Modified Speed Hump Sign on Monroe Street NW, by Mr. T in DC
The photo is a year and a half old, but it just made it into our Flickr pool, so it’s new to me. And it entertained me thoroughly. If you can’t read the sign, be sure to click through. And I agree, Mr. T, the grammatical error just adds to the comic effect. I almost regret that it’s not immortalized this way in Google Street View. (Yes, of COURSE I checked.)
By Tom Bridge
The Washington Post
Originally uploaded by krossbow
Well, I didn’t see that coming on a Monday Morning. The Post’s managing editor for print, Phil Bennett, is stepping down effective Friday. It was previously announced that their managing editor of WashingtonPost.com was stepping down after the inauguration, but it now seems that both of the major editors at the Post are out the door in the same month.
What’s cooking over at the Washington Post that’s got people running for the exits? Is circulation really that far down?
By Tom Bridge
The Obamas have arrived in DC for the next 10 days, as the girls are starting at Sidwell Friends today, and the President-Elect has business on The Hill talking about the bailout. They’ll be staying at the Hay-Adams for the next 10 days or so, which means additional street closures around the hotel. H Street is closed between Connecticut and Vermont, 16th between H and I is also closed, as well. Avoid the area at all costs if you’re driving.
By Carl Weaver
If you didn’t feel like a combination between a mime and Bob Seger then I don’t suppose you went outside today. Between the weird wintry weather and the harsh wind, I have been convinced to stay indoors until everything thaws and starts to warm up, like until April. Until then I will be hunkered down here in Arlington in the Weaver Estate’s underground bunker with some champagne sparkling wine and my lovely wife. Call me when it’s all over, okay?
By Katie
2008 may have just been the fastest year of my life. Seriously, where did the time go? My roommate and I were driving somewhere today and I looked down at my car inspection sticker and it’s been almost a year since I got my car! It honestly feels like it was just yesterday.
All kinds of crazy things happened to me in 2008 – I was laid off from my job, got a new one, had someone hit me in a hit and run accident, Obama won, I landed a super hot boyfriend (yay!), joined the WLDC staff and generally had a raucous good time.
So how about you? Was 2008 gone in a flash? Did it speed by for you like it did for me? In a day filled with retrospection, what’s yours?
By Tom Bridge
thundersnow
Originally uploaded by butterfingers laura
Okay, I know this photo’s from Minnesota, but you try finding a thundersnow photo of DC! I was sitting in my living room working on some documents when it got late-August-thunderstorm-dark, and then incredibly windy, and then it was blizzard-strength snow, moving horizontally across the window with gale force. So this is what a Snowpocalypse looks like!
It’s called a Thundersnow.
Amazing!
By Rebecca
by NCinDC
For the last three weeks my roommates and I have been trying to rent our 3 bedroom apartment for inauguration week. Our marketing plan has employed two tactics: 1) emailing friends from all over about the rental opportunity and asking them to advertise it (via an attached poster) to anyone who might be interested. And 2) posting to DC’s craigslist.
We’ve had a 0% return on investment. Not one lead, bite or even nibble.
Yesterday, I checked craigslist and found that the entire sublet section was over run with inauguration rental opportunities. If anyone is looking for a non-inauguration subletting opportunity, good luck, because you’re going to have to sort through a list of every DC, MD and VA residence.
Are there success stories out there? If so, how did you do it? Or are these $30,000 stories, the stuff of urban legends?
By jasmine
untitled, courtesy of Sexy Fitsum
What better way to start 2009 than a dance party…or four? Dance the recession blues away starting Friday, January 2 with Rock and Roll Hotel‘s Disco City (free), then boogie into Black Cat on Saturday the 3rd for Homo/Sonic, an alternative co-ed dance party for queer folks and their friends ($10).
The next weekend Black Cat bombards you with BLACK CATatonia, featuring DJ DK kickin’ it old skool with two turntables (and probably a microphone) on Friday, January 9 ($5) and Mousetrap, a fun-filled Britpop night, on Saturday the 10th ($10).
Presidential Inaguaration Site, courtesy chip py the photo guy
Tom and I keep getting asked by our out of town friends and relatives what it’s like to live in the middle of history as DC prepares for Inauguration 2009. I always explain it this way- DC went through the motions to get ready for Christmas, with the National Tree Lighting and whatnot, but the economy is in the tank so no one wants to talk about Christmas anyway. The any visions of sugarplums dancing in heads in DC have been for the Inauguration. With that in mind, a few Inauguration-related items from across the Internets:
Continue reading
By Katie
Xmas Tree by primplan
So now that the giving holidays are mostly over, it’s time to think about the next big event – New Year’s Eve! I’m sure WLDC will do a much more comprehensive round-up of possibilities, but if you’re type A like me then you’re already chomping at the bit to get started planning. Ben rounded up some key NYE food possibilities for you already, but it’s time to think about the main event. Here are some tools for you to use. Continue reading
By Don
Admiral’s Cubical Club
courtesy of Me
If you’re a frequent American Airlines flyer heading out of one of the B concourse gates at Dulles you can enjoy all the comforts of work in their snazzy Admiral’s Cubical Club! I’m not a member so I can’t tell you if there’s a lumpy chair, flickering fluorescents, and blank TPS report forms inside.
I guess if you’re a member looking for the services they provide it’s better than nothing, but it certainly doesn’t scream luxury and comfort.
By Don
The Costanza Wallet
courtesy of shareski
One of my favorite memories is – apropos of my age, I suppose – of something I watched on television.
Probably about 15 years ago I saw a Dateline episode where they did an experiment that involved leaving a wallet on the street and seeing what happened to it. The initial tests involved a wallet with a $20 bill, a completed contact card, and a note that said something along the lines of “Dear X, Here’s $20 to get you started with your new wallet, Love Grandma.” Later trials omitted the $20 to see if people were more or less likely to return the empty wallet.
One of the empty wallets came back with a twenty in it. The finder, a short-order cook who made about $7 an hour and who was a former convict, put his own $20 into make up for what had apparently been taken from a child. I was touched then and it still makes me a bit misty to think about it.
I’m similarly touched by an item in today’s WaPo letters to the editor from Kristina Murfin who lost her wallet on the metro and who was reunited with it the following day. Her story had a similar twist.
When I picked up my wallet, I asked who had turned it in. The officer didn’t think the man had given a legitimate name or address. Apparently, the gentleman had just been released from prison and was afraid of being accused of theft if anything had been missing.
I appreciate the goodness in both men, and my thanks to Ms Murfin for sharing a story that’s perfect for Christmas Eve. There’s a lot of good out there and some of it where we least expect it. Thanks for helping us remember that.
Happy Holidays, everyone.
By Katie
US Capitol Christmas by Marc.Benton
So either you’re waiting for your boss to let you go early, or you’re here in DC for the holidays. If you’re here for good, I’d head over to the Sculpture Garden Ice Rink, it should be lovely the next few days. Or, snub Christmas by heading to the Matzo Ball tonight. Kwanzaa your thing? Head on over to the Gaylord National for Kwanzaa brunch.
As I sign off here in a few and fly away into the night sky to my waiting parents (aww, love them) I just wanted to say cheers, DC. As Jenn said in an email to the WLDC staff, “happy holidays, merry christmas, happy hannukah, super saturnalia, cool yule, whatever y’all celebrate, let it be fun and bright.”
(Oh, and don’t forget to enter our Holiday Photo Contest!)
By Tom Bridge
Well, so much for landing a local superstar to anchor the Nationals this year. Mark Teixeira, and his feckless thug of an agent Scott Boras, extracted $180M from the Yankees for an 8-year deal with the [expletive deleted] New York [expletive deleted] Yankees, who apparently also included [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] piles of money. And the Nats continue their inability to sign anyone who’s worth half a damn for more than half a season.
So, in tribute, I bring you this video:
[expletive deleted] you, New York, and [expletive deleted] your precious [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] panda-raping [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] grandmother-shoving [expletive deleted] Blagojevich-fondling [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted]-gargling [expletive deleted]-punching Yankees. Oh, and Steinbrenner? Cancer. CANCER, I say!
By Tom Bridge
A five-and-a-half-foot water main ruptured this morning in Montgomery County. A stretch of the aptly-named River Road from Bradley Blvd to Seven Locks Road is under four feet of water. That’s about a mile long stretch, there. Rescues of stranded drivers have been made from helicopters over the road.
The nearest valve to the break is under water, but they’re working on getting to the next one up the road.
making a wake, by Flickr user philliefan99
…because there’s been a water main break so massive that people are having to be rescued from their cars, which are stranded in several feet of water, including a mother and child who had to be rescued by helicopter. Just steer clear of that part of Bethesda entirely.
Be safe, everyone.
By Katie
Plane and sun flare by flickr user Needlessspaces
So you’re still with us, DC? You haven’t flown away yet? Well you’re in luck, cause believe it or not, DC is still kicking with activity. So while the Metro might be more deserted (hello, empty seat on the Orange line during rush hour, where have you been all my life?) there’s still plenty of last-minute holiday fun to be had. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Metro Sign by tbridge
Two interesting things from the last 24 hours or so on WMATA and Google Transit that are worth another look. Yesterday morning, I got an email from Emeka Moneme, the Chief Administrative Officer of WMATA. It’s likely that I was on their list due to my signing the GGW petition encouraging Google Transit and WMATA to work together. There wasn’t much new in the email, but I found it interesting the way they concluded it: Continue reading
By Don
Thanks, Failblog!
By Katie
seated by the kitchen @ central by flickr user twobitme
I am a die-hard Bravo TV fan. I love Project Runway, and when that’s not in season I adore Top Chef. The foodie in me gets giddy when I hear that knife-sharpening sound during the opening credits. So this whole season, I’ve been stalking local DC chef-turned-contestant Carla.
In addition to our other Top Chef resident, Chef Spike of Good Stuff Eatery (which I have yet to try) I’m thrilled to have Carla in town. Carla runs Alchemy Caterers, which, if you click the link, is in the midst of a Web site redesign. I’m assuming they’re anticipating some good traffic to the site in the coming months… hopefully that means Carla sticks around on the show a while. Caterers tend to have a good background for the Top Chef competitions, and Carla is holding her own.
Carla comes off as warm, caring and exactly the type of person I would want to cater my wedding. So I ask you, reader, do you like Carla? Have you ever tried Alchemy Caterers? Do tell. Tune into Bravo at 10 p.m. Wednesdays to catch Carla in action.
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