Washington DC Roads

Been out riding around on my hybrid bicycle the last few days and have a great sense of how much the 20 inches of snow has slowed the nation’s capital.

The northwest section is mostly thinly plowed. If the section with the most businesses and richest citizens are not getting Department of transportation attention you can only imagine what the rest of the city looks like.

There are several state streets, such as New York Avenue, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Avenue, that at least have one lane plowed going in each direction. In some of the busier intersections, there are two or three lanes open.

The numbered streets are a mixed bag. The major streets, such as 7th and 9th Streets, are both well plowed. Most of the rest of them barely have a single lane cleared. The alphabet streets are somewhat worse. Even in major traffic areas, most of the road isn’t visible under caked down snow and ice.

Where have the plows been since Saturday? The City Council member’s office promises that the city has not ignored any areas. Seems like each area has been left unfinished since the weekend’s one time pass on the street with a single plow.

Now DC is getting more snow forecast for tonight and Wednesday.

Yankees’ Loyalty

Yankee fans, baseball fans, sports fans don’t you get tired of seeing players jump from team to team.

Don’t you root for teams because of who is on them?

Don’t you want to have the same guys and women on the team for a period of time.

Isn’t it sad when a beloved player leaves your team.

Fox sports writes about the stupidity of replacing Johnny Damon with Randy Winn.

Others argue about agents like Scott Boras or teams’ crying about being in the financial poorhouse.

I agree with all these sentiments. What hurts the most is the revolving door. Winn might be a great guy and a decent player, but we now have to start a new relationship with this guy who we don’t really know. Worse, we lose our relationship with a guy we really liked.

What we like about celebrity, and sports stars are celebrities, is the kinship we develop with the person.

For Yankee fans it was bad enough we watched Phil Coke and Melky Cabrera be traded away.

We also witnessed the World Series MVP leave town too.

Another Stadium in Washington DC

RT: @marybindc: @mikedebonis Evans apparently forgot that there’s already a team playing at RFK. 9:55 AM Jan 8th from Echofon

To be clear, he’s talking about Dan Snyder paying for it. Most of it. 9:46 AM Jan 8th from Echofon

Evans now stumping for “110,000 seat stadium with retractable roof” to be built at RFK for Skins 9:46 AM Jan 8th from Echofon

Can they be serious? How can the city afford to contribute significantly to a stadium in this economic climate? Where would the stadium fit in Anacostia Park. Who is going to wait to go through the necessary Environmental Impact Statements and the probable cleanup needed for the area?

Mommie Queerest

A play about Joan Crawford, not it’s the Judy Show envisioned by comedienne Judy Gold. Washington DC’s Jewish Community Center continues to use theater to push all kinds of boundaries.

Last year’s reading of Carol Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children drew protesters to the front doors. Others threatened to end their subscriptions to the theater. Here’s one opinion on the controversial issue.

This season features a Jewish Lesbian Mother. The riotous show includes some loud and inspired in not on key singing accompanied by Gold on piano. She launches into stories about her family, schooling, career, the media, television shows, and television executives.

Gold’s bio-performance art piece will not spark the same reaction. It’s challenges on the issue of gay marriage are everywhere as the battle wages in state referendums. The show’s conclusion about representation are also well versed. Go for the laughs. You don’t have to be Jewish or lesbian or both but it helps.

Best of Year, Best of Decade Lists

Why do we love lists? Is it some gene for categorization? Is it the thrill of controlling circumstances? Is it our belief ion the innate ability of reviewers and critics and experts?

What do you enjoy about best of lists?

While it is probably all of these factors, I know why I enjoyed looking at the lists for best of the decade in today’s Washington Post. I wanted to see how many of the movies or television shows I saw, how many of the music listed I owned and whether I have been to see the best theater, dance, concerts and art shows over the past decade. The feeling is confirmation in our choices.

I read the lists for theater, concerts and dance. I’d seen some of them. All took place within Washington, DC so I had the chance to see them. Then I looked at the art best of list. Damn, there were shows in New York City, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney. It’s only five hours away, so I thought maybe I could have  seen it.

Then I read further. Chicago, mmm, that’s stretching it. Wow, Kessel,  Germany, Parma, Italy, this is ridiculous.  Why are these on this list? It’s not like a person can go out and by a tape of the show and experience it.

Should best of lists include activities that are way out of the range of the ordinary person to experience?

Celebrity and Athletes

After weeks of running Tiger Woods stories on its front pages, the media has realized the gold mine of revealing the sex lives of athletes. Here comes TMZ.

As Tony Kornheiser said on ESPN Pardon The Interruption (PTI), athletes are physical people. It’s likely that there are many stories to be told that will rivet audiences. If people want to know about actors and actresses and they find out about politicians then of course they would want to hear about sports stars.

When Mets Manager Bobby Valentine said that Major League Baseball would be ready for a gay player, speculation ran rampant for days. Mike Piazza announced that he was not gay. Years later, the media ran the story of the accusation that Roberto Alomar had AIDS and the media recalled the Valentine statement and wondered if the Met he might have been talking about was Alomar.

Will this exposure hurt all athletes. As Sally Jenkins reminds us in her Tiger Woods piece, athletes are often spoiled and thought that they are invisible. A true recipie for exposure of their foibles.

There have been athletes that have relished exposure of their private lives. My top dog is Joe Namith, who enjoyed bachelorhood in New York City during his time with the New York Jets football team in the late 1960s. While it helped that Namith was a bachelor, the positive exposure might have also been because of the heyday of free love.

Titillation and scandal has always sold. There are more outlets for displaying this now. Gossip comes to sports on a regular basis—watch out everyone!

Preserving the Rain Forest

Went to Peru in September and saw some amazing wildlife in the Amazon River Basin. But will the Rio Madre De Dios survive humans. The Washington Post talks about the dangers of nearby strip mining to the environment.

Our guide told us about how these people are desperate for work and looking to earn money. The men leave their families and live in rough camps. They live in bunks and go out on the River for long periods of time to try and find gold.

They trade the gold in the town of Puerto Maldanado. Here’s the stores in the town.

With all this talk about the Copenhagen Climate control talks, this is why the most developed countries must give money to poorer nations with valuable areas to preserve in order to maintain the rain forests.

Movie Premiere

We saw the US premiere of Hachi: A Dog’s Tale at the Freer and Sackler Galleries. Sponsored by the Japan Information and Culture Center the event drew the Japanese ambassador told the crowd a nice story to set the movie.

Staring Richard Gere and Joan Allen, the movie is based on the true story of a college professor’s bond with the abandoned dog he takes into his home. The akida is beautiful and the simple story warms the heart.

I cried and you could hear sniffles and noses being blown throughout the theater. Director Lasse Hallstrom  answered questions and spoke after the event.

Glee ful Moments

A big hand for the last episode of Glee for the calendar year.

Laughed so hard almost fell off my chair when they showed the judges for the sectionals.  for my fellow government workers, the descriptor State paid cynic was a classic. Here’s some of her great lines: 

Can I just say something? I have no idea what the hell I’m doing here. I’m serious. I don’t understand what a glee club is, and I had never even heard the term ’show choir’ ’til about three hours ago when my boss told me he had tickets to Nascar and I had to fill in at this full event.

 ”I seriously don’t know what either one of you are talking about. I have never been so bored. I mean, if I had to pick a group that I hated the least…” 

Bring that character back!

Photographs and Photography to See

The Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum has its annual awards for wildlife photography exhibition up now.

Every winner and chosen selection shone with brilliance and many with humor. The landscapes are breathtaking and the animals, birds and plants bring joy to your eyes and heart.

Geographers and travelers will appreciate the areas shown. Wildlife and animal lovers have so much to see.