Monthly Archives: July 2009

Sports Fix, The Features
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Discs Over DC: The Washington Area Flying Disc Club

huddle 2

It’s a warm and sunny weeknight in DC, and as the tourists are abandoning Potomac Park and the FDR memorial in favor of dinner, area residents young and old are streaming in. It’s sports night — or so you might think, judging from the number of uniformed people and shouts ringing out across the Polo Fields. Organized soccer, pick-up soccer, team softball and — the most sizable group — ultimate frisbee. Discs are being tossed as team members pull on cleats and stretch, chatting animatedly. Its clear that many of them have been waiting for this all through the workday, and who could blame them? They’re here to run around in the sun, sweat out a bit of the stress and enjoy their game. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Library of Congress Book Festival Authors Announced

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

I was most gratified to learn a few months ago that the Library of Congress Book Festival would be happening again this year (September 26th!). It was instituted by Laura Bush, so I was hoping the change in administration wouldn’t put an end to something as worthy as celebrating the written word. But indeed, the Book Festival will be happening in fine style- the list of authors was released yesterday, and bestill my inner child’s beating heart- Judy Blume will be appearing this year. I wonder if my parents still have my old copy of Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing?

More authors will be announced as they are confirmed at the date draws closer, so be sure to check the list periodically.

The Daily Feed
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12:34.56 7/8/09 Oh Mai

Photo courtesy of
’12’
courtesy of ‘daviddesign’

Today, for maybe the second time in your life (if you were around for 1:23.45 6/7/89, that is), there will be a CRAZY RUN of all 9 single-digit numbers in the timestamp and date. At 12:34 and 56 seconds p.m., it will be 123456789. Does this mean doom and destruction and the apocalypse are upon us? Could be. More likely it’s an entirely insignificant factoid that humans will think about for two seconds and say “WOAHHH, CRAZY,” like Bill & Ted on their excellent adventure and then it will be 12:35 and time for you to get lunch at Au Bon Pain.

The Daily Feed
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We suggest the pool

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington, DC – 113’
courtesy of ‘giantminispacegoat’

Buried on the 4th page of the Health section yesterday was a Washington Post piece about the water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. Or the lack of quality, rather. A report released by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation claims that all sorts of yuck awaits humans who choose to go in the bay, ranging from algae blooms to mercury to a particularly nasty bacteria, vibrio.

The story closes with an anecdote about one of Virginia’s 30 reported vibrio cases from last year, Ken Smith, vice president of the Virginia Waterman’s Association. The idea of picking up what looks like a mosquito bite that ends up turning into a swollen arm and a trip to the hospital is pretty ugly, so be mindful of any seemingly minor injuries you pick up in the water this summer: see a doctor if they start to get worse.

You can read the report yourself if you like; the CBF hosts Bad Water 2009: The Impact on Human Health in the Chesapeake Bay Region [pdf] on their website for anyone to download. If you don’t, please consider at least taking the advice of both the CDF and government officials who suggest you avoid swimming in the Chesapeake for at least 48 hours after a heavy rain in order to avoid unpleasant runoff.

In case you’re wondering: neither the WaPo or the CDF report expicitly definewhat makes for a  “heavy” rain but sample data in the report refers to samples after a 1″ rain, so you should probably consider anything over 1/2″ as “heavy” for this purpose.

The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Red Line to Stay Slow

Photo courtesy of
‘June 22 2009 – Red Line Delay’
courtesy of ‘Anything!’

According to a WMATA  press release, customers on the Red Line should continue to expect slower service and more crowded trains for the next ten days.  They expect the NTSB investigation of the June 22 metro crash to wrap up on July 19, after which service should return to normal. Until then, the situation on the Red Line will remain as is.

The Daily Feed
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Kastles Lose Home Opener


Venus Williams by Max Cook

It was a beautiful night for tennis at Kastles Stadium, but despite a valiant effort in overtime, the Washington Kastles were handed a loss in front of a sold out crowd by Venus Williams and the Philadelphia Freedoms.  The match started out strong for Washington when Scott “Boom Boom” Oudsema took on Nathan Healey in men’s singles, but the final point went to Healey whose serve was too much for Oudsema to handle.  The Kastles struggled with basics like double faults and return serves throughout the rest of the match, ending with a 23-16 loss.

Those who went to the match to see Venus play weren’t disappointed as she showed off her powerful serve in women’s singles, mixed doubles, and women’s doubles.  It was amazing that Williams, along with Washington’s Rennae Stubbs and Leander Paes, could play at such a high level after competing in the Wimbledon Finals last weekend.

The Kastles get a chance to secure their first win tonight against the St Louis Aces and Anna Kournikova.  I’ll say that again in case you missed it.  Anna Kournikova.  Buy your tickets now!

Talkin' Transit, The Features, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: We’re Number Two

Photo courtesy of
‘Typical Beltway traffic’ courtesy of ‘brianmka’

Just like death and taxes, transportation woes never seem to go away around here.

The annual Texas Transportation Institute traffic study released today shows that while traffic is lighter in every other major metro area, it’s only increased our misery here. The DC area continues to rank second to LA in congestion, wasting about 62 hours a year as we crawl along our major routes. That’s an increase of 3 hours over the previous year, by the way.

Sitting in traffic around here has cost us nearly $2.8 billion and 90 million gallons of gas. The data is from 2007, by the way, so next year’s study may (hopefully) show a decline due to increased focus on transit options after soaring gas prices last year.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro = Sweatbox

Photo courtesy of
‘Metro Center’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

I’ve been around these parts for a while now, and in all my Metro riding experience, nothing has ever been *quite* as hot underground as the sweatbox otherwise known as Metro Center. I hop off my train to transfer there twice a day and walking out of the air conditioned car I’m hit with a wall of hot, humid grossness. And with the red line trains running much slower and farther apart, I’m left sweating on the platform for a very uncomfortable amount of time.

UnsuckDCMetro has been reporting that the “chiller” is broken at Metro Center and last week was supposed to be fixed “in a couple days”, whatever the heck that means. Ughhhh, nothing says professional like mopping sweat when you get to work, right?

But Metro Center can’t be the only sauna in the system right now, no way. So I ask you, dear readers, what’s the hottest Metro Station you’ve been to recently?

News, The Daily Feed
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Barry’s Ex Crashes News Conference

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com/video.

There was a moment in last night’s press conference that the cameras didn’t quite catch, and that was Donna Watts-Brighthaupt showing up. It wasn’t immediately clear who it was on the sidewalk listening to the press conference, but it turns out that Ms. Watts was there last night, and she is denying parts of what his spokesman Natalie Williams said.

One thing that came to mind last night after the press conference, thanks in part to the prompting of author Ben Stanfield, is that it’s possible that Ms. Williams may have violated Ms. Watts’ privacy, and HIPAA, by revealing a course of psychiatric treatment and what she was being diagnosed with. This appears to be getting weirder and weirder. We won’t know until tomorrow if Councilman Barry will be charged with anything, but it sounds like the Councilman is doing some full court press for a reason, even if that reason is unclear.

News, The Daily Feed
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Marion Barry Speaks

awaitingpress.png

Here we are, waiting for Marion Barry once more. Word came down around 10pm that he would be hosting a 10:45pm press conference, with no topic known. It’s safe to assume it’s related to the incident on the 4th of July, and perhaps to the word that came out this afternoon that he had hired his ex-girlfriend and paid her $10,000 out of his council budget.

We’ll have the press conference live here in just a moment.

Update 11:00

Spokeswoman: According to Ms. Watts, she’s under the care of a psychiatrist. She’s been diagnosed with compulsive behavior disorder and clinical depression. Ms. Watts “should not be believed.”

Spokeswoman: The events surrounding July 4th are not related to the awarding of the contract. Ms Watts was awarded the contract to administer the program in question was done so legally, and done according to council regulations. This was done in accordance with city policies. He gave her the contract (valued at $60,000) because he was concerned for her children.

Update 10:58: Still trying to find a live feed. Hoping we’ll get one here at 11. From WUSA 9 Anchor Derek McGinty: “and now it appears that Barry won’t be talking–his spokeswoman will be. but we’ll be there live.”

The Daily Feed
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SOTG Schedule Announced

Photo courtesy of
‘Monday Evening Relaxation’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

HBO, Comcast and the Trust for the National Mall have officially announced the Screen on the Green lineup for this summer. Come out every Monday through mid-August for outdoors movie-watching funtimes. Screenings begin at sundown.

July 20 – Close encounters of the Third Kind
July 27 – Dog Day Afternoon
August 3 – On the Waterfront
August 10 – Rebel Without a Cause

For more information, call the SOTG hotline – yes, there’s a hotline – at 1-877-262-5866.

Where We Live
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Renting in the District

Photo courtesy of
‘070309 207’
courtesy of ‘dougtone’

If you don’t love your current place of residence you can at least take some comfort in knowing that others are worse off then you. There’s a question on a high-visibility advice site right now that I don’t want to link because I’d hate to draw the wrong attention to the asker. Suffice to say the situation is one where, as a tenant, this person and his or her roommates are dealing with an odd landlord who only wants to accept their over $2000 a month rent in cash and who seems to be running some sort of welfare/child support scam.

Their situation is a little rarefied, but I see other questions there from renters that make it clear there’s a lot of bad information floating around. Let’s try to drop some knowledge here, shall we?

If you take nothing else away from this article, save this link: D.C.’s Office of the Tenant Advocate and this resource: Tenant Survival Guide[pdf].

The OTA is an organization that’s existed in the DC government for about three years now and has been an independent agency for the last two. Their whole reason to exist is to be a resource for you as a tenant. The tenant survival guide was prepared in conjunction with Georgetown University’s Harrison Institute for Public Law, who have the Tenant Survival Guide on their website, just slightly more nicely formatted[pdf]. Between the OTA site and the guide you’ll find everything you need inside or linked from there.

That accomplished, let’s take a few minutes to talk some common myths so you don’t turn a minor problem into a big one. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Fun & Games, The Daily Feed
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Tell Us Where You Get Crabs & Win Old Bay Swag!

Photo courtesy of
‘Maryland Blue Crabs #2’
courtesy of ‘andertho’

Let’s just get the obligatory crab joke out of the way, shall we, so that I can write this post without thinking “that’s what she said” every five seconds. Ready, here goes: I want you to tell me where you get the best crabs in DC. (TWSS) (Ahh, I feel better.)

No but for serious, you let us know in the comments where you like to get your fill of the tasty delights from the bay, and in exchange, one lucky commenter picked at random will snag a free Old Bay gift basket! The “Basket of the Bay” gift bag includes Old Bay Seasoning, Old Bay Seafood Steamer bag, a beach towel, beach bag, keychain with bottle opener, temporary Old Bay tattoo, and some great new Old Bay-inspired recipes for you to try out!

Are you the kind of guy who goes for crabs at Quarterdeck? Do you prefer fancier crabs at Hook? Or do you like them on your parent’s porch on the shore? Where are the best crabs in the area? First one to say “The Real World House” wins by default. Just kidding. Contest ends Friday at 1 p.m.

The Daily Feed
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Spotted: Rep. Aaron Schock GQ Shoot

Oh hai Aaron Schock

Shockingly attractive congressman

In DC, we don’t have many celebs. Instead we have politicos. And this congress, one of them happens to be attractive enough that he could probably count as both. Freshman Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois, age 27, has had his share of press, even catching the eye of The Other Visible Young Republican, Meghan McCain. Today, Schock was spotted down by New Jersey and Ivy Sts SE getting his picture taken by GQ mag. (Interesting choice to follow Bruno, GQ) My sources tell me that “Shake Shake Shake Your Booty” was the relaxing mood music of choice on the shoot.

Essential DC, Mythbusting DC, The District, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Built on a Swamp?

