Ask Kelli: TV Together; In-laws in the OR; Time for Truth

by Kelli Miller

Dear Kelli,

Simple question: My husband and I like different TV shows. I want to spend time with him chilling on the couch but how do we decide who gets to watch what?

Signed,
TV Dilemma

Dear TV Dilemma,

It’s all about compromise. I see a resolution in any of three ways:

1) One person chooses one show and you both watch it together. The next hour the other person chooses and you watch together, and so on.

2) Purchase a TV that allows you to watch two programs at the same time. This works especially well if one of you likes sports and you just want to see the action and don’t need to hear the volume. You should also be able to get subtitles to appear on each show.

3) Figure out what you do like to watch together (there has to be something!) and make that your special TV together time.

All the best,
Kelli 

---

Hurricane Irene Scrapbook: The Farewell Chapter

All of the photos below were sent in by Olivier Denier Long, who took them on Yuma Street. As the cleanup proceeds apace and roads reopen, we will let this collection of shots stand as our "farewell and good riddance" to Irene and all she left behind.

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Hurricane Irene: The Cleanup Goes On & So Do the Photos

Thanks to all Cleveland Park Listserv members who continue to send in photos. We wish we had space to post them all. Here's another sampling of the most dramatic shots. The theme here is "Trees where you don't want to see trees."

What you don't want to see in your rearview mirror

What you don't want to see out your window
Photo by Ethan Kiczek

The tree, above, seen from outside
Photo by Ethan Kiczek

Unwanted change to landscaping of koi pond
Photo by Walter Birkel

More Photos of Irene's Aftermath

Like begets like: Cleveland Park Listserv members are continuing to send in their photos of fallen trees and powers line in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Along with her photo (second one), Mary Alice Levine notes: "There are two large trees down and two telephone polls down on the 3700 block of Yuma.  Needless to say, power is out. At 3900 Yuma, there is one large tree down between houses, and both houses are okay.  Remarkably, that block still has power."

Cortland Place, photo by Bill Menczer

Tree and lines down, photo by Mary Alice Levine

photo by Molly Magnuson

80 year old linden tree down on Cortland Place, by Bill Menczer

Dangling wires, photo by Christina Chu

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Washington Tweets

Washington tweets. A lot. The Washington Tweets column is a collection of the most interesting, recent Washington-area tweets. These tweets reveal a candid and fascinating portrait of what is on our collective minds: Twitter gives a snapshot of what we're doing, thinking and hoping for as a group. Washington Tweets is Washington in the raw. Bill Adler tweets at @billadler


In preparation for Hurricane Irene, WMATA officials announced that they shut down all DC Metro escalators six months ago.

Recap: Hurricane Irene’s rain and wind in Washington, D.C. http://wapo.st/rsrR1G

I think Upper NE DC has the best power in all of America. We never lose power in major storms #shrug

In DC, it seems like all huge storms force people to drink a lot.

Our local Cleveland Park grocery store was having a "Hurricane Special" on coconut water. #firstworldsurvivalkits

Tracks of hurricanes and tropical storms within 70 miles of DC in past 135 years - we can get hit http://yfrog.com/kjfswgrj

You see, DC tourists...Hurricane Irene is what happens when you STAND ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ESCALATOR!!!

#Irene silver lining for bird watchers: the chance to see tropical birds deposited here by the storm: wamu.fm/ozpdiQ

DC mayor vincent gray announces the only school with hurricane damage was the "school without walls". Insert your own joke here. #getwalls

DC parking authority is cold...how u going put a ticket on a car that has a tree laying on it....smh

PEPCO reporting 164,211 customers without power in the DC metro area.

IRENE: Metro DC: 2" to 5" of rain from 12pm Sat to 12pm Sun, Winds Northeast 30-40mph overnight, sctd. power outages

How about that tornado hat worn by beloved Beltway TV journo Pat Collins on NBC-owned Channel 4 in DC? He just gets better with age.

Adams Morgan is always so fun idk why we don't come here more often

Photos of Irene's Aftermath

Thanks to members of the Cleveland Park Listserv for sending in these photos of trees brought down by Hurricane Irene.

Corner of Conn Ave & Newark, photo by Bill Adler

Uprooted tree - photo by Joanna Rom

Downed tree on 30th St, by Bill Adler

Photo by Denise Pflugfelder

Tree on cars, 39th Street, by Ron David

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Free on the Cleveland Park Listserv

The Cleveland Park Listserv's
Iconic Photo

The Cleveland Park Listserv is the DC'as area's largest neighborhood email list, with over 11,000 members. It's a great place to talk about city and neighborhood issues, find services, such as plumbers, hear about area events, and more. The "more" department includes giving away and getting free things. Everything from ovens to DVDs to plants get given away. Why throw something out, when that thing can find a happy home with somebody else?

People join the Cleveland Park Listserv, www.cleveland-park.com, for the conversation and information, but hang around for the free stuff, too. The Cleveland Park Listserv is a great place to get recommendations for all kinds of services, for example. Here's how one person compared the Cleveland Park Listserv to Angie's List in a post made yesterday: "If you are a member of the Cleveland Park Listserv, then you would find Angie's List a waste of money. Someone gave me a year of membership as a birthday gift. One time I needed an alterations person to shorten a dress. They found someone 90 minutes away. Another time, it was a recommendation for some other service person and they supplied a name fast but it was a firm either in NC or SC. The Cleveland Park Listserv has always done better than that with many recommendations and mostly in the immediate neighborhood"

Keep Track of Power Outages on Pepco's Map

If your power is out but you still have wifi or are reading All Life Is Local on your smartphone, you may want to keep track of Pepco's progress on its Storm Center website. If you do have power but want to find out if any of your neighbors are out, zoom in on your neighborhood on the map and you can find out how close --down to 600 feet-- are the nearest homes without power.

You can also report outages on Pepco's interactive report page: Click here to access.

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Are You Ready for Irene?

We hope by now you're done with standing in line at the grocery store and already have all the supplies you need in case the power goes out for a few days. You have bottled water, working flashlights, extra batteries, a battery powered radio, and enough non-perishable food to hold you at least until the grocery stores have a chance to restock.

You can find a complete list of the essentials at NOAA's Hurricane Preparedness Page.

If you happen to be in New York City, you can find out if you need to evacuate by typing your address into this map. If you're here, and you have friends or relatives there who don't watch TV, listen to the radio, or read the papers, go ahead and call them and let them know what zone they're in (or should not be in)!

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Still LIfe with Robin: Is It Safe?

by Peggy Robin

NASA image Hurricane Isabel

Earthquakes and aftershocks. Hurricane Irene heading up the coast. And in the not-so-distant past, Snowmageddon. Hurricane Isabel hammered us back in 2003. It was Bob in 1991, which left me sleeping on the floor of Newark Airport overnight. Gloria did some major damage to my parents’ house in 1985. And going back to 1972, there was Agnes, which took out the East-West Highway bridge just a few minutes after my friend Anne, who had just left my home (then in Chevy Chase) drove over it. She heard the noise of the crashing concrete and from her rearview mirror got a glimpse of the devastation behind her; so she told me over the phone in a shaky voice the minute she was back at her apartment in Silver Spring.

Then there are the countless unnamed events: flooding of the Potomac; wind and lightning storms that bring down tall trees and darken thousands or tens of thousands of homes for days, even weeks in some parts of the area. And summer heat waves with 100-degree days and Code Red air quality alerts that caution us against any unnecessary outdoor activities. It all can start you wondering if you’d be better off living somewhere else. But is there a city or large town (for we still like the cultural amenties of an urban environment) free from these or other natural disasters?

I had no need to ponder this question; all I had to do was Google it, and the answer came up from an article in Forbes Magazine in August, 2005: Honolulu. That’s right, Honolulu, Hawaii, is the American city least likely to suffer damage from any natural disasters. It does have the occasional risk of a tsunami, but the last one to cause any loss of life was in the 1970s, and that was to some campers in tents close to shore. Now there's an effective tsunami warning system in place, which has worked to prevent just that sort of loss.

Giant Development Delayed Until Who-Knows-When

The real estate blog DCMud has reported  that the Newark Street Giant development project, known as Cathedral Commons, is still searching for a financial partner, and the development is on hold until one is found. According to DCMud's article, the earliest groundbreaking would be in the beginning of 2012. In the meanwhile, the Giant supermarket will remain open. You can read the full article here.

The article alludes to the current financial climate as a cause of the delay, but the lawsuit may also play a factor: The lawsuit may be scaring away potential backers, as uncertainty and multi-million dollar projects don't go hand in hand. If that's the case, then it's a shame that just a handful of people can do so much to thwart what over 95 percent of the Giant's neighbors, the Mayor, Councilmember Cheh and most other elected officials, want. 

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Washington Views: Birds of a Feather

Pigeons take flight over Washington, DC:

Zoo Animals in the Earthquake

We hope none of you were shaken too badly by Tuesday's earthquake.

Cleveland Park's tallest structure, the Washington Cathedral, (as we're sure you've all heard by now) lost the tips of three of its four spires.

Just to our south, at the National Zoo in Woodley Park, nothing fell down but quite a few feathers were ruffled -- and fur fluffed, as well -- as our animal neighbors reacted to the unexpected rattling and rolling ground. Well, maybe not unexpected by all inhabitants: According to the National Zoo's media release, a few of the animals seemed to react a few minutes before the earthquake started. The howler monkeys began making their alarm calls as much as 15 minutes in advance of the earthquake. Some of the great apes (orangutans and lowland gorillas) stopped what they were doing and climbed to the top of their tree habitats three to four seconds before the quake began.

The Zoo report has accounts of other similar pre-earthquake behavior from the flamingoes, and from a number of small mammals and reptiles.

You can also learn how many of the animals reacted during the earthquake itself. The most famous of the Zoo's inhabitants, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, did absolutely nothing.

We're happy to hear that no animals were injured, and all quickly returned to normal behavior.

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Ask Kelli: When a Friend Can't Accommodate a Friend's Request

by Kelli Miller

Dear Kelli,

My question involves an intimate friendship that was close when we were roommates in college, even closer when my friend moved across country and went through very hard times on her own, with a happy ending in her engagement to a wonderful man. Between all that we've been through I have felt growing frustration when we interact and now feel that our different paths have led to our growing apart.

A year ago I agreed to be in her wedding, which at that time had no date or specific plans. Recently she told me that the wedding will be a year from now in a tropical paradise -- unfortunately out of my travel budget, as I have just taken on major student loans. My decision is mostly made:  I can't go, especially as a member of the wedding party whose obligations are greater than the average guest's. How do I handle talking talking to her about it? In the past she has taken it very hard when I've told her I couldn't visit, and those conversations have created some of the divide between us. This is on another scale entirely -- her wedding! How can I break it to her gently?

Signed,
Bridesmaid Dilemma

Does Your Dog Need an Intervention? Try Leash Lungers Anonymous

Here's a class for humans that can make a walk in the park a lot more enjoyable not just for the dog-walker and the dog, but for all the other humans they encounter on their outings. It's offered by the Washington Humane Society, and you can learn more by clicking here.

Leash Lungers Anonymous: Intervention for Your Leash-Aggressive Dog

Sunday, August 28

9:00am - 1:00pm

Washington Humane Society

7315 Georgia Ave., NW
Washington, D.C., DC 20012

Registration Fee: $49 (includes lunch)

Buy tickets here

Course description:

Going for a casual stroll can be taken for granted by dog-owners who don’t experience the embarrassment of having their dog aggressively lunge at other dogs or people – a behavior referred to as “leash-lunging.”

Join the WHS Behavior and Learning Center as we address the topic head-on and give owners of leash-lunging dogs the knowledge, tools and techniques that are necessary to stage their own intervention!

In this in-depth seminar, that will include a multi-media presentation, lecture and Q & A session, we will discuss:

• A comprehensive Behavior modification plan
• Understanding what makes dogs leash-aggressive
• Management techniques
• Dogs that lunge at dogs and people
• And more!

Please note: This seminar is for humans only.

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Dark Skies Over Cleveland Park

Darkening Skies Over Cleveland Park

Photo by Bill Adler

Volunteers Wanted for DC Schools' Healthy Eating Campaign

We received this call to arms (and to knives, forks and spoons) from SaladBars2Schools.org, which seeks to encourage healthier eating in DC public schools. Sounds like a good idea to us.  

Here are the details:

Attention foodies, activists & advocates! Help DCPS Students Kick Off the School Year with Healthy Eating Habits!

Volunteers are needed to show students how to create balanced meals at new DCPS salad bars. This commitment is one lunch shift (11 am to 2 pm) on the day of your choice from August 29 through September 2, 2011.

Every minute of classroom time is precious, which means lunch periods are shorter than ever. Salad bars = faster, fresher, healthier food. They empower students to make smart choices and increase cafeteria efficiency.

You can choose from any of these participating schools: 

Eastern High School

H.D. Woodson High School

 Ellington School of the Arts

Ballou High School

Columbia Heights Education Campus

Wilson High School

Phelps Architecture, Construction & Engineering High School

Banneker High School

Coolidge High School

McKinley Tech High School.

For more information please contact:

Jennifer Calloway
Serve DC (volunteer coordinator for the Mayor's office)
jennifer.calloway @ dc.gov
202-727-7927

To register click here.

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Washington Tweets

Washington tweets. A lot. The Washington Tweets column is a collection of the most interesting, recent Washington-area tweets. These tweets reveal a candid and fascinating portrait of what is on our collective minds: Twitter gives a snapshot of what we're doing, thinking and hoping for as a group. Washington Tweets is Washington in the raw. Bill Adler tweets at @billadler


At DC Superior Court trying to open a WaPo story. Got "access denied" message in the category of "obscene/tasteless." Huh???

Zipcar takes a subtle dig at the District's department of transportation: http://t.co/ElEfBgj #carsharing

There's this woman hanging outside of the Shaw station nearly every evening begging for a penny. A PENNY. #wmata

D.C. GOP launches anti-Harry Thomas Web site http://t.co/saZGhdK

Will local TV weathercasts exist 5 years from now, weather entrepeneur Paul Douglas weighs in: http://t.co/3Lxe8FZ

RCN upped internet speed to 60 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up + lowered the monthly. Fast, fast, fast. I may not be interested in Fios anymore. #DC

Mayor Gray says he's getting along great with labor unions these days. Kris Baumann, what say you?

DC Statehood/Voting Rights can't just be a passive argument, it has to be a campaign which will engage + enrage citizens from other states.

@wmata @unsuckdcmetro Shout out to aftrnoon station mgr at Med Ctr. He is ALWAYS outside his "office" looking for people to help. Says hi 2!

Dear guy doing pullups on #WMATA passenger straps: you're a douche. That is all.

According to GPS, my phone is hanging out at the DC AgriculturalLibrary. I am now on a mission. This probably won't end well.

Woman stopped on the DC Beltway yesterday was too busy talking on her cell to notice her Hummer was on fire. Dog bless Amurrica. #p2

Tourist to bus driver, near Dupont circle: how do I get downtown? Driver: well where do you wanna go? Tourist: downtown DC.

There are entirely too many tourists in DC. Stop asking for directions and get Google Maps already!!

Dear Tourists: DC is one of the more exciting restaurant cities in the US. Why are you going to Unos?

Fabulous food find: wild boar tagliatelle at Sorriso in Cleveland Park: http://t.co/pKzEE14 #DC #clevelandpark #dcdining

The Right Way to Give Your Kid a Car

There's a right way and wrong way to hand down your car to your most cherished family member, your son or daughter. This parent did it the very right way, by adding a little love note to the car's interior. This sign was spotted on Ordway Street in Cleveland Park.

It reads: "Drive Safely-- No Texting, Looking at iPod! LOVE YOU!!

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Happy Birthday, Winne-the-Pooh!

Today is Winnie-the-Pooh’s Birthday!

You may not be aware of the controversy surrounding this date, but fans of the "bear of very little brain" can get themselves worked up into heated arguments over the validity of this observance.




We believe that August 21 is the correct date, having been persuaded by the facts presented by Topher Ellis, webmaster of “Christopher Robin's Winnie the Pooh Character Guide and FAQ,” who has the definitive word, which we quote:

“You will often see Winnie-the-Pooh's birthdate listed as October 14, 1926 -- the date of the first printing of the book Winnie-the-Pooh. Using October 14, 1926 as Pooh's birthdate is entirely unjustified. It is a fact (as presented in the book House at Pooh Corner) that Winnie-the-Pooh is one year younger than Christopher Robin. It is a fact that Pooh was given to Christopher Robin Milne on August 21, 1921 on the occasion of Christopher Robin Milne's first birthday. It is a fact that Christopher Robin's birthday is August 21, 1920. Therefore it follows that Winnie-the-Pooh's real birthday is August 21, 1921.”

Happy 90th birthday, Winnie-the-Pooh!

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"Drumming for Justice" on August 27

Library of Congress NYWYS Collection

The weekend of August 27 and 28 will be filled with events surrounding the dedication of the national memorial honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Many of these events are reserved for ticket-holders, and space is no longer available.

Here's one event that's free and open to the public, and it sounds like fun ... though it may be loud.

Drumming for Justice
Saturday, August 27 starting at 3:30pm
DC Historical Society Grounds
801 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20001

There will be drummers and dancers representing many ethnic groups and cultures.  For more information about the ceremony, contact Doc Powell, founder of the Malcolm X Drummers and Dancers, 202-459-8157.

Also on Saturday, starting at 9:30 am at Freedom Plaza, DC Vote is holding a rally and march for full voting rights and equality for DC citizens.Go to DC Vote/Events for the details of this rally and other events of the National MLK Memorial dedication weekend.

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Still Life with Robin: No Cereal for You!

by Peggy Robin

I’m normally quite an adventurous eater, especially when I travel. I always want to enjoy the cuisine of whatever exotic spot I find myself in…that is, as long as we’re talking lunch or dinner. When it comes to breakfast, I’ll stick to my same-old-same-old. I know it's boring but all I want to start the day is one small bowl of cold cereal with skim milk. That’s it. I’m not especially particular about the type. I’ll have plain Cheerios, or Special K, or Wheat Chex, or just about any non-sugary flake, circle, or square.

I have my reasons. They are, in a nutshell (not a cereal bowl): time, cost, and diet. When I’m on a trip, I don’t want to spend too large a chunk of time sitting around in restaurants, especially before any planned outings. So I want something that’s fast, preferably self-serve. Cereal is also much cheaper than a full, standard American breakfast (eggs, pancakes, waffles, or French toast, with various side meats and/or potatoes). And it’s certainly better for my arteries.

So what’s my dilemma? You might think all I need to do when planning a trip is to choose hotels, inns, or bed-and-breakfasts that include a quick and healthy breakfast. Yes, that is my usual strategy, but it’s harder to find than it should be. The last few trips I’ve taken, I had assumed I’d be able to get a simple bowl of cereal, but that turned out not to be the case.

It's National Aviation Day!

Today, August 19, was declared National Aviation Day by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to honor an event that occurred on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina: the Wright brothers’ first successful engine-powered flight. It lasted just 12 seconds and covered a distance of 120 feet over the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, but that was enough to earn the pair a place in the official US calendar of holidays (but that doesn't mean you get today off work).

Why August 15 rather than December 17? Today is the birthday of Orville Wright, bold pilot of the flyer that now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum. (It's his 140th!) Poor Wilbur! He not only had to stay on the ground and watch his brother take to the air first, but his birthday, April 16, if observed at all, is noted as National Librarians Day. On top of that, the better known Wilburs are a pig and the owner of a talking horse!

Happy flying to all on this National Aviation Day!

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Recommendation: Unloading Your Books

Our companion email list, the Cleveland Park Listserv, is a treasure trove of recommendations. We want to share on All Life Is Local, on a periodic basis, the best recommendations that have been posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv. Just use the search box on this site to type in the category of service you're looking for.

This recommendation is a compilation of advice from various list members about shedding excess books. There are recommendations both for selling used books and for donating your books to a worthy cause.

First, about selling books to used booksellers:

This all pertains to your average box of books. If you have a very large or valuable collection, cash and house calls are available.

Try selling online to Powell's books (the Oregon bookshop); they are pretty fussy about what condition the books are in as they tell you on the website. You put in the ISBN and they immediately tell you if they want the book and how much

they will give you in cash via PayPal or store credit (more for the latter) and they pay for shipping."

Capitol Hill Books buys for cash on very limited days and times and in limited quantities.

Wonder Books in Gaithersburg has the most lenient purchasing policy, though perhaps a pay-out to match. They also take DVDs & CDs.

One person suggested taking things to the Second Story Books warehouse in Rockville for cash instead of downtown. Last time I was in, Second Story no longer offered cash at either location, though I imagine this policy might vary for something rare. The website does say they "buy" books, but in the used book trade this means they might buy for cash or buy for store trade.