Circulator Spotted in Adams Morgan!

AHHH -- it's here!!

Working from home today, I noticed that there was a Circulator bus crossing 16th Street at the 16th/Harvard/Columbia intersection. The front of the bus said "Training Bus" ... does this mean Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights is getting its new Circulator bus asap?!


UPDATE: The Circulator training bus came back around about 20-30min later and was full of metro employees in reflective yellow vests. It was following the 42/43/H4 route around the 16/Harvard/Columbia park. Here is a photo of the bus across from the Embassy Apts. It went up Mount Pleasant Street after this, and I don't know where after that.

Random Acts of Kindness

While checking the Adams Morgan Yahoo message board (usually overrun with nonsense and rude comments), I was pleased to find something pleasant, and much to odd/hilarious to keep to myself ...

Apparently, we are in the midst of "Random Acts of Kindness Week!" Who puts this on, you might ask ... well none other than the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation! Can you imagine getting a business card from someone in this organization?! Unreal!

To support this en masse , Adams Morgan is encouraging folks to utilize the 18th and Columbia kiosk (as they did for Festivus) to post ideas for the week. You can also log into the above website and send kindness e-cards. What random acts of kindness have you done this week??


So how this is funded and who runs it? ... this is the information on the "About Us" page on their website:

The Foundation is privately held and funded. We accept no donations, grants, or membership dues. We do not provide financial assistance to individuals or organizations. The Foundation has no religious or organizational affiliations; we encourage the practice of kindness in all sectors of society.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is the United States delegate to the World Kindness Movement, an organization that includes various nations. People in these countries promote kindness within their countries' borders and are creating a global network of kindness and compassion.

As people from different cultures and from all walks of life are joining to spread kindness, they are creating a powerful, synergistic action throughout the world. Please join us in bringing kindness and compassion to our local and global communities!

Looking past the absurdity that is this organization, I must say that this is a great idea. Go forth and commit random acts of kindness this week ... and stay tuned for World Kindness Day and World Kindness week in November!

Snipets from Adams Morgan

I occasionally peruse the Adams Morgan message board ... which, by the way, I am often shocked is still in use. I, for some reason or another, associate message boards with the forgotten times of AOL ISP monopolies; I find it surprising that there is so much activity on local message boards in a world where blogging is growing exponentially. There is an interesting article here about how the anonymity of message boards brings out the worst in people ... and I definitely have to agree with that in the case of the Adams Morgan Yahoo message board. Blogs and message boards are not mutually exclusive, but I just don't know anyone that contributes to message boards these days ... well, besides my mom.

Anyhoot, two items that I found particularly interesting:

1. A link to a WaPo Christmas Day opinion article from ANC 1C Chairman, Bryan Weaver, discussing the alarming nature of a recent shooting in Adams Morgan -- Callousness Against Hope in D.C. Commissioner Weaver discusses how disappointing it is that people have such a jaded response to crime and are unconcerned with the loss of human life. He makes a very good point in this article and I was shocked to see people asking for an apology from Weaver on the message boards -- gimme a break, AdMo residents.

2. There has been a crazy flurry of messages concerning the new interesection at 18th and Columbia Roads (where the festivus pole is). You can see the official changes to the intersection here, which are not totally completed, by the way. The problem with the intersection after the change is that people want to turn right to get across the bridge to Woodley Park ... but this is next to impossible because of pedestrian traffic. This causes a severe backup of traffic on Columbia Road, which I myself have experienced while riding the 42. The original intentions of the changes were to make the intersection safer to pedestrians ... so I'll take pedestrian safety over faster moving traffic anyday.

The Raven

Sooooo I've lived in the Mount Pleasant/Adams Morgan neighborhood for 5 months now. I've enjoyed the eclectic restaurants, the plentiful bus lines, the not-to-subtle police presence, and hell -- I've even grown fond of the that crazy homeless lady that rolls around in her wheelchair at 16th and Harvard. Yet somehow, despite my many adventures in Mount Pleasant/Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights, I had never before found myself in Mount Pleasant's hidden gem -- The Raven. Thanks to DCist's double (albeit sarcastic) mention of the Raven this past Wednesday ... I had to discover what made this little establishment worthy of such renown.

Last night, my friend GWDrew was in town and I took him out to show him the 'hood. As with anyone who rarely ventures outside the boundaries of Foggy Bottom during his tenure in the Distrcit (read: any GW undergrad past or present) -- Mount Pleasant was not exactly familiar territory. So, it required a little coaxing, but I took Drew and a few of our friends to Haydee's (3102 Mount Pleasant Street NW), my favorite Mexican/Latin American restaurant in town. Haydee's is an extremely wonderful treasure in Mount Pleasant -- it has cheap margaritas, fried plantains that will change your life, and conversations with the waitstaff that often improve (or rather, force you to employ) your basic understanding of the Spanish language. I adore it.

After we were properly sloshed from our margaritas, we proceeded to skip stumble mosey across the street to the world-class establishment known as the Raven Grill. We were immediately transported into some type of time warp that simultaneously encompassed the late 50s, mid-80s, next Thursday afternoon, and those (all-to-frequent) nights in college that you involuntarily have erased from your consciousness.

The Raven has cheap beer (none on tap, though), great prices on liquor, and incredible music. The jukebox alone is worth the trip, actually ... but I'll also give a nod to the good company (read: not a tourist for miles), fantasticly ridiculous wall art, and a true dive-bar atmosphere rarely found in Washington. The place makes Matchbox in Chinatown look like a vacuous warehouse, but this tiny watering hole has enough personality to rival any major bar in the city.

If you've never been - you're missin' out.

Fire in the Argonne

Yowzers!! Happy first night of Hanukkah ... we had a little festival of lights of our own this afternoon at the Argonne, located at the confluence of Adam's Morgan, Mount Pleasant, and Columbia Heights.

I heard the fire alarm and first thought it was a bicycle handlebar-bell that an obnoxious toddler was ringing incessantly in the hallway ... but then realized that the fire engines were stopping in front of our building. I quickly threw on a coat, grabbed my camera and computer, and went downstairs to see what was going on. I ran into a good dozen or so firefighters barreling up the stairs as I was coming down (computer and slice of pizza in hand, mind you). The fire was not on my side of the building, but I can smell it now ... gross. The fire was contained rather quickly, but I was able to get a few shots of the smoke pouring out of the building.






In addition to learning what the fire alarm here sounds like, this morning was fairly educational, I'd say. I now know what some of my neighbors look like, for one, and I also discovered that my internet works from the sidewalk - delightful information to remember in ... oh, 4 months or so. We received an enormous showing of fire engines, one that said Columbia Heights, and another said Adam's Morgan, I believe ... but all responded very, very quickly - I was pleased. One person was pulled away on a stretcher (smoke inhalation, I presume), but I don't believe there were any serious injuries.

Lazy Sunday Musings

**This morning I walked past the Adam's Morgan Festivus pole and caught the end of one of the readings. I read over a few of the festivus posts and thought I'd share (well, paraphrase) one of my favorites:

Also, GW Undergrads:
If it's cold enough to wear those boots with fur on them, then it's also too goddamn cold to wear short skirts and skanky tops.


**Dominos pizza always serves as a deliciously greasy solution for weekend hangovers. For those days when you're so hungover you can't even get off the couch, you can order Domino's right from your tivo remote. While Tim and I were impressed at the ease and overt laziness convenience of the service, we find that it's still easier to order from a computer.


**If you've been looking for some cute boys in faerie wings (honestly, who hasn't?!), or perhaps you're in need of a reprieve from overdosing on holiday music ... check out the musical Were the World Mine, playing at the Landmark E Street Cinema this week. Totally gratuitous and absurdly gay, but enjoyable nonetheless. I don't know that I agree with the review that suggested the movie was so great that "Hedwig had better move over," but any music-loving homo (or hag) should check it out during its one week engagement at E Street (it first aired during the GLBT Film Festival a few weeks back).

Festivus!

The Holiday Season is upon us, denizens. Besides the obligatory wreaths, lights, and caroling the adventurous people of Adams Morgan are adding to the mix: with Festivus!

The Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District (BID) and Adams Morgan Main Street Group have organized a series of community celebrations for the holiday. There will be a Festivus Pole for you to post your complaints as well as free coffee and hot chocolate and entertainers! Here are the deets:

Festivus for the Rest of Us '08 on Saturday, December 13 and Sunday December 14 from 10 AM to 1 PM (and again on Saturday December 20 and Sunday December 21) at the plaza at the intersection of 18th Street and Columbia Road, NW (in front of BB&T Bank).

Please post your complaints on the kiosk at any time beginning Friday December 12. The posts will be collected and read aloud on Saturday and Sunday at 12 noon for the next two weekends.

What a great way to vent! Let's make this our own little Festivus Pole, add your complaints/rants/raves/ideas/grievances here in the comments section. And thanks to Charlie for sending this!