Maybe I have a license plate fetish, but you can’t help but wonder if local cops can read the syllabary, let alone pronounce Tsalagi on this Cherokee Nation license plate. I still think it’s cool, even if it wasn’t on a classic motorcycle to boot.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Summer is fast upon us, and for many people that means only one thing: Grilling Season.

Now I know everyone has their own pet philosophy about what makes a good grill, usually yapping on about fuel and barbeque coals. Forget about it. Hit the P Street Whole Foods this Thursday and prepare to be converted to wood-burning grilling.

Summer weekends for many years of my time in Washington have been spent watching my friend and DC entrepreneur Ben Eisendrath work his magic on The Grillery, an elegantly simple, stainless steel grill that allows you to cook over a wood-burning fire. The crowd favorite has always been butterflied salmon on a bed of dill, rendering a fish so moist and succulent it embodies the “tastes like butter” cliche. But it’s equally impressive with meat – steak, lamb, venison, caribou sausage – even bananas!

Watch Ben grill and sample the rewards at the P Street Whole Foods beginning at 4pm this Thursday. He’ll demonstrate The Grillery’s mastery with dry rubbed flank steaks over natural wood. Prepare to taste, be converted and covet one for yourself…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Are you aware that there is a free comedy show every Thursday at Hotel Topaz off Dupont Circle? No? Well, now you are. Are you aware that it’s free because it’s an open-mic night? Probably.

But I bet you didn’t know that I’ll be doing 10 minutes there, this very Thursday night, June 14th. 8PM. Come on out.

The fine folks at DCStandup.com do an excellent job of keeping track of all the open mics in town. If you like free comedy and don’t mind some, um, variance in the professionalism and quality of the performers, DCStandup can keep you occupied pretty much every night of the week.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of WTOP.com

I went over to WTOP.com to read the updates on the Million Dollar Pants lawsuit and decided I’d add one of their news feeds to my RSS reader. WTOP has a number of distinct news feeds and the last of the bunch is “Monkey News” which they – wisely – recognize may confuse someone, so underneath they assure you they’re serious not misspeaking.

Well of course I added it.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Those of you who have been here for a long time likely already knew this but I just discovered, via Google Maps, that there is a sizable pool in the back yard of the White House. Check it out in the picture to the right. It’s that aquamarine rectangle in the lower left.

I can just imagine some cool times there, chilling by the pool, Laura Bush with a pitcher of margaritas and George grilling up some franks and burgers on the barbecue. Yeah, Dubya, I’ll take a foot-long and a patty. No, not too well done. I like mine rare enough that a good vet might could bring it back. Boy, those would be good times.

Then in the evening, when the old folks retire to the salon to play Pictionary, watch reruns of Matlock and fight over the clicker, the Bush twins and their friends come out to play. Wild times ensue, kegs are emptied, someone gets sick and someone cries, and the party is broken up only when the neighbors complain about the noise level and the DC cops come by.

All this makes me think that maybe we should have access to the White House pool so we can all beat the heat and manage this muggy summer. Sure, it could be reserved for laps first thing in the morning and then in the mid-afternoon, just so long as the twins come out for some rollicking fun as the sun sets.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Wandering through Washington DC have you noticed anything new about our fire hydrants? Like maybe a few sporting “Out of Service” collars?

It seems that the Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) is finally conducting its fire hydrant “blitz” inspections and finding quite a few dead hydrants.

Now the question is not are there 10% or 25% broken hydrants in the city. The question is: When will the hydrants be fixed?

Because it doesn’t matter if there are 1% or 100% broken hydrants. What matters is if you got water or not.

And right now, as I stare across my street at the hydrant that would serve my house, I wonder if it works, and if it doesn’t, when it would.

Don’t you?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Cliff Janey will be looking for a new job right about now. Actually, he’s probably known this was coming for a little while. Replacing him will be Michelle Rhee, current CEO and Founder of The New Teacher Project, an organization built around “increasing the number of outstanding individuals who become public school teachers and to creating environments for all educators that maximize their impact on student achievement.”

