Yearly Archives: 2010

Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: The 2010 Census (Or, How You Are Worth $4,656)

Photo courtesy of
‘274/365 Filling out the census’
courtesy of ‘eiratansey’

I love busting myths about the city in this feature, but myths about owning vs. renting, the international nature of DC’s residents, and how no one is from DC would be impossible to bust without cold hard data.  And where do we get that data? The Census!  And now is an exciting time– Census forms should be arriving this week, and now you get to do your civic duty and fill out your form.

There are a lot of myths about the Census– who should fill it out, what the information can be used for, etc– and this is the first time that many of us are the heads of households filling out these forms.  Lucky for us, we’ve got Maurice Henderson, the director of DC Counts, to help us bust this week’s Census-related myths.  Check out what Maurice had to say about three big myths Census myths.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Kastles Fill Roster on WTT Draft Day


WTT King Trophy by Max Cook

Today the Washington Kastles filled out their roster for the 2010 season on World TeamTennis Draft Day.  With an impressive team headlined by the Williams sisters, repeating as WTT champions looks entirely possible.  The Kastles traded for the first overall pick in today’s draft, welcoming doubles masters Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs back to the team.  The roster is rounded out by Bobby Reynolds and Angela Haynes (we’ll miss you “Boom Boom” and “Puchy”).  And last but certainly not least, coach Murphy Jensen will be back for a second year to fire up the players and entertain the crowd.

This season’s schedule is now online and packed with incredible matches featuring Martina Hingis, John McEnroe, and of course, Anna Kournikova.

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Help Teddy Win (No, Really)

Photo courtesy of
‘Teddy comes on’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Poor Teddy Roosevelt hasn’t ever won a Presidents’ Race at Nats Park, and we all know that’s a crying shame. But there’s no reason at all that he should have to lose to some pathetic foam hotdogs from Milwaukee. As part of March Madness, ESPN is sponsoring a multi-sport mascot madness, and the Racing Presidents need your help. They’re up against the racing sausages of Milwaukee in a second round battle. Vote here. It looks like they’re down by 12%, but I’m hoping the loyal DC crowd that reads this site can help fix this.

The Daily Feed
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Spring Trends via M29 Lifestyle

Image Credit: M29 Lifestyle for We Love DC

Another spring trend report coming your way…

This time our exclusive We Love DC look comes from the new “lifestyle boutique” in Georgetown, M29 Lifestyle.  The newest store to hit M Street is best described as kitschy and cool – carrying an assortment of gift items, home decor, and apparel with a unique focus on the artists and designers behind all of these hand-selected pieces. Everything about M29 Lifestyle is appealing to the eye, even the store itself is designed in such a fashion where natural light streams in from floor-to-celling windows and items are presented in a breezy, atelier-style way.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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No Trespassing At Bear Rock Cafe

Photo courtesy of
‘Freedom of Speech’
courtesy of ‘Cazimiro’

Pop quiz: A repeat customer comes to your cafe and orders a bagel and a couple of slices of tomato. You:

  1. Give them the tomato slices for free
  2. Charge them a reasonable fee for the slices
  3. Demand they pay for a sandwich, and then ban the from the store

If you answered 1 or 2, you might be ready to manage a neighborhood cafe. If you answered 3, you might be ready to run the Bear Rock Cafe in Falls Church. Seems Cazimiro‘s pregnant wife stopped by at the store which is right below the condo where they live, the owner lashed out at the cashier for only charging 50 cents for the tomato slices, and then asked her not to return to the store.

After the couple posted about their experience on Yelp, the owner apparently tried to involve Arlington police, getting them to issue a no trespass notice. Doesn’t exactly seem like the sort of thing you’d do to neighborhood customers (or, really, any customers) over such a small infraction. And reading some of the other reviews, this off the wall behavior doesn’t seem to have been a one time thing.

Arlington, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Clarendon Strikes up a St. Paddy’s Eve Parade

Photo courtesy of
‘Lemon #37’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Remember how it snowed in February? I definitely don’t need to remind anyone that the city lost a lot of events in the storms. Well, among the many things that got Snowpocalypsed was the annual Fat Tuesday parade hosted by the Clarendon Alliance. Not to fear, instead of being completely swept away in a snow drift, the parade transformed into a St. Patrick’s Day eve festival – i.e., tonight! If you want to check it out, and it actually is more fun than you’d think, floats will begin rolling up Wilson Blvd. at around 8 p.m., starting from Barton Ave.

In the area or venturing out to Clarendon for the parade? Why not give a little back while you’re out preparing for St. Patrick’s Day? Relay for Life Arlington will be hosting a post-parade gathering at Mister Days at the corner of Washington blvd and N. Highland St. Present this coupon, and Mister Days will generously donate a portion of your check to Relay For Life of Arlington. You can also make a donation at the door, and there will be a small raffle for gift certificates to the bar and other exciting items.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Kwame Brown: Screw a Kid, Get Fired

Photo courtesy of
‘Kwame Brown’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

That this needs to be said out loud, or written into law, is one of those moments where you shake your head, laugh, and then quietly cry to yourself inside. Yesterday emergency legislation was sponsored by At-Large councilman Kwame Brown to make sexual contact with a student a fire-able offense at DCPS. While the council has yet to take action, swift passage is expected.

If you’re asking who on God’s green earth would think it was okay to have sex with a student, you need but point to the myriad cases that make it to the rolls of Fark.com every month. But, given the wake of the layoffs scandal at DCPS this past Fall, and Michelle Rhee’s controversial remarks concerning the sexual proclivities of at least one teacher who was RIFfed, I suppose it needs to be done. In the meanwhile, we all weep for DCPS at large.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘The Lockhouse at Lock #10’
courtesy of ‘andertho’

If you didn’t read the title of this picture, you might not have noticed the lock house at first. It doesn’t catch your eye, hiding in the trees. A different take on the phrase “cannot see the forest for the trees.” The lock house stands at lock #10 on the C&O canal.

Andertho went for this old look processing and hit the spot. It looks old, spooky, and a little haunted. I like the look, and it makes me want to head out and explore the locks and trail on the C&O, again. Maybe once it’s dry.

The Daily Feed
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Area Parks Are All Wet

Photo courtesy of
‘Waters rise around Roosevelt Island’
courtesy of ‘snapzdc’

As the flood flows on, more pictures flood in — this time, with news of the parks.

Great Falls and its ever-popular Billy Goat Trail have been closed since Friday. Earlier today, a park official told me the towpath was accessible for a short distance around Old Angler’s Inn, but underwater above and below that point.

In addition to inundating Washington Harbour and the Mt. Vernon Trail, the Potomac has spilled into now-closed Theodore Roosevelt Island and covered parts of the Potomac Heritage Trail as it heads north from the island’s parking lot.

And while there’s the broken lock at the C&O Canal, at mid-afternoon there was just quick-flowing muddy water — and fortunately no houses or pianos or cows floating through. More pics after the break. Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Ovi Gets Two Game Suspension

Photo courtesy of
‘Check’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

As I feared, Alex Ovechkin picked up a two game suspension for his (perfectly acceptable) hit on Brian Campbell. The Caps GM George McPhee said this afternoon: “We have no problem with the way Alex tried to finish his check. Unfortunately, an injury resulted. We are disappointed with the suspension but do not want to comment further.” While we wish Brian Campbell a speedy recovery, this should not have resulted in a suspension. You want a hit that should’ve been a suspension? Check out Cooke vs Savard. Hell, that didn’t even draw a penalty!

Ovi will forfeit $232,000 or so in salary, or approximately an Aston Martin DB9. Hell, any time that the head of NBC Hockey, a noted lover of Sidney Crosby, stands up for you against the call, that’s a sign that the refs made a bad call.

The Daily Feed
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Mirror to the World Opening This Weekend


Seawall Shops, Galveston Island, 2008 by Timothy Hyde

A group of exceptional local photographers will be displaying their work at Photoworks Gallery in a show called Mirror to the World.  Curated by the group’s leader and mentor, Frank Van Riper, the show aims to show “stories of sensitivity and visual texture, and of course, photographs to linger over.”  Like most group shows, there will be an eclectic mix of photos ranging from natural devastation to Easter preparations at a Russian Orthodox Church, and of course they will all be for sale.

