theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Washington D.C.

  • exxon/mobil hijinks at nationals park

    exxon is all over the new nationals ballpark: their logo covers the left field wall, are regularly featured on the scoreboards that circle the stadium, rotate through the television ad behind home plate, and are the “official sponsor” of the seventh-inning stretch.

    normally, this wouldn’t raise an eyebrow (especially if the ballpark was in Texas) but considering that nationals park is the first stadium in the country to be certified (LEED) by the U.S. Green Building Council, there are more than a few allegations of green-washing.

    so, here’s the comedy of this good will campaign … tonight, in the break before the 8th inning, the stadium P.A. guy announced each ticket holder in one of the 100 sections would get a $50 gas card courtesy of Exxon/Mobil. people (obviously) rejoice.

    so, the stadium camera (which powers the 4,500 square foot high definition scoreboard in center field) zooms in on one of the lucky winners, but he’s *refusing* to take the card … and when the very confused stadium attendant persists, he finally takes the card and chucks it across the stadium. truly a moving sign of protest, right?

    well, mostly. right before the camera guy comes to his senses and turns away for this P.R. fiasco, in the background you see a group of people lunging for the air-borne gas card like it was a home run ball.

  • We Love D.C.

    Well, it’s been exactly one year since we moved to D.C. proper, after a combined 20 years of living around the periphery (well, I did 2 years in Glover Park, but that hardly counts). so, in the spirit of the new(ish) local blog We Love DC, the lady sparkler and I spent a walk through the neighborhood recounting why we love this place.

    National Zoo
    Denizens of Mount Pleasant refer to the Zoo as their “backyard” and in a lot of ways it is. I know more about the Prairie Dogs than I do some of my friends. Free summer concerts on lion hill, winter solace because the tourists stay away, spring babies, and the best fall foliage in the city.

    Free Stuff
    It’s easy to take this for granted, but we are reminded everytime we leave the city … everything in D.C. is free. From concerts, to movies on the mall, to museums, to monuments. The first time the lady sparkler and I went to NYC together, we just couldn’t shut up about the $18, $25, $30 tickets to see anything of culture. No wonder they are so grumpy up there.

    Kennedy Center
    Truely the greatest “monument” in D.C., the Kennedy Center presents an amazing array of theatre, music and culture to the city. Sure, we should give a shout out to the Woolly Mammoth, Arena, Signature and Shakespeare Theatres too, but the top class productions in D.C. are good enough to rival those of other major cities around the world.

    Food
    A decade ago, “food” would certainly not make an area top list, but D.C. is now home to quite a few decent restaurants. Maybe they aren’t the most daring menus on the planet, but the food is top-shelf and the service is legitimately okay. Going out, we have had as many great meals as we do mediocre, and that’s a step in the right direction.

    Urban Parks
    It’s hard to believe in a city, but we really have trees and parks all over the place. Rock Creek is enormous, and just about every intersection of the big avenues has a park of some kind. Large and small, these parks are one of the reasons DC-ites are out and about so much.

    RFK Stadium
    While a source of scorn for a lot of people who just don’t get it (D.C. United’s owners to name a few), RFK Stadium is the last great municipal stadium in use in the country, and one of the truest places to watch a ballgame in the country. No doubt: we will cry if it ever gets torn down.

    Meridian Hill / Malcolm X Park
    Parisian fountains in the middle of the District … who can argue with that? Almost by definition, spring starts in the city when the park’s fountains are turned on, and it plays host to everything from picnics to drum circles. The best news, is that ten years ago it wasn’t save to think about entering the park. Now? Oasis in the city.

    Mount Pleasant
    I loved Mount Pleasant before I even knew what it was. I got lost here in the late 90s and again in 2005, both times thinking it was the most beautiful neighborhood in the world. I’m here for the amazing. She is here for the farmer’s market. It’s a win, win.

    Now, the one reason we hate this place: no one stays here … in the last 4 months, we’ve lost a handful of our closest friends to Seattle, Boston and now Mississippi. Mississippi?!? When you start losing people to the deep south, you have to wonder how great your city actually is … but why we hate D.C. (politics, interns) is a posting for another day.

  • nso @ carter barron ampitheatre

    after ten years of trying, i’ve finally seem something at carter barron, d.c.’s outdoor ampitheatre that’s nary 15 blocks up rock creek. the program was superb, the conductor hilarious (in a David Schwimmer sorta way), and the accoustics were better than the kennedy center. well worth the wait.

    Photo Courtesy of National Park Service.

  • yet another rain delay/power outage/sign of the apocalypse for d.c. united

    D.C United vs Houston Dynamo, RFK Stadium, Washington, DC.

  • world team tennis comes to d.c. (who knew?!?)

    Washington Kastles vs. Delaware Smash, Kastles Stadium, Washington D.C.
    really, who knew such a thing existed … but apparently Washington now has a franchise (the “Kastles” annoyingly enough) in the three decade old “world team tennis” league.

    we only tripped on this because the D.C.’s home “stadium” (air quotes, the court is temporary and was constructed in the middle of a parking lot downtown) was used in the trials for the homeless world cup.

    the format is a stripped down version of tennis (first to five wins the set, first to four wins the game, no deuces/advantages) where each set is a different competition (men’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles, women’s singles). the team with the most sets/games wins.

    tragically, washington got whupped (by the 2 win, 10 loss delaware smash) so the two best parts of the evening had nothing to do with the matches:

    • first, in between sets there was a wii tennis match between an 8-year old and a member of the d.c. team where the kid got crushed.
    • second, half way through the final set of the match, the public address mis-announced washington player Sacha Jones (17-year old new zealander tennis prodigy) as Sasha Cohen (23-year old american gymnast or 36-year old british “borat” actor).

    all joking aside, it was a good time, and the organizers were obviously trying really, really hard to make sure everyone had a good time.

  • when the lights go down in the city

    half of d.c. united’s stadium (rfk) lost power tonight, during a match against CD Guadalajara. the outage stopped play for 19 minutes, and freaked us out imagining the chaos if *all* the lights had gone out. united, who is trying to move to a new home that isn’t 47-years old, announced over the p.a. that this was “yet another reason we need a new stadium” … hmmm.

  • a perfect holiday weekend

    [Photo]
    ECPA20080706_1540, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    i’m almost embarrassed about how perfect a holiday weekend this was. little bit of everything … getting out, staying in, sports, animated movies, fireworks. granted, this will solidify my reputation as a 11 year-old boy, but i have no complaints.

    fireworks

    on the fourth itself, we snuck out of town to frederick, maryland for a party with a couple of friends, which featured their new best buddy … a frozen margarita machine. on the trip back into town, we saw three different fireworks displays from the interstate and still made it back in time to watch a re-run of the d.c. fireworks in high-def.

    wall-e

    once the right-wing blogs starting attacking pixar’s new animated feature — “leftist propaganda about the evils of mankind”, “90-minute lecture”, “liberal nonsense”, “Malthusian fear mongering” — i figured it had to be good, at it was … like “clear your calendars” good. or, “rent somebody’s children so you have a justification” good.

    orioles

    good friend lighting chick knits scored some 15th-row tickets to the orioles, so we made the pilgrimage up to camden yards. had a super, super great time … and could just about squeeze Texas hottie Josh Hamilton’s Charmin as he slid into third. now, the orioles are still on my blacklist ’cause peter angelos did everything short of sprouting horns and dancing with a pitchfork to prevent d.c. from getting a baseball team, but the orioles lost (shocking!) and every dime from my wallet went straight to the beer/sausage vendors.

    harry potter

    the last part of the weekend was also the most embarrassing: spindler and i tivo’d the first four harry potter movies — abc family was doing a marathon — and watched them over 12 hours on sunday afternoon. nary a single brain cell was exercised in the process of this remarkable achievement.

    if only every weekend was so good …

  • david, i love you!

    [Photo]
    ECPA20080629_1532, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    oh, my … where to begin.

    you’d think in washington, d.c. the hotest ticket in town would be some kind of political event, or maybe that tiger woods golf tourney happening out in bethesda next weekend.

    but with approval ratings in the toilet (congress is at 19%, the president at 29%) and tiger on his back with a bum knee … the hottest ticket in the district this summer (hands down) is the visit of super-fantastic-megariffic-star david “bend it like” beckham to our small corner of the footballing world.

    his trip to d.c. last year was a circus … and one which the lady sparkler and i opted to watch on the telly instead of braving the soccer-mom driven mania. this year was sure to be no different and — through a couple of tickets t.l.s. scored from work — we got to see it up close and personal.

    i’m not exactly a stranger to the beguiling charm of the english flavour of football (or “footy” as the lady sparkler has taken to calling it…) but the national obsession with the chiseled greatness that is mr. beckham has me more than a little puzzled.

    sure, i can understand 12 year-old girls screaming … and MAYBE we can extend that to their 40 year-old moms. but, the place was packed with 25-35 year old men with mint-edition beckham branded l.a. galaxy unis … shouting out adulation, and snapping pics. and remember, this is d.c. — it’s not exactly a home game for a team from los angeles.

    i’m a 25-35 year old male and, while i am not so ego-tastic to speak for a whole decade of humans, i must say that i remember far more lows in “the david’s” career (thrown out of 1998 World Cup, lackluster showing in 2002 and 2006 Cups, flipping off fans at Euro 2000, benchings by two of the greatest coaches of this age) than i remember his highs.

    so while i respect david for his 100+ appearances for the national team, and for his collection of early club championships — that’s enough for me to hope he does well in the States, but not enough to drop $70 on an spanking new beckham jersey and scream at him like a little girl.

    speaking of which, the funniest moment of the day was shortly after we arrived with some of the lady sparkler’s co-workers … we were poking fun of the whole scene, when someone from two rows back, right behind out heads, shouted “DAVID, I LOVE YOU!”

    unfortunately, we just *lost* it.

    oh, right. the game. d.c. crushed them. beckham looked miserable (as a proper brit should, playing footy .. during the summer .. in 98-degree weather .. in an american swamp).

  • homeless world cup

    [Photo]
    0628081034c.jpg, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    lately, i’ve been looking for something (really, pretty much *anything*) to redeem my faith in the larger human race. but, this morning, i’m glad i got out of bed …

    now, the great thing about sports is the (near) universal appreciation of the stories behind the competition … so long as you know where to look.

    for every $15-million slugger that dopes his way to the home run record, there is a $600,000 baller for the Celtics who overcomes homelessness on the way to win a NBA championship. for every perfectly-formed sprinter turned out by the u.s. track and field machine, there is a 41 year-old South African dissident who overcomes two shattered knees to break a world record at the World Pacific Games.

    never has this been more apparent, that this morning when we went to the u.s.a. trials for the homeless world cup (which is exactly what it sounds like: a (soccer) world cup where all the competitors are homeless).

    the tournament was started in 2001 by some activists for the homeless as a way to inspire the homeless to make positive life changes, and some 70% of past participants have gotten off the streets for good.

    the u.s. team is being selected this weekend, with a tournament down by the old convention center. city teams from across the u.s. are participating (atlanta, charlotte, minneapolis, new york, the district, austin, etc) with the the best players from each squad being selected for the trip to Melbourne.

    there weren’t many people in the crowd for the games we watched, but it was still an incredible experience. the talent and skill were way beyond what we were expecting, and it was pretty easy to see that the competitors were having the time of their life.

    if any of this is sounding interesting, the story of 6 participants in the 2006 Homeless World Cup has been turned into a documentary called kicking it (in theatres now). we’ll be there later this week …

  • flexday: monuments, the non-postcard edition

    i’m getting a little bored with shooting d.c., so on this particular flex day i biked around the national mall … but i only brought the wide angle lens. some pretty interesting pictures happen when a wide lens forces you to change how you see the capital’s iconic monuments.
    Explore the Photo Set:
    flexday: monuments, the non-postcard edition