WMATA may have Metrorail train departure time signs at the entrances to metro stations, but that doesn’t help if you are trying to decide when to leave work or home to make the next train with the least wait.

Into this comes the Metro’s latest techno-gadget: real-time Metrorail and Metrobus information online.

While the Metrobus timing is limited to only a few lines, the Metrorail timing is active for all Metro stations. This is convenient, no more 15 minute waits on the station platform, but I wish you could see where trains are real-time.

The practicality might not be high, but it would have a much greater “wow” factor!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Politicians. Can’t live with ’em, can’t send them to jail forever. Well, most of the time. Maxim has highlighted their Top Ten Elected Douchebags, and our Mayor for Life is #4. Is anyone surprised? I mean, smoked crack in office, and then blamed it on the woman who got him arrested. Of course, who’s the real jerk, the elected official, or those who put him back into office after he served his time?

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Check out the footnote on a late notice I received from the Washington Post Home Delivery service. Note that Mr. Basa implies that he somehow will be hurt if I do not pay my Post subscription asap.

Is this for real? Does the Washington Post really expect Mr. Basa to make a living on a portion of my $2.30 per day payment? Might the Post pay much more than that for Mr. Basa’s services and his note be one more way to try and slow its declining readership?

Several run-around calls to the Post revealed little about driver compensation. Driver job ads reveal less. Calls to Mr. Basa revealed nothing – his phone was not answered.

Maybe you know more? Maybe you know the answer: How are Post delivery drivers compensated? And does my subscription payment matter?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

DC is notorious for being Blackberry-addicted. So many people walk down the street, their eyes glues to their handhelds like zombies searching for brains to munch. So, hot tip for all our DC Crackberry Addicts, go out and grab the new GMail App for your Blackberry. Fear not, Treo users, you can get it too.

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Holy Shi-ite!

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

Walking down Clarendon Boulevard this afternoon, past the Metro station, past the Delhi Club, I spotted this bizzarro art exhibit contained in the display windows of what used to be a typewriter repair shop. Featuring protest art and diorama, the beautifully crafted clay sculptures, glazed and unglazed, stand as a singular protest.

Still odd to see it in the windows of this old typewriter repair shop.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

No Sleeping on the Bench!

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

This Arlington Bench seems tailored to provide a poor night’s sleep for anyone who might seek to use it as a bed. I’ve seen similar benches with central rails in the style of the armrests, but a plain wooden bar? How…Lame.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Did that get your attention? It did mine. On November 4th from 5 to 8pm the Kiwanis Club of Arlington will hold its 35th annual Oyster Feast/Pig Roast. Supposedly there’s a bevy of local politicians there dancing like trained monkeys trying to get your vote the coming election Tuesday, but nobody’s paying the $35 at the door for that. The point of it is the all you can stuff in your greedy little maw flow of oysters, slow-roasted pork, hot dogs, hamburgers, cole slaw, beer, and soda. Park at Ballston Common mall and they’ll validate your ticket on entry, making parking part of the deal too.

The proceeds go towards funding community programs, information about which you can find on the Kiwanis Club of Arlington‘s webpage.

American Service Center
601 N. Randolph St.
Arlington, VA 22203

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DC Photographer Don Brodie will be on this evening’s episode of Talking Business with the Pros, a weekly talk show about the business side of photography. Come check it out from 10-11 p.m. Audience participation is welcome.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Cap City Brewery

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

While DCist might have told you to leave early yesterday, I’m gonna say it today: Get The Hell Outside.

It’s perfect out there, with the fall colors at their peak, the clouds pleasantly fluffy and white, and when was the last time it was so nice and warm on the first of November. Take your sunglasses out, go for a Dickey’s Frozen Custard and forget work the rest of the day.

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Screen on the Green was in July/August…

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

…so why is this ad still up in the Courthouse Metro?

Stale ads are all over the Metro these days, is the ad market so hard to deal with? Fortunately, the dearth of ads in the escalator tube let me notice the advertising for blognostic hiding on the escalator rail was enough to make up for it. Check ’em out, they’re pretty neat.

But I still wanna know how bad the Metro ad market is…can anyone shine some light on that for me?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Monday night, I sat in the Arlington County Library Auditorium and took the two hour class on how to be an election worker. I learned how to read the pollbook, how to identify a legitimate ID (hint, your utility bill can work, in a pinch.) and where all the checks and balances in the process lie. I even learned that if you’re not on the pollbook, you can still vote a provisional ballot, which get examined the next day. I learned how to set up a touchscreen voting machine, even if I don’t think they’re all that secure, or all that reliable.

Overall, it’s an intense process. What gives me faith in our system is the process sheets that I was given. The documentation for an election is incredible. Signatures. Checks and Balances. Cards. People. Criteria. Benefit of the Doubt. The process behind elections is what make them great, not whether or not you’re voting on a touchscreen or on a paper ballot, or yanking on a lever.

Become part of the process. Your faith in elections is faith in people, and working on election day is part of that process.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

I am always a fan of a good protest. No matter your cause, if you have some good yelling, visuals, and a message, I can appreciate your effort if not your goals.

With pro-union carpentry, I wanna be both pro-protest and pro-goals. With the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters I can’t.

Oh, and its not because I don’t like their cause, I love the cause. My Dad was a carpenter, and I used to work in construction. It’s MARCC that had a protest sans fliers and sans anything else message wise.

Really, I asked four or five people, including the guy who claimed to be in charge. No fliers, no website, only much noise. In fact, for not this protester’s sign, I might not know who, much less what the protest was about.

Next time, MARCC, get a message or go home.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The Arlington County Government has published some pictures of the new Ballston Ice Rink. I had to click through with glee when I saw the headline but was disappointed to find the obvious – it looks like an ice rink. Boring. At least it will be Metro acessible and at the mall. That’s pretty cool.

Here’s the link.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Did you miss Virginia’s wine month this past October? It sure is sad to see wine go unappreciated, so be sure to check out a list of all of Virginia’s wineries and breweries. Search by region, county and city to find your next road trip to Virginia’s wine country.

You can’t keep a good wine down and you shouldn’t ignore the beer either, for that matter. Nobody likes angry beer.

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Canadian author Margaret Atwood will be speaking at the Borders store at 1801 K St. NW on Nov. 6th at 7:00 p.m.

From the Borders web site:
“Sponsored by Borders and PEN/Faulkner Foundation. “Moral Disorder” is a superb new collection of ten stories that brilliantly capture the myriad uncertainties, ambiguities, and epiphanies of real life. Margaret Atwood is acknowledged as one of the foremost writers of our time. She is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her most recent novel, “Oryx and Crake,” was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003. She lives in Toronto, Canada.”

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photo courtesy of the Red Cross

While I think a blood drive with Slambam on hand would be more appealing, if you’re not of a mind to go out to my neck of the woods (Sterling represent!) a friend of mine is working a different one on the 4th as well, and it’s closer in to the District – Gunston Middle School in Arlington, just off Glebe. And while all combined it doesn’t equal the appeal of the Rollergirls, there will be opportunities for prizes like food and gift certificates from Giant and Safeway and other sundries from local businesses including the YMCA, Pacers running store, Mr.Days and more. Everyone gets a t-shirt and a free magazine subscription of their choice.

You can even set an appointment to minimize your waiting. Or just show up between 9am and 1pm.

2700 Gunston Middle School (in the Cafeteria)
S. Lang Street
Arlington, VA 22206

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs