Monthly Archives: March 2010

The Daily Feed
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DC Dogtags

dcdogtag

I’ll admit it – if I loved you as much as I should I would have written about this before snatching up the one currently available pictured item. But when I saw twitter user WStephenAnfield mention owning one of these and found it on Etsy I couldn’t resist.

On the upside, Etsy seller GingerCardCo has obviously made these before and presumably will again. You can send them a note and say you want one – it’s been my experience that Etsy sellers often have more stock they haven’t listed yet. XOHandworks also has a number of map pendants, several of which have DC on them. I prefer the marginally more “macho” dog tag, but perhaps the pendant is up your alley.

Disappointingly both of these vendors are non-local. Any of you readers local artists creating DC-centric items? The t-shirts WLDC has adopted as our unofficial uniform are made by Lara of 237inc who’s a local, by the way, and they’re still available and awesome.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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DC Food Blogger Happy Hour: Tomorrow at Vinoteca

Happy Hour Flyer March 3

Interested in starting a food blog? Or maybe you have one up-and-running, but you want to share ideas with local bloggers about recipes, photography and software? Or really, maybe you just want to talk about food. We know people who do that, too. Join the DC Food Bloggers tomorrow night for happy hour at Vinoteca.

See you there! And make sure to RSVP on the Facebook fan page.

Special thanks to co-hosts The Arugula Files, Beerspotter, Biscuits and Such, Capital Spice, Capital Cooking, Common Man Eats, DininginDC,  Gradually Greener, ModernDomestic, Thrifty DC Cook, and WeLoveDC.

The Daily Feed
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Individual Game Tickets For The Nationals Go On Sale At 10 A.M.

Photo courtesy of
‘She’s got shade to share’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Individual game tickets for all Nationals home games this season go on sale TODAY at 10 a.m. Individual ticketing includes Opening Day vs. the division rival Phillies on Monday, April 5 and a special inter-league exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, April 3 (the game doesn’t count toward any regular season standings, but sounds like fun … doesn’t it?).

You can buy the tickets online via the Individual Ticket Page.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘the moon.’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

When I spotted this picture in the pool last night, I knew it had to be the featured photo for the week. As you might have noticed, we have a thing for the Statue of Freedom sitting atop the Capitol (if you haven’t noticed, look at the logo).

Erin has been taking pictures of the moon rising from and around the Capitol grounds for a few years now. Each is stunning, and in some ways iconic. We see a lot of shots of monuments and official buildings in our photo pool. Most are good pictures, even if we’ve seen the like of them before. But the moon rising over the Capitol dome is special, requiring dedication and timing to get. And we love rewarding good effort, around here.

News, The Daily Feed
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DC’s Breathalyzers Under Suspicion

intoxilyzer-5000.gif

This is an Intoxilyzer 5000, a computer-based system for determining the blood-alcohol content of a person arrested under suspicion of driving while intoxicated.  Unfortunately, due to a massive failure and/or product defect, the machines were generating false positive tests in many cases, throwing into doubt hundreds of DUI cases dating back to October of 2008.  Worse, it’s 8 of the department’s 10 units that are under suspicion of producing faulty results.  It’s not clear how long the department knew of the issue before replacing the units, or how this will be handled in the public eye.

The Daily Feed
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The DC Independent Film Festival Opens Thursday

Photo courtesy of
‘National Archives Film Canisters’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

The Oscar’s are right around the corner, but let’s not forget where our favorite filmmakers got their start — making their own movies.

The DC Independent Film Festival starts its 12 day run on Thursday at the Navy Memorial Museum/Heritage Center located 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

The festival features 117 movies over the 12 day period. Tickets for both opening and closing night are $50 each and include admission to the DCIFF opening/closing receptions. Festival 10 Pack’s are also available for $50 and offer you admission to any 10 film sessions over the 12 day period.

Click here for a complete schedule of flims and events. Tickets are available online.

