"The Purple Tunnel of Doom" courtesy of Flickr user chinycjo

This week the Secret Service and Capitol Police finally issued apologies for the Purple Tunnel of Doom incident.

The apology comes over two months since Inauguration Day.

I saw the headline on WP and I was expecting to read about some kind of reparations but it was a simple apology statement.

Now I wasn’t one of the unfortunately ones that got stuck down there that day- but do you guys think it’s a little too little too late?

Easter Eggs*

Washingtonian magazine tweets:

Wow, people are super angry about this online White House easter egg roll distribution

And they aren’t kidding.  The newfangled intertubes version of signing up for Easter Egg Roll tickets seems to be universally reviled by Washingtonian readers commenting on the ticketing system.  They complain about system crashes and site errors, with the general sentiment being “at least when I stood in line, it kind of sucked but I knew what my chances were.”  Commenters on washingtonpost.com are expressing their frustration, along with a dollop of suspicion and a dash of “politics-as-usual”.  I think it’s safe to say we could hard-boil a dozen eggs for coloring with all the steam coming out of their ears!

How about it, DC?  Have you tried it?  Were you feeling trepidation because of the Purple Tunnel of Doom, or Ticketmaster≠Ticketsnow issues?   Is it E-Bay or nothing for you?  Or are you psyched because you didn’t have to stand outside in the rain on this yucky March morning?

* Photo by flickr user mistaric used under a Creative Commons license

"Glow In The Dark After Your Visit Kids!" courtesy of Flickr user krossbow

Two television happenings for your perusal today.

First a number of my friends have forwarded an e-mail from the city about a fake explosion that is going to happen Wednesday morning, here’s the text of what I was sent:

Dear System Administrators:

For the filming of a TV pilot, there will be a simulated explosion on Wednesday, March 25 between 9:30 a.m. and noon near Key Bridge in the District. The explosion will produce a 20 to 30′ fireball that will last for approximately 2 minutes.
Please pass along this information to others as appropriate. The Department of Homeland Security and D.C. Police and Fire departments have been notified, along with the Washington Airports Authority. The Virginia State Patrol and Arlington Police Department will be contacted. If you have additional questions, contact Kathy Hollinger or Burt Warner with the DC Film Office at 202-727-6608.

The explosion will take place on the Potomac River just north of the Key Bridge and Jack’s Boathouse (K / Water Street, NW under the Whitehurst Freeway). In the scene to be filmed, there will be six (6) sculling boats on the Potomac River and one of them blows up.

CBS Paramount television is filming a pilot titled “Washington Field.” This is a new television series about the elite Washington field office of the FBI and a team of agents with exceptional and diverse skills who are called together for only the most critical cases.

Jeanne Saddler
Director, Office of Public Affairs
Metropolitan Washington

Sounds kinda rad- I might have to check it out if I have time…

but if explosions aren’t your thing then I ‘d like to turn your attention to the Craigslist posting that Frank shared with me. It’s for what sounds like another terrible dating show- but you can be in it!

Penny image from US Mint

DCist probably said it best:

The card’s in the mail. Our phone was broken. It just slipped our mind. Whatever the excuse, we failed to properly wish Abraham Lincoln a happy 200th birthday yesterday.

Yes, we here at Metblogs also neglected our 16th President’s 200th birthday!  We were obsessed with thinking about our own ideas for the upcoming three-day weekend, or remembering fondly the days when Lincoln and Washington each had his own holiday (oh, the 70s…), or — perish the thought — making Valentine’s Day plans.

Nevertheless, we want to wish Mr. Lincoln a happy birthday and we’ll plan to do some rootin’-tootin’ celebratin’ at some of the events around town, like the grand-reopening celebration at Ford’s Theatre on Presidents’ Day this Monday.

What’s the best way to get 1.8 million people into one picture where you can see just about everyone with incredible clarity? 

Well it better have a hell of a lot of megapixels, I’ll tell you that. 

Like this one right here.  David Bergman took a 1474 Megapixel (would that be 1.47 GIGApixels btw?) photo of the Inaugural address from the north press platform.  The result is a stunning, large, (almost) endlessly zoomable work time-waster of a photo.  Click on the center and navigate around-or use the “Snapshots” bar below it to zoom in on things other uses have already found interesting.  My favorites so far (can’t link them, sorry!) are “invisible man” and “glitch in the matrix” (where clearly people were moving too quickly in their seats) and lots of people have already tagged themselves. 

Enjoy!

Just when I thought I was done with the Inauguration beat the hits keep on coming!

The Funny or Die crew visited DC during the Inauguration to film the latest installment of their high five montages.

My friends at Funny or Die sent along word about the video and when I saw it, I was immediately laughing. Now I thought the first couple were great but the DC version includes more celebs, pundits, and politicians than ever! They definitely did a great job taking advantage of the influx of famous names in town for the weekend.

I’m a sucker for DC locales and they did a great job of getting high fives all over downtown. The list of names range from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to Howard Dean to even Newt Gingrich. Celebs like Jack Black, Nelly, and even Obama Girl make an appearance. I especially like the sinister looking Larry King.

Click on the image below to watch the video:

Ah Inauguration Day, a day that started for many in the wee hours of the morning. For me I value sleep a little more. However I did have a plan to be on The Mall for Inauguration and I’m happy to say everything worked out relatively well.

I started out the morning well bundled. I wore many, many layers and had hand/toe warmers, water, snacks, and maps ready to go.

At 8:30 AM my friend Carrie and I proceeded down to the Clarendon Metro stop to check out that option, if everything appeared all right a possible entry route was to simple Metro into a station and walk to The Mall. While that option was the simplist it was also one of the most popular and I expected to see the Clarendon stop overflowing with people as we walk the short two blocks to the station. (more…)

To celebrate Martin Luther King Day I decided to be less destructive and more helpful.

That morning I gathered some food and drove down to the Arlington Food Assistance Center where I did my part and donated to the cause.

I then spent the rest of the day in a quiet Inaugural fashion. I went out on a date that included making an Obama themed bowl at Color Me Mine and an evening viewing of Frost/Nixon. Very presidential. I have to say however that Color Me Mine was everything Lazy Monday said it would be.

After a late night out Saturday I decided to spent Inauguration Sunday a little more low key.

I actually was thinking about the “We Are One” Inaugural concert kickoff but I previously made plans for lunch out in Tyson’s Corner.

Driving out to Tyson’s from Arlington was surprisingly quiet, I didn’t expect traffic leaving but I thought maybe with all the road closures that there would be traffic heading into the city. But everything looked smooth as Barack Obama.

I arrived at Coastal Flats only to hear that my original plans had fallen through. Well I decided to take the opportunity to enjoy lunch anyways (this time at Gordon Biersch) and walk around the suburbia that is the Tyson’s Corner Mall. (more…)

WTOP is reporting that 68 year old woman fell on the tracks and was struck by a metro train at 9:30 this morning.  Thankfully she’s still alive.

The bad news for inauguration goers (other than the obvious fact that we don’t want anyone to get hurt) is that Metro Center and Gallery Place stations are shut down (as in you can’t get in or out there) and that the crowding is so bad people cannot get in or out of the trains.  Metro suggests Farragut North or Judiciary Square as stations to get out and then walk to the mall from-but at this point, if you were thinking of heading down there-the less metro you use the better.