rosslyn jazz festival

Just heard about the 15th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival on Pacifica Radio (WPFW 89.3 in Washington):

Sax/flute legend James Moody, iconic pianist Ahmad Jamal and five-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Frelon headline the 15th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival, on Saturday (1–7 p.m.), September 10, 2005, in Rosslyn’s Gateway Park, located at N. Lynn Street and Lee Highway, Arlington, Virginia. Free and open to the public, the event opens with Virginia’s own Robert Jospe and Inner Rhythm (1–2 p.m.).

octoberfest in dc

The summer days are starting to get shorter again, which means fall is right around the corner. It also means that Octoberfest (the style of beer as well as the festival) is coming soon too. I missed my chance to have a beer with the pandas and penguins at the Friends of the National Zoo's Brew at the Zoo event today (25 August), but...

Exclusive! You've heard it here first (even Capital City Brewery, the organizer, doesn't have this on their website yet). The Shirlington Oktoberfest will be on Saturday 8 October!

Here's my DC area Octoberfest beer roundup:

Old Dominion Brewing Company (Ashburn, VA)
Dominion Octoberfest beer, available now.

Rock Bottom Brewery (Arlington, VA)
Oktoberfest beer, tapping on Thursday 15 September.
Scotch Ale, tapping in October.
It's a Wonderful Ale, tapping in November.

Capitol City Brewing Company (Arlington, VA)
Pumpkinator Ale, coming this fall.
Oktoberfest Lager, coming this fall.
Harvest Ale, coming this fall.

Gordon Biersch Brewing Company (Washington, DC)
Festbier, coming this fall.

Great American Restaurants (you know, Sweetwater Tavern, Carlyle, etc...)
Great American Restaurants Octoberfest, available at Costco soon.

If I've missed any, please let me know and I'll add it to the list.

best pen ever

This is sort of a random rave, but the Pilot G2, Extra Fine (0.5mm), Black Ink is by far the best pen in production right now in my opinion. It's a retractable rolling ball pen, optionally refillable, acid-free (archival quality), water-resistant, and smear-proof. Writing (and sketching) with it is a joy, which is the true mark of good design. Just watch out when you lend your pens out ;)

marilynn and onur's hawaiian wedding

Marilynn and Onur got married in Hawaii a few months back (how nice is that?!) but they recently had their reception here in Virginia -- but kept the Hawaiian theme. Too cool... and I have to say, the tiramisu at Maggiano's is the best I've had. I'm still not quite sure how I got roped into leading the conga line... ::grins:: better that than the electric slide :P