Photo courtesy of
‘Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens – Egret Among the Reeds – 7-20-08’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

Welcome to another edition of DC Mythbusting.  I’m sure you’ve heard that the muggy mosquito-filled summers in DC are due to its location on a swamp.  The Chicago Tribune named their DC bureau’s blog “The Swamp” and it is oh-so-clever to call sleazy politicians “swamp creatures“.  And yes, we all know that summers in the city are humid and gross and miserable… but was DC really built on a swamp?

Not really– today it’d be called more of a tidal plain.  When Pierre L’Enfant set out with a team to survey the city, there was a lot of variety in what he found: fields of tobacco and corn, small forests, and some waterside bluffs and wetlands.  Most of the marshy areas were along the rivers and were susceptible to tidal fluctuations and intermittent flooding, but most of the core of the Federal City wasn’t marshy.  That being said, DC was and still is a water-rich city, with the Rock Creek, the Tiber Creek (which was enclosed in the 1870s), the Potomac River, and the Anacostia River and countless creeks.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Oceanaire is Underwater, Files for Bankruptcy

Photo courtesy of
‘Ecuadorian mahi-mahi w/king crab & asperagus’
courtesy of ‘TenSafeFrogs’

One of the poshest and most popular seafood emporiums in DC is unfortunately feeling the pinch of an economic downturn that has resulted in people having/spending less discretionary income.  Oceanaire Inc., the chain that owns Oceanaire on F Street, NW, filed for bankruptcy in Dallas, listing assets and liabilities between $10 and $50 million. The chain has closed 4 underperforming locations in Charlotte, NC, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Seattle. The iconic DC location, however, will remain open.

CEO Terry Ryan commented about the bankruptcy filing, stating that, “today, Oceanaire is taking the necessary steps to position the company for the future. During our restructuring, we expect to conduct business as usual in the vast majority of markets, and intend to work with our current vendors and to continue operations without interruption to our customers.” Ryan has recently filed for a bankruptcy with the help of a bankruptcy attorney.

Business and Money, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, The Daily Feed
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New Happenings at H Street Country Club

Photo courtesy of
‘Day 157: H Street Country Club’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

A night out at H Street Country Club can get pretty pricey, if you ask me. Between $7.50 minigolf, and throwing some serious quarters down at skeeball, and sipping on $7 frozen margs all night, I can wind up walking out of there a whole lot poorer than I entered.

But, ever recession-proof, H Street Country Club recently announced all kinds of different happy hour specials, a few for each night of the week. Here are my picks: Wednesdays are FREE Chips & Salsa from 5 to 7 p.m. at the bars, and Thursdays are Preppy & Plaid days with $4 Golf if you’re wearing plaid. End your week on Sunday with Happy Gilmore Hour featuring $5 Classic Margaritas & Sangria from 5 to 7 p.m.

And while we’re talking about H St. CC, the golf course has seen some recent wear and tear (as predicted by myself and Acacia when we went to visit) and Joe Englert recently talked to the City Paper’s Tim Carman about the work they’re doing on the course to improve its durability. It’s worth a read.

The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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Happy Meals: The Movie

Photo courtesy of
‘Salad’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

A new film serves up hope for the future of food on our planet. FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system and offering healthier, sustainable alternatives.

A special screening will happen at Georgetown’s Letelier Theater on July 29, at 6:30 p.m., thanks to the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. Tickets are $20 per person, with limited seating; RSVP to chris@envirofilmfest.org.

This might be a nice pairing with a film about the food industry, Food, Inc., now playing at E Street and Bethesda Row. I’ve not yet seen it, but Going Green DC says before you go, eat something organic.

Crime & Punishment, News, The Daily Feed
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Security Drills Today

Photo courtesy of
‘Chinese New Year / Lookout’
courtesy of ‘little-wings’

If you noticed a bit higher than average police presence in Montgomery County this morning, you were right. They’re doing collaboration drills today including a number of agencies in Montgomery County. 180 officers from 13 different agencies are working on a drill today, which will include K-9 teams and the Montgomery County SWAT team, until 7pm. So, it’s not that there’s something weird afoot, other than the usual security theatre.