I recently sent an update about the photo tour I am leading this Saturday evening and my good friend Andy Carvin sent me this link for the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. I don’t know about you, but I am going to go spend Saturday over in the Mekong area eating larb and papaya salad, trying to recall more stuff to put in the book I am writing.

I am sure a few hot chilies will jog my memory of Thailand and will be the perfect thing to have under my belt, so to speak, when the tour starts around 8:30. Having some fire in you makes you sweat and cool off in the heat of the day, making a person nice and sebaceous when nightfall comes.

Culture is the perfect mid-day date for your sensitive, intellectually curious sweetheart before you go out and sweat away the night at a club or behind the lens. Are you going? If not, what have you found to do this weekend?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

“Storm’s Comin’. Be here soon,” he said, his basso voice scratchy from a pack a day habit. He’d finish his smoke, flick the butt into the street and head back inside once the first drops had fallen.

He was never wrong.

His name was John, and he sat in front of our office at Thomas Circle most afternoons. He was worn down by life, a grey beard against a dark face. He looked prophetic, his eyes intense and driven, his appearance looked like he’d been without sleep for some time dealing with some level with the angels and demons that haunt us all. But he was never wrong. Without fail, the drops would fall, heavy and menacing, on the pavement.

I didn’t see John again after we moved our offices down to 13th Street. But I remember his words on afternoons like these.

Storm’s comin’. Gonna be a good one, too.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Last night, we prepared for the Downtown Silver Spring Photo Walk in Silver Spring, at Adega Wine Cellars and Café, and I was really impressed.

When I heard that we were meeting at a “wine bar”, I was expecting some white tablecloth wine snobbery, but Adega is anything but. First off, the food and wine is a good value – proprietor Walter Rhee even sells wine bottles at retail, not restaurant prices.

Then the staff is very approachable, I watched them spend 20 minutes working with a couple on an odd Sangria wine search with patience and care. They also put up with our raucous debate on photographers rights and Petersons Companies.

Adega even puts out recycle bins to catch glass bottles before they are thrown in the trash and of course, allows photography. That’s Walter patiently posing after a long day’s work.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The City of Falls Church has posted a number of tips on how to avoid mosquitoes and West Nile Virus. I will be discussing them in a six-part series.

According to the Falls Church site, mosquitoes only need two tablespoons of water to breed. Me, I need something like a 40 of malt liquor to make that happen. And two straws.

What this means is that any standing water in your yard is the mosquito equivalent of putting on a Barry White album and bathing in Drakkar Noir. You know some boot-knocking is going down at that point, and mosquitoes don’t “suit up” the way respectable humans on E Street do.

That’s bad, I tell you.

Go look in your yard and see where the water is standing or could stand if this humidity ever turns into a downpour. Me, I will be busy throwing all my old tires in the neighbor’s yard in the middle of the night. Don’t expect me to look well rested tomorrow at work.

Check in tomorrow to read about Tip #3: You Are Not Alone.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Say you are driving north on Warder Street, which becomes 7th Street. You are coming up to the intersection with Shepherd and New Hampshire. You see this big arrow in the road:

What might you think the proper course of action to be?

1. Make a right turn onto Shepherd
2. Drive forward, and not turn right
3. Turn right onto New Hampshire, not Shepherd

If you answered #3, you would be right, as Shepherd is a one-way going to the left, but you wouldn’t know that with the big-ass arrow in the road.

I sure didn’t and almost went the wrong way down Shepherd when driving in my own hood. Gee thanks for the confusing arrow, DC DOT!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I really don’t understand why The Post chose to run this meandering, uninteresting, ignorance-celebrating piece on Monday. At least with the global warming nay-sayers you get clear statements about what consequences of regulation they fear. I might or might not think they have a point, but at least they have one. Instead we get here a column from Emily Yoffe, who has told us in the past how she tests out at a first-grade level with regards to math skills. I don’t think I’m going on on a limb here in thinking that someone who didn’t make it up to percentages doesn’t have a great grasp of the scientific method, much less a finger on the pulse of the scientific community and a grasp of what’s knowable or not.

I can only hope that once she takes a rudimentary class on addition she’ll take a few minutes to read David Brin’s piece over here about global warming matters. He was writing in response to naysayers rather than know-nothing-ers, but he is going out of his way not to get into a battle of facts and instead talks about what we know and why, cutting right the vaguely heart-like-thing of the second-half-ish-part of Yoffe’s article. Perhaps it’ll convince Ms Yoffe that even though she might be willfully ignorant about science that doesn’t mean everyone is, though I get the sense that she’ll turn up her nose at anyone who actually studied science. What could they know?

If Brin uses too many scientific words like “emissions” and “ecosystems” for Ms Yoffe then maybe she can consider this instead: if you’re going to go around stating that you won’t trust a weather projection for 2080 because “no one can offer me one for August 2008” then I’d like you to similarly refuse to trust a projection about the economy because nobody can tell you exactly how many loaves of bread will be sold at your corner store next week. Macro studies are different than Micro studies.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

When was the last time you went to the city dump? As a kid, I remember going there often with my Dad when we worked construction jobs and often we would come back with more than we left with – one man’s trash is another man’s treasure (and his wife’s displeasure).

Trash Transfer @ Fort Totten

Recently I had old bricks and junk no one would find a treasure. The bricks were all covered in concrete and oddly, seemingly rotten. Anyway, it was time for a trip to the dump, or as they are called in DC, waste transfer stations. The nearest one to me is the Fort Totten Trash Transfer Station.

When you drive up, don’t expect to be on a ramp over dumpsters, like in many rural areas, or a covered building like in other cities. DC is still working on building a proper city dump at Fort Totten and is using a flat cement expanse and a bulldozer + crane in the mean time.

So when you arrive, just pull your truck up to the existing pile and offload. Do watch for rusty nails – one almost got me – and loose debris.

And whatever you do, don’t bring anything back from the dump except an empty truck!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

All four original members

Originally uploaded by tiffany bridge.

I got an email late yesterday afternoon from a friend. “So, I’ve got an extra ticket for Asia at the Birchmere tonight. Want to be my date?” Since I don’t get to see this friend all that often, and since I’m always up for a good dose of geriatric 80s rock, I immediately agreed.

You know you’re in for a quality concert experience when the band advertises “ALL FOUR ORIGINAL MEMBERS” right there on the ticket. About halfway through the show, the lead singer thanked the audience for “keepin’ the faith for 25 years!” (In case you’re wondering, I’m 28, and was easily one of the youngest people in the room by 10 years.)

Since I wasn’t that huge of an Asia fan to begin with, I’ll dispense with the detailed concert review and tell you this:

It was the only time in my adult life in which I witnessed a non-ironic use of the keytar.

But it was a pretty good show- it got a little surreal when they covered The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” (I realize that Asia is a supergroup and that the keyboardist was from The Buggles, but that didn’t make it any less surreal) but they nailed each song, including the encore performance of “In the Heat of the Moment.” Someone needs to help them update their video screen graphical effects though- the band was not the only thing from the 80s, is all I’m trying to say.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Anyone with even the slightest gadget fetish knows the iPhones come out on Friday at 6pm at Apple and AT&T Wireless Stores. Folks in NYC are already lining up outside their stores to get one. Crazy? Sure. But that’s where Metblogs comes in. We went ahead and got the goods on where the iPhones are going to be coming out on Friday. Each Apple Store (there are several in the area) is going to get a shipment of phones, but no one is telling how many each store is getting. So, here it comes folks, click through to check out our sweet sweet Google Maps Mashup of spots to get your iPhone!

Update: Now the map displays properly, and a few of the bubbles have been moved to their proper spots.

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

What does this photo make you think of? Hopefully the 2007 MBDC BBQ!

That’s right, this weekend we will be celebrating three years of Metroblogging DC in the best way possible: food, fun, and pinatas on Sunday, July 1st at 6pm in the MBDC BBQ HQ.

Your favorite MBDC authors will be there for witting conversation, total mockery for spelling and ideological errors, and to just mingle with the folks we’d like to thank for reading.

Oh and photography will be allowed and encouraged as long as you RSVP and invite local bloggers.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The City of Falls Church has a cooling assistance program to help low-income households stay cool in the heat of the summer. Thank goodness we haven’t gotten too hot yet, but the dog days of summer are right around the corner. No doubt it will get hot enough to cook the balls off many a bronze statue in DC.

Why is cooling assistance important? Because the extreme heat we feel every year causes health problems and extreme discomfort. Kudos to Falls Church for administering this program. Having seen a number of extremely low-income abodes in my time, I have to wonder how much it would cost to upgrade the wiring to handle an air conditioner, but that’s beside the point. Probably tarpaper shacks smolder instead of burn, right?

Personally, I think there should be more of a socialized ceiling fan program than air conditioning program, but that’s just me. I like our home to feel like Big Daddy and Brick’s home, except for all that tension and the no-neck monsters.

Until I get my own socially provided ceiling fan, I will be cooling off the only way I know how – either sitting in the yard in a tub of ice water, sipping a beer, or else making every day like pants-optional Friday. Who knows? Maybe both, if the neighbors don’t mind too much.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of PhotoCatcher

The other call you could make today would be to your congresscritter about the upcoming bump in internet radio royalties. The jump is going to be big enough to drive some organizations out of the market, including WAMU’s BluegrassCountry.org site. You can read about the issue on the Washington Post here, but don’t expect to find a link in the story to the site organizing today’s day of silence, SaveNetRadio.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

There are two calls you should really make today. No, it’s not a hallmark holiday, no you don’t need to call the florist to get flowers for your secretary. Really, it’s not Blogger Appreciation day (though, if you want to drop off a bag of unmarked bills for me, I’m sure arrangements could be made…). It’s time to give two Senators a call.

Yes, I did just see you wince. Your shoulders also dropped, I saw that too. But pick up the phone. It’s time to do some work. Your Targets? Senators Webb (D-VA) and Specter (R-PA). Why? DC Voting Rights. The two gentlemen are as of yet undecided how to vote on the DC Franchise. Perhaps you might give them a ring with your opinion? Stealing straight from DCist, here are the contact points:

Webb can be reached at (202) 224-4024 and Specter at (202) 224-4254. If you’re more the writing kind, email Specter’s Chief of Staff Scott Hoeflich at scott_hoeflich (at) specter (dot) senate (dot) gov or Webb’s Chief of Staff Paul J. Reagan at paul_reagan (at) webb (dot) senate (dot) gov.

Email’s fine too, but I’m down with the phone call.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Nothing livens up a party quite like showing off your way-cool cell phone. Wayan here is showing off his latest DC Metroblog post to his Clockstopping Hottie girlfriend, who is visibly impressed with his dashing genius and Wi-Fi enabled 5MP camera phone. Well, if she wasn’t, at least I was. That phone was sweeter than agave nectar. Oh, how I would love such a phone so I can post on the road, on the fly or however I am on the go.

Nokia – can you hook a brother up?

The other guys at the party looked on in envy, sure that it was the phone, not the cool shirt, that got him his gal. Truth be told, it was hanging out with guys like me that got him his love trophy. No doubt.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Here was the scene this afternoon at Metro Center as I transferred to the Red Line from the Orange at rush hour: delays on the Glenmont side, platform filling to capacity, signs giving no train arrival times, with no announcements over the PA system. After a few minutes of waiting, the train labels changed to the dreaded "-- TRAIN", which could mean out-of-service ghosts, or no train at all. Estimated arrival times started to appear which exceeded the amount of time it would have taken me to walk home from Metro Center. Next train expected in nine minutes, next one after that in 16, and the platform continued to fill up with harried travelers. Judging from the crowd, no way I would be able to cram myself into either train. All the while, still no announcements from station managers.

So I left the station and walked home. Ten minutes later, from home, I checked out WMATA to see what was up, and was greeted with, what else, “There are no service alerts at this time.” Hard to believe.

Great work, Metro. Nice to see the added revenue from all that advertising finally kicking in, eh? How much did you spend on those station performers again?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Stop! Or I’ll say “stop” again!

If you think that photographer harassment by private companies only happens in Silver Spring, think again.

Bill Adler was harassed yesterday when photographing a building in Chinatown. As Bill tells it:

[W]hen I stopped to take a photograph of a building on 7th Street, NW between Eye and K Streets. Two security guards emerged and one asked me what I was doing. I responded that I was taking photographs. The dialog then went this way:

Guard: “You can’t take photographs of this building.”
Me: “Yes, I can. There’s no law against it.”
Guard: “This is a Federal building and no photography is allowed.”

Better yet, Bill went back to the building with the now-famous Chip Py and took more photographs.
Now that’s the way to stand up to The Man.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’m going to be generous and assume that both the advertiser here and the Giant management – who I presume police the board for objectionable and illegal material – are unaware of what a blatant violation of the fair housing laws this is.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

DC from Air Force Memorial

Originally uploaded by matt.herzog.

Last night coming into DCA, before the snafu at the luggage carousel, we had the most wonderful descent into the city. Following the Potomac from the north, we coasted over the river, looking down over my adopted home, seeing the residential portion of Northwest blink in and out beneath the canopy of trees like so many fireflies on a warm summer night. Then it was the Cathedral in view, majestic and tall among the otherwise squat buildings, the red beacons on its prow welcoming the flight home.

We flew close over Rosslyn and the view over Georgetown was just incredible, the Key Bridge, then the Memorial Bridge, then the holy trinity of DC Landmarks, the Lincoln, the Washington and the Capitol lined up like some sort of man-made constellation of gleaming white marble. I hadn’t remembered seeing the crenellated skylight there the last time I fly over. Then it was down over the water, then the brief spot of beach, and then touchdown.

“Welcome to Washington, D.C., the local time is ten to eleven. Please set your watches forward to Eastern Daylight Time.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs