No, I don’t think everything posted on the Daily Kos is legit. This one almost sounds like urban legend to me (it’s got too many elements of a group of hoaxes), but, this one hits close to home. Apparently some folks are being told that if they vote today, they’ll be arrested:

Tim Daly from Clarendon got a call saying that if he votes Tuesday, he will be arrested. A recording of his voicemail can be found online at: www.webbforsenate.com/media/phone_message.wav

The transcript from his voicemail reads:

“This message is for Timothy Daly. This is the Virginia Elections Commission. We’ve determined you are registered in New York to vote. Therefore, you will not be allowed to cast your vote on Tuesday. If you do show up, you will be charged criminally.”

Daly has been registered to vote in Virginia since 1998, and he has voted for the last several cycles with no problem. He has filed a criminal complaint with the Commonwealth’s attorney in Arlington.

Just so you know: polling locations are not changed by phone calls. They’re especially not changed on the day before election without a fire or other similar disaster, and no one from Montana is gonna be advising Arlington citizens if this is so. Show up. Bring ID. Vote. The worst that can happen is that you show up, you’re not on the voter rolls, and you’ll have to vote a provisional ballot. Those are reviewed by the elections board and then either counted if they’re valid or discarded if they’re not.

Show up. Vote. That simple.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’m up a bit later tonight than I’d hoped. My alarm is going off tomorrow at 4:20. AM. My lunch is ready for packing in the fridge, my clothes are laid out ready to be worn. I am taking a pen, a notebook, and my cellphone (off). I’m nervous, which I did not expect. I can’t put my finger on it, it’s either an excited nervous, or a truly anxious nervous. It’s a grave responsibilty, to hold someone’s franchise as your responsibility, and I’m both excited about enabling folks, and scared that I might screw it up.

Tomorrow night, late, I’ll be posting my reflections on the day. If there’s anything you want to know about working as an election officer in Arlington, please leave it in the comments, and I’ll be glad to answer it as part of my entry tomorrow night.

Vote tomorrow. It’s your franchise, your county, your city, your community. Engage yourself. Don’t just sit back and yell, vote and be part of the system. Don’t like how it’s run? Run for office yourself. Be part of the system. Be part of the process.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

How do you not love that? If it was the employee lot I’d have thought it might have been a deliberate joke, but they were gone when I walked back out after my transaction.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

There was an interesting article in the Post magazine section this weekend about scholarships being offered to the now-adult students affected when Prince Edward County shut down its public schools for five years rather than integrate.

It was an interesting and personal look on an issue that I (admittedly) don’t know a lot about. For example, I had no idea that Prince Edward County was party to the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision. I had never heard that PE had shut down the schools and opened a privately-funded school for white students, leaving black children with a choice to either go without schooling or move out of the county to live with relatives.

You should check it out- the people interviewed for the piece have really interesting stories.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

This is the theater at last night’s showing of Borat. Note that everyone was very aware that this movie sold out and yet what is up with the empty seat?

That lone empty seat between these two groups.

Is it too hard to sit next to another group, especially when you know the show is sold out? Might it inconvenience you all that much to scoot over so there are sets of empty seats?

No one wants to sit alone in a group of others, sans their preferred supermodel.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Tomorrow is election day across the greater DC area (and the rest of the US, too) and that means lots of running around town trying to get to your polling place to vote. If you can’t afford your own transportation, though, in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, there’s a cab company coming to your rescue, as they’ll be giving free cab rides to your polling place and back starting at 10am tomorrow and concluding at 1pm so the cabbies can still make a day’s wages. While most of the cabbies cannot vote themselves, they’re still interested in making the process work. It’s all being coordinated through CASA Maryland, so give them a call if you’re interested in a ride to the polls tomorrow.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

No, not the incessant squabbling of my upstairs neighbors. They’re in it for the long haul. I’m talking about the endless parade of political calls made by call-o-matics and volunteers begging me, pleading with me, to vote for the candidate. If I answer the phone one more time and it’s Tim Kaine or Jim Webb or George Allen or John McCain or So-and-so from the Webb/Moran campaigns, I’m going to let forth a stream of invective I will not be responsible for.

My temper was swollen yesterday when the woman from the Webb/Moran campaign asked me if she could count on my vote for her candidates. She was a sweet old lady with a 202 number, so chances are they weren’t “her” candidates by a long shot, and I said “Maybe for Webb, Never for Moran.” There was a shocked silence. “er, okay then” she responded to the empty air as the phone was already arcing down the parabola into the cradle from whence it had been plucked far too often. Do these things really work? Do they annoy more people than they get votes out of? There has to be a way to put a stop to these damn calls.

There’s just 24 hours to go here, just a day left, and I’ll be out for most of it. If you need me today, I’ll be on my cell, there’s no way I’m answering the house phone.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Borat had fun in DC. Here he is enjoying Gay Pride Parade.

He then crossed the Potomac and everything went bear shit and ball sack.

Key take away from Borat: don’t get out of the boat. Stay in DC.

Oh, and buy your tickets in advance.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

This is the movie board at Regal Cinemas in Chinatown. Note that Borat is sold out for both the 6.15 and 7.15 showing.

Out for my once-a-year movie watching, I decided at the last minute (5.55) that Borat would be good fun on a Sunday.

I was not alone.

Who knew that people still went to movies in DC? What with Internet, politics, and local news to distract us.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Do you have a supermodel in your life? Does he/she/it drive a car? Might you wanna get serious special points?

Then I would suggest a humble act: wash the car.

No, I don’t mean you, exactly, that might break a nail. I mean taking it to a car wash, where professionals clean and vacuum it.

Humble yet very effective, you will be rewarded. I can’t promise chocolate croissants, I’m still waiting for that myself, but who knows?

And you will not unless you wash the car.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Even with the crisp chill in the air, the Mt Pleasant farmer’s market has tasty treats for sale.

Fresh fall produce from apples to pumpkins and even buffalo meat.

An added bonus: Heller’s Bakery is next door with hot coffee and sweat treats.

Combined, the two make my hood a great Saturday morning destination!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

WMATA may have Metrorail train departure time signs at the entrances to metro stations, but that doesn’t help if you are trying to decide when to leave work or home to make the next train with the least wait.

Into this comes the Metro’s latest techno-gadget: real-time Metrorail and Metrobus information online.

While the Metrobus timing is limited to only a few lines, the Metrorail timing is active for all Metro stations. This is convenient, no more 15 minute waits on the station platform, but I wish you could see where trains are real-time.

The practicality might not be high, but it would have a much greater “wow” factor!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Politicians. Can’t live with ’em, can’t send them to jail forever. Well, most of the time. Maxim has highlighted their Top Ten Elected Douchebags, and our Mayor for Life is #4. Is anyone surprised? I mean, smoked crack in office, and then blamed it on the woman who got him arrested. Of course, who’s the real jerk, the elected official, or those who put him back into office after he served his time?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Check out the footnote on a late notice I received from the Washington Post Home Delivery service. Note that Mr. Basa implies that he somehow will be hurt if I do not pay my Post subscription asap.

Is this for real? Does the Washington Post really expect Mr. Basa to make a living on a portion of my $2.30 per day payment? Might the Post pay much more than that for Mr. Basa’s services and his note be one more way to try and slow its declining readership?

Several run-around calls to the Post revealed little about driver compensation. Driver job ads reveal less. Calls to Mr. Basa revealed nothing – his phone was not answered.

Maybe you know more? Maybe you know the answer: How are Post delivery drivers compensated? And does my subscription payment matter?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

DC is notorious for being Blackberry-addicted. So many people walk down the street, their eyes glues to their handhelds like zombies searching for brains to munch. So, hot tip for all our DC Crackberry Addicts, go out and grab the new GMail App for your Blackberry. Fear not, Treo users, you can get it too.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Holy Shi-ite!

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

Walking down Clarendon Boulevard this afternoon, past the Metro station, past the Delhi Club, I spotted this bizzarro art exhibit contained in the display windows of what used to be a typewriter repair shop. Featuring protest art and diorama, the beautifully crafted clay sculptures, glazed and unglazed, stand as a singular protest.

Still odd to see it in the windows of this old typewriter repair shop.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

No Sleeping on the Bench!

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

This Arlington Bench seems tailored to provide a poor night’s sleep for anyone who might seek to use it as a bed. I’ve seen similar benches with central rails in the style of the armrests, but a plain wooden bar? How…Lame.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Did that get your attention? It did mine. On November 4th from 5 to 8pm the Kiwanis Club of Arlington will hold its 35th annual Oyster Feast/Pig Roast. Supposedly there’s a bevy of local politicians there dancing like trained monkeys trying to get your vote the coming election Tuesday, but nobody’s paying the $35 at the door for that. The point of it is the all you can stuff in your greedy little maw flow of oysters, slow-roasted pork, hot dogs, hamburgers, cole slaw, beer, and soda. Park at Ballston Common mall and they’ll validate your ticket on entry, making parking part of the deal too.

The proceeds go towards funding community programs, information about which you can find on the Kiwanis Club of Arlington‘s webpage.

American Service Center
601 N. Randolph St.
Arlington, VA 22203

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

DC Photographer Don Brodie will be on this evening’s episode of Talking Business with the Pros, a weekly talk show about the business side of photography. Come check it out from 10-11 p.m. Audience participation is welcome.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Cap City Brewery

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

While DCist might have told you to leave early yesterday, I’m gonna say it today: Get The Hell Outside.

It’s perfect out there, with the fall colors at their peak, the clouds pleasantly fluffy and white, and when was the last time it was so nice and warm on the first of November. Take your sunglasses out, go for a Dickey’s Frozen Custard and forget work the rest of the day.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs