‘240|365’
courtesy of ‘Danilo.Lewis|Fotography’

For hardcore NFL fans who are waiting between Sundays, any nugget of data they can get during the week is a gift. For some, the most interesting information comes from something very few people ever get a chance to see: practice. The most important thing that comes out of those midweek events are reports from beat journalists assigned to the team. Sure, nothing the casual fan may care about, but for those stat crunchers and junkies who need to know who’s probable, who’s limping and who’s having a good week, a Team Brief can’t be beat.

Before the era of web-based phones and instant communication, reporters would file through the queue, get their information at a presser or from a sports information officer, and then move along. Nowadays, bring in Twitter or other platforms for instant reaction, and all of a sudden that journalist can do pretty fine on his own – before the team’s front office has a chance to course correct. That’s not sitting well with the Redskins. Continue reading →

‘lobster being served’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

We have a truck making a rare appearance in upper Northwest today. Show them some love and convince them that those of us not working on K St. are (hungry) people too.

Continue reading →

‘chicken souvlaki on a pita’
courtesy of ‘iwona_kellie’

I go pretty crazy for a Greek festival. I drive by St. Sophia’s on a daily basis, and I have a giddy little heart attack when they hang the sign announcing the dates for their biannual food and fun fest. It’s not within walking distance of my house this weekend, but the Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church is having their 50th Anniversary Greek Festival September 17th-19th.

I’ll be the first to admit that I go for the food (the souvlaki! the spanakopita!) but I stay for the fun. In addition to the traditional grub, there will be Greek coffee, beer, wine, live music, and a Greek bazaar full of all the Mediterranean trinkets your heart desires.

The festival runs from 12pm-9:30pm on Friday and Saturday, and 12pm-8pm on Sunday. More information can be found here.

 

Are you totally psyched for National Cheeseburger Day this Saturday? I know I am. And so is Z Burger! To celebrate National Cheeseburger Day Eve, they will be selling their cheeseburgers for just $1 this Friday from 11am-2pm at the Tenleytown location (4321 Wisconsin Ave. NW).

All you have to do is say the secret password (“Cheeseburger, Freeburger”) to your cashier and you’re in!

‘Whitlow’s’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

Shine up your brown flipflops, Clarendon, your favorite hangout bar is adding a roofdeck this month.  Starting later this month, Whitlow’s is adding a roofdeck in the evenings, with its own bar.  The best part is the name: the new roof bar is to be called Wilson’s.  That makes it Wilson’s on Whitlow’s (on Wilson).  I know, I know, deeply meta and lame.   They’re not alone, though, in their addition of rooftop fun.  The Delhi Dhaba-owned building on Wilson is almost done and the new bar space Arlington Rooftop is due for an opening any day now according to Scott Broadbeck at ARLnow.

If this means that we’re going to see another rash of rooftop places open, well, color me enthusiastic.

‘Library of Congress Reading Room’
courtesy of ‘tzk333’

To promote the launch of their new series, “Hardcover Mysteries,” this fall, Investigation Discovery is holding a cool event at the Library of Congress on Monday night, and we’ve got two tickets to give away.

“Hardcover Mysteries” will feature 8 novelists, each talking about a criminal case of particular significance to them, whether it directly inspired one of their books, or it reflects themes common in their work, or affects them in some other way. On Monday night, David Baldacci, Sandra Brown, and Kathy Reichs will speak in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Auditorium about their chosen case. Continue reading →

‘IMG_0099’
courtesy of ‘Sam Kimmel’

Dana Beyer was hoping to become the first transgender individual to be elected to a state legislature. Alas, it was not meant to be for the retired Maryland eye surgeon, who conceded the primary last night. Dr. Beyer was running for one of three delegate seats for District 18, a largely Democratic district which includes Chevy Chase, Kensington and Wheaton.

Beyer trailed behind incumbents Al Carr, Ana Sol Gutierrez and Jeff Waldstreicher, but did finish ahead of the race’s two other challengers, Vanessa Atterbeary and Michael Heney.

According to the Washington Blade, Beyer doesn’t think her transgender status was an issue in the election; she says not a single voter brought the matter up during her door-to-door campaign. Instead, she believes it was simply a matter of her base not getting out to the polls.

Maryland’s other LGBT candidates fared better. Seven openly gay and lesbian candidates won their primaries and will advance to the general election in November. Victors included incumbent delegates Heather Mizeur, Maggie McIntosh and Anne Kaiser, as well as incumbent state senator Rich Madaleno. First-time winners were Mary Washington, Luke Clippinger and Bonnie Cullison, all of whom were running for seats in Maryland’s House of Delegates.

Should Ms. Washington win in November, she would become the nation’s second openly lesbian African-American state legislator.

‘froyo’
courtesy of ‘laurarotondo’
Hold on to your lunch plans, folks, there’s free food in your future. Sweetgreen Mobile is giving away free frozen yogurt to ALL customers from 12pm-2pm today at Capitol South. I’m sure if you get back in line after getting your free froyo, no one would be the wiser…

Continue reading →

‘FlickrDroid Upload’
courtesy of ‘Danny Dougherty’

The Phillies will not be in Washington for the Nationals’ home opener in 2011.

I repeat: The Phillies will not be in Washington for the Nationals’ home opener in 2011.

Instead, the Atlanta Braves will face the Washington Nationals in Washington’s 78^th home opener since 1901 on Thursday, March 31.

I know what you’re thinking: Regular season baseball in March? What gives?

During the off-season The Commissioner’s Special Committee for On-Field Matters agreed to begin the regular season earlier and during the week to avoid playing World Series games in November.

During the 2011 season, the Nationals will host 12 homestands, three of which last 10 games a piece (July 1-10, August 16-25 and September 2-11).

The 12 homsetands include seven weekend sets against division rivals: Continue reading →

‘Soda jerker flipping ice cream into malted milk shakes. Corpus Christi, Texas (LOC)’
courtesy of ‘The Library of Congress’

Is it the most scientific research? Nah. Nor is it the most recent. Doesn’t mean we can’t get a lighthearted conversation going with the Primary behind us, and it’s still a very cool example of crowdsourcing that’s bubbling up now across a few different blogs nationwide.

Using some contextual clues based on Web-language around the United States and a less than exact survey, researchers plotted the nomenclature that different areas of the country use to describe soft drinks. The result is one pretty excellent and awesome map that breaks down who calls bubbly drinks “Soda,” “Pop,” “Coke” or something else. Continue reading →

‘So how do you really feel about the DC Mayor race?’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

When the results started to trickle in last night, the first update, somewhere around 10pm, put him in the lead.  But that represented just a few hundred votes out of over 100,000.  After two more updates, the Mayor’s lead had disappeared, and the celebration breaking out Vincent Gray’s evening headquarters at the Washington Court Hotel on Capitol Hill was raucous.  The tone had been set with just 12,000 ballots counted, and none of it looked good for Adrian Fenty.  In the end, Gray would take an eight point lead that put it all out of reach.

Continue reading →

Julia Bachleitner, one of the women struck by a drunk driver last week in Adams Morgan, died this afternoon from injuries sustained during the accident. She was 26. Ms. Bachleitner was a native of Austria, and had recently arrived in Washington to begin her second year of studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She spent the first year of her masters program at the school’s campus in Bologna.

Ms. Bachleitner is survived by her parents and twin sister Kati, all of whom were with her when she passed away.