By Tom Bridge
‘Hidden Past’
courtesy of photorat.photography’
Two lanes of Westbound US-50 are closed at Glebe Road because of falling debris from the sidewalk of the Glebe Road overcrossing. Traffic is significantly impacted, according to commenter TheDenverite, who passed through there this morning. VDOT is on the scene and will be doing an inspection shortly to determine the course of action. Staggering closures are expected while they investigate.
By Katie
‘Day 58: Candid Strangers Project’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’
I blog a lot about my friend Rebecca, over at Inspiration DC. She writes a local blog full of gorgeous photographs and interesting things around DC that inspire her. Her most recent project, the Candid Strangers project, gives us a peek at the heart and personalities of DC residents in a way I’ve never seen before.
Last weekend, Rebecca tied a disposable camera to a bench in Eastern Market, with a sign asking people to have fun taking pictures with it. Earlier this week she had the pictures developed and has been posting a selection of the pictures people captured on her blog all week – from a dog to an elderly man, it’s interesting to see what people are inspired to take pictures of when given a random opportunity.
Rebecca says, “It was encouraging to have such a great response to this project and to see how everyone interpreted what to take a picture of differently. I’m excited to try this project in different locations around DC and compare the type of photographs I get.”
By Wayan
Georgia Avenue gets a lot of grief. Some of it deserved, some of it not. Personally, I find it to be a mixed bag. You have the amazing Moroni Brothers Pizza next to greasy carry outs. But times are changing.
To help with that change, Price of Petworth has started a PoPtrekker series, where he walks through the neighbourhood to show folks what Petworth is like. In Volume 2, he’s walking down Georgia Avenue:
The idea for this video resulted from the numerous conversations I’ve had with folks who are terrified of Georgia Ave. I wanted to show that Georgia Avenue is a street like any other (during the day) and there are many spots well worth checking out.
So enjoy PoP’s video and next time your around, enjoy Georgia Avenue.
By Tom Bridge
This is just a classic prank from the folks at CollegeHumor.com. See, last year, Amir managed to prank his friend Jake at Yankee Stadium. Jake and his girlfriend were at a Yankees game and Amir put a fake proposal on the Jumbotron from Jake to his girlfriend. She flipped out, he flipped out, and they ended up breaking up, and Jake ended up getting slapped on the internet for everyone to see.
Last night at the Terps game, Jake got his revenge. He managed to prank Amir in probably just about the most cruel way: he convinced Amir he won a blindfolded half-court shot for $500,000. It’s brilliant.
By Katie
‘matchbox sliders’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’
Amanda over at Metrocurean tips us off to a fabulous deal at local pizzeria Matchbox. In celebration of 3/6/09, Matchbox will be offering their famous selection of mini-burgers (pictured above looking totally delish) for $3/$6/$9 accordingly. With the new location of Matchbox now on Capitol Hill, there’s even more mini-burger love to go around. (Especially since Matchbox swears a deal this good only comes around once a century.) Oh, and get there early, since Matchbox doesn’t take reservations.
By Max
Congo Embassy by maxedaperture
The Democratic Republic of Congo has finally decided to do some repairs on their dilapidated embassy. Located on the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and S Street NW, it has been a bit of an eyesore in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. Because the city has very little control over what a country can and cannot do with their embassy, this particular one has sat in neglect and abandonment for many years, becoming a home to squatters and rats.
According to Rob Halligan (who used to hold the position of ANC Commissioner) and his sources, the work permits “call for window replacement, stucco repair, roof replacement, including revising existing terra cotta tiles, and driveway replacing.” There is no word about whether the embassy will remain vacant after the repairs are complete.
With these improvements and a new dog park in the works, the neighborhood is really shaping up for the better.
By Max
Bang! by Samer Farha
Last week we asked you to nominate the worst Starbucks in DC and we may now be able to name the winner: the 16th & U street location.
According to (an unprofessionally titled) article by NBC, a barista “accidentally shot himself in the leg Tuesday afternoon.” There aren’t many details about what went down, but seeing as how I go there every morning and know some of the employees there, I’ll try to get to the bottom of this. I have a hunch who the unnamed barista is, and the I’m not surprised that he a) was packing heat or b) shot himself.
We can only hope that his days at Starbucks are over and that we can go back to drinking our coffee without living in fear of an accidental discharge from behind the counter. There are of course no guarantees that their service will improve.
By brownpau
Snow. It turns us into adventurers. Some of us bundle up to walk the chill, white, stormy landscape like Arctic explorers, braving wind and cold for photos or milk and bread.
And others among us get adventure by roaring out of parking spaces and skidding over slush so that our big black Nissan Pathfinder SUVs end up jumping service road traffic islands in Foggy Bottom, skidding further to straddle the traffic islands like a large, obnoxious, diagonal monorail, before finally triumphing over traffic regulations and common sense.
Snow. It also turns some of us into bemused spectators.
By Don
courtesy of Me
With temps staying low today there’s not going to be as much melt as we’re used to. So make sure you brush off your car. This guy’s angling for a ticket for violating the requirement to keep your license plate visible and others are shedding huge chunks of snow and ice on the road. Aside from being dangerous – my darling fiancée saw a bus get a shattered windshield last year when a car lost a huge sheet of ice off its roof – both things can garner you a ticket.
By Ben H. Rome
They’re coming! According to the just-held National Cherry Blossom Festival press conference this morning, the expected ‘bloom date’ is going to be…
April 3 through April 9! Keep in mind this is when 70 percent of the blossoms of the Yoshino Cherry trees that surround the Tidal Basin are open.
Admit it, you all have been waiting for this. (Just like me.) And don’t forget that the actual Festival this year runs from March 28 through April 12, so remember to take lots of photos and drop them into our Flickr pool!
By Tom Bridge
Ready for a crowd
Originally uploaded by afagen
The Nationals opened up single game tickets to the world this morning, meaning that anyone can buy tickets to Opening Day, or any of the 78 other home games that aren’t against the Red Sox. Why not the Red Sox series? Well, if you want those, they want an extra commitment of capital. So, if you want those seats, get ready to buy a ticket package, or scalp seats, or hit Craig’s List or StubHub or somewhere like that.
By Katie
‘Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow…’
courtesy of ‘cruffo’
So maybe it was just me, but the Express was missing from my morning commute today. At my Metro entrance station this morning, there was a lone Examiner hander-outer man, and I only saw Examiners on the trains this morning. By the time I got to Union Station, there weren’t any Express papers in the paper stands, nor were there any Express hander-outer men (there are usually two!). I know some of you will understand my morning paper woes, the Examiner just doesn’t do it for me in the mornings, I want my Express!
Did you get your Express this morning? Was it just a weird coincidence that I couldn’t land one myself?
UPDATE 3:04 p.m. – WLDC author Tom just heard from Molly at the Washington Post, who reports that “today’s Express order was cut due to icy road conditions throughout the area. Normal distribution will resume tomorrow.” PHEW! Don’t play with me like that, Express!
‘McGruff’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’
I cannot make this up: McGruff the Crime Dog, beloved crime-prevention mascot, is standing around at the corner of 14th St. and Spring Road NW, passing out flyers to a group of schoolchildren. All of the sudden, a Metrobus pulls over. The driver hops out, and after taking a moment to adjust his side mirrors, walks up to McGruff and punches him in the face with a closed fist.
Apparently the Metrobus driver, Shawn Brim, forgot that the Crime Dog is a creation of the National Crime Prevention Council as a character for use by police departments. If he had remembered this key fact, he would have realized that the person most likely to be in the McGruff suit is a cop. Surrounded by other cops. Who immediately jumped in their cruisers and pulled the bully over three blocks away. Brim said he was just trying to be “funny,” but I fail to see how punching a costumed character in front of a bunch of children and police officers is anything other than “moronic.”
By Katie
‘Snow Dog’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’
Obama, we’re in a fight. You know I love you, I’ve supported you through a lot – I even went to the Mall for you in the freezing cold. I danced around in celebration of you. I’ve basically been your biggest fan. But ever since you made fun of DC’s reaction to the snow, I’ve been mad.
Today should have been my get-off-work-free day, my spend-the-day-in my-jammies-in-front-of-DVR’d-Grey’s-Anatomy SNOW DAY, but instead, those big shots at the Office of Personnel Management had to go and prove to you that DC can handle this snow by only putting us on a 2 hour delay. OPM, I’ll have you know it’s still snowing, Arlington didn’t do poo to clear away the snow, and I stumbled my way down Clarendon to the delayed Metro and I’m pissed. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
I went to go look at Google Maps to plot a route this afternoon, when I saw something that I’d not noticed before: Google Maps’ Traffic data now covers more than just the usual interstate and highway routes, it also covers some of the center-of-town major thoroughfares that you might be traveling on as you head through town. Dupont Circle, 16th St, Connecticut Ave, Independence and Constitution Ave are among those covered, but it also looks like Suitland Parkway, Route 1, Pennsylvania Ave, Route 7, and others are included in the makeover. How sweet is that?!
By Wayan
It seems that IAD is cleaning up after this morning’s mass cancellations. My new 5pm flight is still has an on time arrival to Dulles and on time departure for SFO.
The FAA Alert for IAD doesn’t mention any serious delays, either though the NYC Shuttles might be all off their schedules. LGA has 3+ hour delays making Amtrak a better option for your Northeast commute.
Good luck to everyone flying today…
By Wayan
While DC has been quite efficient in plowing the main roads, I had no trouble driving to the White House at 8am, what’s the situation in your neighbourhood? Especially now that most folks need to commute to work.
Here in Petworth, New Hampshire Avenue and Upshur Street NW are both passable, if a little muddy, but the side roads are still piled high in Snowpocalypse drifts. I’ve watched several cars fail to make the gentle Varnum Street Hill from Grant Circle eastbound.
Is that the same on Capitol Hill? Dupont? Or Brightwood? Shout out and let us know if you’ve seen Mr. Snowplow on your block yet.
”
courtesy of ‘vitelone’
So, what would you do? You spend hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing to renovate your historic building to expand your hunting and fishing shop, consulting with the historic preservation board at every step of the way, only to have the principal member of the board change his mind at the last minute, preventing you from moving forward, and forcing your store to close.
If you’re Michael Zarlenga of the Trophy Room, you rent your storefront out to a sex shop to annoy your neighbors. I love it. This is brilliant. But I think my favorite part was the random Old Town passerby who said, “It’s caused a lot of buzz.” BWAHAHA, I see what you did there.
But seriously, there’s a lot of handwringing about whether or not this kind of business is appropriate to a historic district, and I can only ask, “Why? Did people not have sex in the 1800s? I’m pretty sure that’s how we all got here.”
By Wayan
Driving the wife to work this morning, I am happy to say that Fenty is responding to the Snowpocalypse better than Barry did. Roads are open all the way to the White House and snow plows are everywhere. Now let’s see Obama bitch.
By Tom Bridge
‘Late Snow in DC / Two Rabbits’
courtesy of ‘little-wings’
Well, it’s not a total snow day out there, but there is a two-hour delay on the Federal Government, and most of the schools in the area are closed (except DC, who are on a two-hour delay as well). So, check the closing list, or check your email, to see if you can bundle up with some hot cocoa and television and make it a three-day weekend before going in.
By 
