Category Archives: The Daily Feed

Fun & Games, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Operation: SNOW PEA

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_4606’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

So you’ve watched 24 and are hankering for some personal spy action, right? Or perhaps you’re in the mood for something a little different during the cold, dreary days of winter. Well, for a limited time, you can be a double agent right here in the “City of Spies.”

The International Spy Museum is running Operation: Snow Pea through the end of February, giving you and your friends the chance to experience the museum and a special operation for the price of one admission. Simply provide the secret password (SNOW PEA) to one of the museum’s operatives or on the online order form and receive admission to the museum PLUS one of the following for only $20.10:

  • Be an intelligence officer on an international mission in Operation Spy.
  • Thwart a cyberterrorist attack on the nation’s capital! Play Polar Bear Spy in the City.
  • Enjoy creative cocktails and clandestine conversation at Spy at Night.

Offer isn’t valid between 2/12 – 2/15 and expires February 28. Get your spy on before the tourists come back…

The Daily Feed
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Twentieth Anniversary of “Goddamn Bitch Set Me Up!”

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Chamber of Commerce Gala oct 17 2009’
courtesy of ‘ShashiBellamkonda’
Twenty years ago tonight, Marion Barry was caught smoking crack with a prostitute in the Vista Hotel. Here’s what the Post said the next morning:

D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested on charges of possession of cocaine last night at the downtown Vista International Hotel after a fast-moving undercover investigation by the FBI and D.C. police that began several weeks ago, according to law enforcement officials and sources familiar with the arrest.

The Daily Feed
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Twitter Contest: Nissan Leaf Tour

nissanleaftour_la1

The Nissan Leaf Tour is coming to DC next week so Nissan can show off their new, all-electric, zero-emission* car to one of the most traffic-choked regions in the country during the DC Auto Show. To celebrate, they’ve given us an eco-auto prize pack to give away via Twitter. You can win:

1 – Nissan Leaf tour t-shirt
1 – $150 TerraPass.com gift certificate
1 – Eco Touch car cleaning kit ($49.99 value)

Here’s how to enter:

You have to follow We Love DC on Twitter (so we can DM you for details on shipping your prize).  Then tweet something that mentions @welovedc, @nissanevs, and the #leaftour hashtag.

The winner will be chosen on January 25th.

*Zero-emission, unless the power plant the electricity comes from is coal-based, which most of them around here are.

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Metro To Issue Rider Refunds To Those Experiencing Lengthy Delays

Photo courtesy of
‘good morning.’
courtesy of ‘volcanojw’

Frequent Metro riders have reason to jump for joy today. Metro Deputy General Manager for Finance and Administration Carol Kissal told the Washington Examiner that “it is time for the agency to give something back.”

(This of course being the time where the happy dance starts…)

With price hikes in the works for Metro this upcoming fiscal year (Kissal says any permanent fare increase will take place on or around July 1), it only seems fair that talks about refunding loyal riders take place.

There is no official course of action at the moment, but  in the mean time, refunds for those experiencing long wait times on Metrorail and Metrobus can browse the other options available on the Metro website.

The Daily Feed
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George Michael Memorial Set for Thursday

Photo courtesy of
‘George Michael’
courtesy of ‘The SABR Office’

DC will get to say goodbye to one of its legends on Thursday at the National Cathedral. There’s no question that George was a pioneering sports anchor, his nationally syndicated Sports Machine show on Sunday night was a window on sports in the days before Cable (yes, youngins, there were days before Cable…) brought ESPN to the fore. Michael’s nearly 30 years of work in DC set the bar for all to follow. His memorial will begin at 11am, and will feature former Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs.

The Daily Feed
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Looking for a New Career?

Photo courtesy of
‘Working Late’
courtesy of ‘Rukasu1’

It’s a federal holiday today, but if you’re in the private sector like me, you’re probably spending the day at work. While everyone else is out enjoying a day off, maybe it’s time for us to consider a new career field? Luckily, US News & World Report just released the top fifty careers for 2010. I guess I’ll stay where I am though, since my career is on the list.

On the other end of the spectrum, here are the hardest-hit jobs of 2009. Surprisingly, these are jobs like architects and pilots and construction workers, rather than what I was expexcting (um, journalists). There are also some conflicts between these lists (“Computer Software Engineer” is listed as one of the fastest-growing jobs in first piece, but one that is experiencing offshoring in the second piece).

Maybe Teatro Goldoni should add architects and pilots to their journalist all-you-can-drink special.

The Daily Feed
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Arenas Pleads Guilty

Photo courtesy of
‘Foul Shooters’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’

Justice is swift and blind, it seems. Gilbert Arenas plead guilty to a felony charge of gun possession this afternoon in Court, and faces up to five years in prison and the invalidation of his contract with the Wizards and the NBA. In reality, it’s more likely that Arenas would receive no more than 6 months in jail, a hefty fine, and probation.

I guess that joke wasn’t very funny after all. Then again, neither are the Wizards.

The Daily Feed
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iPhone Metro Times app contest concludes

Photo courtesy of Me

Find a Metro DC

Time to hand out the last three codes for Find a Metro DC [iTunes], kindly donated by John B. Two stories and one more random shot.

First up, a twofer – originally entered for the funniest but also the cutest story shared, courtesy of Jenn (but not our Jenn)

Yesterday, the Metro car was completely quiet, except for a really tiny kid (like 2-3 yrs old) singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” After about 30 seconds, the whole car started laughing. Adorable.

Next up, well, I’d have given most amusing to “lobster pants” but Prokop says he doesn’t have an iPhone, so I’m tossing it to Katie (but not our Katie – what’s with this trend?) for “vaginas” which even involves an iPhone!

Don’t even pretend you’re not going to go back and check that story out.

Last up, our random pick. Asked to pick between 1 and 49, random.org chose 15: Anthony.

Thanks to everyone for playing. Winners should look for an email from me shortly.

If you didn’t win I can personally vouch that the app is worth $1 – I paid for it and it continues to be my go-to app for Metro times and NextBus lookups. Thanks again to JRBApps for the donations!

The Daily Feed
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Haiti Survival Kit Drive This Sunday

Photo courtesy of
‘Haiti Earthquake’
courtesy of ‘United Nations Development Programme’

Update: This event did receive mention on FOX 5 News (still link-hunting on that) and has a listing on Yelp and on Meetup. Still confirming officially if this is indeed occurring, as it is (obviously) difficult to contact the Embassy at this time.

In the meantime, the Embassy of Haiti and ServeDC are asking for volunteers to man the embassy’s telephone banks. If you’d like to help in that capacity, contact ServeDC at 202.727.7925.

There will be a Survival Kit Drive on Sunday, January 17 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Embassy of the Republic of Haiti located at 2311 Massachusetts Avenue, NW. In appreciation of your assistance light refreshments will be available. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact 718-755-0119.  Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Holiday Weekend Service Changes on Red Line

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Red line riders beware — this weekend is not going to be pretty, so start planning now.

NBC Washington reports that there will be some major service changes over this holiday weekend.

For those of you trying to get anywhere between White Flint and Medical Center, guess what — you can’t get there via rail. But there will be a shuttle service running. You can check out times for that on WMATA’s website here.

What’s Metro up to with the red line? They’ll be splitting the line into two parts. Grosvenor-Strathmore station closes at 10 p.m. tonight and will reopen until Tuesday at 5 a.m.

For more information regarding the closures, visit WMATA’s release about the changes here.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Arenas Charged With Felony

Photo courtesy of
‘Felony Franks (#1)’
courtesy of ‘JOE M500’

Gilbert Arenas is now facing felony weapons charges related to the gun events in the Wizards locker room. The Post is reporting that Arenas is also seeking a plea deal related to the case.

Throw the book at ’em, DC.

Update: The max he’s facing is five years and a fine for his trouble, which would indicate it’s just a single charge instead of one charge per gun, which was initially bandied about. The Post has further detail about the incident which was previously not released:

The guns became an issue after Arenas and Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton got into an argument after a card game and Crittenton allegedly said he should shoot Arenas in his surgically repaired left knee, sources have said. Days later on Dec. 21, at Verizon Center, Arenas placed the guns on a chair next to Crittenton’s locker with a note that said “pick one.”

The Daily Feed
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Celebrate Chinese New Year with Terra Cotta

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_4447’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

The National Geographic Museum will welcome Chinese New Year a week early with a free family festival on Feb. 6, celebrating in conjunction with its popular Terra Cotta Warriors exhibition. The festival, sponsored by PF Chang’s China Bistro, will include free food from the restaurant (while supplies last), film screenings, kids’ activities, table tennis, raffles, live performances (including martial arts demonstrations), and more! Guests will also have the opportunity to win free same-day tickets for the exhibition.

Raffles will be held every half hour during the festival beginning at 11:30 a.m. for the chance to win tickets for the 3 p.m. viewing that day.

Additional tickets will be distributed by P.F. Chang’s China Bistro via Facebook and Twitter.

And coming February 20? A kung-fu film festival, featuring Hero, Lao Tou Ho, and Legendary Weapons of China.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro GM Catoe to Resign

Photo courtesy of
‘WMATA Blogger Roundtable’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

Update 2:00 p.m.: We put in a call to our WMATA contact, Ron Holzer, who indeed confirmed that Catoe has tendered his resignation to WMATA’s Board. Apparently, the announcement took everyone by surprise, as no one at WMATA had in inkling this was coming. Needless to say, neither did any of the area bloggers last night. Catoe played his stepping-down pretty close to the vest.

This news alert came as a COMPLETE SHOCK to me. Lena Sun at WaPo has broken the story that WMATA GM John Catoe, Jr. will be resigning as General Manager of the agency, effective April 2, 2010.

What’s completely shocking about this is that it comes on the heels of what, by many blog accounts today, was a very successful face-to-face meeting with area bloggers last night. Our own Tom Bridge covered the meeting in depth and even came away with some healthy respect for the man. (As did I, after reading several accounts of it.)

Catoe announced his intentions to resign after a special board meeting this afternoon. He said he realized that the tragedies at Metro in the last year had created “an unhealthy distraction” and that good leaders should know when it is time for a leadership change.

More as details unfold.

The Daily Feed
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Mark Russell to appear at Ford’s Theatre in February

Photo courtesy of
‘Day 73: Piano’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

I was a nerdy kid. So nerdy, in fact, that my idea of a totally awesome job was to be Mark Russell, piano-playing political satirist, with a show on PBS. Never you mind that I don’t play piano at all. (What can I say? I loved Tom Lehrer too.)

I may never have gotten past telling unaccompanied jokes, but I can still indulge my childhood dreams- Mark Russell will appear next month at Ford’s Theatre, February 17th through 20th.

The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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Learn to be a Backyard Farmer

Photo courtesy of
‘Double Red Ripe Tomatoes’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

If you’ve ever had a tomato or zucchini plant gone wild, you might appreciate this.

Soon, an area farmers market may carry produce from folks who farm in their own backyards. The Maryland Organic Backyard Initiative (MOBI) wants to create community farmers markets that lets people who have organic gardens trade with each other.

Tonight and for the next two Thursdays at 7:30 at Crossings in Silver Spring, MOBI will hold classes where organic backyard farmers or wanna-bes can meet and learn how to grow, eat and trade delicious, organic, fresh, locally grown produce.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, The District
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Iron Horse Taproom Opens in Penn Quarter Tonight

Photo courtesy of
‘Seventh Street NW at Night’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

The newest bar to hit 7th street opens tonight, POP reports. Brought to us by Bedrock Bars, the same folks that brought us Laughing Man Tavern, Carpool, Buffalo Billiards, Atomic and more, Iron Horse will be much in the same casual vein.

POP reports the motorcycle-themed watering hole “will feature skeeball, shuffleboard, jukebox, and big buck hunter.” Sounds a lot to me like a second location of Rocket Bar, which doesn’t mean I’m complaining, just observing.

Wanna be the first in the door? According to POP Iron Horse swings ’em open tonight at 507 7th St. NW., next to TangySweet.

News, The Daily Feed
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The End of the Sidewalk (Law)

Photo courtesy of
‘Sidewalk Closed Signs’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Not every street in DC has a sidewalk. In fact, there are large swaths of the city where they’re a bit more rare than we’d like. DC City Council has been looking at a common sense law to add them in where they’re missing for the last two years, but haven’t come to any kind of conclusion over whether or not they’ll be in place anytime soon. At question are property-owners’ rights, many of whom without sidewalks are requesting that their right not to have them be granted. There’s $9M in stimulus funding for sidewalk creation and improvement in the District’s budget this year, and it’d be nice to see used before we lose it, Council.

Food and Drink, News, The Daily Feed
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Help Haiti by Drinking Good Drinks

Photo courtesy of
‘______ ____ _’
courtesy of ‘Sexy Fitsum’

BYT and DCist have passed along that the Gibson will be donating the proceeds from all the Sazeracs and Old Fashioneds that they sell tonight to the Red Cross to benefit the Haiti earthquake relief fund.  If you needed an excuse to drink excellent cocktails this evening, now you’ve got it. I’ll be doing my part, that’s for sure.