Tag: dc

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Metroblogging DC: Metro Unveils New Online Station Maps Powered By Google

Metro’s unveiled new online maps for their stations, which include local business listings, all powered by Google Maps.

Well, not exactly. I mean, they still have all their vowels, and I don’t think they have an AJAX “search as you type” function. But they’ve finally gotten a decent map. The next step would be to integrate local public transportation search into Google Maps. That would be cool. You could choose driving or walking or riding public transportation when you tried to get directions. They’re probably working on it.

I win! Im a big winner!

Some of you may remember that I contested a ridiculous parking ticket last month. I left the response letter at home, so I can’t post it now, but I can summarize.

Dear Sir, Your relentless powers of persuasion are too much for us. We have tried to formulate a response, a scenario where you might possibly be in the wrong, even a little bit, but we have failed. As such, please do not pay us any money. We’re sorry. Sincerely, DC Adjudication Services

I’m pretty sure that’s almost word for word. I may have taken a few liberties and substituted a word here and there to get down to what they really meant, without the posturing and bureaucracy. We’re still waiting on a response for the big ticket, the $100 ticket. The wife wrote that letter. She’s a lawyer, so she should be better at convincing them, but we had a much stronger case on the one that I contested. So we’ll see.

71% is good?

The folks over at DCist write that, according to an article in the Examiner, 71% of the DC area drives alone to work.  They say this is good because we were at 74% three years ago, and the nation is at 77% and rising.

That’s kind of depressing.  I’ve been taking Metro to work since March, and I love it.  I don’t worry about traffic.  I’ve done more reading since then than in the previous three years combined.  My biggest worries are four car trains at Pentagon City and loud tourists.

I know many people don’t have the opportunity to take public transportation, and carpooling can be hard.  But only doing 6% better than the national average in a city like DC is kind of sad.  I wonder what the percentage is in London, for example, where they have huge congestion taxes.  Now that I’m an excessively smug city resident and Metro rider, I say $20 to drive your car into the city!  $30 if you’ve come from more than ten miles away!  We’ll give two monthly exemptions for people who just have to come to the city every once in a while, like they way I have to drive out to Manassas once or twice a month for work.

We can use some of that money to pay for whatever it is we’re paying for with all the parking tickets DC gives out.  I think more and more that DC gives out those tickets maliciously.  I think I’m going to start contesting them regardless of guilt, just to spite the city.

City wildlife

I saw a deer!  In DC!  I was out running (Well, running and walking.  It’s hot out, and I haven’t really run in three weeks) down along the Rock Creek Parkway path, and across the creek, behind a big tree, there was a deer.  Well, its rear end, anyway.  I couldn’t really see the rest.

Other than that, the run pretty much sucked.  A hole is wearing in the heel of my left running shoe, and the shoes are only two months old or so.  Maybe I’ll take them back and see if Fleet Feet can send them back to the manufacturer or something.  I know I have skinny, bony feet, and I tend to be hard on shoes, but this is a little ridiculous.

Honestly, I would pay $300-500 for a nice, custom pair of shoes that would last me five years.  Maybe not running shoes.  I don’t know if they could make them last that long.  But a nice pair of work shoes, lightweight, comfortable, and sturdy, that really fit my feet, would be great.

Can I get that somewhere?  Or am I looking at more like $3000?

$10 minimum?

I need a new dry cleaner.  I just picked up five shirts.  The total was $7.13.   They wouldn’t let me use a credit card, and I only had $5 in my wallet.  She said there’s a $10 minimum on credit cards.  Is it just me, or is that pretty high?  I’ve heard of $5 minimums, but $10 seems steep.

Anyone know a good dry cleaner in Columbia Heights?  I’ve heard nothing but bad stories about Georgetown Valet and Oxxo or whatever they’re called.

The street is NOT zoned

According to the DC Department of Transportation website, our block is NOT zoned residential.  Neither side.  My guess is that the sign says “residential” because they don’t make custom signs for our weird un-zoned street.  I printed out the DDOT search page showing that our block isn’t zoned residential, and we’ll be contesting this ticket.

Now theyve done it

The DMV told me to get a petition to have our street zoned residential.  The woman I talked to was very nice, but completely failed to address my concerns.  “Is there another street nearby that’s not zoned where you could park on Tuesdays?”  Honestly, I don’t know.  And I won’t find out.  I was parked 15 feet from my front door, and I got a ticket designed to keep commuters from parking all day in residential zones.

I’m going to contest the ticket.  I’m going to write my councilmember.  I don’t know if I’m adequately portraying how ridiculous this ticket is.  It means that I’m subject to a ticket, every Tuesday, unless I drive around and find some other street to park on that isn’t zoned. 

This isn’t over.  I will not pay this ticket.  If I can’t park on the street where I live, then there’s something deeply wrong with the system.

Another parking ticket to contest

DC is a little crazy with their parking tickets.  When I registered my car, I thought I would get a Zone 1 designation on my registration sticker.  The 1500 block of our street is Zone 1 parking.  Most of the surrounding streets are Zone 1.  But not my block.  So I didn’t get issued a zone designation – it says “No RPP”.  RPP stands for Residential Parking Permit.

This morning, I moved my car to the right side of the street for street cleaning on the left.  This afternoon, I got a parking ticket for failure to display an RPP.  I can’t display an f’ing RPP if I’m not issued one.  Are they telling me that, on Tuesdays, I just have to drive my car to work, and not return until I can park on the left side of the street?

This is ridiculous.  The DMV is closed now, but they will be hearing from me tomorrow.

I would rant some more, but I have to go pick up my wife.

Opening night at The Heights

Last night was the grand opening of The Heights, a new restaurant a few blocks from us. The wife and I went with a friend of hers visiting for the weekend.

First of all, it was packed. We waited probably half an hour. It wasn’t too bad – we found a spot at the bar to wait. The staff all seemed a little nervous, but very friendly and attentive. The food was very good. The buffalo shrimp appetizer was very good, and my tilapia with rice was also very good. The wife tried their frozen mojito, which she liked. We had a caramel banana cake thing for dessert, which was quite nice.

The staff was a little overwhelming. We had at least 5 people bring us things or take things from our table. But the service was good, and everyone who did come to the table was very pleasant. It was a little warm in the restaurant.

I really liked the bathroom – nice stone tiles and funky orange walls. The finish on the construction left a little to be desired. However, they plainly aren’t quite finished with the construction. The floor of the entire restaurant is still bare concrete. So maybe they’ll polish off the bathroom soon.

Anyway, I’m glad to have them here in the neighborhood. And it will be really cool when they open up the outdoor patio, which I think will just about double the capacity.

Afterwards, we went up to the Marx Cafe in Mount Pleasant. That just might be my new favorite low-key bar. The place looks like a barn or something. Lots of exposed wood, as if it’s still being built. The wife’s friend said it looked kind of like a wine cellar – they have bottles over the bar on some kind of strange shelves.

The beer selection is odd but good.  They serve beers I’ve never heard of in glasses with the name of the beer on it.  The service was great. The waitress even laughed at a marginally funny comment I made, which is always nice.  There was a slightly obnoxious group next to us, but not too terrible.  And the music was fantastic.  Apparently the DJ for most of the night is only there once a month or so, but he played nothing I’d ever heard before, and nothing I didn’t like.  Not that I would go out and buy everything he played or anything like that.  But you know how the bar always plays some really horrific stuff at some point, like some Jane’s Addiction or some other intolerable crap?  This bar played none of that.  And they have a really interesting menu, although we didn’t try anything.  Maybe next time.

Anyway, I heartily recommend both.