Opening Reception
Friday, March 19th, 6-9 PM

Photoworks Gallery
7300 MacArthur Boulevard
Glen Echo, Maryland 20812

We Love Food
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We Love Food: The Most Delicious Day of My Life


Pupusa at El Charrito
Yummy photos courtesy of Dan at Kitchen Geeking

Delicious is a word I use often. And by often, I mean constantly. I love the word delicious almost as much as I love the food that makes me say it. Everything about delicious is a win-win. Therefore, be it resolved, that Saturday March 6th was SO FULL OF WIN. If you don’t know just how delicious the ethnic food of DC and NoVa can be, you are missing out in the worst kinda’ way.

My Saturday started by meeting up with good friend, fantastic amateur chef and ultra foodie and blogger Dan Tompkins. We started throwing out types of cuisines, regions of the world that were a “must hit” for the day and names of hole-in-the-wall places that were favorites of mine. Just listing out the countries we could potentially consume in the hours to come lead to a very enamored and elated couple of hungry, hungry guys.

“Let’s start at the taqueria on Washington, then we have to grab some of my favorite falafel at Astor, hopefully they have koshari too…then we definitely need chickpeas from Ravi Kabob. I think a visit to Present for Vietnamese is also very much called for and it’s totally on our way out to Great Wall, the giant Asian grocery store.”

If our initial list of food stops had actually been the limits of this day, it still would’ve ranked up there with some of the most delicious days of my life. But thankfully Dan and I don’t let silly things like goals keep our food egos in check. We go all out when we get together and this day was like none other that had come before it. This, my fellow DC friends, was the most delicious day of my life. Our bellies happily danced to the tune of food induced merriment brought on by the entire world’s best dishes meeting their demise in our mouths over the course of 9 hours. Mexican, Egyptian, Bolivian, Lebanese, Pakistani, Peruvian, Afghan, American and more!

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Washington Harbour Boardwalk Flooded

Potomac River Floods Washington Harbour

We’ve got a major Coastal Flood Warning today, with the tidal Potomac swelling to 3-4 ft above flood level, and 5-10 ft around Georgetown. Be safe and cautious if you live or work near the Potomac River or the C&O Canal, and don’t try to drive through flood water. The National Harbour boardwalk and parts of the driveway to K Street are inundated, and as has already been mentioned, a broken C&O Canal lock may cause additional flooding in Lower Georgetown. Parts of the The Mount Vernon Bike Trail are underwater, and of course Old Town Alexandria is getting swamped as well.

After the jump, a hydrograph and some bigger photos. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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C&O Canal Lock Broken Through, Flooding Feared


Photo by palkynebtab

As this morning’s photos and reports indicate, there is some serious flooding going on throughout the DC area.

In Georgetown, the C&O tow path has been closed and buildings and residencies that line the C&O Canal are in peril because an upstream lock has broken through. But according the National Park Service another lock remains in place to hold the water back. Should the second lock fail, then there is a potential for a flood surge along the banks of the historic canal.

Obviously, the main concern is for pedestrian and human safety, but in addition some commercial buildings, such as The Foundry Building, have already started taking flooding precautions by deploying sandbags to their lower level areas.

News, The Daily Feed
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Ken Cuccinelli a Birther?

Photo courtesy of
‘Caught’
courtesy of ‘D’Arcy Norman’

Get out your straitjackets and butterfly nets, it’s time for a trip down to Richmond. In an interview over the weekend, Cuccinelli said that a challenge to President Obama’s birth certificate was “within the realm of possibility” for legal action, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s batshit crazy.

Look, it’s perfectly acceptable to not like the President, I certainly don’t think he walks on water, or is capable of delivering on the massive campaign promises he made to the American public, but isn’t the proper opposition answer to that pointing out his inability to get things done, and not challenge where he was born? Seriously? Really? That’s a viable political strategy? And you’re a state-wide office holder in Virginia? Whew. That’s some crazy-talk right there.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Division Champs Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_5742’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

Capitals

Record: 46-14-9
Last Two Weeks: 5-1-1 
Place: Won the Southeast Division, 1st in the East

What a team. I think the best reduction of the Caps’ season into a single game came against the Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon. If you didn’t like that game, well, you just plain don’t love hockey. The Caps came out hard-charging, and it cost them. Alex Ovechkin sent the ‘hawks’ Brian Campbell into the boards head-first about halfway through the first and drew a five-minute major that turned into a game misconduct, followed shortly thereafter by Alexander Semin charging the Blackhawks goalie Niemi. Suddenly, it was 5 on 3, and the Caps ended up down 2-0. With Ovechkin out, and a two-goal deficit against the Blackhawks, it wasn’t looking good. The game dragged.

