Lefty’s Barbecue

Lefty’s Barbecue, a fine Waldorf, MD establishment that I highly recommend, is bottling and selling their BBQ sauce.  Featured through this weekend at the Pentagon City Costco.

Maybe you can go home again–to Guatemala

This is a really interesting story in Sunday’s Washington Post about a Guatemalan guy named Carlos Sanchez who came to the DC area about 13 years ago, lived in Arlington and worked as an illegal, got married and had a kid, and recently returned to his rural hometown because of the lack of work.

From the things he was able to do for his family and town by sending back money and in-kind contributions (e.g. trucks), to his readjustment experience (some reverse culture shock at first but he and his family seem to be doing pretty well), to his attitudes and aspirations, the article covers quite a bit of ground.

One interesting throw-away factoid in the article is that thousands of illegal immigrants are apparently leaving the DC area because of the bad economy. Since immigration authorities don’t hassle them when they leave, there will be no real accounting of the exact numbers.

Eating at some of my favorite places

The President and First Lady went to Citronelle in Georgetown last weekend.  It’s been a year or so since we’ve been there.  Might be time to go again. 

Obama and Biden went to Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington last Monday. Ray’s is not a “burger joint,” as in the news reports. It’s kind of foofy. You can get foie gras on a burger.  But as an eating experience it’s really transcendent, the fulfillment of the steakhouse burger only not in a steakhouse. 10 ounces, cooked to the “warm red center” temperature.

Inauguration: Response to the Joint Congressional Committee

This Washington Post story covers a report by the agencies responsible for organizing and running the 56th Presidential Inauguration. The executive summary of the report is available; the full report is not being made public because it contains sensitive security information.

As might be expected, most of the report covers lessons learned and recommendations for future inaugurals stemming from the event’s one major snafu: the breakdown in screening and admitting attendees to the ticketed areas on the south side of the Capitol. This breakdown led to crowds trapped in the 3rd Street Tunnel, the “Purple Tunnel of Doom,” and caused many ticket holders to miss the event.

According to the report, the primary cause of the problem was the large number of attendees without tickets who flooded the area. The report recommends better signage and other measures to prevent a reoccurrence in the future. Of course, we are unlikely to see an inaugural attract 2 million or so people for some time.

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

This page on the site of America’s Health Insurance Plans allows one to view their state and Congressional district scores and rankings in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. My district (Virginia 8th) is way up there at 19th out of 435.

Dante: Synetic Theater production

Laura and I went on a day-late Valentine’s Day date yesterday to see Dante, the Synetic Theater’s adaptation of The Divine Comedy. 

I mostly agree with this Washington Post review, though I’d emphasize the positive aspects more. Despite a lack of dramatic depth, the choreography, costumes, music, and physicality of the performances are very impressive and worth seeing, I think. 

Playing at the Rosslyn Spectrum until March 22.

 

Dante

Inauguration: Regional hotel revenues near $100 million

This story in the Washington Post reports on estimates by Destination DC that hotels in the Washington region took in $94.8 million over the four-day inaugural weekend. Occupancy peaked out at 98 percent in the District itself for January 19, with an average rate of $605 per room.

Inauguration: The post-mortem

Sunday’s Washington Post carried this piece about the purple ticket fiasco.  Fortunately, this situation was not characteristic of how the event as a whole went.  The attendees were great, Metro did much better than I expected, and the vast majority had a good time.

Inauguration: So far, so good?

It’s looking like, for the most part, people got in and are getting out okay. The parade got started very late. Surprisingly, there was a lot of space available along the parade route, according to this WaPost piece.

Inauguration: Pictures

We left pretty late, around 10AM. No problems on the train from Crystal City, which was about half full. About 15 minutes delay getting out of L’Enfant Plaza Metro. The Mall was already full up there, so we walked west along Independence Avenue to the Washington Monument, where there was a large area with no security screening. We saw half of a Jumbotron, and heard everything. Took off after the swearing in, and walked home over the 14th Street Bridge.