01.LesHalles.12Penn.NW.WDC.6jan07
Originally uploaded by ElvertBarnes

Friday, it turns out, was the last day for Les Halles over on Penn Ave at the Warner Building. Anthony Bourdain’s baby is no more in DC, after losing the lease on the place after 15 years. They’ll apparently still be dong their Beaujolais Nouveau party on the 20th, though, but the restaurant is currently closed, but for that.

Crap. That really sucks. This place had awesome frites, and it’s really a shame to see them go.

Christmas Colors
Originally uploaded by Burnt Pixel

I know, I know, Thanksgiving is still a week away, but in preparation for our upcoming “Holiday Feature” (where we’ll spill the dirt on what’s going on in the area – look for it on December 1), I wanted to pass on some relevant info.

On Friday, Nov 28, when you’ve come out of your turkey coma, head over to Market Square in Old Town Alexandria at 7 p.m. There, you’ll find Alexandria’s Tree Lighting Ceremony. Food, entertainment (though I question if a “message from the mayor” is truly considered entertaining? What’s he going to do, break into a comedy routine?), a visit from Santa and caroling all await those eager to jump into the holiday season.

Know of your community’s tree lighting party? Drop the info below in comments.

Crema free lunch & Icecream
Originally uploaded by pochacco20

God I hate that phrase. “Cyber Monday” has me full on ready to grab the nearest sharp object and go all emo. “Free Lunch,” though, is hard to ignore, especially in these troubled economic times. So, if you’re interested, shop.org is having a free lunch event at the Hard Rock Café on E Street downtown. RSVPs will be taken on their Facebook page, but they’re saying they won’t be necessary. There will also be laptops for shopping, and a raffle to give away gift cards.

So, because my thriftyness outweighs my hatred for cultural misappropriation of words, you may well find me there on the 1st of December.

Washington Monument in the Fall (Post Election)
Originally uploaded by SigEp NV Alpha ’03

The moment the election was called for Obama, Tom and I started wondering the best way to get to see the Inauguration. This will be, as we have all been endlessly reminded, a significant historical event, and it seems to us that one of the best things about life in DC is the opportunity to get up close to history when it happens. So we started asking our various members of Congress for Inaugural tickets, offering up our couch to friends who might want to crash with us if they’re coming into town, and plotting the best way to see it even if we can’t get a ticket. We do, after all, have a very nice TV if all else fails.

It sounds like the Park Service is already planning for massive crowds on the Mall. The ceremony is on the Capitol steps, so most of the Mall won’t have a good view, but there’s talk of Jumbotrons all over the Mall and the parade route to include as many people as possible in the festivities.

The estimate is that the Mall itself can hold 3 million people, and officials are working hard to avoid the Bicentennial debacle where there was insufficient infrastructure to get everyone out of the city after the festivities were over.

Do you have Inaugural plans yet?

Washington Under Snow
Originally uploaded by maxedaperture

Well, it’s that time of year. As you begin your thoughts of turkey and travel, good ole Mother Nature reminds you that it’s approaching the winter months by teasing you with some colder temps and some welcome (at least in the D.C. area) precipitation. While I spotted some flakes in Rockville yesterday, the first official forecast for snow for the 2008-2009 winter is for this evening.

No, this doesn’t mean you’re to run to the grocery store and irrationally gather milk and bread (why not flour and yeast and make it interesting?). But expect the IQ of your average Metro-area driver to fall faster than the President’s approval ratings. So if you find yourself in freezing precipitation at all, day or night, slow it down, think, and don’t forget to make sure you use your headlights and have new wipers on your car.

For parents, make sure you start planning your early release plans with your significant other, no need to loose your top or mind over what to do when it happens. And of course, for the times when this weather creeps in overnight and plans to deliver more than a dusting (or misting), bookmark those URLs for the open and closing status of schools and work (for most, the Office of Personnel Management is a good start)

Raffle Tickets
Originally uploaded by alykat

What happens when the real estate market takes a total shit and you can’t sell your $1 Million house? Well, Raffle it off at $50/ticket instead. So, if you’re interested in a $1M house in Annapolis, you can buy a ticket, or two, or a dozen. The drawing’s the last day of the year, and there’s some charity benefit to it all, as a charity must be involved in any raffle like this. If they sell enough tickets, the house will be yours, free and clear.

Except for 40% taxes, which amount to a cool $400k.

Oh, and Real Estate taxes. So it’s not free. Or cheap. But, you could get a $1M house for $400k…

Despite the threat of ugly weather, over a thousand people gathered in front of the Capital building Saturday to make their voice heard. You can see my photographs here, though I missed a shot of the most poignant sign.

It read:

MARRIED 8/1/08
UNMARRIED 11/4/08

rainy day, courtesy of erin m

With the Capital Weather guys calling for some ugly weather tomorrow, how will the march on the mall unfold? Here’s hoping lots of people brave the rain and 20mph winds tomorrow to be part of the nation-wide demand for gay equality.

337/365: The Big Money
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

If you hadn’t heard, Metro was inches away from having a major loan called in from Belgian Bank KBC Group. It wasn’t anything they specifically had done, or a change in their credit rating, but it was tied to the credit crunch and to the downturn in the economy. The trouble started when AIG, who had insured the deal, had their credit rating dropped significantly. That’s when KBC declared the loan in technical default and sought a court injunction to fix it.

Today, KBC Group and WMATA settled in private with undisclosed terms. Which, well, seems odd for a publicly funded entity. But, they’ve settled, which means for now, Metro can continue to repay the loan over time instead of Right Now.

butta-fly
Originally uploaded by NCinDC

I’m ALL ABOUT escaping winter. Days like yesterday and today make me depressed. So I’m forever in search of places that will make me feel all warm and like spring is here. One of those such places is the Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

$6 will grant you entrance to a magical atrium full of plants and more than 300 butterflies. Lots of bright flowers, fruit and foliage turn the pavilion into a tropical oasis. And the butterflies are literally everywhere, in all different colors. You pretty much forget it’s winter outside.

$6 sound steep to you? The pavilion is free on Tuesdays! The Butterfly Pavilion is open for first entry at 10:15 a.m. and closes with the final entry at 5:00 p.m. The National Museum of Natural History is located on the National Mall at the Smithsonian Metro Station on the orange and blue lines.

Metro swirls
Originally uploaded by rpongsaj

WMATA said today they’ll be extending Metro train hours on Sunday to 1 AM closure, to give ‘Skins fans attending the game the chance to actually get home.

Keep in mind that if you park at the Metro garage at Morgan Blvd or Largo, you’ll need a SmarTrip card to exit AND they’ll be charging you $25 for the privilege. The paid parking will begin three hours before and ends two hours after the game; parking at all other Metro stations will be free as usual on Sunday.

Breaking wire rope
Originally uploaded by tanakawho

I know that several of our clients are affected by an area-wide service interruption at Speakeasy, a national ISP that services DC. Several T1s and DSL lines that I support are currently working as well as tin cans and string, thanks to a problem at their network operations center. It’s not exactly clear what’s causing the issue, either, and according to my contact with their support center, no one’s real sure what the ETA is for a solution. Hold tight, Speakeasy crowd, this one will get better. Eventually.

DC Ballot Box
Originally uploaded by cainsable

At a Veterans Day rally on Tuesday, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton called DC voting rights “inevitable” after the results of the most recent election. Due to a higher number of Democrats in the Senate, and the election of Barack Obama to the White House, Norton intends to press for legislation to give DC voting representation in both the House and the Senate as soon as possible. She added that President-elect Obama told her personally that if a DC voting rights bill were passed, he would sign it.

What do you think, DC? Will there be actual representation in Congress after 209 years? Or will the spectre of “Senator Marion Barry” screw it all up?

I’m no one’s Thanksgiving dinner!
Originally uploaded by philliefan99

One of my favorite local DC cooking blogs, The Bitten Word, is a great place to peruse for easy, tasty dinner ideas. The two authors, Zach and Clay, take the best of the best from all the cooking magazines they get in the mail and post reviews and recommendations. The salmon dish Matt and I tried a few months ago was divine.

But Clay and Zach have taken it to a whole new level, compiling ALL the Thanksgiving ideas from ALL the food magazines they subscribe to and putting it into a digest, breaking it down into turkey, sides and desserts. They also include plenty of commentary along with the links. I’m sure compiling all of that was quite a feat, but it is very helpful.

So check it out while you’re looking to plan your four course dinner, they might just have the next big family hit hidden in there.