Okay, well I’m glad somebody at WMATA is reading my posts-now if they’d only give me some credit!

NBC Washington is reporting that as early as this fall Metro might feature retail stores at 12 Metrorail stops.  Everything from dry cleaning to food will be available if things go according to plan. 

A plan they clearly got from my post a few weeks ago.  Okay-maybe we just had the same idea, but I’ll take credit for it until someone shows me different.

Here it is though, commuters of DC;  there isn’t much separation between selling food and drinks and being able consume them on the trains.  My opinion was made pretty clear in my last post, but just to restate it-I think the eating and drinking ban was pretty ridiculous anyway and at least Metro will see some money out of it.  Sadly, my gut says that it won’t bring a reduction in fares-but maybe it will keep prices from going up any time soon.

The  idea will be brought to the Metro Board later this month and, if approved, proposals for retail shops will be solicited in June.  Shops could start as early as late this fall.

I am just going to let the note we received say it all:

Hi,

I wanted to let any of the DC Metbloggers who might have been friends with
Doug know that he passed away last Tuesday, April 28. I am his sister Peggy.
Thanks to all of you for being a friend; he loved writing for the DC Metblog.

Regards,
Peg Clifton

Known to you guys as dc_doug, he was an author on the site back in 2007, way before I came on board DC Metblogs.  I wanted to learn more about this former writer so I took a few moments to find out more about him. Thanks to his website, LinkedIn, and Facebook profiles I was able to piece together a little sketch of this man.

He wrote on DC Metblogs from 2006-2007 where he often wrote about the area of Silver Spring where he lived. A self proclaimed geek, he worked as a programmer and web developer- most recently for the The Chronicle of Higher Education. He called Durango, CO his hometown and was an alumni of Western Michigan University(’96).

Looking at his Flickr stream you can tell he had an interest just with numbers and programming languages but with shapes and patterns. I am truly impressed with his paper creations- I lack the skills make such impressive objects.

On behalf of DC Metblogs I send my condolences and prayers to Peg and the rest of his family. While he is gone from this Earth he does not leave without leaving his mark on it and all of us here on The Internet.

UPDATE: Tom Bridge, former Metblogs Captain and Founder of We Love DC, has a post up in Memoriam.

Now maybe I should have realized this at some point during the first month of baseball, but I was too busy watching the Nats lose/get rained out.  I went to yesterday’s Cinco De Mayo businessmanperson special between the Nationals and the Astros (what were you doing at 12:35 that was so important?).  I put on my new T-shirt:

My New Favorite Shirt!

and saddled myself up to the Red Porch Rooftop and ordered my summer beer standby-Sunset Wheat.

(more…)

Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg / pool / Getty Images

“Definitely just saw Obama at Ray’s Hell burger. F Yes.”

Those the words I saw yesterday afternoon on Clinton Yates’ twitter account.

As I read those words I thought about dropping my things and running over to the Rosslyn establishment from my Court House office, however logic kicked in: Hell Burger is typically busy on a normal afternoon, what kind of place would it be if Barack Obama and Joe Biden walked in and had lunch? I wouldn’t of gotten anywhere close. At least I’m sure it wasn’t anything like the time a fictional Bill Clinton visited McDonald’s. I do have to say that I am at least jealous of my co-worker Kristen who was coincidentally next door at that time.

Linda Feldman over at the Christian Science Monitor has the best account of Obama & Biden’s last minute lunch out.

According to the daily guidance lunch was supposed to be, “in the Oval Office, closed press.”

But around 12:30 PM the White House Press Pool was assembled and put into a motorcade that took them to Rosslyn. It looked like Obama and Biden wanted to go somewhere new for lunch.

Feldman describes Hell Burger as, “a joint so new it still doesn’t have a sign up.” Ray’s has been opened since July 2008 which made me wonder if it will ever get a sign now that Ray’s The Steaks moved to Court House.

Photo by AP/Huffington Post

Obama and Biden walked in the front door, the press came in the back; and I could only imagine the look on a patron’s face when they see the President & Vice President wait in line with you to order a burger. In what could only be described as classy, Obama turned to the Press Pool and offered to buy everybody lunch and just like a good Commander-in-Chief does, he delegated Caren Bohan of Reuters to take everyone’s orders.

After warning that they were going to order food for here and to-go, Obama let Biden toss in his order: a Swiss cheese burger with jalapeno peppers and a Root Beer. Obama then ordered a basic cheddar cheeseburger with mustard (spicy mustard if you got it), lettuce and tomato. When he inquired about fries he learned what many Hell Burger patrons already knew: they don’t do fries.

I wonder if the President asks for fries, do you just make fries?

Luckily the manager pitched him on the tater tots and he agreed on that instead.

They both paid for their orders in cash- with Obama picking up the tab for the pool.

“We’re paying, or these people [the pool] are gonna write about how we’re free-loading,” Obama said when the management offered to pick-up the bill.

Obama also threw a five-spot into the tip jar.

Photo by AP/Charles Dharapak

They were then served at a table by the chef (curious how there was magically a table free when usually the place is packed at 12:30, but then again when you are the President things can be arranged…), if you take a look at the video they had table tent #42- too bad #44 wasn’t available.

They were back a little after 1:00 P.M- a very efficient lunch if I may say so myself.

Now after remaining on the fence on Hell Burger- I guess I should give it yet another try now that it’s been Obama-approved. However Hell Burger was popular enough pre-Obama, will it go the way of Ben’s Chili Bowl now that it’s been graced by The President?

By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post

At least I can tell you it wasn’t me.

If I was the winner of the $144 Million Powerball Jackpot I probably would not be writing this piece. I’d probably be in hiding following my step-by-step plan in case I win the lottery.

That’s probably what an 82-year old man is doing right now.

This morning I read the Washington Post’s report of the big winner of the Powerball jackpot: Rockson LLC, a business entity created to hide the real identity of the winner. As his lawyer accepted the big check he did offer some details on the mystery man, “an 82-year-old widower from Southeast Washington with 10 children and 47 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.” He’s lived in DC all his life and is very active in the community.

Even though there’s not much of a media story here, I give my full approval to the decision the winner made to stay out of the limelight. He’s doing exactly what I would of done- because sometimes it’s not best idea to become the center of attention.

Now back to daydreaming of how I would spend that kind of money.

Courtesy of Loudoun Extra

It looks like something straight out of FAIL Blog but it’s not.

The Zig-Zag lines you see there is not the product of drunken VDOT workers, it’s actually a new technique that is being tried out in Ashburn to reduce accidents at pedestrian and bicycle crossings. The technique of painting confusing lines to slow down drivers has already been used in Europe, and VDOT is one of the first in the United States to try it out for themselves.

If you are interested in seeing the work it has been placed along Route 7 at Belmont Ridge Road and Sterling Boulevard. And if it catches on it will be implemented in more areas throughout the region.

If you thought that wasn’t crazy enough the Loudoun Extra article on the story ends with, “VDOT officials aren’t sure what to expect from the zigzag lines but will try to gauge how they are working this week by placing “fake” pedestrians in the crosswalk to see what happens.” Fake pedestrians? Why does that sound like joy to a reckless teenager?

"Embassy Row" courtesy of Flickr user joseph_a

It’s no secret that Washington, DC is the hub of foreign diplomacy where within the city limits there are 174 or so embassies. Now you’ll be able to take a step inside and look around some of these foreign posts as Passport DC kicks off it’s annual Embassy Open House.

30 embassies located around the city will be opening their doors and welcoming visitors. These diplomatic posts will be offering music, food, and tours of their facilities. Visit the Embassy of Sri Lanka and try some Ceylon Tea; observe a Taekwondo demonstration at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea; listen to traditional African music at the Embassy of Botswana. Did I mention that it’s all free?

The Embassy Open House is going on from 10 AM – 4 PM tomorrow, Saturday May 2nd. There will be shuttles leaving from 1900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW (Dupont Circle) and will loop Massachusetts Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, and lower New Hampshire Avenue. The open house is truly city wide- not just Embassy Row, so take advantage of the transportation and the chance to get a little cultured.