On my way to work today, I was behind a girl about my age driving a little Corolla. I happened to look down at her license plate. It said “4 RIZZL”. It was a Jimmy Buffett “Parrothead” plate. Yes, Virginia offers a Parrothead license plate. It was in a license plate frame with dolphins on it.
I think I’ll stop now, because there is nothing I can say to make this any funnier.
Who knew the best Indian food I’ve ever had would be from a strip mall in Falls Church? We took my grandmother last night as a Christmas present. She’s very hard to shop for – she pretty much has everything she’ll ever need. So we figured food and company would be better than things she doesn’t really have much use for. And the food was worth the slight wrong turn I took in getting from her house to the restaurant.
Anyway, I highly recommend the place. They have a location in Bethesda, too, though I’ve never been.
100 ‘best communities’ for youths named – USATODAY.com
Kalamazoo, Michigan, my wife’s home town, was named on the 2007 list of “best communities for youths” by America’s Promise Alliance. This is probably largely due to the Kalamazoo Promise – some wealthy person donated money to pay for Kalamazoo public school students to go to Michigan state schools free – if you go to public school in Kalamazoo, prorated for the number of years, you get free college if you stay in-state. It’s pretty cool, and it’s raised property values inside the city limits.
I found that article looking for this one, which I saw on the front page while I was in line for coffee at Caribou. Just as the wife and I are pretty close to putting a bid in on a condo in a “transitional” neighborhood of D.C., I see that crime rates are threatening the revitalization of many cities. The article doesn’t mention D.C., focusing more on smaller cities that don’t have the money and the history of D.C. – Louisville, Milwaukee, Trenton. Still. Maybe my VA-based realtor (Who’s made because we’re buying in the city where she’s not licensed) is right that we’re going to be beaten and mugged three or four times a day in D.C..
One of the most important parts of the article is that “perception is reality” – when you’re talking about property values, it doesn’t matter what the real crime rate is. It matters what people think the crime rate is. Certainly the actual crime rate matters to those who live there, but attracting new people (and new money) requires that you appear to be safe.
I’ve always wondered, though – where do they expect people to go when the value of the neighborhood shoots up around them? Certainly some will be able to take advantage of the rise in the value of their home. But what if you rent? What if you don’t want to go but suddenly your property tax triples? I’m all for revitalizing cities, and I know that many new developments set aside (maybe they have to? Not sure) some space for low-income residents. But I’m not sure that’s enough.
And if some of the revitalization money comes from the government, I think we have a responsibility to make sure that what we’re doing is enough.
Of course it might have to be explained to someone like your granny, but how many shirts do you honestly own that she doesn’t get anyhow?
Awesome t-shirt over at Preshrunk. I’m glad the bitter guy who runs that site came back from his little hiatus. I actually read three t-shirt/clothing blogs regularly now. Is there something wrong with me?
Woman Crashes Car Into 7-11 Store – News
The woman, driving a Honda Accord, said she thought she was going into reverse when the accident happened.
We passed this on our way home last night at about 8:15PM – the store is two blocks from our house – and this morning at 7:05AM the store was open for business with boards covering the hole in the window/wall.
I’m curious how she managed to get that far. She would have had to go up over the curb, across three feet of sidewalk, and through a brick wall to do the damage she did.
Maybe I’m not a good driver, but I usually notice which direction I’m going pretty quickly.
This is a good argument to outlaw automatic transmissions. They’re just not safe. You never know which direction you’re going to go until you’re in the candy aisle at 7-11.
ESPN.com – MLB – Bonds denies receiving amphetamines from Sweeney
“He is both my teammate and my friend,” Bonds said in a statement. “He did not give me anything whatsoever and has nothing to do with this matter, contrary to recent reports.”I want to express my deepest apologies especially to Mark and his family as well as my other teammates, the San Francisco Giants organization and the fans,” he said.
After my recent post bashing Barry Bonds, I feel some obligation to show the other side, as well – he actually said the right thing for a change. I obviously can’t attest to the sincerity of what he said, but I can at least say that this is the first time I’ve ever read a quote from him and thought, “Assuming he’s sincere, that was the right thing to say.”
Of course, you may argue that he wouldn’t have had to apologize if he had never a) taken amphetamines or b) blamed an innocent teammate for giving them to him. And you’d be absolutely right.
Wife and I are off to a fancy dinner tonight at Mendocino, booked through OpenTable. Can’t wait for some nice fish, maybe some organic wine . . .
I know you all are jealous.
Edit: Totally worth it. I’d highly recommend Mendocino. Dinner was great. Nice, small restaurant, good service, right in the heart of super-trendy Georgetown. Georgetown is actually so trendy that I don’t think it’s trendy anymore – it’s gone totally back around to only semi-cool. The wife says, “Great company. But I guess I can get that anywhere. I would recommend the goat cheese cheesecake”.
Cribcandy – the household shopping blog. Daily picks of the best designed or most unusual finds, for your home link via BoingBoing This site probably requires a little more browsing before I understand where they’re going, but they seem to be trying to create a social web app for shopping. I’m not sure what value they expect to add, but the stuff they find for around the house is awesome. And it doesn’t seem to be all super expensive, unlike many sites that aggregate cool stuff.
Baltimore Orioles : News : Baltimore Orioles News
“He proved that a tall man could play shortstop, enabling players like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to follow.”
Cal Ripken was just inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first time he was on the ballot, with the third highest vote percentage ever. Growing up in Maryland, following the Orioles ever since I was ten, it was a long time before I saw a live baseball game that he didn’t play in. Well, not including my rec league games. He got an honorary degree when my sister graduated from Johns Hopkins, and I walked past him at Preakness last summer.
I still remember coming home from work on September 6th, 1995, and watching him do his victory lap as he broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak. I hadn’t really realized how much of a big deal it was until I saw that on tv.
I know that the exploits of a man who played a game for a living are pretty unimportant in a lot of ways, but in some other ways, they make a big difference to a lot of people. There’s nothing quite like sitting in the bleachers on a sunny day, throwing peanut shells on the ground and watching a baseball game. It doesn’t match the intensity of a lot of other sports, but there’s some magic there (I know, I’m being a little cheesy, sue me).
So, congratulations to Cal, and to also-deserving Tony Gwynn.
Due to a little investigating after seeing it in my Google analytics reports, I am now able to tell you that, happily, Complaint Hub is the #1 Google result for the phrase “Internet Explorer is the devil“. That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
This is also my 300th post. I guess that’s cool, too.