Sunday, May 31, 2009

excellent bike racing weekend in Arlington


This Saturday was the Air Force Classic 2009 Clarendon Cup. Cycling News has a good race report. Video coverage below.



Sunday was the Air Force Classic in Crystal City. Preceding it over the same circuit course was the Crystal Ride. Anybody could do this ride, and it drew a large crowd of cyclists. An Ode Street cyclist brought home a medal, as did everyone who participated.

bowl of cherries

Life may not be a bowl of cherries, but the Rosslyn Safeway has some delicious cherries on sale for $2.99/lb (with Bonus Card). Highly recommended.

Update, Thursday, June 4: Price has gone up to $4.99 per pound! That's obscenely high. Probably best to stick with grapefruit.

Monday, May 25, 2009

commemorating Memorial Day

This Sunday, the Pentagon parking lots were filled with a huge number of Rolling Thunder motorcyclists commemorating Memorial Day. There were motorcycles built with amazing mechanical ingenuity. There were poignant memorials of love and sacrifice, remembering servicemen who died over the past few years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rolling Thunder is a great part of Memorial Day weekend here about the nation's capital.

Friday, May 22, 2009

grit and guts at Taste of Arlington

A huge crowd got a taste of some fine Arlington restaurants at the 2009 Taste of Arlington. But most impressive of all was the "Grit and Guts" Award Winner. Never give up, never surrender, even if your older sister does.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Thurgood Marshall call box art

This past Sunday, on the fifty-fifth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Southwest Neighborhood of DC unveiled a historic police call box renovated with art celebrating the life of Thurgood Marshall, a distinguished lawyer, civil rights leader, and U.S. Supreme Court justice. Thurgood Marshall lived in the Southwest Neighborhood of DC, just across the river from Arlington. Not long ago, right here about the U.S. capital, blacks were segregated and treated worse than second-class citizens. Thurgood Marshall helped to change that.

Learn about your neighborhood history and help to make a better future.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

10-hour power outage starting Thursday, 8 pm

Due to Dominion Virginia Power maintenance work, power in our neighborhood will be out from Thursday, May 21, 8 pm to Friday, May 22, 6 am. Dominion Virginia Power says:
We advise you to set the controls of your refrigerator and freezer to a colder setting the night before, and refrain from opening the doors once the power is off. A fully loaded freezer will keep food frozen for up to 2 days if the door is not opened. [from Virginia Power letter dated May 6]

If you have questions about this power outage, you can call Dominion Virginia Power at (888) 667-3000.

I only retrieved from my mail stack the letter from Virginia Power because I got a call on Thursday informing me that the 10-hour power outage scheduled to start that evening (!!???) had been rescheduled to May 21. Virginia Power should do a better job of informing its customers about upcoming power outages. A telephone call is a bare minimum. A letter would be a good supplemental means of information. I suggest that Virginia Power should also make a special effort to inform leading local news sources in the affected areas.

The geographic extent of the power outage isn't clear. Apparently Prospect House isn't affected, nor is the apartment building at 1510 12'th St.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Pacers Running Festival finishes in Rosslyn


Last Sunday the Pacers Running Festival ran into Rosslyn. Steve Mance and Michael Wardian, both from Arlington, battled head-to-head throughout the half-marathon with Steve pulling away to finish first with an uphill, into-the-wind sprint. Mary Beth Meuthing, also of Arlington, was first among the women in the half-marathon. Here are the complete results for the half-marathon and the 5k. Local blogs have some excellent first-person coverage: check out reports from Marathon Mom, Eric, Marissa, Jessica, and Lizard Runs. Some video coverage below.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Verizon DSL outage

My Verizon DSL connection was down for at least 11 hours starting about 9pm Tuesday night. About 11pm on Tuesday I called Verizon and they did a line check -- no problem. Then I spoke with a friendly and polite tech support person. The tech person had no knowledge of any network outages. So he spent about a half hour with me resetting my modem, trying different settings, etc. The following morning about 8am the connection was still down. While Verizon's network status site showed no network problems throughout this period, at least one other person in the DSL area was also having connection grief. My DSL connection is working this evening.

11-hour or longer outages are much worse than traditional telephone system reliability standards. Not having any system awareness of such problems is bad network management.

Monday, May 11, 2009

more construction in Rosslyn

I noticed some new construction projects at the Rosslyn Children's School Fair this past Saturday. The Fair offered some low-priced, delicious banana bread.

creepy pothole covered


That creepy pothole was filled in about three weeks ago. While probably short-staffed and under-budgeted as a result of the economic crisis, Arlington's hardworking Environmental Services' department is doing an outstanding job around here.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

avoid borers


Nobody likes being bored. Especially ash trees, because the Emerald Ash Borer literally kills them. Emerald Ash Borers were discovered in Virginia in the spring of 2008. Let's keep Rosslyn exciting and free of borers.

Fortunately, we've got an Emerald Ash Borer Detection Box on an ash tree in Ft. Myers Heights Park, just below Westmoreland Condos. As far as I can tell, the box is totally soaked, along with everything else around here. I didn't notice any borers, but maybe they're hiding. I hope the box detects 'em if they're around.

Correction: The box is hanging on a maple tree. Steve Campbell attended a talk on the Emerald Ash Borer and found out that ash trees are the preferred trees from which to hang a detection box. Ft. Myer Heights Park probably got one on a maple tree because the park is a good location for detection in general. Steve also explained, "the box is very sticky, the emerald ash borer is somewhat attracted to that purple color, and there is no pheronome in the glue but there is melaleuca (tea tree oil) which they are also are attracted to."

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Neighborhood Day on May 16

Items from the RAFOM meeting on April 29:
  • The Child Development Center, now operating from the Cherrydale Baptist Church, plans to move to Wilson School (next to the firehouse in Rosslyn) for two years. At least this should forestall the risk of demolishing Wilson School for awhile.
  • Arlington Neighborhood Day is coming up on Saturday, May 16. Last year's Neighborhood Day featured a great parade. Perhaps because of the budget squeeze, Neighborhood Day this year won't include a parade. But it will still include interesting events, including music and free refreshments at the WRIT Art Gallery and Atrium (Bennett Part Apartments) in Rosslyn.
  • The vote on the Rosslyn-Ft. Myers neighborhood sign is now scheduled for the next RAFOM meeting.
Arlington County Board member Mary Hynes addressed RAFOM about the FY 2010 Arlington County budget. Summary of the enacted budget:
To balance the budget the [County Board] approved $19.8 million in service cuts, including $12.1 million in administration and overhead reductions and more than $7.7 [million in] direct service reductions. The only tax-supported programs expanded by the County Board were critical safety net programs to help residents most affected by the recession. The County Board added more than $1 million to increase funding for programs providing shelter and transitional housing, food and emergency assistance.
Arlington is experiencing a higher rate of growth in homeless persons than other area jurisdictions, and the County Board is seeking to ensure that help is available for homeless persons. Ms. Hynes noted that the County Board made an effort to preserve Arlington-based performing and graphic arts programs. About 2000 persons in Arlington work in these fields. The Gulf Branch Nature Center was saved from demolition, but hours will be cut and staff eliminated.