image courtesy of Whappen

Aw yeah! If you don’t have enough surreal in your life then here’s your shot: tomorrow Ron Paul will be at one of Tom’s fave stomping grounds, Boulevard Woodgrill. Personally I more or less concur with the opinion of MB alum Jeff and think he’s an entertaining crank with no chance of winning. I’m reeeeeallly enjoying watching him try, however.

The only thing that tempers my enjoyment is when we happen to concur on a matter and his spaz factor (like the X-Factor, but way less helpful though just as entertaining on tv) paints all of us who hold that opinion into whackos. Oh well.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Those of you who have dined with me may have noticed that I am not afraid to reward good service, even handsomely, when it is deserved. It’s all about service. The mark of good service is not the absence of problems but rather how a problem is dealt with to ensure customer satisfaction. A problem is an opportunity to shine in the darkness of the situation.

Luna Grill at Dupont Circle failed this simple test of customer service.

My brother and his wife were in town and I told them not to eat at their very expensive hotel restaurant when they were merely steps away from Luna Grill, which had been so inviting and good on previous occasions. The three of us got there, drank coffee and ordered food.

Problem #1. When our food arrived, the potatoes I ordered did not make it to the table. I gently reminded the waiter that I had ordered them, figuring it was an easy mistake to make. “We don’t have potatoes,” the waiter responded. I pointed to my brother’s plate and suggested that apparently they did have potatoes, since my companions both got them. The waiter left in a huff and quickly brought my food. Weird but true.

Problem #2. My sister-in-law reached the bottom of her coffee cup and found some trash plastered to the bottom of the inside of the cup. When we told the waiter, he quickly removed the offending cup and brought her another cup of coffee. No apology, no offer to comp the coffee, no sending the manager over to apologize. Nothing. Basically, it seemed rather routine to this particular waiter. I guess that’s normal for Luna. Want trash in your food? That must be the place to go.

Problem #3. The waiter disappeared toward the end of our meal and we had a hard time getting our bill. Then I had a hard time getting my credit card back. I was about ready to go behind the bar to retrieve my card when it was finally delivered to me.

Luna Grill certainly did not meet my expectations for cleanliness or service. Will I be back? Probably not. It’s not hard to keep customers happy. Just give them what they order, apologize if something goes awry and generally be attentive. That’s all it takes. This isn’t rocket science.

If you work at Luna Grill and got a pretty low tip on Saturday morning, that was from me. Yes, I left a tip for bad service, but that was just so you wouldn’t think I forgot, had I left what you really deserved.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I love the smell in the lobby of my new job. As the entrance is right next to Caruso Florist, it always smells of flowers.

Then, when I walk outside, this is the sight that greets me:

How can you go wrong, or go mad through your day, when you’re greeted by nature’s beauty at your office door? I know I’m put in a good mood every time I walk outside. A wonderful office entrance bonus.

What’s your office entrance bonus?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Has your neighbor been tooling around in a recently acquired Model T Ford? If so, you might want to alert him as to the cost of his environmental footprint and then give the cops a call. No, it’s not illegal to own such a contraption but there’s a hot one floating around the area somewhere, along with some police model Harley Davidson motorcycles.

The Kena Shrine recently lost some vehicles when someone made off with a couple trailers from the Shrine on Rt. 50 in Fairfax. Likely the offender(s) did not know what they got until they got it home but they sure got something worth a few pretty pennies.

The Model T is one thing, but the other trailer had four Harleys in it. So if your neighbor has a Model T and four Harleys, you might want to drop a dime and let someone know. $1000 reward – not too shabby, although you should do it out of your sense of civic responsibility, not just for the beer money.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It was 11:00pm at 14th and A, over half an hour since we’d called for a cab to take us to 14th and H. And finally, emboldened by several glasses of wine, we decided to walk. We would fly the eight blocks on wings of bordeaux! But somewhere along the way we met Marvin.

Our Good Samaritan was getting into his car when we three tipsy loons approached him for a ride. I don’t know how it happened, really, but suddenly we were in a perfect stranger’s car being driven to the Rock and Roll Hotel. His name was Marvin, originally from Nicaragua, most recently Pittsburgh, and he had a certain grace and innate kindliness that you sometimes forget actually does exist in the world. We were instantly enamoured and appreciative and the conversation flew around in that strange rapid way when you randomly meet someone you instantly hit it off with – his advice on my friends’ Costa Rican wedding, Frank Lloyd Wright and Falling Water – we kept pinching ourselves afterwards about the oddness of it all, of meeting someone so genuine and well, just plain nice.

I could of course be cynical and say he hadn’t been in DC long enough to have it beaten out of him, but I like to think that won’t be the case, that he’ll continue to spread courtesy for the rest of his life, and that people will respond in kind. I hope so.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

In case you don’t own an Apple product and have been dying to buy one but Clarendon, Pentagon City, Tysons Corner, and Bethesda are just too far away for you, you’re in luck – an Apple Store is coming to Georgetown. According to the Washington Business Journal:

Princeton Investment Corp. sold 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW to Apple Inc. on Sept. 27, according to a source close to the deal. The French Connection clothing store now occupies the space. Princeton, a European investment group, has owned the property since 1995.

I don’t know about you but I’m going to rush over there to buy a Mac, an iPod, and and iPhone because hey, you’re just not cool until you’ve drank the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Wayan’s DC Photos

Now is it just me or is the Petworth Metro a little hot? Like the air conditioner is not doing its best to cool off Metrorail riders in this October heat wave.

I am waiting for my Yellow Line to DCA and I am sweating just sitting here. In other stations I would usually have a chill but not this one.

How is your station these days? Are you too sweating underground?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Red Line, Union Station. “Doors closing” chime sounds just as a woman with a child in a stroller is struggling a bit to get the stroller onto the train. She’s only part of the way in when the doors close right on the stroller, which is fortunately strong enough to withstand the pressure, leaving the baby unharmed. Now, we all know that unlike elevator doors train doors do not retract when they strike an object so please, etc., etc. but I try and push the doors apart from outside while another man inside does the same.

The doors open again and the mother and stroller get in. (As an added bonus, I’m able to get in too.) Mother is relieved, baby is oblivious to any incident, everything seems okay.

“Red Line, next stop, Judiciary Square,” comes the train operator’s voice Then, a slightly flippant woman’s voice sounds through the train P.A.:

“Ma’am, that’s child abuse.”

Smiles, some laughter.

But then I thought to myself, What the hell? The mother was trying to get on, and they were the ones who closed the door on her. If anyone abused children that day it sure wasn’t that Mom.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Never underestimate yuppies who love kickball. The Anti-Yuppie Kickball Guerilla Front has suffered a tremendous setback:

Last night, October 5th, after what was thought to be a secret meeting for new members of the front at Chief Ike’s, Inquisitor K (forgot to ask if I can just put his real name now) was arrested by US Marshalls. He says they were watching the meeting the entire time and when leaving they rushed him but he got away and was chased into Rock Creek where he was tackled, cuffed and nearly drowned. We went down to court this morning where he was arraigned on many charges including advocating terrorism (or something like that), providing material support to a terrorist organization, aggravated assault (for a botched ball-napping in July where a kickball player who gave chase was supposedly knocked out with brass knuckles), resisting arrest, 3 counts of theft, another assault charge, and he apparently faces extradition to Maryland and New Jersey for warrants related to narcotics trafficking. One of the marshalls told him they penetrated the private portion of the website in August where they gained access to the video archive and other pretty damning stuff. We were definitely sold out from the inside and we in the front all know who did this. A warrant was also served at his house in Mt. Pleasant last night where computers and other stuff were taken including all of the ball-knapped balls. I suggested we pull the whole website down but he said that he would “never let those bastards subjugate” him and so the link to the site remains below. He seems confident as he has been in jail several times and isn’t worried. He says they are only after him and so the “Rally For Justice” is still on as a fundraiser. Bond was set at $50,000! I’ll try and keep news on the case as updated as possible. We are all a little shell-shocked right now and our thoughts and prayers go to our great friend and leader.

While we cannot verify that the Department of Justice is treating the AYKGF as a terrorist organization, nor can we verify the capitivty of Inquisitor K, we certainly feel for our contacts in the AYKGF.

Or we would, when we stopped laughing at the insanity of it all.

Folks, Kickball’s just a freakin’ playground game, and if you get too caught up in the love or hate of the same, you’re only going to end up like Inquisitor K: belonging to the prisoner with the most cigarettes.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Wayan’s DC Photos

I often get lost in the IKEA College Park maze. That is until I found this secret passage to the outside world.

If you are by the shopping carts and want to escape before your wallet is empty, go right past this nice elderly couple and through that door marked “Emergency Exit Only”.

Don’t worry, there is no alarm, and it will lead you right to the front door of IKEA. Just remember, the front door is entry only. It will not open for you.

You still have to exit by the cash registers, but at least you’re free from the IKEA maze that much faster.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

image courtesy of Art on the Avenue

If you’re not looking to go green this weekend, why not come out to Art on the Avenue this Saturday? It’s in Del Ray, just below Crystal City in Alexandria. My darling girlfriend and I will be there exhibiting our wares, along with about 300 other people who make a variety of things. While you’re peeping – and hopefully buying – some crafts, there’s musical performers, demonstrations, and a good amount of food to pick from. We’re hopeful we’ll be near the crabcake setup again.

Art on the Avenue is one of our favorite shows to do. Del Ray is a cute little neighborhood, there’s always a good turnout for the show, and the selection of things other vendors have are pretty universally good. We’ve been a little our of touch with other artists this year, but my darling girlfriend did exchange some mail with Caitlin of Rebound Designs last week and we know she’ll be there as well, just to give you an idea of some of the other kinds of things you would see there. Beyond mirrors and purses there’s paintings and pictures, wood and ceramics, papercraft and things I couldn’t come up with a category for if I spend a hour trying.

While I know poo poo will be horrified by the idea of coming into Virginia, it’s fairly painless even for the carfree crowd – Art on the Avenue will be running shuttles on the half-hour from the Braddock Road metro stop.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

My salivary glands are usually on overload when I wander around a Whole Foods, or what others refer to as “Whole Paycheck”. That’s not to say I’m slobbering on their fresh ears of corn in the summer or drooling on their humanely raised meat display case, but compared to places such as Safeway, it’s like a little grocery oasis in the city.

That is until I stumbled upon this little goody: “Meatless Nuggets”.

I’m all for those who choose to be vegetarian or vegan, whether they do so because they’re against animal cruelty, against polluting our environment, or just because they think it’s a healthier lifestyle. But do you have to name your food items with such strange names like “meatless nuggets”, “Tofurkey”, or “egg replacer”? It’s like us carnivores coming up with food names like “sinewy stew”, “meaty morsels”, or “SPAM”.

Just out of curiosity, can someone tell me what a “meatless nugget” consists of?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Want free coffee or bottled water when work gets hot? Need that quick refreshment when you feel like you’re on fire? Then I suggest you head over the Mobile Canteen Unit.

Seen here at a Petworh house fire, the cafe on wheels was quick to put out firemen’s thirst while keeping them on the job.

I’m not sure that DC needs a whole “Canteen Unit” at every accident scene, but I can see where it would make sense at multi-alarm fires. Better to have the firefighters hydrated and on the scene than gone to make a ice run to 7-11.

Now I just wonder, does it serve donuts too?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

New York Times caught on, so the rest of the world will know: DC is now officially considered “hip.” (Hat tip for the link: skunkgal.) Helene Cooper seems quite enamored mostly with (1) the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and its Mitsitam Cafe, and (2) the fact that fashionable DC people who rub elbows with those in power talk a lot about politics and world affairs.

Cooper seems to draw a causal relationship between the rising Democratic majority and the emergence of DC fashion, but we’ve known for years that DC is fashionable, predating even recent trends in urban regentrification. Just take a gander at Project Beltway, Panda Head, DC Pleats, DC Style Mag, and of course, that worthy pinnacle of Washington chic, DC Goodwill Fashion Blog. We here know our stuff, and oh, how we strut it:

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

image courtesy of Zesmerelda

Today was my first experiment with taking the metro & shuttle to work, and it was moderately successful. Despite the longer time it takes, I can see it being a more pleasant way to get in, letting someone else handle the getting-there and allowing me to read. My WSJ subscription hasn’t started coming to the new location yet – stupid me should have planned ahead on the switch-over – so I took a copy of Express from the person handing them out at the Pentagon City metro entrance. I almost felt bad for the person from the Examiner who was being roundly rejected by every person she tried to hand her offering to, but I consoled myself with the fact that they’d surely put the leftovers into plastic bags and throw them on the stoops of plenty of similarly disinterested individuals, allowing them to be neglected in entirely a different venue.

Imagine my surprise to find myself quoted in the “Blog log” from yesterday’s comment on the sewage plant stink. Well, me in the sense that they credited “A dc.metblogs.com contributor,” and I happen to know it was me, even if they seem to have missed what I always thought was a pretty obvious byline.

On the other hand, there’s nothing in print tying me to use of the word “skunkyness” so I’m gonna call it a wash.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

image courtesy of SeenyaRita

Well, by late Sunday evening we’d managed to get all of my darling girlfriend’s possessions into our new house, three blocks from her old house. In some ways it was frustrating to move so much stuff – and seriously honey, SO MUCH STUFF – so short a distance, but we both love that neighborhood.

Or rather, we do when we can’t smell the waste processing plant about a mile to the south. I don’t know what’s going on there, if it’s because of the construction there or the dry spell we’re in, but I have never before smelled their skunkyness from that far away before. Talk about an unwelcome welcoming.

The people, however, have all been gems. At least three different neighbors came up and said hello, introduced themselves, offered their assistance, etc. It’s a delightful change, for me, coming in from the extended burbs out by Dulles airport. Not that those folks weren’t nice enough when I ran across them, but I almost never did, despite very similar house spacings.

It’s nice to be home.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Wayan’s DC Photos

Now that the fall is here, and the weather perfect, where do you go for your green fix? Where is your bit-o-nature?

For me it’s Rock Creek Park. Closed to traffic, and open to cyclists and runners, the roads and trails are the perfect mix of urban and wild. Nature and man coexisting in the middle of Washington DC.

It also helps that I live a short run away and I can have brunch after my bike.

But still, I don’t understand those that travel far to see big trees and little streams. We have a whole wild world right in our midst, no state line crossing needed.

No hour-plis on highways or backroads, this is what you can see in minutes, for hours.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Amazon, in pursuit of taking my money in new and creative ways, has announced that local delivery is now available in DC & Baltimore. I got this email from them today:

As an Amazon Prime member who recently shipped an order to Boston, Washington, D.C., or Baltimore, you might be interested in a new service that we’ve recently expanded to all three cities–same-day delivery through Local Express Delivery. Thousands of items are available. Just order before 9:15 a.m. eastern to ship to a qualifying address, choose Local Express Delivery, and your package will be delivered by 8:00 p.m. that evening.

So, if you get up in time for early coffee, you can have something shiny and new (with some exceptions…) by the time dinner’s done. Of course, you’d better be willing to part with some serious bucks to do it. Check out the list of prices for various departments which range from $6 to $19 for delivery, PLUS a per-pound cost, but if you really miss the days of Kozmo.com, and you’re willing to distort your memory about delivery times, this might be the thing for you.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs