One night I took a slightly inebriated cab ride home from Eastern Market to my apartment in Crystal City.  As I looked out to the right, I saw this:

A brilliant photo of the Cavalia Tent by Flickr user Kevin H.

(Well okay, It was night when I saw it and Kevin here took a much better picture than I could have-but that’s basically what I saw.  You get the idea)

Towering over the hotels surrounding it appeared to be either a circus tent or the fairy-tale castle of any one of a variety of princes.  I checked myself-nope, not that drunk…dreaming maybe?  Did the girlfriend put on a Disney movie while I slept (again?) A trick of the lights?  Nope.  I was left with the incredibly odd question “Just what is that tent?”

We drove by the next day and, sure enough, it was still there.  Signs read “Cavalia” but didn’t really explain what it was.  Just that it was “Cavalia.” After a week of meaning to look that up and trying to spell “Cavalia” right from memory, posters appeared in my building advertising the coming of:

CAVALIA!

As such I was able to remember the name from the short walk from the elevator to my computer, and found the web site.  What is Cavalia? Per the web site, Cavalia is an equestrian show.  Specifically:

“Homage to the poignant history and fascinating bond between human beings and horses, Cavalia is a poem written in the language of sound, image and extraordinary performance.  Blending dramatic visual effects, live music, dance and acrobatics with the bold presence of over thirty magnificent horses-including, the incredible Lusitanian Stallions-Cavalia raises the bar for spectacular entertainment in the 21st century.

So it sounds to me like some sort of fairy tale with horses, real live horses, in a kinda/sorta Cirque Du Soliel show.  Or more bluntly, something my buddy will get dragged to by his girlfriend during football.

For what it is though, it seems pretty cool-Clearly there is some cohesive story that goes through out the event, so it isn’t as if it’s just some horse show.  The pictures and videos.  Perhaps I’ll check it out before the run is over.

Tickets are available now, and if any of you go it would be great to hear your thoughts.  It appears as if the show runs through September 27th, and while ticket prices are steep I will say that the poster in my building advertised discounted rates for their neighbors.  Apparently if you punch in a certain promo code (and I don’t know if would be fair to give it away here) they give their neighbors a break on the price.  So maybe, even if you are not, say that you are a NEIGHBOR(S). EDIT: Yeah-you’ll have to show proof of residence, so just saying you’re a neighbor won’t work.  Hmmm, I wonder if that is a horse pun?  Neiiggghhh-bor.

Als0-if you need a job and don’t mind running away and joining the circus, they are hiring.

Mike Huckabee has begun a countrywide bus tour to promote his new book, Do The Right Thing: Inside The Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back To America. The tour will stop at the Costco in Pentagon City on Wednesday from 12pm-1pm. According to Huckabee’s website:

Do The Right Thing is his amazing story, in his own words-from making commercials with Chuck Norris to meeting a Michigan woman who insisted on donating her wedding ring. But this is more than just a campaign memoir. It’s a vision for a smarter, fairer type of politics–“vertical politics”–that focuses on common-sense solutions for education, health care, the economy, and many other issues. It’s not about right versus left; it’s about taking America up rather than down.

Huckabee also shows how the Republican Party can heal its divisions-between social and fiscal conservatives, the wealthy and the middle class, the religious and the secular-and become a true majority party again.

There are also additional stops in Virginia, which you can find on the tour information page. Let me know if you plan on stopping down. You might just see me there too.

Macy’s Bridal Registry Kiosk

Now that the Betrothed Butterbean and I are in the full grips of the Bridal-Industrial Complex, I get to spend my lunch hours registering at area retailers.

Today’s mass marketer was Macy’s at the Pentagon City Mall and I was not impressed.

Unlike Crate and Barrel, where you can register and get a bar code gun in 3 minutes flat, the Macy’s bridal rep informed us it would take 20 minutes to register and we would need to make an appointment first!

We did not need the upsell, or to pick a “wedding theme” or a china & bedding ensemble consultation. We did not need an appointment and twenty minutes to fill out our names and get a price tag wand. What we needed was service, which Macy’s was in short supply of today.

But the wedding register clerk had plenty of time for herself. After we walked off in a huff, I noticed she was chatting with floor staff and messing about, clearly not expecting those that need assistance scanning in Waterford Crystal or Egyptian cotton sheets.

And with that attitude, Macy’s lost our bridal business. Has it lost yours?

We all know that there’s a relationship between the Pentagon area and water torture, water boarding and all that other stuff that was once in the news but has since been eclipsed by talk of American Idol. Here’s a new twist on that old, tired theme.

These poor, innocent water bottles were squeezed into displays in a Pentagon City vending machine. Yes, folks. Right here in America, before our eyes and nobody does anything. And we call this the land of the free.

Flickr photo by wfyurasko

Here in Pentagon City we got our deepest snowfall total of the season, a whole 3½ inches. How much snow did you get?

This guy wants to know how long until Opening Day

Flickr photo by wfyurasko. Nationals cap by MC Hamme

Two snowfall totals:

Pentagon City — 1″
Tyson’s Corner — 2″

How much did you get?

As of 7:15 p.m. EST, just under 2 inches of snow had fallen in Pentagon City. How much snow did you neighborhood get?

Yesterday morning, I discovered that Pentagon City’s urgent care facility, one I had been to more times than I care to remember, was no more. It closed in the middle of December, presumably to make way for another high-rise apartment building like the one next to it.

The new location for Arlington Urgent Care is at 601 S. Carlin Springs Road on the other side of the county. I believe it is in the old Arlington Community Hospital building. In order to get there from Pentagon City I actually had to drive into Fairfax County for a few blocks. The upside of the move is that the new Urgent Care is open 24-7 as opposed to its predecessor. Currently, based on the sign-up sheet, it is a lot less busy than its predecessor too.

Remember folks, when you are out shopping at Pentagon City Mall this X-Mas season, please only put your baby in a proper receptacle.

You know they only have this sign because there’d been an ‘incident’ in the past…

Maybe they should install similar signs in the Los Angeles Airport
(more…)

Wow, if this isn’t a postcard shot of DC, I don’t know what is. Mr. Eye Captain has done himself proud with this surreal shot of the Capitol Building. It almost makes you forget what happens behind those closed doors. It’s as if the structure is floating in a sea of fruity sherbert, or sorbet, depending on how fancy you want to get. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! I wish I would have been there with my camera gear in tow.