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.

Happening Now ... Palestine Protest in Foggy Bottom

What I assumed would be a typical Tuesday evening, turned out to be anything but ...

I went to get my haircut with the fabulous Marsha at Shears Hair Salon off of McPherson Square (I've been going to her for 5+ years - she's fantastic!), and while leaving around 6pm, I heard some screaming and chanting in front of the White House. After determining that, no, it wasn't the crazy lady with a helmet glued to her head in Lafayette Park ... I walked over to H and 16th Streets to investigate. There was an enormous march/protest going down H Street toward GW. As this was the way I was walking back to my office, I decided to walk along and see what the commotion was about.

The protesters were screaming "Free Free Palestine" from what I could make out, or perhaps it was "Re-Free Palestine" ... but that doesn't make much sense. There was also a chant "George Bush - you will see /Palestine will be free." I am bad at estimating numbers, but from the mass I saw there were certainly close to 1000 people.

I became a little weary as the people marching turned up Pennsylvania Avenue toward my office at GW ... but I followed along, snapping pictures on my camera phone now and then. I caught up to the front of the protesters as they made a left from Pennsylvania onto 21st Street (with police escort). I legit thought they were going to march right into Kogan Plaza in the center of GW's campus, but I believe they continued down 21st Street toward the mall. I scurried into my office before seeing where their final destination was.







Thoughts on the current issues in Palestine?

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).

I mean come on ... you have to be joking

Okay ... don't get me wrong, as a GW Alum I am extremely excited that the ol' Alma Mater has a float in the Inaugural parade.

But honestly ... if you were on the float chosing committe and saw this --

would you chose it?  Honestly ... I wouldn't.  It looks ridiculous.

Anyway - congrats GW!  Read the press release!

Does this mean that GW's I-Ball becomes an official ball now?  who knows ... that'd be cool

In case I don't see you - Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Goodnight!

Hey everyone - my name is Tim and I am one of the new members of the Connetiquette blog team.  Some people prefer to call this blog CAMP, but I'm going to stick with Connetiquette for now - probably until I get too lazy to write it all out.  I just figured I would say hey to you all before unleashing my first few posts on you.  I generally don't believe in the standards of conventional written English, so I apologize in advance for that.  I love the ellipses (...), I have developed a fond love affair with the dash (-) as of late, and I've also been known to litter my writing too many commas (,).

Also I'd like to note that certain authors and posters qualify their postings with a 'we' - I would like to say now, that I am not a part of 'we'.  Although 'we' may represent ideas stolen from me, I did not participate in the post -- and to be honest I am not quite sure who 'we' are/is?

I recently graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in Geography, a minor in GIS, and a fond (sometimes insane) obsession with urban and transportation policy.  I love cars, but I love mass-transit as well - both have a place in our society and one day I hope we will find a balance between the two.  Also I love wikipedia, and will be linking to it (and a bunch of other things) all the time in my posts.  I suggest you get a tabbed browswer and click any links to open new tabs - it allows you to keep reading what you are reading and store the interesting links for later.

If you ever have any questions - feel free to comment/reply to any of my posts, I enjoy the feedback and discussions.  It's been good to meet you ...

-Tim