Brad Pitt Has Your Secret Shit: Rolling DC

still brrrr

Is anybody risking Restaurant week?

nah...maybe it's b/c i was young & naive but when restaurant week started it seemed like all the participants were pretty amazing. and expensive. getting an $80 peter luger steak for $20.02 ruled. getting a $11 app + $27 medium-blah entree for $34 or whatever it is these days doesn't. i'm sure there are still deals but having to search them out and call early violates the rw spirit that flickers on in my y&n heart

Restaurant week lunch rules! Dinner mostly sucks. 3 courses at lunch for $20 is great, and you can usually walk into even a fully booked restaurant at noon and get a seat at the bar no problem.

hmm, i should try that.

Anything new and exciting happening (or same ol' thing got you riled up or just the same ol' same ol' mid-winter doldrums)?

Sally Quinn's Washington Post Style section pieces on how Washingtonians (read elite well-connected politcal types) need to have more parties and need to follow her ettiquette ideas at such parties make me laugh. She analyzes Official Washington parties from Kennedy to the present today:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012603507.html

Making friends is crucial. I'm only being partly facetious when I suggest that there should be some sort of in-house list where members of the administration (any administration!) are designated to go out a certain amount, in exactly the same way they make the rounds on Sunday talk shows.

This includes the president! Even senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said this week that Obama "likes the rigor of having a conversation with someone who's going to push him,." sShe told The Post, "There's really no point in him wasting time with people who simply agree with him all the time because it's not going to refine his position, it's not going to enlighten his position." In other words, he'll certainly accomplish some of that once he gets around town.

Indulge me for a moment on the topic of our cultural bellwether, "Avatar." In the film, the Pandora natives worship the goddess Eywa, who is the spirit that connects them to their planet. If there is such a goddess in Washington, I believe, it is the spirit of community. Those who live here want to welcome new friends. Washingtonians are open and willing to invite newcomers and make them part of their lives. If they can't do that, there is automatically a distance that is created so that if ¿ no, make that when ¿ the administration gets into trouble, there is too little sympathy or support

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

i know right?
how is anything not dull with sally quinn, she is dull. the comments on that article are delightful!

I'm kind of impressed, it takes a special kind of tone deafness to argue that what we really need is closer personal ties between politicians and the media.

The comments are right on target.

I thought this one bit from Sally's article was especially funny:

Years ago, the city looked to the White House to set the social tone. Whatever style the president and first lady favored was the style adopted. The Kennedys enthralled the town with their youth, exuberance and glamour. They had round skirted tables at a state dinner, and suddenly everyone had round tables. The Johnsons came in with their down-home Texas barbecues and you couldn't go out at night without being served ribs and baked beans. It wasn't until Nixon that people started to do their own thing.

Yea, like D.C.'s poor, segregated residents during the Kennedy years were busy saving their money to buy Kennedyesque 'round skirted tables.' And yea, it took that Nixon to force people to give up imitating White House style. She is so clueless.

It's amazing that Sally's connection with former editor Bradlee allows her to still write in Style. I can't imagine that anyone else there is happy about that

Anti-terrorism drills on the subway this morning, so if you notice about 100 cops in yr metro station, that's what.

so what's the job climate like for liberal arts degree graduates who haven't had a steady job in the two years since they've graduated like?

also, any thoughts on Old Town Alexandria would be appreciated.

Do you know any Congresspeople?

The so-called charm of Old Town has never done much for me. It's a bit of a walk from the Metro and finding parking if you drive is not always easy. I could be wrong, but I think like Georgetown that the rents went up and thus lots of the quaint little stores come and go fast. Tourists and Virginians who don't like going into DC like it alot. I do like Eamonn's/Dublin Fish & Chip place (though I'm guessing some will say it is overpriced). I have not been to many of the more expensive restaurants there that get nice writeups by Sietsema or the bars that Fritz H*hn writes up on the W. Post Going Out Gurus blog.

got to move back to the US soon, and the most reasonable option is to move in with my with mother in Old Town Alexandria and find a job fast. Was just wondering what the area was like and if I should immediately look for jobs elsewhere to get the hell out.

I don't think it'd be too bad in that case. very walkable, but then I typically don't mind long walks and walk everywhere in DC when possible, no matter the weather. I really love Misha's coffee shop, it's a great place to hang out, super laid back, delicious coffee. there's a neat used bookstore a few blocks north of the metro. some nice restaurants. a cool thrift store. some boring chain stores. trader joe's. it's just not the kind of place I'd go to hang out on a friday night because it's all yuppie and stuff.

i love walking, and i'm guessing transport around isn't too bad? like, would jobs (however menial) not hire me because i'd be staying there with no car?

i don't think that situation is any of their business, just matters whether or not you can get to work on time. (obvs this might make jobs out in certain burbs difficult, but that would be true no matter where you lived, i mean a menial job in some strip mall complex in fairfax = impossible to reach on public transport.) there is a metro at king street, the yellow and blue lines are both passing through which is convenient.

most of old town (idk where your mom is at) is going to be about a 15-20 min walk at least, because the part right near metro is mostly hotels/restaurants, you have to go a ways up king st to reach the residential areas. there is a dash bus (virginia public transport) running up and down king st, it is free on weekends, i don't know about weekdays or how bad the traffic is on weekdays, but it takes you from metro all the way up king to the waterfront, and back. there are a lot of other bus lines that run from king st station and elsewhere in old town, i'm just not familiar with them.

http://wmata.com/ <-- trip planner @ metro website is pretty handy to figure out how you'd get around & how long it takes. but afaik it doesn't include all the bus lines that run in virginia --> http://www.dashbus.com/ is Alexandria buses only.

i'm fond of old town myself, i worked there a number of years ago. it's just the thing you will not find is dance clubs and places to see bands, and cab ride to/from dc late night is $$$$, though metro does close 3am friday-saturday. and maybe you'd have a long commute depending on where you end up working, but i guess sometimes one just has to put up with stuff, it's dc.

Thanks. I originally come from a town with no real public transport, so every job interview asked about having a car or not.

Good to get an idea of the area and the city. I've only been to DC once, and that was mostly just for a day and a night, and even then the majority of that time was spent seeing a gig at the 930 and hanging out in areas nearabouts there.

Are there good dance clubs in DC?

tentatively, yes? i mean there are places i like to dance (and places i think would be good but haven't tried b/c i dance less and less), but i don't know your tastes.

about the job market, i know several people who lost their jobs in the last year or so; most have found something else but it took them months. i get the sense things are better here than elsewhere but still much slower than a few years ago obv.

I have that same sense about jobs in the DC area. When I was noting the long walk to the King Street station I of course was saying that as someone who lives in an Arlington neighborhood that's not even w/in walking distance to metro unfortunately. Old Town used to have a good used record store but that's long gone. I used to live in Alexandria's DelRay neighborhood, just north of Old Town, and I like that area.

Re dance clubs, "I Died"'s U st. Music Hall is opening in March I think.

more info on DC music on the ilx side here Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

sometimes one just has to put up with stuff, it's dc.

The new city slogan to be seen on billboards,posters, grafitti, and bathroom walls everywhere.

Missed Dec 19 snowpocalypse, finally get to catch up...

a friend spent 90 mins in line at the grocery store last night

never change, dc! <3

Riding this one out on the eastern shore. Blizzard warning from 4 this afternoon until 7 tomorrow :D

Nothing is sticking to the pavement in the parking lot near me in Arlington yet (2 pm). Nice that the Feds sent us government workers home early (or at least they did at my agency).

Juuuuust starting to stick around Dupont. Word from an 11th floor apt in White Flint is that the Nuclear R3gulation Ag3ncy has disappeared already.

Yep it's starting to stick now (4:20 pm)

http://snowpocalypsedc.com/

people are going a little crazy. i actually did run out of soy milk but do i feel like standing in an hour line? not really. times like this i am glad i live in the middle of the city, have a nice pair of snow boots and no car to worry about.

Which bars/food places do you think will stay open around Dupont?

wow, couldn't say. something has to stay open.

I think a lot of places will be open tonight, tomorrow is when it'll be tough. Hotel bars & restaurants almost always stay open since they have guests there anyway, but their hours may be more limited than usual.

Heh I was hoping for an insider response to that from I DIED.

No metro buses on Saturday and no above-ground Metro trains.

Dupont circle is puuuurty!

Snow-covered trees under streetlamps looking nice out here in Arlington

dupont looked pretty gorgeous earlier, i was outside for a while around 9:30. going back out for a long walk tomorrow, i think, it was nice last SNOWPOCALYPSE with the streets mostly deserted.

Snow just keeps coming

And the wind is blowing it everywhere

The Washington Post website covers the important stuff:

Snowball fight roundup
As the snow falls piles up, so do the number of planned snowball fights around the area Saturday. Here’s a brief round up: Know of others? email tel✧✧✧@w✧✧✧.c✧✧.
-- Down on the Mall you can find Snowpocalypse II: Snowball Fight and Snow Kickball at 3 p.m.
-- Battle Snowpocalypse will be at the Ellipse from noon to 3 p.m.
-- Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill, 2 p.m.
-- East of the Anacostia River will be Snowpocalypse Celebration at Ft. Dupont Park in Southeast from noon - 2pm.
-- In Northwest you have a plethora of options: The Official Dupont Circle Snowball Fight at 2 p.m.
-- Nearby you could hurl frozen projectiles at the Columbia Heights Snowball Fight at Malcolm X Park from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
-- Campus Mall, University of Maryland, 1 pm.
-- In Baltimore: Snowsaycanyousee Part 2: Fells Point! at 2:30pm. Broadway Square in Fells Point (Broadway between Thames & Lancaster Streets). :

-- Clarence Williams

Walked downtown, watched the rugby at Fado's with some rugby fans, understood nothing, walked back, pushed someone's car, lobbed a few at the Dupont fite at 3pm

there's some good snowboarding going on down the hill on 13th by cardozo high.

Part of a tree just came down on my building's parking lot. My car is okay; I hope the car in space #1 is okay.

SO BORED

also, wondering if a bunch of people are using fireplaces or if there was actually a building on fire somewhere, because i just walked a ways around dupont neighborhood & now my hair smells like smoke.

I'm tired from shoveling. Watching the Caps now (tied 4 to 4 w/ the Penguins in the 3rd) and my Terps on another channel.