I love Wally’s Aquarium. Back when I wasn’t car free DC, I would head out to Wally’s at least once a month to fish-shop. They have a great selection of fish gear and the service is amazing. When I became a proud guppy dad, they helped me with much of my stress and worry, and now I have guppies galore.

If you’re jonesing for your own guppy family, or really wanna get crazy and challenge The Reef in its salt-water glory, head on down there. Better yet, sign up for Wally’s email list and you can get deals like this one:

Bring in this e-mail and take 30% off all the fish you can handle. Good only Aug. 18 – Aug. 21 This includes freshwater and saltwater.
WALLY’S AQUARIUM: 6493 Little River Tnpk, Alexandria, Va 22312

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The Post released their Best Bets online this afternoon. Some of my highlights:

Cake Love for Best Bakery
Five Guys for Best Burger
California Tortilla for Best Cheap Eats

Definite Lowlights:

Ray’s the Steaks loses to Ruth’s Chris in the Best Steaks category. Ray’s is doing some amazing and unique cooking at their little storefront in Arlington, and they lose to the bland chain? What the fuck, people? This is disrespectful.

What are your highlights? lowlights?

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Friday I was whisked away for a night of last-minute theater in Columbia Heights. I wasn’t too crazy about the production, but it was worth it to see the semi-restored theater space in the Tivoli, long the subject of contention in that neighborhood.

The original theater was a grand vaudeville palace. To create a smaller theater space for the renovation they basically took the top balcony and built a floor under it, so that part of the original ceiling, an impressive dome, is over the audience and the stage. It’s so close in places that you can really admire the intricate detail. I’m not sure why the paint is peeling given the fact that the renovation was recent, perhaps it’s the bright stage lights so close to the ceiling, but in any case it adds to the sense of faded grandeur.

Be sure to go up to the elevated side seats and sneak past the gate of the catwalk, so you can lean over and check out the murals on the dome – signs of the Zodiac, rather faint but still visible. Extremely cool.

Afterwards I did feel a bit sad, thinking of the lost architectural treasures in the city. There’s a Giant now sticking out of the Tivoli’s side, and across the street they’re clearing the way for the usual suspects of corporate shopping conglomerates.

More often than not we lose our historic buildings due to that infuriating inferiority complex which makes us craven with developers – give them whatever they want, just please build that Target! We almost lost the Tivoli in this mad dash for surburban-style big box development – the whole building might have met its fate by bulldozer, and several bids only wanted the facade. Though I’m haunted by the possibility of the entire theater being reclaimed instead of just a sliver, it’s heartening that some part of its past glory was saved.

And it certainly made for a wistful DC night, peering at the half-lit friezes of laughing satyrs.

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When I was a kid, I was a lego-maniac. My parents thought I might end up an engineer, and that my masterwork would be composed entirely of all the legos that they had purchased while I was growing up. I’d make castles, and space bases, and forest scenes, all from my lego bricks.

Apparently, though, I am barely a talented amateur. Lego enthusiasts the world over converged on GMU this weekend to show off their very best. The photo here, taken by Jaki Chikwendiu of the Post shows a version of the Indy 500. The Post’s gallery of the event is astounding. Of course, I’ve never been to Legoland, so perhaps it just doesn’t compare. Sadly, I missed this event, going to have to watch for next year’s!

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You “blog”? Or better yet, you old-school like me and say its a website becuase you rememeber the days of HTML hell, with only a recent Version 3.0 upgrade? Then change your plans on Wednesday. Its time for a IRL meet-up. Yep, its the:

The Washington Weblogger Meetup Group
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 (7:00 PM)
Pharaoh’s Bar & Grill, Washington, DC
1817 Columbia Rd. NW

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Woohoo! Here good news for those of us keeping car free DC. From the WashPost:

Clear Channel Outdoor and D.C. transportation officials announced that the Phoenix-based advertising company will install 788 bus shelters throughout the District. Officials said the bus shelters will have up-to-the-minute bus-arrival information and will be linked to a Web-based monitoring system that will track operations and maintenance of the shelters.

Now isn’t that cool? Bus stops with bus arrival information, so you know how long you have to wait. And check out the different stylish shelters they should be putting up. Now there is only one little catch to get all this by 2009 at no cost to the D.C. Department of Transportation: a contract that gives Clear Channel Outdoor exclusive rights to advertising at the new shelters for the next 20 years.

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Say you’re thirsty this morning, needing a sip of cool, refreshing water. Then look no further than the bus stop at 16th and Euclid NW, where a water main broke and is flooding the stop and the street. You’d have a cool photo of it, and the police car guarding the overflow, but it’s hard taking photos when you’re concentrating on not hitting errant walkers. If you’re driving, expect delays as folks slow to rubberneck and avoid the police car.

Me, I’m expect to be water-free yet again tonight.

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As Wayan so smugly noted below this post, gas prices are up, and they’re up big. When I filled my tank on Friday on the way to work, I paid just slightly over $2.40 a gallon at the Shell in Shirlington.

On Friday night, I went to poker, passing the cheap station on route 7 by St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, where gas was $2.48/gallon.

On Saturday morning, on my way home from poker, it was $2.56/gallon.

Last night, coming back from Crosby, Stills and Nash, it was over $2.65.

People, what the fuck is going on here? This is ridiculous. Close to thirty cents a gallon in a weekend?! Time to whip out the gas dashboard widget.

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CS&N1

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

Tonight, thanks to a good friend, I got the royal treatment out at Wolf Trap. At the last minute, my friend Ben needed someone to go to the Crosby, Stills & Nash show, and hey, how can a guy turn down free seats to see good hippie rock? Did I mention they were free GOOD seats?

Yes, my friend has connections deep within the Department of the Interior and tonight we were treated to the seats in the Secretary’s box for Crosby, Stills & Nash. As we arrived, barricades were pulled aside, and we were allowed to park on the close drive about 50 feet from the entrance to the Filene Center, as opposed to at the Ben Folds concert, when the lots were so full we got to park outside the lot on the side of the road leading to Wolf Trap, about a half mile or so away.

It’s good to be the King’s nephew’s cousin’s best friend.

The concert was absolutely amazing, and while I may not agree with Graham Nash on politics, the man can sing. And while I may not exactly understand the whole Melissa Etheridge/David Crosby thing that happened a few years ago, Crosby can still play. But really, what astounded me was Steven Stills. This man is absolutely incredible. Every song he was leading tonight was off the hook. He has guitar chops that could compete with just about anyone in the music business. He has a blues/gospel soul and isn’t afraid to pay tribute to Luther Vandross in concert. He has every ability to absolutely wail on a guitar solo for about five minutes. And he’s been doing this for over 35 years.

Who’s going to be around from the music scene these days in 35 years? Dave Matthews Band, U2, these names come to mind, but it’s just incredible to think of one group of guys, playing together, for longer than I’ve been alive. That’s some dedication right there.

Highlights from the concert? Buffalo Springfield’s “What’s That Sound”, “Love the one you’re with”, and “Marrakesh Express.”

Things I will likely try to forget? Some of their more recent stuff. The song about feeding everybody just didn’t work for me.

Overall, heckuva show, great bunch of players. Thanks again to Secretary Norton for allowing us into her box at Wolf Trap, as well as thanks to Ben and Doug D for hooking us up.

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It’s the mark of a great neighborhood restaurant that within five minutes of entering one you feel completely relaxed, at home, and already thinking of your next visit. Last night a friend and I had such an evening at the new Al Crostino, from being lavished with attention upon arrival, to having kisses blown at our departure. Owner Luigi Diotaiuti (also of Al Tiramisu in Dupont) was there making sure his new baby was running smoothly, working the crowd with aplomb as only an Italian can.

It’s an intimate space on U between 13th & 14th Streets. With cheerful yellow walls and an extended wraparound bar, it kept a good balance between romantic and lively while we were there. There’s liberal use of the all-purpose word prego and RAI on the bar TV. This ambience really reminded me of wine bars in Venice and makes it definitely a place that I would stop in for a glass on the way home.

Considering it’s a wine bar, I felt obligated to drink up. So I indulged in a few glasses well-chosen by our charming and efficient waiter Marcello. To end the night he convinced me to try espresso served with a shot of grappa – mixed at your own pace.

After a quick consultation between Luigi and Marcello as to whether I would enjoy the honey- or the chamomile-infused grappa more, the hazy honey firewater was procured. It made for an amazing combination of caffeine and alcohol, and enabled me to dizzily waltz the four blocks home with ease.

I hope Al Crostino can straddle the line between keeping a neighborhood feel while becoming wildly popular. The people there last night ran the gamut from serious wine lovers laughing away at the bar, to a bevy of young ladies in the obligatory handkerchief tops reveling in flirting, to neighborhood couples just wandering in off the street. All were equally greeted by Luigi and urged to enjoy la dolce vita…

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…make sure it costs less than $200.

That’s the lesson we should all take home from this week’s bridge accident on 295. Apparently, if you willfully or accidentally damage district property during a car accident, expect the bill. Apparently, there’s some question as to whether the trucking company or the driver will be footing the $100,000 bill. Not one I’d want on my insurance…

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Someone commented on a post a while back that the District’s bike registration laws were ludicrous and needlessly burdensome.

I actually agreed with that- it seems sort of silly and my libertarian heart despises bureacracy. But then I discovered that a friend of mine who is a District resident has had her bike stolen twice, but it was recovered both times. Why? Because she had registered it.

Once, the none-too-bright thief had left the bike chained up outside… down the street from my friend’s house. She saw it was there and called the police. They show up, verify that it is indeed her bike, looked at the boltcutters she was holding and said, “Well, it’s your bike…”

Another time, a guy took the bike to a bike repair shop, who noticed the registration matched a stolen bike. They refused to give it back to the guy who brought it in. “But it’s my bike! I paid for it!” “…And it was stolen.” “But I PAID for it!” So the bike shop calls the police… who inform the angry customer that he had bought a stolen bike, which is called “receiving stolen property,” and is also illegal. How much did he want to press the issue?

But the Prodigal Bike had returned again. So maybe that bike registration thing isn’t so terrible after all.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

By the way, guys, the LaRouchies seem to be out in force today. Don’t make eye contact or sudden movements, and they might leave you alone…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

How lame is your dating life if you read “you are getting 8 minute dating PLUS an all-you-can-eat dinner for only $20 more” and think: Wow! What a deal! Me, I wanna keep my dating and my meals separate or else you’ll not get either done. Still Professionals in the City try their best to hook folks up.

Tonight will be no different as they will give you a bowl and get you started on your first round of stir-fry buffet and 8-minute dating at Flat Top Grill. After 8 minutes, you will either move down a few seats or move tables. Every two rounds, you will have a chance to fill up your bowl again at the stir-fry buffet before beginning another round of 8 minute dating.

So that means you have 16 minutes of yapping then a few minutes to eat, and back for another round of yapping. Bring toothpicks to keep embarrassing food-bits to a minimum and be ready for a wait.

Pros in the city caters to the shy, so if you find someone you may want to contact in the future, write down the number from their name tag on your index card and if it’s a mutual match, they’ll send you their e-mail address after the event.

Tickets are $40 if purchased in advance for all that food-in-your-teeth fun and follow-up with email wait.

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Hey look, y’all! The back of my head is famous! (10th photo, I’m standing next to Tom, and seriously, all you can see is a full on view of the back of my head.)

Just wanted to call attention to this round-up of shots from the Endgadget meetup Monday night. It was lovely to meet you, especially the guy who wore the Cupcake Pirate shirt.

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PH2005080901873.jpg

Originally uploaded by rllayman.

Just under 19 million people came to DC last year from out of town, finally getting us back above 9/11 days. It’s a boost for the local economy, that’s true, but a hassle for those of us who live here. But, this is America’s city, so I suppose it’s our duty to be gracious hosts. Just please, stand to the right on the Metro escalators and we’ll all get along fine.

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You know the cake. You know the cafe. Now, get to know the lawyer-turned-baker-turned-legend Warren Brown as he hosts his own Food Network show!

I’m so thrilled about this I’m practically vibrating. Warren! On TV! With cake! All the women in DC are swooning in anticipation.

(Doesn’t ring a bell? If you were at Metroblogging DC’s first birthday party and had a slice of cake, then you are already aware of why Warren is worthy of his own show.)

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When you’ve suffered through a mind-numbing budget meeting, you need a little lunchtime pick-me-up!

So I finally followed through on a promise to visit Coup de Foudre, the swank lingerie shop at 11th & E Streets, a dangerously short walk from my office prison.

If you are the sort of person who detests lingerie and would rather just wear your Hanes until they fall apart, you may stop reading now.

If you are the sort of person whose only knowledge of lingerie is Victoria’s Secret – run run run to this lovely temple of fine delectables and broaden your mind.

The shop has a light floral scent as you enter, lingerie sets hanging in delicate colors, with sweet founder Valerie Lucas to guide you on your excursion. Brands like Cosabella, Aubade, Chantelle, and Huit are featured and styles run the gamut from old-fashioned lace and embroidery to clean laser-cut… sigh.

Warning: you will lighten your wallet/pocketbook. The least expensive items in the store were the fabulous undies known as Hanky Panky (honestly ladies, if you’ve never worn these before – the Holy Grail of Incredibly Comfortable & Sexy Panties – you need to run on over and pick up some!).

For the rest, well, exquisite French lingerie does not run cheap. These are definitely for special occasions, unless you happen to be disgustingly lucky enough to wear such luxury everyday. You’ll notice a distinct devotion to quality – fine fabrics and flattering cuts.

I literally almost wept over the delicate sexiness of a particular set – good fabric just feels nicer against the skin and nothing accentuates curves better… I highly recommend this adorable shop for personal splurges, pampering gifts, or just a moment of indulgent Fantasy Shopping.

And sorry no, I didn’t take pics. ;)

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I have a sweet last minute offer for someone who loves Neil Diamond (remember…a diamond is forever…). My friend Nicole has two tickets to tonight’s 8pm show at MCI Center.

They’re Acela Club seats, Section 229, Row E. The face value is $88 each, but she

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