By Rebecca
‘New Washington NFL Uniform’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’
Today Albert Haynesworth for the third day in a row chose not to take the Redskins conditioning test, which consists of two timed 25 yard shuttle runs with a 3 1/2 minute rest in between each set. So local Fox 5 reporter, Lindsay Murphy, took it for him and came pretty darn close to passing.
Given how useless, lazy and overpaid Haynesworth has been during his time at the Redskins, I say “Sign Her Up!”
By Tom Bridge
‘Twitter Fail’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
DCist has a good piece today on Social Media in the local political campaigns, and I have to say, this is an excellent batch of candidates for the large part, when it comes to using social media and the web to influence voters. Over the weekend, I used Twitter to get in touch with two of the Ward 5 candidates for City Council, both of whom said they’d be out and about in the ward this weekend. We offered lemonade to the teams of any of the campaigners who happened to be out, and we had a great group from the campaign of Kenyan McDuffie stop by to talk with us, and the candidate himself dropped by after the forum on Saturday. It was nice to use something like Twitter to meet up with, and talk issues with, a candidate in a city as big as ours. I was really impressed with his dedication to the Ward, and his willingness to pursue potential voters through social media to bring his platform forward.
Nice job, Kenyan, sorry DCist didn’t mention your efforts.
‘Deadmau5’
courtesy of ‘Max Cook’
Joel Zimmerman aka Deadmau5 played 2.5 concerts at the 9:30 Club last week. After delivering stunning shows on Wednesday and Thursday nights, Deadmau5′ set on Friday night was cut short when he vomited and passed out on-stage. Immediately after his performance the night before, Deadmau5 posted “God damn… What’s wrong with me now? Ugh… Me no feely so good” on Twitter. Sources indicate that on Friday Zimmerman had been vomiting back-stage before the show and that he tried to tough it out before collapsing. After passing out, Zimmerman was immediately hospitalized, diagnosed with exhaustion, and the next day it was announced that the remainder of his world tour has been canceled.*
I was not at the Friday night show. I was, however, at the concerts on Wednesday and Thursday night to witness the Deadmau5 techno-spectacle road-show first hand. Since debuting his new stage show at the Coachella Music Festival back in April, Deadmau5 has been touring hard around the world with an incredible show that blends electronic music and digital visuals better than almost anything else I have seen.** His aggressive campaign to take the crown for best electro-concert experience has been relentless and I’m afraid has now taken its physical toll on him. With each show, Deadmau5 makes his case for best dance concert experience with an astonishing display of visual fireworks that envelopes and overwhelms you while his bass-heavy House/Electro beats toy with you like a sadistic cat would a dead mouse. For fans of performance spectacle, the tour is a visual feast. For dance music fans, Deadmau5′ current tour is about as close to nirvana as it gets.
By Ashley
Photo Courtesy of Carmine's
The menu is offered in family style portions and they will have all the favorites from their New York locations on the D.C. menu. Look for the eggplant parmigiana, homemade meatballs, chicken saltimbocca and seafood fra diavolo. And no Italian meal is complete without the dessert, so try and leave room for the cheesecake, Tiramisu, or the chocolate covered cannolis.
Though they brought a lot of the New York charm down with the restaurant, the new location has the D.C. power broker’s interests in mind. The restaurant will be equipped with Wi-Fi and USB ports in their lounge area. Perfect for getting your work done mid-meal, because after a giant plate of their linguine and clam sauce, all you’ll want to do is take a nap.
By Tom Bridge
‘District Door’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
The Office of Campaign Finance has declared that Marion Barry violated no city law when he gave his girlfriend Donna Watts-Brighthaupt a $5,000-a-month contract with the city. The Post broke the story this afternoon that the OCF has declared Barry’s actions to be within the bounds of the law, in a ruling that boggled my mind pretty hard. The PDF can be downloaded from the OCF Website. Their conclusions consist of the fact that Marion Barry, as a member of the City Council, may award personal services, contracts or a trust deed with the knowledge & consent of the Secretary of the Council, who did not know about Barry’s relationship with Donna Watts-Brighthaupt (DWB). Despite the fact that DWB was in debt to Barry, they conclude, “it cannot be reasonably concluded that the Councilmember hired Ms. Watts-Brighthaupt under a $10,000 personal services contract to repay him for the loan of one mortgage payment in the amount of $700.00.”
In addition, the report concluded, “Simply put, the Councilmember’s behavior did not meet the standard established by the [District of Columbia Campaign Finance Reform and Conflict of Interest] Act. The Councilmember hired Ms. Watts-Brighthaupt for a job and she produced a product. It may have been imprudent for him to hire a person with whom he had a close relationship; but, the overriding principles of disclosure do not govern such a relationship.”
The censure will stand, though, as while Marion Barry did not break any laws, his acts were in violation of the Council’s ethics guidelines and he was subject to discipline from his peers. The question remains: what will it take to finally get Barry gone from city politics? I mean, it’s bad enough that there are appearances of impropriety between Mayor Fenty and Sinclair Skinner and others, but no direct evidence, but when we have a councilman steering not insignificant amounts of money to his girlfriend, well, we just end up the butt of jokes.
