DC Carnival ’07
Originally uploaded by IntangibleArts

…on welcoming their baby girl, Aerin Alexandra Fenty, in the early hours of this morning.

Our best wishes to Mayor and Mrs. Fenty and their children.

I’m no one’s Thanksgiving dinner!
courtesy of philliefan99

If you’re planning on cooking this Thanksgiving but haven’t let procured your bird – or other creature – you might try one of the local sources for fresh turkeys listed by the Washington Post this past week. Another option they don’t mention is one of the vendors in Eastern Market. We purchased a goose there and were very pleased with the experience, in no small part because it yielded the following story.

After she placed the order, my darling fiancée had this exchange with the butcher.

“It’s fresh, right?”
“Let me put it this way. At the moment it’s still wandering around the yard enjoying its lunch.”

If you like birds, keep an eye out for peregrine falcons! These lovely birds of prey pass through the area around now (some stay for the winter) and have a taste for the local wildlife — mammals, as well as other lesser birds. There’s one falcon that’s taken to hanging around the parking lot at Arlington Central Public Library, much to the consternation of area squirrels. I also saw a pair of falcons worrying stragglers out of a flock of starlings over Key Bridge. Like DCeiver, I despise starlings with a black heart of pure hatred, so I was definitely cheering for the predators.

But the best peregrine falcon sighting I ever had was one in April 2005, when one of the birds decided to perch in a tree right by the Smithsonian Metro entrance on the National Mall, with half of an uneaten squirrel hanging from a nearby branch, while cherry blossom tourists gawked at the scene. Fun times. (Pictures after the jump, with a mild gore warning.)

Continue reading →

foggy-metro
Originally uploaded by frozenchipmunk

WMATA & Metro have opened up a new section of their website for events surrounding the inaugural. They’ll be closing the Mall entrance of Smithsonian Metro, and the whole station at Navy/Archives. In addition, the system will be running rush hour scheduling through 7pm that day, and they’ll be opening early and staying open late.

But, will the fix the escalators? Foggy Bottom’s a mess, and a commenter tells us that Capitol South is just as bad. Get ready for a day in the national spotlight, Metro. Here’s hoping you’re ready.

Originally uploaded by ellwoodite

It’s not like you have any actual work to do, right? It’s Friday, after 3 p.m., and you’re on We Love DC.

So let’s entertain ourselves by grossing ourselves out looking up the health ratings of all our favorite restaurants. All Food Business.com has a collection of where to find all the scores. It’s got DC, Maryland and Virginia links, so search away, dear reader.

I live in Arlington, and so I was mostly concerned with the Virginia ratings, of all my favorite places. Not so shabby, most of them, but you can find out some pretty gross stuff on here. Some of my regular places had problems like mouse droppings, moldy food, and food not kept at temperature.

I respect that the food industry is tough, and I’ve worked at my fair share of places, but that roach problem the food inspector saw two weeks ago… nuh uh!

Dupont Town Houses
Originally uploaded by tbridge

One of the things that’s kept us from running a piece on renting out your place for the inauguration is that it can be an incredible hassle to operate as a bed and breakfast in DC. There’s inspections from DCRA, licensing, paperwork and you’d probably want a lawyer by the end of all of it. Fortunately, though, Mayor Fenty issued an executive order yesterday that make it all on the up and up to rent your place out for the Inaugural without having to jump through all the hoops.

You can rent your place from January 13th to January 27th, 2009, without having to do all the paperwork hoops.

So. I, uh, I guess we better start writing that feature. Look for it next week some time!

The Rat!,

I could have sworn we covered this here but I can’t find it in the archives. Perhaps I saw it on DCist or another local blog. Anyway, I was just looking for something in Georgetown in Google Earth and saw the big rat. Poor carpenter’s union – I can’t quite read the name of the business they’re protesting in front of from the street view.

The last time we discussed street view someone pointed out that the pictures aren’t all taken on the same day. I wonder how many other places the rat shows up in street view?

Car Chase Terror
Originally uploaded by Fancy Speed Queen

A bank robbery in Howard County this morning has resulted in a shootout, followed by a car chase in Montgomery County. One suspect was shot and taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds, while two escaped from the police in a chase that exceeded 85mph in places. Six schools in Montgomery County are in Code Blue lockdowns until the suspects are found.

Noir City
Originally uploaded by LaTur

Looking for a warm way to spend this weekend? Both the Bethesda and E street Landmark Theaters are amazing. These two local movie theaters have all the hot indie films on show. In my regular zip code search, E Street is the only theater with a reliable showing of straight red tomatoes on rottentomatoes.com, my go-to source for movie reviews. And the ability to bring alcohol into the theater along with your popcorn makes these two places movie heaven.

Landmark Bethesda is playing Slumdog Millionare, which I’ve heard is this holiday season’s must-see movie.

Off to the movies…

Washington Dulles International Airport, Dulles, VA
Originally uploaded by seaview99

Just in time for the Thanksgiving rush, Dulles is opening their fourth runway. This will allow yet more landings & takeoffs, and will hopefully allow the airport to handle a bit more traffic without congestion.

Just what I wanted, courtesy of tiffany bridge

Well, sorta – only Bill gets to eat there without paying, but a discount on gift certificates bought through restaurants.com has cropped up again, allowing you to buy certificates at a steep discount. $10 worth of Ben’s for $3 is pretty cool to begin with. For $0.60? Any deal you get better than must come from Santa.

The only other place on the list that I ever go is Ted’s Montana Grill,a perfectly servicable but hardly exciting restaurant. If you frequent Bullfeather’s or La Tasca you’re also in luck, but I recognize few of the other names.

Go to the Fatwallet page and choose the Extra 80% Off Dining Certificates & Dinner of the Month Club to get to the purchase site, or just go and look at the restaurant list. Is there anything there the rest of us should be clamoring for?

pizza, frozen dinners, beer
Originally uploaded by iboy_daniel

I am not someone who buys a lot of frozen dinners. We’re trying to be good locavores, and to avoid lots of the weird additives that get put into prepared foods, so our freezer space tends to be reserved for ingredients.

But DC Central Kitchen, already one of my favorite local charities, might just get us to budge a little. They’re launching a line of frozen meals made with local ingredients from recipes donated by local celebrity chefs like Roberto Donna and Jose Andres.

Local food AND social responsibility, conveniently located in my freezer, is worth a try. The meals will be sold in local Wegmans and My Organic Markets, as well as a few other local outlets.

Law enforcement scofflaws, courtesy of philliefan99

About a year ago Marc Fisher joined other voices in condemning DC for removing the opportunity to challenge parking tickets in person. Well, it turns out the solution to their problem is simple: get your parking tickets park in Arlington.

Arlington is going the exact opposite direction, and requiring that anyone who wants to challenge a parking ticket show up in person to make their claim. Arlington is disbanding the parking review office in order to save on salaries so now you either get to pay up or take  your chances with the judge. That means that if your claim is denied you not only give up the time in your day – which Fisher and others seem not to value, so no biggie there – but also $61 in court costs.

As an old co-worker of mine used to say: “here’s your monkey’s paw, smart-ass.”

Windmill at the US Botanic Gardens, courtesy of kimberlyfaye

Well, blogs and all other electronics-related things. WTOP reports that University of Maryland researchers have found an alternative for the body and planet-harming lead used on most electronics. One of the reasons people are always harassing you to throw away your old electronics responsibly is that they contain lead which seeps out of them if you just toss them in the landfill. This achievement at UMD will allow manufacturers to use bismuth instead of lead.

WTOP also reports that some manufacturers are using bismuth in place of lead in ammunition, though they stop short of claiming it makes it healthier for you.