We did our dues last night and squared up with Uncle Sam (and it’s not even April yet!!) Filing taxes online is admittedly 10 times easier than doing all the paperwork, which we had to do last year as first time filers in the District. I ended up owing a few bucks again this year, but not enough to complain about, and Matt got a sweet return. So, who’s done theirs and who is waiting until the 14th? You only have two more weeks!
(And no, that’s not a stack of bills we keep under the mattress, it’s a photo of the money we raised after last summer’s triathlon fundraiser…)
This is a Flickr badge showing public items from m hoek tagged with dc. Make your own badge here.
Email Us
lori [at] juxtaexposed.com
matt [at] juxtaexposed.com
hula hula
March 30th, 2009
Well this is about as good as it gets–hula hoops locked up with your bike lock! Certainly a sign of spring and good enough weather not only to make a person want to hula hoop outdoors but to be willing to travel with said recreation equipment. And indeed it was nice enough, yesterday, for all sorts of outdoor activity. We went on a meandering bike ride through the city – stopping at a flea market in Georgetown, Rose Park for some brief blanket time, and finally Garden District where we contemplated the greenness of our thumbs. And then came home empty handed. Plants are expensive!! Especially for something that has about a 50% chance of surviving until summer, given my recent track record of serially killing bamboo plants and basil. Other shrubs probably don’t stand much more of a chance.
Additionally this weekend we filled out an application form to become adoptive rescue dog parents. We are looking at a little guy named Rocky from the Old Dominion Boston Terrier Rescue in Virginia. It’s going to take awhile for the paperwork and matching process to go through, so now we just have to wait and see!
The picture above is my artistic interpretation of what my looked like at circa 7:10am today. The minor differences being instead of a red Mazda I have a blue Honda, I don’t have a “4EVRDST” vanity tag (Forever Daylight Savings Time???), and this photo was from when they decided to clear a street during the inauguration instead of for rush hour. I eventually get on the phone with the DC towing folks and they tell me that “No, the car has not been towed. It has just been relocated to the 1600 block of O St.” So at this point I’m thinking this is great; they just moved my car to a nice available legal spot. The lady on the phone didn’t mention any ticket and I don’t have to go down to deep deep Southeast to pick up my car at the only impound lot in the city, which is conveniently located far away from any metro stops and directly across from the sewage treatment plant, just lovely I’m sure. When I got back today I took a stroll to check on the car and move it back to a spot a bit closer to my apartment. As I approached the car I noticed that the 1600 block of O Street was a metered instead of zoned block and that there was most certainly something stuck under the wiper. True enough when I got to the car a couple tickets were plastered to the windshield. $100 bucks for towing around the corner from where it was originally parked and $25 bucks for the expired meeter that they dropped me off at. Boo.
So, the moral of the story is move the car by 7am when the sign says so and having to pay an extra $25 is probably worth avoiding the long trek in the rain to the bowels of SE to get the car from the impound lot. But still, it is pretty crappy that they will tow you to an illegal spot.
I love the colors of this photo, a blue square hovering in a field of orange — It’s the entrance to Iron Gate Restaurant at 1734 N Street. Looks a little European, don’t you think? Though the food reviews on Yelp aren’t that promising, it still looks like a good spot to sit and have a drink. We’ll have to follow-up that idea at some point… hurry up warmer weather!
You know, I don’t think I have ever paid for a newspaper from a box like this. I’ve certainly picked up the free copy of the Washington Post Express, but that’s about it. A generational thing, maybe? My pop bought probably thousands of newspapers on his way to work into DC every day, for years. I think it’s an interesting thing to consider, now that print media is dwindling and online sites are the primary sources. What is your #1 news source?
Matt finished the National Marathon on Saturday, running 8:40 miles, and that is just spectacular. You can see him (kinda) coming in strong in the second picture.
Holy smokes, check out this car!!! (or is it a space pod?) that we spotted while walking around Dupont Circle yesterday evening. I’m not sure if I was more surprised by the 3-wheeled vehicle itself or the fact that two grown men, in business suits, were sitting inside of it. I wonder if it has a horn, and what it sounds like. Anyone know what exactly this is? I can’t find anything on Google, because I don’t even know what to search for. I tried ‘outer space car’ and nothing came up.
Ahhh March Madness. Sweet, sweet March Madness. For many people, from now until April 6th marks the pinnacle of their entire sports-related year, or even just their entire year. Hopefully you have all your brackets filled out, because it’s almost game time, baby. I’ve entered three different pools this year, so my chances are looking good.
The Maryland Terrapins take on #7 seed California in Kansas City at 2:55 pm ET. And so I’m posting some Testudo today for good luck, not that we’ll need it. It’s like looking at the picture of our beloved mascot is the equivalent of giving his nose a good luck rub.
Annnnnd levels of productivity and concentration at work begin to plummet… GO!
This was my first Washington, DC photo that I uploaded to flickr back on November 19th, 2005. This is a railing out front the Department of Labor (which is different from the Bureau of Labor Statistics) building which is right across from the Capital. Isn’t depth of field fun?
murals to zora – albus cavus – eatonville
March 12th, 2009
albus cavus (who we have written about before and is generaly awesome) is doing the painting of Eatonville, the yet to be opened restaurant on 14th St….
…Eatonville is owned by Andy Shallal of Busboys & Poets fame. B&P is named after Langston Hughes (the “busboy poet” from his time at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1930’s). Eatonville is named after renouned author Zora Neale Hurston (Eatonville was the Florida city where she grew up). Hurston is a graduate of Howard University and is best known for “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”…
…various artists (w/the occasional little kid spray paint helper) are busy completing all of the artworks that will adorn Eatonville’s walls…
…artists are working in a variety of styles…using stencils w/hand detailing for what looks to be a Warholesque series,…
…some with ladders in precarious positions….
…HERE is a site about the events that they are hosting this weekend in the space (party on Friday and public viewing on Saturday). Check it out!
As I believe I have mentioned before on a post I will often spend an inordinate amount of time on Saturday or Sunday mornings just walking up and down back alleys looking for interesting photo subjects. Last Sunday’s walk around Dupont East brought me upon this gem of a spiral staircase. It has that perfect mix of man made/constructed (nice old masonry and wooden window), machine fabricated (elegant staircase), nature (the vines working their way up the facade), and decay (paint stripped away from time). I like it and hope you do too.
Awhile back, we received an email from Geraldine Lozano, a video editor at La Entrada Project. I finally got a chance to check out their website, and decided to feature some of their photos, because, well, they are pretty sweet! Their team of collaborative artists calls themselves Prism Process, and they work in San Diego, California to bring public art to the architectural landscape. Their website also hosts a video, workshops, and a book, as well as lots of pictures of their murals. If there is anything that every city needs, it’s lots more projects like this! Check out a sampling of their awesomeness below…
This photo reminds me of The Secret Garden movie that I always used to watch when I was little. I loved the part where she sweeps away all the tree branches to take out the secret brick that hides the key to the garden gate.
A large mural was installed in Adams Morgan that is in protest of clean coal technology. I assume that this is the product of the “This is Reality” group which have recently had a significant advertising presence in the metro. While I have not had a chance to do much reading on either side of this issue I really like the little dead canary logo that The Reality Coalition came up with so that is cool in my book. This particular mural features Ghandi, gas masks, and a group of anonymous workers.
The blurry (potentially headache inducing) affect is from my handi-dandi Lensbaby.
So today is… wait for it…. … Square Root Day ! Yes that’s right, 03/03/09 and apparently this is reason enough for some people to celebrate. It only happens 9 times in a century, so I guess that’s acceptable — we have to wait until April 4th, 2016 for the next chance, so enjoy it all day long.
I have no idea how that picture is related. It’s the construction pit at Matt’s job site at First and M St. You can make your own correlations…
Please admire my artwork! It was the best I could do this morning on my 7am snow walk with Matt. I think we got about 6-7 inches overnight. Unfortunately, the metro isn’t broken, so I made it into work just fine.
I’d say at this point we are the better part of 3/4 fully moved in. What fun going from place to place is (read: God kill me now)! Thanks to Doug and Abdullah for their help bright and early on Saturday. Thus far we are very happy with the move and are appreciating the convenience of our new Dupont Circle location. We have a grocery store, liquor store, drug store, hardware store, coffee shop, many restaurants, dry cleaner, and bunch of other miscellaneous (including Mr. Yogato) all within a blocks walk.
One of the oh-so-critical tasks that we undertook during this move was to organize our bookshelf by color. What dorks we are.
