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photo courtesy of Starbucks

It’s almost Noon, and while Jenn won’t be interested you’ve still got about 20 minutes to wait in a long-assed line for a mediocre cup of free coffee. Anyone have some pictures to share of what I am sure was a resulting zoo?

I always wonder if it’s worth alienating your regular customers with the resultant crowd. Free Cone Day may not be a big deal for a much more sporadic clientèle at Ben & Jerrys but Starbucks presumably has daily customers who are being inconvenienced.

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Encouraging Green to be the new Red, White and Blue, the 15th annual DC Environmental Film Festival kicks off today and runs through next weekend, featuring some of the best environmental films of the year, including Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth (showing Saturday at GW, and Tuesday at National Geographic) as well as what I consider to be the real highlight of the Film Festival, the premiere of Hurricane on the Bayou in IMAX at the Natural History Museum, on Monday night the 19th. Get out and see something different this week and next!

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Tuesday night, after a long dinner outside at the Boulevard Woodgrill, I headed across the street into Iota Club & Cafe for Justin Trawick and the release show for his new CD “How to Build a Life with a Lemonade Stand.” I walked in just as he was setting into the first songs of the night, some hard-played acoustic guitar backed up by an upright bass, a piano, some drums and the occasional cello. What makes Justin shine is the aural texture of his band, they provide the velvet texture necessary for his sandpapery voice. The deep bass and low melodic sound of the cello and piano provide the perfect counterpoint for Trawick’s Jason Mraz-esque patter lyrics, something that Mraz’s songs often lacked, and make it a real experience. Better still, hope that Trawick is performing with Malik from one of DC’s finest hip-hop outfits, as together they provide lightning fast lyrical mastery in front of one of the best instrumental combos I’ve seen around lately.

Check out Trawick tonight at 10:30 at The Tombs, or tomorrow night at the Loft in Frederickburg, VA. Make sure to pick up his CD and support a local artist, besides, it’s absolutely gorgeous cover art.

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Here is a occupation that I would not mind having on a beautiful day: Park Service Worker.

The guy on the left is feeling spring like I am. We both are glad to be alive on a morning where birds sing and the sun is warm.

Enjoy this weather while you can. Lunch in the park today is a must. Beer garden in the evening an option.

If you miss this chance, you will be sad. There are rumors of snow for the weekend.

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

What might ex-Mayor Anthony Williams be up to now that he is no longer His High-Flying Honor?

Have you followed his post-office activites? Would you know why he was standing outside Cosi yesterday?

No matter his business, he is still looking fit to travel. With all his new free time, think he’s globe trotting more than when mayor?

He should have enough frequet flyer miles to last him through 2007 at least.

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Metrorail is currently experiencing a service disruption at Rockville station, say the service alerts. Apparently a “suspicious package” is messing up Red Line rush hour; anyone have firsthand experience with the delays? And any bets as to what the “suspicious package” is?

Update: All clear has been given.

Authorities have given the “all clear” to reopen the Rockville Metro and Amtrak stations, but not before hundreds of rush-hour commuters were stranded and delayed for hours. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer said that several suspicious packages that were not accompanying a passenger have been cleared by the bomb squad and the owner was identified. The packages were on Amtrak train 29 on its way from Union Station in Washington to Chicago. Piringer said the owner was not on the train and didn’t know why.

Sounds like someone might have left bags on the train?

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

How much do you think this guy makes each day? Maybe a $100 or $200 or $1,000?

I often wonder street vendor income, as I don’t see that many people buying from them, but they are still out there every day.

Do you buy from them? If so, when and what do you get? Do you have a preferred vendor? A standard staple?

And do you think street vendors make a decent living from your largess?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It was a lovely day to walk home along the Mall yesterday, and I saw this camp en route. Just by 3rd St NW on the Mall, west of the Capitol Reflecting Pool, a cluster of tents has gone up, with banners in English, Spanish, and Arabic, calling to “Cut Off War Funding” and “Bring Home the Troops Now,” while music and antiwar slogans blare from loudspeakers. This is Encampment to Stop the War, some kind of nonviolent tent camp resistance action, there from March 12-19. Here’s their schedule.

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photo courtesy of VA Dept of Health

Derranged minds think alike, I guess – I started writing something about the Virginia Department of Health’s fotonovilla on older-man-younger-women relationships[pdf] earlier this morning and got distracted. Now I see Tom has already mentioned it in passing. In fairness to the VADOH, however, it’s named “Thanks Papi” because the protagonist’s dad steps up to the plate when he finds out about his daughter being propositioned by the not-so-young man. He gives him a talking to, then provides some loving advice for his daughter. It closes with her saying to him “It’s going to be hard finding a man who loves me as much as you do.”

Which, I acknowledge, the more obnoxious among us (guilty!) will find snicker-worthy in and of itself. I predict it’ll take no longer than Friday before we see an incest-themed joke retooling of the book, probably from the folks who brought us this gem and making some requisite West Virginia jokes.

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For all those headed to the Spanish Safeway: Caution. Waiting for you over the door, in the Safeway sign is a whole flock of pigeons.

Pigeons, the city rats who fly, are there ready to poop, ready to dive, ready to make your Safeway day a scary experience. Anyone say “The Birds“?

I say duck and cover. Pigeon poop ain’t pretty on person or perishables.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Someone at the Post got a serious kick out of setting this headline & byline:

Or maybe I’m just a bit pervy.

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Well, Hizzoner managed to once again escape jail time for violating his probation. It’s really nice to see they’re letting him off without so much as a slap on the wrist for not filing his taxes all those years.

Apparently, half the traffic cameras in DC aren’t working, and as such, the city’s losing a boatload of revenue for the broken gear. Why all the issues? Well, they’re switching management companies for the traffic cameras. The new people to run the lights will be the same people that have fucked up the parking meters so badly. Sweet! Way to go, DC!

Virginia’s releasing a fotonovela about statutory rape called “Gracias Papi” or….wait for it… “Thanks Dad.” Something is definitely lost in translation, I think…

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No, not today’s expected beautiful 70-degree weather – Andrew Freedman’s amusing Capitol Weather post from Sunday talking about some of the random experiences he had with the public while working at NOAA.

There was also a phone call from a frightened woman who never gave their geographical location but nevertheless asked me: “can I get out of the basement now?”

“That depends on why you are in the basement, ma’am,” I said with all of the assumed authority of a 23-year-old government worker.

A good read.

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It took almost exactly a month for Metro to fire the bus driver who plowed over two pedestrians, killing them both.

Can someone tell me why this guy had a job almost one month after he killed two women with a Metrobus?

Can someone tell me why this guy had a job one week after he killed two women with a Metrobus?

Seriously, it strikes me as bad policy to keep a driver on the payroll for that long after the Police have charged him with two counts of negligent homicide after witnesses said he clearly wasn’t paying attention. Why did it take Metro 28 days to fire the guy? Seriously, this is ridiculous.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

WTFCU?

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

It should shock precisely no one that this is my favorite bank in town. The WTF Credit Union is the, quite possibly, the single best bank in all of DC, which also plays home to the Fed, and the BEP. Turns out, they’re offering some sweet deals this month if you need a second trust mortgage, they’re gonna hook you up. And besides, if you live inside the beltway, you can join right away, tell me you don’t want a WTFCU ATM card. Seriously.

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Did you read the Beer Madness article in Sunday’s Washington Post? Where Posties put 32 beers in an elimination round similar to March Madness? Might you like I, stopped caring when the idiots, lead by Greg Kitsock, somehow ranked Budweiser better than Victory Lager and Rolling Rock over Purple Haze?

It seems I wasn’t the only one pissed off by the poor palates of the poser participants. In the Beer Madness Live Chat, readers took Greg & crew to task. The first question?

Springfield, Va.: I don’t get it. How can you compare a lager and a bock in the first round? Or a wheat and an ale? Two different kinds of beer. How do you leave Guinness, Harp, and Bass out of the bracket while including PBR?

Greg Kitsock:…Drinkability was another key factor in choosing our line-up. These are all beers that you could down a couple bottles of while watching the big game on TV – no hop monsters or high-alcohol beers like imperial India pale ales or barleywines. (Imagine how we would have felt after sampling 32 IPAs or imperial stouts!)

Remember also that the average consumer picks a beer based not on stylistic correctness, but whether he or she likes the taste. And tastes vary greatly. There is no one correct answer to the question, What’s your favorite beer?

Yeah, and there is a difference between beer and flavored water. No self-respecting quality beer drinker (vs. frat boys and 40 oz’ers) would even put Budweiser in a match-up or feel a contest valid when every single hefeweizen wheat beer was eliminated in the first round. Or as the last commenter so elegantly explained:

McLean, Va.: How on earth did some of these make the round of 32? And where are any of the extraordinary brews from Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido. The Web site Beeradvocate.com named them the country’s best brewery. ratebeer.com named Stone the best brewery in North America, and the third best in the world, behind two Belgian brewers. This is like March madness without Duke or UNC!

So DC drinkers, what other Georgetown or GWU of beer was missing from this miss-match-up?

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

I love firemen. These are the guys that are willing to run into a burning building and save your ass when your whole life is going up in flames.

Firemen are right up there with Santa Claus and Superman, but unlike those two, these three are real.

Just one small problem: You really do not want to have them at your front door on a Friday night. This is not a good sight.

Luckily, they were not here to put out an apartment-threatening fire. Only responding to an injured resident. All turned out well, even this photo of DC’s finest.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

As of the rush hour this morning (and “rush” is just a word today), WMATA has yet to adjust their system clocks to account for the early switch to DST. I’m not sure if they didn’t feel like paying the average $4000 to Microsoft for the corporate fix (which, BTW, actually has a bug in it too), or somebody just hit a big snooze button, ala “Lost”, for the past two days. I guess it’s just Metro’s way of saving some cash, or just confusing the hell out of Washington commuters… but maybe they were just concentrating on the new MetroBus lighting

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Do you mix your wines and meats? Say a bottle of white wine with a steak or hamburger?

That seems to be the suggestion of the Super IGA market an 1800 Columbia Road with their two in one deli refrigerator.

I do not know about you, but their efforts failed with me. After seeing this display, I was not in the mood for either.

Which begs the question: Have you seen other economical yet unappetitizing retail fridge combos around town?

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Well, if you weren’t at Jammin Java this evening to see Paul & Storm as well as Jonathan Coulton on their “Those Meddling Kids” tour then you missed the impromptu two-song reunion of local a capella group Da Vinci’s Notebook. Paul and Storm welcomed Richard Hsu and Bernie Muller-Thym on to the stage to assist them with one of their songs, then spoke briefly about some of the corporate hell they have suffered through as a band-for-hire over the years (a modified “Pinball Wizard” to celebrate the “Sales Wizard” of the year at a company awards banquet) and then sang a Da Vinci’s Notebook fave, Enormous Penis (link to WaPo MP3 site (am I the only person who had no idea that existed?))

As I had a complete video equipment failure (dead battery on DV cam, forgot my point&shoot, DID video with my cellphone and OH MY GOD I am way too embarrassed to share video that bad with ANYONE), I do not have a video of the song to share. However as Paul commented “wow, look at all those cellphones up and out” I am pretty sure there’ll be several to pick from on YouTube tomorrow. If I find one I’ll let you know.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs