ntercepted phone conversations between ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others indicate that ROD BLAGOJEVICH is contemplating rescinding his commitment of state funds to benefit Children’s Memorial Hospital because Hospital Executive 1 has not made a recent campaign contribution to ROD BLAGOJEVICH.”

Yep. He’s just that sleazy.

The Daily Feed
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DC on STATIC ALERT!


DSC_0245
Originally uploaded by Ghost_Bear

I hate static electricity. HATE. I hate brushing my hair and having my hair pouf up, or taking off my hat and having a big mess standing up on my head. I hate wearing skirts with tights and having the lining suction itself to my legs. I JUST HATE STATIC. HATE.

But there is a superman to my static situation, Static Guard. It comes in a can, and you spray it on whatever is clinging to you, and it will instantly release the static. It is amazing. My mom always had a can in our laundry room when I was growing up, and so I’ve known about said miracle for a long time.

I was recently recommending Static Guard to a friend, and giving her the link when I realized that Static Guard has a web site where you can look up the STATIC-NESS of cities across America. It is updated daily, I kid you not. You too, can check out the static-ness of our fine city, all day, every day. But I have some grave news for you. Today, DC, we are on STATIC ALERT.

This is very bad. Grab your babies, go get some milk and bread from the store, stay home! Don’t do laundry without a dryer sheet! Don’t brush your hair! Don’t get up from a cloth car seat and shut the door. THIS IS SERIOUS! THIS IS…. A STATIC ALERT! AAAH!

The Daily Feed
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Free Shipping Day!

Playing on the computer, by Flickr user fd

Playing on the computer, by Flickr user fd

This year, I just could not get motivated to battle the crowds to do my holiday shopping. There are a LOT of people who live in the DC metro area, and they all seem to be able to read my mind and show up at the particular store or mall I’m headed to 15 minutes before me. The traffic situation at Tyson’s Corner is apparently so bad that businesses don’t want to set up shop there anymore.

The solution to this problem: online shopping. It’s easy, crowd-free, and so relaxing. The major drawback to online shopping is the shipping charges, but no more! Thursday, December 18 is free shipping day–with guaranteed delivery by Christmas! Participating stores include Apple, Crate & Barrel, Macy’s, and more. That is amazing, people. Viva la internet!

The Daily Feed
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Starts with C.


Yum
Originally uploaded by afagen

Afagen is being VERY UNREASONABLE posting all these shots of cookies to the We Love DC Flickr Pool. I just finished eating my very reasonable, portion-controlled, vegetable-oriented lunch, and there are like 5 pictures of cookies on the WLDC homepage, while my boss has a mountain of junk food on his desk sent by one of our vendors.

Gah. I am trying to be nutritionally responsible over here, afagen.

Penn Quarter, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Twelfth Night

Images courtesy the Shakespeare Theater Company

Images courtesy of the Shakespeare Theater Company

The biggest complaint I have with STC’s production of Twelfth Night has nothing to do with the actual production they put on, so I’m going to just get it out of the way here and move on to praising them. Why in the name of all that’s holy wasn’t this the production they chose to do an all-male version of, rather than Romeo and Juliet? Here’s a story that contains gender-bending, and an (albeit brief) moment of a character confronted with the confusion of feeling romantic love for someone he believes to be his own gender. There’s interesting ground to cover there, as opposed to stunt casting that does little more than say “hey, check out how they used to do it four centuries ago!”

The only problem with that idea is that if I’d been at that production I wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy this one. The actors are all excellent, the set is beautiful, and Director Rebecca Taichman manages a flow and rhythm that pulls you along enjoyably. There’s one odd choice in the second half that took me out of the moment a few times, but it comes and goes quickly enough. There’s only one aspect that stands out notably and delightfully so. Continue reading →

Technology, The Daily Feed
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Tuesday Tech Seminar Series

HacDC Opening Night Portrait
Originally uploaded by acaben

Tonight is the debut of HacDC’s Tuesday Tech Seminar Series, with seminars designed to help bring local geeks, dorks, makers and hackers closer together. In the first Tuesday Tech Seminar Series, Dorkbot DC overlords and Gareth Branwyn and Alberto Gaitán will join fellow HacDC Members Katie Bechtold (DC Linux Chix) and Nick Farr (hackerspaces.org) in a conversation on building the DC Tech Community.

The seminars will take place most Tuesdays at 8:30 PM, and will feature a wide range of topics and interactive opportunities of general interest to DC’s finest hackers. If you have any suggestions for speakers or topics, send an email to info@hacdc.org

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Art and Soul

Photo courtesy of william couch
Wine Glasses, courtesy of the_amanda

I’ve heard the buzz about Art and Soul. Oprah’s former chef, southern cooking, two-time James Beard Award winner…blah blah blah. So when the restaurant appeared on the faux-restaurant week list (AKA OpenTable’s  Appetite Stimulus Plan.) I was pretty stoked.

Seeing as the Appetite Stimulus Plan (AS) was kind of like a best-kept-secret restaurant week only for those in-the-know, it was hardly competitive for the good reservations, and Matt and I were able to land the perfect Friday night table for two. (Ya’ll just wait until real RW, I get uber competitive and call people past their bedtimes to confer about reservations. I change them, drop them, negotiate for them. OH MAN. Just you wait, cause now I’ll blog all about them!)

Anyways. I read Tom Sietsema’s review before we went, so I was prepared. Continue reading →

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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White Obama on Metro Billboard

Dental Ad on Metro with Obama Lookalike
Originally uploaded by brownpau

I was about to comment on this earlier but Life Outtacontext beat me to it: doesn’t this guy in a stock photo on the DC Dental Spa billboard ad in various Metro stations look just like a white version of Barack Obama? I do a double-take everytime I see it.

