Dean Christakos« June 2007 | Main | July 2010 »
July 24, 2007
Establishing Ground Rules
Some neighborhood bars have been establishing ground rules to maintain an appropriate bar culture. Take, for instance, The Saloon, a nice European-style pub serving great Belgian beers on tap right on U Street:
Then, of course, there's Café Saint-Ex which, back in 2005 decided to draw a line in the sand against the Late Night Shots crowd:
Posted by Dean at 9:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 17, 2007
Notebook style notebooks
"Of course, 7-11! I can get a cup of coffee flavored coffee at 7-11. What could be more basic than a Seven-God-damned-Eleven?" - Denis Leary, Lock 'n' Load
I love my Moleskine notebook. Despite all my fancy computer science research and all my fancy gadgets, I still keep it old school using a pen-and-paper notebook to keep track of my life and to do lists and random notes to myself. What could be simpler? It's a notebook. It has ruled pages. It fits in your pocket. You write stuff down on the pages, and you open it up when you want to read notes you wrote to yourself.
At least, that's what you'd think. I filled up one of my notebooks, and I went to Barnes and Noble to buy a new one, and this is what I saw:
There were music-score moleskine books, story-board moleskine books, moleskine address books, moleskine calendars, moleskine reporter notebooks, and a whole selection of moleskine travel guides, which was an individual city or country travel guide in the form factor of a moleskine book ,with room for notes. The one thing they didn't have was a normal ruled moleskine notebook! What the heck? All I wanted was a normal notebook to write notes in! Look, I didn't want a sketchbook. I didn't want to compose music. I didn't want to write out a storyboard to help sell my script. I wanted a notebook.
Ultimately, I had to settle for a notebook from the shelves of Barnes and Noble's knockoff moleskine "style" notebooks. The drawback? My new notebook is lime green. Behold:
Posted by Dean at 1:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 4, 2007
Lots of people are taking off for the 4th
As a federal employee, I have the day off today, and many others are choosing to take the day off as well, such as this Greek deli/café in Minneapolis, MN:
It seems that they're celebrating a holiday of their own:
(courtesy of Living in 55404 via boingboing)
Posted by Dean at 9:55 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Independence Day in DC
So this afternoon, after spending the morning cleaning up my apartment (kind of), I went downtown to the National Mall to see what was happening in DC on July 4th. I'll make a confession-- the real reason I went down there was that I was hoping to get some pictures of some tourists wearing hideously tacky red, white, and blue "patriotic" clothing. Unfortunately, no dice. It turns out that tourists from the heartland have slightly better taste than they are normally stereotyped. The worst, however, was the group of people wearing American Flag t-shirts under which was written "Old Navy," but that level of tackiness is more associated with corporate America than with their consumers. The best I was able to come up with when it came to tacky tourists was the group of people on a Segway tour:
(they look a little dorky, but they're nowhere near as bad as this woman on a Segway)
Over on the National Mall, the Smithsonian Institute was sponsoring the Folklife Festival, which had traditional craftsmen from America, England, Ireland, and the Mekong delta area.
Also, I should note that this is the one day when I don't mind tourists who don't obey the "stand on the right/walk on the left" convention on the metro station escalators. Everyone downtown is a tourist today, and it's not like many people have to get anywhere in a hurry. So you guys are excused-- today. Tomorrow, obey the rules, or I'll pull you aside and give you a talking to if I catch you blocking my way as I run down the escalator on my way to work.
Posted by Dean at 6:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 3, 2007
A Pirate's Life for Me!
While I was in Boston this past weekend, I dropped by the party of my friend rif, who was celebrating his and his wife's birthdays, which happen to closely coincide. Towards the end of the evening, a local pirate-shanty band by the name of The Scallywags showed up and starting singing pirate songs.
Posted by Dean at 10:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 2, 2007
Pseudoephedrine will next require a DNA sample
So while I was in Boston this past weekend, the cold I've had for the past week persisted, and Phenylphedrine, the new ingredient they use in Sudafed, just wasn't doing it for me. So I walked into Central Square's local CVS and picked up one of those cards for the real Sudafed, which contains pseudoephedrine, which you can then present at the checkout counter in exchange for the actual medication. Astute readers will remember that pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in methamphetamines, and as a consequence, medications containing it are becoming harder and harder to get and now require you to present ID to make sure no one is stockpiling the stuff.
CVS asked for my ID, which I handed over, and then the clerk scanned the bar code on the back. And then he scanned it again. And then he asked if I had a Massachusetts ID on me, which I did not, seeing as how I live in DC. Then he politely told me that he couldn't sell me the medicine since my ID information wouldn't go into the computer. That's right, a situation normally reserved for the purchase of liquor in towns with overzealous alcohol control boards now applies to buying Sudafed at CVS-- no purchase allowed with out of state ID. What the heck? This now gives me an incentive to stockpile Sudafed so that I never have to worry about the possibility of running into a problem like this.
(fortunately, Walgreens gladly took my DC driver's license, and relief, sweet relief, was available)
Posted by Dean at 7:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack