Yearly Archives: 2009

Alexandria, Tourism
By

Tourism: George Washington Masonic Memorial

Photo courtesy of
‘Egyptian Floor of the Masonic Temple’
courtesy of ‘CathyLovesDC’

While this enormous Masonic temple in Alexandria is visible from all over the city, I finally found my way there this past weekend to explore its inner secrets – and I was impressed. While I know in reality that the mysteries revolving around Freemasonry are highly dramatized, the unintelligible symbols, the A-list of Presidential members, and the immensity of the memorial make for an interesting combination, to say the least. Even if it does require a little imagination to keep the myths going.

The memorial is currently running tours up to four times a day, including weekends, covering all “9” floors of the building. From the entry hall, up to the museum, then to the Egyptian floor, followed by the Knights of Templar and, finally, the observation deck. Where are the other 4 floors? That only adds to the mystery. In several weeks, the temple is opening the elevators for public use on unguided tours, but for now you must go on a guided tour. Oh yeah, and it’s FREE. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

ZocDoc Comes to DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Doctor’s Office’
courtesy of ‘Kelly Sue’

As we’ve progressed further and further into the digital age (and I’m speaking here of time, and not necessarily of social progress) we’ve gotten the ability to schedule a lot of things online. Grocery Delivery, Flights, Trains, Concert Tickets, Car Pickup, Maintenance Appointments. The more I can read the appointment availability schedule for myself, the more I can arrange my schedule to my own satisfaction instead of feeling at the beck and call of others. It’s freeing to make your own appointments.

Enter ZocDoc. They’ve worked with 12,000 doctors and dentists in the DC area to build an appointment system that you can access online. Tell it your health insurance, and what speciality or kind of generalist that you want to see, and it finds appointments in their schedule and puts them up for you to see. Got the sniffles or possibly the swine flu in 20010 and you’ve got Care First insurance? There are appointments for twelve different doctors in DC for today. How about Humana PPO instead? Eleven docs are waiting for you.

Where was this when I needed a GP appointment two months ago and had to wait five weeks to see someone?

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed
By

Arlington Attack Politics Get Ugly

scan0005 front
Scan of Ringel Mailer in Arlington

If you live in Virginia, I’m sure you’re sick and tired of all of the attack ads airing for the gubernatorial race between McDonnell and Deeds. It has been a long and ugly race and many around the area are excitedly awaiting the coming of election day on Tuesday, November 3rd, so we can be done with all of this. But did you know that attack politics is hitting very, very close to home for many today? If you live in the 48th district in Virginia, which includes north-east Arlington and wraps around down to Crystal City, you may be waking up to a very nasty attack mailer compliments of Aaron Ringel, the Republican opponent of six term incumbent Democrat Bob Brink. According to Ringel, Brink wants to hurt your children.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Being Green on Travel

Photo courtesy of
‘Beach Club at Mauna Lani’
courtesy of ‘troymckaskle’

A DC winter is on the way; soon we’ll be fantasizing about heading to a tropical island, or to the ski slopes. But how can you travel green?

Find out tonight at the DC Green Connection event Sustainable Tourism: Taking Travel to New Places, starting at 6 p.m. at Busboys and Poets. Learn how the choices you make for travel — whether for business or travel — can benefit the environment.

You can also bid on a green vacation. This auction through Sustainable Travel International includes stays in the Mexican Caribbean and Jackson Hole, WY; a seven-night cruise in Alaska and an eight-day eco safari in South Africa.

Special Events, The Daily Feed
By

Spying a Halloween Festival at ISM

Photo courtesy of
‘Haunted Spy House’
courtesy of ‘Sister72’

The International Spy Museum is celebrating Halloween with a weekend full of events for special agents of all ages. Spend the scariest night of the year at the place where disguises aren’t just for Halloween!

Enjoy “Spy Fright,” a haunting twist on the standard Spy at Night event (on both Friday and Saturday evenings) complete with the specialty Vampagne cocktail, a disturbingly delicious combination of Prosecco, Black Vodka, and raspberry puree. Participants will enjoy a spine-chilling trip through the Museum’s immersive experience Operation Spy and other spy games, including the new CLUE: Secrets & Spies Edition and expert tradecraft demonstrations.

Families will have the unique opportunity to celebrate Halloween with Hasbro’s DC launch of their CLUE: Secrets & Spies Edition. Special Agents Scarlet, Mustard, Plum, and crew will be on hand to greet junior agents. Game demos and giveaways will also take place from 1pm – 9pm on Saturday, with special Halloween treats including pumpkin cookies, spiced cup cakes and fall cider available in the Spy Café.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
By

Office of Tax & Revenue Revokes Argonaut, Seven Other Local Sales Tax Certificates

Photo courtesy of
‘doesn’t fit the normal stereotype’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

The DC OCFO this afternoon announced that eight restaurants, including H Street anchor Argonaut, and Georgetown’s Mendocino, have had their sales tax certificates revoked for non-remission of sales taxes collected. The eight facilities owe just over $860,000 collectively. The revocation of their tax certificates means they cannot legally collect money for food or drink, which means they’ll likely be closed until such time as they’re settled with the city.

Interestingly enough, Argonaut is saying they’ll be open this evening after a brief closure, as they’re working things out with OCFO. Apparently, there was a problem at the OTR (problems at the Office of Tax and Revenue? Really? I never would have guessed that they might be having problems over there.) that necessitated the demonstration of these payments, and while Joe Englert’s other two businesses were able to quickly do so (the benefits of local banking!), Argonaut was not able to move as quickly thanks to Bank of America. Update: They have been returned their Tax Certificate by the OCFO this morning, according to Twitter.

That does leave these seven other places in hot water with the OCFO:

INTI,1825 18th St., NW
Prince of Georgetown, 3205 Prospect St., NW
Besta Pizza, 5029 Connecticut Ave., NW
Porter’s, 1207 19th St., NW
Prince Café, 1042 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Mendocino Grille, 2917 M St., NW
Café Nema, 1334 U St., NW

If you’ve got reservations, you make want to check them. Full release after the break:

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Thriller on H Street tomorrow!

Photo courtesy of
‘Thriller Dance. Washington, DC. October 2009.’
courtesy of ‘stuzehner’

The outage at our hosting provider ate my weekend submission, but all I was really going to tell you about was Joy of Motion’s Thriller on H Street tomorrow night. No, this is not the first DC Thriller event this October (as evidenced by the photo I’m using for this entry- there was one last week), but it’s the one I was excited about, so there. It starts with a 2-hour workshop to learn the Thriller choreography (which is no small feat, let me tell you), followed by a group performance of the dance in the parking lot next to the AutoZone. It’s $20 to participate ($10 for kids 8 and up), and costumes are encouraged. And there will be a moonwalk contest.

Downtown, Food and Drink, Night Life, The Features, We Love Drinks
By

We Love Drinks: W Wine Bar

Barscape, W Hotel Washington

"Barscape, W Hotel Washington" by Jenn Larsen on Flickr

It took me a while to return to the W Hotel after my first look back in July. Katie’s second look confirmed it was going to be a sleek and chic scene. But what about the drinks?

When I ask people what they think about drinks at the W, I tend to get the same response – “Love the view. Hate the line.” They’re referring to POV and its roof terrace, of course, both featuring a killer view of our fair city. POV is still going strong, even as the weather turns chilly. The hotel plans to keep the roof terrace open year-round, thanks to heat lamps and a new awning. So if you don’t have a reservation up top, most likely on peak nights you will end up waiting in a labyrinthine line snaking through the Living Room. That is, unless you just do the sensible thing – plan in advance and make a reservation.

But the most important thing to remember about a night of drinks at the W – it’s not just about POV. There’s a snug little bar tucked away beneath J&G Steakhouse that’s perfect for a rendezvous or two. Biggest surprise? Shssh – the drinks experience may actually be better. Continue reading →

Arlington, Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
By

Wine for a Cause

Photo courtesy of
‘Bottle’s Top’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’ 

Looking for a happy hour option tonight that will also help others? Charity events are always a win-win, and the elegant Hotel Palomar Arlington has you covered tonight with “A Taste of Virginia’s Own.”

The event will raise funds for the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry, which has been helping educate the community about HIV/AIDS since 1987. Tickets are $35 at the door and the event will run from 6pm to 9pm. Varietals from such local winemakers as Chateau O’Brien, Horton Cellars, Pearmund Cellars, Tarara Winery and Rappahannock Cellars will be featured. The Palomar always does an excellent spread of hors d’oeuvres so you’ll be fed well too.

Helping a worthy cause + learning about local wines = a good Thursday night plan.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
By

K Street is for Kellari

fish display2

Dreaming of a trip to Mykonos, while stuck toiling away in your cubicle? Lucky for you, the New York eat place Kellari opened its doors at 1700 K Street two weeks ago, ready to fulfill all your Greek needs without any of the airfare or time off.

I was invited to sample all the Greek fare during a tasting, and I’m happy to report, we’ve finally got a restaurant on K street that will stick. For the happy hour-er in you, Kellari offers fun cocktails at the bar, with limitless olives, and crackers and cheese. Take a seat, and indulge in fresh fish, which you can pick right off the raw bar in the center of the dining room. (I’d recommend the King Prawns from Madagascar, divine.) Sample some hummus with grilled bread to get started, pick yourself a fish, and round out the meal with some of the best baklava I’ve ever had.

In no time, you’ll be floating on the Aegean. At least in your mind.

We Love Weekends
By

We Love Weekends, October 31-November 1

Photo courtesy of
‘Chicken Canine: Petworth Dog Walk Halloween 2009’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

Jenn: One thing’s for sure – whatever I end up doing for Halloween will be a last-minute choice. It’s crept up on my like a mummy’s cold dead fingers and caught me unawares. Ok, maybe not, maybe I’m just lazy this year. Will I relive my undead goth years at Spooky’s crazy dance party at Town Thursday night? Will I go twisted Bollywood-style at Black Cat’s Bhangraween Saturday? Will I scare myself silly at Little Miss Whiskey’s Night of the Living Dead Friday? Or maybe join the bloodsuckers at Synetic’s Vampire Ball? Or… or… or… are too many choices making me go as mad as Dr. Frankenstein?

Ben: Friday’s our usual celebration of all things hockey, not the least of which is the visiting Islanders versus the Capitals at 7 p.m.  Not a big Halloween celebrator here; during the day we’ll be roaming Potomac Mills down in Woodbridge while at night we’ll be ignoring the door in favor of Penguins hockey. Sunday’s our designated “photography” day, so we’ll be heading down to Prince William Forest Park to catch the last vestiges of brilliant fall foliage and probably do some hiking, if the rain lets up. Continue reading →

Arlington, Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
By

The Fries Verdict…

Photo courtesy of
‘Mountain of deep fried goodness’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Yesterday, we reported that Rays Hell Burger is now serving fries with their hamburgers. Upon inspection of a picture of said fries, there was some question as to their freshness.  They appeared to be the generic, bagged and frozen variety, which stands in direct contrast to Ray’s mantra of fresh meat and fresh ingredients.  Well, I believe that I can lay your fears to rest.  After some hard hitting investigation, during which I subjected the fries to my discerning palate, I’ll say unequivocally that these fries are not frozen (maybe).

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

15th and Vermont Ave Closed This Morning

15th and Vermont closed

A suspicious package is under investigation at 15th and Vermont, Northwest. K Street is closed between 14th and 15th streets, with traffic being diverted elsewhere. It’s a mess already, so avoid if you can.

Update (8:45 a.m.): Streets are now reopened, though the traffic snarl’s pretty bad; you may want to find an alternate route for the time being.

The Daily Feed
By

Be A Part Time Superhero

beextra-loc.png

Via my friend Jane McGonigal today came this sweet little web app/iPhone app that allows you to help your favorite plugged-in online organization without having to set aside hours at a time to go down to their offices. The Library of Congress is looking for help with tagging their immense photo collection for faster and better search, and Smithsonian is doing the same with parts of their museum collection. Now, while you sit in (the passenger seat while in) traffic you can help out LOC or Smithsonian with some valuable taxonomical work. I suspect there will be more work in the near future from other deserving DC-area and worldwide non-profits who need a hand with translation, evidence gathering or other features.

Check it out As an iPhone App or go there from your mobile browser and you can give it a whirl. Make your commute something good.

The Daily Feed
By

WaPo lies, we had way more gay haters than that!

Photo courtesy of
‘cuddle up’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

It’s not a protest without an argument over how many people showed up. The level of inanity being shown by Bishop Harry “I’m from Beltsville and should butt out of D.C.’s affairs” Jackson isn’t quite in the same league as the crazy 2M numbers the Freedomworks people were throwing around but it’s still a bit disconnected from reality. WaPo’s D.C. Wire Blog has an entry stating that he claimed there were over 2,000 people there rather than the 150 that the Monday article cites. Unfortunately for the Bishop there’s a picture accompanying the article, shot from above, and that cluster of carpetbaggers would be lucky to be able to add up to 2,000 toes much less people.

Essential DC, Special Events, The Daily Feed
By

New Tradition for National Tree Lighting Tickets

Photo courtesy of
‘National Christmas Tree’
courtesy of ‘Murmurmel’

Getting ready to stand in line for tickets for the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony next week?

Don’t bother. The National Park Service is changing the process, much like they did for the White House Easter Egg Roll, to “open the ticketing process up to more Americans across the country.”

The new procedure? You have to enter an online lottery between November 4-6 (log in here at that time to register), between 12:01 a.m. EST on the 4th and 11:59 p.m. EST on the 6th. The lottery will include 2,800 ticketed seats and 7,000 standing room tickets. (If you don’t have a computer, you can call 877-444-6777 between the same time period to put your name in the lottery.)

Beginning November 9, ticket seekers can check the status of their request online; tickets will be mailed by November 15.

NPS is handing out more tickets this year, hence the change of tradition. The December 3 event will open its gates at 3:30 p.m. for all ticket holders.

All Politics is Local
By

Meet Your Local Government… on the Internet

Photo courtesy of
‘A packed ANC 4C meeting in DC tonight’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

Doing what I do here at We Love DC, I am constantly looking for a way to keep track of what the heck is going on in the city. Don remarked once how grateful he is that he’s the one who actually likes reading the DC Register, since it’s basically a never-ending source of article ideas. Well, he’s welcome to it, because I don’t see myself developing that particular habit anytime soon. But I have run across three handy Internet/database projects of the DC government that help me dig up context on all the various bits of info constantly hurled my way.  Being a total nerd, this stuff makes me giddy:

DC Guide, which I prefer to refer to by the name referenced in its URL: Citizen Atlas. This database gathers all the random little bits of information you’d need to know as a District resident- what Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) do you belong to? Who is your specific representative to that ANC? What’s your voting precinct? You can see on their sample report that it also shows you a map of the address in relation to certain points of interest, like Metro stations. Handy also if you’re looking to buy a house in the District. Other methods of search will show you things like maps of neighborhood clusters, maps of zip codes and which ANCs and voting precincts serve them, etc. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
By

Fries! At Hellburger!

hellburgerfries
Hellburger Fries photo courtesy Samer Farha

I love Ray’s Hellburger, guys. It’s to the point where I don’t even bother ordering the burger at most other restaurants because it will just disappoint me. But every time I take someone there who hasn’t been before, they wrinkle up their nose in annoyance. “What, no fries? Who serves a burger without fries?” Someone who is spending all his efforts on making the best damn burger I’ve ever had, that’s who. I don’t even notice the lack of fries, that burger is so tasty.

It seems that Michael Landrum has heard the pleas of the masses- according to WLDC reader Samer Farha, french fries are now on the menu at Ray’s Hellburger (edited to add: Samer tells me the small order of fries is priced in the $2-$3 range). But I’m looking at this photo, and they look like your general foodservice, frozen-in-an-enormous-sack, shoestring-cut fries. I could be wrong, I have not eaten them myself, and I welcome correction from anyone in the know.

But look. I once walked into Hellburger and saw Michael Landrum standing next to a side of beef and a meat grinder with a cleaver in his hand. That burger was recently steak. Steak that was aged by the Ray’s staff. Frozen food service fries do not deserve to be on the same table as that burger. But for all of you who just can’t fathom eating even the finest burger without a basket of mass-produced, thawed-out french fries… here you go.

The Daily Feed
By

Love Of The Pretty

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Sometimes, when I’m feeling overwhelmed and aggravated by my day, I go in our Flickr Finder (this cool tool that the WLDC author list uses to find the pictures we use for posts, thanks Don!) and I just look at pretty pictures of DC. Our flickr contributors are awesome, and it’s a nice break. I don’t care that this is cheesy, it’s my thing. It makes me feel better. It puts me in my zen place.

Today is particularly hellish, and I didn’t get to go to the high heel race yesterday, stupid rain, and it’s all wet and gross outside, and I miss the weekend. So between you and me? I’m cranks. I took a little time with our flickr finder (ommmmmm) and I had a nice little moment of transcendence. And then I thought that maybe you guys could use a little pick me up of pretty too. So, if you’ve got the doldrums, here are a few of my favorites, just randomly, just for you, just today. Cause even when the day is going to hell in a handbasket, we still live in the best city, EVAR. So, without further ado, here is DC in all her glory: Katie’s-day-sucks style. Continue reading →