The ***OFFICIAL*** Washington, DC thread (1 Viewer)

[Mr. Ected]

Haven't done this in a LONG time, but you used to be able to get passes to get into tours of Capitol thru your Rep. Is this still done? With all the security?

Yes, I believe this still happens. You'll submit names ahead of time and they likely do background checks. I think this is also the way to set up White House tours.

May be hard on 4th of July, but if you get in now...

 

[Swing 51]

Keep in mind that you will be facing the heat/humidity and inevitable afternoon/evening thunderstorm during the events on the 4th.

 

[Apple Jack]

I'm assuming the Cemetery station is going to be open, so if at the Lincoln, you could just walk across the bridge and catch the blue line there. Probably avoid a lot of the crowd issues that way, too.

Tons of people walk across the Memorial Bridge and use that station. We used to park on the side of the road over there and walk to the Lincoln. We'd always see huge lines backed-up above ground trying to get down into the station. Foggy Bottom would probably be a better entry point, but I've never really witnessed what that station is like after the fireworks. Either way, you are boarding an already full train if you are headed toward Springfield. Trains headed back downtown would be empty and you could take that into town and over to Yellow and back out toward Eisenhower. I've never tried that, but that might be what I try if we go down this year.

Basically, you either have to wait it out, be ok with dealing with the mobs, or be willing to take a non-direct route and work your way around. My suggestion would be to find a restaurant, sit down for dessert/coffee/whatever, and wait it out if you really don't need to be anywhere.

I was thinking that being at the Lincoln gets you a head start on anybody going over there and that there might be at least one train before they start showing up full. You could always start walking over there as the finale starts and beat those who don't move until it's complete. A little sacrifice can go a long way when dealing with crowds like that.

 

[Spanky267]

Haven't done this in a LONG time, but you used to be able to get passes to get into tours of Capitol thru your Rep. Is this still done? With all the security?

Yes, I believe this still happens. You'll submit names ahead of time and they likely do background checks. I think this is also the way to set up White House tours.

May be hard on 4th of July, but if you get in now...

I've already done that. We have our tour of the capitol on July 1st. They also sent us the forms that we have to fill out and submit to go on the Capitol and White House tours. I'll be sending those in this week.

Thanks for all of the helpful hints guys. I will be asking more questions as we add more things to our itinerary.

 

[(HULK)]

I assume the public schools in Petworth are currently ones you'd want to avoid, but I haven't paid much attention lately.

The area itself is doing a lot better than 15 years ago. I kinda view it as being on the "edge" of the nicer areas to the west.

Shady stuff still goes down. My wife had a highschool classmate murdered @ the NY Ave Metro stop about 2 years back. I've got a buddy who live @ a condo development @ 5th and Mass and that area seems to be improving. The first couple of years, there used to be street walkers and dealers out and about every night. In fact, one time I walked up to my car and a 200 lb hooker was sitting on the hood of my car resting. She politely moved her girth elsewhere when I politely asked her to do so. But, the past year or so, all of that stuff seems cleaned up.

Meanwhile, if you head farther into NW, it is super safe. Its just insanely expensive. My wife stopping work when we had our first also was a big big factor in the decision to move to MD. I love Kensington though, great neighborhood.

You are near me--I have a young un at Garrett Park Elementary.

How old? My daughter is in kindergarten @ Rock View. She did go to the co-op preschool for about a month at Garrett Park. We didn't like it though.

Second grader. We have friends with kids at the co-op but we didnt put our youngest there. They seem to like it.

We didn't feel that the "teacher" was doing much teaching. Mostly just jawwing with whatever parent was co-oping.

And by "we", I mean my wife and I just went along...

lol, I wondered about the dynamic in there. My 3 yr old is next door at the MCCA in the old brick Garret Park schoolhouse in front of the new elementary school. We are real happy with them. They also handle the after school for the elementary in there and have summer programs we have used when we needed filler time between camps and such.

I've never met a person from the internet, but PM me if you want to grab a beer at Savannah's or something some night. That place is a hole though. Looking forward to the decade long Kensington revitalization thing they've started.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

I've never met a person from the internet, but PM me if you want to grab a beer at Savannah's or something some night. That place is a hole though. Looking forward to the decade long Kensington revitalization thing they've started.

Hulk has never met any other FBG? And he's gonna pop his cherry with Todd Andrews?

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Has there ever been a generic DC meetup?

 

[Don Quixote]

Has there ever been a generic DC meetup?

Not that I'm aware of.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Has there ever been a generic DC meetup?

To my knowledge, there's never been a cornhole where any idiot can just show up.

 

[(HULK)]

We should do one. Maybe for the draft?

 

[shake zula]

IN

 

[roarlions]

Closest thing to a local meet up has probably been the draft for the Balt/DC auction league that a few of the DC guys are in.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Closest thing to a local meet up has probably been the draft for the Balt/DC auction league that a few of the DC guys are in.

Or any '90s indie show at the 9:30 Club.

 

[Todd Andrews]

I assume the public schools in Petworth are currently ones you'd want to avoid, but I haven't paid much attention lately.

The area itself is doing a lot better than 15 years ago. I kinda view it as being on the "edge" of the nicer areas to the west.

Shady stuff still goes down. My wife had a highschool classmate murdered @ the NY Ave Metro stop about 2 years back. I've got a buddy who live @ a condo development @ 5th and Mass and that area seems to be improving. The first couple of years, there used to be street walkers and dealers out and about every night. In fact, one time I walked up to my car and a 200 lb hooker was sitting on the hood of my car resting. She politely moved her girth elsewhere when I politely asked her to do so. But, the past year or so, all of that stuff seems cleaned up.

Meanwhile, if you head farther into NW, it is super safe. Its just insanely expensive. My wife stopping work when we had our first also was a big big factor in the decision to move to MD. I love Kensington though, great neighborhood.

You are near me--I have a young un at Garrett Park Elementary.

How old? My daughter is in kindergarten @ Rock View. She did go to the co-op preschool for about a month at Garrett Park. We didn't like it though.

Second grader. We have friends with kids at the co-op but we didnt put our youngest there. They seem to like it.

We didn't feel that the "teacher" was doing much teaching. Mostly just jawwing with whatever parent was co-oping.

And by "we", I mean my wife and I just went along...

lol, I wondered about the dynamic in there. My 3 yr old is next door at the MCCA in the old brick Garret Park schoolhouse in front of the new elementary school. We are real happy with them. They also handle the after school for the elementary in there and have summer programs we have used when we needed filler time between camps and such.

I've never met a person from the internet, but PM me if you want to grab a beer at Savannah's or something some night. That place is a hole though. Looking forward to the decade long Kensington revitalization thing they've started.

Sure thing. I am over by the Pike on the other side of Garrett Park, so Hank Dietle's is my go to dive.

 

[Todd Andrews]

I've never met a person from the internet, but PM me if you want to grab a beer at Savannah's or something some night. That place is a hole though. Looking forward to the decade long Kensington revitalization thing they've started.

Hulk has never met any other FBG? And he's gonna pop his cherry with Todd Andrews?

I will make sure he is mobilely logged in and updating here throughout for safety reasons.

 

[tom22406]

According to the latest models we should see a pretty significant snow in the entire area.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/02/11/incoming-winter-storm-could-mimic-1987-heavy-snow-event/

Been nice knowing you guys(again)!

I almost hate to even try the grocery store tonight

 

[VA703]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

 

[tom22406]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

Well at least they have the forecast narrowed down to between 2 and 20 inches!

Good on the alcohol part here.Just need some soup ingredients and I'm good to go!

 

[MattFancy]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

I'm hoping for the same thing. Work for a Gov't contractor and we never seem to close even when the Gov't and the bases do. But if this thing is supposed to go until Thursday afternoon, I'm going to hold out hope for a 5-day weekend as well!

 

[Don Quixote]

CWG saying 5-10" inches now... https://twitter.com/capitalweather/status/433287133004963841/photo/1

 

[VA703]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

Well at least they have the forecast narrowed down to between 2 and 20 inches!

Good on the alcohol part here.Just need some soup ingredients and I'm good to go!

what kind of soup you thinking?

 

[tom22406]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

Well at least they have the forecast narrowed down to between 2 and 20 inches!

Good on the alcohol part here.Just need some soup ingredients and I'm good to go!

what kind of soup you thinking?

Doing a chicken noodle soup.Picking up a roto chicken from Costco and some goodies to go with it!

 

[VA703]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

Well at least they have the forecast narrowed down to between 2 and 20 inches!

Good on the alcohol part here.Just need some soup ingredients and I'm good to go!

what kind of soup you thinking?

Doing a chicken noodle soup.Picking up a roto chicken from Costco and some goodies to go with it!

that sounds pretty good, do you cook it in chicken stock or just water?

im guessing carrots, celery etc

 

[tom22406]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

Well at least they have the forecast narrowed down to between 2 and 20 inches!

Good on the alcohol part here.Just need some soup ingredients and I'm good to go!

what kind of soup you thinking?

Doing a chicken noodle soup.Picking up a roto chicken from Costco and some goodies to go with it!

that sounds pretty good, do you cook it in chicken stock or just water?

im guessing carrots, celery etc

Chicken stock and yes to both of the others.

 

[tom22406]

Just got an alert on my phone that schools in the area are already cancelled for tomorrow.

Snow is still at least 8 hours away from starting

 

[njherdfan]

Just got an alert on my phone that schools in the area are already cancelled for tomorrow.

Snow is still at least 8 hours away from starting

One of my law school professors already cancelled class for Thursday AND FRIDAY. Another professor is doing a "skype class" from her home on Thursday.

 

[(HULK)]

Just got an alert on my phone that schools in the area are already cancelled for tomorrow.

Snow is still at least 8 hours away from starting

I can't remember what year but I recall at least 1 time schools shut down in advance of an impending storm and then the storm missed us altogether. This was Montgomery County. Lately they don't cancel until after a storm has started. I think they learned their lesson.

And really, in this day and age of autodialers, mass emails, webpages, twitter, etc, there is NO NEED to cancel school in advance. Word gets out almost instantly.

 

[dgreen]

Just got an alert on my phone that schools in the area are already cancelled for tomorrow.

Snow is still at least 8 hours away from starting

Can you blame them? It's not like weather forecasts in this area are ever wrong.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Just got an alert on my phone that schools in the area are already cancelled for tomorrow.

Snow is still at least 8 hours away from starting

That's funny, and I thought Loudoun was scared!

 

[dgreen]

Just got an alert on my phone that schools in the area are already cancelled for tomorrow.

Snow is still at least 8 hours away from starting

I can't remember what year but I recall at least 1 time schools shut down in advance of an impending storm and then the storm missed us altogether. This was Montgomery County. Lately they don't cancel until after a storm has started. I think they learned their lesson.

And really, in this day and age of autodialers, mass emails, webpages, twitter, etc, there is NO NEED to cancel school in advance. Word gets out almost instantly.

I remember in elementary school (mid 80s) school closing early for a hurricane. I think rained for about 10 minutes and was never really windy. We stayed outside playing football.

And then I remember in Jr High walking to the bus stop in about 6 inches of snow because they hadn't canceled yet. Bus was about 20 minutes late and we all board and ride to school. We get off the bus at school and they tell us to get back on and go home. I think we were then off of school for over a week because of so much snow.

I'm glad it's not my job to make these calls.

 

[dgreen]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

I'm hoping for the same thing. Work for a Gov't contractor and we never seem to close even when the Gov't and the bases do. But if this thing is supposed to go until Thursday afternoon, I'm going to hold out hope for a 5-day weekend as well!

It's funny that we all call it a 5-day weekend because gov workers don't work on Fridays anymore.

 

[MattFancy]

Just got an alert on my phone that schools in the area are already cancelled for tomorrow.

Snow is still at least 8 hours away from starting

I can't remember what year but I recall at least 1 time schools shut down in advance of an impending storm and then the storm missed us altogether. This was Montgomery County. Lately they don't cancel until after a storm has started. I think they learned their lesson.

And really, in this day and age of autodialers, mass emails, webpages, twitter, etc, there is NO NEED to cancel school in advance. Word gets out almost instantly.

I remember a few times when I was in HS in St. Mary's County, where they would cancel school because of snow and we would get up the next morning and it was just raining and I even remember one time it did nothing and the sun was out.

My favorite story ever about getting a day off of school was there was a time when someone robbed the 7-11 about 1/2 mile from one of the Elementary schools. We got a day off for that because they didn't know where the guy went and thought he could be in a school. They would never go to school in Baltimore City if that was the case lol.

 

[MattFancy]

luckly hit up wegmans last night, place was empty

gonna throw some chili on Thursday morning, grab a sixer and start shoveling.

need to run to abc tonight and stock up on some rum

im confident the govt will be closed Thursday, making this a sweet 5 day weekend WOOOOOO

I'm hoping for the same thing. Work for a Gov't contractor and we never seem to close even when the Gov't and the bases do. But if this thing is supposed to go until Thursday afternoon, I'm going to hold out hope for a 5-day weekend as well!

It's funny that we all call it a 5-day weekend because gov workers don't work on Fridays anymore.

Hey I took off on Friday, thank you very much!

 

[tom22406]

Latest snow total forecast

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/winterstorm/

Move your mouse over your county for a detailed forecast

 

[dgreen]

8-10" at my house.

That's what she said.

 

[tom22406]

8-10" at my house.

That's what she said.

So you gave it to her twice?

 

[Uruk-Hai]

14-18" here. FML

 

[VA703]

Latest snow total forecast

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/winterstorm/

Move your mouse over your county for a detailed forecast

cool website

10-14 for me

 

[MattFancy]

CWG is updating their blog pretty frequentyl: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang-live/liveblog/heavy-snow-tonight-then-mixed-precipitation-thursday-live-forecast-updates/

 

[dgreen]

8-10" at my house.

That's what she said.

So you gave it to her twice?

 

[(HULK)]

Spoke too soon, MoCo just cancelled school.

Jinx is officially in play.

 

[Swing 51]

Awful quiet in here. Is everyone just posting in the Snowmaggedon thread?

Went to work today had no issues. Arlington to Vienna and back. Front wheel drive

 

[Foosball God]

We got a good 16 here in Leesburg.

 

[tom22406]

Here we go again.

Heaviest totals look to be down my way

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/winterstorm/

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Here we go again.

Heaviest totals look to be down my way

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/winterstorm/

oof

This winter and its family is a ####.

 

[tom22406]

Here we go again.

Heaviest totals look to be down my way

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/winterstorm/

oof

This winter and its family is a ####.

from 62 degrees today to maybe a foot of snow in 24 hours.

Snowblower is ready and I'm stocked on alcohol and food so I'm ready for it!

 

[tom22406]

Right around 10 inches down in Fredericksburg with a nice sheet of ice below it.If I see another car driving on the road with it's emergency flashers on I seriously am going to snap.Get off the damn road if you have no clue how to drive in this.

Snowblower worked great and made a huge pot of taco soup to enjoy.

 

[dgreen]

GB teleworking. No chance I wanted to be out there this morning in that cold.

 

[Don Quixote]

I love it when the federal government has a pointless 2 hour delay. Pretty easy commute in this morning.

 

[Apple Jack]

I love it when the federal government has a pointless 2 hour delay. Pretty easy commute in this morning.

Pointless?