No Love from Home Depot, courtesy of Me

Not their own franchise – our local sports franchises. I forgive the lack of a Caps brand there – there’s no sign of any hockey team keys on the rack. But to stock Orioles keys and not Nationals keys?  Blasphemy!

Standing Out Front
Originally uploaded by tbridge

Oh this one is too silly not to write about. Church in MoCo opens their Christmas Tree sale, as they always have, right after Thanksgiving. Their trees pay for their good works abroad, and always have.

Except there’s a law on the books in MoCo that says you can’t sell Christmas Trees before December 5. Church is fined $500 for early sale of Christmas Trees.

Now, I’m as against the encroachment of Christmas into November as anyone else, but this is pretty silly. If you can’t sell the Christmas stuff the day after Thanksgiving, then you’ve got no soul. That’s the day the Christmas Music comes out of its box in the closet, the day it’s okay to order Peppermint Mochas at Starbucks, the day it’s fine to start shopping for Christmas.

Pictured here is our tree, purchased at Great Country Farms in Bluemont, VA. We drove out to the country last weekend, despite the weather, and cut down a beautiful 6′ Norway Spruce for our tree. Ray and the other Farmers were glad to see us, and even covered our coffee. They’re open all weekend, and their trees are gorgeous. Go on out and get one.

metro_yellow_line
Originally uploaded by Ghost_Bear

When I got the email this afternoon about the new MetroOpensDoors.com, I clicked the link, wanting to see what WMATA had done. I was all kinds of excited.

Except that it was just a press release telling me that there would be a new MetroOpensDoors.com on Monday December 8th. This is what we call a PRESS RELEASE FAIL.

Let’s hope the website isn’t in the same vein.

panther lover, courtesy of Me

Tom’s jumbotron picture in the CapOne story below reminded me of these pictures I took at Tuesday night’s Caps-Panthers game. Apparently “can you hear me now?” has been extended to include “can you see me quip?” Verizon customers can text a message to a particular number and their message will be displayed on the crawl under the scoreboard. Presumably someone monitors them for appropriate content, but I guess they thought this bit of divorce comedy was amusing.

I think Katie’s husband is being a little hard on her. It’s not like she’s a dirty Penguins fan or something. *cough*

My social Network on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and MyblogLog
Originally uploaded by luc legay

It’s no secret that I love Twitter, and think it’s probably my favorite new communications medium, surpassing email, IM & scrawled notes on the wall. The casual confluence of people I know, stuff I like, and people that are interesting, in a format that requires both brevity and wit to keep my attention, it’s a boon. Lately, I’ve seen more DC-centric businesses like California Tortilla use Twitter to talk about the cool stuff they’re doing locally.

So, who’s not on Twitter that you think should be? I read this morning that maybe the 9:30 club should be on there, and should be announcing specials and concerts this way. I think that would be awesome, actually, if you could sign up for their feed and they could tell you who’s on sale starting today, or who’s at the club that night. How much would that rock?

Who else in DC belongs on Twitter? (No Slanket Fights, Please.)

Moon and Tree
Originally uploaded by M.V. Jantzen

Reader Patty Hankins brings us these tips for taking better pictures of Christmas Lights. You might need these for those fantastic photos you’ll be entering in our Holiday Photo Contest.

Just submit the photo to our Flickr group with a Creative Commons license (it’s easy to change the license for that one photo) and the tag “WLDC holiday 2008.” And then you can win one of our fabulous prizes. Prizes, yay!

AARP Holiday Decorations
Originally uploaded by Mr. T in DC

My boyfriend sent out the following email to our group of friends yesterday, and I’m so lazy I’m just going to copy/paste it for WLDC.

Matt: “Rustico in Alexandria is holding a Festivus celebration next Tuesday (the 9th), from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. There will be a good selection of winter beers on tap (and over 200 hundred bottles to choose from), the Festivus pole, and the airing of grievances. If you like beer OR don’t like the commercial side of the holidays OR have something to get off your chest OR just enjoy spending time with friends, then this is the thing for you.”

Personally, I never watched Seinfeld (gasp, screams, the horror, I know, whatever…) and so I don’t get what all this is about. But I do know that Rustico will be serving Troegs’ Mad Elf, which Troegs’ Web site describes as: “a cheerful creation to warm your heart and enlighten your tongue. The combination of Cherries, Honey, and Chocolate Malts delivers gentle fruits and subtle spices. Fermented and aged with a unique yeast, this ruby red beer has significant warming strength that underlies the pleasant character of this intriguing yet delicious Ale.” Yeah, yeah, I’m lazy today with all this copy/pasting, but at least I’m still enlightening to you, dear reader.

So, basically, point is, I’ll be there. You should come too. And then you should find me and buy me some Mad Elf, since you like reading things that I copy/paste so much.

Chevy Chase Bank winner
Originally uploaded by afagen

$520,000,000 is what Capital One is paying to acquire all of Chevy Chase Bank, according to the news tonight. Apparently, it will also acquire under $2,000,000,000 in CCB’s shaky and shady mortgages, as well. It’s interesting, though, that in doing so, they’ll be acquiring all of Chevy Chase’s neo-classical-style bank buildings, and with it, a significant brand image

How will Capital One handle their own (lackluster) branding and combine it? Will CCB stop to be a local fixture?

Edit: Fixed spelling of Capital One.

Tree Monument Tree
Originally uploaded by M.V. Jantzen

Tonight’s Tomorrow is the annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree. President Bush will get in his limo at the back of the motorcade, drive a block and a half, and then get out at the Ellipse to take his spot in the heated box with the cool button where they’ll light up the Tree.

This means: The entire downtown core is going to be absolutely berserk starting right about NOW this time tomorrow. So, downtown core workers, run like hell. Or, walk downstairs, get a bottle of bourbon and a bottle of coke, and spend the next three hours in your office getting a little schnockered.

Either way. Leave work now.

Edit Sigh. When I drove by the Ellipse at 2pm today, and saw the towers & amps already flown for the event tomorrow evening, I assumed it was tonight. Apologies to everyone who went and got drunk thanks to my post. At least now you’ll have a hangover and won’t have to come in tomorrow? My advice for tomorrow: Get out early.

preparation, courtesy of philliefan99

My darling fiancée is gently harassing me to consider renting out our place for the inauguration, and the question of “what could go wrong” is the one that consumes me most when pondering the subject. Eric “Vampire Guru” Nuzum hilariously addresses the question of ick and the competition in the inauguration rental business hilariously over at the Prince of Petwork blog.

I’m saddened but not entirely surprised to discover that I am much more easily bought than a published author. Nuzum says “Call me crazy, but even $20k won’t wash away the vision of some Fortune 500 executive screwing a coked-up hooker in my bed.” Personally I could spend $1,000 of that to get my mattress steam-cleaned and sleep like a baby. On my gigantic pile of money.

Random Taxi
Originally uploaded by leftymgp

Yay! The DC Taxi Commission dropped the $1 fuel surcharge last night, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Seems the DCTC finally woke up and realized a ‘fuel surcharge’ when gas is below $2 would be a good PR move…

…Except they’re discussing raising the base rate to $2. Boo! Nice way to find a different way to stick it to your riders, DCTC. Heck, I doubt the fuel charge would’ve been yanked if WTOP and the blogverse hadn’t started griping. Maybe for Christmas we could ask if Santa Fenty could make the commission more accountable and transparent…

FotoWeek Gala + Open Bar = Good Time!
Originally uploaded by Hoffmann

The City Council last night approved the bill that would let DC bars serve until 5am for the weekend before the inauguration, all the way through the Wednesday immediately after. Sure, bars can be open 24/7 during those five days, but they can’t serve between 5am and when they’d normally open. But, get ready for some sweet all-nighters at hotspots throughout the city.

Here’s hoping that DUIs and other drunkenness-related crimes don’t spike to match.

The Congress
Originally uploaded by tbridge

If you’ve been dying to get into the new Capitol Visitors Center, today’s your day. From 1pm to 4:30pm, they’ll be having an open house of sorts over at the new CVC under the East Steps. If you get there toward the end, head to the West Steps after you leave and catch the 5pm lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree.

This year, it’s a 70′ fir tree brought in from the Bitterroot Range in Montana, and decorated with ornaments made by artisans of Montana. It’s also being decorated with LED lights, to keep the energy bills down, which is pretty nifty.

Before you go today, take a look at our preview, or maybe read Phil Kennicott’s critique of the architecture choices for the new space.

DC Boats
Originally uploaded by diskychick

So have I told you all how much I miss summer enough? No? Okay. Well, I really really really miss summer. I miss sitting on the patio at the Washington Sailing Marina, I miss being able to ride the Potomac River Boat Co. boats without freezing my henie off (is that even how you spell henie?).

If you are looking for a quality boat that you can use for years to come, the Twin Otter Kayak makes an excellent choice. With its rugged durability and comfortable ride, you can find a great deal on one of these versatile kayaks. The Twin Otter has been around since 1990 and is known for it’s reliability and durability. There are only a few hundred produced so this means that if yours is out-of-date, you most likely won’t have to worry about replacing it for quite some time.

So when I heard about the boat parades happening this weekend in Balitmore and in Old Town Alexandria, I was overjoyed! Faux-summer! With boats! (And coats, but I’ll take what I can get, okay?) Both are happening this Saturday (Dec. 6).

Alexandria’s got the Holiday Boat Parade of Lights, complete with Santa and 50 or so lit sail boats and leisure boats. Santa arrives at 4:15 p.m., and the parade starts at 6 p.m.

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is hosting the Baltimore Parade of Lights. The WaPo GOG says “The best spots for viewing the parade include the front of the Maryland Science Center and on Broadway Pier in Fells Point, as well as any waterfront venue open to the public.” Parade starts at 6 p.m.

So grab your ear muffs and your hats and head out to the water parades to long for the warm days of yore. Or just to celebrate the holidays, whichever.

EIL-062351-03
Originally uploaded by Paul-W

It seems it’s on the local news every night: Analog TV is going away in February, so if you get analog signal over the air with an antenna, you’re going to need a converter box. Don’t know if that’s you? Tune in to any of the local TV stations tonight at 5:28pm. They’re doing a shutoff test, which means they’ll be doing a 2 minute shutdown of their analog signal. If you see the message that they broadcast, it’s time to do a little research about getting a free converter for your TV.