It wasn’t til the third period that the Caps offense awoke, but once it did, it was flurry of furious skating and shooting. The Caps struck hard and fast, scoring three times in just under two and a half minutes. Having fought back for the tie, they went into overtime with all the momentum. The Caps’ Nicklas Backstrom would come up big for the Red at just past the halfway mark in the overtime period, reflecting a missed shot back under Niemi’s knees and in for the win.

Was it pretty? No. Did it matter? No. The Caps are a strong team even without Alex Ovechkin, but tonight it was their mistakes that cost them a couple goals early. They were able to capitalize on their opportunities, though, which is a strength I’d rather see than a flawless defense. The Caps have just seven more games at the Phone Booth before the playoffs start. Catch ’em while you can.

Continue reading →

Night Life, The Daily Feed
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SoberRides Available On St. Paddy’s Day

Photo courtesy of
‘Four leaves clover’
courtesy of ‘steven.y’

SoberRides are back for St. Patrick’s Day. Be safe. Call for one.

The Washington Regional Alcohol Program will be offering SoberRides from 4 p.m. on Wednesday to 4 a.m. on Thursday. Rides are free for up to $50.

If you need more of an incentive to utilize the program, one third of all traffic deaths on St. Patrick’s Day are alcohol related. So don’t be a statistic, be a smart party goer instead.

I suggest you enter the following number into your phone now, you know you’ll forget later: 1-800-200-TAXI

The Daily Feed
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School Bus Involved in Crash on I-270

Photo courtesy of
‘D3H_3088’
courtesy of ‘Cazimiro’

I just received a call literally seconds ago that a school bus was involved in a bad accident on I-270 Northbound near the Father Hurley Blvd exit, in the Germantown area. Apparently a Subaru Outback did not stop in time and slammed into the back of the bus, in the right lane, with at least half of the car being sandwiched under the rear bumper of the bus. Details are limited at this time as you can imagine so I don’t know if any children were aboard the bus or not, but whenever a school bus is involved in an auto accident of any kind, let alone one on an interstate, serious concern is valid.

We certainly hope there were no serious injuries and will bring you details as we find them, but do expect traffic to come to a hault on I-270, most likely in both directions (Northbound will probably be partially closed and Southbound will be full of rubber neckers). If you have any details, please post in the comments.

The Daily Feed
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Embassy Chef Challenge

Photo courtesy of
‘House of Sweden Podium’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Awesome food in an awesomely designed embassy…. You can’t go wrong with that.

Cultural Tourism DC and the Embassy of Sweden present the Embassy Chef Challenge 2010 on Thursday from 6:30 to 10:00.  Watch 12 embassy chefs representing Belgium, Hungary, Korea, Panama, Israel, Qatar and more take on hors d’oeuvre in this delicious (and friendly) challenge.  I also hear that there will be some celebrity chef judges in the audience (hint, hint: Chef Carla Hall and Michel Richard to name a few) so to all of our foodie friends out there, you won’t want to miss this.

Tickets are available online or by calling 202-661-7581.

The Daily Feed
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How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?

Photo courtesy of
‘O Solo Mio’
courtesy of ‘wickenden’

While chewing on your socks and snatching that piece of ham off the counter top is bad behavior by your pooch, I don’t think it can get much worse than what happen to DC jewelry shop owners Robert Rosin and George Kaufmann.

According to the Associated Press,  a diamond dealer stopped by the pair’s shop last week to show Rosin and Kaufmann a $20,000, three-plus carat rock.  Upon presenting the diamond to Rosin and Kaufmann, the dealer mistakenly and clumsily dropped the jewel and it was quickly gobbled up by Soli, Kaufmann’s dog.

After a call to the vet, the only solution was to carefully monitor Soli and sort through all of his doo-doos with a fine tooth comb.  Three days later, Kaufmann hit the jackpot and the diamond was back in the dealer’s hands. Question is: Will the  final owner ever know the doggy intestinal journey their gem has been on?