Are you a blogger focused on DC? Did you know of the Washington Post Bloggers Summit next week? The meet-up on January 9th where the Washington Post will give us the digital love we deserve. And are you a cool kid with the cryptic invite:

“You have been confirmed for washingtonpost.com’s DC-Area Blog Summit.”

We Be Blog Famous!

Now be honest, reading that invite, are you more excited that you’re invited to hobnob with Posties or meet local Bloglebrity?

I know why I’m going. I wanna see me some more hot DCist groupies and get up with manly DC Metrobloggers.

And to make it happen, I’m organizing the Blogger Summit After Party! Yes, come inebriate with your favorite local color starting as soon as the gig is up @ 9pm.

We’ll all be transferring the socializing scene from the staid surrounds of Post land for its perfect pair: The Post Pub.

Better yet, you need not a Post invite, or even a blog, to come inebriate with the best of us. Just be into hot DC bloggers and get your game on!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Marc Fisher of the Post has an interesting blog entry on DC Voting Rights that is half his own, half belonging to Paul Goldman, who advised former VA Governor Wilder. The plan is simple: get the House Democrats to craft a bill that grants DC citizens a full exemption from federal income tax, unless a constitutional amendment is passed by the House and Senate and ratified by 3/4ths the states by the 4th of July. The meat of the plan is more complex and deserves some reading, but it sounds like a halfway decent plan.

Either way, DC comes out ahead: get a representative in Congress, get a giant tax break. Sure would make me think about moving into the city proper.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Congratulations to the Black Cat, named as one of the 10 Best Rock Clubs in America (warning, link is to Playboy. Seriously, if you’re at work, and your IT department is cuckoo for cocoa puffs, you may want to wait til you’re at home, seriously. We won’t be held responsible if you get canned for looking at Playboy at work.) Listed as the home of Q and Not U, Dead Meadow and Ted Leo, Playboy says of the Black Cat:

Inside the sprawling complex, which also contains a checkered mainstage for established groups and a somber blue backstage for entry-level acts … If you’re still stir crazy, the adjoining and cover-free Red Room Bar serves up rich Belgian ales alongside pool tables and pinball machines. But this one-stop nightspot makes sure the bands are still the main draw. Local legends like Fugazi have played numerous sets, and the club’s all-ages policy and 7,000-square-foot mainstage have made it a key stop for national tours.

Not shabby, Black Cat. Well Done! I look forward to coming back now that we’re smoke free. Before the ban, the place was smoky to an obscene level. My throat would lock up as I walked into the Red Room. Now I suppose I’ll go back and see if it’s gotten better. Well, that and because I’ve got a fierce pinball jones.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

About 90 minutes ago, the Fenty era began. Mayor Adrian Fenty took his oath office this morning and assumed the powers of Mayor at noon today. The DC.gov site now reflects the new mayor. His section of DC.gov now includes fully printable photos in 3×5 and 5×7 and 8×10 sizes, handy for printing and framing in your home, office, or dartboard (if you’re Linda Cropp) and there’s even a full high-res version suitable for printing Mayor Adrian Fenty t-shirts.

The public ceremonial swearing in will happen later this week and be open to the public. Mayor Fenty has completed his cabinet, which includes transit rockstar Dan Tangherlini, who will serve as Fenty’s City Administrator. The City Council was also sworn in today, and while the council page reflects the new members, bios are oddly lacking for those joining the council, which is a shame.

Welcome to the new administration!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

NYE Biters, Not Breakers

While I wanted to make a New Year’s Eve DC Drunks Photo Pool, my own inebriation put me to sleep moments after midnight. And I hope the same happened to you if you were out and about in Adams Morgan Sunday night.

Otherwise, if you stayed out late and were wandering around the 2300 block of Ontario Road or nearby on Kalorama, the Adams-Morgan Yahoo Group and DC MPD might want to ask you a few questions.

The Adams-Morgan list is reporting serious late-night vandalism:

At about 3:00 a.m. some incredibly large, loud, drunk, and determined weekend visitor to our fair neighborhood took it upon himself to bash in the roofs of several cars on the 2300 block of Ontario Road and otherwise damage a couple of cars on Kalorama. Just a quick thumbnail estimate shows that this idiot did several thousand dollars of damage in just a few minutes.

No word yet on who or why but John Wilcox has a great shout-out to who he believes is the real culprit:

And to the helpful bartenders or wait staff of our tourist bars who helped this guy get so wasted, thanks so much. Hope your New Year is getting off to a better start than ours is.

Better yet, John is assuming the drunk destroyer is a “tourist”. No, not some yahoo from way out of town, but a suburbanite Mr. Incredible from NoVA or MD. And here I thought suburbanites were just “Bridge & Tunnels” not full blown tourists.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Because I can’t stand listening to anything but music while I’m driving, I never hear a traffic report, or local news, while in my car. So while I had this vague understanding that streets would be closing but government employees would be staying home today (this is what happens when your alarm clock is set to NPR), I wasn’t really thinking about it as I headed into the city for work. But as I headed down 20th and crossed Pennsylvania Avenue, I started seeing DC police, in full dress uniform, lining the sidewalks on either side of the street.

Odd, I thought, I wonder what that’s-

Oh right, it’s President Ford’s funeral today.

This is where Tiff starts to shake off the holiday-weekend-haze and pay attention to the world around her.

In any case, the funeral will be over and streets will likely have reopened tonight by rush hour. But if traffic snarls anyway, relax and try to show a little respect before cursing out your fellow drivers. (That’s something I’ll be trying to remember in that situation.)

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Today is the funeral of the 38th President, Gerald Ford. His body, which has lain in state in the rotunda of the Capitol Building will travel via hearse to the National Cathedral for his 10am funeral. The procession will most likely bring traffic across downtown to a complete standstill right about now. As always, the Post has an excellent map of the route from the Capitol to the Cathedral and then the route back to Andrews AFB for his final flight to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The funeral today is invite only, and the security will be heavy near the Cathedral. If you don’t have to be in the city today, it’s probably a good day to be at home. I have a feeling that with the Federal Government off today as part of the national day of mourning, it’s going to be fairly quiet anyway. Banks are open today, financial markets are not (not that we have any here!). The Smithsonian is open today, as is the National Archives Museum, but not their research facility. The Archives have a Special Exhibit of Documents from the Archives.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Yes it is almost 2007 Washington DC! And I do hope you are thinking what I am with these two supermodels on my arm.

24 hours until Smoke Free DC!

So soon I will be able to smell their presence in my life, not the Buffalo Billiards smoke out. Soon they will need not wash hair and clothes the day after a night out.

So soon we all will not risk lung cancer when we go out.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

courtesy of Arena Stage

First in a two-part series of Reviews too Late to do You Any Good, I thought I’d tell you about my experience last week when my darling girlfriend and I caught Arena Stage‘s production of She Loves Me. This is the musical you’ve never heard of but know the plotline to: it’s based on the same Hungarian play that inspired the classic Jimmy Stewart movie “The Shop Around The Corner,” and later the cinematic corporate product-placement strokefest, “You’ve Got Mail.”

Well, two out of three ain’t bad, and She Loves Me was good enough to wash the taste out of my mouth put there by a few minutes inflicted on me by caught on HBO.

She Loves Me was somewhat of a surprise schedule for Arena, put into the lineup because the planned work, A Civil War Christmas by scribe Paula Vogel, “deserves the necessary time and development in order to
bring it to its full potential.” Hard to know what that really means, but the end result was a pleasant one. The numbers in She Loves Me were catchy and often amusing. I can’t think of any side-splitting moments in the musical but I caught myself humming bits of it for days afterwards.

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

photo courtesy of First Night

If you’re a military family man or woman home for New Year’s and looking for an event outside the home, First Night is offering free admission for you and reduced entry for your family.[pdf] Just bring appropriate identification to the Embassy Suites Hotel at 1900 Diagonal Road. If you’ve got a Forecast magazine hanging about there’s supposed to be coupons in it as well.

With admission $15 for adults and free for kids under 12 I don’t know just how cheap “reduced” is – they don’t specify – but a buck’s a buck. If you think you might be interested, the map of the First Night options is here and the program is here.

Thanks to James from Atlanta for the heads-up on the Alexandria First Night website.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Walking into the Bling Bling Giant for last minute New Years Eve shopping, this empty cart rack is a bad sign.

A sign of a packed grocery store that shocks me. Why are so many folks shopping today. Are you?

I am here because my fridge is empty after two weeks vacation in Puerto Rico. But why is everyone else here?

Don’t they have Monday and maybe Tuesday to shop too?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It’s snowing here in Toronto. Not bad, mind you, but any snow at all means it’s colder than I like. I just looked at the Arlington weather predictions and saw a high of 55 for today. Only two more days before I get back to decent weather and grits for breakfast.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

While browsing through photos of DC using one of my favorite Flickr tools, I did a double take when I saw this shot. Maybe I’m the only one who hasn’t seen a ginormous chopper landing on the White House lawn, but it’s a scene straight from the movies. It’s as if they were filming the next Tom Clancy film and Jack Ryan was being airlifted to Andrews to catch the next plane to North Korea. Or maybe Iran? You know, one of those “Axis of Evil” countries.

Seriously, kudos to Martin Brossman for being at the right place at the right time…with his camera!

On a side note, I just received a new ND filter in the mail from B&H today that I can’t wait to play with. Neutral Density filters allow less light into your lens allowing for longer exposures. This particular filter will let me take an incredibly long exposure during in the middle of the day, for the effect….well you’ll just have to wait and see. Stay tuned!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The story about the guy who got drunk on last night’s United Flight 1295 from DC to Fort Myers and then threw a tantrum is amusing, but by itself not particularly newsworthy. Even the fact that he hit another passenger during his alcohol-fueled hissy-fit isn’t that notable.

Why am I writing about it?

The passenger this moron hit is a federal air marshal. Genius, pure genius.

Even better? The passenger, Andrew Kowalczyk, leaned over to the OTHER marshal on the flight right before he did it and said, “I don’t know who this guy in front of me thinks he is, but I’m going to whoop his ass.”

Mr. Kowalczyk was arrested when the plane landed after having been “isolated in first class” for the remainder of the flight. First class?! That’s not much of a punishment. Shove his belligerent ass into coach between the smelly guy and the gaggle of screaming children.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Today is my DC Holiday Pit Stop, a relaxing one-day respite. This year we decided to do the Dreaded Double, the Equitable Split – two Christmases, one with my family, one with his. We just returned last night from Phase One: Florida, and tomorrow depart for Phase Two: Pennsylvania. I know I’m not alone in doing this kind of holiday, and I certainly am happy I’m not traveling with kids or cats or dogs (we saw at least one cat, six dogs, and countless babies in the airports – I don’t know how people do it).

So we’re spending a decadent day lolling around, sleeping the morning away (yes, I slept til a slothful 1pm!), breaking for a sushi lunch at Thai Chef, stopping in for hair products at VSL, writing on my laptop while listening to drum-n-bass, the usual ridiculous urban cliches. All necessary antidotes, and a preparation to leave again.

It’s always fascinating to leave DC for completely different environments. The return feels like a re-entry from outer space or deep sea diving. Neither of which I’ve actually ever done, so as usual I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. But indulge me here in a few comparisons.

The difference between the airport security lines of DCA vs. RSW, for one. At DCA, people go through the security lines with a jaded resignation. Everyone looks slightly tense as they remove their shoes and coats and hand grenades, grumbling at the newbie travelers who whine to the TSA reps about why they have to take off their hoodies and flip-flops. It’s a slow shuffle, a cattle call, a death march.

At RSW (that’s Fort Myers, FL) it’s like a game. Everyone’s cheerful, from the teens joking with the laughing guards, to the TSA rep standing in front of a table of samples of what not to bring in your carry-on, smiling and gesturing like an aged Vanna White. People are practically skipping through the lines. Maybe they really do put soma in the water down there.

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

My first president (being born in ’75), died on Tuesday. Albeit he took over in a time of crisis, both during a war and the defiling of an office, he rose above his station and led the country forward. I’m sure there will be a number of obits regarding his life over the next few days, but somebody who wasn’t necessarily remembered as “great” during his term, should be remembered fondly today. Someone so connected to this city, someone who changed this city so much.

LA Times – AP Obituary

CNN Coverage

WaPo Obituary

It’s that time of year again. The annual rite of passage of getting “toasted” on New Years, with yourself and/or your significant other. It seems the WaPo likes to publish the fun stories late in the evening, like this one about the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company (Minnesota) who, besides making that gasoline additive we all know and love, as a byproduct, with some cajoling of new equipment, hi-test Vodka!

Now that’s some pretty, hiccup, cool ingenuity, burp! I wonder what other flavors they’ll come up with. Just hopefully you’ll get out of the party without having gasoline breath!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I have to say that flying out of DCA is a breeze, at least in my experience. I am working with a skewed set of comparisons, though, so this may not be a fair assessment. Even during the holiday rush a few days ago, the security personnel were very friendly, wishing me and my million or so traveling companions that day a good flight and hustling us through in a speedy manor. My basis of comparison may not be fair. I have flown extensively out of airports in Boston, Providence and Hartford in the last several years and up there the security people seem about as willing to do a cavity search as scan your carry-on bags. It’s like they are itching for a fight sometimes.

At any rate, it’s good to be someplace where the security folks are good to people and the general feeling is positive, or at least neutral. Usually neutral is about as good as it gets but this time I was delighted to meet such friendly folks.

I just hope that when I return home to DC in a few days that things go even half as smoothly and that I am eventually reunited with my bags at the end of this long trip I am on!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Okay, so this is last Friday news… and to those of you who read Attrition.org, it’s even older news… but it seems the news outlets finally discovered it and put a name with the nom-de-plume… although it wasn’t that hard…

You see, with the election season coming full-steam ahead, it seems a certain Congressional staffer wanted to change his grades at his higher-education institution so his resume would seem even more perfect (I never saw the original, but if it was paired with a stint at 7-11, he need all the help he could get). The soon to be communications director for Representative Denny Rehberg (R-Montana), Todd Shriber, contacted the caustic staff of Attrition to help him hack into the university computers of his alma-mater. Maybe because he didn’t read close enough (it’s official title is Attrition On-Line, not to be confused with America On-Line… which enough do)… but he got led along for months, including a request for photos of pigeons and squirrels…

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

photo courtesy of VDOT

Heard it on the radio earlier today – VDOT’s going to have a fair number of lane closures on I-395 between now and the weekend, when they’ll pause again for holiday traffic. Hopefully you’re taking some much-deserved time off and don’t need to be anywhere in a hurry, but if you do – plan ahead.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs