I was just in Firehook Bakery for my usual afternoon delight, when I overheard this exchange between a British tourist and the barrista:

Brit: “Could I get a cuppa tea?”
Barrista: “You want a cup of green tea?”
Brit: “No, no, regular tea. Tea.
(Pauses…)
Don’t you have just an ordinary cup of tea?”
Barrista: “You mean, not flavored? We have lots of flavors.”
Brit: “Just a cup of tea. Ordinary. Regular.”
(She pauses again, squirming in dismay at the inability to communicate her fervent 3:30pm desire to get a nice cuppa)
Barrista: “How about black? We have black tea.”
Brit: “Yes, yes, that’s it. That’s what I mean. That’ll do.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

What’s this, you ask? A hundred thousand protesters in DC this weekend and nary a peep from the Metrobloggers?

Let me clue you in on a little secret. Protests are part of daily life here. Anyone who has lived in DC for more than a month has learned the critical lesson: Whether it’s that crazy guy with the bullhorn on Farragut Square or 100,000 people chanting on the Mall, it’s best to ignore protesters.

Don’t look at them, or they might try to hand you literature that you’re just going to have to find a trashcan to throw away. If you engage with them, they might want to come BACK. And that means more fucked up traffic, edgy cops, and people who are so consumed with love for the ANWR, or hatred for the World Bank, that they completely fail to notice that they’re supposed to “stand to the right.”

Protesters are essentially tourons with signs.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Push, shove, get outta my way!

Wow, never have I seen anything quite like a supermarket on a weekend in DC. You would think that Hurricane Rita was hitting DC by the way folks elbow and scramble for bread and eggs. Instead, it

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

With 50,000 angry women (and the 50,000 college guys pretending to be angry so they can get laid) descending upon the city for protests this weekend, you might be thinking, so what exactly is DC going to do about it?

The answer is: close streets. But the good thing is, the Post is there with a handy map to tell you where to avoid in the city this weekend due to IMF/World Bank protests or the Anti-War march or the Book Festival, or the SegwayFest, or…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I realize that I had a pretty religious upbringing. And while my parents aren’t prudes by any stretch, I realize that there is a lot out there I haven’t really been, um, exposed to.

But what the HELL is up with nude housecleaning services? I mean, I suppose I understand the market demand for such a thing, but I can’t imagine wanting to work with ammonia or bleach while my sensitive bits are exposed, get it?

But if you’re looking for a job as a nude housekeeper, there is plenty of demand for it, even in Falls Church. So is this some widespread erotic-services trend that I just wasn’t aware of, or is this a wishful thinking trend made possible by Craigslist?

(Yes, there is actually one “service provider” advertising as well.)

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Danger, Danger!

Originally uploaded by tjbax.

These are the shoes that the TSA decided were so dangerous that they had to have “additional screening.” These shoes. The ones I bought for $10 at Target. In the CHILDREN’S section.

Tom and I are headed to Webzine 2005 in San Francisco this weekend, where we’ll be meeting up with Grand Metroblogging Poobahs Sean and Jason, plus bloggers from both LA and San Francisco.

Also in attendance will be Philip Kaplan, who you may remember as Pud of Fuckedcompany.com. OMG. I am about to become a drooling fangirl. A conversation with a coworker:

“Pud from FuckedCompany is going to be there too.”

“No way! You have to get his autograph!”

“I’m going to make Tom take my photo with him!”

“Get him to sign your BOOB!”

“Um, no.”

“You know, you’re not a very good groupie.”

“I know. Tragic.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Display Only?

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

What happened to “Out of Order” ? I mean, I just don’t get it. There we are, sitting in the Dulles terminal waiting for our Jetblue flight to California, charging our laptops (hint for travelers, all payphone areas at Dulles have at least one grounded 3-prong outlet beneath the payphone banks) and we spot this gem. I got nothing folks, this one is just way too out there for me. What purpose in the world could a payphone have as a display? Look at our pretty yellow handsets! They’re so…YELLOW! You too could have such a delightful yellow hue in your very own home!

What’s goin’ on here, Verizon?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Hey DC Bloggers, want a free ticket to Serenity?

Okay, now that you’ve started to salivate, please be sure to wipe your mouth.

From Instapundit Glenn Reynolds:

MOVIE SEEKS BLOG REVIEWERS: The PR folks for the forthcoming Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, etc.) science fiction movie Serenity are inviting bloggers to advance screenings. (List of cities here via an Excel document that didn’t quite format right, but it’s legible). It’s free, and all they ask is that you blog something, good or bad, about it.

If you’re interested, email ’em at rsvp@gracehillmedia.com and they’ll put you on the list. I’ll be going to a screening in Knoxville.

There is indeed a DC screening, and while I’ll be out of town, there’s no reason you shouldn’t go. Get on it, peeps!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Professional Development Trip to Paris for your chef: $3,500
Luncheon for the wife and garden club: $5,000
Trip to Nigeria: $22,345
Drivers’ Costs: $54,000
Bar Bill: $100,000

Spending over half a million of the university’s money on yourself? Priceless.

Yup, the President of American University is currently in some awfully hot water over his spending habits, which include pan-seared foie gras, and some nice cashmere and some antiques. Yeah, if I was an alumni of American, I’d be pretty steamed right about now…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Tonight was a good bar-crawl. I’m entertaining/interviewing a candidate for a prime Geekcorps Mali Program Manager position and took him out for a night on the town and social testing. I don

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

– Why are there still people who yell “O!” during the National Anthem? Not only are you at the wrong stadium, you have terrible manners.

– Three pieces of string does not qualify as underwear. That’s not panties, it’s twine. Also, I don’t want to look at your ass crack all night, so wear a longer shirt.

– It was terribly ambitious of the Nats to send out invoices for playoff tickets to season ticket holders and demand that we pay them by Monday to reserve our seats. Awfully ambitious, seeing as how the Nats are at least 5 games out of even Wild Card contention.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

You know, some political emails are just so funny that you have to let them speak for themselves. I just got this gem from the Fenty Campaign:

From: alec@fenty06.com
Subject: FENTY CAMPAIGN SURPASSES 2,000 YARD SIGNS
To: alec@fenty06.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) announced today that his
mayoral campaign has delivered over 2,000 yard signs to residents in
all eight wards throughout the city.

Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Instead of talking about Fenty’s stance on local issues, we’re going to talk about his lawn signs. Right. Gotcha. Should I expect further hard hitting emails about Fenty’s jaunty cap collection? The number of bumperstickers on area cars? Number of buttons distributed at metro stations?

Or, are we going to talk issues like the homeless problem in DC. Unemployment. Attracting business to the area. Using public funds to build a sports stadium. Taxation. Representation. These are things you issue press releases for.

Not how many goddamn ugly-ass lawn signs you stick up across town. C’mon Adrian, I expect better from you.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I hadn’t been to the Luna Grill and Diner in ages, but last night after re-joining the National Capital YMCA we needed something close by and relatively uncomplicated for dinner.

Not to mention the minute I remembered the place I began to obsess about their sweet potato fries. There’s something about the sweet potato that makes me think of autumn leaves and cool breezes. Maybe its role at Thanksgiving dinners has something to do with it.

Ummmm… deliciously roasted sweet potato steak-cut fries with a hint of caramel…

Luna Grill was just as quirky as ever, with its offbeat murals and rustic wooden tables. It’s a charming spot with basic good food – “slow food served fast” as their motto says. However, I could’ve done without sitting on my neighbor’s lap, as it were. The tables for two are ridiculously close together, so close you can hear all the slurping and chewing, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the guy next to us had joined our conversation. It also made for some interesting aerobatics on the part of our waiter as he attempted to refill our glasses.

But those fries were heavenly!
Now I just need to find some sweet potato pie, perfect for autumn.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

When I was out for Happy Hour on Friday, my friend Ben was telling me a tale of woe of how he was nearly arrested when he and a friend had taken a dog out to a local park and let it off the leash to run around. I was astounded to hear that there were few, if any, dog parks in the District, and that police, having solved all other crimes, had resorted to harassing dog owners in a park.

Today, however, is a good day for dog owners in the District, as the City Council voted to allow dog parks on city- and federally-owned park land. No word yet as to where some candidates would be, where would you put a dog park in DC?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Thanks to Christian and Nikolas for reminding us that there’s more to life than the anti-war/anti-capitalism/anti-you-name-it-we-hates-it rallies this weekend.

If you’re looking for something to do locally, there’s going to be a Green Festival (a joint project of Co-op America and Global Exchange) at the DC Convention Center with tickets at $15 a day and a metric tonne of exhibitors from DC Yoga to Marantha Nut Butters to the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. Sure, the smell of patchouli may be overwhelming from time to time, but it beats getting gassed by the cops when some anarchists try to break into Citibank.

Of course, if you’re more literary minded, the National Book Festival, put on by the Library of Congress, will be taking over the National Mall for the weekend. This year’s authors will include Buzz Aldrin, David Baldacci, Neil Gaiman, Giada de Laurentiis, R.L. Stine and a whole bushel of other authors across many genres.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This just in from Dr Dremo – their Beer Pong games are history. Why would they stop such timeless fun? How could they end the hard-core competition? Well it seems that Johnny Law is anti-pong. Yes, there is no more beer pong at Dr Dremo’s by order of the Arlington county police and the VA Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Apparently, drinking games are not permitted in bars in the state of VA. Drinking games like beer pong, the college favorite at every Virginia college, university, and frat house. What does that mean for flip cup then? And for the state of education in Virginia? Now who is the nanny state?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

A Falls Church man has admitted to plotting with a Saudi Al Qaeda cell to assassinate President Bush.

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali says it never got past the “idea stage,” and it’s not hard to see why:

“My idea was . . . I would walk on the street as the President walked by, and I would get close enough to shoot him, or I would use a car bomb.”

Yeah. That would work. Just bump into ol’ Georgie on the street. Or park in front of his house.

Clearly, this is a guy who hasn’t been paying attention, or hadn’t spent much time outside of Falls Church…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Ah, yes, it’s that time of year. The time when you begin to have strange cravings for Steak-on-a-Stick, or smoked turkey leg eaten right off the bone a la Henry VIII. Perhaps you find yourself speaking in an excruciatingly bad English accent, or inexplicably adding “e” to the ends of words like “Shop” or “Old” – well then my friend, it’s time to don thy frippery best and hie thee to the Maryland Renaissance Festival!!

Runing weekends now thru the end of October, the RennFest is always a blast. Start out early and do as we savage Vikings do – have oysters for breakfast (and oyster shooters for second breakfast!). Wander aimlessly through the grove marvelling at the handicrafts – purchase some honey candles, perhaps some chainmail or a pewter toasting cup. Let your inhibitions run wild, and remember it’s all about having some good olde-fashioned goofy fun. Lots of it.

The stage shows are always hysterical – don’t miss the sword-swallowing – and the jousting is always rousing. Inbibe in local ales and wines (but don’t do archery afterwards!). Above all, spend the entire day, and see the evening exit procession by torchlight – really lovely.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Do you find a good meal better than sex? Would you quit a job that interfered with dinner? Can you spot a truffle in the wild? Then you should belong to the Tastings Journal.

There you can have 4, 5 and 6 course prix fixe dinners by Washington’s hot new restaurants. Each month they offer an exclusive menu at a different restaurant. Reservations are required; the events always sell out fast.

This month, it’s all about BACI. The place is stunning and as always, the dinner includes a complementary bottle of wine. At $50 per person it better. Now break out the no-limit credit card and get ready to spend some dosh on the din din.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Yes, I am. I would mainline sugar and cream if I could, which shocks some because I eat so healthy and don’t have sweats near. Really, though, the reason I don’t get near the dessert tray or the ice cream isle is that I have no willpower when it comes to sweets.

For Ben & Jerry’s I do not need the pint lock or even a lid – pints disappear in one sitting. Cakes go even without icing and cookies are eaten as batter before they make it to the oven. Right now, I’m having one of my favorites – Nilla wafers and soy milk. Mmm Mmm Good!

Tomorrow, I’m gonna celebrate the end of triathlon training, I’m gonna get Krispy Kremes for the office!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs