Category Archives: The Daily Feed

The Daily Feed
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Get Me Out of Here: Sun and Sand for Cheap

Photo courtesy of
‘umbrella’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

The dreamy 85 degree sun beats down on you as you lay, without a care in the world, sprawled out on a hotel towel covering the warm white sand, listening to the soothing crashing of the waves in a consistently rhythmic fashion. The sound of an exotic bird squawking as it flies overhead causes you to briefly raise your head and look out over the crystal clear, bright blue waters that surround you. Do you put the trashy, mindless romance novel down and take a dip in the warm waters, snorkel with the fishies of a thousand different colors, take a barefoot stroll along the beach to feel the fine sand between your toes…or do you put your head back where it was and catch some more sleep (as soon as you finish that Piña Colada of course)?

These are tough decisions. Really tough. But they are the kind of decisions you could be forced to make if you could JUST GET OUT OF HERE. Trade the white snow for the white sand, the cold for the hot, the blizzard induced winds for the light breeze off the sea. Trade snow shoveling for beach drinking and layer after layer of clothes for…just about nothing. Seriously, it’s time to get away from this frozen tundra of a city and get to where the sun and the sand are seemingly endless. I’m here to show you a few example trips on the cheap. And if nothing else, at least stare at these HOT PICTURES.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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You Know There’s Too Much Snow When…

Photo courtesy of
‘2009 01 24 – 0892 – Mercersburg – Whitetail Mtn’
courtesy of ‘thisisbossi’

The headline of this post sounds like the set up to a joke, and here’s the punch line: You know there’s too much snow when the ski resorts are closed.

Except, in this case, it’s not a joke. Whitetail Ski Resort announced that, due to road conditions, they are closed today:

Roads in our region are snowed in. Therefore to allow road crews to dig out, we will be closed today. However, have no fear, tomorrow is going to be an awesome day on the mountain. During the past 6 days we have received over 4 feet of natural snow.

Maybe you’ll have dug out by tomorrow and be on your way to a ski-filled long weekend. Save us some spiked hot chocolate!

The Daily Feed
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So what happens when the snow melts?

Screen shot 2010-02-11 at 12.32.28 PM

I haven’t seen anything from our local media yet but WSLS 10 in Roanoke has a nice 2 minute clip talking about the snow, melt, flooding risk, and what the water to snow ratio was for them in this storm.

The upshot is this: for the moment we’re not facing the kind of unpleasant flooding we saw after December’s massive snowfall, primarily because we’re in a colder pattern at the moment and we’re not following it up with rain that will accelerate the melt. While we’d all love to see this melt off we’d probably not enjoy seeing it happen too quickly.

That doesn’t mean we don’t need clear drains however – the curb outside my home is seeing a pretty steady flow of water as the sun-warmed blacktop and above-freezing temperature turns snow into slush and water. Take a moment to look around your home and make sure the downspouts are clear and any grates are free of leaf debris and other crap. We want this stuff to run off into the drain as expediently as possible so it doesn’t end up flooding our basements or frozen into black ice on the streets.

The Daily Feed
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Your Favorite Place – Invite We Love DC In!

Photo courtesy of
‘snow house’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Do you have an awesome home, apartment, snow castle, dog house, etc. and live in the DC area?  If so, you could share your favorite place with all of the We Love DC readers (i.e. the entire world, obviously) and become uber-famous.  If this catches your eye then please email Samantha (at) WeLoveDC.com with your information, some pictures, and a little ditty about why your favorite place should be featured in an upcoming We Love DC series.

The Daily Feed
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Jammin’ Java Sings About Love On Valentine’s Day

Photo courtesy of
‘Is Love in the Cards? (218/365) (064/365) [Explored]’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

If you’re looking for an alternative to the standard Valentine’s Day celebration of candle lit dinners, card and candy exchanges, and the occasional (yet awkward) first date, look no further than Jammin’ Java‘s “All You Need is Love Songwriter’s Circle Tribute to the Beatles and Love Songs“.

Singer-songwriters Shane Hines (of Shane Hines and the Trance), Anthony Fiacco (of The Blackjacks), Todd Wright, and Luke Brindley all give credit where credit is due on this day devoted to acknowledging love — a heartfelt tribute to The Beatles and the other music makers who gave us ways to sing about our love instead of just talking about it.

This intimate night makes room for the performers to share their tales of love and music in a “VH1 Storytellers” setting. So if anything, audience members are guaranteed a night of honesty in song and honesty in word from some local favorites taking the stage.

The Daily Feed
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Drive like an ass, just like this guy

Don't be this guy

Notice how all that snow is piled on top of this person’s car? Don’t be like that. When you can get out and drive, be sure to clean the snow off your entire car. Two things can result from this type of halfway done snow removal. First, big chunks of ice and snow can fall from your car and into traffic. Annoying, to be sure, and likely to make someone swerve. Maybe not the best reaction, but certainly an understandable one.

Second, if the snow is loose and powdery, it can blow off in traffic and blind other drivers. That’s generally bad too.

On top of this, you will just look like an idiot driving around like that. You are right, it’s not as bad as the even bigger idiots who neglect to clean the snow from all their windows (yes, the back one is important too, people), but still – are people really that lazy? A coworker made the excuse to me that she could not reach the top of her car. I told her she had a size of car to size of body ratio imbalance. If you can’t clean the car off, you shouldn’t be allowed to drive it.

All Politics is Local, Business and Money, Downtown, Essential DC, News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Fed Closed AGAIN!

Photo courtesy of
‘The White House’
courtesy of ‘william couch’

OPM has announced that the Fed is closed for a nearly unprecedented fourth day in a row.  The last time the government shut down for more than 2 days was for the blizzard of 1996, when employees were instructed not to report for an entire week (also the record for longest closure).  We’ll see if the fed decides to open for business on Friday.  I’d like to think that they’ll be able to, but God only knows, at this point.

The Daily Feed
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Historical Blizzards

dbeast.png

The nice folks at Daily Beast have compiled a historical collection of blizzard photography, covering the storms that have hit the US and paralyzed various cities in the US, from Boston to Seattle. I still think ours is one of the more impressive. Somehow they also left out the Knickerbocker Storm that set DC’s record back in 1922 with 28″ of snow, though, so I’m not sure how totally comprehensive the piece is. Still, worth a look, for the photos of DC in the Blizzards of ’78 & ’96.

The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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Get On This Bus: Fresh Food for All

Courtesy of Farm to Family

Courtesy of Farm to Family

Here’s a heartwarming video for a snowy day.

Yesterday, the BBC ran a piece on The Farm to Family Bus, a farmers market on wheels that serves neighborhoods in Richmond, often in low-income areas, that don’t have easy access to grocery stores and quality, organic food.

The piece also highlights Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA (and there’s a DC chapter), speaking to a group of slow food advocates in DC.

A great idea, that — to bring healthy food to those who may need it most.

The Daily Feed
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Cold Feet

Photo courtesy of
‘More than ankle deep’
courtesy of ‘moonrat42’

No matter what, my feet are always cold or wet walking around in this snow.  Sure, Uggs are nice and toasty, but they’re not waterproof and the slushy snow soaks right through.  Rain boots, or wellies, are great because they are a little taller (helping in those 3-foot-deep snow drifts) and waterproof, but they’re not insulated so your feet can get cold.

Has anyone out there found the perfect boots that will keep your feet dry and warm in the snow drifts?  Clearly this snow isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so I think it might be time to invest in a new pair.

The Daily Feed
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Crowdsourcing the Cleanup

Photo courtesy of
‘Snow Dude Shovels It’
courtesy of ‘Anthroscribe’

When this storm is finished and it’s time to dig out, you find that your car is stuck in a plow-created three foot snow dam. You’ve got no shovel, and don’t have the slightest idea where to start. What if you could use technology to ask for help? Or, even better, to offer your own help?

Ryan Ozimek and a friend pulled together to create snowmageddoncleanup.com, a site to help connect people with snow problems to people who have snow solutions. This is a good way to get the word out about what you can do to help your fellow neighbors.

Wired has the write up about why they did it, and how they did it in a hurry. After reading that, go and volunteer some solutions.

The Daily Feed
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A Musical Interlude

Take a break from all the snow talk and enjoy this video, recorded live at the Black Cat last night.

