It will probably surprise no one that I’d never been to an agricultural fair before I came to DC. Where I grew up, farms were rarified reserves for horses or trees. Rye Playland was where you went for fun rides and cotton candy. Never the twain did meet. But then I moved here and met a Pennsylvanian well-schooled in ag fair fun, and it all changed.

Wait a minute. Something about that first sentence seems strange, eh? There are actually agricultural fairs in DC? Yes indeed, in our greater vicinity you can get your fill of dizzying rides, funnel cake, and award-wining squash that look like, ah, various anatomical features.

Take Montgomery County, whose annual agricultural fair began on August 11th and runs until the 19th. Not only can you get your fill of all the above carnival and agricultural delights, but you can also witness that most insane of rituals – the demolition derby. Watch as old wrecks are transformed into killing machines – engines roar, sparks fly, metal grinds metal – and the audience’s adrenaline rush is all very Crash.

So check it out this week (goat shows! cattle shows! horse shows! rabbit shows! monster truck pulls! milking shows!). I guarantee there’s something for everyone to enjoy. And if you can’t make it, never fear – I’m hitting the derby Friday night and will post photos of the burning rubber twisted metal wreckage for you to ogle.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Today is the voter registration deadline for the DC Mayoral Primary which takes place in just under a month. You can register online today, but unless you also mail a signed copy of the form to the city before the last mail pickup tonight, your registration isn’t official. Voting is a crucial part of our democratic process, even in the city-with-no-national-franchise, it’s important to decide who’s going to be running this city. Get out, register, then vote next month.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Are you annoyed by the new no fluids rule at area airports? Is that the last straw to break you from coach?

May I present you with a better option? This is the DC Tri Club new flight method: going as checked luggage.

While it might be rough in the hold, would it really be any better in the cabin?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Come in fourth in an Olympic event and you don’t even get a medal. Fifth in the World Series of Poker gets you $3,216,182. Not a bad return on a $10,000 investment and a week’s work, which is what Rhett Butler put in. Tom told us about RB’s being in 4th place for chip count at the end of the day on Thursday so I thought I’d follow up with the final standings. Congrats Rhett!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Ashwak Saleh was arrested outside the White House today for wielding a 13″ machete on the sidewalk. Her response when asked to drop the knife was “What are you going to do — shoot me?”

Why yes, Ashwak, that’s exactly what they were going to do if you didn’t drop the giant fucking knife. Did you expect them to give you a lollipop instead? Seriously, how deranged do you have to be to show up to a gunfight with a knife? You know what this town needs? More knife control.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Well, it’s August, Congress is out of session and life is slowing down to a heat-induced crawl. How about doing something a bit unique with your time? Come join Metroblogging DC! We’re accepting applications all month running through the 31st. While the position doesn’t pay, it does come with the occasional beer, concert ticket or cool invite. We only ask that applicants be willing to post 12 posts a month (roughly 3 per week) for us here at Metroblogging DC.

We’ve added six great new authors, and you’ve seen their first posts this past week, but we’re hoping that you’ll come join us as well.

If you are interested, please apply here and we’ll be in touch.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Dear Aramark:

I shouldn’t have to miss over an inning and a half of the game for the privilege of paying $5 for a soda. I know you have insufficient vendor facilities, but either staff adequately so I can get back to my seat promptly or stop abusing my wallet.

FOAD,
Tiff

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Guys, you can feel free to skip right over this entry, unless your female friends need a recommendation about where to get a good haircut. Otherwise, this probably won’t interest you, and there are a number of excellent posts up this week which will entertain you more. Okay?

I’m a girl who has a difficult time finding a good haircut and a salon which can do microneedling. This is in large degree my own fault- I’ve never been particularly daring with the hairstyle and have been essentially wearing variations of the same thing since I was about 14. Not so good for my yuppie-hipster lifestyle.

