Did one of y’all lose a purple vibrator at 13th and R streets NW?

So, here’s the scenario: a customer gets less-than-stellar service, including a condescending lecture about why they don’t serve iced espresso at a local coffee establishment. Said customer writes a scathing blog entry about it, replete with a photo of the obscenity-laced tip he left behind. Coffee establishment responds with a blog entry of its own, but instead of rising above the customer’s lapse in judgment sinks to his level. (And for a local business that’s seen its share of bad press this year thanks to a tax problem in D.C., that was certainly not a smart move.)

The whole ordeal makes the rounds on MetaFilter and Boing Boing; I expect that it’ll make either Consumerist, Not Always Right or both in due time.

My feelings toward the shop in general were always rather tepid, but seeing three sides to this exchange made them — well — murky.

The point is that the barista missed two opportunities here. First, to properly educate the customer on why they wouldn’t serve him an iced espresso; saying something like “that’s not okay” is the wrong response. So is saying “it’s store policy” without further explanation. The other opportunity? To offer an alternative that would be just as satisfactory.

On my way to brunch with Brian yesterday, I came across this setup outside the Museum of Crime & Punishment, a new tourist trap here in D.C. Oddly enough, it was the museum’s signage that first caught my attention — not this unintentional paean to bondage fetishists — and led me to think out loud, “Oh, that’s new!”

This morning, I caught a commercial for this museum for the first time.

Right next door to the museum is the Cop Shop; I can only assume that it’s the museum’s gift store. Among the trinkets and other miscellany one can purchase there is a black beach towel with a crime scene outline printed on it. (Classy!) I’m willing to bet dollars to donuts [rimshot!] that this store might do some brisk business during MAL.

The CityPaper’s Brianne Downing on CakeLove, the little local bakery that could:

I’d say skip it. The frosting looks gross (especially at room temperature), the cake is a tad too dense for my palate, and just looking at the chocolate on chocolate treat on my desk makes me want to have a burger and a milkshake to wash down the nasty, cheap Safeway/Costco-like buttercream frosting taste lingering on my tongue.

Having sampled CakeLove’s wares myself, I’d be inclined to agree.

I took this shot two years ago from my bedroom window. These fireworks were not part of the official display at the Capitol, although my place is only about a mile away. This was part of a neighborhood display.

D.C. police are cracking down on illegal fireworks this year. When I first moved into D.C. proper in 2000, I was absolutely stunned to find makeshift stands selling all manner of celebratory explosives — bottle rockets, Roman candles, and so on — in shopping center parking lots. More often than not, kids were the ones buying.

And so my fellow Americans, if you simply must celebrate the independence of your country by blowing up a small part of it, do it safely. Better yet, enjoy a cocktail and let the pros handle the dirty work.

In the 1980s, NBC aired a sitcom called “227,” set in Washington, D.C. Someone on a listserv I’m on asked, “[Did] they ever establish in that series where in DC it was supposed to be set?”

I did a little poking around and found out that the show takes place at 227 Lexington Place. Anyone familiar with the District knows that street addresses are often (if not always) suffixed with the name of its respective quadrant, one of four subdivisions of the city based on the location of the Capitol Building: Northwest (NW for short), Northeast (NE), Southeast (SE) and Southwest (SW). For example, the White House is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW; Union Station is at 60 Massachusetts Avenue NE; and so on. Lacking the quadrant identifier, we cannot immediately locate where the show supposedly takes place.

Enter Google Maps (or your favorite online mapping application — I just happen to like Google’s). A search for 227 Lexington Place does not turn up a building location. It does point out that Lexington Place indeed exists in the NE quadrant, though. The street runs parallel to D and E streets from 6th to 7th.

Because of the way D.C. streets are named and numbered, buildings along Lexington Place would be numbered from 600 to 699. If 227 Lexington Place actually existed, assuming the street stretched out that far, it would likely have an Exxon gas station right next to it.

Interestingly enough, my current place is numbered 227. But I’m not telling you which street it’s on.

In case you missed it earlier, here’s a shot of the double rainbow that appeared over the D.C. area this evening around 6:20 local time. Rainbows in D.C. are rare as is, let alone a double rainbow. My iPhone camera didn’t do it justice, but this was definitely one of the most vibrant rainbows I’d ever seen.

I was hoping that I’d get home from Union Station to get a better shot – I took this photo across the street from there – but it was practically faded before I could get my digital SLR to take a better shot of it. C’est la vie, as the French say.

At the very least, I’m glad I was able to get this shot. Brian was also able to get a several shots of today’s rainbow.

Taken above the passenger waiting area at Union Station. Yes, I dared to take a photo there, despite recent high-profile silliness.

From today’s Washington Post, “A Transit System That Feels Its Age“:

No amount of funding is going to change the limits imposed by Metro’s two-track system.

This aspect of Metro’s design has always been its Achilles’ Heel. Ridiculous delays – and frustration – ensue when trains have to single track anywhere.

After participating in yesterday’s Race for the Cure (the “Boobie Run” as I sometimes call it), Penn Quarter Living spotted a snake crawling down E Street NW. The snake ultimately crawled into a sidewalk grate in front of the new Asia Nine restaurant.

« Newer Posts | Older Posts »