YouTube Preview Image

That’s Daimion Suomi performing “Burn the Pain.” There’s another video from last night on the linked Suomi tumblr,, but it includes some footage of what Suomi had to go through to get to last night’s performance. And we’re not talking about that for a few minutes, are we now?

The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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Whither Global Warming?

Photo courtesy of
‘SnOMG #2’
courtesy of ‘[F]oxymoron’

Today, Time took on a question that might be on many people’s minds. Where is global warming, anyway?

The issue is still out there, but “global warming” doesn’t tell the whole picture. While worldwide temperature averages are rising, “global climate change” and “weather weirding” more accurately describe what will happen.

The global part is spot on. Temperature rises affect air and sea currents throughout the world. They also affect the amount of moisture the air can hold; warmer air locks in more, bringing heavier precipitation.

And if the temperature hovers around freezing, as the Time article explains, here in DC we could get more snow.

Sound complex? It is. That’s why scientists the world over are studying changes in the climate, which is a long-term thing, and another point that confuses folks about the term “global warming.”

As the article so aptly states, “Weather is what will happen next weekend; climate is what will happen over the next decades and centuries.” Kudos to Time for shedding some light.

Business and Money, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District
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Georgetown Shops Continue To Take A Beating

Photo courtesy of
‘Lotus #49’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

The shops lining M Street and Wisconsin Avenue have had a turbulent year. We’ve lost American Eagle, Commander Salamander, Up Against The Wall, FYE, Smith and Hawken, Nathan’s, etc. However, we have gained North Face, True Religion Jeans, Arisu, etc.  A full survey from late January of the closings and openings can be found at Georgetownmetropolitan.com.

Now comes word from Georgetown blogger Carol Joynt that more stores are closed or in peril. According the Joynt, Benneton has already shuttered, Sisley is soon to follow and the Aldo’s “remodeling” is suspect.

Continue reading →

Fun & Games, The Daily Feed
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What Better Way To Commemorate “Snowmageddon” Than With A T-Shirt

snowmaggeddon_Thrillist_DC

Want to commemorate  surviving SNOW-MG 2010 or brag to your friends back at home about how you watched DC become something reminiscent of a ghost down during a zombie apocalypse during “snowmaggedon”?  Thrillist DC is giving you that chance.

You can rep the District all year long with their new “I Survived…Snowmageedon” T-Shirt.

Sick of snow all together? You can also show your DC pride by sporting these trendy new sealed and water resistant dog tags are made from real maps of DC. You might get lost if you ever want to use them to find your way around, but it’s a nice alternative from being constantly reminded about all this snow that just doesn’t seem to want to go away.

Photo Courtesy of Thrillist DC.

News, The Daily Feed
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A Firefighter’s View of This Storm

Photo courtesy of
‘Cyclists and DC Fire in the Snowmageddon’
courtesy of ‘theqspeaks’

You might remember the name Alex Capece from our He Loves DC series; he’s a DC EMS rookie working with DCFD in the midst of all this crazy snow. He’s updated his fire blog to include thoughts from working inside a blizzard, and it’s sure not glamorous:

I lost count of how many times we had to dig the ambulance out. The engine became stuck a few times, too—and without fail, as soon as we dig ourselves out, here comes a shout from down the street: “Hey, can you guys come give us a hand?”

Read the rest, it’s worth it, and buy any firefighter, policeman, or EM tech some beer if you get the chance. They’ve earned it.

The Daily Feed
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Arlington says you can keep reading that library book

Photo courtesy of
‘Art & Architecture’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

If you’re an Arlington resident and have some books that are due to go back this week – keep em. Anything that was due on the 5th on through the 15th is now auto-magically not due back till the 16th. If you’ve got something you checked out in 1993 and were finally going to bring it back today, don’t sweat that either – no late fees will be incremented for the days the library is closed.

So if it was good, crack it back open and give it another pass-through. You’re not going anywhere.

The Daily Feed
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I Enjoy A Nice Time Lapse

Oh, what you’re not sick of time lapses? ME NEITHER. Good. Here’s another, this one by Andrew Cutaro. I like this one for it’s longevity, and daily life action (clearing the car, walking the dog, sidewalk shoveling, etc.).