It’s not a real day in Washington unless someone’s evacuated from their office building or workplace because of a suspicious package left somewhere useful. When I worked downtown, it was a box of napkins dropped in the lobby that lead to our presence on the street for over an hour and a half in the middle of winter. Today’s suspicious package comes to us courtesy of the Union Station area, where the crowds were out on the streets near North Capitol, milling about as the package was ultimately revealed to be harmless.

It’s funny, now when I see a building blocked off and evacuated, I make the immediate assumption that nothing’s really wrong, but that someone dropped their box of napkins, or left their fedex box in the elevator by accident, or sent some a box of vibrators and forgot to remove the batteries.

The hyperbole surrounding this city’s proclivity to immediate high defense is wearing thin on me, and each and every evacuation “just to be safe” is proving to be something more and more banal and less likely to be a real terrorist attack and just a minor inconvenience peculiar to DC.

According to this Washington Post article, in order for the Capitals to make a run for a Stanley Cup, the coach and GM “want more from their prodigy [Ovechkin] — much more, in fact.” Specifically, they are interested in improving his defensive skills. Hello, McFly?

If it wasn’t for Ovechkin you wouldn’t have much offense, and attendance would drop into the dismal range. What a load of crap, one man does not a team make! What the Caps really need to do is increase their budget and improve scouting for quality players. Sure working hard with existing players, especially the younger ones, and beefing up the defense is important, but you’re not going to make it to the finals resting all your hopes on one guy.

Some fans are even calling for heads to roll at the top, specifically said GM (George McPhee) and coach (Glen Hanlon).

The first, and I believe only, time the Capitals made it to the finals was in 1997-98, only to be swept 4-0 by the Red Wings. They could take some cues from the Wings and other successful teams on how to build rosters and coach players.

I walked over to the Capitol tonight to check out what photographable stuff was going on in the area in the way of protest actions. Word was there’d be a big “State of Emergency” thingy, but when I got to the Grant Memorial, this is what I found:

I estimate about 25 people, some with signs, while on the Memorial steps someone in a Bush/Devil costume waved a plastic pitchfork as he (she?) pantomimed to live audio of the SOTU address. More photos here. I also got some pretty Capitol Dome pictures. Aren’t they pretty?

photo courtesy of Arena Stage

Well, my darling girlfriend and I went to Arena Stage to try to get in to see Noises Off and discovered that they’re sold out though the end of the run. Shoot! I enjoyed the 1992 movie version and was looking forward to seeing the stage version. Guess I wasn’t the only one. Any reviews to share, readers?

photo courtesy of Whitehouse.gov

“Do you know of any State of the Union Address drinking parties in the DC area?”

That flashed up on my IM yesterday afternoon. I assumed someone else here would posit on the matter, but I guess not.

So, for my cow orker who claims her “friend wants to know” – what’s a good location, if you’re into group viewing, any why? Drinking games? Good prices? Attentive & respectful atmosphere? Attentive & disdainful atmosphere?

Tonight’s State of the Union Address is likely going to be a real barn burner.

Okay, you can stop laughing at me now. It’s going to be, like every other major political speech, filled with promises that won’t be kept, and outright lies on behalf of the politicians involved. What’s interesting about all of this, okay, not really interesting, but perhaps maybe intriguing, is what Mayor Fenty is up to.

He said as part of his campaign that he wouldn’t accept an invite from the President to view the State of the Union as a personal guest, part of his promise to fight for the rights of the District in Congress. Of course, not wanting to be snubbed, the President didn’t bother to invite Mayor Fenty to the address at all.

But he’s still going, as guest of new Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Interesting. I’m not sure what exactly this whole dance has accomplished, aside from “sending a message” to the President. What exactly is that message? “I want to hear what you have to say, but I won’t let you invite me yourself?”

I’m confused. I do support the Davis Bill to get DC a vote in the House of Representatives, and I furthermore support Steny Hoyer’s pledge to get the President to answer him one way or the other at the Democrat’s summit this weekend, but I’m not sure what this bullshit posturing has done, other than confuse the fuck out of me.

Of course, we – and by we I mean Wayan – noticed some of the funky things people do to raise money for charity long before now. Namely Trisha’s Babes for Boobs, which Wayan and I attended last April. Hell, Wayan even participated, being auctioned off for $140. Poor girl probably had no idea that the real cost behind taking Wayan out is the bar bill, not the initial acquisition.

Where the Post trailed in participation they made up for in detail, however, and their article talks about several entertaining local activities that people have put on to make a buck for a good cause. I love the idea of the Sweet ‘Stache competition and I suspect that as I read this article and thought “Damn! If I’d known I’da participated!” my darling girlfriend, halfway across the city at the time, issued a sigh of relief without even knowing why.

Babes for boobs stories in order: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.

This evening, right smack dab in the middle of evening rush (4:30pm to at least 6pm), traffic at Farragut Square (Eye, 17th, and the confines) was ground to a halt and diverted as smoke emanated from several locations around the square (or at least the placement of fire engines at each corner told). This was one evening where I was glad to be a pedestrian, but even then the foot traffic was diverted in a zig-zag across the adjoining streets as commuters made their way to the Farragut West and Farragut North entrances to the Metro. According to the Washington Post, this was due to an electrical fire, much like one that occurred yesterday two blocks away from this location, at Lafayette Square.

WGMS isn’t classical anymore. At 3pm today they became George 104, which is candidly described as a steaming pile of shit in musical form. It’s “70′s and 80′s and whatever we feel like.” Think of it as Disco Stu’s iPod on shuffle. Yeah, I know, you just threw up in your mouth. They fired all the on-air personalities this afternoon, and they’ve donated their entire music library to WETA, who will ditch all of their NPR programming in exchange for classical music.

So much for the excellent Intersection program, made entirely of local content (think DCist + Metroblogging DC + Radio = Magically Delicious), which is apparently heading for the refuse pile, along with other local content. If you’re interested in NPR content (which I was rather enjoying) you’re going to be stuck depending on the unreliable, scandal-ridden WAMU.

Thanks a lot, Bonneville, for running off some great local content.

This is probably the most photographed view of Washington DC, but Jeff Costlow has executed it beautifully. Just head over the your local book store, grab a calendar or photo book, and you’re likely to find it. This shot has it all: great composition, beautiful color, and the Potomac was like glass that day. One might say that the tree branch in the lower right should be cloned out, but it’s really a spectacular shot that just says “DC”.

I read today that Canon might be releasing some new DSLR’s in the next couple of months and yes, I’m dying in anticipation. My dream would be an upgraded 30D that is 12.8 megapixels, has a new image processor, and throw in a built-in sensor cleaner like the Digital Rebel XTi has just for fun. Oh, and charge less than $2K for it please!