Greet customers with eye contact, handshakes, and warm genuine smiles. Friendly facial expressions are so contagious patrons will respond, feeling happier and more comfortable with their salon experience. Treat visitors like invited guests. Conduct tours so they’ll sense they belong in the salon they visit. If you will like the recommendation from our readers reviews, visit https://www.lashbombsalon.com/.

But part of the problem has been that no matter how specific I try to be about what I’m looking for, no one ever seems to get it exactly right. I got a haircut once that was so bad I cried, and months later when it had finally grown out enough that I could chop it all off to my chin to get it fixed, the new hairdresser said, “So, was he trying to give you a mullet?”

So I’m a little gunshy about the haircuts, so out of that problem, and out of general busy-ness, I had let my hair grow all the way down my back. I decided it was time to cut it really short and donate it to Locks of Love. I wanted to do something different with it this time, but had no idea what that might be.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

In a classic case of the mainstream media picking up on a story that was hot on the internet months ago, Good Morning America figured out that Hill Interns are hot and dress provocatively. See, they heard about this story over at Wonkette about Hill Intern Hotties from back in June and have finally decided that it was news. It should shock precisely no one that most of the young people on the Hill here for the summer are sparklingly attractive and fresh.

Of course they are, they still have their souls intact. Seriously, if you want to know why DC is “Hollywood for Ugly People” it’s that we take the pretty ones and wring them out over a glass so that Ted Stevens and Ted Kennedy and the rest of the career politicians can stay propped up through another election cycle.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Do you remember 1976? Or better yet, do you remember the first time you saw Rocky? And I’m talking the original one, not any of the crap follow-ups.

Did it ever inspire you to run up the Philly Art Museum steps? Or localize it with a sprint up the Lincoln Memorial? Maybe, like me, you tried to chase a chicken while in training once. While I remember that day every time I have a drumstick, here’s your opportunity to have your own Rocky memory:

Monday, in the last Party Scene of Screen on the Green, they will be showing the original Rocky on the National Mall around sunset. Grab your blankets, picnic, and popcorn, Rocky Balboa is coming to town!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The National Park Police have arrested five suspects in the July robberies on the Mall, which also included several sexual assaults. NBC 4 has video from the press conference with the Park Police Chief which included questions regarding the lighting of the Mall at night, and funding for the Park Police for extra patrols. The arrests were the result of a series of warrants (18 in total) and an on-going investigations. Names and details are forthcoming at this time.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Do you think politicians are blowhards, that their collective hot air fills more than the Capitol with inconsequence? The innovative statistician, Statastico, did a handy little comparison to see what could possibly hold more hot air than a Washington DC politician and this is what he found:

So how many breaths does it take to fill up some common things that are full of hot air? The average adult lung capacity is about .18 cubic feet (5 liters) of air. So it would take one breath from about half a million politicians to fill up the average hot air balloon. There aren’t enough politicians to get the job done, but I’m betting that they can call in some help from the lobbyists.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Sorry for the lack of picture with this entry, guys, but it took me a bit to figure out exactly what I was looking at and in the meantime didn’t want to risk being wrong.

So there I was, leaving my office to meet up with Tom and another friend of ours for a DC Film Society showing of Accepted, when I notice a bunch of police milling about, and a small crowd lingering on the corner near the entrance to Farragut North at Connecticut and K. Being a dedicated DC Metroblogger, I knew I had to figure out what was going on.

It didn’t take long to figure out- there was a torso and a pair of legs sticking out of the trashcan on the corner. Appropriately horrified and incredulous that such a thing could happen in broad daylight downtown, I entered the Metro station and continued on my way. And that’s when I realized:

– The cops were snickering a bit
– There was no crime scene tape (yeah, I watch CSI)
– No one seemed to be taking statements from anyone
– The way the legs were hanging seemed just a bit unnatural

Yeah, it was a dummy. Someone stuck a dummy, face-first, into a trashcan at the corner of Connecticut & K. Nice prank, but I can’t help but get annoyed when people waste police time with that kind of crap.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

We live in an area that is so easy to photograph, yet so difficult at the same time. Sure, anyone can point their camera at the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, or at the Capitol and come up with a decent shot, but it takes a good eye, good timing, and the right equipment to come up with that “postcard” shot.

My hope in contributing to Metroblogging DC is to highlight some of our local photographers who have what I feel it takes to come up with unique shots that make you see our town in a different light. I hope to share with you not only photos of our main attractions, but also of scenes that are off the beaten path.

For now my main photo source will be Flickr, so I encourage all of you to post your best shots to our pool for all of us to see. The shots I choose won’t necessarily be current either, I’ll be digging through the archives to see what I can turn up. Also, if you have your own photo site, I’d love to see it!

So without further ado, I’d like to start things off with this photo by Andertho:

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

Some months ago we posted a few entries about the controversy at Gallaudet over the selection of the new school President. Yesterday on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi show both incoming President Jane Fernandes and outgoing President I. King Jordan took questions from Kojo and callers.

The show was transcribed live and the full transcript appears here or you can listen to the show here. It’s long on atta girls for Dr. Fernandes and surprisingly free of critics, whether that’s a result of deliberate choice by Kojo and the screeners or a calming attitude at Gallaudet is hard to know but the show is interesting never the less.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Well, you knew it was coming. The public debate in the mayoral race had been nothing but sweetness and light compared to today’s accusations from Linda Cropp regarding a client of Adrian Fenty’s: “You can judge the character of a person by how they treat our most vulnerable.” The comment is in regards to a 2005 informal admonition by the DC Bar against Fenty for mishandling of the finances of an elderly man that Fenty was the court-appointed ward for. Details are fairly sparse, but apparently the audience didn’t think highly of Cropp’s personal attack:

Audience members did not seem to like what they viewed as a personal attack by Cropp, with some initially hissing. Then, when the moderator reminded participants to avoid personal attacks, audience members clapped enthusiastically. After the forum, Cropp said she was merely stating the facts.

Well, generally we like friendly races, and this is twice in a week that Cropp has gone negative against Fenty, perhaps she’s desperate now that she’s behind in the polls?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

More than planes hitting buildings, this is my office worker nightmare: trapped in an elevator alone, thinking its going to drop to the basement at body-killing speed any second.

Today this very fear happened to someone who works on my floor but for another company – she was trapped in the elevator for ten minutes at lunch hour. Apparently the elevator was acting up all morning but had just passed inspection by the Otis repairwoman when it trapped the office worker.

Luckily, the Otis people were still onsite and were quick in unlocking the doors and freeing the trapped passenger, but not before the shaken woman went through at least one round of queasy stomach “I’m gonna die!” panic attacks in her confinement.

As I left for lunch, I took the stairs.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Well, we’ll see how long Wayan’s beloved trash cans last now. In response to today’s arrests over the pond, our security overlords have leaped into action, making all flyers safe from the threats posed by shampoo and contact lens solution. In the words of my friend Mick, “Hey, the TSA has now banned drinks on planes. I feel much safer. If they just ban people on planes, we should cover all our bases.” If you’re flying out of our area airports, get there early. Say, about an hour earlier than you would need to leave if you were driving to your destination. In Europe.

If you’re on the metro and want to use the bathroom, tough – they’re “closed to the public until further notice” according to the above article. I’d meant to use the above photo, taken at one of the venues from the Fringe Festival, to point out how some areas have found more economical alternatives to automatic flushing toilets, but I decided to use it here since for you metro riders this might be the last one you get to see for a while….

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’ve written about the Grooming Lounge before, their shave is exquisite. Their new blog, though, is something else:

When I walk around the streets of D.C. (where the Grooming Lounge is based), I often get approached by random guys asking random grooming questions. These interactions usually start off something like… “Hey… you’re that grooming guy with that place over on 18th Street. I saw you on XXX and always wanted to ask you about YYY.”

Seriously, can you picture yourself on a DC street corner and seeing some random grooming person and saying “Hey! What can I do about my bald spot?” Ah well, here’s hoping it gets better. Me, I’m off to the lounge for a haircut today, we’ll see how they fare.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs