St. Elizabeth’s: DC’s very own haunted insane asylum. Photo collection. U Street Life

LottieB weighs in on my D.C. grocery stores of choice, and the ones I try to avoid.

I don’t know what to do anymore, writes Me, Myself an Eye about being single. All the men I meet are unattractive, boring, crazy or a potpourri of all three.

DC Expecting 4 Million People In One Weekend, and if you are from out of town, consider the Politically Correct Package at The Ritz-Carlton for only $50,000. David Gaines

Commenters at the Prince of Petworth discuss the new rules for taxies in Adams Morgan. Writes Neener: I suspect that there will be much less racial discrimination now, which is a good thing for the planet, even if the lines could get unruly.

The Obama Inauguration is Getting Crazy! Interesting finds on Craigslist by 007 in Africa. Will Washington, DC Real Estate Get A Huge Bump From The Election? Patricia Kennedy. Why Doesn’t Anyone Want To Crash My Place? Metblogs.

Blogger Meet up Tomorrow. Just shy of a dozen people have signed up to go to tomorrow’s monthly meetup. One person who plans to go is fiery nuggets who writes: So, clearly my pain has clouded my judgement, because I RSVPed yes to attend the monthly DC Blogger Meet Up tomorrow night. I’ve always been hesitant to attend these events because I wanted to remain anonymous and because I was nervous about joining a group where I don’t know anyone. But what do I have to lose? Absolutely nothing! It’s at Regional Food and Drink, 810 7th St. NW (half-block from Gallery Place Metro, Chinatown exit), at 7 p.m.

In defense of Mount Pleasant. Next American City. Ben Adler writes: The Washington Post reports that my neighborhood, Mount Pleasant is suffering from a plague of shuttered storefronts on its commercial strip, Mount Pleasant Street. Mount Pleasant is, in my humble opinion, far and away the best neighborhood in Washington.

The most embarassing moments in her life. A round-up of some great stories. Pie Pants. She writes: Let’s see, there was the time I accidentally grabbed a woman’s boob during a job interview. Or the time I was accidentally racist. Or my first accidental carjacking. Or when I brought sex toys to a wedding shower. Or my big fat messy trip to the hospital in China.

An Open Invitation to the President-Elect. Red Sky at Night

Photo collection: ashlee + paul: married! blonde photo: have more fun!

Leon’s Worst Movies Ever List. Listen to Leon

Hillcrest: No Longer DC’s Best Kept Secret. Urban Turf

Hate Is A Core Value At WTOP. Freewheeling Spirit

Popcorn still on the cob for sale at Dupont Circle farmers’ market. The writer at Edible Miscellany puts it in the microwave to try it out.

The Inauguration (get rich quick) Rental Chronicles, Part 1. Possibly a new high: $11,000. Housing Complex blog plans to follow along.

Nobody Walks in L.A. or in Kensington. The writer of High Heels Backwards provides a history of her walks in places such as Morocco, where men harass women in public, Boca Raton, where she enjoyed freedom, and a trip to the local Safeway.

Photos of squirrel helping itself to a Halloween pumpkin. TheGreenMiles.net. And while we’re pointing out squirrel photos, here’s a link to the latest pet ‘net sensation, puppy cam.

The weekend was my very first hockey game. Ever. Writing in DC. A Caps fan is born.

Putting up the Christmas tree at Pentagon City. A string of photographs illustrates the entire process. free as in pizza

The DC Metro system is losing its luster. Spokes of a Wheel takes note of Metro’s new type of sign: Nothing says “this way to the seat of power” like corrugated cardboard and a Sharpie, right?

I’m proud to say I was the first to inform Jeff Simmermon that Obama collects comic books. Lonnie Bruner.

oh, metro! How to calm a screaming child. go big or go home.

A couple plays folk music in Dupont Circle and writes about it. Color Joy. Photos.

The economy has turned consumer thrift into a vice. Michael Kinsely, after strolling through the local Costco and Linens & Things, wrote this piece for the New York Times about his new angst to spend a little on a coffee maker bargain. And Why The Economic Downturn Doesn’t Seem To Have Affected Washington (Yet). Almost Georgetown. DC’s government-driven economy may insulate it from the downturn.

Washingtonian has the skinny on Inauguration: Where the Parties Are.

BuggBlogg has some suggestions for those who would send him annoying fundraising ploys.

Insert your own punchline here. BdellaNea shares that the annual Leech Meeting is being held in Washington, D.C. No. Really.

New Columbia Heights shares a recent letter to the editor writer’s question: Too much parking?

D.C. Metblogs (and several other area blogs) remind you to join the protest on the mall to say No on Prop. 8

Tattle Teaching has some thoughts about our school superintendent, teaching, and school administrating. Oh I Wish I Were in Washington D.C.! Of course, her last post appears to be something called: Thank God We’re not Washington, D.C. Oh well, all’s fair in love and teaching.

Uhh, Obama collects comics?? Soft Lounge Blog wonders Why Didn’t Someone Tell Me Sooner???

So, about that other election… The Washington Post recently pronounced Georgetown Cupcake the winner of its Cupcake Wars. Gracious in defeat and wise in the ways of butttercream is U Street’s own Warren Brown (Warren’s blog) founder/owner of CakeLove and longtime local inspiration talks cake. And buttercream. Buttercreams inspired by European Baking.

Notions Capitol comments on the whole “Blogging Is Dead” cliche.

Alternative Hippopatomus with advice on How to Be a Better Blogger. If that’s not your interest, then you may leave this post with some ideas on how to alienate people.

Everyone encourages you to take the Metro to the Anacostia Community Festival.  JDLand notes that there are some small complications.

Who pays a dollar for air in tires?  Well, I’m cheap, cheap, cheap, so not me.  But in Stimeyland more than $.25 (or nothing) has been paid for air.  A sign of the apocalypse?  You decide.

Better than a barrage of PeptoBismol pink:  Too Shy Too Stop discusses 501(c)(3) entity Keep-A-Breast foundation (because most of us don’t actually have a spare) which seems a welcome contrast to the annoying and infantilizing Avon pink crap.

The real election stories are now coming out. This attorney volunteer shares a readable and entertaining tale of an election day adventure that began at 3 a.m. Zhubinness

Metro’s “Worst Performing” bus lines. Greater Greater Washington. Highlights from Metro’s annual report.

12 Great DC Dates. To Blog Or …

DC To AK. Someone from DC is writing about their experience in Alaska. Most recent post, Things We’ve Learned, Weeks Five and Six, is entertaining but so are others. Tidbit subjects: Babies in Alaska love bars; When you hear the wolves, the hike is over, and The first time you see a moose, your brain doesn’t get it.

The kids are really excited to be on the Metro. Wistful Wanderlust. Photos of a family’s visit to DC.

Year-to-Date Borderstan Crime Stats. Borderstan, from that in-between neighborhood.

Now even the Brits are talking about Petworth… Observations about Petworth and the Financial Times story. Farm Fresh Meat.

Cashing in on the Obama Inauguration. A place in Dupont Circle for only $5,000 for three nights. Craigslist classified.

Barbarians at the gates. Someone tries to beat The DC Universe to a Metro fare gate and it calls for a response. He writes: At this point, I had two choices. I could have either done the mature thing that most normal human beings would have done, and forgotten the incident and just passed on through the gate. Or I could have done the decidedly immature thing, and actually go out of my way to make sure he missed the train.

How much attention should a neighborhood blogger give to violence? Prince of Petworth worries that too much focus on violence will be destructive to the neighborhood in other ways.

Very weird Life Saver from Australia. 2.71828182845904523536…

Veterans Day, today, is a good day to fight for DC voting rights. NotionsCapital (Update post)

2008 Beaujolais Nouveau Release Parties in DC: Yes Oui Can! Capital Spice. By French law, Beaujolais Nouveau can not be released before the third Thursday of November. DC restaurants and organizations take advantage of this, with fantastic parties leading up to the great moment at midnight when the wine is delivered to the crowd like a champion boxer.

Parking Lot, Not Offices at Connecticut and K? The 42nd. A highly visible location gets an ugly parking lot.

From ZipCar, With Love. Read this post and the original one. Who Invented Roses.

Metrocurean. Appetite Stimulus Plan.

The Top Five Condo Rooftops in the DC Area. Urban Turf

DC Teacher Chic is no longer an employee of DC Public Schools. Her reasons for leaving make it clear why DC’s schools are in trouble. This blog really opened a window into the school system. Excerpt:

Our parent meeting – our last ditch effort to eradicate the severe behavior problems of the 5th graders at our school – was attend by 10% of our students’ parents, even though ALL were individually contacted, and most said they would come. Almost all of the students were present for the meeting, because most stay for aftercare, and we had pizza.

Fearing for My Life: The Worst Cab Driver in DC. Plight of the Pumpernickel

The One Record Store That Will Never Die. Black Plastic Bag.

My first real apartment after college. In photos. Ramblings around DC and Beyond

Is it a major faux pas to tell people that I had cancer in casual conversation? Six Inch Heels

A Boy in Pajamas Made Me Cry. The movie. Venue Guru. … the end of the movie left me utterly heartbroken. The entire theater was silent. It’s the kind of movie that comes out every few years that everyone needs to see so that we never forget what can happen if good people don’t stand up against prejudice and cruelty.

Photo of Obama’s headquarters. Penn Quarter Living.

Life As List is 26.

DC: McCain, now 50 percent off. Amy’s New York Notebook

Falls Church wins! Falls Church wins!!! In the hubbub of some other election, you might have missed the battle royale between Falls Church and Charlottesville. The challenge:  As Blueweeds reports: Falls Church Wins Voter Turnout Challenge. Warning: For reasons I can’t quite understand there’s manboobs included in this story. Avert your eyes while celebrating “Fake VA’s” win.

Given the District’s voting percentage, DC Fab thinks it’s a pretty safe bet that some of us are as obsessed with the Obamas as she is. I don’t know what she’s — what!? did someone say Obama!? Her latest pondering? Malia and Sasha Obama…where will they go to school?

In yet another burning question about the Obama Administration, College Grad Real World investigates: The impact on sports of President Barack Obama. Gooooo blue team! I mean Purple Team. I mean there are no Teams, we’re all Winners. Yay!

And they say kids don’t care. GWblogspot (not to mention the election) tells a different story: GW knows where to go.

So you finally got your favorite newspaper from the historic election. Umm, now what? We Love DC has tips for Saving that paper.

Lacochran may just have been the only one doing work-work these last few days. Or at least thinking about work: spreadsheets and stuff. For reals. Excel conversations I have over and over again.

Advice for on how to get inauguration tickets. Hippo Crusades

Wow. The world certainly has changed since my youth. The home of the capitol of the Confederacy gave its electoral votes to a half-black/half-white man. And yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day: Parliament didn’t get blown up, representative democracy survived, and got passed on to us, giving most of us here in the District our employment, directly or indirectly – so let’s celebrate.

Exactly how many babies did Barack Obama hold, hug, or kiss during the campaign? I have no flipping clue, but Yes We Can (Hold Babies) has pictures of most of them. Don’t worry. If cuteness dismays you, I’ll post a picture of a pterodactyl or something. Just let me know.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown writes about how a conservative must be feeling right now in Hi, I’m Elizabeth, I Write Here(“We’re Going to Hell in a Handbasket” or something like that), although she supposes that said conservatives are pleased about various states attempts to “protect” marriage by banning it for about ten percent of the population.

Foggy Dew proposes a boycott of California products to protest the gay marriage ban (“California voters outlawed gay marriage yesterday, but approved a ballot measure giving egg-laying chickens more rights.”) and declares that the latest Apple purchase will now not occur.

Scott’s Take summarizes a number of reactions to the passage of California’s Proposition 8. 

Let’s remember Shirley Chisholm (I was about the age of my daughter – a big Obama fan – when Ms. Chisholm ran for the presidential nomination), as the author of I Wanna Sing Like Sarah “Sassy” Vaughn* does.

“What a Difference 40 Years Makes” per the Goodspeed Report. I remember the riots of ’68 from child’s eyes. The world really has changed, and, for once, for the better.

Roissy wonders whether the president elect is actually an alpha male due to how the perceived relationship between Michelle Obama and her husband (trust me, it’s not a positive perception).  Then theories are thrown around about Michelle being privately submissive (sure, buddy) or now disposable (hey, my impression is that our future president is a stand-up guy, but I guess reasonable minds can differ).   My question:  does anyone intelligent (or anyone pleasant to be around) actually think that way seriously or is it just a marketing gimmick?  Yowza.  I’m hoping against hope that this is just some Gen Y or later in-joke that people of my generation just don’t get, but eesh.  And yuckola.  And yuckaroo.  And having posted to “What a Difference 40 Years Makes”, I guess this is the “Sometimes Nothing Changes” (or even gets worse) post.

An Open Letter to People Afraid of Obama. Kittens With Mittens

NotionsCapital files this report about one DC polling place. He writes: 1,364 people cast ballots for Barack Obama in a DC school building with a notorious history of racial segregation.

Twelve Real Reasons Why Obama Won. To Blog Or….. The reasons? They include his height, ears, and the Cubs, among others.

*I want to sing like Ms. Vaughn, too, but that ambition is simply ludicrous when expressed by me.