um, excuse me...?

while i have managed to resist the urge to post regarding work matters, the continually strange bathroom behavior of the women in the suite adjacent to ours forces me to compare notes with others. let me begin by noting that our bathroom is rather small, with 4 cramped stalls and only 1 toilet that properly flushes. imagine walking into this only to find a woman talking on her cell phone while going to the bathroom with the door open....that's right. is this not the strangest thing you've ever heard? its most surprising when you don't realize she's in there until you venture to the sink for some proper hand washing and see her half exposed, squatting body displayed in the mirror. this is not a one time thing -- my other coworker has been dealing with this for over a year. i wonder if i should be made aware of some phobia regarding a fear of locking your bathroom door. or perhaps its a cultural thing. i want to tell her there is a private, large handicap bathroom that she can use to chat in with ease and since its almost as big as the one with 4 stalls crammed in, she can probably feel much less "enclosed". seriously people, i can't make this kind of stuff up.

I have visited 7 countries

But only 3% of the world.






To see how much of the world you have trekked:
http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries


Obviously nothing monumental is happening at the Capital.

Double Duty

So, after wondering for about 15 minutes how the heck to post to this thing, I think I finally figured it out. I promised to post by today so here goes... (I'm actually a little scared since I've never blogged before!)

I was reading a story today about Miss USA possibly being abused as a child. She was attributing some of her issues with drugs and alcohol to this abuse. While I doubt life for a gorgeous beauty queen has been really difficult hard, considering her hardest decision all day is probably "do I eat, or do I not eat? hmm... maybe just some Vodka instead.", I think it's fine that she still gets to keep her crown and represent America... which got me thinking. Didn't we just have the Miss America pageant? Do we really have a Miss USA and a Miss America?

So I decided to do some research...

We do, in fact, has a Miss USA and a Miss America (as well as a Miss Blue Devil, Miss Fire Ant, and Miss Rural Electrification). Miss USA has been running for 56 years and was started as a promotional campaign for a swimsuit company, while Miss America has been a scholarship competition for 86 years. The biggest difference I found was that The Miss USA pageant does not have a talent competition (but why do we need that with American Idol back on air?). No wonder Miss USA is using cocaine and alcohol! She doesn't have anything better to do like practice her piano or twirl flaming batons. The Miss America pageant is run by the non-profit Miss America Organization-- not Donald Trump. Interesting... I know.

To lead you through the Stephanie mind set of how I got to this topic at all... I was interested to know what would happen if Miss USA and Miss America showed up at the same place.

My question to you: Who holds the higher title: Miss USA or Miss America? Thoughts...

You know you live in DC when...

A valid excuse for being late to work is...."I was stuck waiting on 16th Street for the President's motorcade to go by..." As much as Mr. President drives me nuts, it is something to start the day with a wave and a smile from him and his ginormous security detail...

Also, did anyone else read the post article about racial profiling? Now, I in NO way condone racial profiling, but have you ever been to the corner of 17th & Euclid? There are like 9,000 bums, crack pots, etc. roaming around there and a family of like 17 people (that happen to be black) live in the house on the corner (which some of you may remember was featured in a lengthy City Paper article a couple of years ago.) The fact that more of them get stopped by the cops has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with the nefarious activities that have been going on on that corner for years! I just found it so odd they'd single out that location which is soooo notorious and use it as an example. It just goes to show how out of touch these researchers are with true community dynamics.

Now if they'd said 16th & U Street, I'd listen and think twice, it's a much better example of a diverse population....

DC Job at the Onion

Washington DC
City Editor

The Onion is looking for a qualified, culture-savvy writer to work as the full-time Washington D.C. City Editor. The Washington D.C. City Editor will oversee all local elements of The Onion A.V. Club, the entertainment section of The Onion. This will include managing listings and writing picks for cultural events of all kinds, overseeing contributing freelancers and interns, coordinating promotional events with the advertising staff, and conceiving and implementing new ideas for local coverage. **THIS JOB DOES NOT INVOLVE WRITING COMEDY/SATIRE**

Qualified candidates will possess:

• Strong writing, editing, and organizational skills
• An impressive knowledge of (and intense love for) music, restaurants, film, comedy, theater and an appreciation of what makes D.C. unique in these areas
• The ability to manage freelancers and work well with a national editor of local content, The Onion advertising staff, and the staff of The Onion A.V. Club
• Experience in journalism, publishing, or a related field
• A degree in journalism, English, communication arts or its equivalent (If you’re awesome and you don’t have a degree, you might still be considered.)
• Enough computer skills not to embarrass anyone

Is this you? Please send a resume with cover letter, salary requirements, writing and/or editing samples to jmodell@theonion.com

turning back the clock

who knew daylight savings time had changed? apparently, as congress and the world grows more aware and concerned with the global warming phenomenon, they are taking every possible step to reduce the use of energy. the change was actually initiated in 2005, and we saw the end of daylight savings time a week later in '06 -- november as opposed with october in previous years. now the second piece of change will be happening in two months, with the clocks rolling forward in March 11th, almost 3 weeks earlier! i for one am shocked, especially since i had no idea this was coming. it also means we early risers will be getting up in the dark again, as sunrise on the 11th is estimated to be around 7am. boo. it is also estimated, however, that the u.s. will save 100,000 barrels of oil by pushing more activity into the daylight hours. crazy.

in related energy news, california is trying to ban regular light bulbs. first smoking, then trans fat and now this....america says you are going to be healthy and live in a pollution free environment whether you like it or not.

Metro Center...not a foodie friendly locale

honestly, there isn't much interesting food-wise in the metro center area. the closest thing to a baja fresh is the qdoba down on E street, right next to the landmark theater. they are sadly lacking in the salsa bar department though. having worked right around the corner from kristen's new office for two and a half years, i was sick of eating at every restaurant in a 5 block radius. Thankfully, they did open the food court at the shoppes at some point during my tenure and there are some pretty good options there, including a $9.99/lbs. sushi bar (you can get about one roll and 5 pieces of nigeri for under $10) that will make what you want on request, as well as an indian place and, my all time favorite, Five Guys (best fries, ever). philipps, down on E street and 12th, has some pretty good salads and wraps -- they carve the turkey off a steaming carcass right in front of you. and i also really enjoyed the offerings of port of piraeus on 12th...however, they changed management and went from a greek restaurant run by, well greeks, to being run by latinos. not sure how the authenticity of the food is holding up with the original staff gone. cocina on 11th has yummy personal pizzas, but its a cash only establishment, which kind of drives me crazy. everything else in the area is pretty much a smattering of cosi's, starbucks and potbelly.

New Office Location

It is official. Our office is moving to 1200 G Street NW. We are pretty excited. We will have the entire floor and large conference space to hold events. And the good news is we should all have offices with window views - at least that is the hope! We were all rooting for Chinatown or Farragut North, but I guess being in the middle isn't too bad. The only problem is i don't know of too many good lunch spots around there... or happy hour spots. Anyone have any good secret spots? I was really hoping to be near Baja Fresh.

Scheduling lunch at 3pm is bad.

I was number 14 in line at the Dupont South location for my free t-shirt. The major drawback was scheduling lunch for 3pm which meant eating a snack at 11am or I'd have gotten very cranky. Although we've been going to Moe's, the food court on F street between 13th and 14th, for their chicken with southwest ranch sauce, it's always nice to go back to an old friend once in a while.

Downtown is a very expensive place to eat and I try to limit what I spend on lunch as much as possible. It gets hard when the only place where the portions are reasonable, the food is edible and that costs less than $5 for the meal is Potbelly's. There are numerous other food options in the $5-$10 range but then I'm spending $30-$40 a week on lunch. I can catch the bus home for $1.25 round trip and eat something there for much less and in approximately the same amount of time.

I am always on the look out for something different and Heidi's, between 17th and 18th on H street, has become a new favorite. The dozen or so different types of bread are made daily and the portions are large. I've enjoyed the chicken Parmesan and I'm told that the mushroom soup and half sandwich combo is good and well worth the price.

10 Big Ideas

I spent the morning at the New America Foundation's 10 Big Ideas for a New America which was bookended with keynote addresses by Senators Hillary Clinton and Lindsay Graham. One of the reasons I love DC (minus, of course, the taxes Nick) is because of opportunities like this. I also love my job for the fact that I can freely go to such events without penalties.

For those of you who don't know, the New America Foundation is a "post-partisan" public policy institute. Now I'm not exactly sure what they mean by post-partisan, but what is great about New America is that they break out of the traditional liberal and conservative norms and come up with bold innovative ideas that actually have a chance of working and change the way public policy is done. Today they unveiled their 10 big ideas...

1. Every Baby a Trust Fund Baby
2. Mandatory, Affordable Health Insurance
3. A Universal 401(k) Plan
4. Tax Consumption, Not work
5. An Energy Efficiency Trading System
6. A College Access Contract
7. Closing the $700 Billion Tax Loophole
8. Universal Risk Insurance
9. Instant Runoff voting
10. A Capital Budget for Public Investment

At my organization we have been working with New America for the past 5 years to set up child savings accounts (#1) and are huge advocates for a universal 401k plan where every worker is automatically enrolled into a retirement savings plan. One new idea that I loved though was the progressive consumption tax. Income tax is regressive and inefficient. This replaces taxing your income, with taxing your spending. And it would be progressive so those that spend more, pay a higher percentage. This would be a great tool to encourage personal savings too!

On another note... This was the first time I have heard Hillary Clinton speak in person. I was quite impressed. She really knows what she is talking about, was very articulate, seemed quite passionate (which is something that i haven't seen from her before) and she endorsed a lot of policies that we work on here. Lindsay Graham was surprisingly hilarious though he said he was a "global climate change convert." Global warming is a fact - it is real. It is not an idea that you need to be converted into believing. I still can't comprehend how people don't understand this!

It's tax season. Please bend over.

Why does D.C. have the highest taxes in the country, 9% for the top tax bracket, when there's a huge surplus and a huge amount in the city's fund accounts? Compared to Virginia (5.75%) and Maryland (4.75%), D.C. is getting worked over. We also have a 10% sales tax for every day items so it's not as if we're getting a break there. You'd think the capital of the richest country on the planet could make it relatively affordable to live here.

Breaking DC News...

The National Zoo is in negotiations with China to keep Tai Shan (aka "Panda Baby") here beyond his second birthday. Don't try to pretend you don't care...

An Introduction.

Welcome to DC from the Front Page, the most wonderful place on earth! I've been a regular at the Front Page for the better part of 3 years. I've settled down during that time, having gotten married and drinking far less Grand Marnier (known to most as my kryptonite), and although I'm considered the old boring man, I'm also still known as a People Person.

I hope this little experiment of a blog is successful. Thanks to Kristin for setting it up. I also hope we can contribute regularly because our lives are fun-filled and I tend to forget who I've met or what I've done. Hopefully this online diary will help.

It's about time...

After living and working in DC for the past 4 1/2 years, I've become known as go-to person by many friends and co-workers for information on comings and goings in DC. So I suppose a blog has been a long time coming. Life in DC for me, however, would not have become as good as it is today without a little bar known as the Front Page and the friendships that have come out of it.

It all started back in February 2004 - two groups of friends brought together Thursday nights with Soup's blue shots. And well, the rest is history...

This is a blog for the Regulars.