Let me just start with the good part. My good friend Mike got engaged to his lovely girlfriend Monica tonight at Paolo’s in Georgetown. I got to watch this week as my friend went through a lot of the same steps that I did two and a half years ago, visiting the jeweler (Boone & Sons on Connecticut for both of us), talking over settings and stones, stressing about the arrangements and all manner of logistics.

When he invited us to join them in the tap room of the City Tavern Club on M Street, we accepted. I knew that it was not a place I could show up in jeans and sneakers, but I was surprised tonight when I was asked to leave when I merely wasn’t wearing a collar. Sure I had $140 tailored slacks, and a $130 cashmere sweater from Lands End on, in addition to my black Italian-made wool great coat that was a gift from my father at Christmas two years ago. But all I was missing was a $7.50 Polo Shirt from Wal-Mart, as the Tavern Club doesn’t allow patrons without collars.

So, instead of being able to toast our friends on the day of their engagement, we had to settle for a hug and an embarrassed trip back through the club to the street like so much riff-raff.

Never mind that we were guests of a member.

Never mind that we certainly were not shabbily dressed.

But all because I hadn’t had the foresight to wear a cheap-ass polo shirt from Wal-Mart under my sweater… out on the street, riff raff!

So, we will have to take Mike and Monica to dinner some place in the near future, but all of this leaves me wondering: What the hell is the purpose of a place like that in this day and age? Sure there was a time for that, but what purpose is there for me in a club like that? If I can’t go in dressed as I normally do (my winter attire is a nice sweater and jeans or khakis) then what’s the freakin’ point? Surely if they can’t pitch themselves to members of the younger generations (and I don’t just mean Thad, Chad, Lad, Cad and Brad) then they will go the way of the dinosaur. And if they can’t figure out someone who’s dressed appropriately from someone who’s not, then I’ll vote with my feet.

Georgetown Yoga is offering you the opportunity to accomplish three goals in a single Sunday afternoon: take a yoga class, make a donation to a worthwhile charity, and help someone move forward in their career. A reasonably productive hour!

The charity yoga classes offer students who are working through the Yoga Works yoga teacher training program an opportunity to work with members of the public. You get an hour-long mixed-level class at the popular Georgetown studio, for a donation of $5 or more.

Money raised from the donations will be given to a charity selected by the students, The Wendt Center for Loss & Healing and Pediatric AIDS/HIV Care. The Wendt Center says it “is a premier resource for addressing grief in adults and children. Pediatric AIDS/HIV Care works to preserve, assist and strengthen the well-being of children ages 5-18 infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in metropolitan Washington, DC.”

Charity-slash-training yoga classes will be held on Sundays, from 5:30-6:30 on February 24th, March 30th, April 27th, May 25th, June 15th, and June 29th.

For those who have been thinking about trying yoga for the first time this seems like an especially great opportunity - no commitment, and if you decide it is not for you, at least you made a difference for the student and for the charity.

DC Charter School Closing in a Month, Stranding 250

The Washington Academy, which serves 250 area children, is set to close in 30 days. It’s not clear how those kids are supposed to be absorbed into the schools system, as many neighborhood schools in that region are set to close if the chancellor’s plan is completed.

Georgetown Student/Staff Data Missing

If you’re currently a Georgetown Student, or work there, your identity may have been stolen yesterday, when a disk containing the records of the 38,000 students and staff of the University was taken from an office on campus. Georgetown is offering free credit monitoring for those affected. Give the University a call at 866-740-2458 or visit their identity site for more info.

More Rail News

Here starts the blame game. Rep. Jim Moran comes out swinging like it’s a little black boy near his car. Moran insists that this is clearly a political ploy to thwart democrats in Northern Virginia, and has nothing to do with potential risk. Meanwhile, the Examiner points out it could be about failing to resolve a series of technical problems in the proposal, that would have resulted in the failure to operate the proposed line.

Y’know, I’ve always felt that some of the folks that were running the DMV should be arrested. I didn’t, however, expect that the FBI would raid the Georgetown DMV, arresting several people in the location this afternoon. It’s not clear right now if the arrestees are employees of the DMV or members of the public at this time. The District’s website is only saying “law enforcement activities” took place in the facility.

More details as they’re revealed.

[Update 4:39pm] NBC 4 is reporting that it was an identity for sale scheme to sell people DC Drivers Licenses. ABC 7 is reporting that the sale of licenses has been going on for over a year, but that it was found by intradepartmental investigation. Normally, this would’ve been a DC Police matter, but I suspect the nature of ID Fraud puts it square under the FBI’s jurisdiction. Janis Hazel from the DMV responded to our email, to let us know that one person, a DMV employee was arrested, as well as a few other individuals detained.

Hazel also says that the Georgetown location will reopen for business tomorrow at its normal hours.

Spotted while strolling through the quaint streets of Georgetown a few days ago, this sign gets right to the point.

We hear you.

We feel your pain.

No need to explain any further.

Can we interest you in a copy of The Blade instead?

The only person on the planet who can possibly kick more ass than Jack Bauer is Chuck Norris, but unlike Chuck, Jack is smart enough to never venture into Texas. He prefers to use brains over brawn but isn’t afraid to bust out his glock if one of his hot girlfriends is being kidnapped by terrorists, if his dumb, hot daughter has gotten herself into trouble, or if POTUS asks for him by name in desperate time of need. Jack Bauer is perhaps the most dedicated US citizen to ever serve this great country, and it’s been rumored that he is walking amongst us.

In an effort to add some legitimacy to the show, the producers of “24″ have decided to actually film some scenes in DC. After all, the show is centered around the President (who for some reason seems to spend a lot of time in L.A.), so it makes sense to start integrating some DC scenes into the show. I only hope that they don’t try to pull some TV trickery by having Jack run into the Georgetown Metro stop and somehow pop up inside of the White House. DC is watching you, “24″. Let’s try to make this season better than the last or you may be losing your viewership to “Heroes”.

Photo by kmf164.

Ah, Georgetown! Once I thought of it as “that snooty place I never go to because the rich preppy folk didn’t want a Metro stop*,” but having recently taken a job there, I’ve discovered — and maybe even grown to love — that historic part of DC.

This part of Georgetown wasn’t always so swanky — an old friend from church who grew up in 1950s DC regaled me with stories about how none of the kids ever went to Georgetown back in his youth because it was a slum, and the canal stunk up everything below M Street. Georgetown was just recovering from its days as an early 20th Century industrial center at the time, with factories, mills, rendering plants and a streetcar power station dotting the slope down to the waterfront. But then came the Kennedies, and the Watergate went from literal canal “gate to the water” to swanky hotel-condo-office development, and the mills and stacks and rowhouses were closed down and demolished or repurposed into shops and malls and restaurants and bars, and soon the gentrification migrated down, till the Georgetown we know today — stilleto heels and popped collars and all — filled the space from Glover Park and Social Safeway to the theaters and harbor under the Whitehurst.

Walking Washingtonians, don’t let the distance from a Metro stop deter you from paying Georgetown a visit once in a while; it’s actually a lot closer than you think. There’s three ways to get to Georgetown on foot from Foggy Bottom /GWU Metro if you don’t want to wait for the shuttle bus:

1. The Pennsylania Avenue Way: If you’ve ever walked over to Trader Joe’s from Foggy Bottom/GWU Metro, you’ve already made it more than halfway. Just keep going up Penn Ave till you pass the Salvation Army building, cross the bridge over Rock Creek, pass two or three panhandlers, and when you see Four Seasons Hotel and a Lukoil gas station, you’ve made it.

2. The K Street Way: Alternatively, you can go west along K Street to where it meets the Whitehurst off-ramp, where after two or three pedestrian crossings and a down-ramp you emerge near the theaters, but I hate walking there. The interchange makes for a vulnerable crossing and the waterfront under the Whitehurst is anything but picturesque outside of the harbor. It is, however, the shortest walk, but my least favorite.
3. The Watergate Way: This is the longest, most roundabout stroll, but it’s nice and scenic. From the metro, cross the GWU plaza and go down New Hampshire Ave to Virginia Ave and the Watergate, then just keep walking down Virginia Ave till you get to Rock Creek Parkway, where you’ll have to push a walk button. The timing of the pedestrian crosswalk light is surprisingly nice to bikers and walkers (probably to the detriment of motor traffic), and you won’t have to wait long for the walk sign. Cross the little bridge over to Thompson Boat House, turn right, and you’ll find yourself walking along the Potomac with a nice view of Roosevelt Island and the Key Bridge. The route to K Street is just a short step up through Washington Harbour.

I hope this helps any fresh carless DC newbies who might feel intimidated by the prospect of trekking to Georgetown, like I did until this year. It turned out to be not so hard; now I do it all week.

See it on Google Maps.

* The truth of the matter, according to The Great Society Subway, is that a Georgetown Metro station would have been prohibitively difficult and expensive from an engineering and legal standpoint, requiring a deep dig under private buildings.

In case you don’t own an Apple product and have been dying to buy one but Clarendon, Pentagon City, Tysons Corner, and Bethesda are just too far away for you, you’re in luck - an Apple Store is coming to Georgetown. According to the Washington Business Journal:

Princeton Investment Corp. sold 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW to Apple Inc. on Sept. 27, according to a source close to the deal. The French Connection clothing store now occupies the space. Princeton, a European investment group, has owned the property since 1995.

I don’t know about you but I’m going to rush over there to buy a Mac, an iPod, and and iPhone because hey, you’re just not cool until you’ve drank the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid.

Here’s something you don’t see everyday on the C&O Canal in Georgetown: Lock 3 empty and the Canal Boat Georgetown on dry dock in Lock 2:

There’s a sign on the board by the visitor center citing towpath repairs as the reason for not having any canal boat tours for a bit. This, by the way, confirms McMullan’s canal tour conjecture as to what that ribbed structure is. I imagine the Blue Heron of Lock 2 isn’t too happy about this development; I haven’t seen him (her?) around there since the boat took over.

When was the last time you heard someone say, “I went to the DMV today. It was awesome! Boy they really know what they’re doing there. What a top notch, professional operation.”

It amazes me that DMV’s across the country can be so consistently bad and the butt of so many jokes. To compound things, DC has only two main offices to choose from, the inspection center in SE or the office in Georgetown. Either way, you can bank on long lines, Soup Nazi style employees (”No registration for you!”), and something going wrong.
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