dc gets the shaft (again)

Somehow the television in the Smouie Kablooie household got stuck on “The Biggest Loser” Wednesday night.  I watched half-heartedly while browsing the net for random crap – until I recalled the hook they were using this season.  All 50 states had a representative who vied for a position on the show in the first episode – those who made the cut are now on one of the two teams trying to lose the greatest percentage of mass – the one’s who didn’t returned home to continue their weight loss efforts “off the ranch.”

Amy, from Baltimore, Maryland made the cut to be featured on the show as a member of the blue team.

Jennifer, from Arlington, Virginia didn’t make the cut – but is competing from home.

…there is no contestant from Washington, D.C.

Yeah, I know – the nation’s capital is a "federal district" not a state – and this isn’t as bad as taxation without representation - but c’mon, NBC… don’t you think you could have had someone from the district on the show? Are the citizens living in D.C. not worthy of America’s support in their weight loss efforts? Don’t they deserve a hometown hero to rally around too?

Last night, when re-telling the tale of the Metroblogging DC vs. DCist trivia fight, I asked the usual crowd-stumper: What is Mayor for Life, Marion S. Barry Jr.’s middle name?

As usual, no one knew it was “Shepilov “. Challenged by fools doubting me, I Googled “marion barry dc” and got this interesting result:

Phonebook results for marion barry dc
Marion Barry (202) 678-3682 2654 Douglas Pl SE, Washington, DC 20020 Map

Of couse the first thing I did was dial his number. Who better than Barry himself to check the anti-Shepilov crowd? Well, when he gets his phone turned back on.

“We’re sorry. The number you tried to dial is no longer in service. Please check your number and try again.”

.

It’s official, Frank Robinson is in his last games as the Nationals’ Manager. Robinson, already a Hall of Famer, will end his tenure with the Nationals with a sub .500 record, surprising precisely no one. Sadly, the Nationals suck more than a Dyson vacuum cleaner, but I’m not sure it’s all Frank’s fault. He’s a character. He’s a muse. He’s brilliant and he’s daft.

What else can we say about Doddering Uncle Frank?

We laughed, he cried?

Sorry Frank, perhaps your next time won’t be addled by an insane GM high on endorphins after another beating from his girlfriend, or a crazy bunch of folks like Major League Baseball.

For the final weekend of the 2006 season, the Nationals will have giveaways each day as part of Fan Appreciation Weekend.

Friday night’s giveaway will be a fleece blanket (given to the first 15,000 fans); Saturday’s item will be a Team Photo with the 2007 Early Bird schedule, sponsored by Southwest Airlines (to ALL fans); and on Sunday, ALL fans will receive Nationals long-sleeved t-shirts, courtesy of Comcast and MASN.

There will also be the Comcast Fan Fest presented by MASN (oh, they kissed and made up) with an “inflatable obstacle course, bounce house and giant slide; along with a speed pitch with radar, batting cage, swing stations and a dunk tank.”

Last year there were giveaways throughout the final game, every inning if I recall correctly. Also, expect an (informal) sendoff for manager Frank Robinson too. He is not expected to be retained, (The Post) likely ending his 51 season in baseball. Lastly, look for Teddy to win the presidents race for the first time all season.

Every so often I find myself at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria. One of the things I really like about the building – besides the really nice aesthetic design (for a federal building at least) – they offer a public wi-fi signal for use throughout most of the building. Although the connection is a paltry 2.0 MBPS, it’s still nice to be able to check your email on the fly.

I wanted to jump online and check out what was going on here at DC Metroblogging, but was denied.

I like how their filtering software lumps blogs/newsgroups into the same category with adult/mature content.

So, kudos to USPTO for providing the hotspot to the general public, but a big two thumbs down for blocking free speech through blogs…

Photo by DC Metroblogger

When I travel, I love to bring back fun knick knacks from around the world. Often, they are items that can fit in my carry on bag: cloth, cards, rolled posters.

This last trip to Sri Lanka, I brought back an elephant pillow cover. Not one to have throw pillows, I decided to frame it.

Now framing my elephant is such a tough task – to get it just right, with background colors and format, frames, glass. It can be overwhelming.

Luckily, I’ve found the right guy to help me in this challenge. Habib, owner of International Art Gallery & Custom Framing.

He knows his colors, he feels his paper backing, he sees the end result even before it’s finished. Habib is an expert.

He also has art for sale, good art, way out of my price range too. Still, if you need to frame your elephant, there is no better place to go.

International Art Gallery & Custom Framing
1625 K St NW, Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 466-7979

photo courtesy of Fall for the Book

PostSecret, that is. If you’ve never seen what I’d describe as a collaborative art project, you owe it to yourself to have a look. Theoretically every submitted postcard represents a secret that is both truthful and has never been shared with anyone. I think that’s already that’s a high bar, but maybe I am abnormal – I have any number of things I don’t share with many people but I’m not sure I can think of any that I’ve kept from everyone, as the submission rules demand. So I sometimes wonder what percentage of the submissions are on the level – surely some people must be viewing this as a creative writing project for themselves rather than as a component of a projects for Frank Warren, wouldn’t you think?

If you’d like to see some of the cards – but surely not all 70,000 that have been submitted – there will be a PostSecret exhibition as part of GMU’s Fall for the Book Festival. The exhibition runs October 2 through October 5. During the run there will be a reception with an appearance by Mr Warren on October 3rd at 5pm and a presentation on the 6th at 6pm.

The exhibit will be at both Gallery 123 in Johnson Center, and Grand Tier 3 in the Center for the Arts. The reception will be in Gallery 123 and the presentation will be in the Concert Hall at the Center for the Arts.

Everything is on the George Mason Campus, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax VA 22033

That’s right. I said it. Cockroach. We don’t talk about them often on the Hill, but it is time to speak honestly about these vermin. What these cat-sized creatures lack in fecundity they make up for in shear, individual mass. They are few, but when they make an appearance it is more slow, lumbering crawl then a swarming special-effect.
Well, I took them on in my old house of over 140 years. I sprayed the house with nuclear strength, long-lasting cockroach radiation something from Safeway. I expected to come back from the beach with our house littered with dead critters. Not so.
Two. That is it. Two huge, cat-sized, belly-up, crispy carcasses. A week later another slowly struggled out of a closet looking like a survivor who’d just crawled out of the desert. Then, slow leg wiggling death. Another week later, another single football sized carcass. This has been the pattern. One dead bug a week.
Now I have lived in the low, humid parts of Texas where at midnight the entire kitchen wriggles with herd of dime-sized cockroaches. I was expecting mass-death on a grand scale. No so. It has been a rag-tag bunch of insects. Have I seen any scurrying around taunting me? Nope. Did I make a big deal out of seven bugs, though large enough to have one of my house guests from London screaming in terror upon her visit? Maybe. What I do know is that the cockroaches on the Hill are very much like protesters. They may look menacing, even fierce but in the end, they don’t stay that long or change that much.

Then you don’t want to miss the 31st annual Virginia Wine Festival this weekend. You’ll be able to taste and purchase more than 350 premium wines (red, white, and speciality) produced by over 100 wineries in the Commonwealth. Tickets are available for just $20 in advance, $25 at the gate, or $12 for kids and designated drivers.

In addition to the grand tasting, you can browse through the art and craft work of 120 local artisans, attend seminars on wine and cooking, and enjoy the live concert and performance entertainment on either the concert or kids stage.

Starts at 11 – ends at 6 – rain or shine! Learn more by visiting the festival’s website.

If I have an “idol” in blogging, it would have to be Merujo

Merujo, like me, is a transplanted Midwesterner. She’s from the Illinois side of the Quad Cities (Moline) and I’m from the Iowa side. My mom was born and raised on the Iowa side (Davenport), so I know some of that city. Not enough to find my way out of a wet paper bag, but ya know…

When Merujo first encountered my blog, it was because of an entry I did regarding “explaining the ’80s”. We e-mailed each other a few times, and we discovered our common bond of the Midwest. I think the response on each side was, “Oh My God…is this weird or WHAT?”

Anyway, I had wanted to meet her for quite a while, but our schedules couldn’t jive. That’s life, but that’s also where blogs come in handy – you can keep track of folks and their “doin’s” (family saying…don’t ask…it’ll just be more confusing). If you read her blog, you’ll see she’s done a lot of traveling, a lot of photography, and a lot of other things…ALL very interesting.

I finally got to meet her, and I’ve gotta tell you, she’s every bit as engaging and fun in real life that she is in her writing. We hit it off right away…we immediately started gabbing about the things we liked back home and the things we hated.

The subject, inevitably, came around to why we moved here, and the reactions of friends from back home. I told her, “Some people were surprised I moved out here because they didn’t think I was that political.”

Her response? “I don’t think people realize that DC is about so much more than politics. I mean, I go to work every day across from the White House, flip off the President, and I don’t think twice about it. There’s so much more to this place. The DC they talk about is not my DC.”

I thought that was right on the money. I’ve become so jaded lately from work and other things in life getting in the way that I forget about it. So MY goal is to be more like Ms. Merujo and open my eyes to other things.

And also, stay tuned…I’m working on getting an interview of sorts with Stevens & Medley from 94.7 the Arrow as well as the Fugitive Brass Quintet and other “DC Musical Secrets”. I’ll try to be back more often…I PROMISE!!!!