I'm so Right.

Photo of Owen Wilson in the patio of the Four Seasons:

Via www.thehotandjuicy.com.

How do I know this is the Four Seasons? That across the street to the right is where the gas station on M St is. And Four Seasons is the only hotel in Georgetown (minus the Ritz) that has a street level patio. It doesn't look like that across the street from the Ritz.
Seriously. This girl is such a good detective.

This is just not fair

Georgetown is being mobbed* by these movie stars and they are not hanging out in my office.
From the Reliable Source:

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal doing the New York Times crossword together over breakfast yesterday morning at Georgetown's Le Pain Quotidien -- gym clothes, shades, baseball caps (Jake's with a Nats logo!). And then, hmmm, what do you know, they just happened to leave the paper behind ... and they filled it out in ink. And mostly got it right! The Monday puzzle, but still. The movie stars (she's shooting here) seem to have struggled with 57 Down, "Workplace watchdog org." (Answer: "OSHA"; a few more weeks in D.C. and they'll ace that stuff.)

I got the OSHA clue but I missed a few others in that puzzle. So Pain Quotidien is across the street from the Four Seasons...

* And by mobbed I mean they've been spotted every few days...

What I Missed in the Blogs this Weekend

Here's my little blog roundup of the things I missed during this long weekend without internet (long weekend as in 3 days, not the lack of internet that made it long). I was actually at a lovely wedding out in the cellphone boonies. Far away, but overall, fun.
 
Salon has alarmist reports on ladies as sex workers in the recession. Can we open more topless coffee shops?
This weekend's exciting DC news: the shooting at Columbia Heights involved INTERNS.
This excites me a lot. There's quite a buzz about it. (Oh, punny.)
And of course the obligatory WTF? moment. Seriously. My money's on the elephants.

Owen Wilson Watch: Day Six or so?

Well, Owen Wilson is not in my office. (Unless he is very small, like in Night at the Museum, so that actually increases the chances that he is in my office, I think.)

But today's Owen Wilson watch update: potential Owen Wilson residences during filming.
Given the number of times he has been spotted in Georgetown, I'm going to guess he's staying in Georgetown somewhere. Here's what google suggests: Georgetown Hotels

1. Hotel Monticello - right on the canal, so probably smells awesome (nope), dedicated doorman, parking, but doesn't have any star quality from the outside, probably desidned for the business traveller
2. Latham Hotel - home of Citronelle, but its 600sqft room is currently available, sooo that's out
3. Georgetown Inn - I couldn't even get to their website to check it out, so either under the cover of darkness or sucktastic?
4. The Ritz-Carlton - clearly a fancy shmancy place, but maybe too stuffy?
5. The Four Seasons - no rooms available for tonight... Interesting

Then again, if so much shooting is up in Adams Morgan, do you think Owen & crew are getting down with Real World Kids in Dupont???

Owen Wilson Watch: Day 1, probably

Owen Wilson has been hanging out in Georgetown A LOT. Georgetown Cupcake, Sweetgreen, Tackle Box. I totally go to (have been to once or twice, with the exception of sweetgreen) those places! And other places in Georgetown, sometimes I go there too.
So here is Day 1 of Owen Wilson watch, though maybe it should have started a few days ago.
So far: I have not seen him on K St or on the bus or at the gym. Maybe if I frequent.... Dean & Deluca or Barnes & Noble (even Owen Wilson must like to read)?

Other potential suggestions for Owen Wilson:

• How about Baked & Wired? That's a location. I'd go there if I were famous. I go there anyway.
• Tony & Joe's (because no one would run up to you screaming at the waterfront, kidding!), but how about Agraria?
• Foggy Bottom Fresh Farm market, they have good French bakery items and strawberries
• Mie n Yu, because that's where celebs go
• Cusp or Barney's (I so can't afford that)
• Hook, Tackle Box's big brother
• My apartment (well that's in Arlington, but I'll make you cupcakes)

Why I Hate DC Sucks, But Remember When It Didn't?

Remember back in the day (Why I Hate DC iteration 2 or 3?) when there was a massive massive amount of hate for Laura Sessions Stepp? And, well deserved I might add. I read her book (Unhooked). It pained me. Sometimes it's hard to remember that journalists don't know anything about anything. And LSS certainly doesn't know anything about sex. Or research. Or attributing things to sources.
(Like when she said that having more sex causes infertility. Without the connecting pieces, it sounds like if you have sex you are less likely to have babies. What she should have said was the more sexual partners you have and the riskier your behavior, the more likely you are to get an STI which can lead to infertility. Sounds a whole lot different doesn't it.)

Well, a co-worker and fellow LSS-hater just pointed out LSS's new blog Sex.Really.
Let me give you an idea of what you will find here:

On occasion we'll look at what science says about sex. For example, at present, seven in ten pregnancies among single 20-somethings are unplanned. Young women ages 20-24 are infected by the sexually transmitted, human papillomavirus at a higher rate than any other age group. It doesn't take a seasoned journalist to figure out what this means: Too many are simply not taking relationships, sex, and pregnancy seriously enough.

Oh geez. It doesn't take a seasoned journalist to realize that there are some issues with this statement. I just skimmed the HPV study she links to, and here's what they say:

Also, HPV DNA point prevalence will most certainly underestimate cumulative incidence as many infections clear; this assessment only measures current infection and does not indicate past exposure to HPV.

So maybe those older women had a strain of HPV at some point in time which is now undetectable. Oh. Interesting. It's not a surprise that 20-24 year olds are having more sex (hello college) with more partners. This doesn't imply that we're not taking things seriously.

Also, of course 7 of 10 pregnancies in single 20-somethings are unplanned. I'm surprised that's not higher. The DCR report kind of sucks, the graphs for instance. The only ones worth looking at and making comparisons of are the graphs that include rate. And they only do that by race. There is nothing in there to impress me. Or make me want to read it. And here single=unmarried. I have a problem with that. Angelina fucking Jolie. How's that for single pregnancies. (Unplanned or not, she's still unmarried. And they're doing that for a reason.)

Hey also, this isn't what science says about sex. It's what statistics say about sex. And you know what they say about statistics.

Ugh. Whatever. Welcome back Laura Sessions Stepp. We've missed you. Not.*
Also, please get your RSS feed to display the whole post so I don't have to actually click on your link to read your posts. Thanks.

*I've been saying not a lot lately, blogging-wise. Yes, I am 10 years old and it's the 90s.

Walking in Georgetown Rant

(What else is new?)
Teenagers may be worse than tourists. The two of you stopping in the sidewalk on M St is NOT funny. Yes, I intentionally bumped you. And you deserved it. I know, I know, I was going to catch the bus, which is so not classy, and clearly I deserved to be delayed by you idiots. Yes, it's my fault for working in Georgetown and not Farragut Square or on the Hill. However, I'm totally not plagued by interns!
Rant over, done.

Would you break up with someone over this?

Just a few things, starting with Capital Pride.
I wasn't in town for the weekend, but good for (some of) City Council for getting into the parade.
Maybe they need a proofreader though:

(Photo from City Desk post)
Ward 1 Dems Supports Marriage Equality? There's an extra S in there people. This is not to say that I don't sometimes screw up grammar, but I try not to do it quite so publicly.

Ever felt like breaking up with someone due to fashion choices? I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not above that, granted said fashion choice was made post-break up so I didn't have the satisfaction. However, Engadget has pointed out an Obama fashion faux-pas that's break up worthy. But I suppose if you're the first president with a blackberry, you can get away with that holster. Maybe.

You've probably already seen this: Lil Wayne

So you've probably seen this already on DCist or someone's gchat, but clearly it needs to be a best of craigslist. It's a little weird, if money is not an issue, maybe you could shell out for some other rapper?
Young money baby! (Hey is this going to be on My Sweet Sixteen?)

"He was probably just a white collar criminal."

On our flight from DCA to Albany I totally sat next to a guy with a gun. And I didn't even know it until I was getting ready to get off the plane. FYI - if the flight's totally full and there are only 3 seats left on the plane and one of them is the back row window, you too could end up sitting next to a guy with a gun.

Here's how it happened:
We checked in online a little late in the evening for the flight and I ended up with the back row window. Whatever, this sucks, but at least there were no middle seats on the flight. As I'm getting on the plane (apparently called "enplaning"), I check out - not in a sexy way, but you know, size up - the guy I'm going to be sitting next to. He is generally unexciting, in fact he seems like maybe he's kind of a jerk: spiky gelled hair, jeans and a t-shirt, shades, listening to his ipod. Fine.

Slowly I discover he's probably on business travel and traveling with the guy across the aisle from him as they pass newspapers between each other. I read my book (which is entirely about sex and sometimes that feels a little awkward when you're sitting next to a stranger), have a snack, and fall asleep by the time the beverage cart has reached the back of the plane. Sadly, I wake up to my ears dying from the pressure, but we're about to land in my old hood* anyway, so I drink some water and try to cope. When the plane lands, these to work buddies are checking blackberries, talking about work emails, nothing out of the ordinary (and they got to sit together, so not fair because my travel partner, S, was sitting one row ahead of me but opposite window).

The man sitting next to me stands up and I shimmy my way into the aisle to talk to S and to stand up and essentially wiggle, because one hour of sitting still is too much for me. As I'm looking around I see that the guy in the window seat (behind S, next to my seatmate's work buddy) had his jacket halfway unzipped. Whatever.
BUT HE WAS CUFFED. Yeah. The guy behind S was in handcuffs! And then I realized that my seatmate and his buddy were ESCORTING him from DC to Albany.

As S and I got off the plane (deboarding) I started whispering to him, "The guy sitting behind you was in handcuffs." He didn't hear me. I whispered again. Still didn't hear. We stop to phone our ride and see the prisoner and his two escorts walking off the plane. "That guy, right there. And the guy sitting next to me was his escort. He totally had a gun!" We probably stared, whatever.
I determined that S had been in great danger, had the prisoner decided to get unruly and reach his hands over the seat to strangle him. This is probably untrue, as it appears prisoners need to have their wrists shackled to their waists, so he would have been pretty stuck.

I did some research, apparently "Less than one percent of all flights contain prisoners who are being extradited, deported or otherwise moved – and most of the time, we're talking white-collar suspects, not violent offenders." (http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-critic/con-air-with-kids/)

Well, I know it's probably slightly inappropriate to say this, but when a black prisoner is being transported from DC he's probably not a white collar criminal (Marion Barry not included).
Anyway, this was clearly the most dangerous part of my weekend, though sharing a twin bed does come close, and it made for excellent conversation with people I'd never met before:
"Well S was in the most dangerous seat on the plane and I was sitting next to a guy with a gun!"
(Incidentally, should anything else have happened on that plane, we would have been pretty safe.)

I did some research, below is some info on flying with prisoners:

Law Officer With Prisoner (s) AA policy:

• All prisoners - minimum or maximum risk - must have an armed escort (guard or law enforcement officer).
• Must be handcuffed at all times, even enplaning, deplaning, and anytime on board.
• Handcuffs must be secured to the prisoner's belt or chain around the waist. The prisoner may also be shackled at the ankles.
• The escort must be armed, a member of a law enforcement agency, and must have a letter with all required information.
• Escorted prisoners and their armed guards must occupy the rear most available seats on the aircraft. This allows for coach travel only. Window exit seating is restricted as well.

*Yes, I lived in Albany for 3 years in the 80s when it was a not so nice city. I'm not sure it's improved that much since then.

My Weekend

I'm currently writing a post about the most exciting (and dangerous!) part of my weekend.
And yeah I managed not to escape the rain and essentially ended up spending Saturday night in a mud pit (not the Muddy Buddy kind either). Let's hope next weekend's excursion is a dry one.

In the meantime, two new sites I found that are entertaining:
It's Lovely I'll Take It
You Suck at Craigslist

Arlington Rap Party

Since 4 people have sent this to me the past 12 hours, I just wanted you to know that before Arlington: The Rap


There was Arlington Party:


That's right. A-town did it first.

More to read in the morning - June 12.

Friday! Yay! And it looks like it might not rain this weekend. So that's great news.
While you start to dry out, here are some entertaining posts from inside my google reader:
Anti-real World DC and Pro-real world dc create blogs that no one cares about (like this one!) and shenanigans ensue! 7 strangers picked to live in a house aren't going to do any more damage to this city than a cowboy and the devil, picked to live in a white house. (Or all of those 22 year old college grads living in row houses in Adams Morgan and getting in fights in bars, not to mention bachelorette partiers puking in the streets.)
Very Small Array is back with a post on what is destiny. Destiny is posting more than once a month, very small array, please??
Mrs. O dresses down. And some people aren't so sure how they feel about it.
In more serious news, LOST and Lost IRL.
Finally, if you haven't seen this site yet, definitely check it out, then consider the girl I saw yesterday in a purple jersey halter maxi dress and white plastic flip flops in a government agency. Halters do not belong in any office. And if I need 4 adjectives to describe that dress, then... Yeah.

We're back?

What with summer in the city not involving 11 2+ hour work outs a week, school or hours devoted to volunteer time, we're back! Let's see how long writing posts only 2 other people will read lasts.*

Oh and yes, I realize that I live life over-extended. As you can imagine, that's why the blog is being resuscitated.

A lot has gone on in the past oh year and a half. I found google reader (it's true love), realized I am obsessed with baking things, and discovered there are a lot more female bloggers out there (talking about sex, natch). It's kind of like girls in rock bands in the 90s, a trend that sadly has died out. (Juliana Hatfield, Tracy Bonham, No Doubt, Tori, etc.)

So I'm here.

*I'm going to say all of 2 weeks and that's after posting daily wanes...

Voting in the Potomac Primary on Chesapeake Tuesday or.. Whatever the kids are calling it these days.

I am undecided:
On whether the line to vote this morning was a result of a big number of people voting.... Or total inefficiency on the part of the staff.

But it sounds cool to say that I waited for 45 minutes to vote (part of that OUTSIDE) this morning as a result of over 250 people before me doing there civic duty & voting. We have 2 polling places right next to each other and the lucky folks next door mostly got to stand inside. Well, we were lucky enough to stand inside the fire station once we did, which was pretty cool. (The guy in front of me did a little oogling of the fire truck; I preferred the fire fighters. Hot?)

One, there were some guys with press passes who were filming something, and a girl (looking way unprofessional, so I can't judge who she was) asking questions of some of the people as they left. Note to all the reporters out there: don't wear green & yellow striped gloves and sneakers on the job...

Two, as I showed up, a group of 4 people stood on the sidewalk with big white letters spelling out OBAMA. (Where was number 5? That seemed poorly planned.) And as I left, some girl outside the other polling place, holding a Hillary sign, was asking "Undecided?"

Well. No. I am decided enough to know that's not my decision. Wish I had photos, but I couldn't even hold my coffee cup when I was at the voting booth.

I got a sticker though!

Useless blog fight 2k8 version 2.0

Why this guy is trying to start useless DC blog fight 2k8 with this guy, I can't explain. But why it hasn't caught on yet with anyone either a) speaks to self-restraint or b) blog reader's not reading or caring or c) useless blog fight 2k8 version 1.0 was useless and not worth the effort.

I go with C. (Because it's all about me!)

Also, I would like to revise my statement on Don't Be Silent DC's post… I am annoyed that writing about teenage boys outside Trader Joe's was a worthwhile blog post when 11 women have been attacked in Alexandria/Fairfax. Be concerned for your safety, not for teenagers.

Balls.

Oh wow, Project Runway divas from WWE...

Why I feel like starting Useless Blog Fight 2k8!

Because even if that post reeked of sensitivity, at least it didn't wreak of sensitivity.

(I'm frustrated from looking at govt sponsored web sites that have typos and no search menus, so I feel like hanging out with Grammar Girl today.)

And, I will admit, I am also being hypocritical. To quote myself, "Basically, something we all learn in kindergarten - just ignore it, because saying anything just encourages the situation..." So yes, I didn't ignore it in the first place and neither did don't be silent dc.

I just want to acknowledge that I am totally being a hypocritical, judgmental, useless asshole.

In response to Don't Be Silent when my comment gets censored

See the post here: http://dontbesilent3.blogspot.com/2008/01/13008-dbs-shorts.html that was kind of annoying. Basically, something we all learn in kindergarten - just ignore it, because saying anything just encourages the situation... Anyway, my guess is this gets censored for being insensitive and whatever so here it is:

OK, I'm guessing you wont let this past moderation, but it really annoys me that you turn to the kids & say I don't respond to kissy noises, because DUH YOU ARE. Even by saying you don't, you automatically are. And that encourages them. Also, there are plenty of (presumably homeless) men who say things like hello darling or hi beautiful to all of the women who walk past, and it's one of those things that people need to grow up and ignore, it's not specific singled out harassment of just 1 person.
Maybe you should give this harassment levels like 1) had to call the cops was in serious danger 2) felt uncomfortable and booked it out of there 3) unnecessary not threatening comments 4) useless drivel you want to write about because you are too sensitive
Yeah, totally not getting posted...

Headline of the DUH!

Imagine my surprise to see this one:

NOT... I would say this comes as a shock to few.

However, how many people will see that and ignore the issue [because they are too busy campaigning in SC] of improving education in the city where they hold jobs.

DC Rich & Famous Slumming it at Bulk Warehouse

The Washington famous (i.e. not really famous at all, a completely un-recognizable group of people with their noses in the air) apparently shop at my Costco. Sadly, the NY Times started doing this "Urban Eye" thing a while ago, and ditched their style e-mails, so I didn't catch this article until this morning.

The real question is do they go themselves all the time, or do they send their lackeys? I'd love to send someone to Costco for me. 1) I would not be distracted and browse and buy a lot of unnecessary crap* 2) Have you seen that place? It's absolute madness, so crowded! And I have a gift for picking the slowest line anywhere.

Anyway, better Costco than one of the others, considering they treat their employees very well (see here).

About those Washington elite, though. I wouldn't recognize them because I have the fortune to not work on the hill, and with the horrendous policy decisions going on right now, I don't think I'd WANT to recognize them. Heh. :)

*The wool socks I bought recently were totally not unnecessary, but I wouldn't have seen them if I hadn't be dawdling in the aisles of Costco.