Another five minutes of fame?

First Wonkette links to me and now I'm on the front page of the online Express! It was my post about Pozell that made it into the Washington Post's free paper. No doubt this is thanks to the kind folks over at DC Blogs who made me a May 17th DC blog of note. Thank you!

Horoscope

A thoughtful co-worker taped my birthday horoscope to my computer monitor. Here's what it says:

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY APRIL 20: If feels like people are waiting for you to step in and make life beautiful. You don't mind when others count on you because your greatest inspiration is in being of service. When you add your creative touch, you also earn big bucks in June. Someone who shares your humor brings bold happiness to the summer. Gemini and Pisces people adore you.
~The Washington Post

I definitely agree with the first two sentences. Here's to hoping for the third and fourth ones!

From the border to the district

I just read a wonderful article in the Washington Post about an eighth grade trip to Washington, DC. The eighth graders are from a poor Texas border town where the per capita income is $7,000 and drug trafficking is rampant. The article articulately shares the stories of the students and several teachers, three of whom are from Teach for America, and their experiences both at home and in the district.

Go read the article Fantastic Voyage.

I guess I have an obsessive personality

because I always want to title my posts, "My new obsession." My latest obsession can be found in many major newspapers, including The Washington Post and USA Today.


Sudoku!

Intersection

Ever since I started driving I have dreaded the traffic in Georgetown. Now that I work here, I have to deal with it everyday. Quite often I see a policeman, standing at the corner of Wisconsin and M in a day-glo vest, directing traffic on my way home from work. Yesterday on my way to work, I saw news cameras on Wisconsin near M. This morning on my way to work, I noticed dozens of roses and letters taped to the street lamps and traffic signals around the intersection at Wisconsin and M. What had happened?

According to the Washington Post, the police officer I usually see at the intersection was hit by a 19-year-old girl in an SUV on Saturday. Here is what the Post reported:

Michael Palermo, manager of the Papa-Razzi restaurant and bar, said he saw the accident. Palermo was walking to Georgetown Tobacco to buy cigarettes when he stopped at a crosswalk at M Street and Wisconsin Avenue. A gray Honda sped up Wisconsin to make a left on M Street, he said.

[Joseph] Pozell, standing on M Street and facing pedestrians in front of the Banana Republic clothing store, "had blown the whistle" and turned as he always did -- on one foot, like a dancer -- so he could see traffic coming from the other direction, Palermo said.

"I saw fear in his eyes. . . . The impact was unbelievable," Palermo said. "The woman hit him head-on. . . . I don't know how she missed seeing him. He was standing in the middle of the street."

After Pozell was struck, Palermo said, the young woman began screaming and crying. He said he rushed to get someone to call the police and then went to Pozell's side. "I said, 'Joe, Joe,' and there was no response," Palermo said.

Pozell is well-known in Georgetown. He has lived in the neighborhood for 34 years and has been an unpaid reserve officer for the police department for three years.

He began helping pedestrians and motorists navigate the traffic-choked intersection in Georgetown nearly 18 months ago. In November, he said he began directing traffic because it was "a good way to do something for the community."

I haven't worked in Georgetown for long, but I know how horrible the aforementioned intersection is. During rush hour, I do my best to avoid it. It is terrible that this man, who was spending his free time trying to help prevent accidents, became a victim of one. On Tuesday night, Pozell died from the injuries he incurred at the intersection of Wisconsin and M.

A candlelight vigil held for him at nightfall Monday, at a park near the cemetery, drew the mayor and other officials in addition to many police officers and community residents.

They recognized him as the embodiment of public spiritedness, a man concerned with helping others, who saw work that needed to be done and decided to do it himself....

In interviews and in remarks at the vigils, formal and informal, police and others pointed to him as someone who could not do enough to contribute to the community in which he lived and to the welfare of his fellow residents.

And I thought the Washington Post was always right!

Here's a movie update from the past week. I managed to fit two into my busy schedule.

First, Lana and I checked out Bad Santa because it looked funny and it had received two green lights from the Washington Post (rating scale of red, yellow, and green like U.S. streetlights where green means "go see the movie," yellow means "caution. the movie wasn't that great but it wasn't that bad," and red means "stop! don't go"). Lana had the brilliant idea to invite her mom and her friend Liz. Liz was no problem to me, but any of you who have seen Bad Santa will agree that watching said movie with a parent is a very uncomfortable experience. After the movie ended, our group was shocked. How on earth did Bad Santa, which we thought was pretty bad and certainly more depressing than funny, get two green lights and reviews that said it was hilarious? It must be a guy movie.

The other movie I was lucky enough to see this week was Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I've been wanting to see the last installment of LOTR for weeks. I asked my guy friends and they all said that they'd rather see an artsy, serious, and/or foreign movie (they suggested we see movies like The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, The House of Sand and Fog, Mystic River, and In America). What's a girl gotta do to see LOTR? I called up my dear friend Alison, who's always up for a movie or a concert, and she said she would come with me. Thank you, Alison! Last night we went to the movie and it was sooooooo good. I didn't really like the first part of the trilogy but the last two have been amazing.

So that's my movie update. There are many others I would like to see but, as you all know from seeing how much I've been blogging of late, I just don't have the time. I'll keep you posted. Anyone seen any must-sees?