When DC Metblogs launched in late July 2004, I felt like a fraud. I had moved to DC two years before, and had spent a lot of that time getting lost due to my legendarily poor sense of direction, defining my world based on its relationship to 395 or a Metro station, and coping with the sense that my grand quarterlife crisis plan of moving to DC was not turning out the way I expected, but suddenly I was writing about life here as if I had any idea what I was doing.

Four years later, I’ve grown into DC pretty well, and I think writing for DC Metblogs has been a huge part of that. With my fellow bloggers, I’ve explored corners of the city I would never have thought to see on my own and made friends I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Thanks, everybody. It’s time for Metblogs and me to part ways, but I’ll still be writing about the city I love at the appropriately named We Love DC.

Goodbye Mr. Sun See You Tomorrow

Originally uploaded by moonjazz

The Smithsonian’s photostream contains some fantastic gems, including portraits of scientists, cyanotypes cataloging the Smithsonian’s other collections, and cool photos from past Folklife festivals.

Go look, add some tags, but be careful- much like the LOC collections, you can find yourself losing hours poking around at this stuff.

But I can’t help but note the irony of the Kennedy Center awarding its prestigious comedy award to an artist best known for his bit on the “Seven Dirty Words” you can’t say on television, when they wouldn’t allow Lewis Black to associate the Center in any way with his “Red, White, and Screwed” special because he says the word “fuck” too much.

In any case, congratulations to George Carlin for this much-deserved honor, and thanks to the Kennedy Center for giving Lewis Black more comedic fodder.

The all-staff email went out last week: “We recently learned that the DC Government is now enforcing its recycling regulations. Inspectors are making unannounced inspections and issuing warnings for failure to recycle. Second violations are subject to fines. As we know, the DC government is in need of funds so we can expect enforcement to be serious…”

Since I work on our website and just don’t generate much paper waste, I made mental note of what common items in my cube would go into which containers (soda cans mostly, like any self-respecting geek), assumed that the promised at-desk recycling boxes would once again not make it to me, and didn’t think about it again.

Until yesterday, that is. Our Vice President of Facilities and Property came to my cube around 4:30 yesterday, and said, “Hi Tiffany, how’s your trash?”

“Um, empty, mostly…” I pulled my trash can out, displaying the two items inside: a used sub shop napkin and a square of paper.

“What’s THAT?” she said, indicating the non-napkin item.

“Oh, it’s a page from this calendar here,” I indicated my Page-A-Day calendar. Coated paper, questionably recyclable.

“Okay, great.” She walked away.

And then I noticed the email she had sent shortly before- a DC Recycling Inspector was going to be visiting our building the next day and would be issuing fines for any violations.

Let me clarify- an employee of the DC government, paid by tax dollars, would be entering our office for the purpose of poking at our trash cans. And let’s not pretend this is about the environment: the inspector could fine us for throwing away recyclable material, but at the end of the complex list of what is and is not appropriate in recycle bins, DC admonishes us “WHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUT.”

But that’s how it came to pass that this very morning, before the arrival of the inspector, the Senior Director of my division came around to each individual member of our department, and delivered a perfunctory speech about how our organization takes recycling very seriously both for environmental and fine-avoidance reasons, and that complying with company procedures is the responsibility of every employee.

I’m so delighted that commitment to efficient stewardship of our resources extends to how DC businesses must spend the time of their well-compensated executives.

If you were wondering, we passed our recycling inspection perfectly. In fact, only one tenant in th building was fined for recycling violations- an office of the DC Government.

The Goddess of Recycling

Originally uploaded by His and Hers Parigi

…an ad on Washingtonpost.com alerts me that the New Kids on the Block Reunion Tour (otherwise known as the “Real estate market is in the toilet so Jon Knight finally agreed” tour) will be coming to our fair city on October 2.

The show will be at the Verizon Center, which seems like an ambitious choice for a flash-in-the-pan boy band that hasn’t toured in at least 15 years, but perhaps there are other 30-somethings out there who are not as embarrassed at their childhood love of Joey McIntyre as I am. They’ve already sold out in Atlantic City, I hear.

In any case, the presale starts on June 2 at LiveNation. If you’re willing to admit that you plan to see this show, chime in in the comments. We promise not to mock you. Much.

New Kids on the Block - 4/4/08

Originally uploaded by nkotbofficial

Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving drove 90 miles from their home in rural Virginia to get married in Washington, DC. Mildred was pregnant, and the couple wanted to avoid the stigma and ostracism associated with out of wedlock pregnancy. It didn’t occur to her that interracial marriage was not only stigmatized but criminalized in Virginia.

It must have been terrifying to be awoken at 2AM by sheriff’s deputies, and then to be sentenced to prison- prison!- for marrying the person you loved, to have to move to a strange city in order to avoid prison, only to be arrested again for daring to travel with your husband to visit your mother. It was 9 years after their arrest that the Supreme Court issued the decision that allowed them to return home from DC to the quiet life they wanted together.

If there’s an afterlife, I hope Mr. and Mrs. Loving are enjoying a reunion.

…but this is a little ridiculous. Spotted at the Shirlington Harris Teeter. I wonder how long this will be there until someone points it out to staff?

I know food prices are going up, but this is ridiculous

Originally uploaded by tiffany bridge

As DC Metblog alumnus brownpau points out, Palfrey’s Wikipedia page is already seeing a spike in edits.

You know how it is. At best, a Metro commute is something you zone out for, where you take a little vacation in your head and enjoy the opportunity to not be productive. At worst, it’s an ordeal to be endured stoically with earbuds firmly attached, while trying not to notice how smelly the guy next to you is, or that someone threw up in the seat in front of you.

But every once in a while, you get a little Metro serendipity, like I did recently on the Green Line platform at Gallery Place. These three gentlemen regaled the assembled commuters with Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, the Temptations, and a number of other famous old doo-wop/Motown songs that anyone who has ever flipped past an oldies station should recognized. And they were good, too.

Doo-wop at the metro station

Originally uploaded by tiffany bridge

Of course, while the Improv is a high-quality venue with professional, touring comics, that’s certainly not the only way to see great comedy on the cheap in DC. The Improv rents out its smaller lounge area to local comics and improv troupes, and you can check out the lineup right from the Improv’s ticketing system. And need I remind you of the many fine opportunities to see comedy in and around DC, ranging from free for most open mics to $10 for some of the locally-booked shows. Tonight, for example, you can catch some of my favorite local comics at The Awesome Room at McGinty’s in Silver Spring ($4 cover), and tomorrow head over to the Hotel Topaz on N Street for the no-cover open mic night there.