The 38B

So generally taking the 38B is a pain in the ass* because it's occupied by a bunch of f'ing crazies. Today however, the not-single girl sitting behind me had the 38B's best conversation ever.

Scenario: she's reading some crazy book about design, and the guy sitting next to her starts talking to her. In. A. French. Accent.
They had some language barrier issues, but I learned that he came here from France (Provence possibly) 2 weeks ago to work at a new framing store over by Cady's Alley. He's also a sculptor. As we got into Arlington I think the conversation got a little more intimate... I think he might have asked her if they could meet up in the future, since he gets off of work at 6. I was stalling and waited until the stop after I usually get off (when she got off too) to see if anything interesting was going to happen.

So I was thisclose to saying to her "So I guess you're not single" when we got off the bus. But I wasn't going to be taken as snarky (it wouldn't have really been snarky, I was curious). So not-single girls, if you see the maybe-cute** Frenchman on the bus, make sure you let a single girl get a bit of a thrill on the way home.

*compared to the blue bus...
**I only saw his reflection is the plastic barrier that separates the part of the bus up the stairs from the rest of it.

2. I am a not-single girl, so I'm not saying that she should have let me sit next to him, but you know, girls go for those accents... He probably had pretty manly hands too.

Cab strike update

So yesterday leaving work the traffic was pretty light from my point of view. And the DC cab traffic was waaaay light.
Here's a non-striking DC cab (usually there are 5-10 of these in this lane):

Here's a VA cab (there were a whole lot):

Taxi Strike Tomorrow

Thoughts that came to me while standing on the corner of M & Wisconsin on my way home from work:

1. 6 cabs just turned right from westbound M onto northbound Wisconsin. Several more waiting in queue as the light turned red.
Would a taxi strike ease a little congestion in the district? It could actually make traffic better.

2. Wouldn't a strike be more effective if it was from Halloween until a) the drivers got what they wanted b) they realized they wouldn't make enough money not driving and gave in?

3. This is from earlier... Can you call a VA/MD cab to pick you up in DC? Then the strike could be sort of moot on Halloween. Also - sober ride is operating 1 (800) 200-TAXI, so there is that option.

Oh well. I've been in two DC cabs over the past two days. The first one was from AMorg/Mt Pleasant to Rosslyn on my way home late Saturday night - $13.25 - It was a realistic price and I tipped up to $15. Even though the driver almost killed someone on Roosevelt Bridge. But he didn't. So I tipped him...
The second was from Rosslyn to the Kennedy Center to get to the ADL concert last night. (Yes, I know, did we really need to take a cab... Ehh.) Actually, more on that - it is $16 to park at Kennedy Center and we figured about equal to take 2 cabs, granted we caught their shuttle to metro on the way home. ::rambles:: The cab that picked us up in Rosslyn was a DC cab, which I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to do... Then he went the wrong way... Then the trip cost us $10. For about 2 miles. That man did not get tipped.

Update

So checking the Marine Corps site tonight, they have posted the phone number for Active Network Customer Support (yeah, that wasn't up at 2pm), so obviously there was some sort fo glitch. Did anyone get that resolved through them? How'd it go?

Uh yeah, and redskins fans should just be kind of embarrassed right now. Yikes. 52-0... Hang your head DC!

Sports Sunday

NOW: I am watching the Patriots absolutely CRUSH the Redskins right now. (38 - 0 with 12 mins remaining in the game.) Earlier this week there was a lot of talk about the "Skins" having a chance to win this one. At least around here. I was too busy at work to actually read the articles, so if someone can fill me in that would be good.

LATER TONIGHT: Sox Rox on Fox? The BoSox will be taking on the Rockies in game 4 of the World Series with a 3-0 lead. Get f-ing ready. I will be a little bummed should they win w/Youk not being played, but he got in last night so looking good Youk, looking good!

THIS MORNING: Ran around the city chasing a marathoner. Got text message alerts from the Marine Corps Marathon Web site. BAD IDEA!!! Somehow the alerts got fucked up after mile 22 alert & I got probably 100 of the same alerts in a row. When we came home I called the MCM number but they were closed, then I went on the site (active.com) that was sending the alerts and couldn't figure out how to turn contact anyone there. The MCM site also locks up on marathon day so you can only access the results section, you can't get to anything else. THEN I tried logging in to vtext.com, but I had apparently already registered & couldn't remember my password. So I called Verizon customer service, but they could only block all texts, and couldn't do it specifically, directing me back to vtext, where I tried resetting my password BUT they text you a password & that wasn't coming through because my mailbox was full and anytime I deleted a text more Mile 22 texts would show up. YUUUUUCK.
I finally got it figured out & blocked active.com, but goodness what a mess.

If anyone reading this had the same problem let me know, and let me know how you resolved it. Now I have to see if Verizon will reverse those charges.

PS: Pats game is now 45-0. What now DC? C'mon!

PPS: He ran a 2:45!

Metro

Saw this one via DC Blogs: Bad Metro Information Design. I guess I don't think about how confusing that map is since I am pretty familiar with metro, including what car to get on on orange/blue to make changing at metro center easiest. I still get absolutely turned around inside the stations, and certainly don't ave anything close to instinct in terms of going in the right direction after the fare gates because IT IS NOT CLEARLY MARKED. Exception - Smithsonian - has signs for VA/MD or something that are easy to see, you don't have to check out the little lists on those silly polls.
I still vote for inbound/outbound but that will never happen.

YAY

Republicans who voted to pass SCHIP & override the moron's veto: Mary Bono, Vern Buchanan, Shelley Moore Capito, Michael Castle, Tom Davis, Charles Dent, Vernon Ehlers, Jo Ann Emerson, Philip English, Mike Ferguson, Vito Fossella, Jim Gerlach, Wayne Gilchrest, David Hobson, Mark Kirk, Ray LaHood, Steven LaTourette, Tom Latham, Frank LoBiondo, John McHugh, Candice Miller, Jerry Moran, Tim Murphy, Thomas Petri, Todd Platts, Jon Porter, Deborah Pryce, Jim Ramstad, Ralph Regula, Dennis Rehberg, David Reichert, Rick Renzi, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Christopher Shays, Michael Simpson, Christopher Smith, Pat Tiberi

NAY

Republicans choosing to fuck over poor children: Robert Aderholt, Todd Akin, Rodney Alexander, Michele Bachmann, Spencer Bachus, Richard Baker, J. Gresham Barrett, Roscoe Bartlett, Joe Barton, Judith Biggert, Brian Bilbray, Gus Bilirakis, Rob Bishop, Marsha Blackburn, Roy Blunt, John Boehner, Jo Bonner, John Boozman, Charles Boustany, Kevin Brady, Paul Broun, Henry Brown, Ginny Brown-Waite, Michael Burgess, Dan Burton, Steve Buyer, Ken Calvert, Dave Camp, John Campbell, Chris Cannon, Eric Cantor, John Carter, Steve Chabot, Howard Coble, Tom Cole, Michael Conaway, Ander Crenshaw, Barbara Cubin, John Culberson, David Davis, Geoff Davis, Nathan Deal, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, John Doolittle, Thelma Drake, David Dreier, John 'Jimmy' Duncan, Terry Everett, Mary Fallin, Tom Feeney, Jeff Flake, Randy Forbes, Jeff Fortenberry, Virginia Foxx, Trent Franks, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Elton Gallegly, Scott Garrett, Phil Gingrey, Louie Gohmert, Virgil Goode, Bob Goodlatte, Kay Granger, Sam Graves, Ralph Hall, J. Dennis Hastert, Doc Hastings, Robin Hayes, Dean Heller, Jeb Hensarling, Wally Herger, Peter Hoekstra, Kenny Hulshof, Duncan Hunter, Bob Inglis, Darrell Issa, Sam Johnson, Tim Johnson, Walter Jones, Jim Jordan, Ric Keller, Steve King, Jack Kingston, John Kline, Joe Knollenberg, Randy Kuhl, Doug Lamborn, Jerry Lewis, Ron Lewis, John Linder, Frank Lucas, Daniel Lungren, Connie Mack, Donald Manzullo, Kenny Marchant, Kevin McCarthy, Michael McCaul, Thad McCotter, Jim McCrery, Patrick McHenry, Buck McKeon, John Mica, Gary Miller, Jeff Miller, Marilyn Musgrave, Sue Myrick, Randy Neugebauer, Devin Nunes, Ron Paul, Stevan Pearce, Mike Pence, John Peterson, Chip Pickering, Joe Pitts, Ted Poe, Tom Price, Adam Putnam, George Radanovich, Thomas Reynolds, Mike Rogers, Hal Rogers, Mike Rogers, Dana Rohrabacher, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Peter Roskam, Edward Royce, Paul Ryan, Bill Sali, Jim Saxton, Jean Schmidt, Jim Sensenbrenner, Pete Sessions, John Shadegg, John Shimkus, Bill Shuster, Lamar Smith, Adrian Smith, Mark Souder, Cliff Stearns, John Sullivan, Tom Tancredo, Lee Terry, Mac Thornberry, Todd Tiahrt Bobby Jindal,

BREAKING NEWS

THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING!

Dunkin Donuts gives police officers a 10% discount.

WHOA. WHOA.

Yes, I stopped to get an iced coffee this morning & a woman was buying a bunch of ice cream (DD/BR) and the little screen that records the order had the containers of ice cream and then:

1 POLICE 10% (21.00)

(Being $21 was 10% of her order of a ton of ice cream for the po-po.)

Doesn't this just explain, like, EVERYTHING?

And I left my celly in the car so I couldn't snap a picture, but I'm off to look for proof online...

YES! Good work Mayor Fenty

Hehehe! Here's to Fenty giving a big fuck you to the taxi cab commission aholes...

And yes, I am a Virginian so I am especially happy that I wont have to bargain cab fares anymore.

Really?? For serious??? Oh geez...

The car was from Florida, but this was in Alexandria. Guess what kind of car it was?
Mercedes s350 or something - the suv. It gets better - there was another one exactly like it parked next to it.

But without an asshole license plate cover.

Today's news... No surprises here.

So recap of DC events of note via the Washington Post:

Tomorrow is the meter vs zone decision. I am pulling for meters and turns out a lot of other riders are too: Many D.C. Cab Riders Are Eager For Meters

We finally find out who stays in New York Avenue hotels - Europeans! Judge Shuts Down Hotel, Calling It a Health Threat
(Maybe they just didn't interview the prostitutes?)

NPR is for hipsters

Anne Coulter does it again!

That's right, she says something so unbelievably stupid, you have to wonder how she manages to still exist...
From truthdig:
“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president,” Coulter told The New York Observer. “It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.”

Gosh, she's special.

As a woman AND a democrat* the only way I will vote for Hilary is if she gets the nomination. I hope she does go down in the primary, because for as many people that love her, an equal amount really really don't.

*Good lord, tie me up, lock me in the closet, and take away my voting rights! A woman AND a democrat. God forbid I support insuring poor children too! ::gasp::

Conversations to maybe NOT have on the bus

*my computer is being weird, so excuse the lack of apostrophes*

So on the way home today the guy sitting behind me on the bus was on the phone with someone, telling them about a visit to California where he met up with his father. In terms of things to overhear on the bus, this wasn't an entertaining overhear (see DCist, eavesdropDC), in fact it was ind of sad. Apparently he had dinner with his dad a few times in CA, ended up paying for dinner & giving his dad some money because his father was having trouble getting some social security checks. This is all well and good as a conversation, and not particularly notable, until he said, "Maybe if my dad had got our of jail and turned himself around..."

Whoa dude, your dad was in jail? And that's not the kind of personal information you'd be hesitant sharing out loud on the bus?

Then he said, "Maybe the social security problems are because of something that's held up from being in jail. I know he is out of probation in 3 out of 4 states, I'm not sure about Texas..."

At that point I almost stayed on the bus past my stop, the conversation was getting a little intriguing, and I honestly wanted to see if he would talk about HOW his dad ended up in jail and on probation in four states...

Not that this is funny, it was a pretty depressing conversation, but given that his dad was some sort of criminal (in the sense of criminal being a person who was in jail), here is this guy on the bus, who's talking about his grad program and his girlfriend-wife-fiances dissertation. So not a sketchy character talking about things like that.

It was just... WEIRD!

TOLD YA SO!

Celebritology reports:

The Associated Press is reporting that Britney Spears has to turn over custody of her children to Kevin Federline by Wednesday:

Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that Federline will take custody of Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, beginning Wednesday "until further order of the court."

Oh Thank God! FINALLY! I knew K-Fed would get those poor babies! (Just go back a whole bunch of entries.) Told. Ya. So. Hah!

Reference: http://ihatethedistrict.blogspot.com/2007/09/i-was-wrong.html

http://ihatethedistrict.blogspot.com/2007/08/nit-wit-brit.html

House Votes Tonight... Stay Tuned

Nice clips from this article:
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), one of the leading sponsors of the children’s health bill, added a nice soundbite, arguing that “it’s a bizarre thing that a president who believes in testing kids for math does not believe in testing kids for measles and mumps.”

Survival of the Richest

Or why I think Bush is being a moron...
Read the Mathematica brief on SCHIP. The funding proposed in this bill is equal to 41 days of Iraq War.
Link to firedoglake to call your representative.

Anyway, clearly Bush hopes for survival of the richest and not of the fittest.

More on SCHIP

And another reporter has this to say: Bush, Democrats Duel On Children's Insurance

So this reporter is neglecting to mention that there are a good deal of Republicans supporting this bill and that BUSH is characterizing it as a partisan disagreement with the Dems.

The man is just uneducated... AP's more detailed take on his veto's here.

SCHIP

Just posting a link to this one: Veto Threat Angers Republicans
Read through, then check out the link to the comments. I'm pretty sure you can guess my opinion on the matter.

(If you don't know what SCHIP is, check Wiki.)

I was wrong...

Reliable Source says this:
A court commissioner ordered Britney Spears (left) to hire a parenting coach to show her how to raise her children, according to documents posted on TMZ last night. The L.A. court scolded the pop singer for "habitual, frequent" drug and alcohol use -- but also denied her ex-husband Kevin Federline's request to have more custody of their two kids, now shared 50-50.

I totally thought he'd have those kids by now. Keep trying K-Fed. How long can Britney really last on twice a week random drug & alcohol screenings?

Call Laura Sessions Stepp!

"I think I do sleep better now," she said. "And it's definitely much easier to have another person in the bed if the occasion arises."

I read this article and had an immediate reaction of 'why did I just do that?'
Uhhh what a WASTE of newspaper space. Also makes me feel old in an 'when I was your age' type of way. Like, when I was your age, we slept on crappy twin xl's because that's what you do in college. I don't think colleges are supposed to encourage sharing beds. Plus, that's a good way to gain spacial perspective: how do you fit to fully grown adults into one twin bed? GRE practice, I think so!

(Anyway, Laura Sessions Stepp might want to write a rebuttal to that article, since now colleges are clearly ENCOURAGING girls to hook up with guys by giving them big beds. Watch out for grey rape.)

Update on the Orioles

We were at the Sox game Sunday, in pretty awesome bleacher seats. Our dear friend in the daisy dukes was definitely up in the stands, same seat, same shorts.... I think he kept his shirt on, but I tried to take a photo from far away, coming soon.

Meters vs. Zones vs. Meters vs. Zones vs....

In 1996, the commission voted to require meters in all cabs by 1998. The decision was made after a city-financed study concluded that the zone system charged too much for short trips and not enough for long ones. The meters were never installed.
Read article here

Well, my personal opinion is that we need real meters, I just don't understand why DC keeps trying to be different and "individual." As the nation's capital shouldn't it set a bar for the rest of the country? Isn't that why they have such a great educational system? Oh... Wait...

I have in the back of my head something we studied in econ (of law maybe) about whether the cab driver is better off cheating & wasting time to get a higher fare or taking the quickest route.
Economics says: Quickest route - may be a lower fare but then you are able to start looking for a new passenger.
(If anyone has read this & has a reference for it I'd much appreciate the help.)

"I don't need to walk around in circles, walk around in circles, walk around in..." - Soul Coughing
(Listen here)

From the station that brings you Loveline...

I ended up walking to work this morning because traffic was a little backed up and I had clearly just missed a blue bus. I wish I had been paying a little more attention to my surroundings because I could have snapped a picture on my cell of this situation:

On the sidewalk on the inbound side of Key Bridge there's a girl in a itsy bitsy yellow bikini holding a sign for 106.7 Talk radio, and a guy snapping photos.

So who does that? Come to find out that 106.7 is the station that hosts Opie & Anthony (ohhh) and Loveline. I guess it was promotional, but what girl thinks that's a good idea?

Can I get satellite NESN pretty please?

Here's the deal: Red Sox/Yankees was NOT on ESPN last night! So I called 4 Courts & of course they were playing it. Then I called the Continental (because their food's better) and the guy who answered the phone asked me what station the game was on! He didn't even know it was being played! GASP. Apparently, if I can't watch it on my ESPN at home, I can't watch it at the continental - just for future reference. Thus we went to the 4 Courts.

Now here's what I don't like:
a) No NESN here. I swear next year I am ordering MLB extra innings...
b) cigarettes! Yuck. I love smoke free DC, and smoke free Boston, and even smoke free NY, and smoke free Canada (yes, Ontario is indeed smoke free).
But the VA probably will never accept this as a good idea because tobacco is a big crop. Have you seen the Phillip Morris complex on I-95 south of Richmond... Unbelievable. (Oh yes and for those of you saying, so why didn't you just go into DC to watch it? Have you been to Rhino bar? Grossssss!)

So thank god it's on ESPN2 tonight, and I won't have to deal with the girl who smoked 3 cigarettes in a row practically on me.

Look at them girls with the daisy dukes on

Actually, look at that old man with the WHITE daisy dukes on, sans t-shirt.
OK, he spent most of the game without a t-shirt, which was a slightly more disturbing sight than this photo because his beer belly flopped over those short shorts, and yes, we were convinced those were tightie-whities until he stood up.

What a sight at the Orioles game yesterday! After encouraging us to take this picture, security guards said that he comes every Sunday afternoon in similar scantily clad outfits and that he's not even an O's fan. (You can't see the Red Nationals cap in the photo - but here he is singing God Bless America.)

Orioles lost yesterday, Nationals lost yesterday, f-ing yanks lost yesterday, but the Bo Sox won & are back to 7 1/2 games up in AL East. Yeah baseball!

Just the headline you DON'T want to see:

Thanks, Washington Post. Live Chat at 11, yay!

PLEASE give K-Fed the kiddos already!

Wow. Just read that new issue of US Weekly said Britney Spears put soda in her baby's bottles. Then you read the text and it says: Britney just shoves a bottle of juice in his mouth all the time to stop him from crying.
Juice might be loaded with sugar, but it sure isn't soda, I know that much. Also, then she tried to get a dentist to whiten the babies' teeth! She does know that those are going to fall out eventually, right?
2 things here: Clearly, Britney Spears is a train wreck, US Weekly has about as much brain power as Miss Spears.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think K-Fed could (and should) get custody of those kids.

J. McLaughlin (again)

This morning I spotted: lime flesh green bow-tie with blue starfish.
How nautical nauseating.

I hope if you wear that in public that you are with your own kind, because I will laugh at you for looking like an absolute preppy goofball.

HBO

Part 1
OK, just need to comment, turned on HBO & found Little Miss Sunshine. So awesome. My favorite part is when Steve Carrell says "He's colorblind, he can't fly."

Part 2
Sunday night's Entourage. HILARIOUS. And such good work with the craigslist tie in. I loved it.

Yuck, movies...

I'm watching "The Last Kiss," you know, Zach Braff's other movie. It's not bad, but I just can't believe it. Not that it's unbelievable in the "irreleastic" sort of way, but that it's just fucking unbelievable how much of a shitshow everyone's lives are. Two notes - irreleastic obviously is my recent replacement word for unrealistic, yeah GREs; it's worse than a shitshow but I can't find the right word.

Maybe emotional trauma? Watching how everyone's lives play out it's totally ahh horrifying. And depressing.
HOWEVER, not in a girly sappy yucky movie way (ahem, "Catch and Release"). Thankfully there aren't any emotional relationship movies coming up on my Blockbuster queue.

Ok, and also like watching a train wreck. I'm going to have to write about Laura Sessions Stepp coming up.

Photos of RTB

ZDLR on the right in redStage & crowd

Stage bathed in yellow

Flava-Flav & his clock

Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!

So, I was at Rage Against the Machine Saturday night and it was fucking amazing. ZDLR can rally 35000 fans to scream along to anything he says. And generally, he's worth listening to. Now more than ever they need to come back to the scene & make noise about the political situation. While some lyrics were written 15 years ago (yes, "as we move into '92"), they're still absolutely applicable to today.
I think that people give us ("young people") a lot of grief because we fell out of the protest movement. We volunteer a lot, we sign petitions, we're generally concerned with the state of the world, but we've lost the inability to rally ourselves and protest something, regardless of how strongly we feel about it. But I think RATM could mark a solution. Just imagine a protest on the mall against the war- speakers like politicians, activits, celebs, etc (Jim Webb I'm looking at you) that brings in hundreds of thousands of people. The way to bring the young people is akin to bribery - have a band show up and rock out and watch what happens. Come on, if we had like "Rage Against the War" as a protest, we'd finally see civic involvement from those of us who seem to have lost hope.

I'm not sure why we feel that way either - disenfranchised and hopeless and like our actions don't matter.

BUT ANYWAY, MORE ABOUT THE SHOW!

So after yesterday's weather I am pretty glad that I bought tickets the minute they went on sale for the Saturday show, because Sunday was pretty nasty. And I heard that Erykah Badu canceled anyway, so it was pretty much the same groups.
Flava-Flav was ridiculous, he brought 3 of his kids on stage and sort of hemmed & hawed for a while. The Roots were good, Talib & Mos Def were good, and Cypres Hill was a waste of my time (kind of like the last time I saw them at a festival, it's like everyone here is already pretty stoned so we don't need you around to get them to smoke more, right...). Wu-tang clan wasn't nothing to fuck with, and that was fun because I didn't appreciate them the last time I saw them (at age 13).
And then... The moment I'd been waiting for for months - or longer, a long time ago I was supposed to be at the Rage/BBoys concert that got cancelled, so I hadn't seen them in about 10 years.... Rage comes on stage. The press of the crowd was ridiculous - people surged forward, mosh pits broke out to the left and right, I could have picked my feet off the ground and been supported by so many strangers that I would have still been standing. It was pretty ridiculous. Nice part was not a lot of crowd surfing during rage. Just AWESOMENESS! Lots of awesomeness. It was amazing. ZDLR made an intense statement about the White House's resident idiots and every single thing that they played moved the crowd. We were all there for Rage, it was clear. It was fucking awesome.... Ahhh, I'll post some more photos here too although they aren't that great. AWESOME!

Street Smarts

So apparently a 22 year old woman gets into a van with a strange older man who offered her a ride to Crystal City, and then is attacked and assaulted. I just don't understand how this girl's street smarts could be so non-existent...
Situation - you're at a party & drunk & the metro is shut & you need to get home. Do you a) hail a cab b) get hailed by a strange man. From the men I've seen around here he probably hollered out the window to her in a pretty crude way too.
I don't know, I guess she was from Dallas and maybe that made her a little more trustworthy, but HONESTLY?

Don't ever do something so stupid as to get in a car van with a stranger.

Read about it.

Dear Ms. Erway...

From Washington Post: "During the whole campaign, he was hugged-up on black people," said Michelle Erway, 26, a black federal government contractor from Northeast, whose 3-year-old son will enroll in a charter school this fall. "Now that he's in office, he's hugged-up on white people. I lost a lot of respect for him after he was elected."

Oh, seriously! You think he's flip-flopping on his race choices? Let Mr. Mayor choose the best (wo)man for the job, regardless of the color of their skin or whatever.

How would you feel if Hilary was "hugged-up" on women during her campaign, then wins the election (god help us) and gets "hugged-up" on fellows. FELLOWS. MEN. Good lord, but there are more women than men in this world, what is she doing? What if all the women are incompetent?

(Disc. I'm white & female. I think Hilary is shady & that Fenty should fix this city with the best resources available. They could be green kitten-eating aliens for all I care, but if they can make DC magic happen then let it be!)

Hillary

Well, here's proof of the type of woman voting for Hillary Clinton - her campaign song is by CELINE DION! (A Canadian!)
That's disgusting.
There's still some reason why HC is just a little sneaky, I'm not quite sure. My vote is with Edwards right now, but I can only imagine what would happen if BLOOMBERG ran.

Foodstamp Challenge

I think this is cool: Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries (Washington Post).
Cooler still: they are keeping blogs -
http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com/
http://timryan.house.gov/

FASHION

Turn to the left?

Ohmygod, everyday when I go through Georgetown I go past that super preppy store (J Mclaughlin or something?) and see the most drunked excuse for clothing. (I couldn't come up with a better adjective.)
-Pink chinos with skull & crossbones embroidered.
No, really. They are hideous, but if you're in G-town worth checking out - the store is next door to Dean & deluca.

Another thing I read this morning: Big-ugly-bug-eye sunglasses?
They're out! According to the Express, it's way cooler to wear normal shades than ugly ones. They did in fact quote my favorite song about sunglasses (Cory Hart), which some girl sang on the street Friday night while walking into GW hospital, trying to convince someone that it does indeed exist.

Iced Coffee

Yeah, weather here is finally somewhat normal (so, not cold), and today was perfect for iced coffee. Of course, my proximity to the Rosslyn metro and my lack of driving to work made it totally impossible to get a DUNKIN DONUTS coffee. So after missing the bus by about thismuch I wandered into McDonald's (note: saw a md iced coffee commercial on today show while getting ready to leave the house) and got myself a coffee.
I'd say it would be 10 times better with 10 times less sugar in it (make that no sugar, none at all). In fact, it's sitting on my desk getting watery right now... I'm a "creme no sugar" type, so the sweetness is surprising.

Anyway, really the problem is that DD are not located central to any metro station, which is just obscene. I am convinced that setting one up right by the Rosslyn metro would create a huge amount of income, natch. I'd be there every freaking morning just about.

Why can't DC get the coffee right?!?!?!

VT

Jay Matthews is a fucking idiot. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR2007041600834.html?hpid=topnews

Because he said Tech had a good reputation, but this will tarnish it. Of all the articles to write immediately after this tragic event, one that suggests that the school will suffer in rankings is absurd.
I absolutely believe that that campus community will band together and maintain all reputations they had.

Again, Jay Matthews is a fucking idiot. This column is another one that makes me want to smack him!

Clearly you're joking, right...?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/interactives/shopper/030107.html

The ins & outs
In: TSA
Out: Privacy

Wait, those two go hand in hand.
And in my hand, well, I will not be sporting the so-called fashion of see-through purses. See italics from article below. How ridiculous. If you follow the link, the article has a photo of the bags from Coach & Chanel, along with the price... If you can find me someone willing to pay $500 for a plastic bag, we'll I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
COME ON!!!!!!!!
Clear lucite accessories might be ok, but the "plastic" bag thing? It happened a few years ago and it didn't stick! I wish I could find a reference for that, if I do I'll post it later.


"Blame it on MySpace. On Facebook or YouTube. These oh-so- popular social-networking sites have changed us all by issuing a societal decree: Your life isn't real unless you bare it for all to see. And all this new technology has led to a staggering amount of transparency among us.

Now the concept has snaked its way into fashion. How else are we to explain the proliferation of all things invisible this spring?

Citing inspiration from the zippered plastic bags used for carry-on liquids on planes, designers including Karl Lagerfeld and Oscar de la Renta have crafted handbags from see-through polyvinyl chloride (PVC to you and me). Of course, for decades department stores have required employees to schlep their stuff in clear purses--but that's to discourage internal theft, hardly a positive story line to parade down the runway.

Also striking in their clarity: Accessories made from clear acrylic (trademarked under such familiar names as Lucite and Plexiglas) abound this spring. A revival of a mod '60s sensibility for see-me '07, they're luxury products for a new class -- one that has no need for a silly thing like personal privacy.

-- Cory Ohlendorf, The Washington Post"

The Onion

Don't cry, the ONION is in DC. I picked one (ok, actually grabbed 2) up outside of the Dupont South metro tonight. Boy is this exciting, because the Onion is hilarious, and DC really needs to lighten up.

GRE

So the GRE is NOT changing in Sept! (yay, procrastination)

No calls...

Please?
Does "no calls" mean no calls or no calls unless you are really serious, serious enough to track down a phone number and ask for an extension....?
Maybe it's no calls unless we don't respond to your emails EVER.... Persistence.

Rockin' the Bells

Well, apparantly GA tickets for Rock the Bells NYC are sold out as of I checked yesterday. That presale made me happy as a clam, and the 4 tickets I bought make life fabulous. I am so looking forward to the Wu-Tang/RATM reunion (since I saw them together in 96 or 97).

Regarding this summer's music: I don't know why modest mouse isn't hitting md/va/dc, they are going philly to nc, which sucks a bit.
I would like to go to Virginfest to see the pumpkins & my beasties, buuuuuut I don't want to pay for a 2 day event, and I will probably be way out of town that weekend... Besides, I've seen them both before too.

I would like to add that if any of these reunions act like RHCP did on tour (i.e. played a bunch of new crap) I will be pretty pissed. Granted, Rage has been broken up for years, so we should be good there!!!!!!

karma

I would say I believe that karma is the result of Tony Snow's cancer & the Dick's DVT. Not wishing death or disease on anyone, just thinking about it.

Anna Nicole

Poor Anna Nicole... Remember when my car was named after her?

So why is the news so focused on tragedy lately? Is everything that tragic right now, or is it just the way the media is spinning things. I don't know, but chew on this:

Could the John Edwards family be the next Kennedy's? (see politics, tragedies)

Free Coffee

Dunkin Donuts has free iced coffee today, if you are lucky enough to live near one, drink one for me. I can imagine back in Mass that you could get your coffee fix on the free cups - just go DD hopping and get a few on the way to work.
We are not that blessed down here, until I can open a franchise the closest one is 1.2 miles from the office, and it's not warm enough to go that far to get it.
Boo.

-Medium Iced Vanilla, Cream No Sugar

Because Lewis 'Scooter' Libby taught us nothing

I love that Bushie (aka President Bush's son) is letting his aides testify. Sort of.

WaPo (& the Merideth Viera clan) says "The White House, however, limited the kinds of questions the aides would answer and said the interviews may not be conducted under oath or transcribed. The conditions enraged congressional Democrats, who vowed to go ahead with plans to issue subpoenas as early as today that would compel the aides to testify."

Good for the Congressional democrats.

In other news, PB's son also plans to veto a bill to give DC a vote in the house... Because it is... UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/ AR2007032000111.html

"Islam doesn't mean peace, it means killing everyone for peace"

Teacher Charged After Uproar Over Arabic

A substitute teacher was charged with disorderly conduct Monday after she allegedly lashed out at a group of Gaithersburg high school students for using words in Arabic while practicing a commemorative speech to mark the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/ AR2006091201401.html

assalamu alaikum :)

Oh goodness, what an idiot. Honestly I would love to meet someone of her caliber and spout lovely arabic poetry just to get her riled up or something.
I bet she still eats freedom fries.

Football

Someone out there knows: What did Materazzi say to Zidane????

Edu-BORING

The edu-bloggers are slacking because of July 4th holiday... This makes my life at work boring because trolling the edublogs usually takes a nice relaxing chunk of time from my day. Granted, they're not really exciting on a day-to-day basis, and I tend to find the same info on like 8 different sites, and they get into petty eduwonk cat fights.

And they're still going nutty about mentos & coke--it was on letterman last night, let's get over it.

Yawn.

Read this if you have the time.

Interesting city paper article on a school in Dupont.
Most brain-tickling part of the article is in the last paragraph re: closing the school because of it's size.
DC obviously is not in on the small schools argument.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/cover/2006/cover0616.html

HAH

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/06/18/oranges_to_oranges/?page=1

Don't go organic. a) there's no proven positive effect
b) the more people going organic, the more overtaxed organic systems will be... thus causing... something something i read a while ago. :-/

(And the whole foods lobster thing, totally PR, no one cares)

I must be hearing things

The acoustical society of america says not to use voice amplification in schools, instead renovate to fix the acoustics. Read about it here:
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060615-042818-1064r

Where should the schools get the money to renovate poor classrooms to adjust acoustics?

That might be buried somewhere in their policy on noise here:
http://asa.aip.org/amplification.pdf

intern season

Wow, probably the dumbest article I've ever read. Interns paying $1250 a month for a tiny bedroom in a shared apartment?
You are very very obviously getting ripped off.
And another one complaining that $250 is too much per month for a dorm room?
WHAT IS GOING ON!?!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/15/AR2006061501963.html?nav=hcmodule

troglodites

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402155.html?nav=hcmodule

YES. I think this is a good idea, and a way for metro to generate revenue, because they could charge people to apply for permits to play in the metro. Use just about any other subway system in the world and you will find people playing music. Oh DC, get with the times baby.

english immersion

Bob Slavin weighs on on Ron Unz... I think Unz is a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and I wrote a paper about what a bad idea this was a few years ago for public administration with Prof Nostradamus.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0613/p01s01-ussc.html

I am an ISTJ.

Whatever that means.

More for the Edu-Sationalists

How Bad Do You Have to Go?

At Some Schools, It's Bathroom Breaks vs. Grades

The Washington Post does it again, fueling the edu...blogger crowd and chastising NCLB for making us bring lice to school and pee our pants and not protest...

But if there's a kid in an AP class who can't respect class enough to only pee when necessary, s/he is probably not mature enough to be in a "college level" class, let alone go to real college......

"It should be like college, especially for seniors. We can vote. We can go to war. We should be able to pee whenever we want."

More on the gym

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/05/AR2006060500826.html?nav=hcmodule

I did used to get up at 4:30 for practice, but this is insane...

election-year ploy to placate conservative voters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/05/AR2006060500085.html

Oh Bush reviving gay marriage... Ahhh bringing this up again?
Can't we all be pro-choice on gay marriage? (Hey, and less abortions right?)

sadly we won't all agree to disagree when John Roberts is in charge of the Supreme Court

"Be realistic, demand the impossible."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/05/world/americas/05chile.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Read this article about students in Chile, then think about what you could be doing!

Imagine if students in the US staged a walk-out because they didn't agree with NCLB--And schools would have to deal with lower attendance rates (Sensationalism in the News to all the Edu...Bloggers for their recent posts about lice and recess and all that nonsense) which would undermine the NCLB deal on attendance.


In protests that began in mid-May, more than 700,000 teenagers have walked out of classes at public high schools, demanding the overhaul of an education system they say is inferior and discriminatory. They have occupied several hundred schools, sleeping there overnight with sympathetic parents bringing them meals, and last week thousands marched in the streets of the capital here and in other cities in this nation of 16 million. ... Since the return of democracy, financing for public education has tripled and poverty has been reduced by half. But inequalities persist, both among regions and between public and private schools. On average, according to one recent study, private schools spend at least five times more per pupil than the poorest public schools do.Since the return of democracy, financing for public education has tripled and poverty has been reduced by half. But inequalities persist, both among regions and between public and private schools. On average, according to one recent study, private schools spend at least five times more per pupil than the poorest public schools do.

girl's got weltshmerz

Aww, poor Canadian girl with a German speaking father, spelled weltshmerz wrong by 1 letter, she put a v instead of a w (sound phonetic with v, like veltshmertz i think)... rule 1 in german (i made it up as rule one, but) v sounds are w's.... f sounds are v's.
I really wanted them to battle head to head and be co-champions.

haha

About the Gym.

Wow, this is ridiculous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/us/nationalspecial3/01traveler.html?th&emc=th

OK, yes, I'm a girl, I'm white, I don't look like a terrorist.
But I think this profiling is WRONG. When I carried Arab text books on the plane I didn't get even a double take like I thought I might. Did anyone watch season 2 of 24? We all could be "terrorists" "jihadists" whatever.
See below though:
"It is an apt comparison, Mr. Ahmed feels, noting that after the 1995 Oklahoma City terrorist bombing by a white former soldier, Timothy J. McVeigh, not every blond with a buzz cut was pulled over."

And we didn't really profile white men for the unabomber thing.

I was recently marked for special screening at the airport because I had a 1 way ticket to upstate NY. I had to go through the air blast machine. A blonde girl in heels 2 people before me set it off (it picks up gun powder/explosive residue) and it took over 5 minutes for them to clean off & reset the machine. Apparantly we can't all get the special treatment because it would be a waste of time... Or would it catch explosives? How sensitive is this machine................................

the gym

It's weird how solitary the gym is... You go, hop on your treadmill/elliptical/bike/erg/etc, plug in your ipod, open a magazine (or at nice gold's or wsc watch tv on your treadmill) and solitary confine yourself to the machine.
The classes are so close to almost the same way, usually you show up by yourself, yoga, and go. So many people are say-nothing-to-no-one types.
And then there's cardio kickboxing, which just amuses me. Yes, I enjoy it! Fun to do something completely different, but oh it's so funny.

Generally a mix of girls (women) ranging from the college kid home for the summer to post college to awkward mom age to old & uncoordinated. And the occasional awkward middle aged man who I usually see as a spectacle (but even more so in yoga). Yesterday was a mix of post college/awkward mom. I'll get the awkward mom thing out of the way because they sometimes seem completely discombobulated, incapable of getting any of the sequences right, unable to kick an inch off the floor, have to get water every 2 minutes... Hope I am never an awkward mom but good for you for going to the gym with all the skinny pretty gym-addict girls.

Then there's the we all look alike crowd. And it's so amusing these girls who punch and kick like they are fighting some imaginary enemy who is always on the right right right right right left left left left left right left right left.... No room for elbow-kick him in the nuts-right-left-left-left-right-left randomness like a real fight. No, this is a pink robot we're atttacking. Oh all these Yoshimi girls left block right kicking.

And bless you for knowing right from left. I see cardio kickboxing as a mental exercise: remembering my right from left, following crazy little kicking sequences, shuffling, bobbing, it's really hard on my head since work is such a brain drain. Some girls (who go to ckb way too muuuuuch) get so tough and into it like "I am ready for you pink robot do your best right left right left right left double speed"...
I am not so much like that, considering I can't be ready for the pink robot with it's alternating right lefts because I might just start out left right left left right left right don't stop paying attention because you'll go right left ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Haha.

The Internship

More backing for why I never did one:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/opinion/30kamenetz.html?th&emc=th

About damn time

"She was more comfortable with the brighter side, she said. It made her feel safer."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/29/AR2006052901180.html

WELL DUH METRO!

bad college poetry contest

http://hatemongers.mu.nu/archives/176636.php

it's amusing

dead babies, condoms, and fishy economics

Low Newborn Survival Rate

Honestly, I think this ties into the whole NYT contraception article (read it here)
And if you've read that chapter of Freakonomics (which this link says may not be so rigorous evidence) your brain might start making some connections. (I think... I could just be being nuts.)

yea!

Georgetown Waterfront

I like phase three involving the "Rock Creek Bridge"

on coffee

Putting on the anti-bacterial skids

Italian researchers from the University of Ancona in Italy led by Gabriella Gazzani, Ph.D., tested samples of green and roasted arabica and robusta coffee. They concluded that every sample of the roasted coffee had the unique ability to inhibit some microorganisms, particularly Streptococcus mutans, from binding to tooth enamel, the hard outside surface of our teeth. S mutans bacteria produce acid, which breaks down the enamel, causing cavities. Trigonelline, a component of coffee responsible for its aroma and bitter taste, is the anti-adhesive that prevents dental caries from forming.

"All coffee solutions have high anti-adhesive properties due to both naturally occurring and roasting-induced molecules," says Gazzani. The study concluded that coffee from green, unroasted beans was only somewhat protective, coffee prepared from roasted beans was more protective, and instant coffee provided the greatest protection. The degree of protection was unrelated to the amount of caffeine.

from a variety of sources, one of them here

also read about artichoke liqueur here

you're not funny.

ok, nyt gets on lindsay lohan AND snl in the same sentence
the article isn't really worth reading but here's a link to it anyhow.

"The partying is overshadowing your talent; you don't need to be out every night getting in fights with the Tooth Fairy," she scolded the Easter Bunny in their role-reversal routine on "SNL." The routine wasn't very funny, not because it came so close to the truth but because, like so much of "SNL" lately, it just wasn't funny. A sketch about four people voraciously devouring a chocolate dessert did hit a nerve, if accidentally: it was obvious she was just pretending to eat.

Judas Demon #18

http://cache.boston.com/sports/special/redsox/fenway_damon.mp3

Boston was a sad sad place Monday night. Until we beat the pinstriped morons.

Demon #18

http://cache.boston.com/sports/special/redsox/fenway_damon.mp3

Pandora's box

http://www.pandora.com/

Music Genome Project.

AWESOME :)

(and free--listening to songs based on my fave fave fave girl Kay Hanley & Letters to Cleo)

U street baby

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/travel/escapes/14washi.html?ex=1302667200&en=b4906f5986b4f7b8&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In NYT travel, no kidding.

And another good reason why...

DC is stupid:
An informal survey found that almost half -- 22 of 50 -- of the District's CVS pharmacies lock up their condoms -- this in a city where one in 20 residents is HIV-positive. Most of those stores are in less affluent areas where the incidence of HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy -- all preventable with condoms -- are highest. Many CVS stores in the close-in Prince George's County suburbs also lock up condoms.

Prophylactic Measures

Many Can't Buy Condoms Now Before Paging a Store Clerk to Unlock Them

Republican, Shmrepublican...

Mitt "Hillary" Romney goes for big government.

"It is not a typical Massachusetts-Taxachusetts, oh-just-crazy-liberal plan," said Stuart H. Altman, a professor of health policy at Brandeis University.

Massachusetts Sets Health Plan for Nearly All

BOSTON, April 4 — Massachusetts is poised to become the first state to provide nearly universal health care coverage with a bill passed overwhelmingly by the legislature Tuesday that Gov. Mitt Romney says he will sign.

The bill does what health experts say no other state has been able to do: provide a mechanism for all of its citizens to obtain health insurance. It accomplishes that in a way that experts say combines methods and proposals from across the political spectrum, apportioning the cost among businesses, individuals and the government.

"This is probably about as close as you can get to universal," said Paul B. Ginsburg, president of the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington. "It's definitely going to be inspiring to other states about how there was this compromise. They found a way to get to a major expansion of coverage that people could agree on. For a conservative Republican, this is individual responsibility. For a Democrat, this is government helping those that need help."

Hey, you, don't get that tattoo...

http://www.hanzismatter.com/

(subject of an nyt article from sunday)

(anyone notice how nyt changed their website)

Thank You for Smoking

Oh wait, oh wait! According to this article on DCIST today http://www.dcist.com/archives/2006/03/31/enjoy_those_din_1.php the smoking ban did NOT get knocked down by congress, and Monday starts off a (bars & clubs excluded) smoke free DC!

Don't tell anyone, Bush's education secretary('s writers) read "The World is Flat"

And that book's totally written by a NY Times op-ed columnist.

Found on education wonk's site http://educationwonk.blogspot.com/2006/03/spellings-report-congressional-fun-and.html

"While we're sleeping every night, accountants in India do our taxes. Radiologists in Australia read our CAT scans. And technicians in China build our computers."

I also don't belive in god.

Prayer Doesn't Aid Recovery, Study Finds

No, this is not from the Onion, it's from Washington Post.

"Praying for other people to recover from an illness is ineffective, according to the largest, best-designed study to examine the power of prayer to heal strangers at a distance.

The study of more than 1,800 heart-bypass patients found that those who had people praying for them had as many complications as those who did not. In fact, one group of patients who knew they were the subject of prayers fared worse."

In the beginning...

I think I might agree with this one Teaching the Bible in Georgia's Public Schools even though I'm a blue state liberal. No, I'm not going soft. I see nothing wrong with teaching the bible as literature. I read it in an English class in high school. It can be taught in religion class in college, so if it's an elective, why not use the bible as a textbook. I disagree with preaching the bible in a (non-parochial) classroom. But my recent visit to a Catholic school classroom affirmed that there's a mighty big difference between that and public school. Whooo, rambling.

Another Very Useful Thing, Courtesy of Dcist

http://www.dcist.com/map/

CYE

(The old Jim Larranaga burger was topped with whitefish, sable, capers, onions, and cream cheese, but Larranaga -- then known as "Larranaga David" -- reportedly objected when he realized that no one would order it.)
http://dcist.com/ (scroll down aways)


Hahaha.
And my favorite episode from last season was the passion of the christ/bra episode.

Domestic Spying part 2

Iraqi Documents Are Put on Web, and Search Is On

WASHINGTON, March 27 — American intelligence agencies and presidential commissions long ago concluded that Saddam Hussein had no unconventional weapons and no substantive ties to Al Qaeda before the 2003 invasion.

But now, an unusual experiment in public access is giving anyone with a computer a chance to play intelligence analyst and second-guess the government.

Under pressure from Congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops.

They are here fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm

You might need to know some Arabic (a few are translated in English, includes such gems as [Include a handwriting, which means: God has shown mercy on such a
human, whom he has led me to recognize my faults])

And the page is difficult to work with--if you open a document this page fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm disappears and you have to recopy it into your browser.

Again, I am probably being domestic spied on right now.

I did some math

And about that article, I am not arguing for school choice, just showing a list of the facts.
They may or may not be true, but if they are... With proficiency per dollar spending DC is still at the
bottom for proficiency rates.
The Massholes slip (it's humbling) to second in reading/dollar behind Kentucky and
fifth (oops!) in math/dollar, with Minnesota taking the lead.

In case you were wondering.

I love being from the smartest state in the US

Guess the MCAS were good for something. Massachusetts has the highest proficiency rate on the NAEP tests.
DC has the lowest (and they spend over close to twice as much per student).
Check it out here: http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?print=yes&id=13458

PS Props to Minnesota for coming close.

Start domestic spying on me now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/arts/television/26manl.html?th&emc=th Al Jazeera network goes English language. Mumtaz! My Arabic wasn't good enough to watch.
I think this is a good idea--but those who watch Fox nonstop might get their skivvies in a twist.

Texas just might be dumber than DC

"Educators and administrators warn that holding students back a grade increases the financial burden for the state, which has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on housing, health care and other services for the half-million refugees who came to Texas after Katrina swamped the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29."
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/03/24/katrina_refugees_score_lower_on_tests/ (Katrina Refugees Score Lower on Tests, AP)

OK now, isn't social promotion exactly what is pushing these kids farther back on standardized tessting. Wouldn't not holding them back exacerbate the situation? No really, this doesn't make any sense to me, except that Texas is going to double stuff the New Orleans kids who already got fucked by their school system and Katrina.
Wow, Texas, you idiots, never cease to explain away the state of the country now do ya?

Implicit again

Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Vegetables compared to Meat.

You should definitely play aorund with these. Entertaining-ness. :)

Coffee vs. Tea

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Coffee compared to Tea.

https://implicit.harvard.edu

Maybe Teach for America isn't so effective after all?

Ok, so they don't say TFA isn't effective, but they do say that TFA's uncertified teachers are not making a big difference compared to other uncertified teachers. This one is definitely worth reading. Report: http://schoolredesign.net/srn/binaries/teachercert.pdf Info on report: http://schoolredesign.net/srn/news/certification.html
(Read the author's response to TFA.) Found in ASCD PD Smartbrief.

$12 million of KARMA coming back to bite you in the shoulder

Damon Has Tendinitis in Left Shoulder

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031501398.html

The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 15, 2006; 2:30 PM

TAMPA, Fla. -- Johnny Damon has tendinitis in his throwing shoulder, and the New York Yankees star will not be available to play the outfield for the United States on Thursday night against Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

The Yankees sent Damon to be examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum in California on Tuesday, and the speedy leadoff man was cleared to pinch-run for the U.S. squad if needed. Whether Damon can hit will be determined before Thursday's game, but he will not play in the field.

"I spoke to Johnny yesterday," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday. "He's not worried. He just needs to get it calmed down, so that's why he's not a defensive player for them right now."

Damon had an MRI exam. His sore left shoulder is the same one that hindered him late last year with Boston and weakened an already inferior throwing arm.

Cashman said the injury flared up while New York's biggest acquisition of the offseason was working out with the U.S. team.

"It happened there," Cashman said. "Right now, he's OK to stay out there and try and help the U.S. team obviously in a limited way now."

There is no timetable for when Damon will resume defensive drills. Cashman plans to speak with Yocum again before Thursday's WBC game.

"I don't have a final report yet. I'll have one before Thursday's game," Cashman said.

Cashman said right now he's not worried about Damon's status for opening day.

"This is something that should calm down and should be able to get out of the way in time for our season to start based on what I have been told by Dr. Yocum," Cashman said.

Damon, who signed a $52 million, four-year contract with the Yankees during the offseason, has played in four of the Americans' five games in the inaugural WBC, going 1-for-7. He sat out Monday night's 7-3 loss to South Korea and was a pinch-hitter in Sunday's 4-3 victory over Japan.

His ailment is exactly the kind of issue New York owner George Steinbrenner was referring to when he spoke out against the Classic.

"I'm not concerned about him based on the fact he pinch-hit the other day, plus the fact Cash talked to him," Torre said, referring to Damon. "Hopefully, it appears to be in the spring training-type feeling.

"To me, Johnny knows what's important. They want to win there, but he knows that he has to get himself right to help whichever club he's playing for. He knows that they're playing the Classic, but it's still a time when you get yourself in shape and you have to look out for yourself."

People in NW Don't Go to School

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/daily/graphics/schoolsmap_031206.pdf

Obviously they do, just not the kinds of schools other DC students are going to.
People should be outraged. But the white students are doing okay, so ehh whatever.

"Girls in emo songs today do not have names," she wrote, adding, "We leave bruises on boy-hearts but make no other mark." N Y Times makes fun (?) of Emo: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/arts/music/16sann.html?th&emc=th
And Andrew Mathas really does: http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid6038.aspx

Nice.

Post editorials

It's been a long time since I've had a moment to blog, especially because tiger decided to ravage my computer.

It's nice to see that the state of DC public schools is kind of making it to the washington post editorials... But not really. I mean, just because it's in the editorials that people think the parents should get involved and make DC fix thier schools, doesn't mean that's going to happen or that anyone not a DCPS parent is going to take initaitive and help DC fix it. Ironic isn't it that here we are in the capital and President Idiot is passing all this IDEA NCLB legislation and the schools right down the street from him suck balls.... ?