Dan Snyder drops his lawsuit

I almost missed this in all the 9/11 anniversary coverage, but this weekend Dan Snyder dropped his defamation lawsuit against the City Paper.

Since I'm a college football guy, I don't ever get into the Redskins, but it's been fascinating following this particular story since it broke. What I've found the most intriguing is the amount of people who have sided with the City Paper in all this, and have contributed to their legal fund against Snyder. The City Paper released a statement today addressing that very thing, also noting that the legal fight has cost them financially.

Personally, I'm pleased that the lawsuit was dropped, though part of me really isn't surprised by the fact that it came into being in the first place. Anyone remember the pants lawsuit from a few years back?

An earthquake . . . in DC!

Yesterday afternoon, I experienced something that I never expected to, at least not on the east coast: an earthquake!

Close to 2:00 in the afternoon, I felt the office building I work in begin to shake a little bit. My first thought was a large truck passing by, because that's not an uncommon thing in Bethesda, and that the shaking would subside quickly enough. It did begin to subside momentarily, but then began to tremble much harder—enough that walls and windows in the office began to vibrate loudly. Since this was rather unusual, I stood up in my office cube and looked out some nearby windows, wondering if there had been some kind of large accident nearby. Gradually the trembling subsided, and without any reference to draw from, I began to wonder, "Did I just feel an earthquake?"

Other co-workers who sit near me were coming out into the hallway, looking as equally perplexed, and some of us even asked each other, "Was that an earthquake?"

I looked online really quickly, checking Facebook, CNN, and the Washington Post, and there was nothing on the news websites. Facebook, on the other hand, was starting to crop up with posts like, "I just felt an earthquake!" or "What the hell was that?" I thought of texting Nora telling her, with some humorous astonishment, that I had just felt an earthquake. She surprised me by texting me first, with essentially the same message! What surprised me, though, was that Nora and I live out near Dulles, and I sort of expected this particular quake to be somewhat localized to suburban Maryland. A quick check of Facebook again showed that people from Pennsylvania all the way down to North Carolina were posting about an earthquake! This was probably the first moment where I felt unsettled, because I didn't think an earthquake, even a big one, could be felt across several states like this.

A few minutes later, an announcement came over our PA system that we should leave the building and meet in our designated fire safety area outside. My initial response was laughter, simply because the event was over, though I could tell some co-workers were a bit jarred by the experience.

As I made my way outside, I overheard some people saying it was a 5.8, which I always thought was pretty big—especially for this area. The last earthquake for this area was about a year before this, when one hit in the early hours of the morning, and registered maybe only a 2 or 3 on the Richter Scale, max. So a 5.8 was definitely unusual for this area. We stayed outside for maybe 10 minutes before the all-clear was given to go back inside, but I did notice that many people (people who work in nearby buildings, that is) were getting into their cars and leaving.

Things seemed to return to normal once we went back inside, though Facebook and the news websites were on fire with the story.

All things considered, though, I made it through this okay, as did everyone else. I guess now I know what people in California go through on a more regular basis!

The Drafthouse files for bankruptcy

My heart sank when I heard this on the radio tonight: the Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. I know it doesn't mean an imminent closure of the popular movie venue, but given the debt numbers cited by the article, it's gonna be a rough road ahead for the Drafthouse.

I've been frequenting the movie establishment since spring 2002, when I watched Ocean's Eleven there with Will and Erica. I was hooked on the place right from the get-go, and I can honestly say that no other movie theater is like the Drafthouse. I mean, where else can you sit at a table and eat a full meal while watching your favorite movie on the big screen?

I genuinely hope that the Drafthouse is able to regain its financial footing, because if it ever goes out of business, Arlington will lose one of its most remarkable movie theaters.

Eastern Market is reopening!

I almost missed the event notice when browsing the weekly e-mails I get from the Post, but two years after the main building at Eastern Market was gutted by fire, the market will reopen tomorrow morning at 11:00 am in a ribbon-cutting ceremony!

That bit of news brings a great smile to my face, as Eastern Market is a wonderful venue that I think everyone should visit at least once. And when I first heard of the fire two years ago, it really broke my heart to see the damage to the main building.

In the two years since the fire, a lot of the vendors have been operating either outside or in a temporary building, but now that the main building is reopening and all the vendors are returning home, a staple of DC culture can come back to life again, and a visit to the newly-opened Eastern Market might be in due order. :)

Deconstructing Fisher

Marc Fisher wrote an excellent (though somewhat idealistic) article this morning about the Nats and the surrounding neighborhood in Southeast as we enter the fifth year of the franchise and the second year of the new ballpark (well, not so new anymore). The temptation to add my commentary to the mix was all too great to resist.

The idea was that by building the stadium, the city would unleash imaginations and wallets. Bars and restaurants would spring up, and tax dollars would flow. A grand circle of investment would be completed.

This was the idea that we were all sold on for bringing a team to Washington, and it was a good idea! The only problem was—and this wasn't the fault of the city, MLB, or anyone else—this idea sprung up right in the thick of the real estate boom, when people couldn't even conceive of the bubble bursting. I still think the idea is a good one, and hope that one day the idea comes to fruition. But it won't be overnight, nor will it be this year or next.

No one builds much of anything these days. We've lost the trust we had in the idea that building begets building, that that domino effect creates the energy that sustains us.

That was one of the greatest fallacies of the housing boom—that everything would go up, up, up! But then reality kicked in, and the economic collapse that I had predicted 3-4 years ago took place (no, I'm not an economist; all it took was common sense to see that we as a nation were spending ourselves into the ground and that one day it was going to royally come back and bite us in the ass hard).

But despite the optimism each new season brings, there is a growing unease, questions about whether fans will really support the team and whether the city's investment will provide the promised returns.

Winning might help! Our best season was our first, when we finished up 81-81! From that point onward, it was all downhill. This is something I lay firmly at the feet of the Lerners, who haven't really proven themselves worthy as owners. It's one thing to play hardball with the city council by refusing to pay rent on the stadium (not that I'm condoning that necessarily), but there's no excuse whatsoever for refusing to spend money to recruit promising talent for a team that badly needs it. It's not like the Lerners don't have the money! But like all other super-wealthy people, they want the biggest bang for the least amount of buck, even though the hard reality is that the Nats are getting what they're paying for—zippo. It doesn't help that Washington is a football town by nature, too, so growing a fan base for baseball is going to require winning seasons.

Some will say it's time to return to reality: The owners aren't spending the money it takes, the team's still a loser, the game's in decline, times are tight, let's stay home and watch TV.

Tight times alone might be enough to keep people away from the ballpark, though I'm sure the Nats aren't the only team in baseball being hit by the recession. As to that last point, though, there are still some who are bitter that Peter Angelos owns the majority of the Nats' TV revenues, and wonder what act of God must take place before that's set right. I mean, how is one baseball team owning another team's TV rights not the very definition of "conflict of interest"?

For my part, I still love the Nationals, and hope to make it to as many games as I can this year. Our losing record(s) won't diminish my love of my team. But the frustrations I feel are shared by countless others across the region, and I can only hope that one day they can be set right.

Oh, and as a final post-script, I loved how Marc called out Adrian Fenty!

When the city's soccer franchise asked for the same deal the Nationals got, Mayor Adrian Fenty gave D.C. United the back of his hand.

If memory serves, Fenty ardently opposed the stadium deal way back in the Linda Cropp era. And had he been mayor of DC in 2004, I'm sure he would have done the same to the Nats. (Though I do have to give Fenty marks for consistency.)

Nora's doing Relay for Life

For anyone interested in the fight against cancer, Nora's participating in a Relay for Life team at Shenandoah University. If you wish to donate, you can visit her page and make a contribution there.

Can Snyder and MacFarlane trade venues?

A random thought occurred to me this morning as I heard more about how the DC United might be moving its venue from RFK into PG County: why don't the DC United and the Washington Redskins swap stadiums?

Think about it for a second!

The Redskins already play in PG County, and Dan Snyder has indicated that he's pondering moving the Redskins back to the RFK site—in a new stadium that he would hopefully build with his own money, thus curtailing all the bullshit grandstanding from the DC Council. And since the DC United is looking to move to PG County, it would make sense to go where a venue already exists and has proven itself (accessibility issues notwitstanding).*

Hell, maybe Victor MacFarlane can even come up with a better variation of Raljohn! ;)

* I considered suggested the site of the former USAirways Arena, but I think a shopping mall sits at that spot now.

In search of the Yuri house

I remember a hot Saturday afternoon in May 2004 when Will and I jumped into the car and searched for what we called "the Yuri house"—the house where Kevin Costner is being debriefed in the opening scene of the 1987 movie No Way Out. We had thought the Yuri house was located on one of the side streets just off Arlington Ridge Road, but alas, we were unable to locate it on that May Saturday four years ago.

I recently picked up the DVD of No Way Out from Netflix, and after looking at the film for the first time in several years, I realized that the house is on Arlington Ridge Road itself . . . just behind the apartment building where I live! So after carefully watching and re-watching the opening tracking shot of the film, I was able to determine precisely where the elusive Yuri house was: on the corner of 20th Street and Arlington Ridge Road! But my glee was for naught, as a trip past that intersection showed me that the house is no longer there.

In fact, we learn its fate courtesy of IMDb's trivia page for No Way Out:

When Ferrell leaves the safe house at the end of the movie, he leaves a real house in Arlington, VA, about a mile away from the Pentagon and drives away down Arlington Ridge Road. The house is no longer there (replaced by a larger one), but the "Do Not Enter" sign at the entrance to a street (20th St. S.) next to the house is still there.

Oh, well. Still, it would have been nice to have actually seen the house.

On a side note, I love the opening shot of the film. It's a tracking shot that begins at the U.S. Capitol, pulls back across the National Mall, across the Memorial Bridge, down over the Pentagon . . . and right over Riverhouse! It's quite fascinating to see my neighborhood as it was 20 years ago, to see how much things look the same and what has since changed—like how there was nothing but trees over what is now Pentagon Row and Pentagon City Mall!

I was lucky enough to find that tracking shot on YouTube (well, that and the first 10 minutes of the film).

Now this is a DC map we all need!

In Marc Fisher's column a few days ago, he pointed to a sort of cubist poster of DC that outlines and delineates all of DC's various neighborhoods. When I looked at the poster, I was actually rather blown away, because up until then, I hadn't realized how many different neighborhoods there are around DC! Or more to the point, I hadn't visualized it mapped out like this, and to see DC in this delineation was quite fascinating and eye-opening.

Be good for goodness sake?

Being good for goodness sake is apparently no longer a Christmas carol lyric! Because when I heard on WTOP last night that Metro is going to post a paid advertisement from an atheist association on the side of their Metrobuses, I about stopped in my tracks!

Never in a million years did I think Metro would have the balls to make such a daring move, especially in an era when they desperately need good PR. But I, for one, commend Metro for allowing this—not necessarily for religious reasons, but because this will encourage debate and promote independent thinking, which I think our society needs very badly.

I don't doubt for a minute that religious organizations will push back with everything they have, but as a co-worker pointed out, this too falls under the protections of free speech.

Igor, would you help me with the bags?

It was on the Post's Dr. Gridlock chat yesterday that I first learned of Metro's newest security measure: random bag inspections.

I have to say, for all of Metro's PR and policy snafus of late, this one I have to agree with. That's because I can think of at least one time I rode the rails where a random bag inspection would have been quite helpful beforehand! It was after a Nats game on July 4, 2006 (a game made famous by Ryan Zimmerman's fabulous game-ending/game-winning walk-off home run over the Marlins), and as soon as the Metro train left Stadium-Armory, someone sitting near one of the doors got out some Roman Candles . . . and then proceeded to get out a lighter and start adjusting/playing with the size of the flame. (Luckily there was a Metro security officer in the next car who took an interest in said passenger.)

Hey, Mr. Pants Man, play a song for me!

I almost couldn't believe it when I heard it, but Roy Pearson, the DC administrative law judge who sued a family-owned dry cleaning business a few years back over a lost pair of pants (to the tune of $54 million, I might add!), is trying once again to appeal his overturned case. And his rationale for appealing the case is just laughable.

"This is not about a pair of suit pants," Pearson, representing himself, told a three-judge panel of the D.C. Court of Appeals. The term "satisfaction guaranteed" is "very subjective" and with "no parameters at all," he complained, accusing the cleaners of fraud.

Fraud? That's seriously a stretch to say that a dissatisfied customer is the victim of fraud. Like everyone else in this world, I've already had times where I've been unsatisfied with some service or some store, but having worked in customer service already, I know just how demanding and unreasonable some customers can be. And Mr. Pearson isn't doing the customer any justice (no pun intended) with this venture. My rationale is, if you're unhappy with a service or a store, just don't go back there. There's no need to let your ego get so entangled with your dissatisfaction.

Having said that, I repeat my earlier advice to Mr. Pearson: give it up, dude. You've already made yourself an irreparable laughingstock with this most frivolous of lawsuits, and you've succeeded in taking the Chungs down with you, since they've opted to close down their business. Really, what more do you want?

To paraphrase Steve Buscemi . . . do you see this? It's the world smallest violin playing just for a pair of pants.

The half-smoke turns 50!

Yesterday, the Post ran a story on the 50th anniversary of one of the biggest DC culinary landmarks—Ben's Chili Bowl.

It's kind of odd that DC only has one signature food item to its name, but even so, it picked a good one! Because a Philly cheese steak has nothing on a chili half-smoke from Ben's! Only once have I graced the indoors of that famous U Street establishment, but with the opening of a Ben's Chili Bowl stand at Nationals Park, the flavor of a Ben's chili half-smoke has forever been branded onto my subconscious (not to mention my taste buds!).

To celebrate the half-century of Ben's, there's a block party taking place on U Street this afternoon, as well as a party at the 9:30 Club. I'd kinda like to attend that block party, but instead I'll be at work. Oh, well. In theory, I can celebrate by a visit to Ben's this weekend. :) At which time I'll raise my half-smoke in honor of 50 years of excellent fare that has since become an integral part of our nation's capital.

A slightly shortened 395?

While searching WTOP for a news article, I stumbled upon another article that caught my eye: one about how a section of 395 could close permanently in DC.

Apparently it's part of a study aimed at gauging the amount of "through" traffic vs. local traffic, and the segment of 395 being considered for closure is between New York Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue NW. Granted, that's not a very long stretch, but it would be a total disaster if they closed that, because that would only leave one other option for accessing Route 50 or 295: crossing the Sousa Bridge and making that god-awful left turn from Pennsylvania Avenue SE onto 295 northbound. (Taking South Capitol Street to Howard Road is also an option, but not an ideal one during a Nats home game.)

I was a little surprised by the rationale given for such a road closure.

Karyn LeBlanc, spokesperson for DDOT, says the road isn't closing down just yet.

"DDOT often takes an opportunity during various EIS studies to look at a variety of possible options and ideas that may or may not impact traffic throughout the region," says LeBlanc.

"The purpose of this study is to investigate and recommend ways to reduce congestion, improve traffic operations and enhance safety in the corridor."

The I-395 study should be completed in two or three months, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

"We are going to be looking at (the closure) as an option," says Kirby. "But if you were to close that off, it would have a very significant impact."

Well, duh!!! You'd be closing off the biggest thru-way into the District from Maryland! Closing that spot of 395 would not decrease traffic; it would make it soar, because you'd have a lot of angry drivers looking for alternate routes. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that you don't reduce congestion by closing off a major thoroughfare like that. You build something that would accommodate the traffic volume. As it stands right now, taking New York Avenue down to the intersection with 395 is the best choice we have for an "interstate" highway crossing the District (or at least one that would connect like 95 should).

I say keep that stretch of 395 connecting to New York Avenue open. Closing that spot down would be an utterly disastrous idea.

A momentary brush with Hollywood?

On Saturday, my father was in town to visit, and we paid our first visit to the Udvar-Hazy Museum (i.e., the Dulles wing of the Air and Space Museum) in close to five years. I'd been eager to visit that museum again because, with exhibits like the Enola Gay and the space shuttle Enterprise, I find the Udvar-Hazy wing to be far superior to the main Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.

When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was a long line of people gathered by the main stairwell leading down to the main floor. Then I noticed that it wasn't a line per se, but merely onlookers, because there was a film crew gathered by the SR-71 spy plane. The security guards nearby were enforcing photography restrictions and had roped off a good portion of the main floor, and I overheard someone saying something about a documentary being filmed. So I proceeded to push thoughts of the film crew from my mind and went about gazing at the other planes and exhibits elsewhere in the museum.

I was disappointed, though, because I had really wanted to get some pictures of the space shuttle Enterprise, and the film crew had blocked off access to that hangar.

A few hours later, when my father and I went back to the main floor where the film crew had originally been stationed, I was disappointed to find them still there filming (I had been hoping they had finished for the day so we could go into the shuttle hangar). Someone nearby then asked the security guard what was being filmed, and his answer caught me off-guard: Transformers 2. When I heard this, I wasn't sure if he was being honest or just egging us on (because I know that sometimes directors keep a very strict hush-hush about films being made), so I checked IMDb when I got home, and sure enough, Michael Bay is in fact directing a sequel to his live-action Transformers movie, with the working title Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Which leads me to wonder, is the SR-71 spy plane at Udvar-Hazy really a Decepticon?

A Potomac Yards Metro stop?

It would appear that Metro is considering adding a stop on the Yellow Line, one for Potomac Yards in Alexandria.

I think this would definitely be a great idea, for drivers and shoppers alike! For starters, it would cut down traffic on Route 1. Because as anyone who's driven to Potomac Yards can tell you, traffic in and out of the complex can be rather irksome—let alone trying to make your way around the parking lot!!! Metro would provide an alternative method, particularly for DC and Alexandria residents, to come shop at Potomac Yards and not have to drive.

On the flip side, however, I can see people doing like they would at the Pentagon City Mall—parking in the mall parking garage, and then hopping on the Metro into DC. Hopefully that won't prove to be a problem at Potomac Yards, as it hasn't yet proven to be one at Pentagon City.

The only stipulations I would put on Metro coming to Potomac Yards is that the shopping center would need to build a rear entrance to the complex, as Metro riders getting off here would otherwise be greeted by the beautiful sight of . . . the service entrances to Barnes & Noble. The other stipulation is that Metrobus service not be provided here, as it would conflict too greatly with evening shopping traffic. Beyond that, I say bring Metro to Potomac Yards!

Not yet a hypocrite

Well, I've managed to stave off my hypocrisy for at least one more week. Why do I say that? Because for the longest time, I've been loudly proclaiming that I wouldn't pay $4 a gallon for a tank of gas . . . but with gas prices skyrocketing and price records broken every single day, I'm nearing the point where I either have to stick to my guns and switch to Metro for my daily commute (not exactly an option I relish), or I embrace my hypocrisy head-on and gas up at $4 or more a gallon.

And like I said, tonight I managed to stave off that hypocrisy for at least one more week, because I gassed up for $3.97 a gallon on the corner of Glebe Road and Columbia Pike in Arlington. It's one of only two stations I know of in Arlington County that's selling at less than $4 a gallon (the other being further up Columbia Pike, right next to the Bob & Edith's), and in the interests of conserving money, I've already reduced my vehicular travel as much as possible. I almost never travel up to PA anymore, and whenever I have to drive anywhere, I combine trips (e.g., shopping trips). And if something is within 2 miles of my apartment (like Giant), I'll walk there and back—and get great exercise in the process.

It's the commute into work that gets me, though, because taking the Metro from Pentagon City up to Bethesda is a real bear.

I don't think I need to explain to anyone who lives in the DC region how insane the Red Line is during rush hour, and how crammed those rail cars can get with harried, impatient commuters. Door to door, it takes me an hour if I ride Metro, maybe a little more. If I drive, it's actually a much smoother ride, because all I need to do is ride up GW Parkway to the Beltway, and catch a few back roads into Bethesda, with little to no traffic holdups at all (except for around the Pentagon and Key Bridge). Door to door, 35-40 minutes of smooth sailing on a clear day. Really, it's probably the easiest driving commute I'll ever have living in this region—short of ever getting a job that's within walking distance of my home.

So there are my options: take the nerve-wracking Metro commute and save greatly on gas money (as I'll have essentially eliminated all driving from my routine, thus giving a proud "fuck you" to the oil companies), or continue to drive the easygoing commute and use up overpriced gas.

All things considered, this is not an easy choice to make.

There will be carpools

With all the fears lately of gas rising to $4 a gallon, I'm finally starting to see various brands breaking the $4 threshold.

On my into work the other day, I noticed that two gas stations on Bradlee Blvd. in Bethesda had both premium and plus at just over $4. The price for regular unleaded at both stations held steady at $3.85, but when the plus grade starts to break $4, that's when I start to worry, because that means regular won't be too far off.

I don't know about you, but I flat-out refuse to pay $4 a gallon for gas. Having said that, I'm already taking various steps to save on gas. To wit, when I do groceries now, I walk the mile and a half from Riverhouse to the Giant on Glebe Road, or I walk across the street to Harris Teeter (I'd shop there all the time, actually, except that it's naturally far more expensive than Giant). With all that walking, not only am I saving gas, but I'm also getting some much-needed exercise.

Working from that plan, the only times I'll be getting behind the wheel of my car will be to go to work . . . though I'm wrestling with the dilemma that that presents, because I live right next to the Pentagon City Metro station, and I work five or six blocks south of the Bethesda Metro station. Believe it or not, it takes far less time to drive to work, and the drive up and down GW Parkway each day is quite manageable. If I took Metro, though, I'd have to contend with overcrowded trains, a circus of commuters at the Gallery Place transfer stop, then have to brave the commuting disaster known as the Red Line up to Bethesda (and I say "brave" because you have to have balls of steel to commute on the notoriously disastrous Red Line each day; God only knows how I did it for a year).

So with gas prices ever on the increase, I find myself in a Catch-22 with respect to commuting to work: I either drive and use up overpriced gas; or I take Metro, save the gas, but endure commuting headaches. A tough decision to make, in any case.

Murky Coffee Q&A

I somehow missed this when it was posted, but the owner of Murky Coffee did a Q&A on his blog last week about the future of his store. In a nutshell, the Capitol Hill store is permanently closed (it's official now), but the Arlington store will remain open. Definitely sad news for a great coffee chain at Eastern Market, but I'm nevertheless gladdened by the Arlington store being unaffected. Gives me a reason to visit Clarendon again. :)

More on Murky Coffee

The Post finally got around to reporting on the Murky Coffee situation, and apparently the financial distress of the store was worse than we were initially led to believe. Apparently it extended to back rent and the owner constantly missing payments. Though I find his justification rather ham-handed.

While conceding that he has been irresponsible, Cho chalked up the tax bill to "poor cash flow management." He disputes the tax office's assessment of what he owes, estimating it at about $200,000. And he said he also owes Virginia about $20,000 for sales tax at his Clarendon shop.

"In a nutshell, we've gained a pretty good reputation for our coffee quality. That's the side of the business I've done pretty well at," Cho said. "The financial management side I haven't."

Cho, who initially called his tax problems a "hiccup" in operations, said he never tried to evade authorities and always intended to make the payments.

"It's not that I went and bought a sports car or a horse. It's just general financial mismanagement," he said.

That may be so about financial mismanagement, but in the real world, when you don't meet your financial obligations, they will come back and bite you in the ass. It's a fundamental of capitalism, good coffee notwithstanding.