The Daily Feed
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How I Know It’s Christmas In DC


Asian Hymn Singing Guy on the Orange Line
Originally uploaded by brownpau

I took the Metro this morning from Clarendon in to Gallery Place this morning, and the Singing Korean Guy got on my train at Foggy Bottom, sang one verse of O Come All Ye Faithful, and got off at Farragut West. It’s not Christmas until I see this guy on the train, as it always seems to brighten my day whenever he does it. If he’d been in my part of the car, I’d have added the bass line to his carol, as O Come All Ye Faithful is one of the ones I like the best.

But he got me thinking, as I put my iPhone headset back in, and queued up Morton Lauridson’ s O Magnum Mysterium. Our beautiful underground cathedrals of concrete and iron would make for an incredible place for an impromptu concert. Get twenty voices to stand on the over-crossing of the Green/Yellow tracks at the southern end of L’Enfant and you could make some amazing sound, or maybe the Metro Sales Office side of Metro Center’s upper level.

I know there are rules prohibiting that kind of thing, but for something like the Sussex Mummers’ Carol arranged by Dana Perna and Peter Granger (iTunes Preview of Polyphony’s version) or Biebl’s Ave Maria (iTunes Preview of Dale Warland Singers’ version)

But I might be alone on this.

Adventures, Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 12/5 – 12/8

Photo courtesy of william couch
A Charlie Brown Holiday, courtesy of william couch

So this weekend was the true first holiday weekend – that is, if you count the holiday from the time the National Tree is lit through New Year’s Eve. I figure it’s from Turkeypocalypse Day through Hangover Day, but that’s just me.

Regardless, you were all out in force this past weekend, taking advantage of, well, pretty much everything going on. From holiday decor to Matchbox’s new location to new babies to Santarchy, it was a pretty full weekend. (I’ll politely ignore Maryland’s epic FAIL on Saturday night on I-270 since I was caught in it – and have the car damage to prove it.)

I’m also going to take the opportunity to remind everyone of our Holiday Photo Contest. Simply upload your photo to Flickr, drop it in the WeLoveDC group, tag it with “WLDC holiday 2008″ and look for our results in the new year. We’ve got some seriously awesome prizes and entry is FREE! So go, do it! You know you totally want to.

A sampling of what you guys did this weekend after the jump. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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DC has gone on holiday break


Little Village
Originally uploaded by M.V. Jantzen

So WLDC blogger Jasmine and I have been looking around the intarwebs for a newsworthy Daily Feed item, we can’t find much. Jasmine said “i think the city is on xmas break” and I can’t agree more. So here’s the feeble list I’ve got for you, dear reader.

As for events this week, basically the GOG has all kinds of holiday fun. You can hear tuba christmas music tonight at the kennedy center, or take a christmas tour of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s historic home.

Or you can shake this whole christian holiday thing and head to the Washington Jewish Film Festival. If you’re looking to shake the holidays totally, my lovely boyfriend suggests that you should do just that by going to Jukebox The Ghost at The Rock and Roll Hotel.

Any other suggestions? Leave ’em in the comments.

The Daily Feed
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DC bans selling while warm

Photo courtesy of Me

Contraband!
courtesy of Me

My darling fiancée was working our booth at the Downtown Holiday Market and was told to turn off and put away our portable propane heater. If you’ve ever sat mostly still in freezing weather you’ll understand just how horrific a request this is. It seems the DC fire marshal was going from booth to booth looking for them, supposedly because their use requires a permit. This was news to us, having used it for the last four years, and a little distressing since there was a tall standing heater just 15 feet away that the market management had put up for customers.

However a look around the DCGOV website eventually turned up this FAQ item on the DC fire and emergency medical services website. Sure enough, a $25 permit is required for up to 200lb of propane. Since our heater uses 5lb canisters I will admit to being a little peeved about it, but I am going to call tomorrow and see how specific the permit is. Perhaps I can simply buy one for all of us merchants…. and later ask exactly why the holiday market management didn’t pull one for all of us as part of our $150 a day booth fee.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Redskins Slide, Caps Keep Division Lead, Wiz Make Changes

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Raven at the Tower of London by Stephen Bolen

Redskins
Record: 7-6
Last Two Weeks: 0-2
Place: Last in the NFC East

I went to college about 75 miles south of Cleveland. When I arrived in late 1996, the area was in a funk over their beloved and now-departed Browns. Say the name “Art Modell” aloud, and you risks an ass-whupping. I learned to hate the Ravens. Everyone would boo in the sports-bar in Newark when they’d break to show their highlights, flip off the TV, and then go back to cry silently in their beers. So, I tend to think of the Ravens much like I think about, say, certain political television personalities in bow-ties. It’s not very nice.

Sadly, they were the better football team yesterday, winning 24-10 in a game that wasn’t even that close. Ed Reed picked off a pair of Jason Campbell’s passes, and the Baltimore Defense kept Clinton Portis to just 32 yards. That’s a recipe for domination, right there, and the Redskins just couldn’t overcome it. Three games remain for the Skins, and they’ll need to win them all if they want a shot at the playoffs. They’re 9th in the NFC, a half game behind Philly. Two out of those three games should be easy triumphs: next weekend against the Bengals, and then in three weeks against my beloved, yet utterly hapless, 49ers. The real game here is in two weeks against Philadelphia, who disarmed the Giants this weekend. Tune it up, Redskins, you’ve got to come up big for your city these next three weeks. Continue reading →

Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Zamboni Strikes Again

The Metro Zamboni is back, this time at Foggy Bottom! This isn’t quite as crowded a platform as before, and at a slightly later hour, but while it’s not entirely clear in this fuzzy mobile video, he does plow straight towards a crowd of tourists standing by the escalator. I’m surprised these cleaners haven’t pushed anyone off the platform yet.