By Tom Bridge
‘213/365’
courtesy of ‘Danilo.Lewis|Fotography’
Redskins
It’s training camp season again here in Washington, and that means the Redskins are working out in Loudoun County. The big story so far is Albert Haynesworth, who has yet to pass his conditioning test. Thursday last week, the big defensive tackle, would fail the test for the first time. The test is fairly standard for the NFL and consists of two 300-yard shuttle runs where the runner is sprinting 25 yards, making a switchback, and repeating the 25 yard sprint. The standard is: 70 seconds the first time, 3 1/2 minutes of rest, then 73 seconds the second time. What’s controversial here is that Haynesworth did not participate in this summer’s team-run conditioning program. Since Thursday, Haynesworth has taken, and failed, the test twice, and not taken it since Friday, sitting out with a sore knee. Coach Shanahan said Sunday, “There’s no change from yesterday. He’s still sore, [his knee is] irritated. He’s getting treatment, working out. We’ll see if he’s ready to go tomorrow.” Continue reading
By shannon
‘Bicycle Girl’
courtesy of ‘richardmasoner’
Hey all you lady cyclists (or would-be cyclists) out there– just a heads up that Revolution Cycles is holding two Ladies’ Night gatherings this month with free wine, food, and great biking information. This Wednesday, head out to the Crystal City Revolution Cycles from 6:30 to 8:30, and next Thursday August 12, head to the Georgetown shop from 6:30 to 8:30. Women from the Revolution Cycles team will discuss where to ride, why to ride, and how to ride safely and comfortably. The point of these sessions is to reduce barriers so we all feel more comfortable riding around the city. It doesn’t matter if you’re a serious triathlete or a casual bike commuter– we all need to know how to change a flat and how to properly maintain a bike. So come for the bike knowledge, and stay for the wine and refreshments. All they ask is that you RSVP for Crystal City (8/4) or Georgetown (8/12) beforehand. See you there!
By Kirk
‘Sunny Morning’
courtesy of ‘spectreman’
Snow days can be boring, especially when the drag on beyond just one or two. The novelty of the storm starts to wear off, books get read, TV’s shows get old, board games get overplayed and you start to wonder what you’re going to do with your life until work starts again. For couples trapped at home together, certain… activities present themselves as more opportune than at other times during the year. Aaand, that’s what happened during Snowpocalypse 1.0. and that now, 9 months after the storm, lots of babies are soon to be born. WaPo reports that are hospitals are staffing up to deal with the spate of births scheduled for August. Not everyone buys into “disaster” induced conception, but the theory seems sound to me. It’s amusing, at the very least.
By Ashley
‘Setting up Shop’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
Hope you weren’t in the mood for something sweet today…it looks like all the dessert trucks are hibernating. Maybe you’ll just have to grab an extra slice of pizza instead…
Continue reading
By Ashley
”
courtesy of ‘Heather F’
Usually the birthday boy is the one getting the gifts, but for TenPenh’s 10th birthday, they’re dishing out the freebies. During dinner service in the month of August, the restaurant will place secret red envelopes under the plates of unsuspecting diners with $10 gift certificates to the restaurant in them. Way better than the time you got school clothes for your tenth birthday.
And today, in honor of their birthday, the restaurant will feature a special $10 bento box during their extended lunch hour (11am-3pm). With a deal like that you’ll have plenty of cash left over for cake…in honor of TenPenh, of course.
By Tom Bridge
‘2010:39’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’
This morning should have marked the implementation of new peak-of-the-peak fare hikes, which add $0.20 per trip to metrorail trips taken from 7:30a to 9a, and 4:30p to 6p, but Metro is taking things slow with this one. Look for the first to get charged during tomorrow afternoon’s rush, and the first morning peak-of-the-peak to debut before the end of August. In addition, using a paper farecard will now cost you an additional $0.25 per trip. That’s right, a quarter extra if you don’t want to use the SmarTrip cards.
At the end of the month, SmarTrip cards are dropping down to $2.50 from $5. I’m not sure why the change in fares to make paper farecards more expensive didn’t coincide with Metro’s price drop on the cards, but I’m sure they’re going to milk that extra $2.50 for all it’s worth in the meantime. If you’re commuting ten days this month, it will pay for itself. Otherwise, use the paper tickets and grab the SmarTrip when it’s cheaper on August 29th.
Update: This story has been altered to reflect the change that peak-of-the-peak will debut tomorrow and not today, as Metro has delayed the rollout yet again.
By Tom Bridge
Over the past year or so, the DC OCTO has been releasing their new web design in dribs and drabs, department by department. DDOT and DCRA were early high-visibility adopters, and now it’s time for the main site to take on the new look. Over the weekend, DC.gov took on the new look I like the new theme, even if their content management system doesn’t produce the most readable or pasteable URLs. Not all of the applications and pages are in the new style yet, which can be a bit jarring when you end up on one of the older-themed pages, but I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Far better than the previous version, which looked like a refugee from the late 90s.
By Tom Bridge
‘Eastern Market’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’
What a weekend. The weather was darn near perfect, and we’re just about to let Congress go home for the month. The anticipation of summer vacation is out there, you can see it and feel it and touch it. This was a weekend of dancing, music, partying, wonderful food, the slow contemplative joy of the weekend and the right kind of blackberries. Let’s hold on to that weekend moment just a little longer, shall we? Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News
John Lannan took the mound Sunday with his career at a turning point. Lannan, the Opening Day Starter for the Nationals in 2010 and 2009, has struggled heavily this season. He went down to AA Harrisburg a few weeks back, and returned on Sunday to face the 2nd-place Phillies. It’s not a team that he has a strong track record against; he’s 0-7 lifetime against the Phils, and they hit him very well (.311/.388/.547) which seemed to indicate that he might not have the best day. In the end, the Nats would lose, but it wouldn’t be because Lannan buckled. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Photo by Max Cook / We Love DC
Last night’s game ended the way the storybooks tell you they do: with a walk-off homer and a mob at home plate. Ryan Zimmerman, with two men on in the bottom of the ninth inning, absolutely crushed the ball to the grassy patch that’s part of the center field batters’ eye. The Nats chalk up a curly W, 7-5 and guarantee a series win over division opponent Philadelphia. How they got the win is important, but how they nearly wound up down to the last at-bats in the ninth is crucial, too.
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