The Daily Feed
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Amtrak Offers Wi-Fi On-Board Acela Express Trains Between DC And Boston

Photo courtesy of
‘connected’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

Amtrak announced that all Acela Express trains between Washington and Boston will be offering Wi-Fi access starting today. The Wi-Fi will be free for riders in both first and business class. However, Amtrak is unsure whether or not the feature will continue to be free. The final decision will be based on customer demand and system performance.

Life in the Capital, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
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The Art of the Blog

Photo courtesy of
‘2010:57’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’

Friday night I had the opportunity to attend The Art of the Blog at District in Adams Morgan.  Hosted by Ready Set DC, The Art of the Blog is a new, monthly get together for bloggers across the nation’s capital.  With a focus on ‘neighborhood blogs’ this month, the special guest speakers – Dan Silverman of Prince of Petworth & David Garber of And Now, Anacostia – both shared candid interpretations of what it’s like to be a DC blogger.   Continue reading →

The Features
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How To Move In DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Echo #13’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

My wife and I are in the process of handling a number of niggling little tasks related to our impending move into the District, and this short post is a series of lessons that we’ve learned as part of this process. Trust us when we say: learn from our mistakes. There are some key details that you need to know as part of any move, and as G.I. Joe taught all of us Gen-Xers, “Knowing is Half the Battle.”

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Islam’s Rosa Parks?

Photo courtesy of
‘Ø£Ù�ا Ù�Ù�سÙ�Ù�Ù� – I`am Muslim’
courtesy of ‘عÙ�Ù�Ù� ~ Ali’

It only garnered a few paragraphs in the WaPo’s Local Digest but The Daily Beast has a longer writeup about a sit-in held at the local Islamic Center on the 20th. At the core of the debate is the mandate by some mosques that women pray in a separate area, sometimes behind an opaque screen or curtain. When a group of women who disagree with this policy came in and attempted to pray alongside the men, the mosque officials called D.C. police to have the women removed or charged with trespassing.

It’s an interesting situation, and the gender divide isn’t following the usual progression of less permissive to more permissive; the article cites a CAIR survey stating that 50% of mosques enforced separate prayer areas 15 years ago. 10 years ago 66% did.

Essential DC, History, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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Cultural Tourism DC Opens A New Visitor Center On U Street

Photo courtesy of
‘U Street’
courtesy of ‘Rolenz’

Cultural Tourism DC opened a new Visitor Center on U Street last week to introduce a new audio tour of the historic  neighborhood. Local residents and tourists are encouraged to stop by the new center and take the audio tour to learn more about the rich cultural history the neighborhood has to offer.

Stops on the tour include the restored Lincoln Theater, Jazz hot-spot Bohemian Caverns, The Whitelaw Hotel, and The Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage.

For more information, email Trail@CulturalTourismDC.org or call 202-661-7581.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Olympic Hangover Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Up in the rafters’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Whew. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but today I am an emotional mess.  That overtime gold medal hockey game yesterday was a heart-wrencher, a true rollercoaster run.  But, that means the Olympics are now done, and we can return to cheering for the Caps and Wizards, and to start thinking about the Baseball season.

Capitals

Record: 41-13-8 (90pts)
Last Two Weeks: None
Place: 1st in the East

The Caps have begun to reassemble, skating yesterday and today at Kettler, and getting ready to head up to Buffalo for Wednesday night’s first game back against Ryan Miller and the Sabres. The Caps then come back to the Phone Booth to face off with Tampa Thursday night, and then the Rangers on Saturday. Hopefully the Caps will be able to move past their three-loss streak heading into the Olympic break, and clinch their title quickly. The Caps have a 13-point lead on their nearest conference foe, and 27 on their nearest division rival. It’s been a pretty amazing run for the Caps, let’s hope it’s an easy and injury-free road to the Playoffs.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Ballpark Tours Are Back This Season At Nationals Park

Photo courtesy of
‘Nationals vs Mets – Field of Dreams – 9-29-09’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

Looking for another excuse to make it to the ball park this summer? There’s more to the game than sitting back and watching the players at work. The Washington Nationals resumed their behind-the-scenes tours of Nationals Park this weekend.

The one-hour-and-fifteen minute tours include the opportunity to step inside the Nationals Dugout, see where the guys hang their hats in the Clubhouse, step on the mound and throw a pitch in the home team bullpen, access to the Lexus Presidents Club and PNC Diamond Club, a chance to feel like a big-league reporter from inside The Shirley Povich Media Center, and visits to the Nationals batting cages to hit a couple balls.

Tickets are available online or at the Nationals Park Box Office and are $15 for adults and $12 for children under 12. Seniors and military will receive a $3 discount with a valid I.D.

Additionally,  proceeds from the tours benefit the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation. So get outside, see the park, and support a good cause this season!

Tours will run until November 13.

The Daily Feed
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Metro Now Costs 10 Cents More

Photo courtesy of
‘NO SMARTRIP -6480’
courtesy of ‘Joe Tresh’

If you use a SmarTrip card, you probably didn’t even notice it on your commute this morning, but your trip was just a bit more expensive than it was last week.  As of yesterday, fares on Metrorail and Metrobus jumped 10 cents to help cover a huge budget gap.  Just a friendly reminder to bring along some extra change for your commute starting this week, and if you get transit benefits through your employer it might be time to increase your monthly benefits.

The Daily Feed
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The Olympics Are Over, Time To Play Ball

Photo courtesy of
‘Nyjer Morgan makes a great catch’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Now that the Olympics are over we can all breathe a collective “sigh” and get back to our regularly scheduled programming. With that said, guess what the end of the Olympics means? Time for beer, hots dogs, and the 7th inning stretch!

ESPN.com Senior Baseball writer Jayson Stark puts it best (via Twitter), “Here’s a thought that ought to warm you up out there. This was the last Sunday without a baseball game to watch until Nov. 7. Play ball!”

Riggleman is forced to split the squad for the Nationals TWO (yes, two) first games of the season since the Florida Grapefruit League doesn’t start playing until Thursday. One half of the team will be facing the Astros in Kissimmee and the other half face the Marlins in Jupiter. For now, the team is scheduled for three more days of full-squad workouts.

News, The Daily Feed
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U.S.P.S. Considering A Five Day Work Week

Photo courtesy of
‘Neither rain nor sleet nor snow..’
courtesy of ‘Diacritical’

NBC Washington reports that our U.S. Postal workers are thinking about changing things up a bit.

The U.S. Postal Service is asking Congress for permission to shorten its week by cutting Saturday mail delivery and amending their health benefits for retirees.

Worker’s demands aren’t the sole reason for the request. U.S.P.S. claims it lost $297 million in the first fiscal quarter due a 9% drop in mail volume.

As of right now, the plan would mean continuing express mail and processing of “remittance mail” (payments from costumers to businesses and checks to and from banks). However, the request – if granted – would not be implemented until mid-2011 at the very earliest.

News, The Daily Feed
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Digital Capital Week Announced

 

dccw.jpg

News is out this morning at the DC Social Media Club Breakfast that iStrategy Labs and Shinyheart Ventures are putting on a 10-day festival called Digital Capital Week.  Details are still coming together, but they’ve put up the first 2,000 tickets up for free.  It’ll be summer in the Capital, and there will be parties, says Frank Gruber from Shinyheart Ventures, and a focus on a Capital City that is alive with the digital.

The Features, We Love Weekends
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Weekend Flashback: 2/26 — 2/28/2010

Photo courtesy of
‘snow melter’
courtesy of ‘ann gav’

The Snow Melter has been spotted. It exists! About time, right? Of course the orange wonder makes its grand appearance just as the temperature starts to rise and the snow starts to melt on its own. Go figure. On the positive side, Saturday was a picture perfect day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. That mixed with non-freezing temperatures and a serious lack of Thunder Snow is exactly what DC needed to wake up and get out after too many weekends spent hibernating. Continue reading →