While Rhee has taught in public schools (including some of Baltimore’s lowest performing), she has never headed up even a single school. Choosing Rhee to run DC’s poorly performing school district is a bold choice for the new mayor, and though he had been seen courting Miami’s Rudy Crew, a veteran of several large districts, Rhee’s choice seems to come from left field.

All I know is, when the median percentage of students that can pass the math standards test is 22%, something drastic is necessary. If you look at the Post’s Dynamic Scorecard for DC Schools, which shows you 6 different metrics that schools can be measured on, things are pretty dire. When it takes a year for the average urgent maintenance ticket to be addressed, and when each school has an average of 8 or so urgent tickets, clearly facilities need to be dealt with. This isn’t Rhee’s forte, judging from her record. While she might be able to help address the mere 62% of accredited faculty, it’s not likely that she has much experience with the on-average 29 crimes per school site.

Good luck, Michelle Rhee, you have your work cut out for you. DC needs a change, here’s hoping you’re the right one.

Or, here’s hoping you get a good five to ten years to actually fix the system.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The Very Best Banana Pudding, Ever.

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

I recognize that cellphone cams are certainly no way to produce quality food images, but I was so moved by the Banana Pudding at Carlyle Grand tonight that I just had to snap a photo. The pudding in the middle was almost a mousse, thick and tasty, redolent of banana. The bananas surrounding the pudding itself were covered in caramel and roasted vanilla wafers, turning the whole thing into one big plate of delicious diabetic coma.

I haven’t been this full, or this sated, in quite some time.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo by Carl Weaver

I saw plastic sheets covering the dairy and cold cut sections of the Harrison Road Harris Teeter in Arlington. I just wanted to pick up something for dinner tonight. I never expected to be met with such a barrier to buying.

At the same time, there was an employee by the egg case, handing out cartons of eggs to people. Just for the moment I passed by, maybe? Perhaps. I didn’t stick around to see. Stingy with the dairy and prepackaged meats but generous with the eggs. Curious.

The cooler cases all seemed to be pumping out cold air, so it probably was not a mechanical difficulty. So why were these sections covered? Quarantine? Infestation? Outbreak of disease? Was it a makeshift oxygen tent?

Do you work there? Do you know what was going on?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Herby_fr

… then this is its holy grail.

Seen on Craigslist today: “80108, a start-up mobile company, is looking for an enthusiastic supporter of Hillary Clinton to write SMS text messages about her campaign.”

Yep, reporting in 160 characters or less. Now that’s a challenge! Is this Web 0.002? “Please reply with your resume or short bio. Include 4 timely text message writing samples related to the Hillary Clinton campaign (limit to 160 characters, approx 10-15 words).”

I suspect “Hillary did something to make Rush angry” and variations thereof will not pass muster, however accurate it might be. How DOES one write worthwhile news updates – about anything! – in 10-15 words or less?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Continuing today’s Google Maps Mash-up theme, here is a new WashPost site that I find interesting: LocalExplorer

While it has local retail, home sales, and schools listed on a Google Map, my favorite tab is local crime. You can map your favorite spots and check out recent crimes by location and type. Clicking on each bubble, you get a pop-up of the crime description & date.

For the most fun, throw in your & your friends addresses to see who lives in the hood and who just fronts like they do. Case in point 20005 vs. 20011.

You would think Logan would be all nice and Petworth soaked with Georgia Avenue crime reports, but you would be wrong. Both have their trouble spots but by red dots, Petworth seems an oasis of safety.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I found this old-ass refrigerator on the side of the road in my Arlington neighborhood yesterday. It’s an old-skool kid-killer model with the airtight seal and latching door. Someone with good sense had taken the door off so no kids would get in and die from suffocation, baking in the heat or worse.

It reminds me of the refrigerator my grandfather kept in his basement. It was always filled with pesky foodstuffs and was too cold for me to crawl into while playing hide and seek. Thank goodness for that!

Ah, the old refrigerators… They lasted forever and old guys not knowing what to say while sipping beers in the basement would comment, “Yep. They don’t make them like that anymore. Yep.”

Since we live in the museum capitol of the world, shouldn’t there be a museum for ways in which we almost died as children? I would put in the refrigerator, my neighbor’s evil dog who was more interested in crapping in the yard than attacking us but only slightly so, that bobby pin I used to short out an electrical outlet and somehow only blew the fuse and Jarts.

What would you include?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Screengrab of Dave Faris’ creation

Continuing today’s Google Maps mashup trend, I bring you Dave Faris’ Pick Your Own Produce map. This started its life as a Washington Post article but Dave’s Google stylings makes it much easier to find the “fresh blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and other produce” closest to you. Kudos to Dave for taking the time to key in all these addresses. Hopefully this’ll give our city mouse some new markets to explore.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Wandering through Petworth the other day, I came across an interesting sight: two Hummers for one man.

Now I can understand a man’s need to compensate with one Hummer. But two?

Are his reproductive organs that small? Does he need to accelerate Global Warming that fast? Or does he enjoy tossing gas money down a hole?

I am only worried that two Hummers that close will spawn another. H2 + H3 = H5?

Somebody, get that man a Prius!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Note the paid/free icons!

While not specific to our region, Hotspotr is a great resource for when you’re looking for someplace to plonk yourself and twiddle on the laptop. Sure, you could be like Tom and just live at one of the Murky Coffee locations, but some of us are a little more mobile. The best thing about it is that it graphically differentiates between places that are free and that charge for the connection – see the little dollar signs?

The second best bit about it is that it doesn’t wink and ignore one of the essential problems of online finder things – how the hell do you use it if you need it to find your online access? m.hotspotr.com from your mobile phone, in this case. Punch in your zipcode and get a nice listing, sorted by physical distance from you.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you’re new to DC, you probably haven’t heard about the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center. It’s a free, daily performance of Something Artistic, be it music, be it theatre, or, this week, be it tiny ninjas performing MacBeth or Romeo and Juliet.

That’s right, Monday through Thursday, Tiny Ninja Theater Company will be performing at the Millenium Stage. Don’t miss it, they’re absolutely positively hilarious. And besides, it’s part of Shakespeare in Washington, if it is being done by tiny ninjas. Go. Laugh. Enjoy. You won’t regret it.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

If you are a hapless shrimp swimming in the ocean blue, you need to fear Tom Bridge.

Tom is all over killing shrimps for food and he is grilling the slow ones this afternoon.

His cousin Mike says the shrimp on the barby are nice but it is all about the beer. Specifically Abbaye des Rocs that Tom bought at auction and now will be consumed on this special day:

Tom’s one year wedding anniversary.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Okay, I admit that I knew it was a porn movie place when I pulled in the parking lot but the story doesn’t start there.

“Oh look – a video store,” my wife said, pointing to a building on Leesburg Pike in Falls Church. I did a quick assessment. MVC Late Night Video. Blacked out windows above eye level, dirty parking lot, seedy strip along a busy road. Yep, it’s got to be porn.

“Did you know there was a video rental place there?” She asked.

“I think it’s a porn place.”

“No, they wouldn’t put a porn place there. It’s not hidden enough to be a porn place.”

“No, it’s got to be a porn place.” Men have a sixth sense about this type of thing. She should trust me on such issues, not challenge my authority on porn recognition.

A few days later I passed the same place on the way home from a student’s house and decided to poke my head in, so to speak. Pictures of bare ta-ta’s, vibrating everything and videos galore. Mom and Dad would be proud to know that I had the follow-through to put that mystery to rest.

Thanks, MVC, for keeping the landscape along Leesburg Pike interesting, if not wholesome or clean.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

How’s them flashy rims? They bling bling enough for you? They are for me, as I watched the owner lovingly wash each one by hand.

Out for a run, I cam across the pride of 3rd and Allison Street NW being washed and waxed DC style: on the street.

Now I only ask if you take such care of your ride, especially if your ride was named “Zeus” and could glide down the Potomac in style.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Who cares if they make you wait an hour for prints that take under five minutes? Costco has the best unofficial waiting room of any photo printing agency in the DC area.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs