Monthly Archives: August 2010

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Bryce Harper coming to Washington

Photo courtesy of
‘The Nats drafted Bryce Harper’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The deal came down to within the last minute, but it got done, and Bryce Harper has signed a $9.9M major league contract with the Washington Nationals.  The high-school and junior-college phenom is likely the most touted signing of an offensive player since Mark Teixeira in 2001.  Harper will likely play right field in the Nationals organization.  His first stop will be the Gulf Coast League, as soon as possible, followed by the Arizona Fall League.  Before that, though, Harper will come and spend a few days with the big club next week, including a possible BP session, and get acquainted with the concept of playing professional baseball day in, day out.

The Nationals spent just under $14M yesterday signing four of their top picks.  Sammy Solis, and A.J. Cole, both starting pitchers, went for $1M and $2M respectively, and also signed pitcher Robbie Ray for $799,900.  All told, the Nationals signed 25 of their top 26 picks, with just one deferring entry to finish college.

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Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘View from Balcony of the SAAM, Washington, DC’
courtesy of ‘B Jones Jr’

DC often has a small town feel. You constantly run into friends and friends of friends while wandering around. And everyone seems to know everyone.

Once in a while, the city even looks like a small town. Look at this shot by Bill Jones. It’s taken from the commanding and beautiful Smithsonian American Art Museum building, looking down upon the Hotel Monaco and the Spy Museum. All of these, big buildings, big businesses. And yet. They aren’t tall buildings. They aren’t wide intersections.

This looks like it could be any small town in Colorado, or Pennsylvania. Replace the modern cars with horses, and it could be any town in the wild west. But it isn’t. It’s just another intersection in our town. Our small town.

The Daily Feed
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Does riding Metro count as my exercise for the day?

Photo courtesy of
‘The working escalator’
courtesy of ‘ianseanlivingston’

It’s no surprise that there’s a correlation between rates of people driving to work and higher rates of obesity, but GOOD has created a fun new graphic that shows it in an interesting way.  This map of the US shows rates of walking, biking, and taking transit to work alongside obesity rates.  Since DC is compared to more spread out states, we obviously come in first place in the walking/biking/transit commute rates, and we’re third lowest (behind super-active Colorado and Connecticut) in statewide obesity rates.

The typical caveat applies here: when DC is compared to states the results should be taken with a grain of salt.  Virtually any dense city would beat out  statewide averages in terms of rates of taking non-motorized transportation to work.  And we shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back too much– there’s still a lot of work to be done to reduce obesity in DC.  While overall the District may be considered healthy and active, the obesity rates in Wards 7 and 8 are nearly double the District average (and much worse than the national average).

But still, next time you’re stuck walking up a broken Metro escalator, remind yourself that it’s keeping you fit!

The Daily Feed
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DC Is Second-Most Honest City

YouTube Preview Image

If you cut through the spin, how honest is DC, really? Apparently about 93%.

At least that’s what the folks at Honest Tea discovered when they put ice-cold bottles of organic tea, guarded only by a sign asking folks to pay $1, on a DC street on a hot summer day.

A hidden camera recorded the results, above.

Among the honest? A homeless man who proudly paid one dollar in change while expressing appreciation for the experiment and its belief in him.

So who was more honest than DC? Boston, at 93.3%. We beat out San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The Daily Feed
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Alert DC Creating New Streets

Photo courtesy of
‘Rialto #18’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Just a moment ago, Alert DC sent out the following message to subscribers: “Traffic is severely disrupted in area where 14th & 15th Sts NW intersect J-M Sts, due to ongoing police activity. Avoid this area.”

But the real news here isn’t that there is police activity downtown, it’s that J Street has officially (at least according to Alert DC) been put back on the map!  You may remember that J Street doesn’t exist because of similaries between letters back in the 1700s (and not because L’Enfant held a grudge), so this is major breaking news.  Has anyone in the area seen the elusive J Street yet?

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Public Enemy @ 9:30 Club 8/14/10

IMG_1523
photo by author.

Public Enemy returned to DC at the 9:30 Club on Saturday night bringing a show billed as a live performance of their album “Fear of a Black Planet” that turned out to be a two and a half hour performance of most of “Fear…”, most of “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”, and select tunes from other albums. It was a sneak attack, classics-spanning set of high-energy, politically-driven, old school hip-hop by arguably the greatest hip-hop group of all time. This was one of the very best sets in DC of 2010, of that their is no question; what is slightly confusing though, is where were all the people? Playing to a less than sold-out club, with a crowd that thinned as their awesome set progressed, Public Enemy performed with enough passion, conviction, and energy to entertain thousands.

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All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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“Threatening display of magazines” at Vince Gray’s home

Photo courtesy of
‘Architecte’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Just when I thought any mention of Ron Moten, Peaceoholics, and the DC mayoral race couldn’t get any weirder or more childish comes this report in the Examiner that on Thursday night, Vince Gray arrived home to find four copies of the Peaceoholics’ magazine on his storm door in the shape of an X. Really. That happened. And the poor Examiner reporter was forced to write, with a straight face, that it was a “threatening display of magazines.”

I know I shouldn’t be surprised by, well, anything at all associated with Ron Moten at this point, but this shows remarkable half-assedness. Trying to have it both ways never works- either you’re intimidating because you’re all gritty from your work with offenders and potential offenders, or you’re an upstanding member of the community who deserves to be taken seriously. Paying a house call to someone you don’t like and leaving magazines stuck to his door in the shape of a letter of the alphabet is just… cartoonish.

Food and Drink, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Southampton Beer Dinner

Photo courtesy of
‘Southampton Cuvée des Fleurs’
courtesy of ‘Bernt Rostad’

I’m a sucker for beer dinners.  Call me a fan boy, but I’m a genuine believer that beer and food were made to be paired.  That’s why I pass on to you, dear reader, any scoop I get on one that’s happening in the near future.  I happen to have such a scoop, now. Commonwealth Gastropub in Columbia Heights is hosting a dinner highlighting the beers of New York based Southampton Publik House. Southampton is a fairly recent addition to the DC beer scene and makes a wide variety of regional styles.  Commonwealth is featuring their IPA, Double White, Altbier and Cuvee de Fleurs.  I’m particularly excited about the Double White, a Belgian Wit, that is supposed to be one of Southampton’s best offerings.  Along with the beer, Commonwealth is offering a four course meal to compliment each beer.  The menu includes a red grapefruit salad, mussels, grilled pork, and ricotta in honey.  The event is tomorrow at 6:30 and will run you $45.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix

Photo courtesy of
‘213/365’
courtesy of ‘Danilo.Lewis|Fotography’

Redskins
Record: 1-0
Last Two Weeks: 1-0

Sure it’s still pre-season, but there’s reason to be excited. Friday night’s dismantling of the Buffalo Bills was an awful lot of fun to watch. Both Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman had solid efforts on Friday, and there’s a lot to like in undrafted rookie Brandon Banks, who had a 77-yard punt return TD in the third quarter.

The battle of the running backs is going to be fascinating to watch. Clinton Portis put in some strong work, but Williams and Torain got the majority of carries against the Bills with 11 and 17 respectively. Williams picked up a pair of TDs, as well.

Albert Haynesworth was the 2nd team nose tackle Friday, but played some great football, meaning we might see him on the first team before Saturday’s game against the Ravens. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Food Truck Tracker

Photo courtesy of
‘Rebel Heroes’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Oh Monday, you are so silly.  You’re not anything like your sibling Friday, who rocks everyone’s socks off.  But, you’re not so bad, Monday. You brought us our food trucks back, and that’s not so bad. We had hoped to tell everyone about the first day of the Lobster truck, but sadly they’ve pushed to Tuesday, so you’re stuck with your usual complement of awesome and not the expanded complement. Remember: Blue flags are trucks, Purple flags are stationary carts. If you’ve got something to add, drop it in the comments, otherwise, click through for the map!

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The Daily Feed
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Strasburg To Bryce Harper: Sign Or Get Off The Pot

Photo courtesy of
‘The Smoking Gun(ner)’
courtesy of ‘Mylar Bono’

Crossposted at Sports Grid

For the second straight year, the Nationals carried the first overall pick in the MLB Entry Draft. Once again, there was an excellent, pro-level prospect sitting there for the taking: Bryce Harper, a kid profiled by Sports Illustrated back almost two years ago about his future. Sure, Jason Heyward was a hyped rookie, but Harper is up there with Ken Griffey, Jr. in terms of expectations. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Local, Organic, Delicious…Frozen?

Eat & Smile Prepackaged Meal Delivery

I’m busy. All my friends know this, and you dear readers have probably noticed that yours truly, has been sorely missing from the blogosphere lately. I’ve been hard at work at my actual day job, and behind the scenes here, and all this hard work adds up and leaves little time for actually cooking. If I can’t even blog, how in the world am I going to cook?

Enter: Eat & Smile Foods, the locovore foodie’s answer to “no time to cook”. Chef Oliver Friendly visits all your favorite farmer’s market stands and then hand-makes pastas, breads, and whips up local ingredients into instant-prep dinner.Chef Friendly prepares balanced meals (think grass fed ribeye, strawberry bread pudding with berries from Westmoreland Berry Farm, even fingerling potatoes) then freezes them in airtight packages that just need to be thawed and popped in a pot of boiling water, usually for 10 minutes, and voila! A chef-prepared well-balanced meal all ready for your consumption.

I’ve been trying out dishes for the past few weeks on nights where I have no time to cook, and have adored Chef Friendly’s meatballs in tomato sauce, corn and red peppers, smoked pork and more. Meal delivery is pricey, the standard 7 meals per week is $150 per person, but I had the smarts to buy a Groupon for half price, which just about equaled my bougie Whole Foods grocery bill.

News, The Daily Feed
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Last day to change party/precinct information

Photo courtesy of
‘Vrouwenkiesrecht / Votes for women’
courtesy of ‘Nationaal Archief’

We’re under 30 days to the mayoral primary this morning, and today marks the last day that you can change your voter registration to vote in that primary.  DC operates closed primaries, which means if you’re not registered as a Democrat, you can’t vote in the Democratic primary.  As someone who’s never held close ties to a political party, this seems wrong and undemocratic, but it’s the way things work for now, so for the first time in my life, I registered as a Democrat when I updated my voter registration information this spring.

If you’re not registered with the DC Board of Elections & Ethics, you can do so until the close of business today.  You need to print, sign and mail the form from their website today in order to have your party change official before the September 14th primary.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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On the bats of Zimmerman and Willingham, Nats pick up series win

Ryan Zimmerman crushes HR #23
Photo by Ian Koski / Nats Daily News

Not everything was at it seemed to be at the Nationals game this afternoon.  What was expected to be a fairly full house to watch Stephen Strasburg, was a half-full park of enthusiastic fans.  What was expected to be a show of dominance by Strasburg, was an effective, but not errorless, five inning outing by Strasburg.  Four protestors ran onto the field in the bottom of the fifth to protest the decision to hold the All Star Game in Arizona next year, and were eventually lead off the field.

But, in the end, it was a win.  Not a pretty win, by any stretch of the imagination, but home runs from Josh Willingham and Ryan Zimmerman lead the Nationals to a 5-3 win and a 2-1 series win over the Diamondbacks this afternoon at Nationals Park.  Stephen Strasburg would put in five innings of work, with 85 pitches thrown, and seven strikeouts, all swinging.  He was having some command issues, though, and after getting ahead in the count, he would sometimes struggle to finish the job.  That’s part of his learning process, and something he’ll need to master. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Four protestors arrested at Nationals Park

Two Protestors clash with Nats Park security
Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News

Four immigration protestors today stormed the field at Nationals Park during the fifth inning to demand that Bud Selig move the 2011 All-Star Game in Arizona in response to the state’s immigration reform laws that empower state and local police to enforce immigration issues.  Two protestors came onto the field initially and distracted most of the on-field security, while two others tried to use the fracas as a distraction to unfurl their banner on the field.  They were unsuccessful.  A security guard took down the protestors trying to open their banner before it was exposed.  The text of the banner reportedly read, ”Bud Selig Move The All-Star Game / No SB1070,” according to the Post’s Adam Kilgore.

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News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Concerning Rob Dibble

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_0598’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

On Wednesday night, Rob Dibble opened his mouth during a MASN broadcast of the Nationals and swallowed his whole foot. He said, of two women sitting behind home plate, that they must be talking about shopping. It went on like this for a bit. His broadcasting partner, Bob Carpenter, tried to help Dibble out of the jam, and threw him a rope. Instead of taking it, Dibble hung himself with it.

There have been a lot of column inches and pixels devoted to Dibble’s terrible miscue, and his ill-advised rambling, and we’re not about to join them except to say: In the short history of the Nationals, no one figure, on the field or off, has been so widely discussed and largely disliked as the MASN broadcaster. There’s good reason for that, and his comments Wednesday were pretty much atrocious. They represent the worst sort of bias: the kind that’s laughed off.

In his response today on the MASN website, Dibble once again dodged this issue. In a piece titled, “The Greatness of Baseball”, Rob Dibble does everything but apologize. He concludes the non-apology by blaming those who interpreted his remarks: “The other night I made an off-handed comment, the meaning of which may have been misconstrued beyond what was said. If any fan of this great game took offense, then he or she should know that this was neither my intention nor my history in the game.” Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats drop embarrassing game to Diamondbacks, 8-2

Manager Jim Riggleman takes the ball from Jason Marquis
Photo by Anthony Amobi / Nats Daily News

The Nats have a hard choice right now.  Jason Marquis’ last two starts are little better than his April ones.  Tonight he pitched just 4 innings, but gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 more.  Asked after the game tonight, manager Jim Riggleman said, “his sinker just wasn’t down.”  It showed.  Miguel Montero blasted him for a 2-run homer in the 2nd, and Gerardo Parra added a solo shot later in the inning.  That would be all the Diamondbacks would need, but they kept up the offense just to stay engaged.  Kelly Johnson added a homer in the third, and Montero slapped a second bomb in the fifth.  Riggleman wasn’t comfortable talking about Marquis’ fate tonight, but one has to think the Nats have to be thinking about what possible utility he has at this point.  There aren’t a lot of options for them down in Syracuse, and Jordan Zimmermann isn’t quite ready yet, nor are Yunesky Maya or Chien Ming Wang.

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Downtown, The Features
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Fire Under Willard & W Hotels, Evacuations, Street Closures

Huge smoke cloud in the distance in front of the Willard Hotel in DC
Photo courtesy Frank Gruber, techcocktail.com

The fire has been extinguished, but you should expect street closures in the area around the Willard and W hotels overnight.

An underground transformer caught fire under 14th & F Streets NW, causing evacuations of the Willard Hotel, the W Hotel near the White House and Treasury Department. The Secret Service has closed 15th Street. As you might expect, power is also out in the area. Avoid it altogether if you can. Continue reading →