It’s a Cafe Asia Downtown happy hour and you brought your passport to drink. You are bloated from cheap Kirin or $3 Japanese sake. You need to wiz. As you stumble into the bathroom, you’re present with a Washington DC first: a unisex bathroom:

Which door are you going to choose? And if you are a guy, might you shut the door behind you? Thanks.

We need not see your toilet choice no matter if we stand or sit.

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George Washington University has the dubious honor of being the most expensive college in all of the United States, according to a study quoted on tonight’s All Things Considered. You can listen to Robert Siegel’s interview with GW’s President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. Noted for me is the weaselly sound of justification for their exhorbitant tuition. Personally, I don’t think any amount of education can possibly be worth $200,000 of debt racked up over a four year degree. More so, I think many high school kids would do well to catch Accepted, and think about the process of higher education as a whole. Hell, GW’s tuition on an annual basis is higher than the median household income in the United States.

So, GW alums, what do you think? $50k a year? Too Much? Too Little? Ridiculous? It seems to me that Fifty K a year ought to come with, ahem, some other benefits.

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Check out the digital arrival board at Dulles Airport, D Terminal.

Dr Watson was not able to attach to the process and now the arrivals screen is a wack.

When Windows 2000 returns error code 87 and the parameter is incorrert does that mean flights will be delayed?

Maybe Max knows the answer? I know Linux would attach the process right ever time.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

To follow up on Mr. Whiteside’s post from the other day regarding stupid things on the road and the government’s reaction. It seems that when the Maryland legislature said they dedicate more time on transportation issues, the voting populous had no idea what they would actually do. Well, it seems the Washington Post has covered one of the more, appealing/apalling extras rednecks and truckers add to their vehicles. But really, do politicians have nothing else better to concentrate on?

Yes, we’re talking about novelty testicles for your trailer hitch. I prefer the old classic lady recline art on the mud flaps, but, obviously, the kind of folks that utilized them wanted to move up from the Ugly Kid Joe/Calvin peeing on said “brand” stickers, and go directly to anthropomorphizing their vehicles. I’ve seen these on just about most vehicles… except for low-riders, which, well…you get the picture. I just wished somebody would add fake hooters to the “headlights” on cars… at least they’d stick with the nickname.

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photo courtesy of UUMickey

While this lacks the juvenile joy of last week’s burnt-out sign discovery, it makes up for it by sending exactly the wrong kind of message to your customers. Good find, Mick.

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The next time you are approaching Shaw/Howard University Metrorail station, put an ear out for these two WMATA Green Line Rappers.

Lyrical masters, with tongue twisting rhymes set to their own jams, the two wordsmiths are captured by Jkid4 in this video:

Not a rap aficionado, I don’t know if they’re throwing down their own routine, or if its stand-up karaoke, but either way, Metro should sign them up for the coming musician corners in Metro stations.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

While inebriating ourselves during the DC Metblogs happy hour (more details to be released soon, if not already), we got to recapping some current news regarding our venue of choice, the newly opened Old Dominion Brewhouse at the DC Convention Center. Much fun was to be had and many beverages were consumed (as well as many plot conceived). I was also, with a heavy heart disclosed (as covered recently in the Washington post as well as the DC Beer List) that Old Dominion, one of the original “new brewers” of the D.C. beer Renaissance was sold to Anheuser-Bush and Fordham Brewing in a 49/51 split. What was more unconscionable in the discussion was the news disclosed that the old guard brewers were dismissed (as were many other staff) without as much as severance pay, let alone being kept on to familiarize the new owners with “how things worked” at Old Dominion. Do we want to drink beer (or root beer)`, now, from a company that behaves in such a fashion?

While this may be old news in the brewing community, the acts purported to have happened due the the relatively haphazard take-over of a local institution of brewing in the DC Metro area raises some alarm. Are we to loose such a unique fixture as Old Dominion to the faceless macro brewery conglomerate, known unaffectionably as A-B? Will the known Old Dominion Ale and other local favorites as Tupper’s Hop Pocket Ale go the way of the Do-Do (or at least the way of Foggy Bottom Brewing)? Voice your opinion here, on the possible overthrow of the evil overlords that may possibly erase a tradition in DC that has just celebrated it’s 15th Anniversary of life. Will D.C.’s brewing history start to fade away as many other traditions that are uniquely D.C. as globalization and big-business eat up countless local flavors?

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photo courtesy of aron Edwards

I hope Max will forgive me for treading on his usual domain, but when searching for an image on flickr to join my commenting on the gales outside I came across this shot. I expect that with gusts up to fifty mph we may see some shots tomorrow that look more like this, but I loved this shot from Aaron Edwards of a rippling flag around our monument.

A good friend of mine, when visiting DC, is always tickled by the sight of the Capitol dome. To her that’s the quintessential DC image. For me it’s the Washington Monument, and it’s hard for me not to smile when I catch sight of it, however distantly. Is there any one sight that, for you, is the epitome of DC?

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

When you are standing in the men’s room of new Old Dominion Brewery in the Convention Center, look up.

Is that loud TV blaring down at you, disrupting your quiet piss point? Then do a Metroblogging moment: pull the power cord.

Urination should be free from commercial interruption corruption.

Even if you have to stand on the urinals to reach the electrical outlet.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Normally it takes idiot homophobia for our government to make me ashamed to live in Virginia, but both the judicial branch and the legislative branch are conspiring to make me frustrated with driving law too. Maybe the two groups can come together to ban homosexuals from driving, call it the Fighting Against Gay Driving In the Exurbs act or something – they like clever names.

On the “your choice of ice storms” front, the judge in my favorite reckless driving case has reduced the reckless jackass’ punishment to, effectively, time served. I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to discover that someone who thinks nothing of endangering the lives of other drivers also thinks little of the laws that govern paying for the things you purchase. When the time came to release her they discovered an open warrant for her arrest since she “was wanted in Hernando, Miss., for “insufficient funds,” or writing bad checks in July 2005.” Here’s hoping she actually paid for the drink she threw.

Over at the legislative end of the short bus, we have lawmakers pushing a bill to put penalties in place for teens who use their cellphones when driving. Through some mechanism that I do not understand, driving while using a cellphone is perfectly legal and okay unless you have an excess of hormones and are going through puberty, in which case it’s dangerous and should be punished. Obviously this is the case, since if it was just a matter of experience the law would instead specify people who have less than two years driving under their belt rather than teens.

Or maybe it’s only dangerous when it’s done by people who are 15, 16 or 17 and therefor not yet old enough to vote out cowardly lawmakers. If driving while using your phone is dangerous – and I am open to being convinced – then it should be banned, period. This kind of thing is just chickenshit posturing at the expense of the one group powerless against you. For shame.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Here’s a bit of post-Katrina fallout I hadn’t heard about. Last year, Congress passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, which requires local jurisdictions to include in their emergency evacuation plans means to evacuate pets along with people. As a result, counties around DC are coming up with all sorts of pet evacuation contingencies, including mobile centers stocked with pet carriers and supplies so that people don’t have to abandon their pets in the event of an emergency.

It’s controversial, of course, and I’m sure there will be more than a few of you who will chime in to tell me how ridiculous it is, but I think it’s great, and here’s why:

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

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Yeah, so they wake you up at 6am on trash day. Or worse they skip you and your back yard stinks for the weekend.

But what a foul city we would have without these pillars of urban civilization?

Garbage Collectors, the Trash Man, Waste Removal Technicians.

The men (and maybe women) who take away our refuse, who clean our city, who day after day are elbow deep in the foul and filth that you and I wish be gone.

Could you do the work, regardless of pay? Would you live long in a city without them?

Then do you appreciate their daily task? I do. I salute the hardest working men in Washington DC: the men feeding the garbage truck this morning.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

What a strange town this is, sometimes. There really isn’t a word of how strange this one is, though. I know you want a Velvet Karl Rove painting. Right now, the bid’s at $41 for this American Masterpiece. Go make a bid and give the karl your love.

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Yep, it’s your opportunity to SAVE WITH YOUR BONUS CARD. Normally $6, a bundle of firewood is available for 2 for $12.

Oh wait, that deal expired on 2/15. Sorry, you’re back to paying $6 a bundle.

Maybe they mean SAVE your brain cells and don’t think about how moronic this is?

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Do you enjoy long walks around the National Mall? Or, like me, do you run the Mall?

On your sojourns do you expect to find water fountains that work? Free thirst-quenching refreshment ready for your consumption?

Well don’t expect it anytime soon. As I learned this weekend, the water fountains on the Mall are off now. Off till spring at least.

Oh, and we’re not talking the first days of spring either. As my broken water fountain photo pool from April of last year shows, its gonna be damn near summer before the Mall will be de-parching.

Ah, but the concession stands are always open.

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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Now this is a hot sight on a cold day: GW’s women rowing team readying for a Potomac thaw.

Maybe that explains today’s warm Al Gore Spring feel?

No matter what scientists say, these sweaty hotties do have atmospheric effects.

They had an entire oggle deck of fans drooling from across the street.

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This photo by Flickrite cornflakegirl does it all for me, but I’m guessing it might rub some people the wrong way. The grit is just pouring out of my computer screen on this one, and my eyes don’t know where to look next. The lipstick on “her” cigarette, the ash fighting for its life against gravity, the caked on makeup covering up the peach fuzz on her cheek, the penciled in eyebrows, the giant fake eyelashes, the cheap earring dangling in a mess of blonde hair…it draws me in and intrigues me as a person and as a photographer. The cropping is great on this and the fact that the subject isn’t looking at the camera puts even more of an emphasis on her features.

For me this photo is timeless and is one of the best ones I’ve come across recently by one of our local photographers. Be sure to check out some of her other excellent photos.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I’m sure many of the wired in folks caught that XM Radio and Sirius are planning to merge… but how does it affect the media market in D.C.? Will D.C. loose it’s new media muscle to New York, or will, if approved by the FCC and SEC, provide for growth in this rather odd media format.

I know I abandoned the D.C. radio market once I got my iPod and WETA started playing roulette with their programming (as was the demise, the first time ’round of WHFS and other stations). I’ve cut the final thread with the gift of an XM subscription for Christmas. I’ve heard complaints from a number of people when discussing this topic about choice (limited playlists of themed channels, such as jazz and film music) to incomplete coverage (NHL games), will a merged entity do any better, or will it mirror the cable industry with a lack of choice and rising costs. I know Verizon has been kicking ass with their FiOS rollout in Metro DC. So competition, in at least this business school case, actually works. How would it work for something is a little less demand?

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So, with a holiday most associated with weird sales at the mall and made up special deals at auto dealerships.. how did you, the loyal DC Metblogs reader, celebrate President’s Day?

Gen. George Washington is celebrating his 275th birthday this Thursday, and Mount Vernon is gussying itself up for the occasion. This past Sunday, an President’s Day/Black History Month themed American Dad aired with guest shots of Abe Lincoln and the fabled Smithsonian Peanut Museum.

A number of folks from the DC area seemed to drive as far away as they could in one day and headed to an almost perfect day on the ski slopes, something January (or December, November.. oh, heck you get it) never offered. Some folks probably just bummed it at home (or at work for those private sector folks) and had their own “Butt-Numb-A-Thon” watching hours of TV or Movies. (But remember kids, you can catch all the Best Picture Nominees in one twelve hour session (yes, twelve) this Saturday at selected theaters…your own personal Oscar-themed “Butt-Numb-A-Thon”)

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of The Opus

Although Wayan has privately begged the rest of us to leave the car&snow bitching behind after this weekend, lest we become “MetroDriverBitching DC blog” I am going to throw this one last one out there. The Post ran an article yesterday on the “McMissile” case, a cute little term to describe Jessica Hall’s throwing a drink into another car on the highway. Her outbreak has resulted in a felony conviction under 18.2-154, apparently, and she has gotten the minimum sentence (according to WaPo, but not the above VA law link), two years. The Post quotes Hall as saying “Two years! What did I do?”

What did you DO? Well, with your 6-months-pregnant sister in your car, you slewed your vehicle onto the shoulder, accelerated up next to another driver, then threw something into their car. Aside from the obvious property damage, what if they’d reacted to that with shock and accelerated unexpectedly or jerked the wheel, striking another car or, Grod forbid, a pedestrian/road worker? An automobile is two tons of motor-driven metal and killing someone with one isn’t too hard.

“Now people are going to see me as an angry, road rage, convicted felon. And it really upsets me,” Hall said. Well, golly, why would they see you that way? Maybe because that’s exactly what you are. You were reckless with the lives of the people in your car, the car you threw the drink into, and all the cars around them. Your most immediate victims are more generous than I – perhaps that’s no surprise – and think community service would have been just fine, but I personally will be glad to have two years where I know I won’t be sharing the road with you. Here’s hoping the judge doesn’t reduce your time.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs